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DEPART'MENT

OF EDUCATION

FOR THE

UNITED

STATES

COMMISSION

TO

THE

PARIS

EXPOSITION

or

1900

MONOGRAPHS ON EDUCATION
JN Tll&

UNITED

STATES

EDITED BY

NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER
Proftssor of P!tilosop!ty and Education i11 Columbia University, New York

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN,,,,.- .
BY

M. CAREY THOMAS

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Prtst'denl of Bryn Mawr College, Bryn ftfawr, Pe11tuy/v11ni11

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THIS MONOGRAPH JS CO!fTRIBUTED TO THE UNITED S TATES EDUCATIONAL EXHIBIT BY THE

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STA1'E OF NEW YORIC.

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University of

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN
The higher education of women in- America is taking place
before our eyes on a vast scale and in a variety of ways.
Every phase of this great experiment, if experiment we choose
to call it, may be studied almost simultaneously. Women
are taking advantage of all the various kinds of education
offered them in great and ever-increasing numbers, and the
period of thirty years, or thereabouts, that has elapsed since
the beginning of the movement is sufficient to authorize us
in drawing certain definite conclusions. The higher education of women naturally divides itself into college education designed primarily to train the mental faculties by
means of a liberal education, and only secondarily, to equip the
student for self-support, and professional or special education, directed primarily toward one of the money-making
occupations.

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COPYRIGHT BY

J.B. LYON COMPANY
1899

COLLEGE EDUCATION

Women's college education is carried ·on in three different
classes of institutions: coeducational colleges, independent
women's colleges and women's colleges connected more or
less closely with some one of the colleges for men.
1 . Coeducation - Coeducation is the prrvailing system of
college education in the United States for both men and
women. In the western states and territories it is almost
the only system of education, and it is rapidly becoming the
prevailing system in the south, where the influence of the
state universities is predominant. On the other hand, in the
New England and middle states the great majority of the
youth of both sexes are still receiving a separate college
education. Coeducation was introduced into colleges in
the west as a logical consequence of the so-called American system of free · elementary and secondary schools.
During the great sch.ool revival of 1830-45 and the ensuing years until the outbreak of the civil war in 1861, free

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN

(322

elementary and secondary schools were established throughout New England and the middle states and such western
states as existed in those days. It was a fortunate circumstance for girls that the country v;as at that time sparsely
settled ; in most neighborhoods it was so difficult· to establish and secure pupils for even one grammar school and one
high school that girls were admitted from the first to both.•
In the reorganization of lower and higher education that took
~lace between 1865 and 1870 this same system, bringing with
1t the complete coeducation of the sexes, was introduced
throughout the south both for whites and negroes, and was
extended to every part of the west. In no part of the
country, except in a few large eastern cities, was any distinction made in elementary or secondary_education between
boys and girls.2 The second fortunate and in like manner
almost accidental factor in the education of American
1 Th a t their admission was due in large part to the stress of circumstances is
shown by the fnct that in the very states in which these coeducational schools
ho.d been established there was manifested on other occasions a most iJliberal attitude t oward gir1s' education. In the few cities of the Atlantic seaboard, where European conservatism was too strong to allow girls to be ta ught
with boys in the new high schools, and where there were boys enough to 611 the
schools, girls had to wait much longer before their needs we re provided
for at a ll, and then most inadequately. In Boston, where the boys' and girls'
hig~ schools were separated, it wa.s impossible until 1878 for a Boston girl to be
prepared for college in a city high sc hoo l, whereas, in the country t owns of Massachusetts, where boys and girls were tR.ught t oge ther in the high schools, the girl
had had the same opportunities as the boy for twenty-five or thirty years. Indeed,
it was not until 1852 that Doston girls obtained, and then only in connection with
the normal school , a public high-scho ol education of any kind what soever. In
Philndelphia, where boys and girls are taught separatcty in the hi g h school s, no
girl could be prepared for college before 1893, neither Latin, French, n or German
being taught in the girls' h igh school, whereas, for many years the b oys' high school
had prepared boys for collCge. In Baltimore the two girls' high schools are s till,
in I<JOO, unn ble t o prepare girls for college, whereas the boys' high school has for
years prepared boys to enter the Johns Hopkins university. The impo&sibil ity of
preparing girls for college is only another way of stating that the instruction
given is very imperfect .
'The magnitude of this fact wiil be apparent if we reRect that here for the first
time the g irls o f a great nation, especially of the poorer classes, have from their
earliest infancy to the age of eighteen or nineteen received the same education as
th e boys, and that the ladder leading. in Huxley's words, from the gutter to the
universit y may be cli mbed as easily by a girl as by a boy. Alth ough college education has affected as yet only s very few out of th e great numb er o f aduJt women
in the United States, the free opportunities for secondary education have inftuenced

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women was the occurrencP of the civil war at the formative period of the public sc.nools, with the result of placing
the elementary and seconddry education of both boys and
girls overwhelmingly in the hands of women teachers.
In no other country of the world has this ever been the
case, and its influence upon women's education has
been very great. The five years of the civil war, which
drained all the northern and western states of men,
caused women teachers to be employed in the public
and private schools in large numbers, and in the first
reports of the national bureau of education, organized
after the war, we see that there were already fewer men
than women teaching in the public schools of the United
States. This result proved not to be temporary, but permanent, and from 1865 until the present time not only the
elementary teaching of boys and girls but the secondary
education of both has been increasingly in the hands of
women.• When most of the state universities of the west
were founded they were in reality scarcely more than secondary schools supplemented, in most cases, by large preparatory departments. Girls were already being educated with
boys in all the high schools of the west, and not to admit
them to the state universities would have been to break with
the whole Americ a n peopl e for nearly two-thirds of n. century. The men of the
poorer classes have hn.d, as a rule, mothers as well educated as their fathers,
indeed, better educated i to this, more than t o any othe r single cau se , I think,
may b e attributed what by other nati o ns is regarded as the phenomenal industrial progress o f the United States. Our commercial rivals couJd probably take
no one step th a t would so tend to place them on a level with American co mp etiti on as to open t o girls without distinction all their elementnry and secondary
iichools for boys. I n 1892, girls formed 55.9 per cent, and in 1898, 56. 5 per cent of
all pupils in the public and private secondary schoools of the Uni t ed States.
t In 1870 women formed 59.0 per cent ; in 1880 1 57. 2 per cent ; in 18<)0, 65 · S per
cent; and in 1898, 67 . 8 per cent (in the North Atlantic Division 80.8 per ce nt) of
all teachers in the public element&ry and secondary schools of the United States
(U . S. ed. rep. for 1897-98, pp. xiii, lxxv). It has been frequently rcma.rked that
the femi nine pronouns "she" and" her" are instinctively used in America in
comm on speech with reference to a teacher. Moreover more women than men
are tea ching in the public and private secondary schools of the United States (in
1898, w ome n f ormed 53.8 per cent of the total number of secondary teachers. see
U.S. ed . rep . for 1897-qS. pp. 2053, 2o6g); whereAs in all other countries the sec•
ondary teaching of boys is wholly in the hands of men.

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EDUCATION OF WO?,l"EN

tradition. Women were also firmly established as teachers
in the secondary schools and it was patent to all thoughtful ·
men that they must be given opportunities for higher education, if only for the sake of the secondary education of
the boys of the country.' The development of women's
education in the east has followed a different course because
there were in the east no state universities, and the private
colleges for men had been founded before women were suffered to become either pupils or teachers in schools. The
admission of women to the existing eastern colleges was,
therefore, as much an innovation as it would have been in
Europe. The coeducation of men and women in colleges,
and at the same time the college education of women, began
in Ohio, the earliest settled of the western states. In l 833
Oberlin collegiate institute (not chartered as a college until
1850) was opened, admitting from the first both men and
women. Oberlin was at that time, and is now, hampered
by maintaining a secondary school as large as its college
department, but it was the first institution for collegiate
instruction in the United States where large numbers of
men and women were educated together, and the uniformly
favorable testimony of its faculty had great influence on
the side of coeducation. In 1853 Antioch college, also in
Ohio, was opened, and admitted from the beginning men
and women on equal terms. Its first president, Horace
Mann, was one of the most brilliant and energetic educa- .
tional leaders in the United States, and his ardent advocacy
of coeducation, based on his own practical experience, had
great weight with the public.' From this time on it became
a custom, as state universities were opened in the far west,
to admit women. Utah, opened in 1850, Iowa, opened in
1856, Washington, opened in 1862, Kansas, opened in 1866,
J In many cases in the west women made their way into the unive rsities through
the normal depn.rtment of the university, being admitted to that first of all. The
summer schools o f western colleges, chiefly attended by teachers, among whom
women were in the maj ority, served also as an entering wedge. (See \Voman's
work in America, Holt & Co., 1891, pp. 71-75.)
'Antioch college opened, however, with only 8 students in its college depart .
ment, all the rest, 142, belonging to its secondary school.

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Minnesota, opened in 1868, and Nebraska, opened in 1871,
were coeducational from the outset. Indiana, opened as
early as 1820, admitted women in 1868. The state Uijiversity of Michigan was, at this time, the most important western university, and the only western university well known
in the east before the war. When, in 1870, it opened its
doors to women, they were for the first time in America
admitted to instruction of true college grade. The step
was taken in response to public sentiment, as shown by
two requests of the state legislature, against the will of
the faculty as a whole. The example of the University
of Michigan was quickly followed by all the other state universities of the west. In the same year women were allowed
to enter the state universities of Illinois and California; in
1873 the only remaining state university closed to women,
that of Ohio, admitted them. Wisconsin which, since I 860,
had given some instruction to women, became in 1874 unreservedly coeducational. All the state universities of the
west, organized since 1871, have admitted women from the
first. In the twenty states which, for convenience, I shall
classify as western, there are now twenty state universities
open to women, and, in four territories, Arizona, Oklahoma,
Indian and New Mexico, the one university of each territory
is open to women. Of the eleven state universities of the
southern states the two most western admitted women first,
as was to be expected. Missouri became coeducational as
early as 1870, and the University of Texas was opened in
1883 as a coeducational institution. Mississippi admitted
women in 1882, Kentucky in 1889, Alabama in 1893, South
Carolina in 1894, North Carolina in 1897, but only to
women prepared to enter the junior and senior years, W est
Virginia in 1897.' The state universities of Virginia,
Georgia and Louisiana are still closed. The one state
university existing outside the west and south, that of
Maine, admitted women in 1872.
1 In ev ery case I give the date when full coeduc&tion wa.s introduced; West Virginia, for example, admitted women to limited privileges in 1889.

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN

The greater part of the college education of the United
States, however, is carried on in private, not in state universities. In 1897 over 70 per cent of all the college students in
the lJ nited States were studying in private colleges, so that
for women's higher education their admission to private
colleges is really a matter of much greater importance.
The part taken by Cornell university in New York state
in opening private colleges to women was as significant
as the part taken by Michigan in opening state universiti~s.
Cornell is in a restricted sense a state university, inasmuch as part of its endowment, like that of the state
universities, is derived from state and national funds. Nevertheless, there is little reason to suppose that Cornell
would have admitted women had it not been for the
generosity of Henry W. Sage, who offered to build and
endow a large hall of residence for women at Cornell
university. After carefully investigating coeducation in
all the institutions where it then existed, and especially in Michigan, the trustees of the university admitted
women in 1872. The example set by Cornell was followed very slowly by the other private colleges of the New
England and middle states. For the next twenty years the
colleges in this section of the United States admitting
women might be counted on the fingers of one hand. In
Massachusetts Boston university opened its department of
arts in 1873, and admitted women to it from the first;
but no college for men followed the example of Boston until
1883, when the Massachusetts institute of technology, the
most important technical and scientific school in the state,
and one of the most important in the United States, admitted women. This school, like Cornell, is supported in part
from state and national funds. Very recently, in 1892, Tufts
college was opened to women. In the west and south the
case is different, and the list of private colleges that one
after another have become coeducational is too long to be
inserted here. Among new coeducational foundations the
most important are, on the Pacific coast, the Leland Stan-

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western states and 3 territo~ies
EDUCATION OF WOMEN

STATES

,,..

