The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-11
EXPLAINS HOW
PARENTS FAIL
Principal Shows How Lying
and SeIfishness Develop.
MISS QUALTHOUGH TALKS
URGES CLOSER COOPERATION
OF MOTHERS AND TEACHERS.


Ia a paper on Ethics in the Home
and School" read by MISS Lizbeth Nj.
/ QuaItrough principal of the Oquirrh
] school before the members Of the La
dies Literary club last Friday after
noon. the educator took the view that
the duties OF parents are fully as neces-
sary TO be mastered as are the duties OF
! teachers. She held that. instead of
studying what will be best for the in
/ Cividual child and hence for
| the race, the ordinary father and
| mother take no thought in regard to
! the responsibility of parenthoOd as
resting on them. The work Of the
school should supplement. not sup
plant, the work of the home she said
| In her opinion all ethical training must
| begin in the homie and the more vital
| questions of right and wrong must be
dealt with there i'm preference to the
| school. She brought out how children
learn TO lie and be selfish through home
influences and pointed out how parents
could help their children by example
Miss QualtrOugh urged that mothers
should be specially trained. just as
/ teachers have a preparatory training
! The speaker said:
l have had occasion to say that if there
/ are any two classes of peoDle between
| they are the mothers and the teachers
/ More than any other these two classes
| share certain experiences. work together
| with common aim, rejoice over COM
/ mon success, or mourn over u common
J failure
| Through the medium of the children
they have many experiences in common
/ and through these common experiences
/ ought TO be drawn closer and closer to-
| gether. so close that their hearts shall
! throb in unison moved by a mutual fear
or a common JOY
! To both mother and teacher there comes
| the experience of dealing with the OPEN
! ing. expanding child soul at close range.
! The effort of the teacher. along lines Of
| ethical development, should be to supple
/ ment the work of the mother, ana the
work of the mother should strengthen and
j emphasize that Of the teacher. Knowing
/ each other well personally. respecting
! each other cordially. and trusting each
/ other implicitly, mother and teacher can
| guarantee to the state a son worthy its
| highest position of honor and trust.
| But, alas, how do matters stand2 The
present state of things is not, / fear. cal
i culated 10 develop any undue optimism
\ but the recognition of deficiencies. the
/ admission of ignorance Is the first step
/ essential to advancement. We can gain
/ no wisdom until we acknowledge its lack.
1 we can make no improvement until we
! admit the necessity for better things. So
! let us pave the way by frankly admit
/ ting that we are neither ideal mothers
[ nor perfect teachers.
Better Training Needed.
! 1t is a self-evident fact that the funda-
| mental difficulty is the, lack of prepara-
! ton on the part of both mothers and
teachers for the great work before them.
| IL is true that of the young teacher some
| little training is required. She is expected
| to have a knowledge of the laws govern
| ing the mother tongue. She by no means
/ has probably spent four years in a high
/ school or a normal school Here she
| gains some things from books. little from
! life and nothing at all from the children
( This four years course is often, not al
| ways, supplemented by a years work
with the real working material Of her life,
/ the children, for one or two hours each
/ day. under conditions more OF less
! strained and artificial.
! Still, unsatisfactory as is the teachers
| preparation, il is far in advance of that
| of the mother, except in rare cases
! What has she done-I am speaking now
| Of the social whole-to fit herself for
/ home-making. for that highest and holi-
est of callings, motherhood? How much
! thought. study. training. has she be-
! slowed upon this most solemn of respon-
sibilities2 Is it not lamentably true that
this great trust is assumed in the vast
| majority of cases with absolutely no pre-
! nal and physical? Elaborate preparations
are made for the care and adOTnment OF
the little body, but the soul, the imper-
! ishable is the mother prepared TO care
/ for that? Through the next five or six
/ years the most receptive, tmpressiOnable
years OF life. that little soul will be SYM
metrically developed. or warped and de-
| formed until IL bears little semblance 10
the creation first given that mother.
Is IL not too sadly true that not a 1.-THE
| of the time and attention bestowed. and
bestowed gladly, upon ball costume IS
given that most solemn of all response
| bilities, motherhood?
Parentage Profession.
parentage is a profession, the very high
est in the eternal scheme of things. That
| It is a part Of the scheme none has ever
/ doubted, but that the great task ever
I needs any preparation, any training for
it's successful accomplishment, is just be-
ginning TO be understood. Here and there
I we find individual parents who represent
/ our ideals but they only accentuate the
{ failure of the great mass, the average
| parents as they are today. the parents
I who force me and other women who have
[ similar opportunities for observation 10
! eXClaim occasionally. on. II he were
! only an orphan
Oh. these unframed, unthinking moth
ers women who still believe that instinct
1 prepares them for the duties OF wifehood
and motherhood; that with the advent OF
I the little one viii come the knowledge
tact and wisdom for its mental and splr-
itual development, as well as the nouriSh-
Z ment for its physical growth.
Do not misunderstood me. friends.
! have no desire TO laud the teacher or un-
I Justly criticise the mother Perhaps q
comparison Of opportunities might result
IN better showing for mothers; but
! taken as "A social whole, justice compels
( us to recognize that teachers come tc
their work better prepared than the
mothers.
I That VIC deserve any credit for this is
Z however. not true. We conform 10 the
law, often reluctantly, and make ouI
maximum OF preparation the maximum
; required by the law. But TO that extent
children are protected. Until there is a
general social recognition that mothers