第 11 节
作者:
冬儿 更新:2022-04-05 13:37 字数:9321
is is so they only followed up the precedent of the recognised method in use in America。 When an American college is established; the women go and build a college of their own overlooking the grounds。 Then they put on becoming caps and gowns and stand and look over the fence at the college athletics。 The male undergraduates; who were originally and by nature a hardy lot; were not easily disturbed。 But inevitably some of the senior trustees fell in love with the first year girls and became convinced that coeducation was a noble cause。 American statistics show that between 1880 and 1900 the number of trustees and senior professors who married girl undergraduates or who wanted to do so reached a percentage of;I forget the exact percentage; it was either a hundred or a little over。
I don't know just what happened at Oxford but presumably something of the sort took place。 In any case the women are now all over the place。 They attend the college lectures; they row in a boat; and they perambulate the High Street。 They are even offering a serious competition against the men。 Last year they carried off the ping…pong championship and took the chancellor's prize for needlework; while in music; cooking and millinery the men are said to be nowhere。
There is no doubt that unless Oxford puts the women out while there is yet time; they will overrun the whole university。 What this means to the progress of learning few can tell and those who know are afraid to say。
Cambridge University; I am glad to see; still sets its face sternly against this innovation。 I am reluctant to count any superiority in the University of Cambridge。 Having twice visited Oxford; having made the place a subject of profound study for many hours at a time; having twice addressed its undergraduates; and having stayed at the Mitre Hotel; I consider myself an Oxford man。 But I must admit that Cambridge has chosen the wiser part。
Last autumn; while I was in London on my voyage of discovery; a vote was taken at Cambridge to see if the women who have already a private college nearby; should be admitted to the university。 They were triumphantly shut out; and as a fit and proper sign of enthusiasm the undergraduates went over in a body and knocked down the gates of the women's college。 I know that it is a terrible thing to say that any one approved of this。 All the London papers came out with headings that read;ARE OUR UNDERGRADUATES TURNING INTO BABOONS? and so on。 The Manchester Guardian draped its pages in black and even the London Morning Post was afraid to take bold ground in the matter。 But I do know also that there was a great deal of secret chuckling and jubilation in the London clubs。 Nothing was expressed openly。 The men of England have been too terrorised by the women for that。
But in safe corners of the club; out of earshot of the waiters and away from casual strangers; little groups of elderly men chuckled quietly together。 〃Knocked down their gates; eh?〃 said the wicked old men to one another; and then whispered guiltily behind an uplifted hand; 〃Serve 'em right。〃 Nobody dared to say anything outside。 If they had some one would have got up and asked a question in the House of Commons。 When this is done all England falls flat upon its face。
But for my part when I heard of the Cambridge vote; I felt as Lord Chatham did when he said in parliament; 〃Sir; I rejoice that America has resisted。〃 For I have long harboured views of my own upon the higher education of women。 In these days; however; it requires no little hardihood to utter a single word of criticism against it。 It is like throwing half a brick through the glass roof of a conservatory。 It is bound to make trouble。 Let me hasten; therefore; to say that I believe most heartily in the higher education of women; in fact; the higher the better。 The only question to my mind is: What is 〃higher education〃 and how do you get it? With which goes the secondary enquiry; What is a woman and is she just the same as a man? I know that it sounds a terrible thing to say in these days; but I don't believe she is。
Let me say also that when I speak of coeducation I speak of what I know。 I was coeducated myself some thirty…five years ago; at the very beginning of the thing。 I learned my Greek alongside of a bevy of beauty on the opposite benches that mashed up the irregular verbs for us very badly。 Incidentally; those girls are all married long since; and all the Greek they know now you could put under a thimble。 But of that presently。
I have had further experience as well。 I spent three years in the graduate school of Chicago; where coeducational girls were as thick as autumn leaves; and some thicker。 And as a college professor at McGill University in Montreal; I have taught mingled classes of men and women for twenty years。
On the basis of which experience I say with assurance that the thing is a mistake and has nothing to recommend it but its relative cheapness。 Let me emphasise this last point and have done with it。 Coeducation is of course a great economy。 To teach ten men and ten women in a single class of twenty costs only half as much as to teach two classes。 Where economy must rule; then; the thing has got to be。 But where the discussion turns not on what is cheapest; but on what is best; then the case is entirely different。
The fundamental trouble is that men and women are different creatures; with different minds and different aptitudes and different paths in life。 There is no need to raise here the question of which is superior and which is inferior (though I think; the Lord help me; I know the answer to that too)。 The point lies in the fact that they are different。
But the mad passion for equality has masked this obvious fact。 When women began to demand; quite rightly; a share in higher education; they took for granted that they wanted the same curriculum as the men。 They never stopped to ask whether their aptitudes were not in various directions higher and better than those of the men; and whether it might not be better for their sex to cultivate the things which were best suited to their minds。 Let me be more explicit。 In all that goes with physical and mathematical science; women; on the average; are far below the standard of men。 There are; of course; exceptions。 But they prove nothing。 It is no use to quote to me the case of some brilliant girl who stood first in physics at Cornell。 That's nothing。 There is an elephant in the zoo that can count up to ten; yet I refuse to reckon myself his inferior。
Tabulated results spread over years; and the actual experience of those who teach show that in the whole domain of mathematics and physics women are outclassed。 At McGill the girls of our first year have wept over their failures in elementary physics these twenty…five years。 It is time that some one dried their tears and took away the subject。
But; in any case; examination tests are never the whole story。 To those who know; a written examination is far from being a true criterion of capacity。 It demands too much of mere memory; imitativeness; and the insidious willingness to absorb other people's ideas。 Parrots and crows would do admirably in examinations。 Indeed; the colleges are full of them。
But take; on the other hand; all that goes with the aesthetic side of education; with imaginative literature and the cult of beauty。 Here women are; or at least ought to be; the superiors of men。 Women were in primitive times the first story…tellers。 They are still so at the cradle side。 The original college woman was the witch; with her incantations and her prophecies and the glow of her bright imagination; and if brutal men of duller brains had not burned it out of her; she would be incanting still。 To my thinking; we need more witches in the colleges and less physics。
I have seen such young witches myself;if I may keep the word: I like it;in colleges such as Wellesley in Massachusetts and Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania; where there isn't a man allowed within the three mile limit。 To my mind; they do infinitely better thus by themselves。 They are freer; less restrained。 They discuss things openly in their classes; they lift up their voices; and they speak; whereas a girl in such a place as McGill; with men all about her; sits for four years as silent as a frog full of shot。
But there is a deeper trouble still。 The careers of the men and women who go to college together are necessarily different; and the preparation is all aimed at the man's career。 The men are going to be lawyers; doctors; engineers; business men; and politicians。 And the women are not。
There is no use pretending about it。 It may sound an awful thing to say; but the women are going to be married。 That is; and always has been; their career; and; what is more; they know it; and even at college; while they are studying algebra and political economy; they have their eye on it sideways all the time。 The plain fact is that; after a girl has spent four years of her time and a great deal of her parents' money in equipping herself for a career that she is never going to have; the wretched creature goes and gets married; and in a few years she has forgotten which is the hypotenuse of a right…angled triangle; and she doesn't care。 She