Ohio .. . .......... . . ..

3S

Indiana. , , .......... .

lllinoi1 .... . .. .. . . . . . .
Michi1an . ........... .

"

Wisconsin ... .. ... .. .
Minnesota,. .. .. . . .. .
Iowa .. . .. . ... . ...... .
North Dakota ...... .
South Dakota ..... . . .
Nebraska ..... ... . .. .
Kansas ........ ... . . .
Montana . .•. . . . . .. ...

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Arizona . . . . . .. . . .. . ..

3 R. C .,

1

R.C.
R. C.,
R. C.,

1

Luth.,

1

Luth.,
Luth .

1

ford junior university, opened in 18<!)1, and, in the middle
west, Chicago university, opened in 1892. To show the
differing attitude toward coeducation of the different sections of the United States, I have arranged the 480 coeducational colleges and separate colleges for men given in the
U , S. education report for 1897-98 in a table on the opposite
page.
In matters like women's education, which are powert.
fully affected by prejudice and conservative opinion, we find
not only a sharp cleavage in opinion and practice between
, the west and the east of the United States, but also disI
tinct phases of differing opinion, corresponding m the
main to the old geographical division of the states into
New England, middle, southern and western.'

P. E., Western reserve.

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Dutch Reformed,

:a Luth.

1 R. C. (profe11ional dept. open)
~R.

C.

1R.C .

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Nevada . .. . , . ... . .. . .
Idaho .. . . . .... ...... .
Washington ....... . . .

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Indian Territory .. .. .
Oklahoma ....... . . . .

182

22 R. C., 6 Luth .,

sout!tern and

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soutltern middle states

In the western states it will be observed there are, excluding Roman
Catholic colleges and seminaries, out of 195 colleges 182 coeducational
and only 13 colleges for men only. All oi these except 3 are denomina·
tional ; 6 belong to the Lutheran, 1 to the Dutch Reformed, 1 to the German Evangelical, 1 to the Episcopalian, and 1 to the Congregationalist.
The other 3 are, as we might expect, in the most eastern and the earliest
settled of the western states; one in Ohio, Western reserve, which teaches
women in a separate women's college; one in Indiana, Wabash college,
one of the three most important colleges in Indiana; and one in Illinois,
Illinois college. Roman Catholic institutions apart, in 14 states and all
3 territories every college for men is open to women (the one university
of the territory of New Mexico, not included in the U. S. education
report, is open to women). In the southern states and southern middle
states there are, excluding Roman Cathol ic colleges and seminaries, out
of 161, 125 coeducational and only 36 colleges for men only. Among these
36, however, are the most important educational institution in Maryland,
the Johns Hopkins university; the most important in _Georgia, the Uni-

STATES
Delaware .. .. ,, . . .... .

1

Maryland . .. .. . ..... .
Di1trlc t of Columbia.
Vlr1lnia ...... ... ... .

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West Virginia ...... ..
North Carolina . .... .
South Carolina ...... .

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3R . C.
2

(The one coeducational co1le1e is for

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Jt_ll'C~sJt. John'•, Maryland
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agric . colle1e, John• Hopkin•.
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Delaware college.
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Kentucky ... ... . . .. . .
Tennessee ... , . .... . .

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Men on ly

21 R. C., 5 M. E. So ., 6 Bapt., 7 Presb.,

P. E ..

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6 New England and 3 nortltern middle states

STATES
?l.1aine ....... .. ..... .
New H:ampshire .. . ..
Vermont .... . .. . .... .
Ma111n.ch11setu . ..... .
Rhode Jsl:and . ..... ..

Connecticut .. .. .. .. . .

New York ... . .. .. . . . .

New Jersey .. ... .... .
Pennsylvania. , .. . . , .

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1 In discussing coeducation I shall, there fo re, disregard the divisions into north
Atlantic, so uth Atlantic, north centrnl, south cen tral and western, employed by
the U . S. census and the U . S. bureau of education. The New England, middle
and southern states are all, of course. eastern, and, with the exception of Vermont, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee R.nd Missouri, are all seaboard states,
Pennsylvania being counted as a se aboard state on account of its close river connecti on with the sea. It will be noted that the inland southern states are rather
western than eastern in their characteristics. The northern middle states belong
on the whole by their symPathies to New England, the south e rn middle to the
southern states. Missouri, having been a. slave state and settled largely by
southerners, is s till southern in feeling. The District of Columbia also may con"Teniently be counted with the southern states.

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN

versity of Georgia; in Louisiana the two most important, the Louisiana
state university and Tulane university, and in Virginia the very important University of Virginia.• Roman Catholic institutions apart, all
the coll~ges in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and West
Virginia are coed ucational. In New England and the northern middle states out of 64 colleges, excluding Roman Catholic colleges and
seminaries, only 29, or less than half, are coeducational. The colleges for men only include (with the exception of Cornell) all the
largest undergraduate colleges in this section -Harvard, Yale, Colum' bia, Princeton, Pennsylvania. Maine and Vermont arc liberal to women,
2 colleges (3 if we coun t the limited coeducational college of Colby) in
Maine and 3 in Vermont being coeducational, but the total number of
students in college in these states is ver.y small (in Maine only 843 men
and 189 women; in Vermont only 301 men and 99 women). The leadin g
colleges of New Hampshire, Rhode I sland, Co nnectic ut, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania are closed, and in Massachusetts only 2 are open and 7
closed.'

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Of the four hundred and eighty colleges for men enumerated by the commissioner of education 336, or 70 per cent
(or, excluding Catholic colleges, So per cent), admit women.
It would be misleading, however, to count among American institutions for higher education, properly so-called,
most of the coeducational colleges and separate colleges
for men included in this list, and it would be equally
misleading to compare the number of women studying in
such colleges in the United States with the number of
women engaged in higher studies in England, France and
Germany.• In order to obtain a better idea of opportunities
1 Two of the three next largest colleges in Virginia - Richmond and Roanokeadmit women , but the advance in women's educ&tion in that state has been Tery
recent . Until the ~stablishment of the State normal school in 1883 there was not
a scientific laborat ory in the state accessible to women ; in 1893 the Randolph.
Macon Woman's college opened with several laboratories, see Prof. Celestia
Parrish, Proceedings 2d Capon Springs conference for education in the south,
1899, p. 68. I am much indebted to the author of this paper for 'Yaluable data
in regard to coeducation in the south;
1 The Mauachusetts institute of technology is classified by the U . S. ed. reps .
among technical schools.
•The commissioner of education does not feel himself at liberty to discriminate
among the colleges chartered by the different states, but it is well known that in
most states the name of college, or preferably that of university. and the power
to confer degrees are granted to any institution whatsoe•er without regiird to
endowment, 1cicntifi.c equipment, 1cholarly quali&cation1 of the faculty or ade ...

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for true collegiate work open to women at the present time
in the United States I have selected from these four hundred and eighty colleges and from the numerous colleges for
women classified elsewhere, a list of fifty-eight colleges
properly so-called, employing for the purpose the four
means of classification most likely to commend themselves to the impartial student of such things.' Of these
quate preparation of the students. The majority of th e so-caJJe<l co lleges and
universities of the south and west Are rea1ly secondary schools. In most of them
not only are the greater put of the students really pupils in the preparatory or
high school department, but most of the students in the collegiate departments
are at graduation barely able to enter upon the sophomore or seco nd year work of
the best eastern college1. Throughout this monograph I have used the word college in speaking of institutions for undergraduate education, except when quoting
their official titles, and thi s whether the colleg~ in question is, or is not, included
in a larger inatitution providing al10 three years or graduate instruction . The
term• college and university are used in America without any definite understand ..
ing, even amone college• and universitie1 themselves, a1 to bow they shall be
d i fferentiated . Probably the most commonly accepted usage is to call an institu ..
ti on a· university if it has attached to it various departments, or schools, without
regard to the standing or these departments, the preparation of the students entering them, or the work d o ne in them. In this sense all the state universities of tho
west are called universities because, although many of them il re really high
schools, they have att ac hed to them schools of pharmacy, veterinary science,
agriculture, and sometimes medicine or Jaw. It is in this sen se that many insti ..
tutions for negroes are called universities, because they include vari ous departments of industrial art as well as a high school department , Unlit very re cently
the requirement s f or admissi o n to the departments of law, medicine, dentistry,
etc. , have been so low that it h as been a positive disadvantage to have such schools
attached to the college department, and when lately the graduates of Harvard college decided not to allow the graduates of its affiliated schools to vo te with them
for representatives on the board o r trustees, they claimed with ju stice that the
illiberal educatio n of the majority of these graduates would tend t o lowe r the
standard of Harvard college. The use of the word university should be strictly
limited to institutions offering at least three years of graduate instruc tion in one
or more sch o ols.
1 In this list of fifty-eight co lleges I have included : first, the twenty-four colleges (indi cated in the list by "a") whose graduat e s are admitted t o the Assoc ia ..
tion o f collegiate alumnre; second, the twenty-three colleges {:z4 arc included in
the Federation, but Ba rnard has ceased to b e a graduate school, see page 28)
included in th e Federation o f gradua.te clubs (indicated by 11 b "); third, the fiftytwo colleges (indicated by 11 c ")included in the 189<)-IC}OO editi o n of Minerva, the
weU .. known handbook of colleges and universities of the world published each
year by Truebner & Co.; and fourth, the co lleges which , acco rding to the U. S.
edu catio n report for 1897-<)8, have at least $500,000 worth of productive funds
(indicated by 11 d "), and also three hundred or more students (indicated by •• e ").
In the case of state universities the money they receive annually from nlltional and
state appropriations may rea.so~ably be regarded as a sort of supplementary
endowment; I have, therefore , included the state universities of Maine, Iowa and

I

i1

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,.~
I

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- --'-

12

fifty-eight colleges four are indepe.n dent colleges' for women
and three women's colleges affiliated to ·colleges for men;
of the · remaining 51, · 30, or 58.8 per: cent, ·· are ;coeducational, and a nearer examination makes ' a · much more
favorable showing for coeducation. Of the 2 I colleges
closed to women in their undergraduate departments five "
have affiliated to them a women's college through · which
women obtain some share in the undergraduate instryc-·
ti on given, the affiliated colleges in three cases · being" of

"
EDUCATION OF WOMEN

GROWTH OF COEDUCATION
Cotduootool\&\

I

.30 · 7 "·

1670

ror m•I\ only 6?·3''.

I

I

I

for men onl

65 5 y.

