p. 13 | The Girl in School by Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 23, 1908

The Girl in School

By Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, M. D.

To the majority of parents, education means book learning. The etymology of the word shows us that its primary meaning is to “lead out.” Unfortunately, school education is principally a matter of pouring in instead of leading out. It is necessary that the girl’s training should be in some degree devoted to the development of her physical being; for the body is in truth the instrument through which the real personality must express itself. If the instrument be defective, the expression must be hindered. In order, therefore, that the girl shall have a good bodily instrument, it is important that she shall not be cramped or hindered in physical development by being sent to school too early. If she could have ideal home training, it would be better not to put her to the study of books before she is nine or ten years of age. This, however, would necessitate much wisdom on the part of parents, or the securing of home teachers who understand how to “lead out” the natural capabilities of the child.

Before confining the eyes to the study of the printed page, they should be trained to observation of natural objects. The girl can be not only instructed but interested in the acquiring of knowledge. She can be taught form through observing the cloud shapes, trees, leaves, in fact, all visible objects; and through these same objects she can be taught to judge of size and relative position. She can be trained to judge of distances, or measurements, so that she will say so many “inches” instead of “about so long,” or so many “rods” instead of “as far as from here to there.” She can learn of fabrics, their material, and where and how they are made. There is a world of material things which can be made to teach her many facts of practical value. Then, too, she can be taught expression through the hand. As one writer says, “We have five senses through which we receive impressions; but only two methods of expression, the tongue and the hand.” There is no more valuable method of education, leading out the capabilities of the individual, than manual training.

The little girl should not be put to the use of the needle at first; for both eyes and muscles must first learn the larger things before being brought to skill in finer and more minute work. As a very little child, she may be taught the use of the dust-cloth, or wield the small broom; she may be taught the use of the saw and hammer and nails, until she disproves the accepted theory that her finger-nails are the only ones she can be sure of hitting with the hammer. She can learn order and system very early in life, and to assist in the household duties. The three-year-old can place the knives and forks on the table, and put away the napkins after a meal. She can learn to keep her own playthings in order, to pick up pieces of paper from the carpet, or arrange the chairs when they are in disorder. As she grows older, she can learn much of chemistry in the kitchen by observation or by actual experiments; she can study botany by gardening; zoology by observation of the domestic animals. There is no more fascinating study than that of birds. She can learn to distinguish them by their song as well as by coloring.

The world will become a much more interesting place if the child is made familiarly acquainted with the trees. An aquarium can make her acquainted with small water-animals; and a home-made terrarium may be a fascinating means of window study of various little living creatures. She can learn much of history through studies that are told her. She can enter school at ten years of age a well-educated girl, yet having no practical acquaintance with books, though she ought to be able to read. As she has already gained so much practical knowledge, she will be better able to understand the relation between book learning and life itself.

It is quite important that the life of the young schoolgirl be so arranged that she will secure plenty of sleep. This necessitates early going to bed, and precludes all hurtful dissipation. It is questionable whether any girl should do any night studying before she is quite well developed physically. This, of course, will mean that she is not pushed and crowded according to the regular machinery of the school, bearing in mind always that the physical health is the foundation of all power of accomplishment. The health of the schoolgirl should be closely watched, and if at any time it seems to be declining, she should be removed from school. But the anxious mother, and probably the girl herself, will say that would mean falling behind her classes. This is probably true; but the grades are not the eternal verities, and the passing of an examination is not always an essential to good scholarship. If we could instil into the mind of the girl the desire to know, instead of an ambition to be promoted, we would do her the best service. It is usually the nervous girl who is very ambitious, and she needs to be held back rather than crowded forward.

As personal experience is always more satisfactory than mere theory, I may be pardoned here for relating my own method of dealing with my daughter. When she was about thirteen, I noticed that she was very much concerned for fear she would not pass an examination in Latin. She conjugated Latin verbs during meals, and talked them over in her sleep, until I said I thought it was not worth while to kill a living girl for a dead language, and that she should stop the Latin unless she could take it without nervous strain. I assured her that I cared nothing about examinations; all I asked of her was to learn her lessons each day; and that if she failed in the examination, I should not be in the least distressed. Feeling thus mentally relieved, she kept on with her Latin, learning the lessons daily without mental strain, and of course passed her examination satisfactorily. I made it a point every spring, when I saw her begin to manifest languor or irritability, to take her out of school for the rest of the year. She never went through an entire school year until her senior year in high school; still she did not fall behind her classes, and one year she was advanced three months ahead of her class. From fourteen to fifteen she was entirely out of school, occupied with household duties suited to her health and strength, and the result of this careful supervision was that when she entered college, she was in good health, able to take her full college work, and do the necessary night study. I believe this would be true of the majority of girls of the ambitious, nervous type.

The main thing in the education of every young girl is to remember that book learning is only a small part of education; that without physical health book learning is of very little value, and that a desire for knowledge will insure a better education with less school training than a mere ambition to pass examinations in order to “get through.”—Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, M. D.