Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-05-21
The Higher Education of Women.

Tie eighth annual meeting of the Social
Sseace Association devoted a part Of last
y Wednesday to an essay by Col. I. W. His-
cIus0n, aud a d scussi1n following. The re-
mort gwen in the Boston Journal contairs
evidently the principal points made BY all
the speakers and well shows the present
state Of the argument upon both sides of the
question;
Ia commencing, Col. Higginson quoted
from YUltalre, whO said, " Ideas and boards
are llke-women and very young men who
have none In London there was formerly
sign Of - The Good Women" consisting oil
A lem4ie figure without head The ideas
are not wholly eradicdted from our minds
4 y1uuL lady was once told by one OF the
fashionable French women, AS pretty as
vou are. are you not ashamed to be 81
Iearued?'' These tallacies, the speaker
tnou ,lt, could not stand fire. One OF them
was that which c0DlOunded the laws OF sex
with the laws Of digestion Some argue
that men and women being different, diff
!creut mental diet is necessary. But if this
is true. why IS not the physical diet made
different rs well? Ii one sort of mental diet
uiI do for boys but not for girls, why
should not boys be fed on beef and potatoes,
and glrs On tea and toast
The ruth is that in our schools it is hard
o. keep the boys up 70 the standard OF the
,irs, AMI 1t i5 often necessary to resort 10
some extra mauCeuvres to keep thesirls from
Getting more than half of the prizes. Yet a
teacher once gave the recommendation to q
scholar that Fanny Noyes is medium
scholar. and for what know is as good as
her sex 10 general If girls do SO we'll in
our common schools, they will certainly do
a- well IN the universities.
Il was often the case that girls hated to
leave tue high school after they got there,
and ii often taxed the ingenuity of the com
u.tt, g. ID get rid OF them. It was once
found necessary to abolish high school to
graduate a class OF girls, who clung to study
even alter they had flushed the prescribed
elu.se.
The argument that woman was physically
unable to bear a high course Of study wao
wa..y y iailacIous. Tue desire for education
prJ'el that tue one desiring it was able to
bear IT, The speaker could show white
populations in parts of America where the
women were as gulltIess OF any education as
they were Jt soap and water, yet the peOp
w,re more SICILY than IN any part OF New
A
cittI women wives and mothers, were more
sraiy than those VINO were Ignorant. Facts
weIe easy Of recollection. There were col
ie.es 10 the UniJn where tor thirty years
meI and women bad been educated side by
sic. In Uberlin Colleges, the President,
Pr + F.Irchiid. has for years kept table OF
tar DEATHS oil graduates, and 1t IS proved that
ia t4., case at least, the percentage is nearly
equal ie.w, en men and women.
lie spec ker believed that school hours
rJyj With advantage be made shorter. Yet
lis member Of TIE Examining Committee {,
Harvard College, he WAS led TO beiIeve tIa'
uyer- Xeruon III study was uncomGUn.
There were more girls VINO sink lIstlessly In-
t. d.s, ase fUm tie sheer reason OF havIn5
nothing 10 DO, TO study, to u,IDk OF, tnan
were injured by OVer-study. DR.. Johns III
tells OF glrl " VITO thought she WAS in love.
when size was only idle, and this was too
common. Tennyson speaks OF girls, who,
'' with glowing health aud bJundiess wealth,
vet s0k INTO disease" IL was indOlence
t.al alicd American women to-day, and no.
Vyef-suly, by any means.
Inc Changes IN our social system were
maize by the tact that the poor boys must
st4Iv, and the rich need not. In one geu-
e.au1u tue poor of the previous one came
tJrwarI, whI!G the others receded a little
Il this IS true Of the boys, much more is it
true OF the glrls.
The education of women is to get fair
idea If books and music, and no more. The
real training OF the minds of women OF
America rs confined TO those who do not go
10 partlsS As L uie, the best educated gIrls
Oh America are the daughters OF mechanics
aud clergy men in county towns. TINS Was
as 1t shUuld lie. For the alteration Of the
rich and poor from generation to generation
forms the salvation of our republic, by pre-
venting tue continuation OF TIch families.
Tie question OF sex is out Of place in the
question OF education. There should be no
separate art Of education TOR women. Her
mind should be trained like that OF manly
opening the whole field Of knowledge, and
bidding her enter.
The President of Harvard College had
done more to hasten the admission OF woman
by iavoriug the elective system than all his
arguments could overcome. There was no
doubt that the picture of good Madame
B5ylston smiled at every time he passed her
place on the wall, and looked forward to tie
day when at the commencement dinners she
would not be the only woman among SO
many men
" When the first novel written by wo-
man made It's appearance it was looked upon
auxiOusly as a doubtful Innovation. Now
George Sand and George Eliot left their male
CJmpeers lar behind. Could man be sure
that the day was not upon him when wo
men would take away the science of chemis-
try ami the arts?
Harvard College pays S25, 900 a year to
Undergraduates to induce them to come and
tctaught could they not open their doors to a
few Young women who only asked leave to sit
ou a bench to learn a little and were willing
d pay their own bills The time was nearly
over When men would say, as was said by
Ole 10 speaking OF certain position: " This
pit c has Leither honor or profit, and L do
not zee WHY it should not be filled by wo-
man.
OPENING THE DISCUSSION.
Tie first SPEAKER in the discussion was
Prof. Ag9ssiz. Mr.. Agaesiz was in favor
OF giving to woman every right, social and
Phtical, but lie differed from Col. Higgin.
son q the matter of the diet of men and wo-
me-. Noticing men and women at table, as
he noticed everything, the speaker know that
they did not eat of the same TODD. ibis was
Wei known to ply ysicians. Even among men
the scl ar and literary men needed diff
Ter ut diet iT0m the man oil muscular work.
As To the question tf the range OF topics
tor study lie could u see that there ought
t. he made any die CT mination between the
sez's. lhe speaker desired to make state
ment to show that be was really on the
right SIDE. HIS thesis at the time he tool
his o'-rte Of N. D., thirty years ago. wal
upon The equality OF men and women. A
the Cambridge Museum 10 difference i
made between either the assistants employee
OF the attendants upon the lectures. H'
had also made no diff srence betw cen ladle
and gentlemen at lis lectures, but haC
Treated al subjects freely before mixed audi
eLcts. At the present time be was iecturini
% Ke!ruducIng," before all who chose e.
cJme. 81 it must be acknowledged that a
Nam-rLH1c Ii Ler 1rers mt nnite 40 Ia hehin