The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-05
WOMEN ON THE SCHOOL BOARD.

The majority of the male citizens
who express. themselves on the subject of
electing women to the school board seein
inclined to hedge. A few express posi-
tive views in favor or against. but the
deliverances OF the mass are garnished by
considerable number of large IFS. A
favorite way some of these people have Of
putting it is that they are in favor of
women on the school board, if the
right woman Gamble found, but''a little
cross questioning soon shows that the
right woman is SO very superior sort of
person as tc make it altogether improba-
bic that she can be found this side OF the
planet Mars where. some astronomers
tell US, intellectual development is far
ahead of what it is on our planet. An.
other "if" frequently injected by these
people relates to the manner OF their
election. They do not object to women
on the school committee if they can be
nominated and elected the same way
inen are. that is by wards, but they are
decidedly opposed to electing them at
large, because then we shall have two
sets in the school committee, represent
ing different constituencies and holding
office by different tenures. We suspect
that down in the bottom of their hearts
these people are not anxious to have
women on the committee at all. They
see altogether too many lions in the path
and areatoo fond of2pointing them .out to
other people. Their insistance On the
fright woman" being found, and their
identification OF her with something a
very, very little lower than the angels
are. mot calculated to inspire confidence in
their inqenuousness. While they insist that
only broad minded, cultivated, highly
educated, discerning and discriminating
women, women without hobbies and
crotchets, shall go on to the school board,
and if such can not be had that none
shall go there, they set up no such exalted
standard in regard to men. 1t Is not
insisted that only men of great breadth
and wide culture and profound learning
and long experience shall have
charge of our schools. Young
men just out of college, busy merchants,
lawyers and doctors whose time is fully
occupied with their own vocntions, gen.
tlemen who want to get into politics and
LOOK favorably upon place on the school
board as convenient stepping stone, all
these paople are regarded as good enough
to be on the school committee SO long as
they sre.of the masculine gender. But a
change of gender must be accompa MED
with great exaltation Of qualiflca-
tions. The woman must be very SUI
peri0r woman.
Equally suggestive of disingenuousnes
is the dwelling with SO mich emphasis on
Indifference in the constituency and the
tenure of the women members of the
board, which would arise from their cleo
ton by the method provided for in the
legislative act Anybody would sup
pose that the plan proposed was some
thing entirely novel and unheard OF,
Yet.in the school committee as it exists
today and has existed for years, is one
member, and in many respects the most
important member as he is chairman of
the board, elected on a general ticket
just as 1t is proposed to elect the three
women, and with precisely the same
constituency as they will have,
Furthermore in some cities the
board of aldermen is made up of
aldermen-at-large, that is aldermen elect
ded by zthe whole CITY, and aldermen
elected By the several wards, and no diro
catastrophe has resulted from the ar
rangement. But whether the arrange
ment is altogether desirable per
Sc or not it is the only one nm
der which woman will ever be likely to
get on the school committee in Portland.
There is nothing in the statutes to pre-
yent.the nomination and election of a
woman In some ward of the city, but the
custom of electing man has continued
so long that there ia not the slightest
prospect that it will be broken. During
the last four or five lyears repeated at
fempts haveSbeen made to elect woman
in some one of the wards and they have
always failed and always will fail. 10
oppose the plan proposed in the legisla-
tive act is to oppose the only feasible
plan to get woman on the school COM
mittee. This is so well understood that if
is difficult to reconcile such opposition
with the profession that often accom-
panies it of not only being willing, but
DESTROYS of having women on the school
board. Any person really convinced that
it would be desirable and useful to have
women on the school committee W mo
votes against the proposed amendment
for fear that we may not get the fright
woman" or that the difference in the
tenures and constituencies of the male
and female members of the board will be
productive of harm, will be allowing him
self to be frightened by very harmless
scareorows.
The real question that is submitted to
the voters in connection with this legis-
lative act is the desirability of having
q mum Der of women On the school COM
mittee1 and that is the question that
ought to be discussed chiefly. There has
been more or less said on the su ject
from time to time and some reasons pro
and con have been urged. Much,