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    3 6 '6 Ott THE OB ST A OLE S TO THE

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    ^ ¦ <» The Fact Revealed In Tlie Census ...

    lie hope to . compete against tlie good teaching and low price of these foundation schools *

    With girls' schools there is no competition of this sort , nothing to raise the level of education . The only choice offered to parents

    of the same class for the education of their daughters lies between Miss Jones ' s establishmentwhere the course of education consists in

    playing on the pianoforte , , worMng in worsteds and doing crochet , and the seminary for young ladies kept "by Miss Robinson , where

    dancing , deportment , and flower painting are the order of the day . Endowed middle-class schools for girls , under proper _insj _^ ection ,

    ought to " be established in every large town in England . Their absence is' one of the great deficiencies of the age . Of coursethe

    founding of them must be a work of time , expense , and individual , effort ; but what great work was ever executed without an outlay of

    time , money , and individual effort ? There is a means , however , by which perhaps large sums of

    money might be _jDrocured for the purpose , -which should not be neglected . It often happens that when charities are reformed a large

    amount of property falls into the hands of the Charity Commissioners , who , with the consent of the Court of Chancery , may dispose of it

    as they think proper . At present these funds are frequently employed in founding middle-class schools for boys onlybut _jDerhaps

    if public attention were called to the subject half the , money might be procured for the girls ; indeed , if the rules of justice were

    observed , the whole of the funds thus produced in the next twentyyears would be bestowed on tliem - exclusivelyto make up for the

    undue partiality hitherto shown to boys . , Schools of this sort once establishedthe instruction given in . them

    ought to be of stlcIi a character as would , fit the pupils for future life . Those who have any talent for music should be trained as

    organists , a profession well suited to women : some should be taught French , often useful in commercial transactions ; all ought to receive

    a solid English education , and be especially taught arithmetic , bookkeeping , and every branch of accounts . They should also be taught ,

    • as much as possible , the meaning of business terms , be shown tlie proper forms of letter writingand be given every kind of useful j > _ractical

    knowledge of that sort . B , y this description of teaching , the character of girls of the middle class would be changed . They are now taught

    accomplishments , and told that the great object in life is to please ; they therefore naturally grow up vainand often think of little else

    than how to make themselves attractive , by means of smart clothes and an affectation of fine lady manners .

    But set before them that the great object in life is to earn their own living , that many among them will not marry , and must either

    work or trust to charity for bread ; teach them above all , that it is more honorable to _dejDend on tlieir own exertions than to marry for

    ' the sake of a maintenance , and then a different spirit will arise

    • among them .

    3 6 '6 Ott The Ob St A Ole S To The

    3 6 ' 6 _Ott THE OB ST A OLE S TO THE

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1860, page 366, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021860/page/6/