Women -- Employment -- United States; Women -- Social and moral questions
Under the most favorable conditions, the college home, in which a large
number of young women are brought into a common life under one roof and
one guidance, is abnormal in its organization. If, in the university
town where young women find homes in boarding-houses or in private
families, there could be a local board of ladies authorized to exercise
some supervision over the young women, the arrangement might secure the
aims of a college home under more natural conditions than the latter now
provides.
But women in the faculty, women on the board of visitors, women on the
board of trustees, holding these positions, not because of their family
connections, not because they are wives or sisters of the men in the
faculty and on the boards, but because of their individual abilities,
are the great present need of co-educational colleges. Only the presence
of women in these places can relieve the young men who are students in
these institutions from an arrogant sense of superiority arising from
their sex, and the young women from a corresponding sense of
subordination.
In a statement of the “Theory of Education in the United States of
America,” prepared by the Hon. Duane Doty and Dr. Wm. T. Harris, the
present Commissioner of Education, we read the following:
“The general participation of all the people in the primary political
functions of election, together with the almost complete localization of
self-government by local administration, renders necessary the education
of all, without distinction of sex, social rank, wealth, or natural
abilities.” Farther: “The national government and the State government
regard education as a proper subject for legislation, on the ground of
the necessity of educated intelligence among a people that is to furnish
_law-abiding_ citizens, well versed in the laws they are to obey, and
likewise _law-making_ citizens, well versed in the social, historic, and
political conditions which give occasion to new laws and shape their
provisions.”
These statements are in perfect accord with the following words of
Washington, quoted from his “Farewell Address to the American People”:
“In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public
opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.”
Here is the whole argument for the existence of State universities. In
the West, these are destined to be the strongest, richest, and best
equipped institutions for the higher learning; and are likewise clearly
destined to have a determining influence upon the policy of other
colleges in respect to co-education.
The “West” remains an indefinite term; and in that part of it which the
word accurately describes, a people will be born who know nothing of
distinctions in opportunity between men and women.
A people reared under such conditions will ultimately exhibit the
influence of the “Higher Education of Women in the West.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account