CHAPTER X

THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS

FIFTEEN years ago very few people outside of Dunn County, Wisconsin, knew anything about MeA new educational experiment station

nomonie, a little lumber town,

situated in a sparsely settled section of the state. To-day every one interested in educational progress in any of the leading countries has at least heard of it. Most American teachers are keeping watch of it. And when one visits England, France, or Germany, and talks with school men, the chances are he will be asked to describe the educational reforms which are in process of being worked out in this place. Many leaders in educational and social progress from every part of the world have recently visited Menomonie for the purpose of observing for themselves whether the new theories of education being tried out there are a success. It is an exceptional day now when Menomonie does not entertain distinguished visitors bent on educational errands, and speaking various languages. The thing which attracts these people from afar is the report

that the Stout Institute is demonstrating the practicability and efficiency of new methods in education, and particularly in the training of girls.

The pilgrimages being made to Menomonie today, remind one of similar attractions a hundred years ago at Burgdorf and Yverdon, where Pestalozzi illustrated the principle that children should be made to deal with real objects in all their education, instead of simply to learn words. It suggests also the vital reforms initiated at Keilhau by Fröbel, where he gave a practical demonstration of his theory that the pupil ought to be self-active in all his work, instead of simply following the lead of his teacher. It suggests once more the epoch-making work in our own country by Sheldon in Oswego fifty years ago, and by Parker a little later in Quincy, Massachusetts. Each of these places was, in its day, the Mecca for educational reformers. Each has contributed in an important degree to educational development. Some of our most highly valued educational methods to-day were first given a practical test at one or another of these experimental stations.

The feature of the work in the Stout Institute which attracts most attention is the "home-maker's course". There are training courses in manual arts and domestic science

A home-mak

er's course

for those who wish to teach these branches; but the course in home-making is designed for girls who have no intention of becoming teachers, but who are interested in studying scientifically the problems of the home. The subjects pursued in this department relate directly to one or another phase of home life, though some attention is given to such studies as history and literature. But the list of subjects in the home-maker's course would seem peculiar to a girl pursuing the traditional courses in the typical high school or college. There are no foreign languages in the course, and no mathematics, except such as are applied concretely to the problems of home life. Also there are no formal courses in science, though there is a good deal of work in the application of science to the problems of food, sanitation, and the like.

In the home-maker's course, primary attention is given to the discussion of practical problems concerning foods and food-stuffs, their nutritive and market values, their care and preservation, the foods that are suitable for persons of different ages and occupations, methods of determining the purity of foods, modes of preparing food-stuffs for persons in health and in sickness, the best ways of serving foods, and so on. Next the girls study matters pertaining to textiles, and the making of garments and

articles used for the decoration of the person. Again, there are subjects that deal with problems of furnishing and decorating a house. The needs of persons of varying means are kept constantly in view, so that a girl may learn how to make her house attractive according to the funds at her disposal. She receives instruction regarding the proper way to purchase whatever is essential in the maintenance of a house, the balancing of expenditures for different purposes in the home, and efficient methods of keeping accounts of all household transactions. She studies the relations of individual homes to society. She finds out what local and general associations there are that relate to the home, and what should be its attitude toward organizations pertaining to the industrial, ethical, and moral welfare of its members.

Finally, each girl pursues courses relating to the proper modes of caring for children, and of members of the home when they are sick or recovering from disease. She learns the best methods of home nursing, what should be done in cases of typical accidents, the use of antiseptic agents in disease, effective methods of making a house sanitary, and so on. In order that these practical subjects may be securely grounded, students are required to study the sciences on which they are based-chemistry,

physics, bacteriology, psychology, and child study. But these sciences are presented in a somewhat different way from what they are in the typical high school or college. Mere technical knowledge is not emphasized. What is aimed at is a mastery of those fundamental principles which bear most directly upon the actual problems of home life.

There is a home atmosphere about the institute. The girls take a part in the actual activities in which A home atthey will find it advantageous to parmosphere ticipate when they return to their father's home, or establish homes of their own. The atmosphere about the traditional high school and college is one of learning, often of memorizing simply. The work has little or no relation to the actual conditions in the home, any more than it has to those of the office or the shop or the store or the farm. School men have said that this is the best plan, since then these subjects will be of value to every student, no matter whether he comes ultimately to have charge of a home or a store or an office or a farm. The argument is that when subjects are taught without reference to their practical application they will train the student's mind, and he can then utilize his training, though not his knowledge, in whatever situations he may be placed in maturity.

Observing people of affairs, as well as students of