ON

N first hearing of a new undertaking, and especially of one involving a large expenditure of time and thought and money, prudent people are put on their guard. They assume an attitude of self-defence. They decline to commit themselves hastily, and before promising their support, they require to be assured, first, that there is a real want to be met; secondly, that the new thing proposed is calculated to meet the want; and thirdly, that there is a fair prospect of its being carried into effect.

In the following paper it is proposed to show what the deficiency is which the new College for Women is designed to supply, to describe the plan of the institution, and to give some information as to the means by which it is hoped to carry out the scheme.

The alleged want is that of some provision for the education of women above the age of eighteen, analogous to that afforded by the Universities to young men. That any such provision already exists will probably not be affirmed. In order, however, to make this point quite clear from the outset, it may be worth while to quote the evidence of the Assistant Commissioner for the London district under the Schools Inquiry Commission, part of whose business it was to investigate the condition of the secondary education, or in

other words, the higher school education of girls. Mr. Fearon says:

"The secondary education of girls is that of girls whose general education is intended to last beyond their 12-13th year of age. But how long is it to last? At what age of the pupil does it merge into the superior education? Is there, indeed, in this country any regular system of superior education for girls? And if so, at what age does it begin, what is the course of study which it embraces, and in what institutions is it carried on? . . . In the case of boys, such a question is easily answered. The Universities afford them the superior education-the most ancient, the most respected, and, in every sense of the word, the highest educational force in the country. There is, therefore, no difficulty in defining, in the case of boys, where secondary education ends. But in the case of girls the difficulty seems to me insuperable. I have been really quite unable, during the course of my brief inquiry, to discover where in London the superior education of girls is conducted in any such regular and systematic way that it could be recognised by a Commission. . . . If superior education of young women—that is, an education in language, mathematics, and physical science, parallel and equal to that afforded by Oxford and Cambridge to young men-exists at all in London, it exists in private or domestic tuition, and not in any institution which I can discover."*

It is needless to add, that if such an institution is not to be found. in London, it certainly will not be found anywhere in England.

It is one thing, however, to show that a thing is absent, and quite another to show that it ought to be present. Those who doubt whether University education is desirable for women, are probably influenced by one or other of the following considerations. Either they hold that though there are no public institutions for women like Oxford and Cambridge, superior instruction is provided by private and domestic tuition, or by some other means, for those who want it; or, that it might be, in some better way than by the foundation of a college; or, that all this talk about education is a mistake. Women have done very well without it hitherto. And when you have made them so learned, what will they be the better for it?

It will be convenient to deal with these widely different views separately.

And first, as to the teaching and the opportunities for study which are available in ordinary homes. It is scarcely necessary to argue at length the question whether superior education is satisfactorily provided for by domestic tuition. The answer will depend on the view taken as to what superior education is, and on the particular cases which have come under any one's notice. In those rare families where the mother has been highly educated, or where the father has both the ability and the leisure to direct the daughter's studies; or where money is abundant, and costly teaching, books, * Report of Schools Inquiry Commission, vol. vii., pp. 381,

382.

private rooms for study, and cultivated society can be provided ad libitum, young women no doubt have great opportunity of selfimprovement. Even in these favoured cases, the absence of a system of discipline, the distractions of society, and the want of the sympathy of numbers, must add considerably to the difficulty of steady, fruitful work. But taking such instances at their best, they are too exceptional to form the basis of argument. The best mothers will be the first to admit their own incompetency to carry on the education of their daughters to a high point. Fathers are too busy to take more than a very general sympathetic interest in their daughters' pursuits. That they should undertake the direction of their daily studies is out of the question. And even where there is wealth enough to pay for unlimited lessons, it is only in large towns one might almost say, only in London and at the Universities, that teachers of the highest rank are to be found.

The most conclusive reply, however, to this view is to be found in the universal admission that "something is wanted for governesses." Every one agrees that there is no class of schoolmistresses and governesses at all answering to the masters in public schools and private tutors; and that there is no existing provision for the gradual formation of such a class. And if so much as this is conceded, the whole case is conceded. For if there is no adequate provision for the superior instruction of governesses, manifestly there is none for women in general. The conclusion follows—if neither governesses nor mothers know, how can they teach? So long as education is not provided for them, how can it be provided by them?

If, however, it is admitted that with the existing means and appliances, anything at all equivalent to a University education cannot be carried on in ordinary homes, it may still be urged that the main objects in view might be attained by less costly and elaborate means than that of establishing a great central institution, the very idea of which is a novelty, and to some minds an offence. Might not we get all that is essential by higher examinations, by the improvement of girls' schools and perhaps the extension of the school period, or by supplying courses of lectures in all our large towns?

