girls' EDUCATION', ETC. 733 



9.— THE EVOLUTION OF GIRLS' EDUCATION. 



.3y Miss ALLMAN MARCH ANT, M.A., Priitcipal of Olago Girls' High School, Dunedin, N.Z. 



(Abstract.) 



This paper sketched the position of women in ancient Egypt, 

 Greece and Rome, and the effects of the teaching of Christianity 

 ■on women's place in the social world. The outburst of culture of 

 the Renaissance brought women to the fore, while the Reformation 

 put her back again into the domestic sphere. The Teutonic ideals 

 gave our forefathers a respect for womanhood, but our English 

 system of education for women was very meagre till late on in the 

 eighteenth century, though men like Steel and Defoe had warmly 

 advocated woman's claims to educational rights equal to those of 

 men. The growing recognition of this can be traced in literature 

 through Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Scott and Dickens. In 

 Tennyson's Princess and in Ruskin the modern ideas were de- 

 veloped, while in practice Miss Buss and Miss Beale established 

 the modern girls' schools. This system had had distinguished 

 success, but a reaction had set in, and the question now is whether 

 the old literary standards are to be discarded for a more modern 

 -course of work. There are many drawbacks, but great caution must 

 be observed before changes can be made. The paper concluded 

 with a sketch of Ibsen's and Meredith's attitudes towards women's 

 rights. 



10.— THE WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC 

 ASSOCIATION. 



By Miss SYMOXDS. 



(Abstract.) 



The International Phonetic Association was founded in 1886 to 

 advance the scientific study of spoken language. It has branches 

 in England, France and Germany. It claims that a student of a 

 foreign language, with the aid of phonetics, will readily acquire a 

 good pronunciation, and that imperfections of the native speech 

 can be corrected by this means. Phonetics is the study of speech 

 sounds. In order to promote the study of speed sounds, 

 a phonetic notation has been adopted. This necessity is caused 

 by the fact that the orthography of most languages, though 

 once phonetic, is now distinctly not so. The phonetic notation is 

 arranged on the basis of one sign for each sound, and after a short 

 period of study this proves itself to be of the utmost value and help. 

 Aftei' a thorough understanding of the sounds of a language has been 

 acquired, the Association recommends for further study the " Direct 



