The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-20
Advantages of co-education.

II we eliminate the diploma of gradu-
alton from the consideration, then the
choice of studies is wholly a matter of
Individual taste. Generally speaking,
studies pursued by boys and girls at high
school are those of individual choice sup
Dlemented by the direction and advice
| Of parents and teachers, whose duty in
this respect should be to study and esti-
mate carefully the capabilities of the pu-
| pill.
But all this would sound like justifi-
cation of our present system Wherein,
YOU viii ask, are the changes, if any, to
come? My belief is that co-education in
so far as it applies to high school girls
and boys within the same school building,
/ under the same general management and
with the opportunities to pursue the same
studies is right in theory and in practice.
/ There is a distinct advantage in A system
that brings boys and girls together is
| their gOings and conings. in times of re-
! taxation. in general assemblies and in
much of what constitutes wholesome
school life. In all this there is mutual
| inspiration. for one sex is the complement
Of the other in very many ways. 1t makes
/ for better manners in boys and girls. for
better understanding of sex characters
tics and peculiarities, and / believe for
better morals in much the same way
where there are boys and girls in the
same family a mutual benefit accrues to
each. 1t is always understood of course
that We are speaking of the school where
proper supervision and high standard of
discipline are maintained / have heard
il said that BOYS and girls at this age,
if brought together in this way. are prone
10 form attachments for one another.
Well. let them THERE'S nothing so awful
in that. AS matter of fact that sort
of thing is often a source of help and ii
usually has the tendency to purge the
mind of youth at this age of many foolish
romantic ideals. which are encouraged by
a life of SecluSion apart from the opposite
sex. From my observation. ] can truth
fully say that associations of the sexes
such as are possible within the limits
referred to, are productive of good.
Segregation in Class Work.
in all. / am a firm believer in segrega-
ton of the sexes. There is in almost all
cases a somewhat different method to
pursue in teaching a subject to boys from
that most successful with girls The mode
of attack. so to speak. is not at all the
same. One can appeal to the reasoning
faculties of the two sexes by different
processes. different illustrations Then
there is always certain diffidence on the
part of pupils in mixed class to reveal
their lack of knowledge or the Difficult
ties which. they encounter in the sub
ject. There may be in the mixed class
the incentive to make a good showing. but
this is often done at the cost of what the
whole classroom work should stand for
teaching. mind development 1t were bet
ter If we had fewer recitation periods in
our schools and more teaching periods
The spirit of the classroom should never
be Render unto Caesar the things that
are Caesars. but rather Come. let US
reason together
Where teaching and not reciting mere
| ~ is the work of the classroom then
the work of the teacher is facilitated and
the benefit to the pupil much greater if
the sexes are separated. This is not d
| theory only, ii is a fact and an incontro-
vertible one. for we have been proving it
| in our own school for several years.
Then again there are some studies that
are particularly fitted to the likes and the
aCaptabiliues Of one sex above those of
I the other. We can almost apply the adj
! jective masculine TO some subjects ana
| feminine 10 others. Not that A girl may
not very properly and very profitably take
I up so-cailed masculine subject. The diff
I ference is. she does not and cannot take
/ to it as well as the boy. And so II is
/ with boys who are pursuing subjects in
which the girls excel.
Lines of Cemarcation.
| Perhaps il would be well to specify
i what studies might be considered mascu-
/ line and what feminine. Literature and
/ linguistic subjects generally are more
/ readily taken up and more successfully
pursued by girls than by boys. So also
| with history. although the collateral sub
! ject. Civil government awakens more in
| terest in boys. And We should expect this.
Boys generally. and the American boy in