In considering the first expedient proposed-that of a system of advanced examinations-it is necessary to recall attention to the fact that the deficiency complained of is that of superior education, and that examinations, however valuable and necessary in their place, are not education. It is possible to be thoroughly well educated without ever passing an examination, but it is not possible for an uneducated person to pass a good examination. As

a stimulus, and as testing and certifying the results of instruction, examinations are most useful, but they are a means, not an end, and must always hold a subordinate place. To suppose that examinations will do instead of teaching, is like supposing that, given the assaying process, you can make a sovereign without extracting the gold from the ore. If we want sovereigns, we must first get the gold, then try it and stamp it. If we want education, we must first teach, then examine and certify. The test and the stamp cannot serve as a substitute for the thing to be tested and stamped.

The suggestion to seek for the higher education of women by improving and developing the existing schools rests on a very different basis. At first sight, it certainly appears to be a very simple and in many respects satisfactory arrangement, to keep girls on longer at school, giving them gradually, as they grow older, a little more freedom and independence, and getting good masters for them in the higher subjects, in proportion to their advancement. This would, in fact, be pursuing the present system of finishing schools, only that, as it may be urged, what is now often shallow and pretentious might be made real and thorough. This simple expedient seems to have so much to recommend it, that it is worth while to consider earefully whether it might not be made to answer the purpose in view. For this, it is necessary to know something of the present state of the schools, and of the means suggested for improving them. On these points, the most comprehensive body of information extant is contained in the Report of the Royal Schools Inquiry Commission, and in the evidence laid before them.

In their General Report, the Commissioners, after mentioning the various sources from which they obtained evidence, observe that,— "The general deficiency in girls' education is stated with the utmost. confidence, and with entire agreement, with whatever difference of words, by many witnesses of authority. Want of thoroughness and foundation; want of system; slovenliness and showy superficiality; inattention to rudiments; undue time given to accomplishments, and those not taught intelligently or in any scientific manner; want of organization: these may sufficiently indicate the character of the complaints we have received in their most general aspect."

After giving some details as to the general condition of female education and the various measures suggested for its amendment, the Commissioners advert to the proposal for the establishment of a new College, "designed to hold in relation to girls' schools and home teaching a position analogous to that occupied by the Universities towards the public schools for boys," and express their "cordial approval of the object aimed at in this proposal." The Assistant Commissioners, "appointed to examine into the Report, vol. i., p. 548.

education in certain selected districts," give detailed information as to the quality of the teaching in girls' schools, the cause of its defectiveness, and the remedies.

Mr. Stanton, reporting upon the schools of Devon and Somerset, states,

“That their method of teaching is apt to be desultory and old-fashioned, and they suffer from the want of some guiding principle, which the boys' schools find in the public schools and Universities, to give direction and aim to their studies; that they suffer more than the boys' schools from the 'finishing' system; that there is a great want of mistresses and governesses who have been carefully trained for the purpose of tuition."*

Mr. Bompas, the Assistant Commissioner for Wales, complains that,

"Mistresses have no means of acquiring that high education which is obtained by men at the Universities, and which can hardly be obtained except in a place devoted to the study of the higher branches of knowledge, and strong in the traditions of successive bodies of teachers."+

He mentions also having been told by a lady,

"Who was just opening a school, that she had gone to France to finish her education, mainly in order that she might obtain one of those certificates of fitness to teach which can be obtained in France, but not in England, and that she knew other girls who were going over to France to be educated for the same reason."‡

Mr. Hammond points out that the method of teaching adopted in ladies' schools is propagated by domestic governesses, who have only their school experience to guide them, and that the kind of education given in girls' schools must therefore account in a great measure for the intellectual merits and defects of all English women in the upper and middle classes. He gives the following account of the intellectual results which the best education attainable at a girls' school in his district (Norfolk and Northumberland) might be expected, under favourable circumstances, to produce.

"A cultivated young lady would read and write well, would be faultless in her spelling, and would perform the several arithmetical operations, up to compound division or practice, with tolerable correctness. In addition to the accomplishments-music, drawing, and dancing-she would possess much miscellaneous information, more or less useful; a fair acquaintance with French; a facility of expression and composition in her own language, greater than that possessed by most men of her class of life; and lastly, some knowledge, acquired chiefly at second-hand, of standard English authors. Within certain limits, her general intelligence and her imaginative faculty would be more nimble and active in their play than a man's would be she would take a more lively view of familiar and domestic incidents, and would extract more pleasure from light and elegant literature. But the study of solid and weighty writers, and the discussion of matters of first-rate importance, would be uninteresting to her, owing to her lack of + Ibid.

* Report, vol. vii., p. 78.

+ Ibid., vol. viii., p. 41.