Indeed, I
think this is usually so. It may not, however, be safe to deduce from
this fact the opinion that children should never be kept longer in
school than two hours a day; but it seems proper to assume that, if
blessed with good homes, they may be relieved from the tedium of
confinement in the school-room, when there is no longer opportunity for
improvement.
We are beginning to realize the advantages of well-educated female
teachers in primary schools; nor do I deem it improbable that they shall
become successful teachers and managers of schools of higher grade,
according to the present public estimation. But, in regard to the latter
position, I have neither hope, desire, nor anxiety. Whenever the public
judge them, generally, or in particular cases, qualified to take charge
of high schools and normal schools, those positions will be assigned to
them; and, till that degree of public confidence is accorded, it is
useless to make assertions or indulge in conjectures concerning the
ability of women for such duties. It is my own conviction that a higher
order of teaching talent is required in the primary school, or for the
early, judicious education of children, than is required in any other
institutions of learning. Nor can it be shown that equal ability for
government is not essential. There must be different manifestations of
ability in the primary and the high school; but, where proper training
has been enjoyed, pupils in the latter ought to be far advanced in the
acquisition of the cardinal virtue of self-control, whose existence in
the school and the state renders government comparatively unnecessary.
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