PART IV. ÆSTHETICS.
ART.
By Dorothea Beale.
This part is one of great and perhaps increasing importance owing to the development of musical education and of art and technical schools.
Music.The power of music over the emotional life has ever been felt; in many ways it is opposed to thought, if we regard it from the standpoint of the listener, who yields himself up to its influence; on the other hand, the performer, and still more the composer, can bring to bear on the subject high intellectual gifts, and it may have a great educational value. It is of the utmost importance, that in this as in all æsthetics, a taste be cultivated for all that is true and pure and lovely; not for low and false and sensuous music such as Browning has described in the “Toccata of Galuppi,” but for the thoughtful, the devotional, as given in the two companion poems, “Hughes of Saxe Gotha” and “Abt Vogler”; and the learner should feel that she is studying to express right feelings, as Mme. Schumann and Jenny Lind insisted, not to show off her execution and make a display. It is greatly to be regretted that the general education is often stopped in order to specialise in music and art, before the mental equilibrium is fully established; if, besides this, there is an uprooting from one’s home and country, at the most impressionable and excitable period of life, much danger is incurred.
Music is not only a powerful means of expression and of promoting sympathy, it also draws people together for healthy recreation; especially valuable for this purpose are orchestral and choral classes. The power of the artist in music is far better understood than it was fifty years ago. I remember Dr. Kinkel, the German poet, saying to me about the year 1860, “the English will become a musical people, they are learning”. We owe much to Mr. Hullah for this, and to the Tonic-Sol-fa system. I subjoin a paper by a most able teacher of the [piano], one on [the violin], two [papers] on [singing] and one on [voice production and elocution].
Art historical.We are beginning now to study art in connection with the history and literature of different periods and countries. In another [section] I have touched on art in connection with history. We all know how great has been in all ages the power of art in expressing and forming religious ideas; we cannot but see that Fra Angelico and Dante interpret one another. There is not space here to dwell on the subject; the writings of Ruskin and Browning and the works of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood have helped this generation to feel all that art may be in our life. The educative power of great paintings has been practically recognised by those who have gathered together great pictures in East London—the Art for Schools Association recognises its importance; by visits to galleries, by good reproductions, and occasional lectures, children should if possible have their eyes opened to see what are the higher teachings which painters and sculptors and architects have expressed in their works; those who have heard Miss Harrison’s lectures know how the statues, vases, friezes, etc., of old times help us to make these live again for us; especially valuable is what those of our own time have given us, for these utter what is most intrinsic in our life. England is richer for such pictures as “The Light of the World”.
Mr. Thring used to insist much on schools being as beautiful as possible, and that painted windows and all the surroundings should help in the great work of education, the fulfilling of the human nature with the sense of the spiritual underlying realities; it should be the earnest endeavour of all educators to make, as Herbart has done, æsthetics in its widest sense, a help in ethics, and to consecrate and enrich the experiences and the teachings which come to us through sense.
Drawing.Drawing as a mode of expression is a really necessary subject; it is a form of writing; and modelling is another form of effective expression. In their higher aspects these arts are ennobling, cultivating the taste and leading up to the ideal. “Once,” writes Dr. Harris, “trained to recognise the beautiful and graceful, the pupil has acquired a quality of mind useful in every occupation and every station.”
Painting.There is an admirable paper by Mr. Cooke, “The A B C of Drawing,” in the volume of Reports just issued from the Education Office. All who have heard Mr. Cooke lecture, must recognise that he has a real genius for teaching. In schools we have to do chiefly with cultivating the power of seeing things as they are, and expressing what we see. The copying with the pencil of the Greek sculptures has been of much educational value, but enough importance has not been attached to modelling. I add an excellent [paper] on the subject.
Other technical arts.Technical schools are so much the fashion of the day, that I may perhaps add something more on the subject of manual training. All students of Pestalozzi and Fröbel knew the great educational value of manual work, but the general public, though they knew that mind acted on muscle, did not realise the fact that muscle reacted on mind; when this was recognised, many educational thinkers saw the importance of giving to hand arts a more prominent place in school work. A great reaction set in against mere book learning, and as I venture to think an exaggerated and indiscriminating value was by some attached to manual work. The enthusiasm of Herr Salomon brought to the front the use of Sloyd. Political circumstances and the need of competing with foreign countries have contributed to give a great impulse to education in art, and to develop and improve the training which had never been altogether neglected in girls’ schools.
I subjoin [papers] on various hand arts, including one on [Sloyd].
At a meeting held at Washington in 1889, the matter was brought before the department of Superintendence, and a volume was issued from the Bureau of Education which contains a very full account of the proceedings; it includes an admirable paper of about twenty pages by Dr. Harris, Chief Commissioner of Education, from which I make some extracts. The matter is considered in reference to “Educational Value”. He begins by defining what is the main purpose of school teaching, criticising the definitions which point to false or ill-comprehended or crude ideals, which turn our thoughts to the means rather than the ends of education, and which lead the educator away from the essential idea of education by fixing attention on the “puny individual” rather than on the “higher self” embodied in institutions; the ideal man, whom we can see only as a member of the great human family.
Education he defines as “the great preparation of the individual to help his fellow-men, and to receive in turn and appropriate their help”. Whilst conceding that manual training is educative, he shows why it is much inferior to the usual subjects of school instruction.
“Man elevates himself above the brute creation by his ability to withdraw his attention from the external world of the senses and give attention to energies, forces, producing causes, principles. He can look from the particular to the general; without losing the particular he grasps together the whole realm of the particular in the general—in mastering the cause of anything he grasps together and comprehends an indefinite series of effects.
“A false psychology tells us that we derive all our knowledge from sense-perception, but we do not by the senses learn the idea of causal process. By this idea all the data of sense are transformed radically. They are given us in sense-perception as independent realities. In thinking them by the aid of causality, we make all these matters of sense-perception into phenomena—or effects and manifestations of underlying causes which are not visible or tangible.”
Dr. Harris shows how school studies are calculated to give general principles, right ideals, and to exercise the powers in elaborating the data of sense. “That the ordinary branches of instruction in school relate to this function of elaboration of data into plans of action far more than they relate to the mere reception of sense-impressions or to the exercise of the motor nerves, is obvious. It is not desirable that children shall be taught that rough hand labour is in itself as honourable as the elaborative toil of thought, which gives rational direction to the hand. The general who plans the battle, and directs the movement of his troops so that they secure victory, is of course the executive man in a far higher sense than the private soldier who mechanically obeys what he is ordered to do. The general may use his motor nerves only in issuing the words of command, while the private soldier may exert to the utmost every muscle in his body—yet the real executive is the general.” And he concludes that only in so far as manual training is calculated to develop the higher faculties, ought it to be regarded as a valuable branch of school education. The pupils’ minds must not however be fixed on the acquisition of manual dexterity, so that they think more of the “execution” than the musical thought—more of mere copying than of interpreting nature or the artist’s ideal.
PIANOFORTE TEACHING.
By Domenico Barnett, of the Leipzig Conservatorium.
Like every branch of school education, the teaching of the pianoforte requires consideration from two simultaneous points of view. Two all-important questions have to be answered with clearness and decision. What is, or what ought to be, the definite aim of the teacher? And what is the most efficacious process for achieving this aim?
As to the aim and purpose, we may happily dismiss, once and for all, the old and imbecile notion of the piano as a conventional “accomplishment”; in more accurate language an instrument of unintelligent and repulsive mechanical drudgery, calculated to eradicate from the pupil whatever modicum of music Nature might have bestowed on her. The cultivation of the piano for the sake of vain display is not yet obsolete. But though this unacknowledged object must inevitably continue to actuate many pupils and many parents, the teacher, so far from indulging it, should set his face sternly against it. It is true that it is his business to develop his pupils’ performing powers to the utmost of their varying capacities. But this practical and visible result is but subordinate and auxiliary to one which is infinitely higher. Not every pupil, however musically gifted, has it in her to become a fine executant, any more than fine execution implies, of itself, much beyond mere manual dexterity. But what the properly qualified teacher can do for all is to educate—that is to say to draw out—all that Nature has put into them: to show them what music means: to quicken and develop their musical feeling, be it much or little, by rendering it intelligent: to give their taste a foundation of right principle: to cultivate the ear and the brain as well as the hand: to put them in the right road for pursuing and perhaps specialising their studies after their school course is over: in short, to make them musicians, so far as musicians can be made.
The study of the pianoforte, then, is an indispensable means to a very large and serious end. There is no occasion to dwell upon the peculiar suitability of the piano as the basis of musical study. As to that, there are not, and cannot be, two opinions, even if universal experience had not settled the matter. Nor is it needful to dwell upon the qualifications to be required in a teacher. Every one knows the requisite qualifications of all teachers of all subjects. But it so happens that the teacher of the pianoforte, in any school where much is—as it ought to be—expected, has to contend with a peculiarly formidable list of preliminary difficulties, and to dispose of these before he can proceed to build upon a properly prepared ground. With these two topics, the preparatory and constructive portions of his duty to his pupils, to himself, and to his art, I will proceed to deal in as few words as the nature of so large a subject allows. And first, as to the commonest of all his obstacles, which is—
Previous Home Teaching (so-called).—Music, even more than with most other branches of education, should begin with careful, intelligent and systematic instruction at home. Yet how seldom does the teacher find this to be the case! A truly appalling ignorance of the merest rudiments is constantly found in girls of all ages on first coming to school, after six or seven years of “lessons from a master” or “from a lady”. In exceedingly few instances has any attempt been made to awaken a love of music, much less to lay a foundation for its serious study. Parents, one must presume, have not yet outgrown the delusion that anybody is good enough to start a child’s musical education; whereas it is precisely during the period preceding school life that instruction generally produces the most lasting results for good or for evil; and it is usually for evil. It may be that a certain—or uncertain—amount of mechanical fluency has been acquired, but to the total exclusion of all else; and this leads to a further grave difficulty for both teacher and pupil—
Insufficient Time.—There would be amply adequate time for musical progress at school if the ordinary pupil had not so much to unlearn. As things are, the inevitable strain upon a girl imposed by other studies renders the comparatively short time allotted to music a period of weariness of mind. The pupil, naturally enough, rebels against the severity of a proper course of study; and it is long before the most patient teacher can get his impatient pupil well in hand. He is thus sorely tempted to make a—
Compromise with Conscience.—This is not stating the matter a whit too strongly. Handicapped by wrong preliminary training and its consequences, the teacher, in order to render some result visible to parents and school authorities, often sacrifices substantial education to superficial display. How absolutely wrong this is, requires—it is to be hoped—no argument. But, inexcusable as it is on every principle of educational ethics, it is bound to be of constant occurrence wherever the school authorities fail to understand a music master’s duty, and to support him in doing it fearlessly and honestly, without respect to the ignorant impatience of parents or pupils who have not laid to heart the maxim of sat cito si sat bene.
In proceeding to the positive work of teaching, as distinguished from the preliminary task of un-teaching, it will be the simplest course to dismiss these only too formidable obstacles as non-existent or overcome, and to consider at what a teacher should aim who enjoys all the advantages that he can reasonably expect. Under the most disadvantageous conditions he can at any rate aim as high as circumstances allow. Let us suppose, then, that he has the inestimable advantage of a pupil who is a complete beginner, with everything to learn and nothing to unlearn. At the very outset—
A Feeling for Well-marked Rhythm should receive cultivation. This is perhaps most easily acquired where a kindergarten has been available, by marching round to strongly-marked tunes or even to the beat of a drum. This feeling—more or less instinctive with most, and seldom beyond acquisition by any—should, as soon as possible, be reduced to form and order by—
A Knowledge of Time System and the Key-board: that is to say, a thorough acquaintance with the notes on the key-board, so that they may be readily recognised by their shape, together with their equivalent rests and other signs belonging to the time system. All this should become instinctively familiar; and is followed in natural sequence by—
A Knowledge of the Scale System.—The beginner should be able to locate the several scales on the instrument and to understand their formation. But time ought not to be wasted by insisting too much upon scale practice, until the pupil’s hands are sufficiently strong. It will be quite sufficient, at this period of a course, to gain a thorough knowledge of the notes and fingering of the various scales and chords, great care being taken at the same time to cultivate a good position of hand and a proper use of the fingers themselves, by way of foundation for a good and sound technique. In the case of older and more advanced pupils who have been neglected in this direction, it should be constantly impressed upon their minds that this process is but a means to an end; that adequate interpretation of music is impossible without this mechanical exercise of the fingers, which must be trained to follow and express the most delicate nuance of their owner’s intention. On the other hand, such pupils—especially those gifted with a natural dexterity—should be warned that manual skill has nothing, as such, to do with music: that brilliant execution and the triumph over difficulties are neither more useful nor more admirable than dancing among eggs unless they are subordinate to the real sense and meaning of a composition. Having fairly mastered the notes, time and scale systems, the pupil is now in a position to be introduced to—
A Methodical Selection of Exercises and Pieces Presenting Varied Rhythmical Difficulty, beginning with the simplest, and gradually advancing to those of increased complexity. As the pupil advances, easy duets, dances, marches, etc., sometimes if possible accompanied by another instrument, may be given with advantage, insistence being laid upon a proper habit of counting time. This should not be done in a drawling, undecided manner, but with a clear, sharp and decided utterance. It ought not to be—but is—necessary to add that the production of a fine broad tone and proper touch should receive attention from the outset; and meanwhile, even from the earliest moment of her studies—
No Bad Music should be given to a Pupil for any Purpose, or under any Circumstances.—No doubt where a very bad state of taste exists, it is a matter of necessity to start from a comparatively low level of merit; because in respect of music, at any rate, a pupil should never be given what she cannot possibly understand. Dr. Arnold, it is true, used to say that if you only taught a boy what he could understand, you would teach him very little. But large margins must be allowed to large maxims, and had Dr. Arnold taught music, where the first and foremost thing is taste, instead of language, where the first and foremost thing is memory, he would have modified if not reversed his dictum. Yet though the pupil’s taste and intelligence may be at a low point, and require very simple fare, there is happily no lack of good music adapted to every degree of intelligence, and even of appetite; and under its influence it is surprising how soon any taste for the positively bad will imperceptibly pass away. Of course, the teacher will have to observe much thoughtful care in his selection of music in each individual case of this kind, always remembering two things—to give his pupil the best that she can comprehend, but never to surpass her comprehension. To read Shakspere in a kindergarten would not be worse waste of poetry and brains.
But it is not enough merely to avoid bad music—that can always be done. There is good music which may be as unsuitable to certain temperaments as it is suitable to others: and the teacher should be something of a psychologist in order to exercise his judgment prudently. Chopin’s would be bad music if given in large doses to a girl of sentimental and romantic temperament, though she would probably excel in it. She needs something of a more robust and less emotional character. Bach’s music, on the other hand, is always right for all and cannot be too much employed. For studies, Mr. Franklin Taylor’s judiciously selected Progressive Exercises may be safely and strongly recommended, as enabling the teacher to find, without trouble, instances, from the best composers, of every kind of difficulty.
