The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-12-03


workers in America than the great ar
my. OF It's women teachers" asserts
Prot John Dewey of Columbia. They
'feminize' boys? Nonsense! Or where
are our effeminate boys, if you
please?H
Prof. Dewey was head of the depart
ment of philosophy at the University
OF Chicago from the foundation of that
institution. Five years ago he accept
ed the chair of philosophy at Column
bia- He is one of the best known
Englisbspeaking teachers of his sub
jeet and is a past president of the
. American PhilOsophic- and Psycholog-
ic Association. He is also one of
the incQrporators and trustees of the
Equal Franchise Society
Only recently William L. Felter,
head of the girls high school in Brook
lyn, returned from a trip abroad with
dark and gloomy views on the Amer
lean school system. Too many wo-
men teachers are at the root of
hrge part of the evils of our public
schools he asserted sadly. Il
thought so once, and now 1 know it
have been talking with Alfred Nose
ly. The preponderance of women
teachers is swiftly and surely feminiz
ing our boys"
Prof. Dewey, who has happened to
Of Toofrrri,,or
in the public schools, was shown Mr..
Felter's published convictions. And
Prof. Dewey smiled-very dryly.
Il wish" he remarked, by way of
casual beginning, that | cOud hap
pen on some of these effeminate
school boys Somehow, / have never
been able to discover them. Strange
ly enough, the people who ament their
ascendancy don't seem to produce the
article. Now. | am so constituted that
whenever | examine any sort of new
theory | want proofs to back me up.
Where are they? Where are our eff
Terminate boys?
The notion that our splendid wO-
men teachers are making mollycod-
dies of their boy students is utterly
absurd. Why, women themselves are
anything but mollycoddles in these
DAYS of basket ball and athletic
stunts without. number! They'd be
the first 10 despise the feminine boy
instead of petting him into being.
The mhole notion is an English pipe
dream. Girls in England are an abso-
lutelv. different sort from the Ameri-
can type. They are brought up to
wait on their brothers by inches-just
As they are afterwards supposed to
wait on their husbands. Very likely
a course of education under such gen.
tie Young women would tend to 'femi-
nize' boys-or make them DULLES.
But Mr.. Alfred Mosely and his fel-
low commissioners should not judge
other girls by the kind they happen
70 know at home-and then. TO cap
the climax. implant their own precon-
ceived impressions on impressionable
Americans. That's adding insult to in
fury. Luckily. the big, common-sense
majority of Americans prefer to judge
with their own eyes.
That they don't believe women
teachers are making weakllngs OF
their sons is shown by the multiplied
tion. instead of subtraction, among the
ranks of the same teachers. Amerl-
can fathers and mothers want the best
and insist on having it. They SIM
plv wouldn't stand for the great ma
ioritv of women who instruct their
children unless they believed IN these
women. That their belief is fully JUS
.iied is my unhesitating assertion.
..Ther is absolutely no reason why
~romen should not occupy the eXecu-
tive as well as other positions in the
educational system. Chicago proved
ttseif more progressive than New
Work when it placed a woman rat the
4,.d of its immense school system
hacause she was the fttest one for the
nlsce She has done splendid work
I, the past-she. will continue TO STAND
tfor even finer accomplishments IN the
future. because her field is larger. But
ne Is no glaring, lonely exception
rhere are probably women right here
I, New York who are as fit, or filter
hold the important administrative
..ositions i'm educational matters now
oecupieS by men. Fitness should be
a. only requisite OF choice. Is II!
"a 81, is perfectly true that the public
not disposed TO appreciate very
<,rhlv that which can be had cheap
The very fact that the salaries OF