The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-14
EDUCATION AMONG WOMEN OF POLAND English Customs Rapidly Being Adopted by the
 Poles
From the London Telegraph.

From the London Iele1rapn.
 ''We are all trying to be as English as possible in Poland just now: 1t is the
 fashion," said Miss lila de Illakowlcz,
 who came to London the other day. This young student from Craeow university published a successful book of poetry in the spring Accompanied by the daugh-
 ter of the author, Sienciewicz, she has
 been spending some time in Paris and
 in other towns on the continent, and her
 comparisons prove her powers of observa-
 ton.
 "In Poland we wear English tailor
 made clothes" she continued, because
 we think they are much more distin-
 guished-looking than any other. English
 is, of course, spoken, for you know that we learn languages. French. German Russian dialects of our own tongue from childhood At the universities of course. we study Greek and Latin. But English just now is the correct thing, and we are all speaking 1t. It Is the thing in | Poland now 10 put babies into nurseries furnished a rAnglaise, and they are kept 1 there. Polish babies, like the French l ones had to be always with the grown 1 up people; a great deal of attention had 1 to be paid to them. Now they are in | llitlI bMI IOpIllSt itu anu hitSntu illNN l English infants, and I dare say the
 mothers of the present generation find more time for interests outside of the | house.
 l "Oh, mo-" she exclaimed, in reply to a | question. You must not suppose that l all Polish girls go to the universities, and you must not make the mistake of
 mixing US up with Russians-we are quite | different In the Polish families of the 1 par gfil1 cherish tho ideal of home life for their girls No girl of good family goes out without a chaperone. She interests herself more in household
 duties even than English people do.
 Our whole system Is different from the English. We have no colleges at
 all IS you have for women. and we have
 no university halls where girls may
 live. A Polish girl may inscribe her
 name for lectures when she is 16. There
 are many middle-lass parents who set their faces against this idea and so they
 will not allow their daughters any in- come for their years of study. What happens? Why the girls simply run
 away from home. At Cracow there is
 convent where they can live for
 about f2 a month. Often a girl of 16 has to commence by working very
 hard to earn her living while she at tends the university The condition of students, both men and women, at the Polish universities, has been a good deal talked about, and I am one of
 many students who are trying to raise
 a fund to establish women's residences like those you have in England
 The proportion of girl students Is something like 800 to 5000 men. They attend the same lectures as the men, and often live in the same poor lodging | houses as they do. I suppose 1t is for
 that reason that the parents have not | learend to Ike the position of their daughters at the universities. The pro- fessors approve of girls al their lee
 tures? No. the majority of them do not. They declare that girls usually get mar l Tied and then all their university train i ing is wasted They make things as 1 hard for the girls as they can by con- stantly indulging in what we call | chlcane. that Is. teasing and small I jokes leveled at the women students. What professions are open to wom- en? That is very complicated for you | have to distinguish between the differ l ent countries. Lemberg and Cracow are | the two Polish universities. A Cracow l degree is of no use in Russia, while l in Russia women are not admitted IS eligible for degrees That Is why so many Russian women study outside of | their own country. The degrees usual ly aimed al by women are agriculture philosophy, medicine. In Galicia wom-
 an may get an appointment in a law yer's office at half the pay a man would have for the same work. Women go in for teaching. for art work, for journal sim. writing mostly In ladies papers on such subjects as fashions and wom- ems affairs Do young girls mix them selves up with political affairs? should
 rather think they do. They are sent to
 siberia, hundreds of them, every now
 and then. They live there, go on with
 their teaching or their profession. If
 they are condemned 10 hard labor! Ah.
 that Is different state of matters al- together"