CO-EDUCATION

Modern education have come to regard the purpose of education not merely as the production of scholars, but as a preparation for the problems and vicissitudes of later life. That the habits formed during school years often determine ultimate happiness and unhappiness for the individual is a generally conceded fact. Since marriage and the elements that combine for success in married life are important in the realization of this happiness, the current tendency towards co-education in progressive schools should be viewed with interest.

The segregation of boys and girls which is a recognized part of the present educational system has a number of disadvantages. These separated during the years of their greatest development receive a distorted view of the opposite sex. Their future life partners are for them enigmas. They see them only under artificial circumstances, at dances and other social functions. Their attitude towards sex tends to become morbid and unhealthy. They have never learned by working together to adjust themselves to each other. The natural companionship between the sexes, which is so necessary for happy married life, is denied them.

Co-education in colleges, since it comes so late in the development of the boy and girl is often inefficacious. But despite this fact, statistics show that there are fewer divorces in marriages among students of co-educational universities than in the case of ordinary one's. Maladjustments are less frequent. How much more valuable would be the right sort of co-education in preparatory schools. The idea, as being developed in several schools notably the Cambridge school in Weston has already shown signs of success. It may be that the results of these experiments will have a profound effect on the future of education.