The Musical Ear simultaneously demands attention. Some pupils have a natural gift for discerning, without reference to the instrument, the exact pitch of a musical sound. This is by no means a necessary indication of great musical ability; but it is unquestionably a very great advantage. Fortunately, it can to a considerable extent be cultivated in many cases where it does not exist naturally: and for this purpose there is nothing so efficacious as—
The Elementary Singing Class, which should be a portion of the curriculum of every school, and should be compulsory for every student of music. Properly conducted, this class cannot be valued too highly. In it, rudimentary theory is taught in a systematic and practical manner. Very few girls are able to think musically. To the best informed among them a major third consists of so many semitones, and can be found in so many scales; but when seen upon paper, the notes convey no idea of their proper sound. Here then, the pupil will be taught to recognise and sing all intervals and chords, and even to write them down from dictation. As practical instruction in time and rhythm forms an important portion of the lesson, the evil effects of the defective sustaining power of the pianoforte can be in a measure remedied. Franz Wüllner’s system is excellent.
Thus the mechanical portion of the pianoforte teacher’s work may be very beneficially supplemented and extended, by being placed in fresh lights under different conditions. The use and meaning of any study are never so manifest as when it is seen to be applicable in several directions.
Here concludes what may be regarded as the first period of instruction. Given sufficient time for practice, fair average ability and no physical defects to contend against, good results may reasonably be looked for. As the pieces selected for study assume a more important character, the pupil should be made to perceive how they are constructed; how one portion grows out of another; and by what artistic process a composition has obtained its symmetry and balance.
The Study of Harmony should now be begun. In addition to the study of part-writing and perhaps counterpoint, standard compositions should be carefully analysed. This gives a power of comprehension and appreciation quite apart from any capacity for interpretation, and probably better worth acquiring. Many persons combine considerable musical talent with a physical inability to achieve excellence as performers. Such of these who have persevered to this point will have learned to find an intellectual and sympathetic delight in the works of the great masters, and an artistic pleasure in the performance of their more gifted interpreters.
More successful executants may now proceed (when it is considered desirable) to the more serious study of scales and finger exercises, the teacher watching carefully for any signs of physical weakness. Willing but weak hands are too often injured by overwork, and the adoption of some means for strengthening them, suitable to each individual case, should be made an essential part of their training. Indeed the teacher would do well to make a careful study of the peculiarities of hands, very great difference of treatment being required in different cases. Some hands are so unfit for pianoforte playing as to make it a question whether it is worth while, for any reason, to continue the attempt. To return to scales and finger exercises—it will not be going too far to say that they cannot be practised too assiduously at this point. As a stimulus it may be found advisable to allow the pupil to avail herself of the numerous musical examinations so much in vogue at the present time. The plan adopted by Mr. Oscar Beringer in his Technical Studies is admirable, and strongly recommended. Musical memory should be assiduously cultivated. No piece of music can be said to be learned until it has been committed to memory. Any tendency of the process to impoverish the power of sight-reading can be adequately guarded against by the daily reading of new music.
A Regularly Organised System of Sight-reading Classes.—No school should be without such classes, and they should be for that matter supplemented by a few minutes each day to be occupied in playing through a new piece from beginning to end, without stop or interruption, however wild the blunders may be. These will soon become fewer and fewer. During the hours of solid practice, however, blunders are quite another matter, and those unable to help themselves in this respect require—
The Attentive Superintendence of Practice.—The time allowed for practice should be arranged to suit the requirements of the pupil, and need never be excessive or interfere with the general course of study. With care and thought, much good work may be done in a short time. A large proportion of pupils of all ages are unable to perceive their own faults, and the time for practice may thus become a means of forming and confirming fresh bad habits as fast as the old ones have been eradicated. Moreover, since the time allotted in schools to practice must needs be short, every moment of it should be utilised; and very clear explanations should therefore be given to those who superintend it of what is required as well as to the pupils themselves—explanations which should be punctiliously followed. There are also many cases in which the instruction of the promising or fairly well-trained young pupil may be almost entirely undertaken by a competent assistant teacher, but subject to the careful supervision of the master, who should be responsible for her proper progress.
Before closing these remarks, which have not been easy to render systematic or consecutive, it would be inexcusable in these days to omit all mention of—
Examinations.—This is too large a subject to be dwelt upon in relation to music alone. But it must needs be said that here again the temperament of pupils must be considered. In some cases good work is helped by examinations of one kind or another; in others it is hindered. On this subject we all have our own views. However, if they can be met easily and in the regular course of study, without forcing or cramming, or interrupting solid work, let them be undergone by all means. Otherwise their use becomes abuse, and frequently tends to entirely false ideas of the proficiency of those who pass them. An apparently low point may be substantially preferable to an apparently high one.
But no matter what point is reached, let it be thoroughly reached, even though the time occupied in attaining thoroughness be apparently deducted from what is required for further progress. The deduction is but seeming—not in reality. School work is neither the end, nor the whole, nor the largest, nor the most important portion of education. Far better for a girl is it to leave school able to play fairly well at sight, and to execute a moderately difficult or even easy piece faultlessly, than with the prestige of a brilliant performer which will crumble to pieces for want of a foundation as soon as she is left to her own resources. Another grand mistake, in the same connection, is made by parents who send children abroad for the continuation or completion of their musical education before, by having been properly and systematically grounded, they are able to reap the slightest benefit from foreign training. But, almost before all things, I would insist upon a good general education for all who show marked musical ability, and are thus justified in making music their special and paramount subject of study. Music is so absorbing a pursuit that it tends to narrowness by its own nature; and all that inclines to extend the outlook and enlarge the mind during the impressionable period of life, is even more important to the musician than to those who are engaged in pursuits of a less exclusive order. The really cultivated musician is a prize product of education; but the mere musician, who may be the mere executant, and nothing else, is the last sort of being that one would wish any school to evolve.
To conclude, there is perhaps no royal road to the successful study of anything; there is certainly none to the pianoforte. I have not attempted so vain a task as to try to make one. What I have undertaken is to point out the crags that must be faced with a stout heart, and the best and safest path—which is not necessarily the shortest—to the vast stores of intellectual pleasure and profit awaiting the aspirant long before the whole journey’s end.
THE VIOLIN.
By Lewis Hann.
The teaching of the violin in our schools has of late years attained a high grade of efficiency. The progress of musical education generally has been remarkable, but most especially so in the study of the violin, and perhaps no branch of the art demands so much of the teacher. It is not enough for him to be a good and brilliant performer; the real gifts which constitute the successful teacher are great patience, self-control, tact, discretion and a good knowledge of character. It is not judicious to lay down hard and fast laws, and pursue a certain beaten track in teaching, for no two pupils are constituted alike, and it is often desirable, according to the disposition of the pupil, to take a somewhat circuitous route to attain the desired goal. With really talented pupils, of course, no trouble whatever is experienced—it is the bringing into life hidden or dormant abilities in the less gifted which proves the art, science and experience of the teacher.
The establishment of a string orchestral or an ensemble class, even in a humble way, is of great advantage to violin students. Not only are the practices a source of pleasure and delight to the pupils, but they help greatly to improve them in the practice of sight-reading; and in the study of ensemble music they learn to give more serious attention to the marks of expression and to observe the nuances. Also by taking part themselves in the performance of important compositions they learn to appreciate these properly when they hear them rendered by great performers. It is well for the pupils to attend high-class concerts as frequently as possible; the earnest, observant student will derive great benefit and learn much that is invaluable from hearing good works performed by sound artists.
CLASS-SINGING.
By Florence Mosley, Pupil of Shakespeare.
Class-singing.Class-singing is good for all; it educates not the voice only, but ear, eye and memory. Classes of young children should not be composed of less than fifteen or twenty; if the voice of a pupil is too audible to herself and her neighbour, she becomes self-conscious and shy; in a fairly large class the pupil merely swells a general body of sound. In a class of thirty the teacher should be able easily to detect a defaulter; she should not however correct by name, as this tends to produce nervousness; she should indicate the direction from which the faulty sound proceeds. A few voices should not be allowed to predominate over the others, and care should be taken to prevent any over-exertion of voice.
Position is very important; the pupils should stand upright, with heels together and hands loosely clasped in front. Good order must be maintained, and thorough attention exacted.
The classes for young children should not exceed half an hour in length, but for elder pupils forty-five minutes to an hour is desirable.
Notation.In each lesson a few test questions on notation should be given, and in order to avoid the answers proceeding only from a few of the more musical or quicker pupils, all answers should be written.
Ear tests.Ear tests are best taught by taking the middle C as a starting-point, the pupils being required to give the name of every note struck within the octave, and also of the interval so formed; when they are thoroughly familiar with all the sounds contained in that octave, the process should be repeated with another note as the tonic. Having written the ear tests, they should proceed to sing them, the conductor striking a note upon the piano and requiring the class to pitch any interval he mentions either above or below that note, without assistance from the instrument. By this means the pupils become familiar with the relation of one note to another, and so find no difficulty in reading.
Dictation.Musical dictation is another important means of training the ear; the melody of a simple well-known tune—if possible within the compass of an octave—should be played over; the key and starting-note being given to the class, they should be required to write down the notes of the melody from memory. At first it will be found necessary to play the tune over several times, until the class becomes used to the exercise. To more advanced classes more elaborate melodies can be given, and the harmonies filled in.
Rhythm.This is best taught by making each member of the class beat time, while the conductor plays tunes of various measures on the instrument used for accompanying the class. This enables the pupils to realise the strong and weak beats.
Another way is to dictate the notes of a melody to the class, making the pupils fill in the bar lines and time signature.
Reading at sight.The pupils should first read unaccompanied single notes from the blackboard, followed by easy exercises in unison, and then exercises in two or three parts; the more advanced classes should read some oratorio music and standard works.
Voice production.Purity rather than volume of sound should be insisted upon; the former can be satisfactorily obtained only by a series of diaphragm breathing exercises, which will result in the throat being left free and open. The first vocal exercises should consist of simple vowel sounds, sung on every note from the middle C to the fourth space in the treble clef. These should be followed by tuned consonants, “koo” being most useful for bringing the tone forward. Sustained notes should then be practised, also major, minor and chromatic scales.
Singing in parts.On receiving the part-song the pupils should be called upon to give the key, time and form of the composition. The simplest method of teaching young children to hold their several parts is to give them simple canons and rounds. In a two-part song the whole class should first learn the seconds and then the firsts; when thoroughly conversant with both parts, the class should be divided, the pupils being called upon to sing either firsts or seconds at any time. When the notes have been learnt the words should be committed to memory and the part-song sung without copies of the music; we thus train the memory, enable the pupils to stand in good position and to give full attention to the conductor’s beat. Elder classes may be taught to sing in three or four parts, but much care is needed in the selection of part-songs, as it is difficult to get compositions with a small enough compass to avoid straining either in the upper or lower registers of young and untrained voices. I need hardly add how much choral singing helps to promote a feeling of sympathy, a right kind of emulation, and a fuller appreciation of beautiful compositions than can be gained by solo singing or passive listening.
SINGING. TONIC SOL-FA.
By Rhoda Rooney, Certif. Fröbel Society, Cl. 1.
The Tonic Sol-fa system is one which gives every advantage for producing good and accurate sight-singing, and this without the aid of a piano or any other instrument. The pupils can test the notes as they proceed by referring to the Doh from which they start, and which is regarded as the governing note of the scale or piece.
The Doh is not necessarily middle C on the piano, but is the tonic of any major scale, all the notes of which have a certain association with each other and with the governing Doh. This relationship of sounds can be felt by the pupils as they listen attentively to the first easy patterns sung by the teacher for their imitation, thereby discovering what is understood by the “mental effect of sound”. Sufficient practice of sounds with “the modulator” gives familiarity with the notes of the scale, change of key, or pitch in any relation, and it will be found that it becomes almost impossible for the class to sing out of tune. The Tonic Sol-fa hand-signs practised with the modulator are a very considerable help, whether the class is composed of little children or adults.
Time is indicated by lines and dots. A perpendicular line is placed before a strong beat or pulse, and a colon before a weak pulse. A single dot divides the beat in half, and a comma is used to show the division of a quarter beat. A horizontal line shows a tied note, or its equivalent, and a rest is represented by a blank.
Three-pulse measure—Doh is E.
The great advantage of the Tonic Sol-fa system over any other is the definite and graduated ear-training which the pupils must derive from it, rendering the singing true and accurate, however poor the voices may be.
It is also of great use in developing the voice and training the ear of those who are older, and have for some reason neglected all musical and vocal culture.
Books recommended—Curwen’s Tonic Sol-fa Courses and The School Music Teacher, by Evans and McNaught. Publishers, Curwen & Sons.
ELOCUTION.
By Rose Seaton.
The speaking voice is often left to what we are pleased to call “Nature”; but a natural voice and a fine speaker are like the language of the race, the product of cultivation.
Weak and toneless voices are frequently the result of faulty production. We may divide the vocal apparatus into three parts: (1) Lungs; (2) Larynx; (3) Mouth. Consider the functions of each separately, and afterwards their relations to one another.
Great care is needed to develop the lungs, that they may store the requisite quantity of air and supply the waste of it constantly and silently; breath control is of primary importance.
In reading aloud, teaching, lecturing, the air in the lungs should be felt as an active force. All speech is uttered on the outgoing current of breath. The vocal chords in the “voice box” or larynx close when sound is made, and toneless or woolly voices show that the chords are slack and the breath is passing through without being used for sound, as when the bow of a violin passes over loosened strings. Note that the larynx should never be tightened by the band or collar of the dress.
The three principal resonators for sound are: the bones of the chest, the head bones, and the roof of the mouth.
Right position is very important. Both in standing and sitting the muscles should support the body so that the lungs may expand easily. To inhale and hold a deep breath is a silent and useful practice. It strengthens the walls of the thorax, develops the lungs, steadies the action of the heart, and consequently the voice.
The habit of bending the body over a desk or book, of sitting with the spine curved outward and the chest collapsed, of standing with the weight upon one foot, especially upon the heel, should be avoided. It is not enough to speak, but to speak well.
All articulations are made in the mouth, and the sound must reach the point where the letter is formed; the place of the letter in the mouth must be understood, and the quality of it.
The alphabet is best divided into four groups: (1) Vowels; (2) Explosive consonants; (3) Vibrative consonants; (4) Toneless letters.
