The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-10-03
THE NEW EDUCATION.
CHANGES IT HAS MADE IN THE po-
slTloN OF OUR GIRLS.

SlTiOh OF OUR GIRLS.
They WIN Hereafter lie Known For Their
Learning and Their Social Tact, and They
VIII Also Insist ,st They Have Proper
Liberty.
The recent discussion Of the condition Of
2ur young women In English life In Tho
Nineteenth Century has been suggested by
the change which the higher education Of
girls has forced upon the attention Of
mothers In English society. The daughters
are being educated like the sons, and they
crave the liberty and opportunities which
the sons enjoy. IL Is impossible TO hold
these young girls I'm the snme social re
straint which existed before Newman
and Girton were In existence, and the
English mothers are up In arms because
the girls refuse 10 he compliment maidens
and take the traditional position Of young
women who are bending all their energies
to secure favorable offers Of marriage.
While this discussion does not exactly 1T
Into the grooves OF our own social life,
there is a great deal In II that is suggestive
and important. Veal rejoice at the open
ing Of careers for young women, and II Is
not because matrimony Is any the less the
sphere In which woman realizes her highest
function that we welcome the increase OF
agencies through which young women,
like young men, can follow their aptitudes,
and not only earn their own living, but do
the things which imply the fulfillment Of
their tastes and capacities. II is great
thing TO have gained this social and in
dustrial freedom, and where the demands
are not too heavy the Independence and
freedom which women have gained are
having the happiest effect upon their per
sonal welfare.
There Is another and increasing class In
this country who arc being prepared In our
homes for Radcliffe and Wellesley and
Smith colleges, and who are destined 10 be
the leaders Of our social and intellectual
life In the future. This class most closely
| corresponds to the daughters Of English
men in the upper walks OF life, and it IL
not only In the education Of these girls
that wider range Of thought and life is
to be possible, but they are to give a Ger
tain elevation to the standards Of American
life. They are to set forth the true posi-
tion Of woman not as an exception Of at
tainment among tho few, but us the nor
NAL expression Of our best life. These ed
ucated women will become, to great ex-
| tent, our tehcncfs VI inc nlknef tuuCdtlOHt
but large portion Of them will find the
fulfllment OF their ambitions In marriage
and will become more or less the leaders Of
society. What our higher education Is ex-
pected TO accomplish Is not to turn out
into the world two or three thousand blue
stockings every year, but to send into
American society hundreds Of young wom-
en- who will realize their worth in careers,
who will be expansive In their influence
upon the world, and who, beyond their po-
sition Us wives and mothers, will be known
for their learning, for their social tact and
for that inde1lnable influence which makes
a woman the center Of attraction and pow
er In the social circles In which she moves.
No one can watch the progress of the
new education I'm the homes Of well to do
people without seeing the silent transfer
nation which is already going on. One is
constantly coming across these educated
girls, who lose none Of their attractiveness
as women In the possession OF training
which enables them 10 handle the things
Of the world with tho dexterity and sue
cess possessed by their brothers. They are
crowding into the ranks Of the professions.
Medicine and the law are favorite channels
for them, and In art, in music and In the
lesser professions women are beginning to
be nearly as numerous as men. The field
is ample, and there is hardly woman
who aspires to make II career for herself
that does not find her place.
Tho fact that every year these educa-
tional institutions are placing these young
women in the field of opportunity il to be
watched by the social student as very
important factor In American life. They
are transforming the homes from which
they go forth into tho world, and they are
ready to engage In the making Of new
homes and in the widening OF tho range OF
our common life. Tho men and women
now In middle age had in few instances
the advantages, social and intellectual,
which are now enjoyed by their daughters,
and 1t Is greatly to their credit that they
have responded to the demand that their
girls shall come under the influence Of the
higher education to such an extent that in
almost every social circle the college wom-
en- begin to be an appreciable and infuen-
tial element.
Tho question now at the front is whether
these girls shall begin to take the lead
The effect of their wider training is to
make humdrum life irksome and dis
: tasteful, and to make the position Of a
woman waiting for matrimony, which
may never come, one that stiles the very
training which she has received. While no
one would wish that young women should
needlessly expose themselves to censure by
taking too much liberty, 1t il not possible
that girls thus educated will consent to
1.-THE trivial round and 1.-THE common
task" which are the traditional life Of
most young women as we have known
them, and 1t L. in England no less than
In America that parents need to be educat-
ed to appreciate the position In which
their daughters, trained In the new edu-
cation, stand. The friction which In some
Quarters Is complained Of is largely because
the fathers and the mothers OF our girls
are not intelligent In approaching the po-
sition in which our girls are placed or the
demands which the new order Of things
: creates. The only way Of escape Is for the
girls, with such tact and discretion a.
they can employ, to take matters into their
own hands and insist that the liberty
which Is given to their brothers shall be,
to a proper extent, allowed to themselves.
What we want In American society Is t0
gain the advantages Of the higher educa-
ton not simply for the girls who are In
7 tent upon careers, but for those girls whose
probable mission is to become centers Of
influence In our homes, and whose ulti-
mate place will be that of leaders In the
! social world. The new education will not
become effective with our best educated
women divorced from the practical inter
ests Of life in the sense that 1t will be pow
erful when the social leaders recognize
that the higher education Of women Is al
/ essential step In the oonquests which they
aim to make. Education without aim Il
apt to BIO disappointing but education o.
the kind which many OF our girls are re
ceiving today helps them to realize to very
largo extent the true position Of women II
the world. Boston Herald.