Sex in Education Part 4

Disregarded, it will balk the best methods of teaching and the genius of the best teachers. s.e.x is not concerned with studies as such.

These, for any thing that appears to the contrary physiologically, may be the same for the intellectual development of females as of males; but, as we have seen, it is largely concerned about an appropriate way of pursuing them. Girls will have a fair chance, and women the largest freedom and greatest power, now that legal hinderances are removed, and all bars let down, when they are taught to develop and are willing to respect their own organization. How to bring about this development and insure this respect, in a double-s.e.xed college, is one of the problems of co-education.

It does not come within the scope of this essay to speculate upon the ways--the regimen, methods of instruction, and other details of college life,--by which the inherent difficulties of co-education may be obviated. Here tentative and judicious experiment is better than speculation. It would seem to be the part of wisdom, however, to make the simplest and least costly experiment first; that is, to discard the identical separate education of girls as boys, and to ascertain what their appropriate separate education is, and what it will accomplish. Aided by the light of such an experiment, it would be comparatively easy to solve the more difficult problem of the appropriate co-education of the s.e.xes.

It may be well to mention two or three details, which are so important that no system of _appropriate_ female education, separate or mixed, can neglect them. They have been implied throughout the whole of the present discussion, but not distinctly enunciated. One is, that during the period of rapid development, that is, from fourteen to eighteen,[33] a girl should not study as many hours a day as a boy.

"In most of our schools," says a distinguished physiological authority previously quoted, "the hours are too many for both boys and girls.

From a quarter of nine or nine, until half-past two, is with us (Philadelphia schools for girls) the common schooltime in private seminaries. The usual recess is twenty minutes or half an hour, and it is not filled by enforced exercise. In certain schools,--would it were the rule,--ten minutes' recess is given after every hour. To these hours, we must add the time spent in study out of school. This, for some reason, nearly always exceeds the time stated by teachers to be necessary; and most girls between the age of thirteen and seventeen thus expend two or three hours. Does any physician believe that it is good for a growing girl to be so occupied seven or eight hours a day?

or that it is right for her to use her brains as long a time as the mechanic employs his muscles? But this is only a part of the evil. The multiplicity of studies, the number of teachers,--each eager to get the most he can out of his pupil,--the severer drill of our day, and the greater intensity of application demanded, produce effects on the growing brain, which, in a vast number of cases, can be only disastrous. Even in girls of from fourteen to eighteen, such as crowd the normal school in Philadelphia, this sort of tension and this variety of study occasion an amount of ill-health which is sadly familiar to many physicians."[34]

Experience teaches that a healthy and growing boy may spend six hours of force daily upon his studies, and leave sufficient margin for physical growth. A girl cannot spend more than four, or, in occasional instances, five hours of force daily upon her studies, and leave sufficient margin for the general physical growth that she must make in common with a boy, and also for constructing a reproductive apparatus. If she puts as much force into her brain education as a boy, the brain or the special apparatus will suffer. Appropriate education and appropriate co-education must adjust their methods and regimen to this law.

Another detail is, that, during every fourth week, there should be a remission, and sometimes an intermission, of both study and exercise.

Some individuals require, at that time, a complete intermission from mental and physical effort for a single day; others for two or three days; others require only a remission, and can do half work safely for two or three days, and their usual work after that. The diminished labor, which shall give Nature an opportunity to accomplish her special periodical task and growth, is a physiological necessity for all, however robust they may seem to be. The apportionment of study and exercise to individual needs cannot be decided by general rules, nor can the decision of it be safely left to the pupil's caprice or ambition. Each case must be decided upon its own merits. The organization of studies and instruction must be flexible enough to admit of the periodical and temporary absence of each pupil, without loss of rank, or necessity of making up work, from recitation, and exercise of all sorts. The periodical type of woman's way of work must be harmonized with the persistent type of man's way of work in any successful plan of co-education.

