Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1902-04-25
Co-Education.


died with extreme caution even by its
most Jealous pioneer advocates. Ober-
lin College took the initiative step in
this movement, about the time that
the an'l-slavery question wa. so rife
States. Negro slaves of both sexes
were brought from the border line
through the Underground Railroad"
into northern Ohio and admitted into
the preparatory department OF Ober-
lin College on an equal footing with
white children.
From that time, colleges admitting
women began to be established all
over the country and the system has
been growing in public favor to the
present time.
From the Atlantic to the Pacific
States, young women graduates have
been turned out from hundreds of the
best institutions in the land. They
have entered the various professions
and achieved honor to the surprise
and dismay OF struggling young men.
But a marked change is coming
over the spirit OF their dreams. Clar.
ion voiced presidents and professors
are raising the cry that co-oducation
of the sexes is not only failure, but
verify a temptation and snare; that
is, OF course, snare to the nice young
men. President Edmond James, of
the Northwestern University, in Chi
eago, seems to be taking the lead in
this unhallowed crusade against one
of the most beneficial innovations of
modern times. He approaches the
subject, however, with a sort of kid
glove caution, as if he would like to
see the trend of public sentiment be-
fore committing himself squarely
before the people, and here is the way
he talks, "Not only has the system
[co-education] ceased to make new
converts but there are indications that
it is losing ground in the very terri.
tory which it has so completely won.
A new period of questioning is upon
us. A sort of vague prejudice has
arisen in the country at large, which
indicates a new attitude of the public
mind towards the whole problem.
The system is attacked on new grounds
and from new points of view."
But high as he is in authority in
the educational world, he will find it
an uphill job to undo the great work
that has been achieved in this far
reaching field of human progress dur
ing the last half or three-quarters of q
century. Following in the wake of
the Oberlin School many of the oldest
colleges Of the Atlantic States have
added female departments to their
original incorporated plants. Thus,
Harvard has its Radcliffe annex for
young ladies; Brown University has
its Pembroke annex; Columbus Uni.
versity its Barnard; and Cornell it's
Sage annex for its females, and in sim
liar terms we might speak Of rcores OF
other well-known and popular insti.
tutions. All the State universities
now extend equal advantages to both
young men and young women, and
the same might be said of about every
private institution on the Pacific coast.
1t is true that strained relations
have sprung up between the male and
female students of q few colleges in
the middle west, and the Northwestern
University at Chicago, over which DR..
Edmond James presides, may be men.
toned as typical example. It is q
fact of special significance, too, that
wherever there has been any collision
between the sexes, such disturbances
have taken place in those schools
where the young men are running
wild in athletic sports. However ex.
tensively this question may be dis
cussed, it is safely predicated that the
popular verdict will be, "Let we'll
enough alone"
DIDN'T KNOW WHETHER IT WAS
COMEDY OR TRAGEDY.-Mr. G. NJ. Saw.
age, who cav "Way Down East" in
Seattle lately, says it was difficult for
him to discover whether it was q com.