The  character  of  the  teaching  supplied
by  women  has  undergone  no  less  a  change
than  their  position.  In  estimating  the
work  done  by  the  women-teachers  of  the
present  day,  we  cannot  but  recall  the
words  of  the  Report  of  the  Schools  En-
quiry Commission  of  1867,  complaining  of
'  the  inattention  to  rudiments '  in  girls'
schools,  of  their  *  slovenliness  and  showy
superficiality,'  and  contrast  them  with  the
verdict  of  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge
Joint  Board  of  Examiners,  when  they
report  in  1887  to  the  Council  of  the  Girls'
Public  Day  School  Company,  that  'The
examiner  finds  it  hard  to  write  without
apparent  exaggeration  of  the  very  high
opinion  he  has  formed  of  the  general
excellence  of  the  literature  work  of  these
schools.  At  least  four  of  the  schools
sent  up  work  superior  to  anything  of  its
kind  which  the  examiner  has  ever  seen  be-
fore, except  occasionally  in  the  university
examination  of  adults ;  while  quite  a
dozen  other  schools  followed  close  upon
the  excellence  of  these  four.'  In  arith-
metic, the  examiner  writes,  ll  may  say
that  I  was  very  much  astonished  at  the
enormous  improvement  in  the  arithmetic  of


girls  which  has  taken  place  in  the  last  ten
years.  Their  arithmetic  is  now  as  far  in
advance  of  the  boys  in  style  and  accuracy
as  it  was  then  behind.'  And  in  other
subjects  the  Board  considers  that  the
schools  mentioned  have  now  reached  a  high
standard.  The  weight  to  be  attached  to
the  opinion  of  the  '  Joint  Board '  will  be
apparent  when  it  is  remembered  that  it
conducts  the  annual  examination  of  all
the  best  public  schools  for  boys  throughout
the  country,  and  that  its  certificate  ex-
empts from  certain  university  examina-
tions.