Every word in English is complete in itself, and no letter must be omitted or joined to another. The omission or slurring of the small words constantly mars the sense; stress is not required, but distinct utterance. A small voice, if the articulation is distinct, will travel far, while a loud, ungoverned organ creates confusion of sound and cannot be understood; nor should the speaker maintain a fixed pitch, but allow the voice to pass through many gradations of sound, and endeavour to express the language naturally and musically.
DRAWING, PAINTING, Etc.
By Pauline M. Randerson,
National Silver and Bronze Medallist (Painting); Art Master’s Certificates, I., II. and III., Science and Art Department; Teacher-Artist’s Certificate, Royal Drawing Society; Drawing Teacher to the Princesses Marie and Victoria of Edinburgh, 1884; Art Mistress, Cheltenham Ladies’ College.
Mr. Ruskin says, “Accuracy and rapidity of perception ... are especially what masters and schools can teach”. Also, that “All qualities of execution are influenced by, and in a great degree dependent on, a far higher power than mere execution—knowledge of the truth”. With Fröbel’s teaching, and these thoughts in mind, we observe the first attempts of children at drawing. They draw from memory, and their drawings exhibit their knowledge of the things drawn. Natural drawing of children.In the first lessons we do not interfere with their own natural method, but we help them to further investigation by encouraging them to look again at the object, asking them questions about it, and drawing with them. We give exercises for the hand, wrist and arm, by running the pencil round cardboard shapes of simple geometric or ornamental forms; also by repeating straight and curved lines on squared paper. Brushwork.We foster their love of colour and train their inventive powers, by using the brush. If we take a brush and fill it with colour, we can (without any effort of drawing) produce two simple units or elements. If the point only touches the paper, we have a dot; if the side, we have a form determined by the size and shape of the brush. Simple designs.We use these elements on a network of squares (of sufficient size), and find them capable of producing the simplest possible designs. By adding short lines, both straight and curved, drawn with the point of the brush, we increase our power and variety. With the same elements we can approximately imitate some very easy natural forms, but as “it does not train the child to great accuracy,” we are very careful to choose such flowers, leaves, insects, etc., as these simple means can most nearly represent. Line drawing.We continue our practice in drawing lines on squares for two reasons, viz., it is an easy method (greatly used by designers) of drawing patterns, in which every variety of straight and curved lines may be used and placed in all conceivable positions, hence great facility of line drawing may be acquired, the influence of which will be felt in the writing exercises, and new combinations may be made by the children themselves; also, many simple drawings of objects may be done, with the advantage of being true in their proportions, before any actual training has been given in that particular. We do not allow the use of india-rubber in this practice.
Brushwork proper.Our next use of the brush is for real drawing; the matter for our designs being no longer mere accidental forms, but such as require actual drawing like those on Greek vases. The flexibility of the brush, and natural movement of the wrist, render it easy to produce these forms which are varied in shape and thickness by pressure. The network of squares may be abandoned in favour of filling spaces (such as the cardboard shapes previously mentioned) with ornamental arrangements.
Proportions obtained with the ruler.We come at length to study proportions by the aid of the ruler. Straight lines of various lengths are ruled; these are divided into simple proportions. Exercises are given in judging the relative lengths of lines drawn on the blackboard, etc. Squares and oblongs are constructed. Simple flat objects with straight edges are used as models; they are measured and drawn with the aid of the ruler. The drawings are always of correct proportions though the size may be varied, the measurements being reduced to 1⁄2, 1⁄4, 1⁄3, etc. The relation of this work to arithmetic is apparent.
Proportional measurements with the pencil.We give much time to teaching the use of the pencil for measuring proportions thus: one eye is closed, the pencil is held up between the eye and the object, at arm’s length away; the thumb indicates on the pencil the apparent length of the part to be measured, which (by moving the hand still kept at the same distance) can be compared with the whole until its true relationship is ascertained.
Memory drawing.We give exercises in drawing from memory all along the course, the subjects being chiefly animal forms so interesting to children. Object drawing.We now pass on to drawing from flat objects having some curved as well as straight edges. Let us suppose we have chosen a Japanese hand-screen, which we hang on the blackboard parallel to the class. The size of the drawings is first determined. The proportions are thought out and indicated. Construction.The model is handed round the class, attention being called to its construction. When replaced in its original position, the curved edges are compared with straight lines to ascertain their true nature.
A drawing is then made on the blackboard, the class following step by step. When complete the drawings may be tinted with flat washes of colour. The pattern may be drawn with the brush or a new one invented.
Foreshortening.Mr. Taylor reminds us that “it required all the ages to the fifteenth century of our era to master the laws of foreshortening”. To introduce these “laws” we use straight-edged flat objects, such as a map or picture on the wall. We sit, not now facing the model as before, but so that one edge may be described as being nearer to us, another farther from us, and two receding. Appearances.We have to deal with appearances rather than realities. The edges we know to be horizontal, no longer appear so; we compare them with the pencil held horizontally until we realise the angle they make with it. The width has apparently grown much less and must be compared with the front edge. The farther edge, which we know to be the same length as the nearer one, now looks shorter. Thus we think out the apparent changes and make our drawing accordingly. In the same way we draw the top of a table, and when able to do so correctly we place flat objects with curved edges on the wall or table, or diagrams with curved lines on them, and by comparing the curves with straight lines we realise their apparent forms.
Class and individual teaching.In consequence of the children having each a different view of the model, it is more satisfactory to take a very small class, giving each one as much personal attention as possible until they get accustomed to the work.
It is well to have some work of a more popular nature to alternate with these lessons in foreshortening. For instance, the brush may be used for painting easy leaves, flowers, etc., direct from nature, or for flat tinting of ornamental forms drawn from copies or the cast.
Plane geometry.Exercises in drawing from written descriptions, involving knowledge of simple geometric terms and figures, should also be given.
Model drawing.We proceed to model drawing proper, working in the same way as in the lessons on foreshortened planes; obtaining as accurately as possible the angles at which lines appear to recede; measuring the widths of receding planes and comparing distant lines with near ones. Perspective.We have to deal with perspective, “the science of appearances,” and we do this in the most practical way. We realise that it is only too possible to teach this subject in a wrong manner, by putting rules in the place of accurate observation. We therefore evolve our perspective sketch from the model and find it a great help to intelligent drawing. We frequently draw our models from memory. Alternating with these lessons we frequently take a course of elementary shading. Individual tastes.We encourage the child in its own natural preferences and mode of expression, having an excellent opportunity for doing so in the work done at home during the week, and especially during the vacation.
Suggestive drawing.We seek to modify the rather stiff and rigid kind of drawing hitherto necessarily done, knowing that higher art demands a suggestive treatment. We use such natural forms as fruit, flowers, foliage, of which we draw such lines as seem best to interpret them. Growth.We study very carefully their growth or development. We use also casts of animals, human features, etc.
Shading.We endeavour to make our shading course a good foundation for painting. We give exercises in flat tinting and graduating to obtain power over the material (chalk, charcoal, pencil or otherwise) and to ascertain its possibilities. We draw from objects having flat planes such as a cube, placed so as to receive a strong contrast of light and shade; from cylindrical or other rounded objects, in which we study specially the shaded side with its reflected light, and the position of the high light. We work from groups of objects of various colours, trying to obtain their relative tones, textures, etc.
Sacrifice.We try to arouse interest in the light itself, showing (by working with the class) how we must sacrifice minor details to emphasise its play on the group; Mystery.also in the mystery of shade, wherein reflected lights must often be subdued and details lost. Pupils have to draw also from memory.
The figure or painting may follow.
No originality is claimed for the methods and course advocated. They are founded on the desire to be educationally useful, interesting to the pupil, and a good ground on which to build artistic work in painting and designing for wood carving, china painting, needlework, etc.
BRUSH DRAWING.
By Mary Farbrother, Cert. Fröbel Society.
All children take pleasure in drawing. Who has not seen a baby make unintelligible strokes on a piece of paper, at the same time exclaiming, “See, a chicken!” “a train!” “a gee-gee!” But the pleasure caused by such productions is not to be compared with the delight with which a child of three or four years old will handle a brush, dip it in the paint, and then produce a coloured impression on the paper. The happy laughter of the baby as he sees his flower or leaf appear will not soon be forgotten by those who have put this magic wand into tiny hands. And the interest derived from brush drawing does not pass away. Each year the child will be able to obtain truer representations of the objects he attempts to reproduce, and every fresh effort will give pleasure anew to the child and the teacher.
Brush drawing may be regarded from an educational standpoint. Many useful papers have been printed showing its educational value, and the help it gives in developing the artistic sense, powers of observation, etc.
With very little children it seems best to keep to the simplest exercise for some time, and to let them represent any leaves, flowers or insects, which can be made with the flat impression of the brush; they will soon learn to hold the brush perpendicularly, and thus obtain thin lines for stems and branches, and the finer parts of other objects. Later on they will be able to represent the forms of various animals, as well as an infinite variety of flowers and leaves.
It is most essential that the class should have the real object to observe and copy, and whenever possible a specimen should be given to each child, for, as Ruskin says, “The sight is more important than the drawing”; and an earnest seeking after truth and accuracy must leave its impression on the character.
PAINTING.
By Arthur Richardson, Pupil of Bougereau, Paris.
Let beginners have real objects to draw from, or any plaster casts of ornaments which can be made sufficiently interesting. An H.B. pencil is the best to use at first, which may be changed for a B. or B.B. as more shading is required, until the pupil is ready for the more vigorous qualities of charcoal. Use the charcoal in stick on a rather rough paper, with bread for correction and picking out lights; in fact, use the bread as if it were a white paint. It is better to substitute charcoal for chalk and stump as it is quicker in execution. For complete representation, oil colour gives the fullest range of light and shade possible.
Pupils should not spend time in elaborating and finishing, from which little knowledge is gained; it is better spent in mastering new difficulties than in making tidy an old drawing.
Let it be clearly grasped before beginning what sort of a drawing is going to be made, and how the result is to be reached. One can generally explain better by working on the pupil’s own drawing, but one must encourage unaided effort. Each new study should present fresh difficulties: one must insist on precision, especially in the drawing and placing of shadows and bright lights. Learners should try to get every touch right at first, and never knowingly paint or shade an incorrect tone.
Perspective should be taught from real objects; a few simple rules are sufficient: rules must be used to assist the eye in getting directions right, not to take the place of looking to see how lines actually do go. Though geometric models give all necessary problems in drawing (till we come to study from the human figure), yet they are less interesting than other things.
Let the first study for complete shading or painting be something that has an evident brightest light and a fairly dark bit of shadow. A big jug partly glazed is a capital subject. If the darkest and lightest spots are got right first, the intermediate tones will come easily. So long as colour is made harmonious, treat it as of secondary importance to correct tone. Choose colours partly for tonic possibilities, say red, blue and yellow, two of each, one dark and one light, rather bright than otherwise. Groups of objects, or still life, are perhaps the most interesting subjects till the pupil is ready to draw from life. Drapery, a curtain or long cloak, thrown over the back of a chair makes a good study.
A knowledge of the proportions of the skeleton is most useful when drawing from life; more especially if only a draped model can be given.
A certain amount of drawing from the antique is necessary before beginning from the human figure, which is the best and highest study both for drawing, tone and colour.
FRESCO.
By Eadie Reid, Pupil of Sir W. B. Richmond, R.A., K.C.B.
The value of drawing for decorative purposes has been neglected in the past. An effort is being made to remedy this by the teaching of the principles of ornament and the laws of decorative art-form. The study of Greek Ceramic art shows the important part that the brush plays in the formation of conventional form. It is therefore essential before dealing with the theories of design or composition that a thorough mastery over the brush be acquired. The shapes which the pressure of the brush gives us, will enable us with ease to trace the evolution of pattern from the primitive zig-zag or dot and line to the subtly graceful scrolls and meanders of later times.
Before proceeding to more advanced problems in design we must confine our attention to the filling of spaces, such as squares, oblongs and circles, with these simple brush marks suggesting buds, leaves, flowers, etc. For this purpose we can find no better models than the Greek vase and the skilful brush renderings of Japanese art. When the student has succeeded in arriving at something like an original composition, we must be careful to insist upon the value of sound, well understood growth running through the whole scheme, while simplicity of line and originality of thought should be encouraged. The application of the principles of design ought to be demonstrated by cartoons showing the ornament designs of different races and ages. It would be advisable to work these before the student, showing every line of their construction, stage by stage, until we have a clear workmanlike drawing upon a fairly large scale.
When the pupils can express themselves with freedom, an actual piece of work should be taken in hand, such as panels for a cabinet or piano, the designing of surface decoration, wall-papers, hangings; the use of the stencil and frieze painting. Ladies can very well produce such friezes on the walls of their houses; some in Cheltenham have been most satisfactorily conceived and executed in tempera, while others are designing panels and frieze decorations with a view to their execution in situ.
CHINA PAINTING.
By Minna Crawley, Silver Medallist.
Any one possessing some knowledge of drawing or painting may acquire the technique of china painting without either much difficulty or expenditure of time.
China painting possesses many features of interest which make it both a useful and attractive study for young people. It is one of the very oldest forms of art—a fact interesting of itself. The revivals in majolica, faience, and many other kinds of ware of late years, show how widespread the appreciation of the factile art has become; and with the desire for good form and substance has come that of the most suitable decoration of it.
Much may be gained in the knowledge of design by the adaptation of decoration to different styles, so as to suit the form to be ornamented. This develops also originality and manual dexterity, and tests patience; no work in this branch can be completed without the process of “firing,” which assuredly “tries every man’s work”; for while it brings to perfection the colours, and gives the necessary strength and gloss, it also fixes and brings into strong relief every error—and warns against future mistakes.
Vases, flower-pots, tiles for fire-places, dessert services, tea-sets and many useful household articles can be ornamented; and thus taste cultivated and the home beautified.
ART NEEDLEWORK.
By Minna Crawley.
The artistic faculty latent in so many women who perhaps have never studied drawing or painting, has in this accomplishment been developed quickly and more easily than in the higher class of art.
Art needlework cultivates the taste for design, colouring and general effect; and is also interesting as an ancient revival.
The old historical tapestries, both English and foreign, have been freshly studied of late, as well as the ecclesiastical work of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; some of this beautiful work has been equalled if not excelled in some of our modern schools of needlework. There can be no doubt that needlework, from “high art” embroidery down to the plain sewing and making of garments, is excellent for girls, and it is to be hoped that the use of the needle will never be given up in our schools or homes. Both art and plain needlework are now being successfully carried on, even with the very limited time that can be devoted to them, by the pupils of the Cheltenham Ladies’ College.
WOOD-CARVING, Etc.
By M. S. Lyndon Smith, Honours Certificate, Class I., School of Wood-carving, South Kensington.
