Evening journal., 1912-11-06
WHY COLLEGE
GIRLS SHUN
MOTHERHOOD


NEW YORK, Oct. 6-Physicians,
university professors and many others
who have made careful studies of the
history of education in its relation to
women said today that the report
from Bryn Mawr College that the
tendency among college-bred girls
and women was toward race suicide
was not surprising, as II is wei
known that whenever during the
worlds history women have taken
unusually active interest in higher
education the birth rate has fallen on
significantly.
At Barnard College Miss Virginia
Gildersleeve. the dean, refused to
comment on the statistics gathered at
Bryn Mawr Miss Gildersleeve said
that Barnard had no complete set OF
similar statistics to which she could
refer for comparison, and that statis-
tics could be misleading.
Professor Franklin H. Giddings,
professor OF sociology and the his
tory of civilization at Columbia Uni
versity. said that while he knew the
birth rate in the families of college
bred women was lower than that IN
other families, it was not as low as
lin what is known as the upper class
of society.
Fewer OF Them Marry.
The trouble with the college-bred
woman is the fact that fewer OF her
class marry" said Professor Giddings
Most of them start out in life with
the idea OF earning their own living
and many Of them never marry
Those that do generally marry late Il
life, and, OF course, have fewer chill
dren than II they had married at tn
age of % or so.
Perhaps it is because they ar
more particular in choosing mat
that they put off marriage, he cor
tinued: but / think the fact tha
, they have fewer children is due
some such cause as this rather tina
TO the fact that their education lead
= them to avoid having children"
DR.. James j. Walsh. dean and pre-
fessor Of the history of medicine an
/ nervous diseases at Fordham Uni
d versity College of Medicine and pro
70 lessor of physiological psychology 3
Cathedral College, was emphatic
his statement that the higher educi
ton of women gives them a tendenc
toward race suicide. To substantial
his views DR.. Walsh quoted from II
u chapter on Feminine Education an
j. Influence" in Education, How Old Il
= New" which he published in 1911.
T. The Evil OF Occupation.
= Occupation with other thing
II though necessary, detracts from q
Z care of children said DR. Walls
II "and If exaggerated leads TO the &c
: ibate condition of that approaching
: the limitation of families within ma
Al row bounds At certain periods
the worlds history a certain numb
n of these women accumulate and q
o tendency to celibacy or TO very linn
ed maternity makes itself felt al
then this class Of people usually fai
= to propagate enough Of the speci
like themselves to take their plac
in the world
1T is a matter of common CONNIE
at the present moment that II {
womens colleges we're to depend
the progeny Of their graduates TO
the classes in succeeding years {
number of students would not on
not increase hut would constant
tend to decrease. OF course, the sal
thing is true Of the descendants
the made graduates of many of o
Eastern universities.
Drift Away From Motherhood.
What has apparently happen
then in the history of feminine ed
cation and influence is that wheneN
women became occupied with su
modes Of education or Of the guilty
ton of feminine influence that to
them out Of their homes, away fro
family life and far from the heart
stone, the particular classes Of v
men who thus became interested
not propagate themselves to such
limited degree that after a time tn
kind disappear to a great extent
DR.. Walsh added that in direct co
parison to the domestic woman
tendency of the one with outside
4 terests, such as might be due
\ higher education, was TO unconscio
~ instill into her few children an
natural distaste for parenthood, a
that from the general rule of hist
4 there are apparently four or fve g
erations Of women who interest the
selves particularly in education
things and then there comes 1
prominence again the more famil
type of home-loving. motherly Y
men,
The reports from Bryn Mawr {
the statistics which other wome
colleges have gathered are mer
evidences Of history repeating its
according to Dr. Walsh and other n
who have made a study of woms
part in the intellectual world Of
last thousand years.