Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-04-27
Higher Educati n for Women.

HIRutT Euutdli III lOT w OWeH.
From Hrs. Nav Wright Sewall's adj
dress on The Higher ucat on before
the international council at Washing
ton, we take the 70 lowing paragraphs,
"a summarizing what has already been
accompl shed for women in collegiate
education lnclud ng co-educational
colleges, the opportunities of women
are 62 per cent as valuable as those of
men. They share the benefit of II per
cent as great productive funds, and %
per c mt as large an income. Brief at.
tention to the facts here presented
should silence the baseless declarations
which one nowadays fire. uently hears
to the eilect that opportunities for edu-
cation are now as good and as abund
ant for women as for men. Such dec
larations are not true, and grateful
appreciation of opportun ties now
should not bl nd us t. the rem lin nc
inequalities. The demand for higher
educat onal opportun tie, does not
necessarily imply the demand for CO.
education, but tie last tables ven
show that in the nited Statas these
demands are pracI cally ident cal.
Thus. go women's colleges have
property amounting TO ; ,63F, 2S?,
viii 207 co educational colleges have
corresponding properties to the amount
of S29, 6 !. ~. and 139 colleges to which
men only are admitted, own
CORES pondInr properties to the
amount of s12.74j.4 Cf the in
! stitutiOns which have ass sted the higher
education of women in tn country
Troy seminary q 81 Orr erlin college
! U'6jl, Michigan uni ers " tlS70',
SIN tn college 1870. Harvard Annex
Qo79), and Bryn Mawr college 1850.
merit special mention, since each mark
an epoch in the history of movement
| TO which each made an essept ally
original contribution. and TO whose
course each gave a distinct impulse.
Troy seminary, as has been stated,
made the first application for state aid.
Mrs Willard in speaking of the re;ec
ton of her application for such assist.
ance. wrote could | have died a
martyr in the cause (of female educa
| tion) and thus have insured its success.
| should have blessed the fagot aud
Rugged the stake" This is the spirit
which has animated many woman
whose serviceohas contributed to our
opportunities. 1t is spirit which
should be remembered on this occasion
with reverent gratitude. Oberlin col
lege was the first exponent of co.
education. Vassar was the first
women's college (marking the differen-
tiation from Female College") How
novel its conception was is re
vealed in the correspon ence of its
founder. When the idea of this
college was terminating in the mind of
Matthew Vassar. in 1858, he laid his
plan before William Chambers, the
distinguished publisher and philanthro-
pist OF Edinburgh, and solicited his
advice. In his reply. after expressing
his astonshment at Mr.. Nassar's plan,
Mr.. Chambers attempts to dissuade
him from a design which he assures
him will result in ignominious failure,
and urges him to apply the money rath-
er in founding a school for the blind,
for the deaf and dumb. or for the feeble
minded. Michigan university was the
first example of Strong, well-estab-
lished, well-endowed. and numerously
attended institution opening its doors
to women on precisely equal terms with
men, on the avowed ground that any
educational institution supported by
the state belongs equally to all of the
children of the state Special commit
tees from mary of the states Of Europe
and South America have been sent to
inspect the workings of the novel system
at Ann Arbor. and its sue ess has di.
rectly caused the extension of co -educa-
ton in the United States, in France
and in England Smith stood for three
ideas new TO colleges for women, viz:
4.
the entire absence of the preparatory
department, which. as an attachment
to most women's colleges. has so ser-
ously impaired college work proper,
and the college system of dormitories.
The Annex made the highest oppor-
tunites for instruct on in this country
and, what is not less di. tingushed
aid in this movement, by making its
entrance examinations identical with
those of Harvard university il has made
standard for secondary instruction.
Bryn hawr, availing herself of all pre-
vious experiments, made a distinct
advancement. and stands essentially
for scholarship. Here is a woman's
college in whose curriculum accom-.
plishments, in the fashionable sense,
have no part; woman's college which
affords no chaperonage and warrants
no personal supervision of its students.
one which offers young women collegi.
ate and post graduate training with the
same inducements and on the same
severe terms vf absolute personal free
dom and personal responsibility which
the highest colleges for young men
offer their students