Wood-carving and kindred handicrafts, which can be used for forming and beautifying the common objects in daily use, have much educational value; they help to develop the æsthetic faculties, and give habits of neatness and accuracy and dexterity, and although children at school cannot be turned into finished artists, an incentive may be given at school; and we may discover in seemingly dull children faculties which, without manual instruction, would remain dormant.
Incidental teaching may be given to elder children in the history of ornamental design, its uses, purposes and meaning; also its inseparable connection with architecture explained, so that they may be the better able to understand the beauties of our own cathedrals, and compare these intelligently with the work of other countries and times. For those who can never attain to great proficiency, an intelligent interest may be awakened in the work of those to whom we owe the renaissance of handicraft, which is so characteristic a factor of our own century.
MODELLING.
By Evangeline Stirling, National Gold Medallist for Modelling, Nääs Certificate for Sloyd.
No better definition of modelling can be given than this: “As carving is the art of cutting down, so modelling is the art of building up”.
Modelling develops the power of observation, for to imitate we must observe closely, and only by close observation can we learn to appreciate the beautiful which is enshrined in those grand specimens of ancient Greek sculpture which have come down to us, and to which the untrained eye is blind. The sense of touch is quickened to a remarkable degree, for the subtle modelling of a surface necessitates not only its close observation by the eye, but its perception by the hand. Also the hand becomes cunning in dealing with the material, and the power of construction is brought out. It is a sure foundation for drawing and technical education, and instances are not wanting of its utility in the higher branches of learning. Any plastic material may be the medium, but clay is mostly used.
Tools.The first and chief tools are the hands and fingers, but one or two others, the shapes of which will be suggested by the necessities of the work, may be added later on. A modelling board or slate, a straight-edged piece of wood and a sponge are required.
Teaching (class and individual).Beginning in the kindergarten, modelling should continue without a break through the ordinary term of school life. In the elementary stage class teaching is of the greatest value, but no such class should contain more than eighteen pupils. The advanced stage will require most individual teaching.
Elementary.Studies should be chosen from a carefully graduated course, the elementary stage beginning (after the kindergarten) with natural objects such as simple fruits, some of which the pupils may have already made, but which must now be modelled on a larger scale and with more intelligence and accuracy. They should then pass on to more difficult fruits, vegetables, leaves (taken singly and then on the branch), then objects such as a worn slipper, etc., etc.
Lesson to class.Each child should be provided with a duplicate of the object, sufficient plastic material, a suitably shaped board and a sponge. Equipped in like manner let the teacher build up a model in view of the class, giving the reason for each step as she proceeds. The first ten or fifteen minutes of a lesson following the completion of a work, should be devoted to the modelling of a small memory sketch of the last object executed.
Advanced stage.In the advanced stage the objects of study should be chiefly casts and natural foliage, flowers, simple drapery, casts of simple ornament of bold design, but not too geometric: animals’ heads, or the enlarged human features as Michael Angelo’s “David,” masks of antique heads, hands, feet and whole heads.
Note.Casts must always be of the best and those most approved for art training. Natural objects must be such as lend themselves to artistic representation. As a rule, the models should be executed in the round, and only at the end of the course should bas-relief modelling (where foreshortening must be resorted to) be allowed, for this is the most difficult of all plastic work.
Should there be any marked artistic talent it will have shown itself before the end of the course, when the pupil may be allowed to specialise.
SLOYD.
By Evangeline Stirling.
Sloyd, as taught at Nääs in Sweden, its headquarters, is the most perfect educational system of handwork in wood which has yet been produced. It is suitable for girls as well as boys of the ages of ten and eleven and upwards.
Each child is required to make a series of useful articles called models, in which round work and the square work of the carpenter are duly alternated; and each model introduces, with the nicest regard to the graduation of difficulties, some new tool or fresh exercise with a tool. It is used as a means of developing physical power and of forming character and habit, rather than of attaining utilitarian ends. The tools are mostly those ordinarily used by a carpenter, with three or four extra ones, viz., the knife, the axe, the draw-knife and the spoon-iron. Specially shaped carpenters’ benches, adapted to the size of work done, are also used.
CONCLUSION.
RELATION OF SCHOOL TO HOME.
By Dorothea Beale.
So far we have spoken of the life of the child in the school. I now enter on another branch of the subject no less important, which in a book intended for teachers I shall treat from a teacher’s point of view.
I have spoken of the great change which has taken place during the last fifty years. In the days of Locke, of Rousseau, of Sandford and Merton, and of the Edgeworths, it was only possible to educate a boy by a private tutor at home. Now the sons of the nobility are no longer educated in their own homes, nor sent, as in earlier days, to other families. A similar change has taken place in the education of girls; every year more of those who would formerly have received their education entirely from governesses and masters at home, or at most gone to a very small boarding school, are studying as day-pupils at large schools and colleges, or living in boarding-houses. The question arises then, since the time is in the case of day-girls divided between the school and the home, how shall the relations between the two be adjusted? In the case of the day-girl, about eleven-twelfths of her time are spent at home; in the case of the boarder, nearly a third of the year. Everything must depend upon the harmonious working of the home and the school, if the education is to be profitable, and the problem requires the most careful attention. Teachers full of zeal and devotion are eagerly seeking to deepen their knowledge, to widen their experience, and when they have come to the conclusion that a well-proportioned curriculum is necessary for mental development, that early specialisation is harmful, that daily distractions are wasting the nervous energy of the growing girl, they are aggravated by hearing, “Mother thinks geometry is no good for a girl”; “Please, I am to drop my English lessons, and give nearly all my time to music”; or, “I could not do my lessons because I was at a bazaar”; or, “Friends invited me”; or, “Mother does not approve of my working in the holidays”.
And then they are tempted to do what specialists in all ages have tried to do—to set up a beneficent despotism, to say, “I am Sir Oracle, and when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!” I once heard the Head of a College address a body of teachers, advising them what to say to an opposing mother: “My dear madam, I know what is best for your child”. There are doctors who assume a dictatorial attitude, but what should we say, if a mother let the child go on taking his medicine without expostulation, when it seemed to be injuring the child; or, on the other hand, refused to give the child medicine which was beneficial, because the child did not like it? As the doctor needs to listen to the experience of the mother, and the mother to carry out the advice of the doctor, so do parents need to trust the children’s teacher in matters of which an educational expert can form the best judgment, and teachers, like doctors, need to profit by the experience of the parent, and should be willing to give reasons for their advice, knowing that the more their patient understands, the more intelligently will he carry out the directions given.
But how shall this be? Well, as a quickened sense of the supreme importance of education has been awakened in teachers, so has it in parents. But mothers cannot in these days lead quiet lives, and devote themselves to the home as they once could. The multiform external activity, which we have noticed among women workers, has its good side even as regards family life, for the family that lives for itself alone can no more lead a healthy life than the individual, but it has its dangers too. We all know how great are the claims of society, of culture, of philanthropy, right in themselves, yet sometimes displacing a higher claim. All of us, specially mothers and teachers, want to know how to conciliate the rival duties, lest the words should be said to us, “Thine own vineyard hast thou not kept”.
It is of the very greatest importance for the child’s character, that there should be complete co-operation between home and school. Consider the difference between home and school discipline; I may say that the home government is personal—there is not strict system and unvarying law. A girl comes down late to breakfast; or she is in the drawing-room when she should be in the study. She chooses friends and books that the mother disapproves, and there is irritation: the mother expostulates, the child is provoked. In the school on the other hand there is inexorable law, the consequence of neglect must be borne, there is no scolding, no entreaty. It will be an advantage to the home to have a little more rule, and to the school to have children brought up with some of the freedom which must be theirs one day.
The child who sees the mother yield up her own power to law, bearing inconvenience, denying herself pleasure, and what is harder still, denying it to her child, will learn to respect duty, and impose laws on herself.
Besides this, there are ways by which fuller co-operation may be brought about. All professions find the advantage of meeting together to discuss their special problems. There is the Teachers’ Guild on the one hand, and a Parents’ Educational Union on the other. I have tried in vain to bring these together here. The guild is too professional for the parent; it does seem, however, as if the newly-established Child Study Society might unite both. A fair number have joined the child study evenings and given valuable help. In the Pedagogical Seminary for July, 1897, which is a mine of valuable suggestions for parents and teachers, there is an interesting account of the way in which the school and the home have worked together in solving educational problems.
The movement initiated by the able president of Clarke University, U.S.A., for founding a science of education upon systematised observation is a most important one; it will help to build up a true philosophy upon facts, and so save us from the aimless talk of mere theorisers who want to square circles, or to discover the philosopher’s stone.
A good library, accessible to parents and teachers, which should contain books and periodicals not written exclusively for the profession, would be a great help. A niche in the general school library might perhaps be reserved for parents.
I have found much advantage from throwing open such lectures as I give in our large hall to parents and Heads of Houses. Many come to a scripture lesson given to Division I. collectively, and to literature lessons; some have joined our Plato or Browning readings, and occasionally have been present at lectures given in the training department. It is quite usual for mothers to accompany their daughters to the “Cours” in Paris. Of course parents could not attend schools ad libitum, but it need not be quite a terra incognita.
The head mistress in many schools sets apart certain hours for seeing parents; could it not be arranged that each class teacher should have some free time for seeing parents of her pupils, especially at the beginning of a new year? There is much to be said against evening visiting, and ordinary social meetings would be useless for the purpose of discussing difficulties. It is a great matter to substitute candid discussion for fault-finding to third parties; we shall not always agree, but we shall learn to respect one another’s opinions, to understand one another’s difficulties, and to work more effectually with one another in the difficult, sacred task committed to us. So far from finding parents generally anxious to interfere, I have difficulty in persuading them that I earnestly desire they should tell me of anything that needs attention.
The essential thing is that there should be co-operation and a sort of concordat between the school and the home. Certain rules agreed on:—
1. There must be a room for study and certain hours fixed for home work, which must not be altered without grave reason.
2. Late parties, bazaars, theatricals, etc., etc., must generally be allowed only in the vacation.
3. No absence from school, no coming back late, no excuses for unprepared lessons should ever be permitted, except for some very sufficient reason—never because pleasure was preferred to duty.
4. If parents and teachers differ, that difference should be discussed by neither in the presence of the child.
5. Parents should take interest in the school work; ask to see the written work; get to know the teachers and friends of their children; attend lectures, if possible, and supplement school lessons by home reading; perhaps join some common society, e.g., Teachers’ Guild, Parents’ Educational Union, or Child Study Society.
6. Teachers should invite and welcome any communications from parents, should try to know something of the home life.
7. Submission should be required in things lawful from the beginning, and the reins loosened as children grow up: the reverse method is fatal.
8. Parents should not allow the children to read indiscriminately. Distaste for intellectual work is created by exciting novels; irreparable injury is done to the moral nature by letting children enter into sympathy in imagination with the base and impure.
9. The only safeguard is to provide in the home good literature, and to read with the children. Especially should holidays be utilised as a means of learning how to spend time rightly in after-life, and some regular and independent study undertaken during long holidays.
10. Health should never be sacrificed to fashion. High heels, tight-lacing, etc., etc., should be absolutely impossible. Woollen clothing, a carefully studied dietary, regular hours, sufficient sleep, well-ventilated bedrooms, daily baths, proper artificial light, suitable seats and tables, all these things which are studied in boarding-schools should be considered also in the home. Care should be taken in avoiding infection.
11. In planning the studies and life-work of children, parents and teachers should be guided, not by the consideration of what they want the children to be, but of what they are; the special gifts of God are to be specially cultivated, and both should ask, “Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?” Pascal’s father forbade mathematics. Some parents insist on music unwisely.
12. Especially should parents use Sunday rightly; the religious instruction of their children maybe given at school, but the home reading has much to do with this, and the example.
13. Children should have a regular allowance of money from quite early years, and be trained to spend it rightly, and to keep accounts.
14. Should it be impossible for the home supervision and training to be carried out in harmony with the day school, either a private governess should be engaged, or the children sent from home as boarders.
SECTION II.
THE MORAL SIDE OF EDUCATION.
By Lucy H. M. Soulsby, of the Manor House School, Brondesbury Park. N.W., late Head Mistress of Oxford High School.
Lord, with what care hast thou begirt us round!
Parents first season us: then schoolmasters
Deliver us to laws; they send us bound
To rules of reason.
George Herbert.
Many girls leave college with a vague idea that they had better take up teaching, because it is the only way of earning a livelihood for which they are in the least prepared. Unfortunately their preparation, too often, consists merely in having been taught themselves. Having eaten dinners is some preparation for the career of a cook, but not much; and these young teachers may perhaps find an educational cookery-book useful! The comparison does not hold good altogether, for almost every woman has the instinct of motherhood in her, which makes her more or less a born teacher, while it is only a few who are born cooks. Still, every young woman finds help in talking to an older one, who has had the same work, made probably the same mistakes, and has found a practical way out of them. We all value practical experience; what else is training but practical experience systematised? But it is not every young teacher who has an experienced friend at hand, or who can afford to be regularly trained. It is hoped that this book may be, in printed form, such talk as she would welcome had she an experienced friend at hand.
The self-education of the teacher should include (a) Mental leisure.The high pressure at which most people live is not favourable to much individual thought. A girl at college may well feel that her three years there are the great opportunity of her life for taking in the ideas of living leaders of thought, and for making friends with her equals. She is hardly to be blamed if every moment of her day is occupied with hard work, anxiety about her schools, and with the social amusements which are part of the education of college life. Still, this full and happy life involves a danger that should be guarded against, a danger lest the girl should be so much occupied in living her own life, that she has no leisure to stop and think out what should be the principles and the aim to guide her in moulding—as every teacher does—the lives of others.
(b) Knowledge of the world.The moral thoughtfulness, which Dr. Arnold demanded of his VI. Form, is the main requisite for a true teacher: no dexterity in imparting knowledge will make her an educator if this is lacking. The study of character and practical casuistry, though not on the list of “final schools” at any university, is yet the most indispensable of all “schools” for a teacher. It may well be that her opportunities of gaining knowledge of the world are restricted by her circumstances. College is her furthest flight, and this is a world of its own with the disadvantage of being disproportionately peopled by too many of one generation. Under ordinary conditions of family life, the rising generation is kept in touch with maturer ideas by a fair proportion of uncles and aunts, as well as by fathers and mothers; but, at college, the niece’s world is narrowed (though this is not usually the light in which it strikes them) by the exclusion of aunts! College undoubtedly gives much knowledge of character to a thoughtful student, but its experiences need to be brought into true proportion by comparison with the larger world beyond.
