Part 16 (1/2)

Asiatic Caucasian 1 127

European 1 117

Mongols 1 113

Malays 1 108

Aroes 1 107

Besides the prominent fact upon which Welcker insists, this table indicates two others First, that the anatoher races is too little to explain the general difference in intellectual achievement really observed between the two sexes of these races Second, that the difference is not in precise proportion to the ence attained by the race, but to the social inferiority and subjection of the wohest on the scale, the Europeans only second; and the excess of the first over the second, in regard to the point in question, is greater than the excess of the Europeans over the other races naeneral fact that, beyond certain well-defined limits, the activity of the cerebro-spinal systelionic, is to be determined dynamically rather than anatomically, is insisted upon by Laycock (_Med Tie, slowly-nourished brain of a lymphatic man, frequently evolves much less intellectual force than does the smaller, perhaps more compact, brain of another, in whom the circulation is more active, and the nutrition probably ht be quoted, are pertinent to our subject, on account of the influence exercised over the ganglionic centres by the developht

Stimulation of the cerebral he paralysis of the vaso-motor centre, with all its consequences Habitual activity of these centres--iht, physiologically, a more active local circulation--is therefore the besttendencies to irregular action in this centre, in the e in its vicinity, and in the vaso-eneral supervision does not in itself forbid the co-education of girls and boys; for froeneral point of view, the health of the latter during adolescence really requires precisely the same precautions as that of the former Attention is less frequently drawn to the precautions required in the case of boys, mainly because such precautions are ard to theirls arrive at the period of adolescence already enervated by the senseless training of their childhood, on which distinctions of sex have been obtruded long before they are established by nature

Finally, since peculiarities relating to the sexual organs are inherited, if at all, froerms of uterine diseases acquired by hters, ready to be developed at the earliest opportunity

As a irls, especially in New England, too often possess a delicacy of organization greater than that of their brothers, and de a special supervision and watchfulness, best bestohen they are educated apart For the reasons already detailed at length, we think that such supervision does not necessitate periodical intermittence of study, except in special cases, that constitute a decidedthe whole It does necessitate, however, thefor adequate rest and exercise during every day of the month It necessitates a , a ent view of the real character of intellectual life, and of the exercises required to develop it It necessitates a concentration of intellectual effort into four or six hours out of the twenty-four, instead of a useless diffusion of intellectual peddling over ten or twelve It necessitates an extension of the ter up the fashi+onable notion that a girl is to be ”finished”

at seventeen or eighteen, while her brother continues to pursue his studies until twenty-two or twenty-five It necessitates, finally, the most careful individual adjustment to each different case; and to all its peculiarities, mental, moral, and physical--quite as frequently, therefore, necessitates the education of girls apart from one another as apart from boys

But this necessity is not permanent Dr Clarke himself admits that if the one precaution upon which he insists be observed during the first years of adolescence, it will become unnecessary when the constitution is formed But neither Dr Clarke nor his reviewers seem to see that this admission annihilates the only objection made by him to the co-education of the sexes For that is especially demanded as the only means by which women may be enabled to enjoy a technically superior education, as distinguished froin until eighteen A university education is too expensive to be duplicated in any state; it moreover represents the collective intellectual force of society, and as such cannot rationally be cut in two Indeed, as such, cannot logically exclude women from men's schools, which are thereby left as imperfect and incomplete as would be the new universities to be constructed exclusively for woirls and boys should be educated together, because, as sex does not, properly speaking, exist, it is absurd to base any distinctions upon it, and the attempt, like all absurdities, is liable to lead to really disastrous consequences During the period of adolescence or of the formation of sex, it is well to establish a separate education, during which the character of each may be defined and consolidated This separation is needed by therather than by the intellectual Were it, as is usually assuirls to sit still, the need of separation would be yirls remained in the school room But systematic exercise is even more necessary for the latter than for the former, because they are likely to take it spontaneously These exercises must differ in kind and in intensity from those performed by boys, and for this and other reasons, are best pursued alone

