Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-09-14
each oIitics to
Girls in School,
Advises Teacher
This Would Mean Accusing of
New Interest for Women,
He Asserts.
BY WILLIAM E. BONN,

BY WILLIAM e. BONN,
of East Orange, instructor In the n. Y
School of Ethical Culture.
We teachers teach boys and girls.
To the Kindergarten there is hardlv
any difference. Boys are as bright as
| girls. Girls are as good as boys. Time
spent on one sex is as well invested
as that spent on the other.
On through the grades so boys ard
! girls together. The same lessons are
! learned by all; reading. writing, geog-
raphy. nature study are interesting
to all. In the long run they are
| learned about as well by one sex as
| by the other. There are differences,
of course. There is a time, usually iii
/ the sixth or seventh grade, when the
! girls seem brighter than the boys.
! There are certain subjects in which
boys seem to take a greater interest
than girls. Some teachers like boys
| better. Some like girls better On
the whole things are about even.
In the high school distinctions be-
gin to appear. The boys have base
ball teams and basketball teams.
They play against other schools. They
get into the papers They swell up
and think something of themselves.
They take the gymnasium every min
ute when 1t is not In use for regular
instruction. The girls stand around
and admire. The girls have teams,
too. But they are only interclass
teams And they can't jump so high
as the boys Who cares for girls
athletics?
But this is not the important mat.
ter. Some day the English teacher
asks for a paper on the Panama
canal tolls or the restriction of i'm
migration. Then about half the girls
ask: But what can we write on?'
Then if the teacher is eager to APP
peal to the interests of all his pu-
pills he allows these girls, quarter
of his class, to write on How to
Make Fudge" If he cares as much
about rousing new interests as about
appealing to old ones he asks: why
don't you girls want to write about
Panama canal tolls?" And the girls.
say: I'VE haven't anything to do
with that; that is a question for the
boys" If the teacher is person OF
vision he will say: 1T will be your
question; you will have a vote by
the time you are old enough" And
then those girls will take on new
life They will allow the fudge to
go unmade while they think about
big things.
And in the senior year the teacher
will ask: what are you going to
do?" The boys will all be full of
plans-college, business, the profess
sions. Every little chap will have "A
clear idea. His mind will be work
ing. His imaginations will be build
ing a life. And the girls? Some or
them will be going to college; some
will take up teaching. But about
half of them will blush when you
ask them what they want to do.
"Oh, just stay around home. l
guess" is the substance OF the an
swer you get if you insist on having
one. Perhaps they want to keep
house. Perhaps they want to have
children. Perhaps they haven't an
idea in their heads. In the kinder
garten they were the equals OF the
boys. Now they haven't word to
say for themselves. And we call this
democracy
There is no tragedy greater than
this. Perhaps a fourth of our high
school pupils are the victims of 1t.
1t is the tragedy of the blind alley. 1t
is the tragedy of the paralyzed mind.
1t is the tragedy Of the purposeless
life.
The chief cause of 1t does not lie in
the school system. But the inherited
notions of the teachers may have
something to do with 1t. / remember
well a conversation with a young col
lege professor. Heshad received call
to teach at Smith College The posi-
ton was better than the one he oc-
cupied. But / don't want to teach
lot of girls who will get married and
forget all they ever learned. ! want
to teach men who will have a chance
to make knowledge count" So he
said, and remained with his men and
his small salary. But in the public
schools this feeling is rare. In gem
eral, boys and girls do have the
same chance.
The trouble lies in the organiza-
ton of society at large. And a good
part of it is the fact that women
cannot vote. Let women vote. Then
! the great world of social activity will
| open. History, geography, political
| economy will have a new meaning.
| Girls will have a new self-respeet.
J They and the boys will have a new
intellectual level. There will be less
| patronage and more comradeship.
| There will be the straight look for
ward and around And when the
girl sees the world better, when she
trusts herself more she will not
blush and stammer when you ask
her what she is going to do with
herself.
More and more we are discovering
that the mind depends upon ears and
eyes and hands. Trained fingers
mean trained mind. A nation
without hands would be, to a
large extent, nation without brain
development. Depriving the girl of
vote is like cutting off her hands.
1t paralyzes her reason. And here,
as everywhere, work means most to
the worker. Much may be done with
the vote. But the greatest thing will
be the creation of new mind, a new