There are many novels, essays and biographies which afford a good substitute for knowledge of the world to the girl who has a quiet home, besides the many books bearing directly on the study and formation of character, which every teacher and mother and elder sister should read. Such are: Sir Henry Taylor’s autobiography and letters, The Memorials of Miss Charlotte Williams Wynne; all Sir Arthur Helps’ works and Mr. Hutton’s essays. Miss Mozley has written two volumes of essays which are full of delicate insight into character: one, Social Essays, reprinted from The Saturday Review, can only be obtained second-hand, but her Essays from Blackwood are still in print. Sir Henry Taylor’s Notes on Life, and Lord Chesterfield’s Letters (selections) will also be found very useful. Among the more directly educational books, attention should be directed to L’Education Progressive, by Madame Neckar de Saussure; La Famille, by the Comte de Gasparin; L’Education des Filles, by Fénélon; L’Education des Mères de Familles, by Aimée Martin; Principles of Education, Notebook of an Elderly Lady, Youth and Age (all three by Miss Elizabeth Sewell); Miss Yonge’s Womankind, Miss Mason’s Home Education, Miss Shirreff’s Intellectual Education, Mrs. William Grey’s Thoughts for Girls on Leaving School, and Mr. Sidgwick’s Form Discipline.
Nothing can replace in a teacher the study of individual peculiarities of character: the motives, the special hindrances, the growth of each child in her class must be studied and individually met, if she is to rise to the true level of her work.
(c) Insight into character.This is assuming that the teacher feels the full responsibility of being put in a position where, by the way in which she teaches French, or mathematics, she can help or hinder the spiritual growth of each of her pupils. But even supposing that this overruling underlying motive of every true educator be put aside for the moment, and we consider only the smaller question of more or less success in imparting knowledge—still, this very success (other things being equal) will lie with that teacher who has the insight into the peculiar disposition of each child, who can bring to bear on each nature the motives which appeal to it and who can foresee and obviate the difficulties, which vary in each child, according to its mental, moral and physical equipment. In all ways scholastic success is furthered by seeking first something higher still. A great educator used to say: “If you teach one boy arithmetic only and another boy arithmetic and religion, other things being equal, the second boy will beat the first in arithmetic, because his nature is more widely developed”.
Moral responsibility of the teacher.But it may be thought that this is asking more of teachers than can be fairly expected. A girl who has taken life from the outside, with a comfortable, one might almost say, “wholesome” disregard of motives and such-like complications, who looks forward to giving her lesson in a special subject, and to then being free to be as untouched by the “malady of thought,” as absorbed in games and the amusements of life, as was rightfully her state at fifteen, may well feel that she is not prepared to enter on teaching as a career combining the responsibility of doctor and clergyman. If so, let her consider carefully before she adopts the teaching profession.
A teacher is as much morally bound as any mother to consider the principles of the inner life, to think out a clear conception of her moral and intellectual aims for her children, and as such bound to feel constant moral responsibility for what she does, and is, and for how she improves herself.
It is true we see both mothers and teachers take up their responsible positions in life without this moral thoughtfulness, and we sometimes see the children turning out well in spite of it. But the fact that Nature has wonderful curative and educative powers, does not lessen the personal responsibility of those who should have used art to improve nature. Children have been known to recover from illness in spite of a doctor’s mistakes or neglect, but we do not therefore condone the doctor’s carelessness.
If a girl is not prepared to take up the teaching profession from its deepest, i.e., its only true side; if she wishes to remain thoughtless, then let her choose some other form of livelihood—millinery, clerkship, gardening—where outward diligence will fairly meet all demands, so far as mere honesty to her employer is concerned.
But let the teacher who shrinks from moral responsibility remember that, in this side of her work alone, is to be found permanent interest. All mechanical work must pall sooner or later, and teaching is little better than mechanical, if it is of the external kind. Elementary teaching is often called mechanical, because its subjects and their extent are very limited, but Latin grammar in the high school is, after a time, capable of becoming quite as dull as English Grammar in the elementary school. Or, rather, both are equally capable of being interesting if, and only if, the teacher cares supremely for what is more important than any grammar, the development of each child who learns from her.
The teacher needs
(a) Knowledge of the circumstances and character of each pupil.For, no matter how large the class, the true teacher must study and respect the individuality of each member of it. Though her class may pass a most successful examination, yet, in examining herself, she must mark down (against herself), as a failure, the name of each child who has remained to her merely one of the crowd. The eyesight, the hearing, the spine, the headaches, the home surrounding of each child, should be known to its teacher, and should modify the demands made upon that child.
Curvature of the mind is far more common than curvature of the spine, and the teacher must have keen intellectual sympathy with each child’s individual mental tangles. She must clear the ground of harmful stumbling-blocks, and yet leave enough to exercise the mental muscles. Surely if the difficulty of a task can fire enthusiasm, the teacher should burn with zeal.
(b) A right judgment and presence of mind.The moral temperament of each child is an even more complex study than the mental peculiarities; praise, for instance, is a tonic for one and poison for another. The teacher must have presence of mind to criticise on the spur of the moment, with due regard to the child’s moral digestion, to the abstract question of justice in the class as a whole, and to maintaining a high, and yet not depressing, standard of work. One child requires to be repressed and one to be encouraged to do itself justice. One child has thoughtful difficulties which need sympathetic unravelling; another suffers from mere inattention, and requires decisive pulling together.
It stands to reason that, to appreciate all these shades of character and to satisfy the needs of each, in such a manner as not to waste the time of the class (and not to sin against the code of rough and ready justice, to which the childish mind, quite rightly, owns allegiance), is a very delicate task, and involves much of that moral thoughtfulness which is the foundation of a good teacher.
(c) Self-mastery.One reason for the supreme importance of this quality is that it not only means insight into others, but also involves self-mastery without which no educative control of others is possible. Forcible control is quite possible to a severe or hot-tempered nature: children are easily cowed, but they do not learn to control themselves if they are subject to this martial law. If a mistress finds that her children are good with her and tiresome with other people, she may rely on it that her own discipline is defective. Probably she has allowed personal affection for herself to be an admissible motive for good conduct, whereas insubordination would be almost better for the child! This last would be repented of, in time, as a fault, whereas many a girl goes through life mistaking impulse for principle, because at school, obedience “to please Miss So-and-so” was accepted, as equivalent to obedience to duty. It may be that the teacher has mastered the children’s tempers by dint of having a worse one herself; if so, the children will recoup themselves, for the enforced restraint of her presence, by licence in her absence; whereas the control exercised by a serene, equable nature develops the element of self-control in the child, and also a sense of self-respect which tends towards good behaviour when with other teachers.
The teacher must avoid
(a) Overstrain.This is one great reason why teachers should make it a matter of principle, as well as of worldly prudence, to avoid overstrain. You sometimes hear a young teacher boasting of the tax which she lays on her constitution; she tells it, half as a grievance that she should have so much to do, half in triumph that she is so peculiarly constituted—just as poor people exult in ailments that mark them out from the common herd! But these excesses of work (whether caused by bravado, or by bad management, or by an ill-informed conscience) are not a luxury of which she herself can defray the expense; the cost is really borne by her home people, by her fellow-teachers, and, worst of all, by her class, who all suffer from her overwrought nerves—in plain English, from her temper. I say, worst of all her class, because she may be a means of wholesome discipline to the other sufferers, but she does distinct moral harm to the children. And do not let her imagine that heroic efforts to control outward signs of temper will qualify her to be a teacher: children are acutely sensitive to atmosphere, and suffer even more under one who is elaborately controlling her temper, than under one who frankly loses it and then is serene again. If a teacher is to be worth her salt, she must have no temper! She must be of a serene, sunny temperament which enjoys the children’s presence, and her anger, when needed, must be of the impersonal kind which Fuller describes as one of “the sinews of the soul”.
(b) Injudicious reproofs.Of course scolding has to be done, but there should be no connection of ideas in the child’s mind between a merited scolding and the teacher’s temper. Mr. Arthur Sidgwick’s essay on Form Discipline gives the whole principle of the matter, but there are three suggestions I would like to add for the use of women teachers. One I take from Mrs. Beecher Stowe’s book on Little Foxes. She there describes two households in each of which a young servant is being trained. In one, the mistress looks at the dinner table and remarks that the salt is not what it should be: in the other, the mistress, on coming to inspect the table, exclaims, “Why, Sally, how bright your silver is, and you have remembered everything to-day; the only thing that is not perfect is the salt, and I am sure you will always look specially at that in future”. There was no comparison between those mistresses as to success in servant-training, and probably the teacher who blends praise and blame will cultivate a hopeful energy of self-improvement in her children, unknown in the class taught by one who coldly points out faults and passes over merits.
My second suggestion is, as the Spanish proverb says to authors: “Leave something in your inkstand”; underscold rather than overscold. A woman usually has a power of statement that makes her take an artistic pleasure in putting her case completely and convincingly. But children have a fine sense of justice (until it is blunted by contact with the world), and the culprit who undergoes one of these comprehensive scoldings is apt to feel that full measure for the crime has been meted out and so she thinks no more of it. Understate your case and that same sense of justice will make her say to herself all that you leave unsaid, and this self-condemnation will probably be the most effectual part of the scolding. At all events, very little harm comes from scolding too little, and irreparable harm often comes from scolding too much. When the nail of reproof is once in, every additional blow of the hammer tends to loosen it.
My third suggestion is, avoid scolding as much as possible when you have reasonable cause for supposing your own nerves likely to be on edge. There are times, e.g., the end of the summer term, when you are not likely to see things in true proportion: at such seasons distrust your own power of judging, and look the other way as often as possible, for blunders are liable to be more severely dealt with in July, than crimes in the fresher air of September!
Let us now pass on from the question of the state of mind desirable in a teacher, to consider the aim and possibilities of her work with the child.
The teacher’s aim should be health—physical, mental and moral.During the whole of school life, a girl’s physical frame is so entirely in the making that considerations of health should outweigh everything else. She is building the house in which she is to live all the rest of her life, and it is far more important what sort of house she builds than how much she employs herself with the various occupations that she can pursue at leisure, throughout her tenure of this “house”. Any study can be followed up in later life, if health demand its cessation during these growing years, but no after-study can repair early impoverishment or damage of the physical frame.
Of course it stands to reason that the object of this house-building is that the householder may be unhampered in after years and able to lead a large and noble life. We should have small value for the physical frame if it were tenanted by an imbecile mind, or a nature without moral sense. Therefore, when we say that the body is the main consideration in youth, we do so because soundness of body is the surest means of securing moral and mental soundness. Fortunately, body, mind and spirit are so intertwined that what is good for one is usually good for all. We can hygienically insist on good hard mental work, because it is essential to bodily health that there should be routine and effort and concentration of mind. We can insist on self-denial and self-control, for these are as essential to bodily health as to spiritual. The teacher who believes herself to be an educator, not merely an instructor, finds all the apparently conflicting elements of a peculiar case, wonderfully harmonised by giving predominance to the moral aim. If your first object in life is to increase a child’s chance of becoming an even-tempered Christian woman, you will not let considerations of examination successes tempt you to allow overstrain; while, at the same time, you will be inexorable in demanding, as moral training, the steady effort and the willing work, which will probably bring the successes.
The power of the teacher in moulding character.Do not let the day school teacher feel as if undue burden were being laid on her, when we speak of the whole future of the child as thus depending on the teacher’s breadth of aim. It is difficult to place any limit to the possibilities of the teacher’s influence, even at a day school, where she only has the child for four hours out of the twenty-four. It is true that the mother and the home, during the first six or seven years of the child’s life, have determined the main elements of its nature; but in dealing with these elements, at a later stage, there are endless possibilities of combination, of encouraging some and repressing others. Though we teachers do not, as a rule, get children at the early stage when most can be done with them, yet in schoolroom days we find their brains still plastic enough for us to work cheerfully and hopefully, in the teeth of the many hereditary evils which would crush our efforts, were it not that we believe education to be able to cope on fairly equal terms with heredity. Every time we induce children to make an effort for the right, or to think accurately, we make a groove in their brain which serves as a railway line along which thoughts of the same kind will pass more easily next time. Every time we excite a wrong feeling—irritation, obstinacy, irreverence, or allow a deviation from some acknowledged standard of duty—we lay cross lines of rail in the wrong direction, which will hinder their progress in the right path, now and in the future.[28]
[28] See Miss Mason’s Home Education.
Bracing influence of school
(a) resulting from uniformity of treatment.The art of concealing art is nowhere more necessary than in this incessant watchfulness required of the teacher, as it is very bad for the child to feel that its little world turns on its own moral and physical well-being. The chief good of school lies in the uniformity of the routine, in the absence of special exemptions; it rests and braces the child to feel under inexorable Laws of Nature which know no favourites.
At the same time, while we in our larger world feel under fixed laws, we yet believe in a special providence which arranges for our welfare, even though we are unconscious of its action; the teacher should play the part of unseen providence to the child.
It is perfectly possible in a high school to consider each individual girl, and to arrange matters more or less for her interests, though this possibility rests on the fact that exceptional cases are not proper subjects for high school education. Even an ordinary child has her peculiarities, which should be allowed for, but, in the main, it is the regularity and uniformity of the school routine which make the most valuable part of her education.
(b) Wholesome competition.The child learns at school to be unself conscious, to appreciate others; to bear being surpassed without depression, and to stand success without undue exultation; and she learns these valuable lessons mainly through standing on the same platform with her companions, and having to fight on equal terms. When parents beg that some of the subjects taken by the rest of the class may be excused to their child, they do not realise that, by interfering with the equal terms of contest, they destroy half the value of school life. The value of a high school lies not merely in its instruction (though this is probably given by a trained specialist in each subject), but even more, in “the give and take” on equal terms which teaches a child to know her own powers and her own weaknesses. A child subject to undue self-appreciation, or self-depreciation, would probably gain much from going into the miniature world of a high school, as would also the dreamy child; in the latter case particularly the value of the school lessons lies in their difficulty, and children suffer if they are excused or helped with a lesson because they have failed to understand the teaching in class. (c) Concentration of faculties.Instant concentration of the faculties on the matter in hand is one of the most valuable lessons learnt in school, and to repeat information, or explanations, to the absent-minded child, is to encourage a fatal weakness. Of course the blank in the child’s mind (which makes a pitying mother beg that the lesson may be excused) may be caused by irrelevancy or indistinctness of voice, or of mind, on the teacher’s part. But if three-quarters of the class have followed the lesson, it may be safely taken for granted that effort and practice will bring success to the remaining quarter; a success which will mean not merely the knowledge of the Euclid or geography in question, but victory over a habit of mind that, if unchecked, will neutralise any talent the child may possess.
