The Natchitoches enterprise. (Natchitoches, La.) 1888-1965, 1917-01-18
What Is Education Doing For Wtmen?
Answer BY Southern Educator.

aaf imp.rt:nease. while am confident,
Aa5 lh-r Thu advantages - c-Ge.t ton
equ.. d. is, they VOL, - sEs.-..y " less
TIA. ,rr-n.ve-. Their youth IS spent
to teach them to stitch and sew, or
10 make h.dbias They are taught t.
read Indeed, aud perhaps 10 write Their
n4n-f, or So, grd Cl@t Is The a'.ght II
WUuou's education. And 1 Wouid but
ask any who Slight the sex TO- th-ir I'M
dgrstaa'iu-, what is a man z. OF tor
that is Taught no more Iii knowledge
and understanding had been useless ad-
ditions to the sex, God Almighty would
never have given them capacities; for
he made nothing needless. Besides,
would ask, what can one see in lgnor-
ance that he should think it a neccss-
ary ornament to q woman? How much
worse is a wise woman than foot"
What has the woman done to forfeit the
privilege Of being taught! Doe she
pl4Gu. Us with ner pride and luoertl-
naaear t&Is did W. not let her iaar.
tina she nLal have had mo VT?
Shall We rcme1ci women with folly,
wien 'ts only the error OF this lnhUman
cuztaa. U-at uluLeTCI them from being
made wiser?
The capaci ie5 Of women are suppos-
ed to be greater, and their senses quick
err than those Of the men; and what they
might be capable Of being bred to IS
PLAIN from some instances of female
wit, which this age IS not without;
which up braids Us with Injustice. and
looks as if we denied women the ad-
vantages of education, for fear they
should vie with US in their improve
ments,
tTo remove this objection, and that
women might have at least needIul
opportunity Of education in all sorts Of
useful learning, propose the draft OF
an academy for that purpose.
"And herein it is that take upon me
to make such bold assertion that all
the world are mistaken in their prac-
tee about women. For cannot think
that God Almighty ever made them so
delicate, so glorious creatures, and
furnished them with such charms, so
agreeable ami 50 delightful to mankind,
with souls capable of the SAM accom-
pliahments with men, and all to be only
steward of our houses, cook and slaves.
Il need not enlarge on the loss the
! defect Of education is to the sex, nor
argue the benefit Of the contrary prac-
Tee. This chapter is bat an essay at
the thing, and 1 refer the pratlce to
those happy days, if ever they shall be,
when men shall be wise enough TO mend
it?
Such Il document, called to our atten-
ton for the first time, IS dOuhly sur
pri5ing--not only for its revelation of
now much sensible help of argument
we owe to our old friend Robinson
Craso. but also for its disclosure OF
now recently it has been that any thing
definite and ttfectual began to be done
BY us in tie matter Of woman s eduCa-
lion. beyond the merc3t fundamentals
For Notwithstanding this eloquent and
and Cleyerly stated appeal OF DeToe IN
1851, it was no till the establishment
OF Queens College IL London IN 1915
thai any serious college work for girls
OH par with that for boys Was un1er-
taken en- permanent basis in England.
And it was no. till 1894 that girls i'll
England We're admitted freely to what
heretofore had been boys schools.
In this country, although Harvard
College (for boys was established in
1886, it was not till 30 years later that
Mary Lyon began her personal cam
pagn in massachusetts to establish
seminary for girls to be on non-pro-
prietary basis, governed by board of
trustees, and founded on invested funds.
Mount Holyoke Seminary was founded
as result of this effort in 1887. Ober-
lin Collegiate Institute, opened in 1888,
changing name and charter to Oberiin
College in 1859, was open to women
from tn start, and its college courses
were said to compare favoraDiy with
those of contemporary Yale. Antioch
College lin Ohio also was opened under
Horace Mann in 1858, wholly co-educa
Cional. Other important esta 3IishmaGts
in long list are Vassar, 1869; Welies-
ley, 1870; Smith, 1876; Bryn Mawr,
1855: NeWcomb, 1856, Barnard, 1889,
Radcliffe, 1894. The state universities,
chiefly in the West and Middle " est,
began admitting women in the 705-a
number, indeed, having done so from
their foundation-the Southern states
gradually falling in line until now there
is no longer any bar to the admission of
women to any Of them.
''In The last twenty years." quoting
from the report Of the United States
Commissioner of Education for 1910,
"the attendance of women upon higher
institutions has increased more rapidly
than that Of men The n Im6er OF men
students has increased 2l4 per cent,
and the number Of women in co.educa-
tional institutions 438 per cent and the
number Of women in W0men's colleges
3S4 per cent" In round numbers the
total college enrolment in 1890 was
so, 900, Of which 1900 were men and
10, 900 women. In 1910 it had increased
to total of 10000, of which l20, 90
were men and SO, 900 women.
1t is certain, therefore, that educa-
ton is getting to women in larger
measures and higher quality than ever
before Let US consider the inquiry, /
what is it doing for her?
In the first place, it increases her use
fulness-in the home, in the community,
and in the world at large.
In the home, that greatest and most !
of all human institutions. /
it is only the educated wife and mother
than can meet the requlrnents Of mod /
ern standards. 1t is she that directs ,
the home-planning, its decoration, fur
nishing, cleaning and sanitation. Edu-
cation, in order that it may do the
more for her, has greatly revised its t
curricula in recent years and now gives .
her specialized instruction in domestic /
science, domestic art, and scientific I
home management and these courses
are rapidly becoming more popular
than all others, because they are direct
" related to LIE.
In the community it is the educated
that leads. She is the power
chat starts the cleanup movements,
The civic league, the mothers clubs,
70 help schools, the public library move
nent, the identification of the streets,
The planting of flowers and trees ana
founding OF pu5lic parks. She often
more genuine servant of the
l. ~