National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1873-07-28


Colonel Higginson puts the matter in this
way; "Thc question Of intellectual education
Is not one thing for man and another for
woman, any more than the question Of heath
full diet is ono thing for man and another for
woman. When we have separate treatiscs on
the laws Of digestion for the two sexes II will
be time enough to have separate treatises on
the education Of women. Whatever Is best
for the mind Is best for the feminine mind
AL the questions Of modes Of instruction,
kindergartens and object lessons, science and
literature, Greek and German, required and
elective studics-all these must be essentially
the same for women as for man. All the
problems Of education seem to present them
selves In the same way at Harvard for boys,
at Nassar for girls, at Michigan, and OF Cor
nell for the two united. The logic Of events
is sweeping with Irresistible power to the union
OF the sexes for higher education. West Of the
Aleghanies, as even It's opponents admit, public
sentiment Is irresistible In Its favor, and east
Of the Alleghanies the tendencies arc all one
way. The tide Is sweeping In, the smaller
New England colleges arc swept away, and
II the Others do not follow, the promised
Boston University, with Its vast endowmcnts,
will soon make IL unimportant whether they
follow or not The exhaustive reports Of
i
Dr.. Clarke, OF the Harvard overseer-re-
ports which nobody has yet attempted to
| inswcr-haye established one thing-that all
| the testimony Of experts Is In favor of joint
education. With hardly an exception, the
doubts and fears are from those who have
not tried It, and the Endorsement and appro-
val from those who have seon II tried for
years. In the public schools and academies.
where the influence Of actual experience Is
| felt far more closely than In our colleges,
the tendency Is oil one way. We often hear
Of separate schools being abolished and joint
schools established. This has taken place In
| every town where have been on the school
committee-three In number. But neither
In these towns nor In any other, have l so
much as heard proposition to change the
other way. II anything is certain In our
public school system Il Is that the sexes, onoo
united In school, are united forever. This
Is popular verdict, from which there
Ia no appeal. In our Incorporated acadc-
mics, too, the system of joint education has
prevailed for nearly century, aud cannot
conceive why every atom of experience
gained there IL not directly available for our
colleges. As between the two, the age of the
pupils do not greatly differ, nor do the studies.
II, now, two or three hundred young men and
women Of eighteen or twenty can dwell to-
/ gctheT In peace In an academy, why does the
| whole experiment become perilous and alarm
Ing when you change the name and call the
thing college? The system of elective
| studies, which Is designed | am sure, to pre-
vail In oil our colleges, Is wGrEing clearly In
tn direction Of the joint education Of the
sexes. The greater subdivision OF classes
makes abundant room In the class-rooms, and
tho elective system gives plenty Of opening
for the special bent, II there BE- such thing,
Of the feminine intellect. II also meets the
| assertion that the system Of education for
woman should be more classic than for man.