Dangers of school worldliness.The child’s efforts after concentration of mind need careful co-operation on the part of the teacher (who, from her own carelessness, is apt to indulge the child’s carelessness), whereas the equally valuable qualities of diligence and perseverance are almost evolved of themselves by the competition of any school which has a good working spirit. The teacher needs to be even more alert in counteracting the mistaken forms which school diligence is apt to take, than in rousing the spirit itself. Emulation, eagerness for marks, putting school opinion before those of home—all these are very real dangers. The better the school, the more acute the danger, and the more need is there that the authorities should act as a drag on the coach. Emulation is a natural quality in the child and a very useful one to the teacher; but there is great danger in its degenerating into personal rivalry. Something may be done to soften this spirit of competition by setting before the children a fence which all may leap, not a throne which only one can occupy. The fence can be as high as you will, but if the opportunity of clearing it be open to all, the class will exult in the number of successes, without any feeling in the many of personal loss involved in the gain of the few. Marks do not necessitate rivalry.“Marks” can be so arranged as to obviate the temptation to personal rivalry which is often supposed to be inseparable from them. When the weekly marks are added up, letters are in some schools assigned, according to the percentage of marks gained, arranged in decades. The exact number of marks is not brought before the child, but only the question to which decade she belongs. A red A denotes 90 per cent., a black A 80 per cent.; B means 70 per cent., and so on through the alphabet. Every member of the class who deserves it can attain the “red A”. The same system can be pursued in prizes; all who reach a certain standard of marks in term work or in examinations, or in both combined, can gain one. Thus esprit de corps to some extent takes the place of personal triumph—the whole class is proud of its number of “red A” members and prize-winners, instead of suffering from the temptation to feel a little bitter, which must exist when there is only one place of honour to be had.
Advantages of religious lessons in school.The value of moral and religious lessons in school is especially great because of the almost universal disposition on the part of girls to consider home exhortation as nagging. What is said in a school lesson goes home to the conscience with no friction, because the teacher cannot have known of that last peccadillo at home, and the mother is not at hand to look the fatal phrase, “I told you so!”
(a) They re-enforce home teaching.Mothers need not feel that the school lesson displaces theirs—rather it enforces what they say, since the child probably listens with increased interest to what they say when it is unconsciously echoed by an outside authority.
(b) Avoid the danger of personalities.It is very difficult at home not to omit certain sore points in these moral lessons, for fear of seeming to aim at special children. In a series of lessons at school, this difficulty is obviated and the victim can feel that the arrow has hit home, without the indignity of being watched by home eyes to see if it has taken effect.
(c) Give large views of duty.It is easier, also, in speaking to a number to take larger views of life and its duties, than might seem suitable in any individual family. Social duties, good citizenship, high ideals of future usefulness can be held up to elder girls at school as a part of religion; while such faults as partisanship, political or otherwise, narrow-mindedness, family selfishness can be discouraged without any danger of personality.
These moral lessons should serve a distinct purpose in the school by imbuing the girls with high ideals; the fact of belonging to a large public body such as a high school should assist them in assimilating wider ideas of life. But it must not be forgotten that moral lessons in no way supersede the necessity for definite religious instruction; abstract ideals will have little power against future temptations unless they are supported by sound Biblical knowledge and religious belief.
(d) Put school discipline on the true basis.From one point of view, it may be said that parents should feel responsible for this instruction, but surely the teacher would not be content to give up such a hold on the child as is furnished by the religious lessons. It must be almost impossible to maintain real control over the tone of the school, if the deepest part of the child’s nature is left outside the school’s jurisdiction.
(e) Give religion its right position in the curriculum.Besides, though the responsibility and the pleasure of this branch of education do belong primarily to the parent, yet, when the claims of school eat up so much of the day, it is very hard for the mother to get enough time to deal fully with the subject. Also, the better the school and the more fully it employs the mental faculties of the child, and wins its allegiance, the more important it is that such a great authority in the child’s world should proclaim itself supremely interested in this branch of learning. Children often have to learn music at school, merely because they only attend to their practising when it is done for a school authority. Much as we may wish home to be supreme in all cases, we must recognise that children often go through a phase in which they yield more unquestioning submission to school rules than to home wishes, and give keener energy to school lessons than to the extra ones devised by the mother, and secretly resented by the child as an unjust addition to its burden.
Besides, it is possible there may be homes, we will hope they are rare, where religious teaching is not sufficiently attended to; certainly our better-class children are often more ignorant of their Bibles than those who have been to a good Sunday school.
Let us assume, therefore, that the school must have a definite and fairly complete course of religious instruction, including Biblical and moral lessons; church schools would of course add doctrinal and prayer-book lessons.
(f) Leaven the school life.But the Bible lesson is not only a subject in the curriculum, it should be a leaven in the school. This can only be the case if the children feel that, in spite of all imperfections and shortcomings, the Bible lesson really is the truest outcome of the teacher’s own nature, that it is to her the most interesting lesson of the week, bearing on the whole of life, instead of being an isolated subject in one pigeon-hole of her mind.
Let us take it as a principle that these lessons should have the first and freshest hour of the morning given to them, that they may be felt as a continuation of school prayers, as a further consecration of the day, not as a mere lesson to be sandwiched in with French and algebra, as if all were of equal importance.[29] Let the children realise that religion comes first in arranging a time-table, and that no pressure of examination work can be taken as a valid excuse for curtailing these lessons. Children sometimes think that because no marks are given for divinity it will pay to get an excuse for this, and to devote the time to lessons which tell in their weekly class-list. This is only a crude force of a temptation common to every stage of life, and it would be one of the most valuable of all school lessons could such a child be taught that religion, if real, must come first in Monday’s lessons as well as in Sunday’s services.
[29] If the exigencies of the time-table forbid the first hour, then let it be the last.
Subjects for Bible lessons.It is easy enough to find matter for the Bible lessons;[30] the life of our Lord, a three years’ course of Old Testament history, as arranged in Mr. Glazebrook’s three volumes; the life of St. Paul, considered as the setting of his Epistles, and including a general survey of each of those Epistles; a special study of any one of the Prophets, giving the gist of his message, viewed first in the light of his own times and local surroundings, and then considered in its relation to our own times; the women of the Bible; the Jewish feasts and ritual; any one of these courses will provide interesting matter for a year’s lessons.
[30] Full and detailed suggestions on this subject will be found in Mr. Bell’s invaluable little book on Religious Education in Secondary Schools.
A very useful book has recently been written called Ad Lucem,[31] which gives Old Testament history, the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and Church history up to the present day. Its object is to show the history of the world as bearing on the Incarnation, and it is enabled to cover so much ground by selecting and emphasising such facts as bring out this point of view. It would be interesting to children of about fifteen, and useful to any teacher, by helping her to focus her own teaching.
[31] By the Rev. A. B. Simeon; published by Wells Gardner.
Requisites of a Bible lesson.Probably all teachers will say the difficulty lies rather in how to treat this vast stock of material. There should be no difficulty in making the children feel that the Bible is the most interesting book in the world, quite apart from its religious importance.
So many books on Eastern manners and places are within the reach of teachers that they should not be content till their own conceptions of the Bible scenes and characters are as vivid as Tinworth’s terra cottas.
(a) Vividness.Children have much in common with the old Scotch woman who was so shocked at what seemed to her irreverence in Dean Stanley when he tried to persuade her that Jerusalem was a real place which he had visited; it is a new light to them to be made to realise that Bible heroes and places are as real as those in English history. Doing this arrests their attention, and they go on to perceive that the temptations and virtues of those days were also like our own, that even the minor Prophets, whom they have avoided as utterly alien to their world, speak straight to ourselves in their warnings about wealth and labour and luxury.
(b) Practicality.Until we make Bible lessons practical for ourselves and for our children, we must not be content: in old days the Bible was used only as a storehouse of isolated texts for personal application; we realise now that due reverence for the Word of God requires that we should study it, and teach it, as exactly and reasonably and vividly as we do any other history and literature, but we must not forget that if we stop here, the old-fashioned unintellectual method of study infinitely surpassed in wisdom our modern cleverness. Unless our lessons make the Bible more profitable for doctrine and reproof, for amendment of life and instruction of manners, they are failures, no matter how much critical and geographical learning has been brought to bear on them. (c) Devoutness.Perhaps each lesson need not have a special ethical or spiritual bearing (though it is a pity if it has not), and we should beware against overdoing our moral instruction. A child’s mind is like a narrow-necked bottle, and we often pour in too much at once.
(d) Simplicity.Especially is this the case with illustrations; the teacher has had their use so inculcated that a Bible lesson is too often a string of anecdotes and pictures in which the central idea is hopelessly lost; one truth, one picture, and one illustration are as much as any young child can grasp in one lesson, and children of a larger growth would often gain more if teachers were more economical in their explanations.
(e) Careful treatment of difficulties.Keeping the spiritual aim in view would assist in dealing with some of the critical difficulties which beset a thoughtful teacher. It is most important not to give mature food to an immature mind, or to bring before the child, who has not realised any difficulties, the critic’s suspension of judgment, which is such a comfort to the teacher. But though we should avoid giving an impression that facts and authorship are moot points, still we can avoid putting up stones of stumbling which will afterwards have to be cleared away. Children need the old stories told in all simplicity, the stories of the childhood of the race, but if we keep before them “the one far-off Divine event,” towards which all those stories pointed, if we teach them Jewish history in the light of the Divine education of the human race, instead of treating the Flood and Jael and Joshua’s wars, etc., as finished episodes which stand on their own merits, so to speak, surely then there will be little or nothing in the best modern lines of thought to upset their faith, and much to enrich it.
Summary.To sum up shortly, the following are the main points I would seek to impress on a young teacher, in considering the moral side of education. First and foremost the heavy responsibility attached to the teacher’s office—an office which combines the functions of clergyman, doctor and instructor. Next, the personal qualifications required of the teacher, holiness, serenity, insight into character, knowledge of the world; then the aims of the teacher’s work, the building up a sound mind in a sound body, by the help of the good habits arising from right conditions of school life, most of all by the help of the Bible lesson, which must be the inspiration of the whole school course.
I should like to end by quoting some words of William Law, the great mystic of the last century, which put before us the true ends of education. In his Treatise on Christian Perfection he says: “Show me a learning that makes man truly sensible of his duty: that fills the mind with true light: that makes us more reasonable in all our actions: that inspires us with fortitude, humility and devotion”.
SECTION III.
CULTIVATION OF THE BODY.
By Jane Frances Dove, Certificated Student of Girton College, Cambridge, 1874; Head Mistress of Wycombe Abbey School, Bucks; previously Head Mistress of St. Leonard’s School, St. Andrews, N.B.
So every spirit, as it is most pure,
And hath in it the more of heavenly light,
So it the fairer bodie doth procure
To habit in, and it more fairely dight
With chearefull grace and amiable sight;
For of the soule the bodie forme doth take;
For soule is forme, and doth the bodie make.
Spenser.
The mistress as educator.As the object of school life, or rather of life at school, is not merely teaching but education, and as education, whatever the true derivation of the word may be, means the gradual drawing out and development of all the faculties of which the human being is capable, we shall speak in this chapter not of the “teacher,” but of the “mistress” as the person who in school life takes the place of authority analogous to that of the parent in the home, and upon whom falls the responsibility for the time being of seeing that a due balance is being maintained in the development of every faculty. The importance of this harmonious development of the powers is manifest. We do not desire girls to be brainless athletes any more than we wish that they should be delicate or stunted blue-stockings, and either of these exaggerated types is made doubly deplorable if, as sometimes happens, there is a deficiency of moral power.
Health conditions.The most important conditions for health are first of all a wholesome environment; secondly, wholesome occupation for the mind; and thirdly, proper exercise for the body.
The environment will be discussed later.
The occupation of the mind will also come chiefly under the head of mental training, but here it may be desirable to notice that the mind must receive much of its training through the exercise of faculties other than the intellectual. Meaning of recreation.This truth is of course the foundation of the whole idea of recreation, recreation consisting much more in change of thought and a difference in the objects on which the attention is fixed, than in the particular form of exercise through which this object is attained. It is for this reason that games of all kinds are so much more valuable than mere walking under ordinary circumstances, because walking is so purely mechanical, especially when exercised for limited periods among well-known surroundings, that the mind continues to occupy itself with the thoughts, and possibly with the intellectual problems, upon which it was before fixed. Some forms of recreation more valuable than others.Better than walking, as both an exercise and a recreation, I should count riding, rowing or bicycling. In riding and bicycling there is the great interest of managing the horse and propelling the bicycle, the exhilaration and quickened circulation produced by passing rapidly through the air, together with the refreshment gained through the eye by the contemplation of new and varied scenes, especially if they be beautiful. Every form of occupation or exercise that will keep girls in the open air is for that reason alone valuable, because there is no bodily want so imperious as the necessity of breathing fresh, unvitiated air; but as a true recreation the first position must undoubtedly be given to games, because in them there is always a special interest upon which the mind must be concentrated, and which therefore entirely prevents the possibility of the thoughts dwelling upon the subject of the last lesson, and sends the girl back braced and invigorated to overcome the intellectual difficulties that may be required of her. Games essential to a healthy school life.I think I do not speak too strongly when I say that games, i.e., active games in the open air, are essential to a healthy existence, and that most of the qualities, if not all, that conduce to the supremacy of our country in so many quarters of the globe, are fostered, if not solely developed, by means of games.
I have said that games are essential to a healthy existence; of course I mean that they are so under the circumstances of school life. Without this proviso the assertion would be an exaggerated one. For I think if it were possible, with a due regard for the necessities of their training, to make girls cultivate a farm, or even do all the work of a large garden, or build a house, or make a road, the interest of performing a real work of utility, together with the exercise of the muscles and other faculties, would give the necessary recreation and muscular exercise; but the initial difficulty can hardly be overcome, viz., that in building a house, or cultivating a farm, the exigencies of the work must be considered rather than the training of the workers. Games give exercise.Hence it is that games have been invented as a means of exercise in the open air, which will occupy varying numbers of players, which can be dropped and resumed according to the exigencies of the weather, varied according to the capacities of the players, which possess endless interests, develop numberless faculties, and yet which can be pursued upon limited spaces of ground, the possibilities of which for the purpose are never exhausted, and without the using up of valuable material. In fact for people who are to be intellectual workers, games are the modern adaptation of the old command “to till the ground,” which, like other laws of a fundamental nature, cannot at any time of the world’s history be neglected. Efforts have from time to time been made to carry out the injunction literally, as in the attempts of Mr. Ruskin to inspire Oxford undergraduates to try the experiment of road-making, or in the foundation of schools, which are meeting with a considerable measure of success, in which the boys perform, besides a certain proportion of indoor work, a good deal of agricultural, including woodmen’s, labour. Games waste the minimum amount of material and can be played on limited areas.But for most schools, with their limited possibilities as regards acres of land, trees and materials, games are the only possible means of satisfying the need. These ought to be as joyous and spontaneous as possible, and therefore should be of every possible kind to suit different tastes. The joyousness and spontaneity are so especially necessary for girls on account of their extreme conscientiousness and devotion to duty. Boys, for all I know to the contrary, may perform their duties equally well, but they are rarely inclined to worry over them as girls do, and they have such overflowing animal spirits that they always contrive to find relaxation, by means of fun and activity of all kinds at odd times, which either does not come naturally to girls, or which, if indulged in by them as well as by boys, would make life an unbearable pandemonium for their elders.