1890

I

I have prepared the dl11rom for 1870 from the U. S. ed. np. for'Jl70t PP•
5o6-516, and the diagram for Ilk)~ from the U. S, ·ed. rtp., pp. 1'41-1167, and
from the t•.b le, opposite pa1e 9 of this monopph. Tbe ~ for 1'8o and
1~90 are c?pted from the report for 188<J-<jo, p. 764. For ualataace
pnparatton of thn and other dia1rams, and In workl•I oat the percea&ec- ...... Mn
and elsewhere, In tblt monocroph I ·~ maeh ladabted to Dr haMl ~ , •

enough importance to appear in the same list. Of these
five, four (all but Harvard) admit women without restriction to their graduate instruction, and in addition Yale,
the University of Pennsylvania and New York university
make no distinction between men and women in graduate
instruction. The Johns Hopkins university maintains a
coeducational medical school. -In this list then of fiftyeight, which includes all the most important colleges in the
United States, there are, apart from the two Catholic colleges, only ten (Dartmouth, Amherst, Williams, Clark,
Princeton, Lehigh, Lafayette, Hamilton, Colgate, Virginia,
all situated on the Atlantic seaboard) to which women are
not admitted in some departments. Princeton is the only
one of the large university foundations that excludes women
from any share whatsoever in its advantages. The diagram
on the opposite page shows the steady progress of coedu1
cation from from 1870 to 1898.
All the arguments against the coeducation of the sexes
in colleges have been met and answered by experience. It
was feared at first that coeducation would lower the standard
of scholarship on account of the supposed inferior quality of
women's minds. The unanimous experience in coeducational
colleges goes to show that the average standing of women is
slightly higher than the average standing of men.• Many
'In only two instances, so fa.r as I know , has coeducation once introduced been
abandon ed or restri c ted in an y way. The private co ll ege 0£ Adelbert of Western
re se rve , coeducational from 1873, ope n ed a separate w o man's college ancl excluded
women ln 1888. A1 the college ttepartment wu very small and the state of Ohio
in which the college was situated the most eastern in feeling of all western states,
the cha nge was seemingly to be a ttributed to a bid for students through under.
graduate novelty. T h e Baptist col1ege of Colby, in Maine, coeducational from
1871 , h as taught wome n in separate classes in r equired work since 1890. Women
are n o t allowed to compete with men for college pri1:e1 or for membership in the
students ' society, which ele cts its members on account of scholarship . Comvlcte
separa ti o n, which was at first planned, has proved impracticable and fr o m the
b eg inning of the sophomore year women and men recite together in all elective

la"•

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13

'

If C&tholic colleges ore excluded. as In the mop oppoaite' ,_.. m. .....lladonal
colleges formed, in 1898, 8o per cent, and colle111 for mea oal190.-J-.lel iJie

whole number- a still more fa•orable re1alt for coedacatioa.

1

work.
'In an investigation made several years ago in the Universit y of Wisconsin,
which has been open to women since 1874, it was found that the women ranke<l in
schol arship very considerably beyond the men. In the University of Michigan,
where women have been educated with m e n since 1870, President Ange11 ha.s
repeatedly laid 1tre11 on their excellent scholarship. When in 1893-94 a committee

14

EDUCATION OF WOME.i:1

333]

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

15

reasons for the greater success of women are . gjven, such as ,
There is every reason to suppose that this increase of
absence of the distraction of ·athletic spoftS. great~r . dili· "-~
women will continue. · Already girls form 56.5 per cen~ of
gence, higher moral standards, but the fact, how.ever it may
the pupils in all secondary schools and 13 per cent of the girls
be explained, remains and is as gratifying 'as; astonishing to ~
enrolled and only 10 per cent of the boys enrolled graduate
those intersted in women's education. The question of health';
from the public high schools. It is sometimes said that
has also been finally disposed of; thousands of "\\'.omen, have ;
men students, as a rule, dislike the presence of women, ~nd
been working side by side with men in coeducational_il}~titu~
in especial that they are unwilling to compete for prizes
tions for the past twenty-five years and undergoing exa<;tlr.·
against women for the very reason that the average .standthe same tests without a larger percentage of withdra\\'.~~ "o~
ing of women is higher than their own. If there is any
account of illness than men. The question of ·conduct has
force in this statement, however, it would seem that men
also been disposed of. None of the difficulties have 'arisen' ~
should increase Jess rapidly in coeducational colleges tha.n
that were feared from the association of men and woro"en' o(
in separate colleges for men. The reverse, however, is
marriageable age. Looking at coeducation as a whole .it
the case. During the eight years from 1890 to 1898 men
most surprising that it has worked so well.' Perhaps the
, have increased in coeducational colleges 70.0 per c~n~, but
only objection that may be made from men's point o(
in separate colleges for men only 34.7 per cent.' This is all
view to coeducation in America is that it has succeeded.
the more remarkable, because in the separate colleges for
only too well and that the proportion of women students i
men are included the large undergraduate departments of
increasing too steadily. Not only is the number of coed ·
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia and the University of
cational colleges increasing but the number of women ·rel
Pennsylvania. It is women who · hav~ shown a prefer~nce
tively to the number of men is increasing also. ln-:189<?.
for separate education ; women have increased more rapidly
there were studying in coeducational colleges 16,959Kmen .,
in separate colleges for women ·t han in coeducational colleges.
and 7,929 W<1men; or women, in other words, formed ,Ji.9
It will be observed however, that the separate colleges for
per cent of the whole bqdy of students. In 1898 there:w~ .
women like the se~arate colleges for men included in my
28,823 men and 16,284 women studying in coeducatio~­
list of fifty-eight, are in the east; it is in the east only. that
colleges, women forming 36. 1 per cent of the whole b~y ·
preference for separate education is shown by either
of students. Between 1890 and 1898 men jn cc;>educa-;,
tional colleges have increased 70.0 per cent, • bµt-.. :'.woi:µ
fleeted by the erroneous assumption that the undergraduate departments of
1
in coeducational colleges have increased 105.4 per'
~rown, Yale, Rochester, New York Univ., Pennsylvania, Tulane and Weste~n
. , cent.

i.,

l

is.- ,;:

Reserve are coeducational. In the University of Chicago women formed, in
per cent of all regular, and 70 per cent of all unclassified, students;
9
189 54 5
in B'ost~n university in the regular college course there were, in 1899, 299 women
as against 192 men.
·
f
1 . in
1 In t88g-<)O there were 19,245 men studying in 146 colleges
or men ~n Y,
1898-<)9 there were 25,915 men studying in 143 colleges for men onl~, ahn 1~.cr~:·:
of on1y
_ per cent. (In enumerating students I have regardc t c 1m1 e
34 7
coeducational college of Colby ai coeducational.) Women, however, have
increased in women's colleges 138.4 per cent.
.
1
1 The objeCtion of men students in the cast to coeducation se~ms to be main.~
in the apprehension that the presence of women may interfere w1tbf the free .so:~
life which has become so prominent a feature of private colleges or men ID
e
east. These colleges are, for t~e most part, situated either in small country towns, ·

.,

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16

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

[334

Independent colleges for women - Since independent colleges for women of the same gr;ide as those for men are
peculiar to the United States, I shall treat them somC.: · .
~hat more fully.' The independent colleges here taken
mto account are the eleven colleges included in division
A• of the U. S. education reports.• The independent
or in th~ suburbs o ( ~city, in communities which have grown up about the college,
and then s_tudents ~tve Jargely in college dormitories; the conditions, therefore,
are exc eed 1~~ly u.nhke those prevailing in non.residential colleges and also unliki:
those preva1hng m th e world at large. These exceptional conditions are a aourco
of p l e.as~re and, in. many resp ec ts, of advantage to the student. Undoubtedly
there 1s rn cocd ucat 1onal colleges less unrestraint ; young men undoubtedly care
much .for the impression t.hat they make on young women of the same age, and .
there JS more decorum and perhaps mo re diligence in classrooms where women
are present. The objection to coedu ca tion on the part of women students is, to
some extent, the same; separate colleges for women in like manner arc as a rule
academic communities living according to regulati o ns and customs all ;heir own: )
women also feel themselves more unr es trained when they are studying in women'~ '
colleges, Then, too, coeducation in the east is still regarded as in some
measure an experiment, to the success of which the co nduct of each lndlYidual woman may, or may not, co ntribute, and the knowledge of this tend1 to
increase the self-conscious ness of student life.
1
In the case of the colleges in groups I and II these statistics haye been
obtained thro ugh the kindness of the presidents of the colleges concerned;
they are for the yea r 1900, except the numbers of in s tructou an<l 1tudents which
~re obtained fr~m the catalogues tor the year 1898"'""'9<) ; in enumerating the
·In structors, presidents, teachers of gymnastics, elocution, music and art baYe
been omitted. Instructors away on leave of absence arc not counted amonc
instructors for the current year.
1
Women's coll eges were first classified in division A and division B in 1887.
In th ese reports there appeared sporadically in d iv ision A Ingham unh·enit7.
at Leroy. New York, and Rutgers female co llege in New York city.
Nelther of these had a ny adequate end ow ment and neither ever obtained mor•
than 35 students . Ingham university closed in 1893, Rutgers female colleae la
1895.
.

~he women's colleges, so called, included in division B of these report1, are In
reality church and private enterpri se schools, as a rule of the moat 1aper6clal ·
character, without endowment, or fixed curriculum, or any standard whataoeYer ol
schola.rship in teachers or pupih. What money there is to spen d i1 for the moet ,..
part used to provi de teachers of music, drawing and other accompli1hment1, aocl
th e sc hool instruction proper is shamefully inadequate. Few .if any of th1H
schoo ls are ab le to teach th e subjects required for entrance to a colle1e properlJ
so called; the really good girls' schools are, as a rule, excluded from thl1 U1t 1-7
their hone!.ty in not assuming the name of college. The U. S. ~acaUoa n~
for 1886-87 gives 152 of these colleges in division B, the report lo: 1'97-91. 13~
When it is sa id that separate colleges for women are decrea1lac, tlae 1tateaeaf ii
1

hued on this li st or colleges in division B, which are not really eoll.... at all1
·and when it is said that women students a.re not increulnr 10 rapidly liti..,.,.
colleges for women as in coeducational college1, it ~· the 1tadeat1 la tb-

335]

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

17

colleges .for women fall readily into three groups : I. The
so-called "four great colleges foi: women," Vassar, Smith,
Wellesley, Bryn Mawr. It will be seen by referring to the
classification on page 1 2 that these four colleges are
included among the fifty-eight leading colleges of the
United States; they are all included in the twenty-two colleges admitted to the Association of collegiate alumn~ ;
two of them, Bryn Mawr and Wellesley, are included in the
twenty-three colleges belonging to the Federation of graduate clubs; they are all included in the list of fifty-two leading colleges of the United States given in the handbook of
Minerva; they are all, except Bryn Mawr, included in the
list given by the U. S. education report for 1897-98 1 of
forty-six colleges in the United States having three hundred
students and upward; three of them, Bryn Mawr, Smith and
Vassar, are included among the fifty-two colleges of the
United States possessing invested funds of $500,000 and
upward, and two of them, Vassar and Bryn Mawr, are
included among the twenty-nine colleges of the United
States possessing funds of $1,000,000 and upward; three
of them, Smith, Wellesley and Vassar, rank among the
twenty-three largest undergraduate colleges in the United
States; one of them, Smith, ranks as the tenth undergraduate college in the United States.
called colleges who are referred to ; for precisely the reverse is true of students
in gen uine colleges f o r wo men. It is happily true that since bette r college education has been obtainable, women have been refusing to attend t he institutions
included in ci nss B. Between 1890 and 1898 women hav e increased only 4.9 per
cent in the co llege departments of such institutions, whereas, in these same eight
years, they have increased 138.4 pe r cent in women's colleges in division A. The
T&lue of statistics of women colJege students is often vitiated by the fact tha.t
women studying in institutions included in division Bare counted among college
students. Many of the colleges for men only and of the coeducati onal colleges
include d in the lists of the commissioner of education are very low in gnde, but
few of them are so scandalously inefficient as the majority of the gir ls' schools
included in .division B. I have, therefore, in my statistics taken no account
whatever of women studying in institutio ns classified in division D.
1 See pp. 1821, 1822, 1888, 1889. Bryn Mawr had not 300 undergraduate students
In 1897-qB, but the next year, 1898-99 1 passed the limit. I have excluded Western
reserve as it is not coeducational in its underg raduate department, and, in 1899,
had only 182 men in its men's college and 183 womCn in its women's col~ege.

