Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER IV.

HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN.

General statement.-Description of new institutions: Barnard College; Woman's College of Baltimore; Cleveland College for Women; Evelyn College.

Summary of Statistics: Number of institutions; Endowment Funds; Scientific Apparatus; Benefactions; Income; Degrees. Course of Study for A. B. degree in fifteen Institutions.

GENERAL STATEMENT.

The higher education of women continues to receive marked attention in this country, several institutions for this purpose having been established during the past few years. These institutions make provision for instruction of collegiate grade and are not merely "finishing" schools. The tendency seems to be to establish these institutions as colleges affiliated to universities already established, or at least to locate them in cities where leading universities exist, thus securing to these new schools the advantages of large and well-selected libraries, museums, etc., facilities which otherwise could not be obtained until after a long period of years. Another advantage gained by locating them in university towns consists in this, that very frequently the services of some of the university professors or instructors whose time is not fully occupied with their regular duties can be easily secured for a part of the day. In this manner nearly all the instruction in a few of the more prominent of these institutions is provided by university professors, and this fact has done much toward making their work successful. A short account of the establishment of some of the institutions recently founded is here given.

DESCRIPTION OF NEW INSTITUTIONS.

Barnard College.-Since the year 1885 Columbia College, New York, has granted the degree of bachelor of arts to women who have pursued a course of study equivalent to that for which the degree is conferred in the school of arts. Notwithstanding the degree was conferred by the college no provision was made by which the women pursuing this course could obtain instruction from the faculty, although those who had secured this degree might study for higher degrees under the direction of the professors of the college. The suggestion was therefore made to found a college where women studying for the Columbia degrees could receive instruction from the college faculty. This proposal received the official approval of the trustees of Columbia in March, 1889, and the college was opened for instruction in the following October. The name given to the new institution is Barnard College, in honor of the late Dr. F. A. P. Barnard, who had always taken great interest in the higher education of women and had advocated granting to women full opportunity for collegiate training. The course of study is identical with that of the School of Arts of Columbia College, and is intended to give to the girls of New York and its vicinity the same instruction that is given to the boys. In order that the status of this institution may be made clear the following is reprinted from the first report of the academic committee:

"The entrance examination papers are the same for the students of Barnard and Columbia, the papers are passed upon by the same examining board, the course of study is the same, and at the end of the course the degree awarded is the same. These facts are emphasized because nothing is so constantly mis

understood as the fact that Barnard College has no separate academic existence. Educationally considered, Barnard is Columbia. Its only autonomy is administrative and financial."

The establishment of Barnard College rendered unnecessary the continuance of the collegiate course for women by Columbia, and no new students in that course are received; but those who have already been admitted to the course will be allowed to complete it.

Barnard College does not yet possess an endowment fund, but depends for its support upon the fees from its students and upon yearly contributions. Strenuous efforts are being made to raise an endowment sufficient to make the institution in a measure independent of students' fees.

Although Barnard has no productive funds,' on account of its relations with Columbia College it has been able to exact that its students should be fully prepared to enter upon the course as laid down. It has been decided by the authorities, as a result of the experience of the first year, to accept, at least for some years to come, only regular students in its undergraduate classes. This was rendered necessary by the large number of students who wished to enter upon special courses. Students who wish to pursue special courses in botany and chemistry only will be admitted, but such students must pass the examinations required for admission to the freshman class. The first year's work of the college proved successful. There were thirty-six students in attendance, which number was increased to forty-five at the beginning of the second year; of these, eighteen are in the regular classes, eight are graduate students, and sixteen are specials in chemistry and botany only, while three are specials from last year who are permitted to remain.

Woman's College of Baltimore.—Another addition to the institutions for the higher education of women is the Woman's College of Baltimore, Maryland. This institution was first opened for instruction in Septemb r, 1888, with fifty students, while the number in attendance during the year 1889-90 was two hundred and eighty-three. Of this number only thirty were in attendance upon regular undergraduate courses, one hundred and thirty-three were in special or partial courses, while the remainder were in the preparatory department. The name of this department has been changed to Girls' Latin School of Baltimore and the purpose is to give it a separate organization.

The institution was founded to provide women with the best facilities for securing liberal culture. Its primary purpose is to meet the educational demands arising in the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was established by action of that church, and is conducted under its fostering care. At the same time it was not planned and is not managed in an exclusive or sectarian spirit."""

The buildings, three in number, have been erected since 1887 and are valued at $340,000, while the productive funds of the college amount to $150,000. The president of the institution is Rev. John F. Goucher, D. D.

The scheme of instruction consists of four years' courses of study leading to the degree of bachelor of arts, supplemented by such instruction in subcollegiate courses as may be found necessary. No election of studies is allowed in the first collegiate year and but little in the second. In the third and fourth years a wide range of choice is permitted, to accord with individual tastes or to meet the demands of preparation for practical work.

Cleveland College for Women.-The Cleveland College for Women, Cleveland, Ohio, was first opened for instruction in 1888 as a department of Western Reserve University. At the same time the trustees of the university decided to receive no more women into Adelbert College. That the success of the new school might be assured, the faculty of Adelbert College generously offered their services for a term of years as instructors. During the first year twenty-three young women were admitted, but two of whom were in the regular courses. During 1889-90 the number of students increased to thirty-eight, eleven of whom were in the regular courses, of which there are three, viz, the classical and modern language courses, leading to the degree of A. B. and the Latin English course to that of PH. B. The institution received $100,000 from Mrs. Eliza A. Clark, one-half of which is to be used for the erection of a building and the remainder invested as an endowment fund.

