The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-12-17
NonrHERN AND SOUTHERN VIEWS
As TO CO-EDUCiTION

victions. Its success is not assured al
though enthusiasts write of 1t as a great
blessing and OF we'll ascertained value.
Now in the north a new idea in connec-
ton with the system has been broached
the effect it has upon the and
manners. not of the boys or men, but
of the girls. of the young women That
leading newspaper of Rhode Island. the
Providence Journal lately had this:
Has co-education a bad effect upon ire
of girls? 1t improves those OF
boys. so ii is said; but that improve
ment may be bought at too high a cost.
A lecturer on the subject says that the
bloom is rubbed off when the sexes
are permitted to mingle freely. There
is perhaps some truth in this. A rigor-
Gus division between them is doubtless
deplorable. But between that an daily
association in school a medium course
is possible. Such association, according
TO more than one person with experience
on the point, implies the familiarity that
breeds contempt. eel the refining IN
fuence upon boys may be exaggerated.
There was a time when doubts upon this
subject were less generally expressed
than at present-when it was supposed
TO be settled for good and all. But it is
clear from much recent discussion that
such a conclusion was premature"
We commend that to thoughtful peo-
pie. 1t is of New England where the
observation has been wide and the tri-
ais of the system many. 1t is a good
thing for any state when it can be said
that it is behind land in the rush for
c~o-education. 1t is a rather new thing
in the south, and the old-fashioned ideas
still prevail among conservative, edu-
Gated. observing men and women. A
Georgian writer in The Atlanta Journal.
Florence s. Tucker, discusses "~Co-educa-
ton and the COED at some length.
She is wiser than some of it's swift ad-
vocates. We are glad to find the old
time views still prevailing down in
Georgia." She writes:
"Co-ed" is a word not so old hat we
have forgotten the sensation experience
ed when it's sound was yet new on the
ear. We have grown accustomed, but
it is like the word gents" we don
quite take to it. C~o-education eXcites
in the conservative and old-fashioned
a stand-offednesS that no amount of ell
oquence upon the part of its advocates
n no demonstrated theory appears to
dissipate."
Here is a suggestive point. She says:
professor Stanley j. Hall, after ma
ture study of the subject said: "Co-edu-
cation should cease at dawn Of adde's
He would make the physical
health of woman the just consideration.
and physically woman cannot cope with
man"
She looks beyond success and says:
"Co-education aims first and last at
equality, means independence and inde-
.pendence the severance of the divinely
appointed ties which makes for humanf-
tvs truest happiness"
This writer who appears to have read
up as well as reflected upon the subject,
sees in the triumph of women rivals of
men a loss of great significance. She
says with penetration:
1T is curious to note the exultation
in woman's world with each step which
takes her further into INNS domain. In
toxicatsd by his plaudits and the admir-
ing envy of her own sex she presses on,
blind to the fact that she wilfully caves
behind what is more precious than all
she can attain-her b~irthright, the in
claim which nothing can take
from her but her own mad act"
When women lose the high position
assigned them by a mad scramble for
various places in which Ito labor anu
to wait" they are in peril of losing
high and sacred regard and that
lofty courtesy which men in the south
have delighted to extend to fair and
pure Womanhood. What a marvellous
between the chivalrous bearing
and knightly courtesy of the men of our
section towards women and tina of the
north. We could easily illustrate at
this point but forbear. The Georgian
it right when she says and h
shows herself an intelligent friend and
of her sex:
There is more educating being done
at any time in the history of our
And it is we'll. But let it be
for the sphere We are intended tt fill.
Co-education should extend just so far,
as with the male it is along individual
lines, with the female it should be along
lines. Instead of higher math-
ematics and the dead languages. let her
phySIoIoSy ana hygiene, chemistry,
botany n horticulture, and ethics and
the Christian religion with time for
practical lessons from her own
mother in housewifery and the use of
the needle"
In the United States, according to
d. Wright, the government la
Dor statistics, says that the average pay
Of wages is S347, which is small. If VIC
men usurp the places and functions OF
men the rivalry will bring down the av-
crage inevitably. Woman in her do
nestle life. in her home life, is noble
and we'll worthy of all courtesy and
worship. She is often an angel of good
ness n owe in disguise. But if she
seeks for mems standards and mems
opportunities, and bids against them for
place at lower pay, she Injuries all. The
Georgian thinks it will be wise and
porper for women to remain at
home and train up the youth of the
I md RI hiohor ctondo-1 o-5 Ill