J8

EDUCATION ·OF WOMEN

337]

York 1-Founder,

Vassar college, Poughkeepsie, New
Matthew
Vassar; intention, "to found and equip an institution which
should accomplish for young women what our colleges are accom.
plishing for young men;" opened, 1865; preparatory department
dropped, 1888; presidents, three (men); 45 instructors (16 Ph. D.s.)
- 35 women, 2 without first degree; 10 men; 584 undergrad. s., 1 I
grad. s., 24 specials.; productive funds, $1,050,000; a main building
with lecture rooms, library and accommodation for 345 students, and
two other residence halls accommodating 189 students; a science
building; a lecture building; a museum with art, music and labora.
tory rooms ; an observatory ; a gymnasium ; a plant house; a presi.
dent's house ; five professors' houses; total cost of buildings1
$1,044,365; vols. in library, 30,000; laboratory equipment, $33,382;
acres, 200; music and art depts., but technical work in neithe(
counted toward bachelor's degree ;· tuition fee, $100; lowest charge,
tuition, board and residence, including washing, $400.
Wellesley college, Wellesley, Massachusetts - Founder,
Henry F. Durant; intention. "to found a college for the glory.
of God by the education and culture of women," opened 1875 ~
preparatory department dropped, 188o; requirement from atu.;
dents of one hour daily domestic or .clerical work dropped, 1896 i ·
presidents, five (all women); 69 instructors (13 -Ph •• D.s;)-6+
women, 16, apart from laboratory assistants without fint degree';
S men; 6u undergrad. s., 25' grad, - 1., :21 special- a.; productive

.·t.

1 To an7 one famlllar 'f'lth the clrcam1tucH It doe1 not admit of dlacudon that
in Va11ar we baTe the lea:ltlmate parent' or all fata.re~ colle1el,.,.for'"Woa1D1 :.,bich. ~
were to be founded in 1och rapid 1occe11lon lo the next period. It II u,ae that In
1855 the Pre1b7terian 17iiod opened Elmira collece In Elmira, New York; bat It
had practicall7 no endowment and 1c1rcely any collece 1tod•a1L Btn before
i855 two famou1 female 1eminarie1 were founded which did m.c,h to create e
1tandard for the education of 1irl1. In 1821 Mn. Emme Wlllud ope!'ed at Tror
a 1eminary for girl1, known ao the Tro7 lemale Hmlnary,"11111 ealltlat uder tbe'
name of the Emma Willard school. In 1837 Mar7 Lyon opened la tlao1Meotlfol
valley of the Connecticut Mt. Holyoke 1emlnar7, where clrla were edacated ID
cheaply that it was almost a free school. Tbio ln1titotion haa bad -a creat
in.fluence in the higher education of women; it became la llgJ llL Hol:roke
collcK:e. These seminaries are often claimed' aa the 6nt woainil coU•S-• 'bat
their curriculum of study proves conclu1inlr' that they had no tbo1a1la.J -,,la_atmr·
of giving women a collegiate education, wbere11, the delibera'tlou ol,
bov4
of trustees whom Mr. Vassar associated with hlm1elf '1bow . cieerl1 Ulet· It•"
was expressly realized that here for ' the "' 6rat time wu beln1 created a
woman's college as distinct from the seminary ot academy. Jn 11161 tlae aoffo
ment for the higher education of women ~ad 1carcely' beion. , It r• u llOf ll.Attl.
eight
later that the first of tho 'wo:n·~:· crll~~..• ~t. ~bil~ JaalU!I.
opene •
.
~. •

tJa•

:••n.

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

funds, $7,000; 1 a main building with library lecture rooms and
accommodation for 250 students; a chemical laboratory; an observatory; a chapel; an art building; a music building; 8 halls of
residence, accommodating 348 students (new hall being built) ;
total cost of buildings, $1,1o6,500; vols. in library, 49,970;
laboratory equipment, $50,000; acres, 410; music and art depts.,
but technical work in neither counted toward bachelor's degree;
tuition fee, $175: lowest charge, tuition, board and residence (beds
made, rooms dusted by students), $400.
'
Smith college, Northampton, Massachusetts - Founder,
Sophia Smith; intention, to provide "means and facilities for
education equal to those which are afforded in our colleges for
young men;" opened, 1875; no preparatory department ever
connected with the college; president, one (man); 49 instructors (13
Ph. D.s.)-27 women, 9 without first degree; 12 men; 1,070 undergrad. s., 4 grad. s. ; since 1891 no special s. admitted; productive
funds, $9cJo,ooo; two lecture buildings; a lecture .and gymnastic
building; a science building; a chemical laboratory; an observatory ; a gymnasium; a plant house ; a music building; an art
building; 13 halls of residence accommodating 520 students: a
president's house; total cost of buildings $786,ooo; vols. in library,
8,ooo (70,000 vols. in library in Northampton also used by the students); laboratory equipment, $22,500; acres, 40; music and art
depts., technical work in both, amounting to between one-sixth
and one-seventh of the hours required for a degree, may be counted
toward bachelor's degree; tuition fee, $100; lowest charge, tuition,
board and residence (beds made, rooms dusted by students), $400.
Bryn Mawr college, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania - Founder,
Joseph W. Taylor; intention, to provide "an institution of learning for the advanced education of women which should afford them
all the advantages of a college education which arc so freely offered
to young men;" opened, 1885; no preparatory department ever
connected with the college; presidents, two (one man, one woman);
38 instructors (29 Ph. D.s. I D. Sc.)- 15 women, 23 men: 269
undergrad. s., 61 grad. s., 9 hearers; productive funds, $1,000,~;
' a lecture and library building; a science buildi"ng; a gymnasmm ;
an infirmary; five halls of residence and two cottages, accommodating 323 students; a president's house; 6 professors' houses ; total
1 The founder of Wellesley expected to leave the college a large endownient. but
: . his fortune was dissipated in unfortunate investments. The splendid grounds
and many halls of residence of the college constitute a form of endowment, otherwise it• lack of productive funds would have excluded it from cla11 I.

,.

20

EDUCATION OF

W~MEN

cost, $718,810; vols. in library, 32,000; laboratory equipment,
$47,998; acres, 50; no music department; no technical instruction
in art; tuition fee, $125; lowest charge, tuition, board and residence, $400.
II. The women's colleges not included in the list of the
fifty-eight most important colleges in the United States
given on page 12, but of exceedingly good academic standing as compared with the greater number of the separate
colleges for men and th e coeducational colleges included in
the four hundred and eighty enumerated by the commissioner of education.
Mt. Holyoke college, South Hadley, Massachusetts-Founder,
Mary Lyon; seminary opened, 1837; chartered as seminary and
college, 1888; seminary department dropped and true college organized, 1893; presidents, two (both women); 37 instructors (7 Ph.
D.s.)-all women; 5, apart from laboratory assistants, without first
degree; 426 undergrad. s., 3 grad. s., 9 special s., 3 music s.; productive funds, $300,000; a lecture building; a science building;
a museum and art gallery; a library ; a gymnasium ; a rink; an
observatory; an infirmary ; a plant house; 9 residence halls
accommodating 478 students; total cost of buildings, $625,000;
vols. in library, 17,700; laboratory equipment, $33,000; acres, 16o;
music and art depts., technical work in both, amount limited by
faculty, may be counted towards bachelor's degree; tuition fee,
$100; lowest charge, tuition, board and residence (beds made,
rooms dusted, by students, amt in addition one-half hour o(
domestic work required), $250.
'
Woman's college of Baltimore, city of Baltimore, Maryland- .
Founded and controlled by Methodist Episcopal church; opened,
1888; preparatory department dropped,. 1893; presidents, two
(men); 21 instructors (10 Ph. D.s.)- 11 women, I without first degree;
IO men, 1 without first degree; 259 undergrad. s.; o grad. s.; IS
special s.; productive funds, $334,994; a lecture building"and three
houses adapted for lecture purposes; a gymnasium; a biological ··
laboratory ; 3 residence halls holding 230 ; total cost of buildingii, ·
$505,703; vols. in library, 7,800; laboratory equipment, k7.oo9;
acres (in city), 7; music and art depts., but technical ,work in.
neither counted towards bachelor's degree; tuition fee, •125: lo,west charge, tuition, board and residence (beds ma~e, room duated
by students), $375.

21

EDU.CATION OF WOMEN

339]

Wells college, Aurora, New York- Founders, Henry Wells
and Edwin B. Morgan; seminary opened, ·1868; chartered as college, 1870; preparatory dept. dropped, 1896; presidents, two
(men); 13 instructors (4 Ph. D.s.)- 10 women, 3 without first
degree; 3 men; 59 undergrad. s.; o grad. s. ; 27 special s.; 4
music s.; productive funds, $200,000; a main building with lecture room s and accommodations for 100 students; a science and
music building; a president's house; total cost of buildings,
$195,000; vols. in library, 7,300; laboratory equipment, $20,200;
acres, 200 ; 111usic and art depts., technical work in neither counted
towards bachelor's degree; tuition fee, $100; lowest charge, tuition, board and residence (beds made by students), $400.
III. Elmira college, the Randolph-Macon Woman's college, Rockford college and Mills college are here relegated
to a third group because of certain common characteristics.
Their endowment is wholly inadequate, averaging consid- •
erably less than $50,000 apiece, reaching $100,000 only in
the case of the Randolph-Macon Woman's college. In each
of them a disproportionate number of students is studying
in the music or art department; special students form too
large a proportion of the whole number of students; the
number of professors is too small to permit college classes to
be conducted by specialists; the college classes are too
small ; true college training cannot be obtained in very small
classes, and moreover, in view of the Increasing number of
women now going to college, when a college for women
does not grow steadily it is reasonable to assume that there
must be some good reason for its lack of growth.
Elmira college, situated at Elmira, New York, has, apart from
the president, 10 academic instructors (7 women, 2 without first
degree; 3 men); 5 teachers of music, 2 of art. There are studying
in the college 70 regular college students, 17 specials and 61 special
students in music.
The Randolph-Macon Woman's college, situated at Lynchburg, Virginia, has, apart from the president, 12 academic instructors (2 Ph. D.s.)- 7 women, 2 without first degree; 5 men; 9
instructors in music. Of the 226 students,' 55 are regular college
students ; 44 registered for degree but spending one-fihh of time in
I The

numbers of students are for the year

.

189<)-IQOO •

22

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

(340

music or preparatory work; 16 special students; 6 students of art;
49 preparatory students; 46 students of music.
Rockford college, Rockford, Illinois - Opened as seminary,
1849; chartered as college, 1892; 13 academic instructors (2 Ph.
D.s.)-all women, 3 without first degree; 4 teachers of music, 1 oi
art; 35 college s.; 7 specials.; 70 s. in music only.
Mills college, California-Opened as seminary, 1871 ; char.
tered as college, 1885; II instructors (9 women, 3 without first
degree; 2 men); 8 teachers of music; 22 colleges.; 135 pupils in
preparatory department.
•
.

