The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-03-16
EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN.
By KATE LANGLEY BOsHER.


and uplift and develop.
Whatever may be the possibilities OF
the twentieth century, one of Its Ger
tainties will be an, eyer-lncrsasfns de-
mand for trained labor-1abor that is IN
telligent as we'll as skilled; labor that
thinks as we'll as works, and that re-
fuses to be a piece OF human machinery
and becomes instead an ever-deVeiopihS
factor in tho growth and increase OF Its
particular industry: and in no part OF
the country, perhaps. is there Dexter
opportunity to test the truth that the
producing power of Il community Is
measured by the intelligence OF it's work
ing people than in the State of Virginia.
In the bulletin issued January 4. 1907,
by the Census Bureau at Washington on
| VII ginia's manufacturing industries. IL
| is stated that In 1900 the number OF her.
| establishments was S.2i5, with 12,52o wage
| earners employed in the same. To-day
| there is a still greater number, and II 1t
| could be readily comprehended how many
| CT these wage-earners have no education
! at all, or only a pitiful 'smattering of 1t,
! the thought would not die easily that the
| outlook from this standpoint is not cheer
| fl! either for the State or for its multi
! tude of workers. And why? Surely
| licne is SO foolish to wish that men
| ard women should not work. Work
| the nation. but ignorant workers mean.
| after a while, lawleSS idlerS, and law
| less idlerS fill our jaiiS and penitenuarleS
| and almshouses, and the money mat
| SHOULD be put into schools TO help MAKE
| a man out of the animal stage, must so
| to the support of those institutions to
! whch he has come largely because ne
/ hes; not been guided away from them.
| In the city of Richmond to-day there are
| e, Of
| women who are working from seven IN
| the morning to six in the afternoon, ana
! that they will ever be able to do muca
/ better work or receive better wages Is
| as doubtful as it is certain that the large
| proportion of them are in their present
! condition because they are not htted TO
!, fill another.
Were this state of ignorance and In
| competency to end with its own genera
| ton the outlook would not seem SO
| serious but when it i. remembered mat
| the working classes marry young. tuat
! their children are often put to work be-
| fcre they have barely learned TO reao
and write that they in turn marry "a
| reproduce their own ignorance ana mar
| rcwness of life and environment uiitii
degeneration follows upon degeneration
then is required of those who have the
I'uywer to think and act and lead to see
that something is done which VIII INST
call attention to these things ana then
to remedy them if possible
The greatness of an individual OF OF
many of them. cannot compensate for the
dullness or unfitness of the obscure thous-
ands who live and work and die in igno-
rance. and, therefore, shiftlessness and de-
4, terioration; and we who are so proud OF
| the past are unworthy OF our
heritage if we do not guard well our
future and if we fail to remember that
it is a law OF life that where two oppos-
ing elements exist together the one must
| b., lifted I'D or the other will be dragged
down-we are refusing to open our eyes
| to possibilities that may be-that must
be-unIess we ourselves prevent it.
! Not for an instant is it thought that
| education is to solve all the problems of
! sociology, or industry, or SIN, or sor-
| row, suffering. Those problems can
| only be solved by God and men and wo-
men who are honestly trying to help him.
| but the agency that makes one think
that develops and trains and controls
| will do more for the uplift of humanity
| than any other factor that has yet been
| conceived by man. and the women OF the
country are pleading that the control of
public education shall be put into the
| hands of the wisest and best and most
intelligent citizens of their States, for
they know that unless this Is done the
cause will suffer-and the cause must not
suffer.
The children of to-day are the parents
| of tomorrow. The parents of tomorrow
must be wiser than those of to-day, for
more will be expected of them. We make
the parent of tomorrow by training the
child of to-day. 1t is blind folly to talk
of chance. There is no chance. We reap
every single time that which we sow.
KATE LANGLEY BOSHER.
Richmond, Va, March 18th.