Evening star., 1922-12-31

\ 7. STUART. director Of fnterme-
"A. diate education in the schools
of the District of Columbia, is
one OF the greatest friends to the
girls. fappers and otherwise. OF the
city of Washington. He has seen
whole half-century Of girls pass in
and out of the public schools and has
the keenest of broad minded interest
in their behalf.
When Mr.. Stuart first entered local
educational work fifty years ago he
said the Franklin School building.
where his Office Is now located, was
divided in half-one side OF 1t being
devoted to classrooms for the girls of
all eight grades and the other half
to the boys.
why, it wasn't until the seventies
that they began to hold coeducational
classes in this old building" said Mr..
Stuart, land even then it was many
years before there was the entire
equality Of teaching the boys and
girls together that is shown In the
schools today.
Even the little children Of the
present day are very worldly wise"
attitude on their part are the many
inventions like the motion picture.
the radio. the magazines, the tele-
phone and others that are used by
the entire family and thus bring the
children many Impressions and ideas
that, in the natural course of events
To- al -
have received until much later In
life. This is more noticeable in the
girls than in the boys, because OF the
unusual progress made in the atti-
tude of every one toward the girls
and women of today
When asked If he considered this
change, this worldly knowledge at
such an early age and the inde-
pendent type Of girl known as the
f1apper. to be an Improvement over
the old type and a good thing, Mr..
Stuart remarked:
"It is not the question as to
whether it is good or bad. it was in
evitable that it should be SO from
the very nature of the world prog
ress. and it is up to the present and
future generations to develop these
tendencies along good lines. Alfred
Lawrence Hall-Quest. a well known
educator. wrote an interesting book
while he was professor at the Uni
versity of Virginia, on the subject of
Supervised Study in which he spoke
particularly of the fact that the old
day when the girls and boys gather
ed around the family dining table
after dinner to study their lessons,
while often mother. with her sewing.
and father, with his book and pipe,
were there, too, and helped the chill
dren with their school work: has
passed completely. Now the father
nd meetings.
or other affairs or else they take tho
children with them to the motion
picture shows. In this way many
cannot study at home and must have
their study periods arranged for in
the school building. Therefore, the
"All this has developed the self
reliance of the girls. who are much
more conscientious on the average In
their attitude toward their studies
than the boys. Girls in general do
seem to have a stricter sense Of
through the generations preceding
this one they have been made to obey
discipline to a much greater degree
than the boys. AS a result of this.
the girls usually make the higher
marks in the classes and most of the
valedictorians of the high school
classes are girls"
MIR. Stuart believes that. while the
modern girl is basically the same as
girls have always been through the
centuries. her attitude of shyness and
uncertainty about attacking the busi-
ness things Of life is passing. and the
efficient girl of tomorrow will have
level-headed self-reliance as her
prime quality. AS summing up of
what he thinks Of the girl of today.
Mr.. Stuart told the following little
incident:
II know a little girl only six years
DID," he said, "who recently travelled
to California with her mother to
spend some Of the winter months.
She wrote US a letter the other day
in which she said, in her staggering.
uniformed letters. This is the most
beautiful scenery here that I have
ever seen in my entire career That
is the spirit which is developing in
the modern girl"
Mr., Stuart was superintendent OF
schools in the District from 1900 until
1906. when he resigned because Of
his health. He was asked to accept
q reappointment to this Office, how
ever, in 1908. and served again in
that capacity until 1911, when he
again resigned. Since then he has
filled many other offices In the de-
partment. and is now the special
authority on the work of the chill
dren in the intermediate grades that
is, from the fifth through the eighth
p-ades in the 1ocal schools