628 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



Just uow, " domestic economy," or " housecraft," is more than 

 in the air, and I must admit that I think that, if in future we are 

 not all to live in fiats, we must elevate household service into the 

 position of being a most honorable position, more socially distingue 

 than typewriting; more lucrative than factory work. If giv- 

 ing it a University status can help this desirable end, by all 

 means let us give it that. But once again let us strike out our 

 own path, and let us not blindly adopt the methods of other 

 countries. The instruction must be suited to the class, for else- 

 where there have been mixed experiences. The London County 

 Council, for instance, instituted classes for girls of seventeen and 

 eighteen, in which the care of babies formed a prominent feature, 

 and to be realistic a baby was provided. The first lecture was 

 fully attended with much interest; at the next two there were a 

 few vacancies among the students. At the fourth, a girl said — 

 " Oh, nurse, do leave that baby alone, and tell us something that 

 IS good for the complexion." 



To conclude then, we must have objective standards for in- 

 formation and comparison which it would be easy to enumerate, 

 and which ought to be undertaken here. We must clearly under- 

 stand how our material differs from that with which teachers in 

 other parts of the world have to deal, and we must not rashly 

 adopt other systems, but must work out our own problems. 



And we must recognise that there are defects in our children 

 .which are almost national, and to the correction of which the 

 whole force of our moral education should be directed. 



1. HISTORY TEACHING IN CONNEXION WITH THE 

 MAKING OF A NATION. 



By Miss S. E. Mitchell, B.A., Loud., Lecturer in History Method, 



University of Melbourne. 



[Abstract.] 

 Much attention has been given recently to ascertain whether 

 the Australian nation is developing physically an individual 

 national type. It is necessary also to consider whether the nation 

 is developing a political and social identity which would differen- 

 tiate it from the Mother Country, or the other self-governing 

 Dominions, for from this realization of nationality should follow a 

 sense of national responsibility. This paper puts forward a plea 

 for the further and more philosophic consideration of history teach- 

 ing as a means of developing this social and political conscience, 

 and as a real asset in the makins: of the nation. 



