The Washington times., 1914-11-17

Mrs. Frederick is not the only person
of the opinion that domestic science
courses should be included IN the school
work of the young girl.
At the teachers institute which was
held in this city recently the main limo
of argument proceeded from the first
speech by William D. Lewis. "The
Socialization Of High Schools
The training of girls IN the admin
istration of the home ard it's duties
was no small part OF the specialization
scheme, the purpose of which Is to
give the tax payer the benefit of the
ton he pays.
In other words, train the girl for her
actual, not theoretical purpose In life,
according to the plans of Mrs. Fred
erick, for the purpose laid out by
Principal Lewis, and many of the minor
ills and sores Of our social order will
disappear.
In recent interview. Mrs. Frederick
discussed these ills, their cure, and
their cause. She contends that to- the
an enormous waste in human happi-
ness, human energy, and human lives.
She says:
"Of course the ignorant, Inefficient
hOusekeeper Is Responsible for the
waste of her husbands money and Of
the community's food supply. But to
waste Of human energy, human happi-
ness and human lives.
Every one knows how much illness
originates in an ill-reguiated diet, and
that no inconsderlble number of deaths
is due to the same cause. scientific
investigators have proved that large
percentage of drunkards are men who
never have sufficiently nutritive food.
believe in the so-called cultural
studies for girls and women, but it
does seem to me that homemaking is
at least as important as tri3onometry
or astronomy"
.'Ir many instances the girl rs not to
blame. To be sure, we have certain
type. of girl in New York whose mind is
set on the latest thing in corkscrew
curls or lip-rouge, and who would
scornfully refuse to acquire any domes-
tic accomplishments even IL the chance
were offered her. But I don't believe
any large proportion of American girls
must be placed in this category.
often the mothers who are the best
hOusekeepers have daughters who are
the poorest. That is because the
mothers have always acted on the prin-
ciple Of 4 can do 1t myself in the time
it would take me to show you.' can
remember my own mother saying that
TO me. and it took a real effort on my
part to persuade her that I should
never learn anything if she didn't let
me help her"
Then Mrs. Frederick briefly outlined
her own plan for increasing the supply
Of domestic skilled labor among the
brides
"There should be cooking classes i'm
the schools for children nine, ten,
eleven years old. At that stage they
love making things, and VIC ought to
take advantage of their Instinct.
When a girl bets into high school I
heIieyc she should devote two Hours
q week TO n course In hOme-making,
which should include actual practical
experience. Each school should have
a model flat, run in turn by groups
Gf girls. Then every girl would have
the drill of buying, cooking and keep
ing house for n family, Instead OF
merely acquiring knowledge Of n lot
of isolated recipes as too often hap
pens in the cOnvential cooking class
"Then girl ought to learn not
merely how to cook, hut WHY to
cook. That is, she Ought to know
nbout food elements, how to balance