This study certainly shows the waste of the boy power of the state and proves conclusively that there is need for the state to grapple consciously with the problem of conserving its youth; and when one reads this summary of an accurate and previously unpublished report, one is led to believe that William James, John Dewey, Liberty Hyde Bailey, and John Finley are right in their contention that there should be a mobilization of the boy force of the state looking toward conservation of the boy power that it may lead into training for skilled work, into citizenship, into sturdy health, and into right living.
Thoughtful people are becoming disposed to criticize the present methods employed in many of our sewing, cooking, and millinery classes. It is felt that the girls in these classes, through the work which they do, think of themselves first, last, and all the time. They spend time on embroidery to cater further to decorative instincts long established by custom without much thought as to artistic values. They spend half a year making graduation dresses which they may wear before admiring parents. They copy the latest fashion in hats without thought as to utility or beauty. They knit feathery neck pieces and neglect stocking darning. They laboriously sew by hand articles which had better be made on a machine.
Our girls must learn to think of others than themselves. Their sewing and millinery must get away from the individual-problem idea. Of course girls must learn to sew by hand, especially when the home in these days teaches so little in the way of hand sewing. But after they have learned to sew by hand, they should not continue to use hand sewing on work that should be done on a sewing machine. Of course it is wise to train girls to make some of their own clothing, but to make this clothing without regard to study of textiles or adaptation to personal needs or the eternal fitness of things is not in accord with the educational purpose of our schools, which is to train personal character as well as to develop skill in domestic arts. When the family hosiery needs darning, and the small children of the family need clothes, and the schoolgirl needs a middy blouse or a school uniform, it is unwise to spend so much energy on continuing a type of domestic art which lacks the socialized appeal necessary to conform with modern social needs and modern industrial methods.