The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1877-11-22
SHALL BOYS AND GIRLS 60 Tc
SCHOOLS TOGETHER?

tated over the question whether girls
shall be admitted to its Latin School,
one of the famous public institutions
of the city, which is maintained at
the pubic expense. Petitions asking
for the establishment of the girls de-
partment have been presented to the
School Board by several important
bodies, and among the signatures to
them are those of many distinguish
ed men and women of Massachusetts.
Long arguments for and against
opening the school for girls have
been heard by a committee of the
board, one of the members of which
is a lady, and on Monday the case
was closed.
The discussion is interesting out
side of Boston, because it involves
subjects which are now attracting
wide attention in the country. Shall
boys and girls, after they have pass
ed the earlier years of childhood be
sent TO school together? Shall girls
receive the higher education in col
leges that are also attended by boysi
The arguments in favor of the
mixed education, as presented by
Mrs. ZINA FAY PIERCE, for instance,
are that it is desirable for the youth
of the two sexes to grow up with a
knowledge of each other, which they
cannot do if they are separated in
their childhood; that the system OF
co-education is American, and that
we only ape foreign customs wher
we give it up; that the taste and re-
fnement of the girls have an effeci
to soften the hardness and lesser
the %coarseness of boys when they
are trained together. The answer t.
these arguments might be that even
if eo-education is American, and sep
arate education European, that i:
nothing in favor of it, for we may b.
wrong and Europe right; and thai
the knowledge which it is eminently
desirable the two sexes should have
each other, the mutual effect of theil
companionship in childhood, may b,
acquired in the family, and the asso
Citations of family, just as well as il
n school in which they shall be train
ed together. Boys and girls do no
need to go to the same school to ge
acquainted.
The argument against co-educa
ton, presented among others, by 81,
of the Presidents of the leading
American colleges, including Har
ward and Yale, is that the moral at
mosphere of a boys school is not
fitting one for girls; that the mora
tone of the Latin and Greek classics
while it does not hurt boys, is BAT
! for girls; that the physical condi
lions of girls forbid their safely en-
tering into competition with boy
in high schools. In fine, the argu
ment is that girls may suffer mora
ly, and do suffer physically, in ur
dertaking the tasks required of boy
, in such institutions as the Lati
: School. The Hon. CHARLES FRANCE
: ADAMS opposes co-education, br
l thinks there is craze enough in f;
: vor of it to force it into our educ;
I tional system, where it will renal
until some shocking scandal frigh
ems the community back into tt
European system ofseparate school
: The strongest argument advance
o in favor of opening the Boston La
3 in School to girls is that they ha'
e just as much right to be taught tt
classical languages at the expenI
IS of the city as the boys have. Th
is unanswerable. But have eth
% boys or girls the right to be
l. taught? Famous and venerable
10 is the Boston Latin School, is it
institution which ought to be grat
IS ed on u modern system of pop
lar education? If boys and girls c.
afford the time to study the ORR
mental branches of learning, tn
can afford, in the majority of cas-
3 to pay for their tuition; and in
y case should the cost of it be levi
It. upon the taxpayers generally.
E. AS to educating the sexes toget
IS er, we are inclined to agree with \
=