New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-03-21
THE COEDUCATION DEBATE.
DIR. DIX ATTACKED FRONT AND FLANK.

AN INQUIRY INTO WHAT rs REALLY ASKED FOR AND
WHAT Is REALLY REFUSED AT COLUMBIA
COLLEGE.
To the Editor of the Tribune.
SIR: Amid the din which has pervaded
the social world, and the animated discussion
which has occupied the press for the last few weeks
subject OF the education OF women have been daily
growing moro and more perplexed to word of fire.
quent occurrence, and which, in different mouths, seems
to me to have many different meanings chameleon
has colors have at length to the deliberate
cusion that half the town warning with the other
half about sound while in regard TO substance they
all pretty nearly Of the same mind. There is am
aware an nlnitesmal fraction OF the population who
accept the doctrine eOquently set forth in the
third Lenten lecture OF the Protestant Pope of
New-York, that a woman need not and probably
ought not TO know anything but how to eDbroider an
alar-eoth or sing the Magnfcat But all the rest
fully agreed that women should have oil the opportuni-
ties Afforded them for mental culture which men enjoy
Opportunities I say because though many, probably
Just the majority, do not ask for higher education,
would accept 1t If offered, yet there some
who do want and who would prize It, yet cannot get
because the opportunity is denied them. But while the
OF the people agreed this thing, they are at
war with each other the by which 1t shall be
accomplished. They have fallen by the earg together
the propriety improperly OF coeducation but
| they seem to have taken no pains az all to define
be applied to various modes Of imparting knowledge 81
mutaneously to young people Of both To who
had never heard the subject discussed aud who had no
knowledge Of the history Of the past in regard to it, the
proposition to admit young women to colleges would
naturally suggest the idea of assigning to them quarters
IN the buildings with young men, making them the
companions OF young in their and their
rocs as well In their studies, and oberating all dis
ncton between the manners and the habits Of the two
sexes This (which however nobody has ever proposed
appears to be ghtul chmera which rises up to the
imagination Dr. Dix and his followers whenever the
word cOeducatiOn pronounced And IL Is the horror
of this idea in those who have once conceived 1t which
incapactaes them from considering the subject ration
ally from seeking discover whether this obnoxious
word may not have possibly more innocent meaning
There has been for the last ten years IN successful
operation at the Cornell University, form OF coeduea
ton in which the young women occupy couegate
building entirely by themselves resembling In this re-
speot Grton College in England but the Ithaca plan
differs from the Girton plan in the respect that the
women and the men at Ithaca attend upon their scho-
asc exercises in the clasrooms and at the same
hours.
AT Obern nj Syracuse at Ann Arbor at. Middlctovn
Conn., and at many colleges in the Westithe female
students find lodgings among the citizens and attend the
exercises, as at Ithaca, along with the young men,
At the Boston University the young women live with
their parents at homo and attend scholastic exercises
| with students OF the other sex as above.
Here there are four systems Of coeducation differing
materially their conditions, so that 1t may be quite
possible for who is opposed 10 coeducaton In the
40 in which he understands the word to be In favor
OF Il In another and different sense Indeed this Is not
only possible but s quite certain, for the revelations
made by Dr. Newberry few weeks since TO reporter
OF TIE TRIBUNE have disclosed the fact, somewhat 10
the general SURPRISE that ooeducaton IN the fourth OF
the forms above specified actually In practice not
long ago in Columbia College and continued to be so Tor
several years without having been discovered to DO oo-
jectonable even by the fippanty precocious college
journalists who now magnify their sagacity In hav-
ing Anticipated the decision OF the Board OF Trustees and
beato upon tina. digned body the need OF their gra
cious approval This certainty Is further confirmed oy
the testimony OF Mr. A g. Hewtw who recently informed
reporter also OF THE TRIBUsE that his own daughters
had attended lectures at Columbia College for two ses-
ATOMS with his entire approval but declared himself dur
ing the same interview stated aew lines lower 70 DO
| unquahhedly opposed to coeducation.
II has been publicly stated that the petition OF the c
Gems OF recently presented to the trustees OF
the college accompanied by letter explaining IN
behalf OF the petitioners that they did not ask Tor CO
education As among the great multitude VINO may
presme 10 know what the petitioners did DESIRE zee
myself qualified testify that they certainly meantto ask
the concession such privileges as mad al
ready before perhaps allowed
them I'm some and the extension " the
same privileges to the Others In other words while dis
|
| in the In which 1t was UNDERSTOOD oy Mr.
| Hewitt
| Besides the forms OF coeducation so called named
above there are analogous forms of what may De
called parallel education. OF them illustrated IN MI
yersty College, London. when women were nrst ao-
ed there according 10 which classes OF women pro-
ceeded mari pdss with the classes OF men In the same
buldings and the Same rooms but at different hours
| and the other e1empaed In Girton and Newman col
leges in England. and in the Harvard Annex In our
own country, In which the cSssrooms OF the men ana
women are I'm different buildings. IL would DO difficult
for even the most asdious to find fault with either OF
these plans. They both OF them open' however 10
the crave objection ateast must appear TO educa-
tonsts OF the school OF Dr. Dix. that they tend new
,abv 70 glide into the fourth form OF coeducaon de-
scribed above aresult long ago reached az university
College, and more recently at Newnham' cambridge
England OF which college the students now attend Win
| the men at Trinity st. Johns, Kings and Pembroke
coores OF the University This has been, In those IN
trtops consequence OF the discovery early made by
the teachers that by doubling their daily tasks tney
rere wasting unnecessarily vast amount OF Tune anu
| labor ,., l., A.,
| There are many modes In which coeducation In the
fourth form above specified is I'm constant operation III
,h,s ctv and I'm every other civilized commun ~ while
the ubects OF IL are apparently quite unconscious OF the
| dangers 10 which It exposes them. tew weeks ago
large mixed crowds OF men and women were coeuucaeu
Inv Professor Young In series Of lectures on Tue inter
| esting science or astronomy gVeh III 'no "H''V u
| Strangers A few years since PROFESSOR lyhuan
| coeducated similar crowds In tne myS-
| ,or,oa OF light and heat at the Cooper
| Institute DIR. Lord, in his historical lectures
ronsaed for many successive years here and in other
| cities has convey ed immense amount OF valuable In
struction 70 muttudes OF feov-citizens OF ootn
sexes who were being coeducated without knowing IL
for months together Mr.. Hewitt (who does not believe
in is nevertheless practising cOeducauon
| IN a most persistent aud determined manner IN Tue
,obt schools Of the Cooper Ins tute The Opera House
q, school OF coeducation in which large number OF
onr citizens sock to cultivate their musical tastes
told mat great numbers Of young people arc pviH
toIu ."o. h,,nnteh In tho accomplishment OF