Let us then have games of all kinds; every game, with, I should say, the single exception of football, is suitable. Games for small numbers.Let us have lawn tennis, fives, bowls, croquet, quoits, golf, swimming, skating, archery, tobogganing, basket-ball, rounders and hailes, as many of these as can be provided for, and some at one season of the year, others at another. All these are useful, because only a small number of individuals, one or two, or at the most four, is necessary to make most of them enjoyable, and therefore they can fill up gaps of time when large numbers are not available for organised games. Let these games also be encouraged by means of tournaments and competitions held occasionally, and let prizes or challenge cups be offered for success in these competitions, and where there is a golf course arranged, let there be an autumn and a spring medal.
Their higher functions.Games, however, have a much higher function to perform in school life than any I have yet mentioned. Here is a splendid field for the development of powers of organisation, of good temper under trying circumstances, courage and determination to play up and do your best even in a losing game, rapidity of thought and action, judgment and self-reliance, and, above all things, unselfishness, and a knowledge of corporate action, learning to sink individual preferences in the effort of loyally working with others for the common good.
Necessity for the cultivation of corporate virtues. Women have plenty of devotion and unselfishness of an individual kind—that is to say, they can lose themselves entirely in the interests of their particular friends or of their husbands and children, but this personal devotion is quite compatible with what I may call family selfishness, and they may be, and often are, quite incapable of realising any interest whatever that is not bounded by the four walls of their home. The effect of this narrowness is to make their lives extremely mean and petty, and they have in consequence a deteriorating effect upon every member of their families and upon all society in which they mingle. It is true that the family is the unit which lies at the base of all national existence, and which forms the foundation stone for all teaching, moral and spiritual, but it is essential to remember that it is only a unit, and that an aggregation of such families or units forms a community, a nation, and that the members of a family are likewise citizens of kingdoms, political and spiritual. The woman who indulges in family selfishness is a bad citizen. To be a good citizen, it is essential that she should have wide interests, a sense of discipline and organisation, esprit de corps, a power of corporate action. Now the schoolmistress is the person who has the best opportunity of teaching these principles to women, and I would have her fully recognise her privilege and her responsibility. Men acquire corporate virtues, not only at school and at college, but almost in every walk of life; whereas comparatively few women ever find themselves members of an organised profession, and the proportion, even of those who have the advantage of college life, is still exceedingly small. It remains therefore for the school to teach them almost all that they will ever have the opportunity of acquiring of the power of working with others, and sinking their own individuality for the common good. The opportunity must be made the most of. In the life generally.Now girls are quite as susceptible as boys to the influences of school life. Therefore let us see that the influences are such as develop the best characteristics. Make them trustworthy by trusting them, open and straightforward by taking it for granted that they have nothing to hide. Give them beautiful surroundings; let the house be well managed and comfortable but not luxurious; satisfy every reasonable want liberally; do not keep their minds concentrated upon themselves by having a multiplicity of minute and irritating rules, but explain to them broad principles of conduct, and expect them to apply these themselves to the minutiæ of their own lives, pointing out patiently again and again where the girls’ application of principles clashes with the interests of the majority. By means of organised games.Thus the principles of corporate life are being imbibed every hour and minute of the day, though nowhere more completely than in the playground, and in the playground the large organised games, such as cricket, hockey and lacrosse, are the most useful for this purpose.
Area of playground.Of course it is exceedingly difficult to obtain space enough upon which to play these games, but if a school is to be a residentiary school at all in the full sense of the word, it must have several acres of ground immediately surrounding it. I forbear to specify the minimum number of acres, because though it may be desirable for the whole school to be able to play at one time every day, it is not essential, as it is possible by an expenditure of trouble on the part of the headmistress to economise both playground and schoolroom accommodation by arranging for each to be available in succession for the use of different portions of the school. A very useful guide, however, is to be found in the fact that, taking twelve well-known boys’ schools, the average area of the sites is twelve acres for every hundred boys.
There ought to be one ground levelled and turfed, about a hundred yards by fifty, for every thirty or forty girls. It is rarely that more than two and twenty, as in cricket, or twenty-four, as in lacrosse, are required for a game; but out of the whole number there will always be a few who are “not playing games to-day,” and the balance occupy themselves usefully with some of the other smaller games previously enumerated. Organisation of playground.The captain of the house or form, or whatever the subdivision may be that has the use of the “ground,” must arrange that every individual of the forty is put down to play in the organised game three or four, or as many times as is possible, in the week. The half-holiday will naturally be the day upon which foreign matches are played, or home matches with other divisions, or scratch matches arranged by the captain of the games. The captain of games and the captains of divisions are of course girls, selected in the one case by the whole school, and in the others by the girls of the division over which she presides. Of course if the number of grounds available is not as great as the number of suitable divisions, divisions must have grounds allotted to them in turn, and this reduces seriously the opportunities for practice. A good deal, however, may often be done with great advantage on a smaller piece of ground in practising for the game at the time in vogue, especially in cricket, where very useful coaching is given at the nets. Often special varieties of a game are developed by the local peculiarities of the only available spot for playing it. Every Etonian knows the correct shape for a fives-court, and how the peculiarity has been perpetuated from the balustrade of the stone stair in the quadrangle which leads to the chapel. The old Scottish game of hailes has likewise localised itself in the playground of the Academy, Edinburgh. It is desirable that there should be a mistress, whose special interest may be claimed by the girls in any particular game, and whose advice may be sought by the captain of games in the matter of answering challenges and providing the necessary apparatus. The captain should also be supported by another girl as secretary and treasurer, to collect subscriptions and keep the books.
Cycle of games.The experience of many years has evolved the plan of choosing regularly one game for each term, and always keeping to it. Thus lacrosse might be taken in the September term, hockey in January, and cricket in May, and if all schools adopt the same plan, outside matches are then possible, and there are few things which tend so strongly to keep up the esprit de corps of a school as meeting other schools on the playing-field.
There will be no difference of opinion as to the suitability of cricket for the summer term, but many schools play hockey in September, and carry it on for two terms. We have found, however, that there is not really enough interest in the game itself to keep up enthusiasm for such a long period, but inasmuch as it keeps nearly all the players in constant movement and requires the minimum amount of arrangement beforehand, and can therefore be begun at once on a cold day without loss of time, it is the best game for the January term, during which the most inclement weather of the year is usually experienced. Lacrosse.Football being quite out of the question, on account of its roughness, we have fallen back upon lacrosse, a game which requires the same qualities of combination, obedience, courage, individual unselfishness for the sake of a side—a player who attempts to keep the ball instead of passing it being absolutely useless—and is full of interest on account of the various kinds of skill required, fleetness of foot, quickness of eye, strength of wrist, and a great deal of judgment and knack. The game of lacrosse well played is a beautiful sight, the actions of the players being so full of grace and agility. The skill required, moreover, is so great that the attempt to acquire it is a splendid training in courage and perseverance.
Hockey.Hockey is so well known that it is hardly necessary to say much about it, excepting that it is a very great mistake to regard it as essentially a rough game. All that is necessary to prevent roughness is to have a strict rule against raising the stick above the waist, an offence of this kind giving a free hit to the opposite side. Of course, hard knocks are sometimes received, but is there no value in the lesson of cheerful endurance that may thus be learned, and is it possible to enjoy anything good in life or even to live at all, without running some risk of bodily harm? Hockey has besides its special advantages which I have already mentioned.
Cricket.As regards cricket, I am well aware that most real cricketers would laugh at the idea of girls attempting the game. I shall always remember the remark made by the head master of a public school, after watching the girls at play for some time with the keenest interest: “Yes, they will never make cricketers, but they are having splendid exercise in the open air”. This, however, was some years ago, and the girls have worked hard and improved since then, and I venture to think that if the same kindly critic could again see their play he would think somewhat better of it. Indeed, I am often surprised at the real pleasure and approbation expressed at what even to me seems our feeble attempts. Granted, however, that the game in the hands of girls can never be quite the same game that it is for boys, it is still a perfectly safe game when played between elevens of tolerably equal strength. It is, in my opinion, quite unsafe when played by men against women, or even by big boys against little ones, but admirable from every point of view so long as boys play boys and girls play girls of corresponding size and strength. The amount of interest and variety in the game is unsurpassed by any other, and it is so well known that an intelligent interest in its details can be taken by almost any one. No roughness is produced; all is gentleness and courtesy, combined with strength and determination. The traditions of the game are such that girls attempting to play it must throw themselves completely into it, and cannot allow themselves to give way to idleness and ineffectiveness. This is well illustrated by the remark of the captain of a team of ladies who recently played an eleven from a well-known school, and were beaten by them. She congratulated the head mistress, and said: “Your girls play like gentlemen, and behave like ladies”.
It is unfortunate that, broadly speaking, girls cannot throw and that the bowling in a girls’ eleven is apt to be lamentably weak. Deficiency of early muscular training.I have not been able to decide in my own mind whether this weakness is due to physiological disabilities or to the want of early training, but I am inclined to think the latter. It seems to be generally acknowledged in the nursery that it is of no use to attempt to keep the boys in strict control, that they must be allowed to have their fling, and create an uproar, and climb, and throw stones, but the whole force of the nurse’s authority is usually exerted to prevent the girls under her charge from falling under the opprobrium, in nursery etiquette, of being “unladylike”. I am the more inclined to this opinion, as I observe that where parents have the good sense to allow their girls the same facilities for activity, natural and necessary for the young animal, as their boys, the girls do learn to throw equally well, and attain the same easy gracefulness of movement which is natural to the untrammelled boy. Such parents, I grieve to say, are still very rare, with the result that not more than three or four per cent. of girls of fourteen have any idea of throwing a ball, and much less of bowling. This can scarcely be wondered at, seeing that “Sir B. W. Richardson lately stated that in his student days it was taught in all sobriety by anatomical authorities that the joint of a woman’s shoulder was more shallow than a man’s, so that she was almost sure to dislocate it if she threw a ball with force! Thus, comically, does preconceived theory upset the scientific vision.” However, great strides have already been made by girls in acquiring skill in games, and much greater strides will be made in the future, to the enormous gain, not only physically but mentally and morally, both of women in particular and of the nation as a whole.
Great value of Swedish gymnastics.We now come to the consideration of exercises, which though really recreative in their tendencies, are much less so than games, and first among these come gymnastics. Now no nation has more carefully thought out the subject of physical education than the Swedes, and at the Central Institute in Stockholm, under the superintendence of Professor Törngren, professors of gymnastics, both preventive and curative, are trained, who have a thorough scientific knowledge of their work, and can produce results in the way of physical training second to no others in existence. It has been my happiness for many years to watch the results of the work produced by one of the professor’s pupils, and I cannot speak too highly of the work she has accomplished. The essence of her method is a systematic training of all the muscles. She possesses a thorough knowledge of the structure of the human frame, both muscular and nervous. By a carefully thought out series of free exercises, supplemented by work upon the admirably devised Swedish apparatus, the muscular system of her pupils is thoroughly and harmoniously developed; and here let me say that, strongly as I believe in out-door games, Severe games not safe without gymnastic training.I do not consider it safe to allow girls to indulge in them absolutely without restriction, nor at all, at least in the severer games, unless they are receiving systematic muscular training in the gymnasium and make a practice of changing all their garments as soon as play is over. For this reason, the time during which it is possible for girls to play hard is carefully cut down to a maximum of an hour and a half. Also, no exemptions whatever are given from gymnastic lessons. By this means hard games are made safe, whereas otherwise there would be constant danger of overstrain, and mischief might ensue which would perhaps not be apparent at the time, but might seriously endanger a girl’s health in after years. Dangers of over-exertion.There is nothing in my opinion more dangerous for young people than physical and nervous exhaustion. The harm is done in a gay, thoughtless moment, which may not be overcome for years. This care is especially necessary in the case of girls, both on account of physical organisation and because their muscular system has, as a rule, been so imperfectly developed in childhood. There is still another and very important reason. It has already been stated that girls are so very good and conscientious. One form which this characteristic takes is that they will quietly attempt, and by pure nerve-force will perform, if the occasion seems to require it of them, feats for which their muscular development is entirely unfitted. This brings me to the reason why Swedish gymnastics are so greatly superior to the ordinary form of gymnastics, which used to be prevalent in boys’ public schools and army gymnasiums. In this kind of gymnastics, the attention of the instructor is far too much occupied in making his pupils perform feats, many of which are of an acrobatic nature, rather than directed to the harmonious development of the whole body; hence, in some cases, the shoulders become abnormally broad and square, and other unsymmetrical effects are caused. In fact, the amusement of the pupils is considered rather more than their physical welfare.
Physical defects discovered at gymnastics.Then, since every girl must appear twice a week in the gymnasium as long as she remains in the school, dressed in an easy-fitting costume, consisting of knickerbockers and tunic, the gymnastic mistress has every opportunity of noticing the physical development, and I have found that she very quickly detects even the slightest curvatures or other physical defects, and, with the parents’ consent, can give curative treatment, which is very speedily efficacious in curing weak or crooked backs, stoops, displaced shoulder blades, sprains and other ailments. The mistress also gives the girls a good deal of useful advice, according to their several needs. She notices how they sit or what postures they take for different avocations, and tells them if they are wrong, and why they are wrong. She does not undertake any medical responsibility, but having had, so far as the bodily frame goes, a thorough medical training, her work among a number of girls is simply invaluable, and no physical features that ought to be noticed escape her practised eye. It is well known to schoolmistresses, if not to parents, what a serious difficulty these physical defects cause in a girl’s moral training. Nothing is worse for a girl than to be forced by circumstances to think much about her own health. Therefore, it is our part to save them as much as we can from having to direct their thoughts upon themselves more than is required by ordinary common-sense. Think how hard it is for a girl who has a weak back, and is ordered to lie down for certain hours in the day. She cannot lie and do nothing, and therefore attempts reading as being apparently the only possible occupation. The difficulty of fixing the book in the right position and getting a proper light upon it is such that very frequently the eyes are overstrained and a new difficulty is produced. Curative gymnastics.Now most weak backs can be strengthened by strengthening the proper muscles. Muscle is strengthened by use, and the Swedish gymnast knows what exercises, or what rubbings, will produce the desired results, and proceeds to strengthen slowly and judiciously. The girl at the same time is allowed plenty of fresh air and suitable games, and soon recovers her normal condition, all the while pursuing the same kind of life as the others, though probably with some relaxation in the way of lessons. Defects often the result of ignorance, fashion or overwork.Such weak backs ought not to occur as often as they do, if proper attention were paid from the first to the physical conditions of life. I do not mean anything abstruse or difficult, but just the ordinary commonplaces; that high-heeled shoes throw the body out of its natural balance and overstrain some muscles; that hard, stiff clothing pressing upon muscles weakens them by causing atrophy, a frequent cause of weak backs; that a growing child must have abundance of sleep, food, fresh air and exercise, and while living in cultivated surroundings and being encouraged in intellectual pursuits, should not be expected to spend more than three or four hours each day according to age, in doing definite brain work. At the age of fourteen a healthy girl may be expected to begin to work as much as five hours a day. So much for gymnastics, the necessity for which it is to be hoped has been sufficiently demonstrated.