The keen eye and rapid hand of gain, of what Jouffroy calls self-interest well understood, is sometimes quicker than the brain and will of philanthropy to discern and inaugurate reform. An ill.u.s.tration of this statement, and a practical recognition of the physiological method of woman's work, lately came under my observation. There is an establishment in Boston, owned and carried on by a man, in which ten or a dozen girls are constantly employed. Each of them is given and required to take a vacation of three days every fourth week. It is scarcely necessary to say that their sanitary condition is exceptionally good, and that the aggregate yearly amount of work which the owner obtains is greater than when persistent attendance and labor was required. I have never heard of any female school, public or private, in which any such plan has been adopted; nor is it likely that any similar plan will be adopted so long as the community entertain the conviction that a boy's education and a girl's education should be the same, and that the same means the boy's. What is known in England as the Ten-hour Act, which Mr. Mundella and Sir John Lubbock have recently carried through Parliament, is a step in a similar direction. It is an act providing for the special protection of women against over-work. It does not recognize, and probably was not intended to recognize, the periodical type of woman's organization. It is founded on the fact, however, which law has been so slow to acknowledge, that the male and female organization are not identical.[35]

This is not the place for the discussion of these details, and therefore we will not dwell upon them. Our object is rather to show good and imperative reason why they should be discussed by others; to show how faulty and pregnant of ill the education of American girls has been and is, and to demonstrate the truth, that the progress and development of the race depend upon the appropriate, and not upon the identical education of the s.e.xes. Little good will be done in this direction, however, by any advice or argument, by whatever facts supported, or by whatever authority presented, unless the women of our country are themselves convinced of the evils that they have been educated into, and out of which they are determined to educate their daughters. They must breed in them the lofty spirit Wallenstein bade his be of:--

"Leave now the puny wish, the girlish feeling, Oh, thrust it far behind thee! Give thou proof Thou'rt the daughter of the Mighty,--his Who where he moves creates the wonderful.

Meet and disarm necessity by choice."

SCHILLER: _The Piccolomini_, act iii. 8.

(_Coleridge's Translation._)

FOOTNOTES:

[24] Body and Mind. Op. cit., p. 178.

[25] The Study of Sociology, by Herbert Spencer, chap. 13.

[26] The Study of Sociology, by Herbert Spencer, chap. 13.

[27] Enigmas of Life. Op. cit., by W.R. Greg, p. 142.

[28] It is a fact not to be lost sight of, says Dr. J.C. Toner of Was.h.i.+ngton, that the proportion between the number of American children under fifteen years of age, and the number of American women between the child-bearing ages of fifteen and fifty, is declining steadily. In 1830, there were to every 1,000 marriageable women, 1,952 children under fifteen years of age. Ten years later, there were 1,863, or 89 less children to every thousand women than in 1830. In 1850, this number had declined to 1,720; in 1860, to 1,666; and in 1870, to 1,568. The total decline in the forty years was 384, or about 20 per cent of the whole proportional number in 1830, a generation ago. The United-States census of 1870 shows that there is, in the city of New York, but one child under fifteen years of age, to each thousand nubile women, when there ought to be three; and the same is true of our other large cities.--_The Nation_, Aug. 28, 1873, p. 145.

[29] Vid. a pamphlet by the Rev. Dr. Todd.

[30] The New Englander, July, 1873. Art., Iowa College.

[31] Body and Mind. Op. cit., p. 85.

[32] Use of the Ophthalmoscope. By T.C. Allb.u.t.t. London. P. 5.

[33] Some physiologists consider that the period of growth extends to a later age than this. Dr. Anstie fixes the limit at twenty five. He says, "The central nervous system is more slow in reaching its fullest development; and the brain, especially, is many years later in acquiring its maximum of organic consistency and functional power."--_Neuralgia, Op. cit._, by F.E. ANSTIE, p. 20.

[34] Wear and Tear. Op. cit., p. 33-4.

[35] It is a curious commentary on the present aspect of the "woman question" to see many who honestly advocate the elevation and enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of woman, oppose any movement or law that recognizes Nature's fundamental distinction of s.e.x. There are those who insist upon the traditional fallacy that man and woman are identical, and that the ident.i.ty is confined to the man, with the energy of infatuation. It appears from the Spectator, that Mr. and Mrs. Fawcett strongly object to the Ten-hour Act, on the ground that it discriminates unfairly against women as compared with men. Upon this the Spectator justly remarks, that the true question for an objector to the bill to consider is not one of abstract principle, but this: "Is the restraint proposed so great as really to diminish the average productiveness of woman's labor, or, by _increasing its efficacy_, to maintain its level, or even improve it in spite of the hours lost?

