The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-06-21

,isited the leading colleges which have
Introduced the system, and learned the
Tiews of their instructors, and by con-
correspondence, mainly with
hose who had experience of co-eduea-
ion, collected q mass of information OF
he greatest interest. What report they
brought back to the trustees those who
have seen the working of the system
could very easily guess.
The experience of academies and nor
NAL schools ought to be allowed some /
weight. They stand u grade lower than |
the colleges, but no lower than the pre- |
paratOry departments connected with |
most Western institutions. And their
students, being somewhat younger, are
of just that most dangerous age when
they have hardly learned to understand
the necessary reserve between the two
sexes. And vet experience is now con-
fessedly and unanimously i'll favor OF
the mixed system in these schools. The
principals of four normal schools IN
New York State spoke most unreserved-
ly of the success of the system with
them. Says Principal J. w. Arm
strong, d. D., of the Fredonia Normal
School:
ais of students of either sex deterIorate,
apparently, in proportion to the rigor of
the separation of the sexes. The same
is true of their delicacy of feeling, their
sense of honor, and their love OF truth.
"In all mixed seminaries and acade-
mics where social intercourse of the
sexes was either forbidden or largely re-
strained. the ladies lost in prudence,
delicacy and truthfulneSs even Faster
than the gentlemen.
"FOr many years my views OF school
government have been much more lib
eral than the common practice would
! Justify. In this Normal School allow,
and even encourage, all the freedom OF
! intercourse between the sexes which
would be allowed in a well-regulated
! family. This has been tested for two
years. The results are good in the reci-
] tatiOn-roOm, where they mingle as they
choose on the seats in the halls, where
| they communicate as freely rs at home
i'm the boarding-places, where they have
only the same restrictions. They visit
walk and ride out together, out of reel
tatiOn hours, whenever and wherever
they please. The results are, they study
better, are more polite, visit far less
walk and ride together far less, than
when restrained, and never under i'm
prudent or Objectionable circum-
stances
President White found that the same
laws govern young men and women
STUDYING geometry and languages IN
college as i'm seminaries At Oberlin he
saw two hundred young men and wOm-
en- dining at the same tables, and Q
thousand scholars of both sexes reciting
together, with no loss of order, propriety
and refinement. President Fairchild's
Judgment was wholly favorable rs tC
the results of this experiment, which
has continued for n generation. He es-
Inmates the gain to good order to be
very great, that morality is promoted
dissipation, which might otherwise be
allowed, seeming intOlerable when Ia
dies are present; while the presence o
brothers and sisters, mutually sensitive
as to ANYTHING that would degrade each
other, is of great value. The girls dc
not break down in health more fire.
quentIy than the boys. OF those who
have graduated since 1871, one-twelfth
of the ladies have died, and one in nine
and half of the young men; though Il
allowance were made for those killed IN
the war, the result would be about the
same for the two sexes. That the ladies
are not untitled by their education fol
the duties of wife and mother is proved
by the fact that, of eighty-four ladie:
who have taken the college course, only
twenty-seven have not married, and o
these four died early, and but three have
been out of college for six years Presi
dent Fairchild admits the charge tina
some matrimonial engagements will b'
likely to be formed; but he remember
that the majority of suclI engagement
are made at the age when young ladie
would be at college; and he is of the i'm
preston that they might be made unde
circumstances less favorable for pruden
Judgment.
This being q crucial case, we do no
dare to dwell on the further testimony
all of which was unanimous. Presiden
White and Mr.. Sage found that youni
women had been admitted for four year
at the State University of Michigan
and that the scholarship of the sixty la
dies was quite equal to that of the gen
tlemen. In mathematics one of then
had carried of the prize for solving
difficult problem, which had been to-
much for several successive classes. Tn
janitOr says that the students are muel
more quiet and orderly than five year
ago, and he has no doubt as to the rea
SOl. ACCOulllS etudliy idNoioOlC NSl
heard from Evanston, from the IllinOi
: Industrial University, from Antioc
College, and other institutions. Thos
who had experience in them agree
that the influence on young men and o.
: young women was such as might be ex
peeted from following the wise arrange
ments of Nature in the family, and tina
the cases of scandal so much feared wer
much less frequent than in schools gov
erned by strict rules and arranged oil
the mOnastic plan.
The question ought now to be consid
cred as settled. CO-education OF th'
sexes has been proved economical, sai'
and wise. Cornell accepts Mr.. Sage
proposal, and within very few year
; our old Eastern colleges must follow it.
example. Which will take the lead
! Shall it be Williams, or Amherst, Ol
Harvard?