Dancing.Dancing is also a capital form of exercise, provided it is not pursued, as is sometimes the case, to the point of physical exhaustion. The art of fencing is also well worth acquiring. Also bicycle evolutions to music, and even roller skating.
Hours that may reasonably be spent in intellectual work.Having stated that three hours is enough for intellectual work for most girls up to the age of eleven or twelve, four hours up to fourteen, five up to sixteen, and that six is the utmost a girl of any age ought to attempt; having also said that an hour and a half in the day is enough for the organised games, it remains to fill up the rest of the day, which, excluding sleep and meals, and the necessary time spent in dressing, usually amounts to from two to three hours. The time-table of every girl in the school may be different; I append, as examples, the actual time-tables of twenty girls for a week, the total of forty-four hours being made up of five days of eight hours and one day of four hours.
SAMPLE TIME-TABLES.
| Form. | N a m e. | Age. | Remarks. | Hours per week, including preparation. | T o t a l, h e a d w o r k. | Extra Subjects. | G y m n a s t i c s. | P a r t S i n g i n g. | G e n e r a l R e a d i n g. | N e e d l e w o r k. | W o r k s h o p. | G a r d e n i n g. | T o t a l, o c c u p a t i o n s. | G r a n d T o t a l. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E n g l i s h. | G r e e k. | L a t i n. | G e r m a n. | F r e n c h. | A r i t h m e t i c. | G e o m e t r y. | A l g e b r a. | T r i g o n o m e t r y. | S c i e n c e. | H a r m o n y. | L i t e r a t u r e. | S c r i p t u r e. | H i s t o r y. | P i a n o. | V i o l i n. | S i n g i n g. | D r a w i n g. | D a n c i n g. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| VI. | a | 16· | 5 | - | Anomalous; as not more than two languages should be studied at one time.Have not been long enough in the school to work into the system. | ... | 7 | 1⁄2 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 3 | ... | 33 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 1 | 3⁄4 | 3 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 1⁄4 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 11 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| „ | b | 18· | 416 | ... | 7 | 1⁄2 | 9 | ... | 3 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3 | ... | ... | ... | 3 | 3 | ... | 33 | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 1 | 3⁄4 | ... | 1 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| „ | c | 17· | 083 | ... | 7 | 1⁄2 | 9 | ... | 6 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 3 | ... | 33 | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 1 | 3⁄4 | ... | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | ... | 11 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| „ | d | 17· | 583 | ... | 7 | 1⁄2 | 9 | 7 | 1⁄2 | 3 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 3 | ... | 3 | ... | 33 | ... | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | ... | ... | 1 | 3⁄4 | ... | 2 | ... | 2 | 11 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| „ | e | 18· | 333 | - | Does 1⁄2-hr. curative gymnastics per day. | ... | 7 | 1⁄2 | ... | ... | 6 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ... | ... | 3 | 3 | ... | 30 | 5 | 1⁄4 | 3 | 3⁄4 | ... | ... | ... | 3 | 1⁄2 | 3⁄4 | ... | 3⁄4 | ... | ... | 14 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| L. V. | f | 17· | 166 | ... | ... | ... | 7 | 1⁄2 | 6 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3 | ... | ... | 3 | 3 | 3 | ... | 30 | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | 3 | 3⁄4 | ... | ... | 1 | 3⁄4 | ... | 1 | 2 | 1⁄4 | ... | 14 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| „ | g | 16· | 5 | - | Too many languages. | ... | 7 | 1⁄2 | 9 | ... | 6 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 3 | ... | 33 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 1 | 3⁄4 | 3 | 2 | 1⁄4 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 11 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| „ | h | 16· | 75 | ... | ... | 9 | 7 | 1⁄2 | 6 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 3 | ... | 33 | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | ... | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 3⁄4 | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | ... | 1 | 11 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| V. | i | 17· | 083 | ... | ... | ... | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ... | 3 | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 4 | 1⁄2 | 33 | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 2 | 3⁄4 | ... | ... | ... | 3 | 11 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| „ | j | 14· | 25 | ... | ... | 6 | ... | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ... | ... | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 4 | 1⁄2 | 30 | ... | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 2 | 3⁄4 | ... | ... | 1⁄2 | 3 | 14 | 44 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| „ | k | 14· | 5 | - | Have more extra subjects than is wise. | ... | ... | 6 | ... | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ... | 3 | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 4 | 1⁄2 | 33 | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 3⁄4 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 11 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| „ | l | 15· | 75 | ... | ... | ... | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ... | ... | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 4 | 1⁄2 | 30 | 5 | 1⁄4 | 3 | 3⁄4 | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 14 | 44 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| L. V. | m | 16· | ... | ... | 5 | ... | 5 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 1 | 1⁄4 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3⁄4 | 28 | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 2 | 3⁄4 | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 4 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 16 | 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| „ | n | 13· | 583 | - | Has no engagement after 7 in the evening and goes early to bed. | ... | ... | 5 | ... | 5 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 1 | 1⁄4 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3⁄4 | 28 | ... | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 2 | 3⁄4 | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3⁄4 | 13 | 41 | |||||||||||||||
| „ | o | 15· | ... | ... | 5 | ... | 5 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 1 | 1⁄4 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3⁄4 | 28 | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 3⁄4 | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 16 | 44 | |||||||||||||||||
| „ | p | 16· | 166 | ... | ... | ... | 5 | 5 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 1⁄4 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3⁄4 | 28 | 5 | 1⁄4 | 3 | 3⁄4 | ... | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 3⁄4 | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 1⁄4 | ... | 16 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||
| IV. | q | 14· | 916 | 1 | 1⁄4 | ... | 5 | ... | 5 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3⁄4 | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 28 | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 3⁄4 | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 16 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||
| „ | r | 14· | 75 | 1 | 1⁄4 | ... | 5 | ... | 5 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3⁄4 | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 28 | ... | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 3⁄4 | ... | 3 | 1⁄4 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||
| „ | s | 14· | 1 | 1⁄4 | ... | 5 | ... | 5 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3⁄4 | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 28 | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 2 | 3⁄4 | ... | 3 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 16 | 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| „ | t | 13· | 833 | Goes early to bed. | 1 | 1⁄4 | ... | 5 | ... | 5 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 3⁄4 | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | ... | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 1⁄2 | 28 | 5 | 1⁄4 | ... | ... | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | 2 | 3⁄4 | ... | 1 | 1⁄2 | ... | 2 | 13 | 41 | |||||||||||||||||
And here it is important to note that a great deal of the training requisite to make a girl really useful, i.e., to make her industrious, prompt, intelligent, thoughtful, thorough and accurate, can quite as easily be given by means of work which is not intellectual, thereby saving the poor brain, which we have often strained to the uttermost in the past, from the weariness and fatigue consequent upon overwork, The true end of school life.and girls may be sent out from school not anæmic and weak-backed, hating the sight of a book, but healthy and vigorous, keenly alive to every opportunity that offers for self-improvement, earnest and self-restrained, with trained powers ready to devote themselves to the duties which offer. Occupations not purely intellectual.For the purposes of training then, I would suggest a variety of handicrafts,[32] such as bookbinding, needlework, the practising of various musical instruments, part singing, drawing and gardening. In some cases time also is given for general reading in the library—this may include English and other modern languages—and is often valuable in keeping up a modern language that has been acquired early, besides cultivating breadth of view and literary taste. The whole school ought also to be organised as a Fire Brigade and regularly drilled. It will be noticed at once that cooking, dressmaking, domestic economy, sick nursing, physiology and hygiene are omitted. These subjects are admirable at school age for girls who intend to make them their work in life, but for our own girls, though some of them suggest suitable holiday recreations, I believe that they are best acquired by devoting six months or a year specially to the purpose when school life is over. They do not seem to me to admit of a sufficient amount of training, in proportion to the amount of time they consume. The knowledge, so essential for the welfare of the individual, of phenomena, such as the properties of air and water and the laws of heat, is acquired and the practical applications are pointed out by every intelligent teacher during the study of physics and chemistry; and care of the health receives constant practical attention, so that it is unnecessary to emphasise it during school life by special lessons. Needlework is essential for every woman, and facility with the needle is more easily acquired early, say from ten to fourteen, when the fingers are really large enough to use such a delicate instrument as a needle; but, as with everything else, having acquired the elements thoroughly, it must be a matter of individual taste whether the worker proceeds to acquire the higher branches of the art. Handicrafts.The same may be said of piano, violin and drawing. Bookbinding, woodcarving and joinery give great scope for the development of neatness, accuracy and artistic talent. An immense deal of interest may also be excited by gardening, and much information of a practical and botanical kind, likely to be useful in later life, may be obtained. Every girl who wishes it, should have a small plot of garden to cultivate for herself.
[32] It is to the admirable curriculum arranged by Miss Gray, the headmistress of St. Katharine’s School, St. Andrews, that I am indebted for my views on the subject of handicrafts and short hours for intellectual work.
Swimming.Here it may be as well to mention that where facilities for bathing exist, provided great care is exercised in only allowing girls in perfect health to indulge in it, and then for not too long at a time, no finer exercise exists than swimming. The necessary position of the swimmer, with arms extended and head well thrown back, is an admirable corrective to any tendency to stoop that may be acquired by bookwork.
Importance of noting the weight and rate of growth.Before concluding this chapter on the cultivation of the body, it may be useful to append tables of the heights and weights of girls at different ages. These are compiled from careful measurements taken regularly three times every year at St. Leonard’s School, St. Andrews, during a period of nearly six years, an Avery’s weighing and measuring apparatus being used. The girls were always weighed in their gymnastic costume of the thickness worn in winter, and measured in their shoes. A certain small percentage were usually found to have lost weight, the proportion being larger in the summer time. We found, however, that such losses were unimportant, unless persisted in. If, for example, a growing girl did not increase in weight during a year, and was lighter than the average for her age and height, then it would be high time to send for the doctor and have her thoroughly overhauled. On the other hand, if a girl was found to be persistently idle and inattentive, though apparently in good health, on consulting the weight book it would usually be found that she was underweight for her age, and a cure was easily effected by cutting off some of her work, giving her extra nourishment and more time for exercise in the open air. It is indeed truly awful to reflect on the number of bad habits, that is, moral faults, that may be induced and fostered in those under our charge by neglect of suitable health conditions.
The tables are sound, so far as they go, but they do not go nearly far enough, the basis upon which they are founded being too narrow, and it is much to be wished that the Anthropometric Society could see its way to organising a series of observations over a much wider area.
I.—Table showing the average height and weight of British girls from the ages of nine to twenty, stating in each case the number of observations made. Also showing the average increase per annum deduced from the same observations taken three times in each year.
| Ages. | Height. | Weight. | Number of observations made. | Increase. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In Height. | In Weight. | ||||||||||||
| From | ft. | in. | st. | lb. | oz. | in. | lb. | oz. | |||||
| 9 | to | 10 | 4 | 3 | ·38 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 22 | ||||
| 10 | „ | 11 | 4 | 5 | ·763 | 4 | 12 | 14 | 36 | 2 | ·383 | 8 | 4 |
| 11 | „ | 12 | 4 | 8 | ·403 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 49 | 2 | ·64 | 7 | 8 |
| 12 | „ | 13 | 4 | 11 | ·509 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 81 | 3 | ·106 | 12 | 11 |
| 13 | „ | 14 | 5 | 1 | ·639 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 218 | 2 | ·13 | 11 | 1 |
| 14 | „ | 15 | 5 | 3 | ·128 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 490 | 1 | ·489 | 10 | 1 |
| 15 | „ | 16 | 5 | 3 | ·972 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 737 | ·844 | 7 | 13 | |
| 16 | „ | 17 | 5 | 4 | ·451 | 8 | 11 | 6 | 870 | ·479 | 5 | 6 | |
| 17 | „ | 18 | 5 | 4 | ·666 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 627 | ·215 | 4 | 1 | |
| 18 | „ | 19 | 5 | 4 | ·804 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 242 | ·138 | 3 | 3 | |
| 19 | „ | 20 | 5 | 5 | ·267 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 51 | ·463 | 12 | ||
| II.—Table showing average height for age, disregarding weight. | III.—Table showing average weight for height, disregarding age. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age in years. | Height. | Number of observations made. | Height. | Weight. | Number of observations made. | ||||||
| ft. | in. | ft. | in. | st. | lb. | oz. | |||||
| 9 | 4 | 1 | ·35 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 1 | |
| 9 | 1⁄2 | 4 | 3 | ·739 | 12 | 3 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 | 4 | 4 | ·385 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 1 | |
| 10 | 1⁄2 | 4 | 5 | ·565 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 3 |
| 11 | 4 | 6 | ·481 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 | |
| 11 | 1⁄2 | 4 | 8 | ·322 | 26 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| 12 | 4 | 10 | ·582 | 35 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 12 | |
| 12 | 1⁄2 | 4 | 11 | ·696 | 44 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 14 | 12 |
| 13 | 5 | 1 | ·458 | 69 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 15 | |
| 13 | 1⁄2 | 5 | 1 | ·728 | 122 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 27 |
| 14 | 5 | 2 | ·708 | 192 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 28 | |
| 14 | 1⁄2 | 5 | 3 | ·232 | 256 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 42 |
| 15 | 5 | 3 | ·72 | 349 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 56 | |
| 15 | 1⁄2 | 5 | 4 | ·048 | 389 | 4 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 15 | 118 |
| 16 | 5 | 4 | ·263 | 434 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 13 | 221 | |
| 16 | 1⁄2 | 5 | 4 | ·488 | 445 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 263 |
| 17 | 5 | 4 | ·606 | 376 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 309 | |
| 17 | 1⁄2 | 5 | 4 | ·644 | 296 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 14 | 564 |
| 18 | 5 | 4 | ·671 | 182 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 625 | |
| 18 | 1⁄2 | 5 | 4 | ·797 | 97 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 4 | 466 |
| 19 | 5 | 4 | ·831 | 40 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 12 | 274 | |
| 19 | 1⁄2 | 5 | 4 | ·854 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 217 |
| 20 | 5 | 4 | ·89 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 125 | |
| 5 | 9 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 54 | ||||||
| 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 12 | ||||||