The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-11-17
COED ON CO-EDUCATIoN.
All the Objections Against 1t Kill
Each other.

Each Other.
New York, Nov. 15.-The directors to
co-education are far from consistent.
One makes the fearful protest that
mixing young folks in colleges allows
the girls to become so well acquainted
with the boys that they will not mar
ry;" while another asserts that such
colleges promotes sentimentality and
are mere match factories" Their de-
tenders are forced to the expedient of
the bicycle agent, who insists that
wheeling makes fat people thin and
thin people fat"
AS a matter of fact, co-education can
not both prevent and promote matri-
mony. Those who fear marriage is to
become a dead letter of civilization be-
cause college girls know college boys
too we'll should not be so hard on the
superior sex; some of them will nobly
stand the test of constant companion
ship. Those who dread lest tender ties
be formed should remember that young
people between eighteen and twenty
two occasionally indulge in sentiment
and romantic episodes outside of col
leges.
Now to the college man, the 'co-ed"
is simply a fellow student and he does
not stop to analyZe whether she is the
old or the new woman. Some
times she is lovely. sometimes quite the
opposite. Oftentimes she is broad and
.ersatie, occasionally narrow and I'M
accomplished. Usually she is bright
and attractive, but she may be stupid
and uninteresting. There being many
thousand of her, she naturally runs
the gamut from the vain, shallow but
terfiy to the cold and austere scholar.
One thing, however, she is not, viz
the abnormal. gum-chewing, cigarette
smoking, baseball playing maiden carl
catured by the press. The coed" as
a rule, does not smoke or drink, or as
sumo masculine dress and manners,
| weaknesses affected by many society
| girls who are guiltless of anything
which really could be called education.
The intelligent modern man has lit
| tie use tor a frail, clinging creature,
hysterical on frequent occasions, or Ii
able to go off in a fit uf giggles at any
moment. Nor, on the other hand, does
| he relish the Amazon whe has culti-
waited muscle at the expense of wo-
| manliness. The sensible woman nova
| days repudiates either a worshiping
| slave-or tyrannical master-she can
not respect the one or endure the 9TH
err. But our co-educational institu-
| lions do not turn out any of these
| classes. The very least, of all do they
| breed the effeminate man and the mas
| culine woman
Since men and women are associated
in every sphere of life, intellectual, So
| cial, philanthropic. domestic; since. in>
| deed, they have been educated together
from infancy through the dangerous
| period of the high school, why should
| they be absolutely separated in theil
university training? Observation and
| experience demonstrate that young
| men and women furnish a most health
| full stimulus for one another IN class
| room work. Their minds often are sup>
| Elementary. Each incites the others
| ambitions. II David wins a debate,
Mildred makes haste to write a prize
story; if Harry is the pride OF the foot
ball team. Bertha never rests till she
| gets the tennis Championship; II
| Archie scores a success in electrical
| engineering Rose matches II in history
and philosophy. And nothing ever will
exceed the mutual enjoyment of Mr..
| Barney and Miss Culpepper in editing
the college magazine together.
The effect of co-education on the
morals disturbs many shallow thinkers
American parents are not noted for a
close surveillance of their sons and
daughters; on the contrary. they
sometimes permit a dangerous free
dom: but this is not found in study
ing or reciting side by side. After
thirty years of experience the co-edu-
cational institutions have only an in
finite number of elopments or scan
dals on their records
In women's colleges and more espe-
ciaily in seminaries and boardine
schools, girls dream continually OF
boys, write of them secretly and meet
them surreptitiously. The military
academy or the university around the
corner is filed with romantic possibili-
ties. perilously sweet because strict
~ forbidden. In co-educational col
leges boys and girls are friends and
companions with clear knowledge OF
each others faults and virtues. &C.
cationally there is a love affair. but
usually a sensible one, for the CIR
must often wait until the man has es.
tablished himself, frequently necessi-
tating several years graduate work
at another university. Sometimes she
too goes to Europe and studies, OF
she stays at home and teaches while
waiting" Such marriages are found
ed upon a firm basis, and in the vast
majority of cases are happy ones.
Docs not familiarity of daily con-
tact breed contempt" the skeptic asks