The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1896-02-20
THE NEW EDUCATION.
CHANGES 1T HAS MADE IN THE Po-
slTloN OF OUR GIRLS.

Learning and Their Social Tact, and They
WIN Also Insist That They Have Proper
Liberty.
The recent discussion Of the condition of
3ur young women in English life in The
Nineteenth Century has been suggested by
the change which the higher education of
girls has forced upon the attention of
mothers in English society Tho daughters
are being educated like the sons, and they
crave the liberty and opportunities which
the sons enjoy 1t is impossible to hold
these young girls In the same social re-
straint which existed before Newman
and Girton were in existence, and the
English mothers are up in arms because
tho girls refuse to be complacent 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 fit
into the grooves of our own social life,
there Is great deal in 1t that is suggestive
and important. We all rejoice ut the open
ing of careers for young women, and 1t 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. 1t 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.
| L.. I'D t,,nr ai,,sr 81 Or,
this country who are being prepared in our
homes for Radcliffe and Wellesley and
Smith colleges and who are destined to be
| tho Icaioro 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 1t Is
not only In the education Of these girls
that wider range of thought and life Is
to be possible but they are to give GER
tain elevation to the standards of American
life. They are to set forth the true posi-
ton of woman not as an exception Of at
tainment among the few, but as the nor
NAL expression of our best life These ed
ucated women will become, to great ex-
tent, our teachers of the higher education,
but a large portion Of them will find the
fulfillment 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 WON
en- who will realize their worth in careers
who will be expansive In their influence
upon the world, and who, beyond their pc
sition as wives and mothers, will be known
for their learning, for their social tact ant
for that indefinable influence which make
woman the center of attraction and pow
er in the social circles in which she moves
No one can watch the progress of TIL
new education in the homes of well to d.
people without seeing the silent transfer
nation which is already going on. Ono Il
constantly coming across these educated
girls, who lose none Of their attraotivenes
as women in the possession of training
which enables them to handle the thing
of the world with the dexterity and sue
cess possessed by their brothers. They ar
crowding into the ranks Of the professions
Medicine and the law ore favorite channel
for them, and in art, in music and in tn
: lesser professions women are beginning t
be nearly as numerous as men. The fell
is ample and there is hardly a womal
who aspires to make career for hersel
that does not find her place.
The fact that every year these educa
tional institutions are placing these youn
women in the field Of opportunity is to b
watched by the social student as yer
important factor in American life. The
are Transforming the homes from who
=. they go forth into the world, and they al
ready to engage in the making of ne'
homes and in tho widening of the range c
our common life. The men and wome
). now in middle age had in few instance
the advantages, social and intellectual
y which are now enjoyed by their daughters
Y and 1t is greatly to their credit that the
have responded 70 tho demand that tl.oi
girls shall come under the influence of tn
higher education to such an c-tent that 1
almost every social circle the college won
en- begin to be an appreciable and influer
tial element.
The question now at the front is whethe
s these girls shall begin to take the leat
The effect of their wider training Is I
make humdrum life irksome and dii
tasteful, and to make the position Of
woman waiting for matrimony, whic
may never come, one that stiles the yer
training which she has received. While n
) one would wish that young women shout
needlessly expose themselves to censure b
taking too much liberty, it is not possib
= that girls thus educated will consent
''the trivial round and 1.-THE commo
task" which are the traditional life (
most young women as we have know
them, and it is in England no less tina
In America that parents need to be educa
cd to appreciate the position in whic
their daughters, trained in the new ed'
cation, stand The friction which in son
quarters is complained Of is largely becaul
the fathers and the mothers of our CIR
are not intelligent in approaching the p
sition in which our girls are placed or Il
demands which the new order Of thin
creates. The only way Of escape is for Il
girls, with such tact and discretion
they can employ, to take matters into the
l. own hands and insist that the libert
which is given to their brothers shall b
or to a proper extent, allowed to themselve
q What we want In American society Is
gain the advantages of the higher educ
a ton not simply for the girls who are Il
tent upon careers, but for those girls who
probable mission is to become centers
is influence in our homes, and whose ult
mate place will be that of leaders in Il
social world. The new education will N
become effective with our best educat'
4. women divorced from the practical Int
ests of life in the sense that 1t will be poN
u erful when the social leaders recogni
that the higher education of women is ,
essential step in the conquests which tn
aim to make. Education without aim
apt to be disappointing, but education
s, the kind which many Of our girls are I
ceiving today helps them to realize to a We
large extent the true position of women
the world.-Boston Herald.
Trial of tho Pyx.
The annual ceremony of testing the stan
, ard fineness of the gold and silver coins
u" the United States. as well as those of Gre
Britain, is called the trial of the pyx
The custom is very ancient, and the nan
- Is derived from the ''pyx." or chest, in whit
tho coins raseryed for examination we