The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1878-08-22
~CO-educatiOn Again.

necessarily u ulScTeulC. we 10 not OK
pect q lawyer to discriminate diseases nor
a physician to be yersed In the intricacies
Of the law. Each may be authority In
his W profession, but when either pre-
sumes to pass judgment on matters out OF
his proper sphere, he Is likely to mislead.
10 be a competent Judge of Edison's
Electric Pen one must he an expert In
mechanics and versed in electricity. Now,
suppose "Junius" Is neither. But he pro.
nounces with the air of authority that the
machine is = success or failure. May not
the people, because of his general reputa-
ton, be deceived and swindledg Is not
the evidence OF an expert worth the testi-
mony of fifty like hin9 And If he differs
from the expert must he not show his
statements contrary to fact, or himself
stand convicted of ignorance, faVoritism
or selfishness? Take Il similar case. Jul
MUS" declares by quotations from W. f.
Ward and Others who, like him, conduct
and leach exclusive schools, that co-edu-
cation is a failure. Do these men speak
from experience? Have they In any way
tested 1t? In %prOnOuncing against CO.
education do they mol transcend their le-
gitimate sphereP What Is their testimony
worth compared with that of teachers who
for years have taught mixed schools?
The one class pronounce Judgment with
out being competent to Judge; the other
have examined the system, watched its
workings and tested its results. Now,
which of the TWO is the more likely to
have the right of the matter? Marx !
The opposition to co-education generally
comes from those unacquaintcd with its
practical workings. Those who have tried
it-put it to the severest test-give the
most emphatic testimony in favor of it.
We first present the substance of the
ent of City Schools. Nashville. Tenn. as
given before Teachers Institute In Win
chester some time since: awe first put
the boys with the girls In our Primary
Grades. We were not yet willing to risk
uniting the sexes In higher grades. After
the beginning of the experiment. the
higher grades were kept apart 4 full year
on the score of some danger. Finding.
however, that no manner of harm came
from the Union in the Primary school, we
then very cautiously tried the experiment
in the Grammar School. Finally there
was another advance. The ladies and
gentlemen were thrown together in the
High School. b! degrees, and carefully
feeling Il way as though explosive ma
teriai were all around us, we have come
to teach the boys and girls together in all
the grades. We hesitated long about
trying co-education in the High School,
because of the breaches of good order, the
intrigues, clandestine communications.
&C.. with which we had been annoyed
ever with the young ladies and gentle
men in separate schools; but before Il
month had passed under instruction to-
gether, they had u higher conception of
duty, q ulster view of the relation OF the
sexes, and the evils before mentioned had
nearly disappeared. Which Go you
think Is the more likely to know about
co-education. Caldwell or Ward? Ward
says Capitalization Is on the decline;
Caldwell says it has taken. by force Of
merit, the schools OF Nashville. AT 4 fu-
ture time we will show that Wards state
ment about the decline of co-education Is
untrue.
DR.. Daniel Read, of State University of
This measure seemed at first a bold and
haz .r1ous one. 1t was not done so in the
days of the monks, nor In the great Uni
versities Of Europe, o In Harvard or
Yale. But great progress has been made
in this direction since we
took our first hesitating steps. Such has
been the progress of ideas In our Own
country-indeed In the civilized world
as to leave no room for doubt or hesitancy
any longer on this subject. With Indiana
and Iowa. with Wisconsin and California,
with Cornell and Michigan. and with
Paris Zurich, Vienna. London and Edin-
burg abroad, (and with even our own
Harvard almost ready 10 take the step.)
we may feel assured and confirmed, II in
deed our W experience left any doubt
the subject" Tho Doctor doesn't seem
to know how rapidly co-educdtton now de-
clines.
James Freeman Clarke, formerly Chair
Board of Overseers Of Harvard,
speaks of co-education thus: ~ believe
tile system Is good in i%tself-that it is In
accordance with the ideas of modern So
ciety-that in practice 1t has worked very
well wherever tried; and that the sooner
IL can be introduced ut Cambridge the
better it will be Tor our excellent univer-
sity."
The Illinois State Agricultural College
Opensd Its doors In 1870 to young ladies,
and thus testiies: ut IL now four years
since young ladies we're admitted to the
University. Thus far the results have
been excellent rs regards both sexes.
There has been no decrease In manly
spirit among the young men. or OF the
feminine yraces among the young ladies'.
On tho contrary. the discipline has been
constantly improved: acts and words
which will Always be tolerated among as
semblages of young men alone have been
banished by the presence OF young wO-
men, and q natural emulation has steadily
raised the standard Of scholarship. Not y
breath Of scandal has been heard The
fears Of the timid and the prophecies of
the hostile have been brought to n%aught."
President White. Of Cornell University,
In . report I the Trustees. says: During
many years the education together OF
young men and young women Of mar
riageable age. aud coming from distant
homes. has been going on all about US In the
academies aud high schools Of the State of
New York and neighboring States. and
not only have no evil results followed
worthy TO be taken into the account. but
the system has worked 30 well that It has
come 20 be regarded Us natural and nor
NAL" A.,
WIN. F. Phelps. author OF Teachers
Hand Book" and the foremost OF Western
educators. says: No n that has had ex-
perience in college lite will dispute the
demoralizing tendency Of isolatin2 young
men from the benign influences which
spr,ng from the presence and society Of
woman. Nor would the history Of exclu -.
siyely female schools, IL made known. at
ford to the philosophic educator results
any moro encouraging or satisfactory.
Clsndestine communications. secret meet
ings. and lapses from truth and duty, are