Is Woman Better Suited than Man to Primary Teaching?

Word reached our ears of a statement by Dr. Habib Kurani on "the feminization of teaching," so we put these questions to him, given the importance this question holds for woman — and who better to enlighten us on the subject than the head of the Department of Education at the American University of Beirut? From under his hands there have gone out to the Arab world, in the last quarter-century, many hundreds of teachers of the young. His experience, then, is rich and his studies continuous, and on these two grounds he has the right to speak his word boldly.

— The Editors —

Q. — Is it true that you are among those who call for the feminization

of teaching, and what exactly does that mean?

A. — I am not among those who call for the feminization of teaching, but I hold it necessary to bring woman into the teaching profession more widely and more

fully than is the case today. The Arab world is in labor with a general social renaissance whose signs have begun to show through the alertness, self-confi-dence, drive, and ardor we observe in the educated woman of today. It is as though, now that the love of service, work, and sacrifice that lay latent in her soul has been set free, she stands poised to leap forward. It was therefore our duty — we who supervise the preparation of teachers and concern ourselves with educational affairs — to encourage woman to enter the field of education and to open before her a wider scope for serving her society through the instruction and education of the young.

Q. — Which stages of teaching accord with woman's nature more than man's? And are there personal experiences to support the theory you hold?

A. — The primary stage of edu-cation has a special importance in the child's life, because it is during