Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/143

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CODY. Ill COEDUCATION. the line, in this ^^■ily earning the name 'Buffalo Bill.' He was afiain with the army as scmit from 1808 to 1872, when he was elected to the Nebraska Legislature, lie served iu the Kifth Cavalry iu the Sioux War of 1876, and in the battle of ludian Creek killed Chief Yellow Hand. In 1883 he organized his 'Wild West Show,' a representation of actual life on the plains, and in 1887 took the '.show' to Europe for the first time. COEDUCATION" (Lat. co-, together + edu- catio, education, from educare, to bring up, to educate). The association of the sexes in the same classes for instruction is a system that prevails generally in the public elementary schools of the United States and quite exten- sively in Europe. Except in a few large Eastern cities, as Xew York and Boston, the free public elementary school in the United States is a mixed school. On the other hand, somewhat less than half the private elementaiy schools in this country are either for boys, or for girls, ex- clusively, and in 1899-1900 about 9 per cent, of the pu]iil3 receiving elementary instruction were in such schools. The Englisli elementary schools have since 1891 become practically free, and largely coeducational. In France each commune having more than 500 inhabitants must establish a separate elementary school for girls, unless a mixed school is sanctioned by the de- partmental council. In Prussia the Volksschu- ien, or people's schools, were, according to the law of 1871, advised to separate the sexes wher- ever possiI)le, except when there were only two teachers in a school. Nevertheless, in 1896 the mixed schools exceeded the others by more than half. In Switzerland the elementary schools are very largely mixed schools : but the course of study and the length of the course in some cantons vary for the sexes, while in Basel the boys' and girls' schools are separate. In Sweden practically all. and in Austria 85 per cent, of the public elementary schools, are coeducational ; ■while in Italy the reverse is true, only about one- fifth of the schools of this grade having such a character. When, however, we turn to secondary educa- tion, we find that in Europe the sexes are almost universally separated. In Prussia the various classes of G^^nnasium and Realsehulen are. with the exception of a few girls' gymnasia, for boys exclusively. Elsewhere in Germany, where girls are given public secondary education, as in Bavaria, Saxony, and Baden, their schools are separated. The French public secondary school system consists of State Ij'cees and commimal colleges for boys and girls separately. The sec- ondary schools of Switzerland and for the most part those of Sweden keep the sexes apart. Eng- land has no public secondary schools for girls. The private secondary schools are, to a slight extent, coeducational when they are predomi- nantly day schools or contain younger children. In the United States the contrast is striking. In 1899 there were 5495 public high schools, of which 5439 were coeducational. 22 for girls only, and 34 for boys. Of 1957 private secondai-y schools, 1092 were coeducational, 541 for girls, and 324 for boys, exclusively. The public normal schools in 1898-99 numbered 166. Of these, two were distinctly for women : twelve had no men in attendance, though ])resumably coeducational : the rest contained both sexes. Of the 165 private normal schools five prepare kindergarten teachers and have no men in attendance, one is distinctly for women, wliile two otlicrs have no men, and three no women in attendance. The rest have a mi.xed attendance. The English training-schools for teaeliers, the French primary and superior normal schools, and the Prussian normal schools separate the sexes. An examination of the facts stated above will show that so far as Europe is concerned they bear out the general theory current there, that the se.xes should be separated as far as possible in education. Wherever separate schools can he maintained, the French and Prussian systems require them, and they are plainly favored by the English. Since, however, elementary in- struction has come to be regarded as necessary for both se.xes, wherever financial considerations prevent separate schools, the elementary school is mixed. And it is this financial consideration that has most largely been the occasion of mixed schools in the United States. Through the efforts of Horace Mann, a system of town coedu- cational high schools was in 1826 initiated in Massachvisetts. and from that time on such schools spread, at first slowly, then rapidly, throughout the Republic, until to-day they are almost within reach of all. The victory of public secondary education was in general the victory of coeducation. The Civil War placed both elementary and .secondary education largely in the hands of women teachers. There accordingly followed a demand on their part for better opportunities for instruction. Oberlin Collegiate Institute in Ohio had, in 1833. admitted women. In 1855 Antioch College, also in Ohio, was founded — co- educational from the beginning, and having as its first president Horace ilann. the ardent advo- cate of this system. The following State univer- sities were from the beginning coeducational : Utah, opened in 1850: Iowa, opened in 1856; Washington, opened in 1862; Kansas, opened in 1860; Minnesota, opened in 1868; and Nebra.ska, opened in 1871. The State universities of In- diana and Michigan admitted women in 1868 and 1870 respectively. To-day, of the thirty- two State traiversities, all except those of Vir- ginia, Georgia, and Louisiana are coeducational. Of private colleges, Cornell, after an investi- gation and stimulated by a generous offer from Henry W. Sage, admitted women in 1872, Other private institutions were, however, somewhat slow to follow. Boston University, founded in 1873, admitted women from the first, and in 1883 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology became coeducational. To-day, of fifty-eight leading colleges and universities, four are inde- pendent colleges for women, three are women's colleges affiliated with colleges for men, thirty are coeducational, and of the remaining twenty- one, five have affiliated women's colleges. In addition, all the great university foundations, except Harvard and Princeton, admit women to graduate instruction. Only twelve of the fifty- eight institutions admit women to none of their departments: and these are, with one or two exceptions, on the Atlantic seaboard. Women • are also rapidly gaining ground in the profes- sional colleges. In 1899 eighty out of 149 col- leges of medicine, sixty-four out of eighty-six colleges of law, forty-four otit of fifty-six colleges of dentistry, and forty-eight out of fifty-two eol-