n to men and women, some (like engineering)
suitable for men only, and others (like advanced instruction in
home-science, or certain courses of professional preparation for
teachers of young children) which will rarely be attended by any but
women. Common use of the same university institutions is compatible with
much differentiation in courses of study and with separately organized
forms of collegiate life. It is with regard to the part of education
which lies between the elementary schools and the universities that the
sharpest division of opinion upon the principle of co-education now
exists. In Europe, with the exception of Scandinavia, those who advocate
co-education of the sexes in secondary schools up to 18 or 19 years of
age are at present in a distinct minority, even as regards day schools,
and still more when they propose to apply the same principle to boarding
schools. But the application of the co-educational principle to all
schools alike is favoured by an apparently increasing number of men and
women. This movement in opinion is connected with the increase in the
number of girls desiring access to secondary schools, a demand which can
most easily and economically be met by granting to girls access to some
of the existing schools for boys. The co-educational movement is also
connected with a strong view of sex equality. It is furthered by the
rapidly increasing number of women teachers who are available for higher
educational work. Mixed secondary schools with mixed staffs are
spreading for reasons of economy in smaller towns and rural districts.
In large towns separate schools are usually recommended in preference,
but much depends upon the social tradition of the neighbourhood. Those
who advocate co-education for boys and girls in secondary schools urge
it mainly on the ground of its naturalness and closer conformity to the
conditions of healthy, unselfconscious home life. They believe it to be
a protective against uncleanness of talk and school immorality. They
point to its convenience and economy. They welcome co-education as
likely to bring with it a healthy radicalism in regard to the older
tradition of studies in boys' secondary schools. They approve it as
leading to mixed staffs of men and women teachers, and as the most
effectual way of putting girls in a position of reasonable equality with
boys in respect of intellectual and civic opportunity. On the other
hand, those who oppose co-education in sec