The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-21

, has no significance whatever in relation to the present criticisms on coeducation. So far from showing her to be opposed to the emancipation of her own sex, this explanation proves Mrs. Stanford to be that newest of all new women, the wo-
 man who keps her promises.
 The different viewpoints of the western and the extreme Eastern portions of the
 country on coeducation are notable Tn
 the West coeducation is thing of course There never has been thought of any
 thing else On the Atlantic border. on
 the contrary, the matter is approached
 with great caution and deliberation. Many
 a time coeducation is won only after
 bitter fight. The reason is plain. The Alt
 lantic States were settled before the new
 woman idea had taken root. In New
 England so recently as the days when Lucy Stone was a girl there was soi-
 emn question whether the feminine m
 tellect could comprehend arithmetic be-
 yond the rule of three" Most authori-
 ties thought it could not. The colleges
 founded were for men only. Mothers and
 sisters wrought with needle, in factory and even at farm work to educate at col-
 lege the son of the family, while the
 daughters who remained in ignorance
 were held to be doing only their duty.
 Little of that enslaving old notion Is left now, but the Eastern colleges and
 universities were established mostly under
 it's sway. The prejudice Is outgrown in
 the minds of all except those very young
 male students who fear the girls will
 outstrip them in lessons. But the old
 buildings are there and all the one sided
 living arrangements remain. To change
 suddenly would entail much expense and
 inconvenience; therefore these inst1tu- tons remain for the present as they are.
 Doubtless there are, too, some ancient col lege professors and trustees who must drop out before the change to fun coedu-
 cation takes place in the old institutions.
 Meantime what is to be can be judged
 from facts and figures as laid before us in
 chapter 2s. 0berlin College, Ohio, was
 the first to admit women, in 1883 Even 1t did not include them entirely in it's
 course. but merely allowed girls the priv ileges of such departments "as shall best
 suit their sex and prospective employ ments." That was the entering wedge. In 1880 51,S per cent. of the colleges of | the country had adopted the coeduca- l tional system. By 1890 the per cent. of coeducational colleges had arisen to 65. In 1900 it was 71.6 per cent.
 As for the public school system, that is practically coeducational all over the United States, from primary to high
 school. with two or three exceptions,
 mostly in the oldest Atlantic States. The magnificent land grant by the United States Government in 1862 appropriated | 10 900. 600 acres of land to the cause of education in the Northwestern States, and the pioneer mothers who had packed up the children and gone to Western wilds with their husbands had no thought but | that their girls were equally entitled with | their boys to the benefit of the school | fund. And there was no time or money 1 to waste building separate schoolhouses | for the sexes, so in they went together l and so it Is to this day. The report tells | us that wherever coeducation has been | tried the apprehensions respecting its ef- | fects have been dispelled.
 In respect to public schools the United States stands at the head of nations, and | it's system Is coeducational So noted is | the system that educators from all over civilized countries come here to study if. At the same time 1t is to be noted that
 women instructors comprise three -fourths | of the whole body of teachers To be
 noted also is 1t that improvement in
 American pedagogy dates from the time | normal schools were here established for
 the training of women teachers College | women have, however, not even yet equal | opportunities with men. Dr. Harris men. | tions that women students receive far | less help than men from scholarships and
 other funds established to aid students
 Nevertheless
 The "coed" girls appear to be arriving ALICE W. MORTIMER