What is the length of labor beyond which an average woman's const.i.tution is overtaxed and deteriorated, and within which, therefore, the law ought to keep them in spite of their relations, and sometimes in spite of themselves."--_Vid. Spectator_, London, June 14, 1873.

PART V.

THE EUROPEAN WAY.

"And let it appear that he doth not change his country manners for those of foreign parts, but only p.r.i.c.k in some flowers of that he hath learned abroad into the customs of his own country."--LORD BACON.

One branch of the stream of travel that flows with steadily-increasing volume across the Atlantic, from the western to the eastern continent, pa.s.ses from the United States, through Nova Scotia, to England. The traveller who follows this route is struck, almost as soon as he leaves the boundaries of the republic, with the difference between the physique of the inhabitants he encounters and that of those he has left behind him. The difference is most marked between the females of the two sections. The firmer step, fuller chest, and ruddier cheek of the Nova-Scotian girl foretell still greater differences of color, form, and strength that England and the Continent present. These differences impressed one who pa.s.sed through Nova Scotia not long ago very strongly. Her observations upon them are an excellent ill.u.s.tration of our subject, and they deserve to be read in this connection. Her remarks, moreover, are indirect but valuable testimony to the evils of our sort of identical education of the s.e.xes. "Nova Scotia," she says, "is a country of gracious surprises."

"But most beautiful among her beauties, most wonderful among her wonders, are her children. During two weeks' travel in the Provinces, I have been constantly more and more impressed by their superiority in appearance, size, and health, to the children of the New-England and Middle States. In the outset of our journey, I was struck by it; along all the roadsides they looked up, boys _and girls_, fair, broad-cheeked, st.u.r.dy-legged, such as with us are seen only now and then. I did not, however, realize at first that this was the universal law of the land, and that it pointed to something more than climate as a cause. But the first school that I saw, _en ma.s.se_, gave a startling impetus to the train of observation and influence into which I was unconsciously falling. It was a Sunday school in the little town of Wolfville, which lies between the Gaspereau and Cornwallis Rivers, just beyond the meadows of the Grand Pre, where lived Gabriel Lajeunesse, and Benedict Bellefontaine, and the rest of the 'simple Acadian farmers.' I arrived too early at one of the village churches; and, while I was waiting for a s.e.xton, a door opened, and out poured the Sunday school, whose services had just ended. On they came, dividing in the centre, and falling to the right and left about me, thirty or forty boys and girls, between the ages of seven and fifteen. They all had fair skins, red cheeks, and clear eyes; they were all broad-shouldered, straight, and st.u.r.dy; the younger ones were more than st.u.r.dy,--they were fat, from the ankles up. But perhaps the most noticeable thing of all was the quiet, st.u.r.dy, unhara.s.sed expression which their faces wore; a look which is the greatest charm of a child's face, but which we rarely see in children over two or three years old. Boys of eleven or twelve were there, with shoulders broader than the average of our boys at sixteen, and yet with the pure childlike look on their faces. Girls of ten or eleven were there, who looked almost like women,--that is, like ideal women,--simply because they looked so calm and undisturbed.... Out of them all there was but one child who looked sickly. He had evidently met with some accident, and was lame. Afterward, as the congregation a.s.sembled, I watched the fathers and _mothers_ of these children.

They, too, were broad-shouldered, tall, and straight, _especially the women_. Even old women were straight, like the negroes one sees at the South walking with burdens on their heads.

"Five days later I saw, in Halifax, the celebration of the anniversary of the settlement of the Province. The children of the city and of some of the neighboring towns marched in 'Bands of Hope,' and processions such as we see in the cities of the States on the Fourth of July. This was just the opportunity I wanted. It was the same here as in the country. I counted, on that day, just eleven sickly-looking children; no more! Such brilliant cheeks, such merry eyes, such evident strength,--it was a scene to kindle the dullest soul! There were scores of little ones there, whose droll, fat legs would have drawn a crowd in Central Park; and they all had that same quiet, composed, well-balanced expression of countenance of which I spoke before, and of which it would be hard to find an instance in all Central Park.

"Climate, undoubtedly, has something to do with this. The air is moist; and the mercury rarely rises above 80, or falls below 10.

