The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-07-23
Co-Educatiiom--- The Outlook
By W. A. HARPER. President of Eton College.

into their heads as a relic of savaEery
and harbarism that women were in
ierior TO themselves. If we read the
discussions in respect to coeducation
III The days when Oberlin which was
the first college to admit men. and wo-
men tS3S). and Antioch. which was
the first college GS53) to admit men
and women on equal terms, we're
launched, we find that the chief argu-
fnent brought against 1t was that high
er education would wreck the hcalt IN
and destroy the mind of the women. No
seit-respecting educator would advance
mat argument to-day. Now the arEu-
mcnt is that the type of mind peculiar
10 women Is different from that pecu-
! liar To men. and so they cannot he
educated together successfully. Pro-
lessor Dewey, of the Columbia faculty.
one of the leading authorities on
pedagogy In the country. thinks there
Is absolutely no foundation for this
theory. and the theory certainly ought
10 prove itself before II is entitled to
respect. in view OF the large success
that coeducation has attained in this
ana other lands. There seem to he
no studies peculiarly adapted 10 femi-
nine or masculine minds If there were
me elective system of modern educa
ton would certainly bring out the
FACTS. hut we have yet to find an in
/
bcen brought 10 light. Until they are
we shall continue to believe that as
boys and girls come into the world IN.
Gcther and must live in social relation
all their days. they should be edu
Gated together; that coeducat;on is ma
tural education spelled short.
IN tho second place. the moral tone
OIL coeducational institution Is much
hiSher than that of n unseXuai school
me scandals that were formerly nre.
dicted as the natural out-croppinc n,
cocoucation have never bodied them.
serves forth in tangible form Fewer
scandals occur in coeducational insti.
tutions than occur in the homes of IN,
S"n,c social standing as those from
| which the goods" come Recurrinp
10 inc agitation in regard to the intro.
duction of cocducation at the Univers.
lty oil virginia, we notice TINT opa
| argument against IL is that tho mora,
| zone OF the fellows would keen away
the very class of young ladies most
| needed What has actually taken Mac,
| IN other institutions seems to SHOW
that for this very reason, that m,
| moral tone is low. the University OF
| virginia needs coeducation For il /,
| universally true that the presence nj
| women on college campus whore mon
| arc also found as students tends won
ocr1uliy to tone the fellows IN CO.
| education certainly helps to moral un.
| INT and development.
Lastly. coeducation has mos
| wholesome effect on manners Thr
men of cocducational institutions arr
not so coarse and boisterous and rowd,
| nor are the women in such institu.
| tons so giddy, silly and cffervescen,
Coeducation seems to knock off me
| rough edges of the manners of bott
men and women. and not to accentuat,
| them as do uniscXual institutions The
| girl who has been educated I'm co.
educational institution has the abilit,
10 distinguish between tho real WORT
| OF manhood and the social veneer whict
| Inc girl educated in the woman's col.
| leGe often accepts as the genuine cvi.
| dcnce of depth of masculine character
| The same is true of men educated IN
coeducational institutions They arc
able to form correct estimate OF the
women they meet and can distinguish
| real womanhood from superficial and
| forced saciability.
Nr these reasons the outlook for
! coeduohtion is very bright Tho 60
! educational institutions hold tho knv
! TO the educa tional situation in mis-
country and they are likely TO hold /,
| Tor a long time to come.