The study pupils into rapport with nature, and esof nature pecially with the life of plants and animals. No study could be of greater value for the girl than this. Her temperament fits her admirably to appreciate living nature. Her range of enjoyment in life will be vastly increased when she is helped to feel the great forces that tend forward and upward in the world about her. She needs that sort of acumen, too, which may come from close communion with nature during her plastic years. Her mode of life in times gone by made her more subject to fear and superstition than has been the case with man. The untaught woman is apt to live in dread of the phenomena of nature a good part of the time. She does not easily think of natural events as springing from impersonal causes. She is animistic by inheritance. But the daily study of nature throughout her educational course should replace fear by confidence, and superstition by scientific insight. The failure of most of our schools today to give a girl daily experience in tracking out the laws of nature in its varied manifestations constitutes one of the greatest weaknesses in contemporary education, and indicates a defect which ought to be remedied without delay. These subjects the girl must pursue in common with her brother in the elementary school. They Vocational constitute the fundamental requiretraining ments, no matter in what particular sphere of life the girl may be placed. However, many girls must earn their own living, and they must begin soon after they leave the elementary school, which makes vocational training a necessity. But the girl can not get such training during the elementary school course. This course is none too long for her to acquire the general education which is absolutely essential for a well-poised, successful life. This suggests a pressing problem which has already been taken up in some communities-the lengthening of the elementary school period by a year or two, which must be devoted to vocational training. There can hardly be any doubt that in our own country the period of schooling for all children should be lengthened. There is no reason why it should not be. The eight-year plan for the elementary school can not be regarded as final. There is nothing in human society or in nature which requires that most pupils should cease their school work after the completion of the eighth year. In the past, economic necessity established eight years as the limit of universal compulsory schooling. But our financial condition is improving, knowledge is increasing by leaps and bounds, and more is being constantly demanded of the rising generations in order that they may adapt themselves adequately to contemporary civilization. All this means that the compulsory school period must be extended for the girl, as well as for the boy. For those girls who have leisure and means to go through the high school into college, the way is open to carry forward the lines of work begun in the elementary school. The fundamental needs of the woman can be ministered to best by art, music, history, literature, science, and the subjects that bear directly upon social and ethical problems, and the problems of home-making in a large sense, special importance being given to the care and culture of children. No matter how long her interest and her economic condition will permit her to continue her studies, these great fields will offer attractions to her, for it is practically impossible to exhaust them. |