The presence, not only in the recitaticn room, but in the dining hall of the col lege and in amusements, represents the other extreme. As the intimacy becomes close and personal, the difficulty of ad ministration for deans and presidents greatly increases.
Another disadvantage of coeducation lies in the content of instruction. Cer tain topics in psychology, in biology, in archaeology, which are perfectly proper for presentation to a class of men alone, or to a class of women alone, would offer serious difficulties in presentation to a class of both women and men.
A further consideration which would be reckoned by some as an advantage, and by others as a disadvantage, relates to the college of this type as promoting marriage, or marriage at an early age. On the whole, marriages are more com mon among women educated in the same coeducational college than among the graduates of the separate women's col lege. The disadvantage lies, be it added, not in the becoming married, but rather in the becoming married at an age when neither party is quite qualified to as sume the obligations of a family.
American life is greatly enriched by the yearly addition of thousands of lib erally educated women, most of whom come from the coeducational college. There are at least six advantages which American life receives from such a con tribution. First, the college woman adds a mind trained to think. Second, she also brings a heart, sympathetic with all human problems, and yet not over-sym pathetic. She is not a merely emotional
interpreter of social conditions. With an intellect qualified to think and dis criminate, she unites a heart which feels the significance of crises. Third, she is able to offer economic suggestions re garding the processes of government. Fourth, she also helps to supply that vital lack, the need of humanizing indus trialism. Fifth, she promotes the giving of a broad freedom for women in all forms of public life and service. In the recent political enfranchisement, the just interpretation and application of such freedom is of special significance. Sixth, she represents the great advantage through her education of the prolonga tion of the period of youth. The young women of America are liable to begin their life's work at a too early age. Civ ilization desires that all those who can promote its welfare shall have a proper degree of maturity. The longer the period of youth, the richer and the more efficient is the contribution which one, coining to maturity, is able to make to worthiest human life and endeavor.
This article has primary reference to colleges of liberal learning. In the pro fessional schools of medicine and of law, women are received more commonly than obtains in the undergraduate college. The progress made in admitting women to professional schools has been espe cially great in the last decade.