22 JULY 1911, Page 16

HOME SCIENCE.

[To THE ElliTOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:1 Sin,—It has been recently suggested in letters which have appeared in the Educational Supplement of the Times and elsewhere that the promoters of the movement for providing education of a university standard in home science and economics are laying claim to an originality which does not really belong to their work. Will you allow me to- make in your columns a brief explanation on this point ?

As Stcretary to the Department at King's College for Women, I should like to point out that the only claim to novelty made by those on whose behalf I am working relates to the attempt to carry the teaching of domestic science up to a higher scientific standard than has hitherto prevailed and to obtain for the training for the profession of household administration admission to our universities.

The promoters of the movement are, to my know- ledge, foremost in their recognition of the technical work already being done in such excellent ways in the polytechnics, schools of houseeraft, and train- ing schools all over the country, and in the high value they place upon it. They regard their own contribution to the cause as an effort to put the crown on all this work, which naturally preceded it, by taking the scientific training a stage further and winning for the subject that higher edu- cational value and esteem which attach to subjects associated with a university. It is their hope that the recognition by our Universities that the profession of housekeeping needs as advanced a training as any other profession for the prepara- tion for which degrees are already given will both lead to the promotion in laboratories of the rese-arch so much needed in the related subjects and also hasten the improvement in the scientific and general training of girls in our higher secondary

Secretary Home Science and Economics Deportment, King's College for Women. University of London.

King's College for Women, University of London, Kensington Square, W.