In addition to the existing colleges belonging to these
groups, a separate college for women, Trinity, meant to be
of true college grade, will soon be opened in Washington
under the control of the Roman Catholic church.
It is often assumed by the adversaries of coeducation that
,. independent colleges for women may be trusted to intro- .
duce a course of study modified especially for women .
but the experience, both of coeducational colleges tha;
have devised women's courses and of women's colleges
demonstrates conclusively that women themselves refuse t~
regard as satisfactory any modification whatsoever of the
usual academic course. At the opening of Vassar college
itself it is clear that the trustees and faculty made an honest'
attempt to discover and introduce certain modifications in·
the system of intelleclual training then in operation in the
best colleges for men. They planned from the start to
give much more time to accomplishments - music, draw:
ing and painting- than was given in men's colleges, and ,. ~
the example of Vassar in this respect was followed ten years '
later by Wellesley and Smith. These accomplishments have
gr~dually fallen out of the course of women's colleges ';.
neither Vassar nor Wellesley allows time spent in them to"
be counted toward the bachelor's degree. Smith alone of
the colleges of group I still permits nearly one-sixth" of the
wh?le college course to be devoted to them. Bryn\!'·. Mawr,·, "' ,
which opened ten years later than Smith or Wellesley:
~rom the beginning found it possible to exclqde~~he • ~
its course.
· , .. .,.~ r-::. '

23

In like manner Vassar, Smith and Wellesley in the beginning found it necessary to admit special students - students,
that is to say, interested in special subjects, but without
sufficient general training to be able to matriculate as college students ; but their admission has been recognized as
disadvantageous, and has gradually been restricted. In
1870 special students, as distinguished from preparatory
students, formed 19.6 per cent of the whole number of the .
students of Vassar; in 1899 they formed only 3.9 per cent,
and only 3.3 per cent of the whole number of Wellesley
students. Smith since 1891 has declined to admit them
at all, and Bryn Mawr never admitted them.'
Again, Wellesley and Vassar in the beginning organized
preparatory departments with pupils living in the same halls
as the college students and taught in great part by the same
teachers. The presence of these pupils tended to turp the
colleges into boarding schools, and the steady and rapid
development of Vassar as a true college began only after the
closing of its preparatory department in 1888 ; until this
time the number of students in the college proper had been
almost stationary; Wellesley closed its preparatory department in 1880; Smith never organized one ; Bryn Mawr
never organized one; Mt. Holyoke, the Woman's college
of Baltimore, and Wells college have all closed their preparatory departments within the last seven years.'
1 To the women's colleges of group Ill they are admitted still in large numbers,
and they still form 35.1 per cent of all the undergraduate students in the affiliated
college of Radcliffe, and 35 . 7 per cent of all the undergraduate students in the
affiliated college of Barnard; in part, perhaps, because these colleges are largely
dependent upon their tuition fees, and in part too, no doub_t, because. the
presence of special students is less disadvantageous where there 1s no dormitory

life.

t Colleges for women draw their students from private schoo~s to a.much greater
extent than do coeducational colleges; and it was the very great rneffic1ency of these
schools that induced the earlier colleges for wo men to organi:te preparatory
departments of their own . The entrance examinations of the women's colleges
are the only influence for good that has ever been brought to bear ~pon .the
feeble teaching of these schools. In 1874, before the numbers of women wishing to prepare for college were great enough to influence the private scho~ls,
' a plan for raising their standard wns devised by the Woman's education
association of Boston, at whose request Harvard university for 7 years COD•

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN

[342

It seems to have been at first supposed that the same
sta~dards of scholarship need not be applied in the choice
of mstructors to teach women as in that of instructors to
teach men, that wo•nen were fittest to teach women, and that
~he personal character and influence of the woman instructor
m some m~steri?~s way supplied the deficiency on her part
of academic tram mg. For a long time not even an ordinary
undergraduate education was required of her and there are
still teaching in women's colleges too many ~omen without
even a first degree. But it has been found on the whole
that systematic mental training is best imparted by those
who have themselves received it; the numbers of well.
train ed ~omen are increasing; and the prejudice against
the appomtment of men where men are better qualified has
almost disappeared.'
ducted a series of examinations modeled on the Oxford and Cambridge higher
lo~o.1 examinations whi ch have been such an efficient agency in England. Com~
m1~tccs of .wo?1cn were organized in different cities, and an attempt was made
to induce gJrls schools to send up candidates for these examination•. In 7 years.
however, only Jo6 candidates offered them1eh·e1 for the preliminary ei;aminatlon

and only 36 received a complete certificate.

In 1881 the entrance

examination~

of Harvard college were substituted for these special women'• e:a:amlnatlona In

the hope that the Interest In reaching the standard 11t by Hanard for Its entering
clau of men might add to tho number of candidates; but non alter thil change
was made co~para.tl .. ly few candidates took the eumlnatioD1, ·and In 1896 tho
effort was dtsconllnued ; the Harvard examlnatlori.1 ha•e been ... uaed from that
time on war~ a~mply aa the ordinary entrance examio1tion1 of RadclUl'e 1 college.
In Great Britun the Cambridge higher local examinations are taken annaally b7
about <JOO women . There was needed some such pre11are u 11 brtntiht to bear
by pupils determined to go to college to Induce prl.. to 1chool1 to add colleeo
graduates to their staff of teachers. The requlremen.t1 for adinl11loD to Bryn Mawr college have to my personal knowledge been a moat l~portant factor ta .,.
i~troducing collcgc~bred women as teachers into all the more Important priTate
guJs' schools of Philadelphia and in many priYate schools elaewher1 • and e?ery
college for women drawing s tudents from priYate 1chool1 bu the a~me experl.
encc. On the other hand, every relaxation in the requirement• for admi11ion ·
such as. the practice of admitting on certificate adopted by Va11ar, Wellesle;
and Smith. tends to deprive girls' schools of a much needed stima.101. Radclifl'o
and Barnard, like Bryn Mawr, insist upon examination for admi11ioll and decline '
to accept certificates.
'
i'
• 1 Until Bryn Mawr opened in 1885 with a large staff of yoa.n1 unmanied men,
it had been regarded as almost out of the question to appoint unmarried men ha.r
~ women's college; now they are teaching in alt colleces for women. The 1ame
m st ructon pass from colleges for men to colleges for women and from colle1u
for women to colleees for men, employing in each the same methocla of lnatnao-

343]

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

25

It has been recognized that the work done in women's
colleges is most satisfactory to women when it is the same
in quality and quantity as the work done in colleges for men,
and it has been recognized also that they need the same
time for its performance. Domestic work, therefore, which
by the found er of Wellesley was regarded as a necessary
part of women's education, is at present, I believe, required
nowhere except on the perfectly plain ground of economy.
The hour of domestic service originally required of every
student in Wellesley was abandoned in I896; a half-hour is
still required at Mt. Holyoke, but tuition, board and residence are less expensive there. The time given to domestic
work is obviously so much time taken from academic work.
In the matter of discipline the tendency has been toward
ever-diminishing supervision by the college authorities.
Vassar and Wellesley. began with the strict regulations of a
boarding school ; it was regarded as impossible that young
women living away from home should be in any measure
trusted with the control of their own actions. Smith from
the first allowed more liberty, in part because many of her
students lived in boarding houses outside the college. In
all three colleges the restrictions laid upon the students
have been gradually lessened, and at Vassar there is at
present a well-developed system of what is known as "limited self-government," according to which many matters of
discipline are intrusted to the whole body of students.
Bryn Mawr was organized with a system of self-government
by the students perhaps more far-reaching than was then in
operation in any of the colleges for men ; the necessary
rules are made by the Students' association, which includes
all undergraduate and graduate students, and enforced by
an executive committee of students who in the case of a
serious offense may recommend the suspension or expulsion
tion. Some years since one of the professors at Smith college received at the
same time offers of a post at the Johns Hopkins, at Columbia, and at Bryn Mawr;
and a.mong the professors the most successful in their teaching at Princeton , Chicago and Columbia are men whose whole experience had been &•ined in teachina:
women at Bryn Mawr.

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN

[344

of the offender, and whose recommendation, when sustained
by the whole association, is always accepted by the college.
The perfect success of the system has shown that there is no
risk in relying to the fullest extent on the discretion of a
body of women students.
Affili~ted colleges' -There are five' affiliated colleges in
the United States - Radcliffe college, Barnard college, the
Women's college of Brown university, the College for Women
of W e~tern reserve university, and the H. Sophie Newcomb
me~onal college for women of Tulane university.' The
affiliat~d college in America is modeled on the English
womens colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, with such modificati~ns . as are ma?e necessary by the wholly different
const1tut1on of English and American universities. These
modificat.ions, however, it must in fairness be explained, are
so essential as to make of it a wholly different institution.•
1

The following data. have been furnished me by the courtesy of the presidents
or dea~s of the colleges ~oncerned, except the data of the H. Sophie Newcomb
memorial college, for which I am indebted to Professor Evelyn Ordway. These
data are for the year 1900; the numbers of instructors and students have been
obtained from the catalogues for 1898"""99·
1
In one instance only- that of Evelyn college in New Jersey-has an affiliated
college, once established, been compelled to close its doors. Evelyn, however,
part~ok of. t~e nature of a private enterprise school, and was begun on an unaca·
dem1c basis rn 1887 . A certain number of Princeton professors consented to
serve on t~e ~oar~ o.f trustees and give instruction there, but it was, in reality, a
young ladies finuhrng school with a few students (in 1891, ~~i in 18 9 4 1 18; ln
U97, 14) punulng colle1latt coune1. Mu1lc and accompll1hment1 were made
much of, and in 1897 the col!ege came to a well-merited end.
1
Radcliffe and. Barnard ar~ the. o.n~y two of the affiliated colJeges that appear in
the U. S. education reports 1n d1vu1on A of women's colleges. The students of
t~e other thr~e. are reported under Brown, Western reserve and Tulane respectively, thus gntng these colleges a false air of being coeducational in their undergraduate departments . The ~ndowment and equipment of these three affiliated
colleges, although entirely independent of the colleges to which they are affili•
1
ated, are given nowhere separately.
·
1
4
It is difficult for those interested in women's education in England to understand the existence in America of independent colleges for wo:nen, and if American educatio.n were organized like English education they would, indeed, haYe no
reason to extst. In an English university, consisting, as it does, of many separate
college's whose students liYe in their separate halls of residence, are tauiht
by thetr own teachers, hear in common with the students of other collece•
the lectures offered by the central university organization, and compete 11alnat ~
each other in honor examinations conducted by • common board
uni••r-;

or

1ity examiners, the colleges for women - at Cambridge, Glrtoa, and New""

1

345]

