Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-04-06
" oman and the College.

! Despite the many beautiful and pros
/ porous colleges for women all over the
| country. it is still a question in many
parental minds whether or not a college
education is a woman's best preparation
/ for life There is a fairy prevalent idea
/ that college women too often develop the
! intellect at the expense of the sympa-
/ thles, that they set mental standards
! which are higher than their husbands
! have leisure to reach, or, worse, that,
wanting better bread than can be made
out of wheat, they refrain from mar
] riage altogether. The higher education
! too often leads them to choose a life
! of self-eXploitation. and to pursue call
! ngs which ultimately may, and very
/ likely will, play them false, and leave
! them lonely and embttered in a world
! where the fullest happiness is to be
| found in benefcient human relations.
/ While all this is. on the face of it.
| possible there Is n great deal to be said
! on the other side. 1t is true that Il
| thorough education disciplines the emo
! tionS. If it discipline them away alto
gether it does an irremediable injury. If.
/ however it merely controls the senti-
mentality of youth by training judgment.
/ it is an effective force for good. Life
will bring out the SympathicS of those
( WHO have them sooner or later. and to
| be delivered from the sentimental ebul-
Z ~
a matter after all.
There seems to be no doubt that tbe
chief we9. luesS of the feminine mind. as
differentiated from the masculine. is to
/ see life personally. A woman. more
! than man. is encumbered by herself
and hedged by limitations. She cannot.
/ by the inherent nature of things, take so
many risks or lead so experimental a
! life as man, and her education is.
Fore r4a1ff e Z
greater moment. She must have thor
oughgoing knowledge. because, less than
man, can she afford wrong reaction
| Her interests must be widened. even
more carefully than Il mans, because
she IS less likely to he broadened by life
College If it does nothing else should
/ Law the foundation for more abstract in
terestS and intelligent judgments. If it
hardenS the sympathes it cannot he be
cause it IS too high or too thorough. but
! because it is too slight and too super
ticial. Any education that puffs a person
! mp about his own attachments is Il poor
| education. Any education that allows
person to think he can really gain by an
others loss, or aggrandZe himself 10y
another'S fall, or in any way separate his
interests from the general interests of
| the race, is a superficial and inadequate
| education, whether it be gotten at fin-
| ishing school or at college. If colleges
I turn out women of defective Sympathes
/ and selfish instincts it is not their pur
suit of learning that effects this. Intel
lectual training in and for itself cannot
be other than beneficial. The freedom
| the independence. the fact of being
thrown upon her own resources ut Il criti-
cal age should all prepare a girl for wise
government OF her own household and
intelligent civic helpfulness.
1t is difficult to believe that higher ed
ucation units woman for household
management or motherhood, since TO
these two functions the most highly
trained faculties are necessary, espe-
cially in these days when social condi-
tions are changing rapidly. and when the
| domestic problem is in a state of uncom-
| Portable Upheaval AZ is not less inteli-
gence and training, but more and wiser.
| that is needed to meet the new condi-
| tons.
1t is. therefore. a cause for rejoicing
rather than doubt, that the womeus
| colleges Of this country are to be multi
piled and more heavily endowed Har
per's Weekly.