Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-16

1 w
| business high school
| a distinguished Sen
ator from New England laid it down as a
law of common sense that it would be a
great deal more to the point of Washing
| toms educational necessities if, instead OF
extending High School facilities. an appro-
| priation were made for public cooking and
| sewing schools for girls.
| Said the Senator: II would make a fair
| knowledge Of all plain sewing, and even
| perhaps the simpler elements Of dressmak-
! ing, compulsory on the girls; and they
! should also learn how to cook all the or
| binary and necessary dishes in respect
| able family. Then employment could be
| found for many of them, not alone as good
| wives. but to work in other families
Sewing Girls and Cooks.
"Ask your wives whether it is easy,in this
! city of 100000 inhabitants, with thousands
| of people complaining that they cannot
| make a living, to get real good seam
stress to come and sew for your family at
| your house in the good. sensible. old-fash-
| toned way. I venture to say that you will
| find a serious difficulty in satisfying your
| self. If you Go not, you Will be more for-
| tunate in that respect than Others ana
| your experience will be different from that
with which l am familiar. In this direction
a great many women. colored ana Whlte,
would find employment.
$50 with cooking. 1t is not a small Job
to tnd-I do not say French chei; OIL
course that is not difficult II you pay
enough-but it is no small job to ind
good cook fer ordinary family; and
every girl who goes out Of the common
schools ought to he able to step in and
! take comfortable care of an ordinary me-
chanic s or workingman'S family. 1t is in
the interest of health also that they should
be taught what is good food, and how it
should be prepared and cooked. That is
my idea of a high school That would be
| a useful addition to the common schools"
The Reform in Operation.
This ser atorial suggestion of a way out
of the woman question, servant question
and high school question seemed to Offer
such a simple solution of all these prob
lens that instantly 1 heard it mentioned
1 sped to the board of school trustees to
know what they were going to do about
it. Here if you will believe NE, l learned
that the senatorial panacea for poor cooks,
no seamstresses and worthless wives was
applied in the WaShir gton public schools
several years ago. The study of cooking
al sewing for girls is made as compulsory
it is possible to make the study of any
single branch in the public school system.
girl is excused only fer good and sutfi-
cient reason assigned by her parents. Sew
ing is taught in all the schools in the third,
to the instruction in class, there are con-
Quoted for the whites four and for the
colored girls three dressmaking shops,
where cutting and fitting are taught as a
part of the course in sewing.
There are twenty free cooking schools
exclusive of those operated in connection
with the night schools. AT these schools
about 5000 girls are being taught to cook
incidental to their seventh and eighth years
in the graded schools.
Thus is revealed the Senator's reform in
operation, and What shall we do with our
girls p is no clearer than it was before the
Senate took up the question.
1t occurred to me then that I'd give the
girls themselves chance at the atter
I'd hear from them what they have DONE
would do, could do, what their parents
have done before them-in short, obtain
comprehensive idea of whether they are
or are not receiving a practical education.
Education is Not All.
Right here 1 want to point out a fact
commonly overlooked whenever the public
school question is under consideration.
The training a child gets in school is but
one factor in determining its education.
There are Enthusiastically, environment,
the habits, aims, attachments of parents,
character of associates and the free exer-
else outside of school of the individual
tendencies of the child. The bearing of all
this the education of a child public
schools or other schools may modify, but
cannot control
Furthermore, to educate Is not to add to
nature, but to bring out nature, compre-
hended and co-ordinated by the mind. 1t
is not to make mechanics of boys who have
it in them to be mechanics; it is not to
make cooks of girls who have it in them
to be cooks. simply because there is more
of demand for mechanics than for book
keepers, or because a United States Sena-
tor fails to get his cooking done to suit
him. You may teach a boy to forge; he
isn't perforce a blacksmith. You may
teach a girl to sew; she isn't therefore
seamstress. Oh, I want to get up on a
stump and throw rocks and things at Sem
ators and everybody else who argue pro-
foundry about practical education without
having a glmmer of knowledge of what |
they're talking about.
Let me tell you something to the point of
how much great men sometimes know of |
the questions they discuss and settle.
Senatorial Wisdom.
During the same debate on the Business |
High School appropriation, in which girls |
were set upon, not one but several grave |
and reverend seignors, arose, tapped their |
ears solemnly, and talked fore and aft |
about the wisdom of teaching commercial |
geometry In the public schools. One or two, |
with that spirit Of humility SO beautiful to |
behold associated with infinite wisdom !
confessed they did IT know what CONNER |
cial geometry is, thereby Indicating not any !
limitation of what they know, but the folly |
of anybodyS knowing more. One or two |
other Senators, while not claiming to be |
versed in the science of commercial ge-
ometry, still, by the application of q pro-
found knowledge Of the essence of all |
things, were able 10 assert for the in
formation of the Senate that the debate
might intelligently proceed-'commercial
geometry is clearly geometry studied for
commercial purposes" Eventually, after
expense of valuable time and
more valuable energy, it was agreed that |
geometry might properly con-
tinue en- the list Of studies of the Business
High School, and that l should have to
tell it-an the while commercial geometry
never was on the list of studies of the
Business High School. The list Includes
as written down-"commercial geo." that
is geography. Yet who would dare sus-
pect Senators of jumping at a conclusion
or engaging to fight windmill?
1 would, and therefore 1 snap my fingers
in the face of their conclusion of what's
best to be done with our girls.
The Higher Aim Fad.
The fact of the matter is, nobody has
any business debating what's best for
girls who hasn't been girl, and not the
fact that he once wore dresses qualities
any man to exercise this privilege. No;
and wish l could bar a great deal else |
that has worn dresses from the privilege of