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

Radcliffe college, Cambridge, Massachusetts '-Affiliated to
Harvard university, union dissoluble after due notice; opened by
the Society for the collegiate instruction of women in 1879; incorporated as Radcliffe college with power to confer degrees in
1894; board of trustees and financial management separate from
Harvard ; B. A. and M. A. degrees conferred by Radcliffe; Ph. D.
degree as yet conferred neither by Radcliffe nor Harvard; degrees,
instructors, and academic board of control, subject to approval of
Harvard ; no instructors not instructors at Harvard also; undergraduate instruction at Harvard repeated at Radcliffe at discretion
ham, and at Oxford, Somerville hall, Lady Margaret hall and St. Hugh's hall
- are organized in precisely the same w&y u colleges for men. They may,
or may not, be as well eq uipped as the best men's colleges, but the difference is a
matter of en dowment, not of university organization; there are differences also
between the various colleges for men. Examinations, ngain , play a far more
important part in English than in American education . There are in Great Britain only a few examining and degree-giving bodies, for whose examinations all
the various colleges prepare their students. The degrees mean that certain
e:u.minations have been passed, and have a definite and universally acknowledged
Yalue. A degree given by an American college means that the person receiving
it hu lived for some time in a community of a certain kind, enjoying certain
opportunities of which he has conscientiously availed himself. For this reason
no one of the 49r colleges of the United States enumerated in the U.S. education
report for 1897-<]8 bestows its degree in recognition of examinations passed in
any other college. For this reason Harvard college has had logic on its side in
declining to confer upon the students completing their und e rgraduate course in
Radcliffe college the Harvard B. A. They have not lived in the same community,
nor yet had all the opportunities of the Harvard student. The certificate re ce ived
by the student of Girton or Newnham represents exactly the same thing as the
Cambridge degree; the B. A. of Radcliffe does not represent the same thing as the
Harvard B. A. What i1 repre1ented by th e degrees of different co11eges in the
United S tate• may, or may not , bo equal, but never h tho ume. Novertheleu
Columbia, Brown, Tulane and Western reserve confer their degrees upon the
women graduates of their affiliated colleges for women.
1 The first American affiliated college was the so-called Harvard annex, which
wa.s brought into existence by the devoted efforts of a small number of influential
professors of Harvard college, who voluntarily formed themselves into a
"Society for the collegiate instruction of women.'' and repeated each week to
classes of women the lectures and clan work they gave to men in Harvard
college. The idea first occurred to Mr. Arthur Gilman in 1878. Girton college,
Cambridge, England, after which the annex was modeled, had then been in suc.
cessful operation for nine years. Mrs. Louis Agassiz, the widow of the famous
naturalist, agreed to become the official head of the undertaking, and she associated with herself other influential Boston and Cambridge women . Mr. Arthur
Gilman became the secretary of the 1ociety. The pre1ident of Harvard college
declared that, 10 far as the university was concerned, the professors were free
to teach w omen in their leisure hours if they chose. The annex was opened
for students in 1879 in a rented house near the Harvard campus with 25
students.

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN

347]

of instructors ; since 1893 women admitted to graduate and semigraduate courses given in Harvard, at discretion of instructor,
subject to approval of the Harvard faculty; in 1899, 64 such
courses open to Radcliffe students; 238 undergrad. s.; 54 grad. s.;
129 special s.; productive funds about $4,30,000; a lecture and
library building; a gymnasium; 4 temporary buildings used for
lectures and laboratories; a students' club house; no residence hall,
but one about to be built; total cost of buildings about $1 IO,ooo;
vols. in library, 14, 138; access to Harvard library and collections;
scientific laboratories of Harvard not available; cost of laboratory
equipment not ascertainable, inadequate ; acres (in city) about 3;
tuition fee, $200.
Barnard college, New York city-Affiliated to Columbia university, union dissoluble by either party after year's notice;
opened in 1889; status very much that of Radcliffe until January, 1900, when women graduates were admitted without restriction to the graduate school of Columbia, registering in Columbia,
not as heretofore in Barnard, and Barnard was incorporated as an
undergraduate women's college of the university, its dean voting
in the university council, and the president of Columbia becoining
its president and a member of its board of trustees; Barnard's
faculty consists of the president of the university, the dean of Barnard, and instructors, either men or women, nominated by the dean, · '1
approved by Barnard trustees and president of Columbia and
appointed by Columbia; courses for A. B. degree and all examinations determined and conducted by Barnard faculty, subject to
provisions of university council for maintaining integrity of
degree; all degrees conferred by Columbia; after July 1, 1904. no
undergraduate courses in Columbia, except' in the Teachers' col- "
lege, will be open to Barnard seniors as heretofore, complete ·
undergraduate work will be given separately at ' Barnard, not necessarily by same instructors; 131 undergrad. s. ; 76 grad: s.';•73 special .
s.; productive funds, $150.000; one large building ' containing lee- ~· ~·
ture rooms, laboratories and accommodation for 65 students, cost, £
$s25,ooo ; vols. in reading room, 1,CXJO; access to ' Columbia,
library ; scientific laboratories of Columbia not available; cost ,
of laboratory equipment $9,250; land (in city), 2oox16o feet; tui- , •
ti on fee, $I 50.
' · ' · Si " ~ · •
Women's college of Brown university, Providence,• Rhode :~. ·
'Island -Affiliated to Brown university; university degrees and i!''"" '
examin:itions opened to women, and their undergraduate instruc:-.f' ~··~
tion informally begun in 1892; women's college establishecf
b
.
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.

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

Brown university as a regular department of the university in 1897
under control of the university trustees; advisory council of five
women appointed by trustees to advise with president of university
and dean of women's college; funds of the women's college held
and administered separately by trustees; all degrees conferred by
Brown; women and men examined together; required courses
given in Brown repeated to women by same instructors ; all instruction given by Brown instructors; all graduate work in Brown
open to graduate women without restriction since 1892; women
recite with men in many of the smaller elective undergraduate courses; 140 undergrad. s. ; 38 grad. s.; 25 special s.; a lecture hall costing $38,000; no residence hall; access to Brown
library; scientific laboratories of Brown not available; very
inadequate laboratory equipment; no productive funds; tuition
fee, $I05.
College for women of Western reserve university, Cleveland,
Ohio-Affiliated to Western reserve university; established by
Western reserve in 1888; degrees conferred by Western reserve;
graduate department of Western reserve open to graduate women
without restriction ; separate financial management ; separate
faculty 21 (9 Ph. D.s.)- 14 men, 7 women; 165 undergrad. s.; 18
special s.; productive funds, about $250,000; a lecture hall, a
residence hall accommodating 40 students; total cost of buildings,
including land, about $200,000; 3 laboratories of men's college
available at certain times; access to Western reserve library;
tuition, $85; lowest charge, board, room rent and tuition (beds
made by students), $335.
H. Sophie Newcomb memorial college for women, New
Orleans, Louisiana- Affiliated with Tulane university, but situated in another part of the city; founder, Mrs. Josephine Louise
Newcomb; opened 1886: under control of board of trustees of
Tulane; graduate department of Tulane university open to graduate women without restriction since 1890; separate financial management; separate president and faculty; 8 instructors ( 1 Ph. D.)5 women, 2 without first degrees; 3 men, I without first degree;
51 undergrad. s.; 34 specials. (IO in gymnastics); 54 s. of art; So
pupils in preparatory dept.; art dept.; productive funds, $400,000;
a lecture building, a chapel, an art building, a pottery building, two
residence halls accommodating 75 students, a high school building;
total cost of buildings about $225,000; vols. in library about 6,ooo;
tuition, $100; lowest charge, board, room rent (two in one room,
beds made by students) and tuition. $28<;>.

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN

In the smaller group, which includes the College for wome n
of Western reserve university and the H. Sophie Newcomb
memorial college, the affiliated college tends to become an
entirely separate institution ; in its instructors and instruction it differs widely from the institution to which it is affiliated; it is, in fact, a different college called into existence by
the same authorities. In the larger group, which includes the
Women's college of Brown, Barnard and Radcliffe, the affiliated college tends to blend itself with the institution to which
it is affiliated in a new coeducational institution. The ideal
in view is a complete identity of instructors and instruction
and the law of economy of force forbids attaining this· ideal
by the duplication of the whole instruction given. It is less
wasteful to double the number of hearers in any lecture
room than to repeat the lecture. It is in the Wome n's college of Brown that we find the closest affiliation and
accordingly, the nearest approach to coeducation. Th~
corporation of Brown furnished the land on which Pembroke hall, the academic building of the Women's college,
was erected, and accepted the gift of the building when
it was completed ; Brown has from first to last openly
assumed responsibility for its affiliated college in fact as
well as name. In the graduate department of Brown there
is, as has been said, unrestricted coeducation ; and in many
of the smaller undergraduate elective course~ women are
a
reciting with men. In the graduate department 'of Columbia • : '
there is now unrestricted coeducation. It ]s~ in 't he case of
·
Radcliffe that there is least approach to coed~cation: What
has made possible the policy pursued at Radcliffe' has been
the self-sacrificing zeal of many eminent Harvard professors, .,:.
willing at any cost of inconvenience to give to women what · '
could seemingly on no other terms be given; ' but the sacri- · .
lice is too great, and in the modern world too un~ecessary; t ·
. it is at present almost everywhere possible for the. profe~or
interested in educating women to lighten his own' labors by
admitting them to the same classes with men. '.Only the .,,· .. .·
affiliated colleges of the second group present in their inter- ·

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN

31

nal organization a type essentially different from that of the
independent college-a type intermediate between the independent and the coeducational.
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

Graduate instruction in the faculty of philosophy- True university instruction begins after the completion of the college
course, and very little such instruction is given by any
American university' except in the so-called graduate schools
belonging to the twenty-three colleges in the United States
included in the Federation of graduate clubs.2 In the following 16 of these 23 graduate S\:hools women are admitted
without restriction and compete with men for many of the
scholarships and honors : Yale, Brown, Cornell, Columbia,
New York university, Pennsylvania, Columbian, Vanderbilt,
Missouri, Western reserve, Chicago, Michigan, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, California, Leland Stanford Junior ; · Bryn Mawr
and Wellesley admit women only; Harvard admits them
to certain courses through the mediation of Radcliffe.
There remain, apart from the Catholic university, only 3
graduate schools excluding women : Clark, Princeton and
the Johns Hopkins university; and in the Johns Hopkins
they are admitted to at least one university departmentthat of the medical school. 3 •
t The medical school of the Johns Hopkins unh·ersity is a true university school,
admitting only holden of the bachelor'• degree; the law school of Harvard uni ...
yersity Is practically a university 1chool 1 although aenion in Harvard college are
received as students.
t Out 0£ the 58 most important American colleges enumerated on page 12 only
23, it will be remembered, appear in the lists of the Federation of graduate clubs.
Unfortunatel y it must not be inferred that all these 23 colleges are doing true
professional work and offering graduate stude nt& a three years' course leading to
the degree of Ph. D . In some 0£ them there are provided only courses leading to
the degree of A . M., which , like the degree of A. B., indicating general culture.
The affiliated college of Rad cliffe appears in the list of graduate clubs, although
it can scarcely be said to exist independently as a separate graduate school, bein·g
virtually the portal by which women are admitted to a limited amount of graduate
work at Harvard. In 181}9-IC}OO only 12 graduate lecture courses and 3 research
courses were re peated at Radcliffe.
•The graduate courses of Clark (which has no undergraduate department) are
few in number and attended by only 48 men ; the exclusion of women is, there~
fore, Tery surprising especially as the principal subjects of instruction, pedaiogy,

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[350

In 1898-99 there were studying in these 23 graduate schools 1,021 women, forming 26.8 per cent of the
whole number of graduate students.' In 1889-90 the U.
S. education report estimates that there were 271 women
graduate students out of a total of 2,041 graduate students, or women formed 13.27 per cent of all graduate
students ; in 1897-98 the report for that year estimates that
there were 1,398 women out of a total of 5,816 graduate
students, or women formed 24.04 per cent of all students a remarkable increase as compared to the increase of men
graduate students in 8 years.
Graduate fellow1hlp1 and scholarships - In I 899 there were
open to women 319 scholarships varying in value from $100
to $400 (50 of these exclusively for women) and 2 foreign
scholarships (1 exclusively for women); 81 residence fellowships of the value of $400 or over (18 of these exclusively
for women); 24 foreign fellowships of the value of $500
and upwards ( 12 of these exclusively for women).•
experimental psychology and the like, are of peculiar interest to women. The
exclusion o( women from all but the medical department of the John s Hopkins
university is really of se rious import, because the Johns Hopkins univer sity, judged
not by numbers but by scholarly research and publication, the number of Ph. D .
degrees conferred, and the impo rtant college and university positions filled by its
graduates, has long been, and perh11ps is still, the most important graduate school
in the United States. Its attitude t oward women is t o b e accounted for in part
by its location, and in pa rt by the (a ct that its management is in the hands o( a
self-perpetuating board o( twelve trustees appointed origin ally by the founder,
and without exception Daltimoreans, so that no pressure can be brought to bear
up on the corpo rati on fr o m more prog res sive sec ti ons o( the country.
1 These figures are taken from the Graduate ha n dbo ok for 1899, published by the
Federation of graduate clubs. 0£ these th e greatest number studying in any one
institution in the west was to be found in the University o ( Chicago, and the next
greatest in the University of California; th e greatest number studying in any one
institution in the east was to be found at Barnard-Columbia, and the next greatest at Bryn Mawr. There were studying in the graduate departments of the Univenity of Chicago (including summer students) 276 women; ln the Unhersity of
California, 90; in Barnard-Columbia, 82; in Bryn Mawr, 61; in Radcliffe .. HarYt.rd,
58 ; in Yale, 42 ; in Cornell, 36; in the University of Pennsyhania, 34. The position of Bryn Mawr in this series seems to show conclusively that an. independent woman's colJege maintaining a sufficiently high standard of instruction may
compete successfully for students with much larger and older coeducational.
foundations.
'See Fellowships and graduate scholarships, published by the A11ociation of
cotiegiate alumnae, Richmond Hill, N. Y., III Series, No. 2, July, 1899.,. _

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EDUCATION OF WOMEN

Comparative table of the progress of coeducation and increase of
women students from I890 to I898 and I899 in theology, law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, schools of technology and agriculture.

