The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-08-30
school CHI, and Their Studies


school Girls and Their Studies.
you The New York Times) s..
The Summer holidays are approaching
hsir termination. Many parents are con.
iSsriDr the question where to send their
,Siiire1 to school for the coming year. In
tocass Of cases Is this question more FIRE.
SuenIIy q pCrplexing one than in that OF
eirls between thirteen and eighteen years
& age ,, .,,,,.,,,u H.,
,i,bin me past ten years, been great deal
discussed in this country. 1t has received,
rS,bans. still more attention in Great
k,itSip MSny of the Ablest articles in
Sa Srst English periodicals have been dc.
ro,ad n Ia consideration. These articles
toU,sln, Of course, great variety OF opin:
ans and ideas; but the general DRIFT Of
ibr hen Is remarkably Uniform. With few
tycpnlioDs, they maintain the desirable
esss Of a higher style Of intellectual train
fD1 for Young women than has hitherto
Generally prevailed. Studies which have
bscn almost entirely confined to colleges
nj universities tor young men are urged
d likely to be equally beneficial to the
o,her sex Ard the writers who argue
m0st strongly for this are not mainly OF q
rIsss whom any one would characterize
d visionary enthusiasts. On the contra
n the magazines in which some of the
nost decided of these articles have ap-
re,ret are among those which are partic.
rI,ry noted Tor their careful and conserv-
A.ige character.
One Of the things which stand in the
Say Of higher standard OF female edu'
cation is the idea that a girls school days
mus, necessarily end when she is eighteen.
The exac,ness with which this particular
aye Is so commonly set as limit 10 the
Period of study, would be considered ex.
cessively absurd if applied to schools and
colleges lor boys. Custom has made Us
familiar with il in the case Of girls; but it
/; not easy to see any sufficient reason for
such a custom. Young ladies, it is true,
sometimes marry at eighteen. But young
gentlemen occasionally marry at twenty
cGe and no one imagincs that thati is any
reason why all college students. as soon as
they are twenty.one, should take perma.
peH, leave OF their instructors, and tum.
be their textbooks prOmiSCuOusly into
.Jme old barrel in the garnet, where they
would never see them again. Why q
Young lady, whose parents have ample
means OF enabling her to continue her
education, should, after studying hard
until the age Of eighteen, suddenly throw
her books aside and set herself, with the
yigor and determination which We so
often observ., to doing precisely nothing
iirather q puzzling problem. But what.
ever may be the philosophy of it, the
elects inevitable. An intellectual train.
ing which stops al eighteen years Of age
aust be, ATTEST, very incomplete and
imperfect one
Another great obstacle to a higher
standard Of female education, is the great
variety Of knowledge which ayoung lady
$ eXpcCted TO obtain previous to the time
she leaves school. If We compare the
ncmber Of studies which girl who has
llst finished her education has gone
through" with the list Of those which
have engaged the attention Of graduate
ct one OF our best colleges, we shall com.
mouly find that those OF the girl have
been two three times as numerous. And
yet our college graduates are generally
over twenty, and not unireQuently over
twenty-five, years Old. There is an old
Joke about Countryman sitting down at
the dinner table Of u city hotel, with q
long bill Of fare before him, and solemnly
going to work to paEtake Of every article
therein named. An attempt Of this kind
would be very fair Illustration of what
IS often seen in reference TO the studies OF
schoolgirls. There Is in every human
being, and especially every one under the
age Of eighteen, limit to the powers Of
intellectual digestion. Tho number Of
branches which a schoolgirl can pursue
with advantage is necessarily small The
humber actually undertaken Is often very
great, and the consequence Is that u young
lady, alter years Of hard labor, frequently
eMeFges from her "CduCation'fwith little
thorough knowledge of anything she has
learned, AMI still less OF ihat power oil
mental concentration which might enable
lie.
4 great deal has been lately SAID about
;Ge comparative intellect Of the two sexes,
Without taking up any oil the moOted
POINTS Of this topic, it may confidently be
WetFed that parents who expect q daugh,
'eF in her tecNS TO acquire proficiency in
Snowledge which the mos. laborious
male students would consider themselves
happy TO attain by the time they arc
Sa'rty'hve or lorty, will DO very APT TO be
disappointed in their aniiciputiops. I,
women are to rival men in scholarship OF
science, thrust be by pursuing their sys,
lemattc studies q great deal beyond The
present schoolgirls education. How Ial
and under what circumstances it il desira
oIelor them to undertake this we do moi
9eie attempt to Say, One thing Is certain
y Aey succeed in these altainmcnts n!
men succeed, they must 20 to work n
Saen as men goto work. The same con
seh5taied, laborious, and long CONTINUED
S;suuy mat Is necessary TO effect the objec
~ one case Is equally indispensable in Thu