Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-03-13

oul SO pdltTN.
DCT it is not of mathematic- nor Of Greek
ID that the Gownsman is writing today; but
OF that momentous and veSatous question
which certain benefactor Of the University
"t pennsylvania once called somewhat hasily
in the document of his gift "thc coeducation
OF women and girls" Colonel Benefits
meaning is clear by the context He meant
the education OF men and women jointly in
the same institution and under the enjoy
ment OF equal privileges and opportunities
Not tho sequestration OF young women in
cloistcrs and nunneries Of their own. under
teachers largely of their own sex; nor yet
tho hybrid arrangement by which a neigh
boring great university lends it's professors
in their jadcd moments 10 the sisters Of stu
dents whose brothers have already had the
professors best What shall we do with
the women is the question in education as
elsewhere. q question which will not down
Though it is coming to hc not what shall
We do with the women" but what do they
propose TO do to u.s.
TT MAY seem somewhat strange to the
L general reader that they should he thrash.
ing out this old question at Pennsylvania
at this late date II may remind him Of
foot race in which the frst runners have
passed the stand and the enthusiasm has
suhsided into gossip aud peanuts when.
suddenly, we are appriscd that there IL stil
tered. but stll valianty in the race. This.
however. is not quite fair: for mon and
women have been educated side by side at
Pennsylvania now for more than twenty
years. Women may now become lawyers.
physicians, teachers investigators in science
and in the arts under conditions precisely
those imposed OIL men and with precisely
the same advantages. There are, moreover.
at this moment---so the Gownsman Is in
formed-more than 1900 women students at
Pennsylvania. not on "a tentative and OK
ceptional footing some OF the unin-
structed seem to think, but taking their
place. doing their work. accepting the situ-
alton and accepted in it,
TTNlIEN. what is it al about? Nothing more
l. than a question AS to the formal ac-
ceptance of an accomplished fact. Tho path
OF logic is stony and painful to such as
stil hahitually wear sandals. and II leads
into unexpected places. places In which some
of us are fearful to stand. This then Is
merely pause in the inevitable march for
ward, To give the laggards in thought an
opportunity to catch up While they are
struggling in from various narrow and i-lit
corners let us see what are some of the
ghosts and phautoms that have frightened
their sleep and now disturb their awakening
believe In the so-called higher education
or women. says one. in his adjective con-
radictng his faith and agreeing with Doc
tor Johnson. as to feminine accomplishment
IN the classics as a pretty and strange feat
like a dog dancing in doublet. and equally
commondable Another was brought lIp on
the old college tradition and thinks that It
will ALLEVIATE section of Pennsylvania's con-
stituency' should women be admitted to a
college founded for men. \ third SAYS ''rhe
boy and girl cannot be reconciled and har-
monized. The resultant is lacking In manli-
ness and womanliness." These passages are
not inventions of the Gownsman they are
n Grr inns h. n
in recent University publication He can
not deny the readers this last despairng
wall: Keep our boys pure in tone, free
from the influences and opinions of girls
community life Let us hope that the
holder of this opinion has no sister much
less daughter, for he deserves neither.
hIOW, there is nowhere a more feryent
IN lover of the things of old than the
Gownsman. howsoever he confess that these
precious possessions are often best viewed
in the golden haze OF recollection For the
things that are worth while. let us hold fast
and die IN the last trenches for the senti-
mentalitos of memory a sigh is sacrifice
enough. And is the monastic system of edu-
cation worth very much more than "a sigh?
From another point of view there Is the edu-
cation OF the classes, and there is the educa-
tion OF the masses. 1t is part OF our Ameri-
can glory that we give every man his
chance; it will not lessen that glory that we
extend an equally impartial justice to every
woman, whether at the polls. in business i'm
the professions or In education. The spirit
or the age calls for equal opportunities to
all and right demands IL. our American uni
versties began as small proprietary schools
some of them, despite their august titles and
crowded halls are essentially such today
Then came the days of the benefactor and
the munihcent patron who, with every re-
spect and I'm fun recognition of his bounty
a faip
receiving for his gift the distinction OF an
association which his money could not buy
him elsewhere But the proprietor and the
patron, in the case of universities with their
creations, an absolute president and an
irresponsible governing board, are bound
straight to the fate Of the dodo a class can
educate class 1t takes the sanction OF the
mass OF a nation to educate the masses
For university is not so much a place I'm
which II Is reproach not to teach every
thing under the sun ii should be a place
from whose hospitable doors no citizen man
or woman shall be turned for want OF on
portunity to study in that wherein he is
equipped.
DUT the Gownsman is lost in his gown
ID Dear friend Of the haliowed past, the
higher education OF women even carried on
simultaneously with that Of men Is ROT 90
called" tentative" or "exceptionsl" hut
actual and existent. Even antiauity knaw
another type OF woman besides pretty-faced
Helen OF Troy Women have been writing
since sappho' philosophizing since Hypatia
queening II since the days OF Semiramis
II Is you that is 'irreconcilable," not our
boys and girls and we afford the "alien-
alton" OF those who send their sons to col.
lege for other reasons than the educational
advantages which colleges afford The
Gownsman hopes that Pennsylvania NAV he
fully and avowedly open TO women az IN
men. not because II will make up for 25 ner
cent of loss In tuition fees caused bv The
great withdrawal OF men for the war serv-
Ice but because It is the obviously right
thing, and therefore the polite thing. 10 do
Exasperated with long harangue AT dinner
on one occasion by lady who. avowiny
herself champion OF woman's rights. dwell