The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1882-07-05


MEETTNSHELD NAY 81, BY THE MAssA
CHUsETrssCHooL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION
1 have been requested to say word con
cerning the results produced by women
acting on the school boards Of the towns Of
the Commonwealth.
From the returns made to the Board OF
Education in 1881 it appears that
ninety-eight women were serving as mem.
bers of school committees in seyenty-two
towns of the Commonwealth. Experience
has proved that these women are most
efficient school officers. Their selection for
the Office is not likely to be due to those
political influences which not unfreqaentIy
succeed in clothing inefficient and nneda-
Gated men with authority over the schools,
bueif IS likely to have its ari1ia in. thsf1
that there are women in most of the towns
who are fitted, both by their natural and
their acquired abilities, to discharge the
duties of school committees in 4 most ae-
ceptable manner, In all the towns of the
State there may now be found some intelli-
gent and highly-educated woman, or women,
trained in our normal schools, our high
schools, or in our colleges, who are ready,
if chosen, to enter with enthusiasm upon
the work of organizing and supervising our
public educational institutions. Many OF
these persons have themselves been success
| full teachers, and feel deep interest in the
education of the children. They frequent
ly haYe more leisure than the men Of their
communities, and are willing to work for a
smaller material compensation. These
| things render themlmore available as school
officers. When chosen they generally turn
| their attention at once to the internal life
of the schools. They look at once after the
sanitary condition of the school-hoEses and
to the physical condition of the children.
They observe the manners Of the pupils, aud
the teacher, and his style of school govern
ment. They are quite sure to inquire for
the method by which instruction is CON-
municated, and for the extent TO which the
attention of the children is turned to the
moral quality Of their acts. For this last
reason, if fer no other, every school board
should have at least one woman among its
members.
1t seems to me that one Of the missions
that women are to accomplish in our social
| affairs is to look after the moral conduct OF
| society. A great observer has said, that the
tone of moral sentiment in the land depends
largely on the women of the land. Ii viii
bear the character which they consent to
risy; neither coarse nor polished vice /:
| neither false standard of truth, nor a false
standard of honor can prevail, if they dis
countenance them. Pertness and foppery
would be driven by their contempt out of
existence; arrogant skepticism and super
stitious faith would be rebuked by their
frowns; while purity of taste, lofty senti-
| ment, intellectual improvement, and a
simple but steadfast piety would every
where flourish under their patronage.
1t is on account of the nature of the
relation that women hold to the affairs ol
social life in the communities where they
| dwell, as well as to their own natural gifts
of intellect and of heart, that they are able
to exert such an all-pervading influence
even where they are never seen, and where
! their voices are never heard. Wherever
women are found on the school boards, they
are active in selecting good teachers for the
schools, because they known that teacher:
accomplish more by what they are than by
what they do. They are more inclined thar
their brothers on the school boards to
| sympathiZe with the teachers in their
difficult and sometimes discouraging labor
They often criticise the schools severely
bnt with more intelligent discrimination
than the men, and they seem inclined tC
1
intentions frequently lead to more ready
and to wiser judgments than do the seduc
tive process of the reasoning faculties. And
finally they are inclined to perform the du
ties of their Office so effectively, so coLsci-
entiously, and with SO little regard to per
sonal consequences that they are often
excused from further service on account oi
it, although they have succeeded in awak
ening deeper interest in the welfare of the
| schools, in constructing proper causes o
study, in reforming methods Of teaching
in securing more abundant means for illus
trating the topics to be taught, in obtaining
more ample support for the schools, and il
| exchanging poor teachers for those wei
prepared for the work, both by their learn
ing and experience.
What we now need in the State is such
change in our school affairs that ever,
school will be placed under the supervision
of an educated and efficient supervisor The
cities and large towns have already helped
themselves to this educational f0rce, ant
they are making progress in the right diree
tion. The small towns can avail themselves
of the same agency by uniting themselves
into convenient districts and working to
gether as one community. If this werl
done we should have company of educa
tors in the Commonwealth whose united
counsels would soon solve every educationa
problem.
There are now in the Commonwealth
1861 teachers of the public schools; of this
number 1921 are women. As it is the
policy Of the State to commit seyen-eighth
of its public instruction into the hands o
women, it would seem consistent for it t
commit a share of the supervision Of th,
| instructors into the hands OF women also.