long for
an intelligent well-educated girl of eighteen or more to spend on
technical training.[3] Mr James Oliphant, writing in _The School
World_ for July 1913 on the subject of secretarial training for girls,
says:

".... It is to be noted that the curriculum in girls' schools is of
a much more reasonable character than that which is commonly provided
for boys, and that the more completely it is fitted to supply a good
general education, the better it would be adapted to the special
needs of those who wish to become clerks or secretaries. It would
seem eminently desirable that such aspirants should continue at the
secondary school between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, being
provided with a specialised course of study ... but whenever it is
possible it would be well to insist that no subject should be included
which is not generally educative in the widest sense. The acquisition
of such mechanical arts as stenography and typewriting should be
relegated to technical colleges where, according to general testimony,
proficiency can be gained by well-educated girls in a period
varying from six to nine months. 'Commercial correspondence' is
an abomination; a sufficient knowledge of the ordinary forms
of letter-writing should be imparted in every course of English
composition ... while the special jargon of each business or office
can be readily acquired by any intelligent girl when it becomes
necessary."

There is every variety of price at the various technical training
schools all over the country, from a guinea to L100. With regard to
the training given in non-technical schools, the capable head of a
well-equipped West End typing office writes:

"It is a pity the ordinary schools are taking it up. I know of at
least one so-called secondary school which makes a speciality of
'Commercial Training.' The girls who take up the subject are quite
the wrong kind, with absolutely no real education,... and are ready
to accept anything in the way of salary. The really good schools where
the girls remain till they are 18 or 19 give a better training, of
course.... But I do not think the schools have any right to undertake
a specialised vocational training; it must lower the standard.
Every other profession has its special training after a good general
education has been acquired."

The best-known societies for protecting the interests of women clerks
and secretaries are, the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries
at 1