HOW THE MOTHERS
COULD HELP THE SCHOOLS
As president of a mothers' association I am keenly interested in our
schools, and feel that if mothers were
in authority the schools would be better.
Tennessee has the unenviable reputation of being one of the most illiterate states in the Union, In 1907 a
law was passed prohibiting women
from being on school boards, just at
the time when all the other schools
in the east and north were recognizing the need of the mother. At this
time 25 per cent of the whole income
of the state was given for education,
but only a "Qualified voter" could be
on the school board.
If a mother shapes the destiny of
her children in the first six years,
as she is credited with doing, she certainly should have the power to have
them educated along the lines of
their best individual abilities. A man
may reason what is best for the child,
but a mother knows intuitively what
each of her children needs, and I
firmly believe if women were on the
school boards a great many of the
non-essentials in the present day curriculum would disappear, and vocational education would come to the
front.
By far the greatest number of our
school children will necessarily have
to earn their own living, and isn't it
the practical thing to prepare them
as far as the state can do so—to equip
them mentally, physically and morally during- their eight years of compulsory education? And if women
were empowered to have a hand in
their children's education sixty and
seventy children would never be
given to one overworked teacher. A
number she could easily handle would
be her allotment—for a mother realizes the nerve-racking- strain, at times
with her few, and she knows full well
that justice cannot be done so many
—and individual teaching and interest would soon send Tennessee high
up the ladder of literacy. For Tennessee has the brains and brawn, and I
hope the day is very near when manual training with a big "M," and domestic science with a big "D," embracing all , the fundamental and
practical things a boy and girl should
know, will be taught in every school
in Tennessee.
And I am not forgetting the babies,
either. The laws of Tennessee do not
provide for the instruction of a child
under six. Who has ever visited a kindergarten and will not admit that a
little tot is taught courtesy and consideration for the other children,
neatness in the finish of their baby
work on valentines for mother and
dad, and orderliness in the putting
away of their little play things? I
think we would all gain much by frequent visits to the kindergarten, and
I am hoping and praying that the
free kindergarten bill that comes up
before the legislature soon will unanimously carry. For I am asking every
one of you—brothers and sisters, too,
to talk and read on suffrage, and see
what the women can do. It isn't only
for your child and mine, but for all
the children of Tennessee that I make
this plea.
So here's hoping you'll all help. too.
And let the women show their hands.
And, brothers; if you'll help us safely-
through.
The children will profit by our
demands
MRS. T. P. MILLER.
Women's Suffrage
