The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-06-14
Women and the Schools.

Mayor BooDY will soon have the appoint
ment OF fifteen members OF the Board OF
Education Of Brooklyn. or one-third OF tho
whole number. A committee OF four wo-
men and two clergymen waited on him last
Friday to urge that he give ten OF these
places to women. Unless he be willing to
put on the Board a respectfully large pro-
portion Of women. we feel it would be better
to wait" said ono OF tho women speakers.
II there are any public offices for which
women seem to DO specially fitted. they are
those OF School Commissioners. Women"
pleaded DR.. LYMAN ABBOTT before Mayor
BooDY, "are the natural educators OF chill
dren. All wise fathers leave the little chill
dren to women to manage" There are
small children in the public schools" said
tho Rev. DR.. ADAMS. land women would.
IL placed on the Board. give special at
tention to them" DIR. ABBOTT urged
as another reason for the appointment Of
women Commissioners 1.-The difficulty Of
finding men who could give enough time to
school matters, while women had consider
able leisure" Significantly enough. the
whole argument OF the case was presented
by the two clergymen. the women OF the
committee merely asserting.
So far as the experiment OF appointing
women members OF our New York Board OF
Education Is concerned. the facts cannot be
said to have borne out the theory of the two
Brooklyn ministers. The women Commits
sioners have left no mark whatever on our
school policy and system. No trace Of any
valuable feminine influence has appeared in
the Board No suggestion Of any importance
bn
have been dphers in the body SO far as
concerns any quality or attribute peculiar
to them as women. and desirable In the In
terests Of the schools. the teachers. or tho
children. II they had not been put on the
Board the educational policy would have
been the same. 1t Is wholly masculine.
| The women Commissioners havo been fol-
| lowers and not lenders.
In soTno minor matters OF school dlsci-
pline they made themselves moro or less
| prominent temporarily, but even there they
would have boon wiser II they had remained
| subordinate and reflected the broader
| and juster views OF their masculine col
leagues. When. for instance. anonymous
and hearsay accusations were made
against woman teacher. the men
Commissioners treated her fairly and
considerably. but their women as.
soclates judged her harshly and even un.
justly. Tho women Commissioners may
have been right In their perceptions OF her
character. but they were wrong in accept.
ing such perceptions as evidence. They
were put on the Board especially for the
protection Of the women teachers. but they
proved to be less merciful toward them
than tho men OF the Board.
These are facts which we must look nj
squarely. They are worth infinitely more
than all the theorizing about the special
fitness OF women for tho supervision oil
public education. The experience OF New
York has shown that the influence OF
women School Commissioners has been
undesirable. except when 1t has been
exerted otherwise than for the al
vantage Of the schools. The policy
OF the Board OF Education has been the
same as II 1t had been composed OF meI
only. No gain whatever has accrued from
the appointment OF women on 1t. and 1t has
been demonstrated that the just admins
tration OF tho schools would be in danger /
1t was controlled by women.
Managing children In the nursery anc
managing great and complicated schoo
system Is very different matter. II Mayo
Body appoints women School Commits
sioners In Brooklyn. the result is likely +,
be the same as 1t has been In New York