Theo1oRY •,,., .. .• . .. , . , . , , , , , • .. ..
Law .. ..... ...... .... ..... .. .... . . .
Medicine (regular and irrcgu lar).f ..
Dentistry •.. . ......•........ . ......
Pharmacy ..... •. .......•. .. .. ... . .

Sct~~~l~:~ot;~~n.;f~~~:ti~n~~r~~~~
arant 5 •••• •• ••

No women
reported
No women
reported
67
. 6 40.7
'3 48 . 1
,6 55.2
'3

,,

··· ··············· ,,

46 , 2

91

"69
"

•6

6l!

.ft . 2

. "'"
6•
8o

,a

••

74·4
53·7
78.6

75·

No
women
reported
No wom en
reported
854
S·S
53
9 .0

I

6o

174

I ...
...
tg!

147
397
162

6.o
11.4

u.,s ••Br

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1
The numbers of coeducational and other professional schools are estimated from
the U. S. ed. rep. for 1889--<JO.
'Through the kindness of Mr. Jnmes Russell Parsons, Jr., author of the monograph on professional education in the United States, published as one of this
series, I am ab le to insert the figures for 1899, see p. 21. By personal inquiry
I have been able to add four to his list of coeducational schools of theology.
1 The number of professional students for the year 1898 is taken from the U. S.
ed. rep. for 1897-<)8.
4 For the sake of clearneu I have omitted from the above table the 7 separate
medical schools for women, a1though I have counted their students in the total
number of women medical students, both in 1890 and 1898. In 1890 there were
studying in the 6 regular medical women's colleges 425 women, as against 648
women in coeducational regular medical colleges; in 1898 there were studying
in them 4II women, as against 1045 in coeducational colleges, a decrease of
3.3 per cent, whereu women students in coeducational medical colleges have
increased 16.3 per cent. I limit the comparison to regular medical schools
because women have increased relatively more rapidly in irregular medical
schools and there is only one separate irregular medical school for women. It i1
sometimes said that women prefer medical sects because the proportion of women
1tudying in irregular schools is relatively greater than the proportion studying in
regular schoolsi but in 1898 1 65.7 per cent of the irregular schools were coeducational and on1y 46.6 per cent of regular schools, a fact which undoubtedly increase•
the proportion of students studying in irregular schools.
•The statistics for the schools of technology and agricultu r e are taken from the
U . S. education report fo r t88g--<)O, pp. 1053-1054 1 and from the report for 1897-98t
pp. 1985-1988. I have excluded schools of technology not endowed with the
national land grant. In 1890 there were 27 of such schools (5 of them coeducational); in 1898 their number had fallen to 17 (3 of them coeducational). Very
few women are studying in these scboolsj in 1898 women formed only 0.1 per
cent of all students studying in them.

33

Theology, law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, veterinary
science, schools of technology and agriculture - Ten years ago
there were very few women studying in any of these schools.
The wonderful increase both in facilities for professional
study and in the number of women students during the last
eight years may be seen by referring to the comparative
tive table on the opposite page.
It is evident to the impartial observer that coeducation is to
be the method in professional schools. Except in medicine,
where women were at first excluded from coeducational study
by the strongest prejudice that has ever been conquered in any
movement, no important separate professional schools, indeed
none whatever, except one unimportant school of pharmacy
have been founded for women only.' It is evident also that
the number of wom~n entering upon professional study is
increasing rapidly. If we compare the relative increase of
men and of women from 1890 to 1898 we obtain the following percentages : increase of students in medicine, men,
51.1 per cent, women, 64.2 per cent; in dentistry, men, 150.2
per cent, women, 205.7 per cent; in pharmacy, men, 25.9 per
cent, women, 190 per cent; in technology and agriculture,
men, 119.3 per cent, women, 194.7 per cent.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

There are many questions connected with the college education of American women which possess great interest
for the student of social science.
Number of college women- In the year 1897-98' there
were studying in the undergraduate and graduate departments of coeducational colleges and universities 17,338
women, and in the undergraduate and graduate departments of independent and affiliated women's colleges, division A, 4,959 women, women forming thus 27.4 per cent of
•A private law school for women existed for some years in the city of New York,
founded by Madame Kcmpin, a graduate of the Uni ve rsity of Zurich. At the
request of the Women's legal education society it was incorporated with the New
York University law school.
t See U. S. ed. rep. 1897-98, p. 1825 1 corrected according to note 1, page 15 of this
monograph.

34

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

(352

the total number of graduate and undergraduate students.
The 22 colleges belonging to the Association of collegiate
alumna'!, which are, on the whole, the most important colleges
in the United States admitting women, have conferred the
bachelor's degree on 12;804 women. If we add to these
the graduates of the Women's college of Brown university, 102 in number, and the graduates of the 14 additional
coeducational colleges included in my list of the 58 most
important colleges in the United States, we obtain, including
those graduating in June, 1899, a total of 14,824 women
holding the bachelor's degree.' There is thus formed, even
leaving out of account the graduates of the minor colleges,
a larger body of educated women than is to be found in
any other country in the world. These graduates have
received the most strenuous college training obtainable by
women in the United States, which does not differ materially
from the best college training obtainable by American men
(indeed, women graduates of coeducational colleges have
received precisely the same training as men), and may fairly
be compared with the women who have received college and
university training abroad. In other countries women university graduates, or even women who hav·e studied at
universities, are very few;' in America. on the other hand,
1 The number o f wo me n c-rnduatcs has been obtained in eYery case through the
courtesy of the presidents o f the colleges co nce rned . In some cases the women
graduates have had to be selected from the total number of graduates and
counted separa.tcly for the purpose. As the figures have never been printed
before , I give them below: 22 lolleru bdong ing lo tlu AuociatitJn of eolletiate a/umntr :coeducational colleges: Boston, 522 graduates; California, 440; Chicago, 267 ; Cornell, 517; Kansas, 259; Leland Stanford , Jr. , 28q, Massachusetts institute technology. 45; Michigan, 940; Minnesota, 458; Nebraska, 263; Northwestern, 317;
Oberlin, 1,486 ; Syracuse, 508; Wesleyan, 118; \Visconsin, 620. Independent co).
legcs: Vassar, 1,509; Wellesley, I, 727; Smith, 1,679; Bryn Mawr, 321. Affiliattd
colleges: Radcliffe, 278; Barnnrd, ro6; Co llege for women of Western res erve, 135 .
Addih."ona/ co/legu, 15 in numbe r : Women's co llege of Brown, ro2; Cincinnati, 99;
Columbian, 6oj Colorado, about 70; Illinois, 131; Indiana, 282; Iowa, 340; Maine,
28i Missouri, no record ; Ohio State university, 150; Ohio Wesleyan, 615; Texas, 6o
Vanderbilt, 11; Washington (St. Louis), 55; West Virginia, 17. Total, 14,824
women graduates.
t The number of women studying in universities in Gmmany in 1898~ was
approximately 471, probt1.bly mainly foreigners (stntistics given in the Hochschul
Nachrichten, Minerva, etc.); in France in 18¢-97, approximatel1 410, of whom 83

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

353]

35

the higher education of women has assumed the proportions
of a national movement still in progress. We may perhaps
be able to guide in some degree its future development, but
it has passed the experimental stage and can no longer be
opposed with any hope of success. Its results are to be
reckoned with as facts.
Health of college women•- Those who have come into contact with some o/ the many thousands of healthy normal
were foreigners (Les Universit~s fran~aises, by M. Louis Linrd; vol. 2 or Special
Report s on Educational Subjects, Education department, London, 1898); in
England and Wales in 1897-<)8, approximately 2 1 348. (See catalogues of different
college$.) The total number of women.graduates in England and Wales who have
received degrees, or their equivalent, from English and 'Neish universities is
about 2 1 180.
1 Two s tati stical investigations of the health of college women have been under.
taken ; one in America in 1882 1 which tabulated various data connected with the
health, occupation, marriag e, birth rate, etc., of 705 gradnt1.tes of the I2 American
colleges belonging a t that time to the Associlllion or co ll eciate alumnre (Health
statistics o f women co llege graduatesi rep ort o r a special committee or the Associ.
ation o f collegi s. te alumnre, Annie G. Howes, chairman; t ogethe r with statistical
tables collated by the Massa chusetts bureau C'lf statistics of labor. Boston: \Vright
and Potter Printing Co. 1 18 Post Office Squnre. 1885), nnd one in England in
1887 .(Health statis tics of women students of Cambridge and Oxford and of their
sisters, by Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, Cambridge university press, 1890). The English
sta ti stics dealt with 566 women students (honor students who had taken tripos
examinations and final honors, and women who had been in residence three, two
and o ne year) of Newnhnm and Girton colleges, Cambridge, and of Lady Margaret
and Somerville halls at Oxfo rd . It was found that in England 75 per cent of the
h ono r students were at the time o f the investigation in excellent or good health.
It was found that in America 78 per cent of the graduates were at the time of the
in,•estigation in good health and 5 per ce nt in fair h ealth. In estimating the
result o f this investigation it is difficult to find a standard of compariso n . There
is no way o f knowing what percentage of good health is to be expected in tho
case or th e average woman who has not been to college. It is stated in the Ameri·
can h en.1th investigation, page 10, that Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, while obtaining
data for her monograph on the question of rest for w omen, found that o f 246
women on ly 56
pe r cent were in good health . The American statis tics were
compared with the results obtained in an investigation o f the condition of. 1,032
workin g women o f Boston, made by th e Massachusetts bureau o r statis tics of
lab or; the co mparison showed that the health of college women wns more satisfactory than the health of working women. The English statistics were com.
pared with the health statistics or 450 sisters or first cousins who h ad not rec eived
a college education, and it was found that, at all periods, about 5 per cent less of
honor g ra duates were in b:td health than of sisters and cousins. The comparative tables showed that the married gradua te s were healthier than their married
· sisters that there were few er childless marri·a ges among them, that they had a
lar ge r' proportion of children per year of married life, and that their children

+

were healthier.

