The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-05

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 what is the ultimate end and aim Of all i college instruction. Certainly during the i period of it's historical development the American college has consistently en- I deavored to give to it's students through i four years of intimate acquaintance with cultured Christian instructors that keen
 ness of intellectual perception, that clear
 ness of moral judgment, and that breadth | of spiritual vision which we are accus- ! toned to associate with the finest types of college bred men and women. And today it recognizes as it's chief function 1 the duty of developing an appreciation of the great works of the spirit, whether recorded in literature, in art, or in In-
 stitutional life and of preparing it's stu dents to become useful and efficient citi- zens in the kingdom of God The means that have been most successful in ac complaining these ends have been the
 humanities and mathematics, the physical sciences and the institutional and social sciences. Perhaps there are other sub jects that are equally as successful, but l am not acquainted with them. Please do not misunderstood mel have the highest regard for professional and voca- .. tional training, but they can be best ob- tained in technical and professional schools. We need more institutions of
 this character, especially in the south:
 but the last thing on earth We ought to
 do IS to impair the dignity and usefulness Of our colleges for women by crowding
 their academic programme with courses
 on dressmaking, domestic science, home
 economics, and other subjects of like na-
 ture.
 "I know how attractively vocational
 topics Q. .~sal to certain classes of patrons
 and how difficult it is for some of our
 institutions of learning especially some of. our colleges for women, to resist the pull of the time spirit But we should keep constantly before us the fact that
 the college course is not intended pr- marily to equip the individual for earning living. but rather to give him the ca pacity for earning it with the great test intelligence and the largest measure of success. It fixes it's aim, not upon, the exploitation of talents so much as upon the development of personal excellence and ability to render the largest possible service to humanity
 ESSENTIALS THE SAME Accepting these views. we are forced to ! the conclusion that the function of the college for women is not essentially diff terent from that of the standard his l tor1c college for men. Miss Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr, in the classic discussion of this subject published some years since in the Educational Review, ! who believe that the college education | or men and women should differ. For 30 years it has been as nearly as possible the same. with brilliantly satisfactory l results, so far as concerns women Col | lege women have married as generally as their noncollege- bred sisters, and have | as rule married better than their sisters. ! because they have chosen a larger pro-
 portion of professional men; they have not died in childbirth, as was predicted !:
 they have borne their proper proportion
 Of children, and have brought up more
 than the usual proportion of those born; they have made efficient housekeepers and
 wives as well as mothers; their success as teachers has been so astonishingly i great that already they are driving non college-bred women teachers out of the , field"
 In conclusion President Webb said: We are accustomed to think of hu- l man beings in terms of their threefold
 nature-the physical, the intellectual and the spiritual. In the physical world we | know that boys and girls demand a cer- i tain amount of nourishment and long centuries of experience have taught us i tEat when proper food is placed before l them they will assimiliate it without ref erence to any differences that arise from sex. Under normal conditions we can l trust nature to do her part in develop 1 ing healthful bodies when we furnish suitable nourishment, provided of course,
 their appetites have not been. spoiled l by too great indulgence in knick-knacks and sweetmeats. The same law seems to hold good in the spiritual world. Spirit ual natures are nourished by spiritual foods without reference to sexual differ 1 ences Is it not probable that in the third realm, the realm of intellect, the 1 same law also holds good? As educators as teachers, friends of woman's edu- 1 cation, is it not incumbent upon us to
 set before our students the ripest fruits of learning, the highest truths of sci
 ence, the deepest prob lems of life and
 humanity and may we not rest assured
 that under normal conditions and under proper supervision the appettes of the
 young women as well as of the young
 men Will choose and assimilate the nour. ishment they need most?'