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.

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 prevailing 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 school revival of 1830–45 and the ensuing years until the outbreak of the civil war in 1861, free 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 was 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^[1]. In the reorganization of lower and higher education that took place between 1865 and 1870 this same system, bringing with it 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 women was the occurrence of the civil war at the formative period of the public schools, with the result of placing the elementary and secondary 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^[3]. 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 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.^[4] 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 1833 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 educational leaders in the United States, and his ardent advocacy of coeducation, based on his own practical experience, had great weight with the public.^[5] 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, 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 University 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 1860, 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, Indiana 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, West Virginia in 1897.^[6] 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.

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 United 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 universities. 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 Stanford junior university, opened in 1891, 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 powerfully 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 distinct phases of differing opinion, corresponding in the main to the old geographical division of the states into New England, middle, southern and western.^[7]

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 of these except 3 are denominational; 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 Catholic 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 University of Georgia; in Louisiana the two most important, the Louisiana state university and Tulane university, and in Virginia the very important University of Virginia.^[8] Roman Catholic institutions apart, all the colleges in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and West Virginia are coeducational. 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, Columbia, Princeton, Pennsylvania. Maine and Vermont are liberal to women, 2 colleges (3 if we count 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 very small (in Maine only 843 men and 189 women; in Vermont only 301 men and 99 women). The leading colleges of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are closed, and in Massachusetts only 2 are open and 7 closed.^[9]

Of the four hundred and eighty colleges for men enumerated by the commissioner of education 336, or 70 per cent (or, excluding Catholic colleges, 80 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.^[10] In order to obtain a better idea of opportunities 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.^[11] Of these fifty-eight colleges four are independent 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 21 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 instruction given, the affiliated colleges in three cases being of 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 fifty-eight, 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 coeducation from 1870 to 1898.^[12]

I have prepared the diagram for 1870 from the U. S. ed. rep. for 1870, pp. 506–516, and the diagram for 1897–98 from the U. S. ed. rep., pp. 1848–1867, and from the table, opposite page 9 of this monograph. The diagrams for 1880 and 1890 are copied from the report for 1889–90, p. 764. For assistance in the preparation of this and other diagrams, and in working out the percentages given here, and elsewhere, in this monograph I am much indebted to Dr. Isabel Maddison.

If Catholic colleges are excluded, as in the map opposite page 10, coeducational colleges formed, in 1898, 80 per cent, and colleges for men only 20 per cent of the whole number—a still more favorable result for coeducation.

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.^[13] Many reasons for the greater success of women are given, such as absence of the distraction of athletic sports, greater diligence, higher moral standards, but the fact, however it may be explained, remains and is as gratifying as astonishing to those interested in women’s education. The question of health has also been finally disposed of; thousands of women have been working side by side with men in coeducational institutions for the past twenty-five years and undergoing exactly the same tests without a larger percentage of withdrawals on account of illness than men. The question of conduct has also been disposed of. None of the difficulties have arisen that were feared from the association of men and women of marriageable age. Looking at coeducation as a whole it is most surprising that it has worked so well.^[14] Perhaps the only objection that may be made from men’s point of view to coeducation in America is that it has succeeded only too well and that the proportion of women students is increasing too steadily. Not only is the number of coeducational colleges increasing but the number of women relatively to the number of men is increasing also. In 1890 there were studying in coeducational colleges 16,959 men and 7,929 women; or women, in other words, formed 31.9 per cent of the whole body of students. In 1898 there were 28,823 men and 16,284 women studying in coeducational colleges, women forming 36.1 per cent of the whole body of students. Between 1890 and 1898 men in coeducational colleges have increased 70.0 per cent, but women in coeducational colleges have increased 105.4 per cent.^[15]

There is every reason to suppose that this increase of women will continue. Already girls form 56.5 per cent of the pupils in all secondary schools and 13 per cent of the girls enrolled and only 10 per cent of the boys enrolled graduate from the public high schools. It is sometimes said that men students, as a rule, dislike the presence of women, and in especial that they are unwilling to compete for prizes against women for the very reason that the average standing of women is higher than their own. If there is any force in this statement, however, it would seem that men should increase less rapidly in coeducational colleges than in separate colleges for men. The reverse, however, is the case. During the eight years from 1890 to 1898 men have increased in coeducational colleges 70.0 per cent, but in separate colleges for men only 34.7 per cent.^[16] This is all the more remarkable, because in the separate colleges for men are included the large undergraduate departments of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania. It is women who have shown a preference for separate education; women have increased more rapidly in separate colleges for women than in coeducational colleges. It will be observed, however, that the separate colleges for women, like the separate colleges for men included in my list of fifty-eight, are in the east; it is in the east only that any preference for separate education is shown by either sex.^[17]

Independent colleges for women—Since independent colleges for women of the same grade as those for men are peculiar to the United States, I shall treat them somewhat more fully.^[18] The independent colleges here taken into account are the eleven colleges included in division A^[19] of the U. S. education reports.^[20] The independent colleges for women fall readily into three groups: I. The so-called “four great colleges for women,” Vassar, Smith, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr. It will be seen by referring to the classification on page 12 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 alumnÆ; 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^[21] 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.