.EDUCATION OF WOMEN

[354

women studying in college at the present time, or who have
had an opportunity to know something of the after-lives ·of
even a small numbe r of college women, believe that experience has proved them to be, both in college, and after leaving college, on the whole, in better physical condition than
other women of the same age and social condition. Since,
however, people who have not the opp~rtunityof knowledge
at first hand continue to regard the health of college women
as a subject open for discussion, a new health investigation,
based on questions sen t to the 12, 804 g raduates of the 22
colleges belongi ng to the Association of collegiate alumn a:, is
now in progress. The statistical tables will be collated a
second time by th e Massachusetts bureau of statistics of
labor and sent to the Paris exposition as part of the educational exhibit of the Association of coliegiate alumna:.'
Marriage rate of college women- H e re again no positive
conclusions can be reached until we know what is the usual
marriage rate of women belonging to the social class of
wome n graduates. Everything indicates that the time of
marriage is becoming later in the professional classes and
that the marriage rate as a whole is decreasing. An investigation undertaken simultaneously with _the new health
investigation by the Association of collegiate alumna: will
enable us to speak with certainty in regard to the marriage
rate of a large number of college women and their sisters.•
1
The health, marriage rate, birth rate, etc., o f woman graduates will be compared in every case '!ith the correspondin g statistics for th e women rel atives
ne ares t in age who have not received a coll ege education; an attempt will also be
m ade to obtain corresponding statistics for the neares t men relatives who are
college grad uates .
1 The hea lth inv es tigat ion of English women students showed that the average
age o f marr iage for students was 26 .70 as aga ins t 25.53 for sis ters, and that 10.25
per cent o f the s tudents we re married and 19.33 per c ent of th e sis ters , or , o mitting th e s tud ents who had just le ft coll ege when the ret urns were sent in, about
12 per ce nt of students .
The rate of marriage of stude nts after their college
course was comp leted and of th e ir sisters seemed to be th e same, the difference in
th e total number o f marriages being apparently ac co unted for by causes existing
before the termination of th e college course , 11 possib ly the desire to go t o college,
o r to remain in college may be among th em, but having been in college is not one

of th em.''

(See sum mary of results by Mrs. Sidgwick , page 59.)

Mrs. Sidgwick

concludes as a result of the investigation th at not more than o ne-half o f English

(
I

355]

Marriagt ratt of colltgt womm
Opened in

Vassar ..•. • . .•• , •...•. . ••..• . . . ... . • • , ..•.. •. ...... ..
Kansas ... . . .. .... . . . •. .• , . ....•. ... ..• ..••...•• . . ..

~~:'nne~~ot_~·:: ::·: :::::.:::.::::::::.:::::::~ : ::::::::::
Syracuse............... . . . . .... . . , • , . . .. • •.. . ......
Wesleyan ••.•.• •. • . • ........ .• ....••.... .• •..•.• . ...
Nebraska . .••••.•...• ... .•• , . • , , , . , . , , .•.... • • •....

1865
1866
1868

Percenu.ge of
craduates
married

35. [
31.3
24.5
31.0

~:1\~~1~y :: ::: :::: :::: :: :::::: :: :: :::.:: ::: ::: :~ :: :::

Smith .. .. .. ................... . ............ ... . ... .
Radcliffe ..... . .. ..... .. .. .... ... . .... ... . . . ....... .
Bryn Mawr . •..• , •.•... ..•.. . , .. , , , ••.....•.• . • , ... , .
Barnard .•...•..•........• .. •. . • . .•.....•. • . , , . . . .
Leland Stanford Junior ... ,, . ...• .•• , ..... , . .. , . . , ... .
Chicago .••••. .. . . ...... . . .... . .. ... . ....• .. . ...•.... .

It will be seen that Independent, affiliated and coeducational colleges fall
into their proper place in the series, thus showing conclusiTely that the method
of obtaining a college education exercises scarcely any appreciable influence on
the marriage rate.
The marriage rate of Bryn Mawr college, calculated in January, 1900, will also
serve as an illustration of the importance of time in every consideration of the
marriage rate: graduates of the class of 18891 married, 40.7 per cent; graduates o f
the firs t two classes, 188g-1890, married, 40.0 per cent; graduates of the first three
classes, 188Q-1891, married, 33.3 per cent; graduates of the first four classes, 18891892, married , 32.9 per ce nt; graduates of the first five classes, 188g-1893 1 married,
31 .0 per cent; graduates of the first six classes, 18Sg-1894, married, 30.0 per cent;
graduates of the first seven classes, 188Q-1895, married, 25 .2 per cent; graduates
of the first eight classes, 1889-1896 1 married, 22.8 per cent; graduates of the first
nine classes, 1889-1897, married, 20.9 per cent; graduates of the first ten classes,
188Q-1898, married, 17.2 per cent; graduates of the first eleTen classes, t88Q-I899,
married, 15 .2 per cent.
•

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

37

It must be borne in mind that the element of time is
very important, and in the case of women the later and
therefore younger classes are all larger than the earlier
ones, see table on opposite page).
Occupations of college women - It is probable that about
50 per cent of women graduates teach for at least a certain number of years. Of the 705 women graduates whose
occupations were reported in the Association of collegiate
alumnre investigation of 1883 50.2 percent were then teaching. In 1895 of 1,082 graduates of Vassar 37. 7 per cent
were teaching; 2.0 per cent were engaged in graduate study
and 3.0 per cent were physicians or studying medicine. In
1898 of 171 graduates (all living) of Radcliffe college, including the class of 1898, 49. 7 per cent were teaching ; 8. 7 per
cent were engaged in graduate study; .6 per cent were
studying medicine; 17.5 per cent were unmarried and without professional occupation. In 1899 of 316 living graduates of Bryn Mawr college, including the class of I 899, 39.0
per cent were teaching; 11.4 were engaged in graduate
study; 6 per cent were engaged in executive work (including 4 deans of colleges, 3 mistresses of college halls of
residence); 1.6 per cent were studying or practising medicine, and 26.6 per cent were unmarried and without professional occupation.•
Coeducation vs. separate education - It is clear that coeducation is the prevailing method in the United States; it is
the most economical method; indeed it is the only possible
women of the social class o f women stude nts or their sisters marry. The American investigation of 1883 showed that 27.8 per cent o f the America.n college graduates, th eir average age b e ing 28 1-2 yea.rs, were at that time married, and that,
jud ging by th e indications of the marriage percentages among older graduates,
ab ou t 50 per cent were likely sooner or lat er to be married . In a n inve5tigation
of the marriage 0£ Vassar graduates made in 18q5 1 and not including the graduates
or that year, it was round that rather under 38 per cent or the whole n umb er o r
students, and about 63 per cent of the first (our classes, were married, see
Frances M. Abbott: A Generation of college women, The Forum, vol. XX , p . 378.
Out of the t otal number or 8,956 graduates, including those g radu ating in Jun e,
1899 1 of the 16 colleges belonging to the Association of collegiate alumna: that
have kept accurate marriage statistics, 2,059 a.re married, or 23.0 per ce nt.
t Mrs. Sidgwick's investigation showed that 77 per cent of all English students
reporting, and 83 per cent of honor students, bad engaged in educational work.

,.

!I

\

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

[356

method in most parts of the country. Now that it has been
?etermine~ in A~erica to send girls as well as boys to college,
t~ becomes .1mposs1ble to duplicate colleges for women in every
part of this vast country. If, as is shown by the statistics
given in the successive reports of the commissioner of education, men students in college are increasing faster far than
the ~atio ~f the popul~tion, and women college students
are rncreasmg faster still than men,' it will tax all our
resources to make adequate provision for men and women
in common: Onl?' in t~ickly-settled parts of the country,
where public sentiment 1s conservative enough to justify the
initial outlay, have separate colleges for women been establis.hed, and these colleges, without exception, have been
pnvate foundations. Public opinion in the United States
alm~st univ~rsally demands that universities supported by
public taxat10n should provide for the college education of
the women of the state in which they are situated. The
separate colleges for women speaking generally are to be
found almost exclusively in the narrow strip of colonial states
lying along the Atlantic seaboard. The question is of ten
asked, whether women prefer coeducation or separate education. It seems that in the east they as yet prefer separate
education, and this preference is natural.• College life as
1
Between 18<)0 and 1898 women undergraduate students have increased u1.8
per cent, and men undergraduate students have increased 51.2 per cent.
•In the college departments of coeducational colleges the average number of
women studying is 48.4, whereas in the college departments of independent women's
colleges the average number of women studying is 331 .91, and in affiliated colleges 192.8. In 1897--<)8 11.4 per cent of all the women studying in coeducational
colleges obtained the bachelor's degree, whereas 13.4 per cent of all the women
~tu~ying in independent women's colleges obtained the bachelor's degree, which
tnd1cates probably that women prefer women's colleges for four years of residence. In the same year 13.3 per cent of all men undergraduate students obtained
the bachelor's degree. The average number of graduates of the 4 women's colleges belonging to the Association of collegiate alumnre is 1,309 per college, the
average age of the colleges being 23 years; the average number of graduates of
the 15 coeducational colleges belonging to the Association of college alumnre is
only 469.9, although the average age of the colleges is 27. 7 years. During the 8
years from 1890 to 1898, women undergraduate students have increased in coeducational colleges 105.4 per cent, whereas they have increased in women's colleges,
division A, 138.4 per cent. Precisely the reverse is true of men students (see
pp. 14 and 15, including foot notes) . .

357]

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

39

it is organized in a woman's college seems to conservative
parents less exposed, more in accordance with inherited traditions. Consequently, girls who in their own homes lead
guarded lives, are to be found rather in women's colleges
than in coeducational colleges. From the point of view of
conservative parents, there is undoubtedly serious objection
to intimate association at the most impressionable period of
a girl's life with many young men from all parts of the country
and of every possible social class. From every point of view
it is undesirable to have the problems of love and marriage
presented for decision to a young girl during the four years
when she ought to devote her energies to profiting by the
only systematic intellectual training she is likely to receive
during her life. Then, too, for the present, much of the culture and many of the priceless associations of college life are
to be obtained, whether for men or women, only by residence
in college halls, and no coeducational, or even affiliated, colleges have as yet organized for their students such a complete college life as the independent woman's college. So
long as this preference, and the grounds for it, exist, we must
see to it that separate colleges for women are no less good
than colleges for men. In professional schools, including the
graduate school of the faculty of philosophy, coeducation is
even at present almost the only method. There are in the
United States only 4 true graduate schools for men closed
to women, and only 1 independent graduate school maintained for women offering three years' consecutive work
leading to the degree of Ph. D. There is every reason to
believe that as soon as large numbers of women wish to
enter upon the study of theology, law and medicine, all the
professional schools now existing will become coeducational.
A modified vs. an unmodified curriculum - The progress of
women's education, as we have traced it briefly from its
beginning in the coeducationalcollege of Oberlin in 1833,
and the independent woman's college of Vassar in 186 5, has
been a progress in accordance with the best academic traditions of men's education. in I870 we could not have pre-

EDUCATION OF WOMEN

dieted the course to be taken by the higher education of
women ; the separate colleges for women might have developed into something wholly different from what we had been
familiar with so long in the separate colleges for men. A ·
female course in coeducational colleges in which music and
art were substituted for mathematics and Greek might have
met the needs of the women students. After thirty years
of experience, however, we are prepared to say that whatever changes may be made in future in the college curriculum
will be made for men and women alike. After all, women
themselves must be permitted to be the judges of what kind
of intellectual discipline they find most truly service'!lble.
They seem to have made up their minds, and hereafter may
be trusted to see to it that an ·inferior education shall not
be offered to them in women's colleges, or elsewhere, under
the name of a modified curriculum.

