Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1871-08-11
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II is gratifying to notice that the increas-
ing advantages for education do not de-
mand larger payments OF money from the
students who make use of them. That the
advantages are improving, is evident fro "
the fact that twenty years ago not more
than two or three college corporations had
over three hundre thousand dollars, whilo
now there are towards n score of colleges
each having investments amounting to
more than n million dallars. This rapid
financial advance, and the consequent i'm
provement of facilities for instruction, is
owing to revival of interest in liberal ed
ucation, and men of financial resources
have recognized that advantages for high
intellectual culture must be offered gratui-
tously, as the students who seek them are
generally unable TO pay the cost. Since the
beginning of the late war, the endowments
of American colleges have been nearly
doubled, and several new institutions have
been started with means ample to insure
their success.
Methods ofcollegiate education have been
modified and magnified of late. Latin,
Greek and mathematics are no longer al
lowed to monopolize the four years course
of the student The most progressive col
leges have introduced systematic study
OF History, Political Economy, of Modern
Languages and Lteratures, and are paying
the Difference due'to the various branches
of science. Scholarship has introduced a
division of labor into its work, and has
made 1t necessary for the real college to
add nImbcr of new professorships.
Teaching now adopts the object system
even in the highest grades. The student
not only listens to the statement of the pro-
ressor, but also sees the demonstration.
Laboratories and cabinets are the modern
appurtenances used by the college TO make
the higher education practical as well as
disciplinary These modern improve
ments are costly. A large amount of capt
/ trl must be invested in the machinery of a
| first-casS college of today. a college
| financially poor necessarily does a small
amount of work, and there is good excuse
if that work be of an inferior quality.
The truth that lies in the preceding state
ments is the explanation of the low grade
of education given to women. With the
exception of Nassar college, at Poughkeep-
sic. \. y, there is not well-endowed col
legc for women in the world. The state in
which that successful institution is located
has given millions of dollars for the adj
vancement of higher education, but every
dollar 50 given went to the treasures of
institutions devoted exclusively to the cul-
ture of men. 1t is conceded that Ameri-
cans are singularly appreciatiye of the dig
nifty of women, but neither our state gov
ernmcnt nor our philanthropists have yet
provided the educational advantages that
would evoke the highest womanly dignity
by securing the highest development OF
woman's intellect.
Vassar has shown what a college exclu-
sivey for women can do. 1t has nearly
four hundred students in regular attend
ance, and graduates n large class each year
Its course of study, its apparatus of instruc'
ton, and the ability of irs Faculty are up tc
the collegiate grade. In the higher educa
ton of our country we hope to see within 1
few years two marked improvements, {
number Of vigorous colleges for women adj
ded to the one already at work, and thu
richer endowment of the colleges for men.