The St. Louis Republic., 1904-07-03
Clark University President Points
Out What He Terms
Its Defects.
DOES RACE SUICIDE RESULT?
Declares 1t Is Established That
Higher Learning Has Tendency
to Make Girls Mannish and
Boys Feminine.

| These questions We're brought to the at
! tention of the teachers who attended the
meetings of the department of higher ed
| rcation of the National Educational As
! sociation last week
! On Wednesday the subject "Coeduca-
| ton was discussed by such eminent uni
! VersitY men as President AnScll of the
| University of Michigan, President g.
| Stanley Hall of Clark University Prcsi-
! dent Jesse of the University OF Missouri
! and President Thwing of the Western Re
| serve University, Cleveland o.
| President Angel and President Jesse de-
| Tended coeducation. The most spnsa-
| tional address. however was that OF Pres
| ident Hall, who. while not taking a posi-
| tive position for or against coeducation
pointed out what he considers some of its
| defects
He said. in part:
Every profound discussion of coeduca-
| tion must be connected with the doctrine
| OF heredity. an ounce of which in HuX-
leE Well-worn phrase. is worth a ton of
education.
In a recent strdv IL seems established
that higher education i'll this country re-
duces the rate OF both mar~iage and off
spring so that barely ecfourths of our
male and only about one-hdlf of our ;p-
it'd SradNI'"" eyer marry. and those who
10 80 marry idte and have few children
hoW the high $chGc! intcrferes With
!liest laws OF nature. recent studies show
IN wRlch a large per cent of girls actually.
WISH thsN ~e!" boys Their ideals grow
masculine. and We seem SLOWLY to ne de-
NtsiopilS Il i,'ma.e sex without = female
character. 81 far have the reactions
against the Old restraint gone thai ferni-
hlsts sun regard every effort TO differ
rn,idte as endangerins relapse to old
conditions. Again. the rapid feninization
Utrl t,.,f,.
10 give their own masculine traits and
ideals free rein. "''''
GIRLS MANNERS ROUGHENEp
once more. girls manners are rough
ened' ana they do not, develop prid. in dis
tlHctiveiy feminine qualities or the grace
and charm of their young wornauhood or
lack i little reSprci for tnri. soy Gir:.
have much responsibility i'm hestowire ,he
2t.iiuliS OF their approval Alright. ii *
Salu tnat iSSociatIon with boys makes
nlsh hsthn"i E'riS less poetic. iinpUisiv, ru-
mantle. her conducJ NOR. thoughtful. bui
l Inaintain-wOmeu teachers to TN. CON
tfhry otwithstau.iiEE-tha this is unfor-
lHnate' ihat something i wrong with the
Slrl III the middle teens who Is not s,llshy
OF sentimental. at east at times
so II is said that The presence. Of girls
IS humaniztng for boys. but there is some
thing wrOnE with the ioy AT mis- :Iya .yho
can truly be called a perfect gentlemen
! DO not like 10 urge that he should be 4
little T"WdE and barbaric. but yigor must
ne; be sacrtir"'i Ia primuess aud ln;.s,l:-
Unity at this age does hot normally take
u high 70 tsh
AT IS the age for college entrance. the
normal girl Is settled in her health, can
endure great strain. mas much self-knowl-
edge Is nearer genius and beauty than
she Will ever be again. The average col
lege age comprises the age When more. of
her SEX marry and become mothers than
during any other ouaGrenniun She i.
iar nearer tho apex Of her fuli maturity
than are her male classmates OF the SAM.
age.
She eNcels her boy classmates IN per
ceptiOn. memory. and far more. in insight
INTO character and motives. AZ no acc is
her mental superiority Ia the other sex so
great. She knows her clasSnrdte. and thIs
he feels and rtsents in q dumb vay Lut
he seems to her crude and 30 far below
the ideals of her sex that there is some
disenchani mGGt unconscious though il b,
Thus an unwedded life may seem more in
consola BILE
IF she turns TO plans of se.f-support.
she can compete with her shallow male
classmates. but utterly fails TO realize
what is so often tragic for her how much
more he Will vet develop and how much
more advanced her real male competitors
in life Will be than he is.
Where the presence OF good girls slim
ulates thought of wedloCk before its time
in young men. plans for bread winning are
involved. If he anarrios a classuate Z,
year or two after graduation happy as
these unions often are. he is often led to
teaching or other occupations that involve
a cnanSc ot plan or profes sion.
MAN MUST SPECIALIZE
Again. girls more often end education
with college. while the boy must win his
livelihood by what he gets. and more often
goes on. Purely humanistic culture studies
are her end. while man must specialize
Here he often has his first genuine intel |
lectuai awakening such as the girl has
earlier found in the hunanitics
''OnCe more. girls aDprOpriate and accent
on authority. but fail when thrown upon
their own powers. This evoles the best in
textbook and recitation methods. and the |
boy grow lstless, but in laboratory meth |
DDS ana in research boys leave girls far
behind. All coeducational colleges show |
some spontaneous segregation as 10 topics. |
and girls tend TO those departments where |
old routine methods prevail. Their con- |
servatism thus interferes with educa ational
progress
The higher education of women involves |
all the difficulties of that of man. but with |
many new ones of its own. The girls col !
leges train for se!f-Support and hold that |
II marriage come it can best take care of !
itself l urge the precise opposite. The |
bachelor woman who, in Herbert Spencers |
phrase. has developed individuation at the |
expense of genesis. is a magnificent crea- |
ture. but not made for wifehooo or mother |
hood. The thirty years yer of sex against |
sex is now slowly passing. and the best |
men and women are addressing themselves |
anew TO the greatest educational question |
of our cration-how to prolong with |
profit the prenubile stage of apprenticeship |
to life so as to bring the greatest good to |
the greatest number with the least evil"
ADVANTAGES TO BE DERIVED.
President Charles +. Thwing pointed out |
the advantages of the coordinate method |
of education, by which Is meant the sys-
tenn of having women's colleges as an
nexes to men $ colleges. He said in part:
The coordinate method removes men |
and women from constant and intimate |
association with each other. There are
many kinds of coeducation: There is the
lecture coeducation, in which students
listen to the same lectures. There Is also
the laboratory. coeducation. in which they
work side by side i'll the same laboratory |
There is the recita ton coeducation in
which they recite at the same time and
TO one teacher.
1T may also be said that there ia the
walking coeduca ton and the dining and
the calling coeducat!on. Some colleges
have all of these degrees: other colleges
seem to have only the less marked. Be-
tween them there is q wide and deep
chasm. Advantages belong TO each sort
But under the coordinate method no
such constant or intimate association Is
Parents are usually willing to
accept both the conditions, and the re-
suits of young women and young men
being together. but they wish their beng
together to be under the best conditions
They are reluctant for life's choices to
be made without proper supervision.
Positively. the coordinate method
tends to put men and women into proper
association. They dwell in the same uni
versity atmosphere. They are subject TO
the same general conditions. They are
loyal to the same scholastic standards.
They may or may rot be taught by the
same teachers. They are near together,
but not too near: they are remote. but not
too remote. The association of college men
and women should be natural. healthfnl.
inspiring TO scholarshiD.
quickening to large womanhood. purifying
to strong manhood"