The moral differentiation of the sexes requires separate education, for analogous reasons Moral differences, though less marked than physical, are more so than intellectual, and any systeht be supposed to efface these, would be an injury to society, that requires, not unifor variety of character airls should include certain training in the care of children, and other duties that either per, must fall to them and not to boys But a more important moral reason for separate education consists in the desirability of prolonging as late as possible, the first unconsciousness of sex At this age the stianizations, is liable to be other than intellectual--liable to excite emotions equally ridiculous and painful froer most to be averted from this period of life--the excessive developans of the nervous systeainst the co-education of the sexes have ceased to exist, and imperative reasons in its favor have come into play The first we have already indicated Unless the education of girls be continued beyond the conventional retiring-point of eighteen, and unless they be permitted access to the State Universities, they cannot participate in the highest intellectual education of the race This cannot be carried on by private teachers, in isolated classes, under uncontrolled authorities It must be public, national, supreme--for it represents the collective intellectual force of the nation; it is the work of society, and fits for society; and the social influences presiding over its instruction are as ie conveyed in its system Only the best minds should be employed in its service, and in any State these are not sufficiently numerous for the wants of indefinitely irls may be educated, and better educated, apart froive wo apart froeneration What may be lost to men by exclusion from the intellectual companionshi+p of women, may perhaps be beyond the scope of our present subject to inquire But the loss sustained by women, who, shut up in female academies, attee education,” is conspicuous beyond possibility of cavil The sainal, are justly said to make them more receptive, more malleable, more exquisitely adjustable to the least variation of external circumstance, or difference in the intellectual calibre of their associates or masters Their own intellects are quickened to activity or repressed into torpor, by influences that would have little effect upon the less impressionable, reat emphasis has often been laid, should only lead to one inference, namely, that the education and intellectual capacity of woree at which men may consider it desirable for it to exist; if, therefore, certain conditions are seen to favor this advanceree, and others to retard it in a manner as extraordinary; if, in addition to results already achieved by the increased education of woreater may be foreseen, when that education shall have become really equal to that now accessible to men; it becomes imperative to concede the conditions in question, unless some equally imperative counter indication can be shown to exist Reasons of an entirely different order exist, we think, in the fact that at this age the sexes naturally seek each other's society, as much as they avoided it before It is difficult to see why this tendency requires to be counteracted, except on some monastic principle that is an unconscious ”survival” fro this tendency leads often to iuor, and mental, moral, and physical debility in the other

Dr Clarke places his counter indication almost exclusively in the supposed necessity for a periodical intermittence in the intellectual work of woht into harmony with that of men But, as we have seen, Dr Clarke himself admits that such necessity is scarcely ihteen or nineteen, and the period of study for which co-education is really desirable, indeed, necessary, does not begin until that age Moreover, Dr Clarke draws his examples, not from students who have been educated at irls'

boarding-schools; so that no proof is adduced of any special influence of co-education, unless the general statement that ”co-education is intellectually a success, physically a failure,” can be considered as such proof, which we do not believe Since, according to Dr Clarke's own arguument does not apply to the particular point of controversy upon which it has been made to bear with s, whereby we believe to have shown that the dangers signalized, though they exist, menace the minority and not the majority; that they are then attributable, not to mental exertion, but to the coincidences of mental exertion as at present conducted; that they are to be averted, not by a single , that should include, instead of excluding, special attention to intellectual develop would remain, after the consolidation of the physical health and the ter unnecessary; whereas, the peculiar precaution suggested by Dr Clarke, would rather tend to create a habit of body that would persist throughout life, to immense inconvenience

MARY PUTNAM JACOBI

110 West Thirty-fourth street, New York

FOOTNOTES:

[33] The developlandular apparatus at the period of puberty, is evidently not peculiar to one sex, but is a physiological fact necessarily coreater degree_ of periodicity in the coestions of a secondary organ, the uterus, and in the loss of blood effected by these

[34] Thus Herbert Spencer remarks that the mental development of women must be arrested earlier than that of in for reproduction