Vassar college, Poughkeepsie, New York^[22]—Founder, Matthew Vassar; intention, “to found and equip an institution which should accomplish for young women what our colleges are accomplishing 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., 11 grad. s., 24 special s.; 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 laboratory rooms; an observatory; a gymnasium; a plant house; a president’s house; five professors’ houses; total cost of buildings, $1,044,365; vols. in library, 30,000; laboratory equipment, $33,382; acres, 200; music and art depts., but technical work in neither 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, 1880; requirement from students of one hour daily domestic or clerical work dropped, 1896; presidents, five (all women); 69 instructors (13 Ph. D.s.)—64 women, 16, apart from laboratory assistants without first degree; 5 men; 611 undergrad. s., 25 grad. s., 21 special s.; productive funds, $7,000;^[23] 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, $1,106,500; 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, $900,000; 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 $786,000; vols, in library, 8,000 (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 are 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. 1 D. Sc.)—15 women, 23 men; 269 undergrad, s., 61 grad. s., 9 hearers; productive funds, $1,000,000; a lecture and library building; a science building; a gymnasium; an infirmary; five halls of residence and two cottages, accommodating 323 students; a president’s house; 6 professors’ houses; total 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 the 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, 160; 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, and in addition one-half hour of 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, 1 without first degree; 10 men, 1 without first degree; 259 undergrad. s.; 0 grad. s.; 15 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 buildings, $505,703; vols. in library, 7,800; laboratory equipment, $47,000; acres (in city), 7; music and art depts., but technical work in neither counted towards bachelor’s degree; tuition fee, $125; lowest charge, tuition, board and residence (beds made, rooms dusted by students), $375.

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.; 0 grad. s.; 27 special s.; 4 music s.; productive funds, $200,000; a main building with lecture rooms 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; music 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 considerably 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,^[24] 55 are regular college students; 44 registered for degree but spending one-fifth of time in 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 of art; 35 college s.; 7 special s.; 70 s. in music only.

Mills college, California—Opened as seminary, 1871; chartered as college, 1885; 11 instructors (9 women, 3 without first degree; 2 men); 8 teachers of music; 22 college s.; 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 introduce a course of study modified especially for women, but the experience, both of coeducational colleges that have devised women’s courses and of women’s colleges, demonstrates conclusively that women themselves refuse to 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 intellectual training then in operation in the best colleges for men. They planned from the start to give much more time to accomplishments—music, drawing 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 gradually 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 whole college course to be devoted to them. Bryn Mawr, which opened ten years later than Smith or Wellesley, from the beginning found it possible to exclude them from its course.

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.^[25]

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 turn 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.^[26]

It seems to have been at first supposed that the same standards of scholarship need not be applied in the choice of instructors to teach women as in that of instructors to teach men, that women were fittest to teach women, and that the personal character and influence of the woman instructor in some mysterious way supplied the deficiency on her part of academic training. 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 women 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-trained women are increasing; and the prejudice against the appointment of men where men are better qualified has almost disappeared.^[27]

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 founder 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 1896; 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 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.

Affiliated colleges^[28]—There are five^[29] affiliated colleges in the United States—Radcliffe college, Barnard college, the Women’s college of Brown university, the College for Women of Western reserve university, and the H. Sophie Newcomb memorial college for women of Tulane university.^[30] The affiliated college in America is modeled on the English women’s colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, with such modifications as are made necessary by the wholly different constitution of English and American universities. These modifications, however, it must in fairness be explained, are so essential as to make of it a wholly different institution.^[31]

Radcliffe college, Cambridge, Massachusetts^[32]—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 of instructors; since 1893 women admitted to graduate and semi-graduate 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 $430,000; 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 $110,000; 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 becoming 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, 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’ college, 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 lecture rooms, laboratories and accommodation for 65 students, cost, $525,000; vols. in reading room, 1,000; access to Columbia, library; scientific laboratories of Columbia not available; cost of laboratory equipment $9,250; land (in city), 200 × 160 feet; tuition fee, $150.

Women’s college of Brown university, Providence, Rhode Island—Affiliated to Brown university; university degrees and examinations opened to women, and their undergraduate instruction informally begun in 1892; women’s college established by 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, $105.

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, 1 without first degree; 51 undergrad. s.; 34 special s. (10 in gymnastics); 54 s. of art; 80 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 6,000; tuition, $100; lowest charge, board, room rent (two in one room, beds made by students) and tuition, $280.

In the smaller group, which includes the College for women 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 Women’s college of Brown that we find the closest affiliation and, accordingly, the nearest approach to coeducation. The 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 courses women are reciting with men. In the graduate department of Columbia there is now unrestricted coeducation. It is in the case of Radcliffe that there is least approach to coeducation. 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 sacrifice is too great, and in the modern world too unnecessary; it is at present almost everywhere possible for the professor 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 internal 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^[33] except in the so-called graduate schools belonging to the twenty-three colleges in the United States included in the Federation of graduate clubs.^[34] In the following 16 of these 23 graduate schools 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 department—that of the medical school.^[35]

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.^[36] 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 fellowships and scholarships—In 1899 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).^[37]

38.The numbers of coeducational and other professional schools are estimated from the U. S. ed. rep. for 1889–90.