Evelyn College.-In 1887 Evelyn College, an institution for women, was opened at Princeton, N. J. Its location at this place gives the institution very great advantages, inasmuch as the use of the libraries and museums of the College of

1 On the settlement of the Fayerweather estate, New York, Barnard will receive a fund of $100,000. 2 Annual catalogue, 1890.

New Jersey, popularly known as Princeton College, are granted to the students. The college offers the following courses of study:

I. A classical and scientific course corresponding to that of Princeton College, including the lectures of the professors and examinations upon them.

II. Post-graduate courses under the direction of the professors of Princeton College.

III. A special or elective course with lectures and college advantages, in which French and German may be substituted for Latin and Greek, and other modifications made to meet the requirements of those who, for want of time or for other reasons, are prevented from taking the full college course.

IV. Preparatory classes, with reference to either collegiate or special work. V. Opportunities for the study of music, art, and modern languages, including constant conversation in French and German.

Evelyn College grants its own degrees, and in this respect it differs from Barnard College, whose students receive the Columbia degree. Another point of difference between these two institutions is that while Evelyn gives instruction in preparatory studies, Barnard receives only those as students who are already prepared to enter the freshman class. Thus of the forty-six students in attendance at Evelyn during the year 1889–90, only four are reported as in the regular undergraduate courses.

PREPARATORY DEPARTMENTS, ETC.

It can not but be deplored that so many of the higher institutions of learning in this country are compelled, either through the lack of good preparatory schools or on account of insufficient endowment funds, to maintain preparatory and other departments which are neither collegiate, professional, nor postgraduate. The maintenance of such departments calls for a part of the valuable time of a number of professors which otherwise could be devoted entirely to the collegiate classes or be spent in the necessary study and research so indispensable to the college professor of the present time. But the large number of institutions claiming to give higher instruction, especially those for women, renders it necessary for the larger part of them to maintain all grades of instruction, so that a large number of students may be enrolled, the tuition fees of whom are necessary to meet the expenses of the institutions. Some idea of the amount of labor that is imposed on some of the professors of colleges may be formed from the fact that in one of the colleges for women five professors give all the instruction to sixty students in the preparatory department, twenty students in the seminary or academic department, and fifty students in the collegiate department, to say nothing of the instruction in music and art, which of course is furnished by these professors.

A majority of the colleges for women are without endowment and are therefore compelled to rely in great part if not entirely upon the fees received from the students. This is especially the case with the large number of such institutions in the South, where more than 68 per cent of all the institutions for the higher education of women exclusively are situated.

The list of colleges for women contains a large number of institutions which should really be classed as secondary schools, but which, by virtue of the authority to confer degrees granted them by the several State legislatures, demand to be included in the table devoted to colleges for women. This fact necessitates the incorporation in this table of institutions not authorized to confer degrees, but which maintain courses of study that are by far superior to the courses for which regular collegiate degrees are conferred by a large number of the institutions. In order to show how easy it is to obtain a degree in one of these the following course of study for which the degree of A. B. is conferred is taken from its catalogue:

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

A comparison of this course with the admission requirements of institutions like Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, etc., shows that the above course for the first three years is little more than what is required for admission to the freshman classes of institutions like those above named. Again, it will be seen that Greek has no place whatsoever in the curriculum. The above course is a fair sample of the courses of study offered by a number of colleges for women and shows that there is room for considerable improvement in this class of institutions.

This state of affairs is due. without doubt, to the lack of endowment funds. In connection with this subject W. Le Conte Stevens says: "Experience has amply demonstrated that no institution of learning can preserve a high standard of scholarship and present an extensive course of studies for selection unless possessed of a permanent endowment, so as to be wholly or partly independent of the fluctuations of patronage. Without this it is like an engine without a flywheel." A glance at column 17 of the table of colleges for women will show that this important feature of institutions for higher education is rendered prominent by its infrequent appearance in the tabulation of the statistics. The table on the following page shows that the total amount of endowment funds reported by the 179 institutions is $2,609,661, of which amount $1.901,461, or 72.8 per cent, is reported by 12 institutions of the North Atlantic Division.

In a large number of cases the institutions are either owned by the president or leased to him by the owners, and he makes out of it whatever he can. In this respect these institutions differ very materially from the coeducational and male institutions, where the president is generally engaged by a board of trustees, by whom his work and actions are controlled and from whom he receives a stated salary.

SUMMARY OF STATISTICS.

The following table presents the summary, by States, of the statistics of colleges for women for the year 1889–90:

1 North American Review, vol. 136. p. 28.

State.

No. of institutions.

Male.

Female.

TABLE 1.-Summary of statistics of colleges for women for 1889-90.

Professors and in

structors.

Students.

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

State scholarships.

Other scholarships.

ries. Volumes in libra

Value of scientific apparatus.

Value of grounds and buildings.

Productive funds.

Benefactions.

« AnteriorContinuar »