The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-07-30
HOW, WHERE AND WHY
OF GIRLS EDUCATION
Three Questions Which Careful Parents Must
Consider Deeply for Their Daughters Sake
Are Answered Here

How shall we educate our girls ?
Where shall we educate theme Why
shall we educate them?
These three questions should receive
the careful attention of all parents,
many OF whom do not realize tho
great changes that have taken place
nlong educational lines since their
school days. or who take it for grant
ed that great progress has been made
rinoe they were young
Parents do not ask in what direc-
tion modern progress leads their
daughters or what goal 1t will en-
able them to attain. All their efforts
nre put forth to supply their bodily
needs tpcrhaps desires would he fit
ter world, and their mental and
spiritual wants are AZ the mercy OF
men who experiment as boldly and I'M
scrupulously with immortal. souls as
they would with dogs or rabbits
We may regard true education either
as an ideal realized or the act of striv-
ing after and attaining an ideal. Edu-
cation is thus both process and n
product. as a process IT is the develop
ing of body and soul in the fullest and
most perfect manner: as product II
is physical. mental. moral beauty. We
should no more separate this three
fold element in education than we
would tear asunder the root, stem and
blossom of a plant.
Example of Greeks.
The Greeks have left us an example
Of the attention and thought which
may D. bestowed on physical rerfec-
ttor nowhere was the beauty of the
human form more carefully developed.
nowhere vas more energy devoted 10
the pertsctiu- az every organ than IL
eucient Greece TIE monuments Of
arr ~!,h vhich they have enriched the
rorld ere but embodimenis OF their
.t=zl-the p-rfsoting ~ physical beau
~ Among the Greeks. too. though
not with them alone OF the ancient
world. We fnd the highest mental de
v-Iopmert and when captive Greece
took captive her proud conqueror" she
gave birth to a new offspring whose
mental endowments were surpassed
only by those of the Greeks
Neither physical nor mental pcrfec-
tion IS a new idea Modern progress
mas not yet besotten either, and we
venture 10 state our opinion-with due
Difference To the arguments Of those
who hold the opposite view--that mod
ern progress has not caused the pro-
duction of a single work which from
merely mental standpoint can rival
The classics. BY modern progress We
here understand that of the last half
century.
We havetSeen examining hut the root
and stent' N-hert Is the opening bud
or fun bloom flower? Where is the
moral beauty which completes both
physical and mental growth. and
without which life is meaningless or
dangerous. and man either an automa-
ton or an engine of destruction? Our
quest in the pagan world is a vain one
The chaste brillancy of the sculpturcd
marble is hero to reflex of n chasto
and beautiful soul, but rather of a
well developed artistic mind which in
Its cravings has unconsciously reached
out beyond its ideal and sought to
grasp something of which II knew not,
Perhaps 1t was an inspiration caught
from such an effort that led TO the in
scription OF which Paul speaks before
the Areopagitica Ito the unknown
God Yes. the God unknown to the
Greeks and Romans had to become
known ore the foui corruDtion thai
hlichted all moral lovcliness could be
cleared away and the souls wounds
cauterized. We turn from tho pagan
20 the Christian world and find this
IDEAL. blindly CROPPED after but never
reached in pagan times. shedding It's
clear and fun cffuleence over a new
world, and as we tread down tho ages
we hnd mat wherever the ideal-the
Christian ideai-shines most brightly.
there human nature rises M to meet
1T ana attains that moral beauty
which should be the goal Of all educa
tional effort.
Have Seen the idcui.
In TennYson ana Browning w. have
educationalists though not profcs-
sionai ones who have seen tho idea,
with special insight and have pointed
N out 10 others Does not Tennvson
partially indicate IT when he says: "Uo
had the strength Of ten because his
heart was pure?
How then she'll we educate our sirl.s
We shall educate them so that thev
snail reach the highest physical. mon.
TAI and moral DEVELOPMENT that is
possible in each Individual case. In
the christian ideal we hnd the pagan