The Washington herald., 1921-04-05
DIR. EMILY n. DUTToN
TALKS ON SCHOOL NEEDS.

TALKS ON SCHOOL NEEDS.
Teachers are greatly needed In
the South today. DR.. Emily H. Dut-
ton. Of Tennessee College. Murfrees-
boro. Tenn. said the other day at
the Washington. DR.. Dutton, who
for several years has served as
chairman of the committee on
standards Of colleges of the South
ern Association Of College Women,
was here last week in attendance at
the joint convention of the Associ-
ate Collegiate Alumnae and the
Southern Association of College
Women. which terminated in the
consolidation of, the two bodies un-
der the name of the Association of
American University Women.
A few years back teaching was
the only profession open to women
In the South, DIR. Dutton pointed
out. but with the widening of the
feld in which women may work
there has been a steady exodus from
that profession in favor OF the more
lucrative callings now open to the
gentler sex.
"The pendulum has swung the
other way" said DR.. Dutton. land
in the South we are confronted with
scarcity Of teachers instead of
the plethora we once had.
Teaching Is one of the most no
BILE and self-sacrificing caliings into
which women may CO." DR.. Dutton
pointed out. 1T is a work whose
actual fruits are probably not seen
today" she said. 1T means work
ing for the next generation. for the
men and women of tomorrow"
There has been a gradual revoiu-
ton in teaching methods in the
South, DR.. Dutton pointed out.
largely due to the high standards
set In the past eighteen years by
the Southern Association of College
Women in cooperation with the
Association of Colleges and Second
ary Schools Of the South. The lat
ter body has as its object the main
tenance of certain standards for all
Southern schools, and so rigid have
been Its requirements that OF 1876
colleges in the South only ten are
recognized as coming up to the pre-
scribed standard.
FINISHING SCHOOL
BEING ELIMINATED.
Fortunately for the women of the
South, there has been a gradual
elimination of the finishing school
idea SO popular a generation ago,
Miss Dutton said.
Southern educational ideas as Tar
as women were concerned in the past
were marked by the finishing school
conception of education, DR.. Dutton
said. Although we believe that
finishing schools are all right for the
young women of leisure. we feel that
the woman who must make her own
way in the world should have some
thing better in educational facilities
than the means that have been pro-
vided by such schools
The woman of the South today
Is often imbued with the same feel
ing as her sister of the North or the
West. that she wants to do some-
thing in the world and that she
wants the mental equipment and
training which will At her for a
place in the ever widening field of
social endeavor which awaits the
alert women of today.
TT is this sort of opportunity
which the Southern Association of
College Women has endeavored to
open up to the women of the South.
We have tried, too. to induce more
girls to go to college. One of our
methods has been to secure the CO.
operation of the branches. who have
held college days" in their local
cities. These have been social af-
fairs Of an educational nature, at
tended by university women who
have pointed out to the girls either
leaving or about to leave the sec
ondary schools, the advantages of
higher education. We found this a
means of interesting many women
in a college education who might
have been content to feel that their
education had been completed when
they left high school"
LAUDs GOOD WORK
OF DIR. ELIZABETH COTTON.
DR.. Dutton paid tribute to the
work of DR.. Elizabeth Avery Cotton.
professor of English at Meredith Col
lege, Raleigh. who. during the five
years that she was president of the
Southern Association of College
Women was a tireless worker in the
movement to lift Southern educa-
tional institutions for women from
the finishing school" class, and to
provide solid educational fare for
the women Of the South in place of
frills. ,'r-S
DR.. Dutton Is a graduate of Mt.
Holyoke College and holds a masters
degree from Radcliffe and a doctors
degree from the University Of Chi
cago.
One Of DR.. buttons recent activi-
ties was in connection with the cam
paign waged within the last two
years in the South to have legisla-
tion enacted looking toward the
restriction Of charters giving degree
conferring privileges to only such
Institutions as have complied with
the requirements of the Association
Of Colleges and Secondary Schools
Of the South. F. w. G.