Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-09-16
CO-EducatiOn.

Ii has been assumed by theorists that
tie cc-eiEc 4 on of the sexes, which Is
i. characteristic feature of the public
school system of America. would re-
suit in the destruction ri feminine
muiesty; but experiences has fully dis
proved the theory. Rev. Reuen Thorn
as, lecturing in London last August
upon his Five Years Of Experience in
America" stated that among English
men there had prevailed the opinion
that American women universally
have manners the reverse of modest;
but he mentioned it only to give 1t ah
emphatic denial. Some American
educ ,tors would prefer the separate
.-iucatiol of the sexes after ten Years OF
,pe, uut upon grounds quite other than
..uY fears on the score OF either morals
ur manners. That tue co-eiucatiou If
The sexes may lie extended much beyond
tho limit Of ordinary school life, with
out any danger 10 modesty Or delicacy,
/ has been pretty foirly demonstrated.
J The testimony of Hon. Andrew G.
! White, President of Cornell University,
| is very positive on this point. To Il
! like fleet Is tho testimony of Principal
/ ID. Il. Hager, Of the Salem Normal
School, who says, There are not
many propositions to make in regard TO
education concerning which l contd
speak very positively. Bat of one
/ thing | am sure: that young men and
women study better, jehare letter and
are in every way benefited by being
together in the high schools This
! rI, rr,tt hn of Iaon PAUL
Richter:-'' To insure modesty l would
advise the education of the sexes togeth
err; for two boys will preserve twelve
girls, or two girls twelve boys, innocent
amid winks. jokes and impfoprieties
merely by that instructive sense which
IL the forerunner of natural modesty.
/ But | will guarantee nothing in IA
school where girls arc alone together
/ and still less where boys are" The
general opinion of American edUD ,tors
is thus stated by NJ. Buisson, !. very
/ prominent educator of France, who
visited America in 1876 as president of
a French educational commission
"lhose who have occupied themselves
with education in the United States
affirm that they have always observed
that the union of boys and girls in
primary schools is beneficial to both
sexes. The boys become gentler in
their manner; the girls more sober and
Industrious" In former years the
British Quarterly Review did not have
many words of praise for American
ideas or for the men or women of
America; but in a somewhat remark
able article. published in 1877, it spoke
of many things in America aud particu-
larly OF the young women in terms of
high commentator. 1t declared that
the Americans have succeeded in cs-
tablishing IL code of manners for yonng
persons of both sexes which makes their
country the paradise of girls ......
The entire safety of the free intercourse
of young men and women, with nothing
but mutual advantage, is u highly moral
result of liberal institutions. -. That
h young woman can travel alone from
one end of the Union to another with
out possibility of either insult or
neglect. ..... rs triumph Of manners
due to the honesty of social opinion
and to au education combining the
habit of personal independence with a
knowledge Of the valEe of self-resirsint.'
Where womeu are immodest the men
invariably are rude; but il is u proverb
that i'll America fudeness to women is
almost unknown. Charles Dickens
found it 30 on his first visit to the
country, saying in his American
Notes: -" Nor did ever once, on auy
occasion. anywhere, during my rambles
in America, see woman exposed to the
slightest act of rudeness, incivility or
even inattention." When he returned
to America in 1868 the condition of
things were still better; he found i'm
provement in morals and manners
everywhere. He was astounded," he
said, by the amazing changes; changes
moral, changes physical, -. changes
in the graces and amenities Of life"