The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-22

from the logical course of the subject l should like to add there are colleges willing to do a part of the work prop erly belonging to the fitting school; there are. colleges that in their last year are essentially professional schools there are universities so-call- ed that are only colleges. The ques- ton of standard is one that properly belongs to the present discussion. and
 when the standards of the schools for higher education are considered, let us demand that the name shall properly,
 truthfully. represent the work.
 State universities (as I have said) are open to women on the same terms as to men; and in this respect most Western colleges follow their example. While this is not the case on the AL lantic coast. colleges for women are being established in geographical con- nection with the great universities, If not in scholastic afflliation with them, as they have also been in Oxford and Cambridge. In England.
 What Is more to the point. women are crowding to these colleges: Vassar, Wellesley. Smith. Nit. Rolyoke. Bryn Mawr. and Barnard, cannot erect build ings fast enough to provide for the stu- dents demand entrance.
 In 1900, there were in the women's colleges 1000 students; in the co-edu- cational universities and colleges more than 10000 students. besides those pursuing postgraduate courses.
 We find the girls are not only as eager students as are the boys, but they are quite as thorough in their studies, and quite as sane in their col lege life.
 Experience in co educational colleges has proven that the average standing of women Is somewhat higher than that of men. Several years ago the Univer- sity of Wisconsin made an investiga- ton and found that women ranked in scholarship considerably beyond the men. In England the success of wo- men in collegiate studies has been es- abolished beyond a doubt by the pub lished class lists of the competitive honor examinations at Oxford and Cambridge.
 The avidity with which women have taken advantage of the opportunities offered Is proof of their appetite for advanced learning. There can be no doubt, judging from the present out look, that the future women of the leisure class will attend college as gen. orally as the men of that class do now.
 The health of college women has been tested satisfactorily and satisfac- toriiy through three decades, and must surely be regarded as settled; in fact, thousands of men and women have worked side by side In co-educationa1 institutions, with no larger percent age of with drawals on the part of wo- men then of the men.
 Next to the teaching force and pro- fessional positions. wherein women have acknowledged in their relations with men. there is gradually growing a small but highly differentiated class of women, the heads of our women's colleges.
 The separate college for women has the advantage of being the place where ,. experiments in education may have least to fear from tradition and con- vention. It Is, however. in position of great danger as regards the ability of it's governors to meet the require ments of the public for something bet ter than tradition or convention, for something that leaves these behind, anticipates them and puts them out of fashion by it's own intrinsic charm, su- periority or success.
 That. on the whole, this claim of the public has been well met is proved by the business prosperity and the popu- larity of these institutions.
 Their position is unquestionably the most exposed; it iS, therefore, matter of interest to consider the small group of women who have made and con- quered their responsibilities. The designation is not always satisfactory, the duties are not always clearly de- fined, but the requirements Gas stated in the begfnfilhg) for the equally small class of men, apply in every particu- lar to the women presidents or deans.
 That women, serving as chief exectl- tives of colleges for women, have defined policy is shown by the fact that each college has a well-knewn' type of its own. Certain vtrtuess comes from one; the girl, whose indetermlnate character is quite as much problem as A promise, may find the stimulus she needs in one and may miss it pre- sumably in another. The less 1mn1e- diate and personal responsibility which does rest with the woman president is to be found in her adherence to the body of doctrine. made up of traditions. customs and preferences, that pass under the name of college spirit" To direct, use, modify and transform this. is one of the important duties of the president of a woman's college. The position is more dimcult than that of a man in the same place.
 A woman Is expected by her students to understand shadings of opinion and feeling, on pain of ofi3cial death. where dense ignorance would be forgiven in the man quite as a matter of course. Hence the sympathetic strain. De- mands are made upon her time by her faculty and other officers, by the stu. dents as well, that would be made only upon the most exceptional man, and are exacted from her in the most matter of fact way. Frequent public appearance Is more and more expected by their alumnae and undergraduates. At the same time hardly less Is expect ed in general accessibility. This double demand for competent self expression. in public and in private, is a severe drain on the strength.
 Care for the college spirit is re- inforced by the demands of the social life of the college community.
 To the woman president, 'self-gov-