Also the comparative quiet of their lives helps to make them so beautiful and strong. But the most significant fact to my mind is, that, until the past year, there have been in Nova Scotia no public schools, comparatively few private ones; and in these there is no severe pressure brought to bear on the pupils.... I must not be understood to argue from the health of the children of Nova Scotia, as contrasted with the lack of health among our children, that it is best to have no public schools; only that it is better to have no public schools than to have such public schools as are now killing off our children.... In Ma.s.sachusetts, the mortality from diseases of the brain and nervous system is eleven per cent. In Nova Scotia it is only eight per cent."[36]

It would be interesting and instructive to ascertain, if we could, the regimen of female education in Europe. The acknowledged and unmistakable differences between American and European girls and women--the delicate bloom, unnatural weakness, and premature decay of the former, contrasted with the bronzed complexion, developed form, and enduring force of the latter--are not adequately explained by climate. Given sufficient time, difference of climate will produce immense differences of form, color, and force in the same species of animals and men. But a century does not afford a period long enough for the production of great changes. That length of time could not transform the st.u.r.dy German fraulein and robust English damsel into the fragile American miss. Everybody recognizes and laments the change that has been and is going on. "The race of strong, hardy, cheerful girls, that used to grow up in country places, and made the bright, neat, New-England kitchens of olden times,--the girls that could wash, iron, brew, bake, harness a horse and drive him, no less than braid straw, embroider, draw, paint, and read innumerable books,--this race of women, pride of olden time, is daily lessening; and, in their stead, come the fragile, easy-fatigued, languid girls of a modern age, drilled in book-learning, ignorant of common things."[37] No similar change has been wrought, during the past century, upon the ma.s.s of females in Europe. There--

"Nature keeps the reverent frame With which her years began."

If we could ascertain the regimen of European female education, so as to compare it fairly with the American plan of the identical education of the s.e.xes, it is not impossible that the comparison might teach us how it is, that conservation of female force makes a part of trans-Atlantic, and deterioration of the same force a part of cis-Atlantic civilization. It is probable such an inquiry would show that the disregard of the female organization, which is a palpable and pervading principle of American education, either does not exist at all in Europe, or exists only in a limited degree.

With the hope of obtaining information upon this point, the writer addressed inquiries to various individuals, who would be likely to have the desired knowledge. Only a few answers to his inquiries have been received up to the present writing; more are promised by and by.

The subject is a delicate and difficult one to investigate. The reports of committees and examining boards, of ministers of instruction, and other officials, throw little or no light upon it.

The matter belongs so much to the domestic economy of the household and school, that it is not easy to learn much that is definite about it except by personal inspection and inquiry. The little information that has been received, however, is important. It indicates, if it does not demonstrate, an essential difference between the regimen or organization, using these terms in their broadest sense, of female education in America and in Europe.

Dr. H. Hagen, an eminent physician and naturalist of Konigsburg, Prussia, now connected with the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, writes from Germany, where he has been lately, in reply to these inquiries, as follows:--

NUREMBERG, July 23, 1873.

DEAR SIR,--The information, given by two prominent physicians in Berlin, in answer to the questions in your letter, is mostly of a negative character. I believe them to prove that generally girls here are doing very well as to the catamenial function.

First, most of the girls in North Germany begin this function in the fifteenth year, or even later; of course some few sooner, even in the twelfth year or before; but the rule is after the fifteenth year. Now, nearly all leave the school in the fifteenth year, and then follow some lectures given at home at leisure. The school-girls are of course rarely troubled by the periodical function.

There is an established kind of tradition giving the rule for the regimen during the catamenial period: this regimen goes from mother to daughter, and the advice of physicians is seldom asked for with regard to it. As a rule, the greatest care is taken to avoid any cold or exposure at this time. If the girls are still school-girls, they go to school, study and write as at other times, _provided the function is normally performed_.

School-girls never ride in Germany, nor are they invited to parties or to dancing-parties. All this comes after the school. And even then care is taken to _stay at home when the periodical function is present_.

Concerning the health of the German girls, as compared with American girls, the German physicians have not sufficient information to warrant any statement. But the health of the German girls is commonly good except in the higher cla.s.ses in the great capitals, where the same obnoxious agencies are to be found in Germany as in the whole world. But here also there is a very strong exception, or, better, a difference between America and Germany, as German girls are never accustomed to the free manners and modes of life of American girls. As a rule, in Germany, the mother directs the manner of living of the daughter entirely.

I shall have more and better information some time later.

Yours, H. HAGEN.