Show TAfT TALKS iH i TO GIRLS OF I BRYN BRYNMAWR MAWR Expresses Firm Belief in ln inthe the H Higher gher Education of Women REVIEWS CENTURY OF ADVANCE IN EDUCATION N The Educated Woman Not Not Necessarily Conventional Blue StocKing PHILADELPHIA June Tune 2 2 President Taft raft in his address t to- to the graduates s of Bryn Mawr college today on woman woman's womans 1 college collego education spoke spoke spoke-in in p part tt as follows fol fol- lows I Your pre president ident has ha asked mo inc at athis this his commencement to sa say flo something in respect to the tho hi higher her education of w w wo men It is of course a tb theme me most relevant ant and germane to the tho occasion n but it is one ono of which I bee hesitate to speak in tho the presence of those who have havo made it their lifo liCe study and whose opinions in regard to tho tho matter are aro of so much mo more c weight than my ray own The president reviewed th tho advances advances' made in educational advantages for orb forb both th sexes since 1800 Continuing the tho president said I dissent from the view that that an academic education unfits a a. man or woman f for r business It may be bo that the tastes that lead one to an aca academic demic education aro are not those which in insure in sure business success but that th tho men mental mental mental men men- tal discipline the tho power of reasoning the tho cultivation aHon and comparison of ide ideas s are aro not of assistance in business transactions trans trans- actions in which tho the bi highest qu quality of mind are aro acutely in action can hardly bo be true But it is said that women aro are not all going oin into tho the professions so that the education necessary as a a 3 basis fora for fora a professional c care career r is is' not needed b by those who have hae a competency n ney y to leo look forward forwar Jo to marriage e a andY and 1 mother h c is as as t the chief c ends or of woman Pr Presents I.- I. Op Z m rt s' s nug th t 6 er l Of f- f iTh im f t d discharge i har o the d duties it of oi and mother th that t in iri im siu some or tb i it robs them of ofa a charm add gives v s theman them theman an intellectual ind independence that is iii inconsistent in jD- consistent with their bein being th the best wives and mothers I 1 utterly dissent from this view view The Tho c companionship of married life lifo is the chief charm and reason for its being so so far faras as it relates to tho the two persons persona c concerned The enjoyment of the home with children and the training of them are of course among tho the most import important ant duties and pleasures of married lifo life an and it certainly does docs not detract from tho the power of a woman to mako make a good companion or to teach and train her ber children u Ut to hi high h ideals that she should have havo the advantage of the tho higher education It is not essential that a woman who knows much must conform to the unattractive manner and ways of the conventional blue stocking that sho she should mako make tho the extent of her knowledge know know- ledge e a source of discomfort to those with whom she associates or that she should loso lose her ber interest in tho the sentiment senti ment meat and emotions of life or fail to have nn an appreciation of beauty and roman romance I am quite ready to concede th that t marriage and motherhood are a ft normal status for woman and other things be being b lug ing equal she Is happier in that condition condition condi condL- tion lea than in any other But this Is far ti from saying that a womans woman's life is a failure because she ehe has not married and that her hel life may not b be a failure be because beshe be- be cause she has married The home and tho the family are the nucleus of or the highest highest high high- est eat happiness but If It circumstances ar are at such as a's to force women to accept husbands husbands husbands hus hus- bands whom they do not respect and love 8 and whom hom they would not marry muTY except to e escape cape a life lire of or poverty tho the home and the tho family r are not likely to ba bs a amodel amodel amodel model or to furnish an ideal Education Gives Independence One of or the great advantages ad of the higher education for woman in my jud Judgment Judg Judg- mont ment Is In the tho independence that it gives her hor In the choice of or tho the kind of or life which she sho he is to lead In Iii the profession of ot teaching the women already have havo the advantage nd over o the tho men Inen In point of ot numbers It Is true that they do not receive the tho same compensation compensation com corn as mono mon I dont don't know how thIs can be remedied I presume that the salaries received are arc affected by tho the same law as that which controls prices in tn other othel markets to wit The law Jaw of supply and demand and as ns there are more female teachers than male teachers and 8 BM as the common opinion Is 15 In many instances that there ought to bo some men teachers the men receive higher gala ties rica We cannot bo be blind to the tho general movement In favor of ot opening more and more occupations not dependent on physical physical cal strength to tho ho female seX I q dont don't think wo we can estimate the tho enormous advantage that the he present generation has enjo enjoyed cd and that the future future fu future fu- fu ture generations are to profit by In the Increasingly ly sound and thorough education education education tion of or the thc moths mothers of or families I I dont don't think we can estimate tho Increased increased In Increased in- in creased happiness that men and women wornon have havo experienced who as husbands and ana and wives have enjoyed the higher sense of or companionship that is made possible by bv bythe bytho tho the Intellectual s sympathy and association of Ideas between two thoroughly educated people Education for Itself The higher education of or woman oman should be sought bought wholly without regard to a 8 professional or matrimonial future The mental discipline that it affords the mental mon men tal pleasures that It makes possible the enjoyment of ot reading leading and 1 study that Jt it invites are are enough In and of ot themselves to to be compensation for tor the tho effort In securing se- se CU curing As lire It wears on and tIme the active years year and Womanhood womanhood womanhood woman woman- wear away as youth young oung hood and young young- manhood disappear and the lie time Ume of or quiet leisure extends Itself in ones one's lire life the purely intellectual joys jOS be become become be- be come orne better and f if one has a 1 mind trained for tor use In solving Int intellectual problems and in reading reading- tho the philosophy of ot history In the tho study of or science the pursuit of art her life lite Is richer her means of or self entertainment largely tn In- In Continued on pa page o 12 TAFT TALKS Continued from P page g I 1 c creased d and anal th the possibility of ot a A. serene aserene old ilK ago made Hide much Ir greater ater I clo I wish to call attention to one advantage nd that I think there Is lt In iii tim thi Independent womans woman's college It may he be that m my view of ot this is In Inspired by b that lint sense of at Infallibility which Dr David Starr Jordan ascribes as us a n result of the tho training at lit Harvard or Yale but whatever Its cl I 1 cannot help giving expression to It It It seenia fIems to in me that there thoro must bo bl n. n close analogy In the derived from ruin rom th the th j associations of life Ufa In Bryn Mawr Maw and nd those thOS which oven every I graduate of ot a 11 college and university like I Yale values even Iwen moro more highly than ho he dOt Io Ios s the mental dl discipline and th the tho learning learn leorn- lag ing which he lie acquires from his college u College Collego Fri Friendships The friendships which aio c formed In n college by an art association of ot four tour years year at sit a n time timo of ot life lito when our OUI natures are arc malleable when out our characters are aro being formed when wr we r arc not old enough h to have had our seln selfishness I when we wc respond moro more quickly to the emotions 1 when ahen hen our Ideals of or friendship and our actual friendships are aro more nearly the same arc are more mOT enduring than friendships trl formed thereafter Th They y ure are trl friendships that bear th the touch of time and the tue rus rust of or absence Thc They arc are friendships that can call ho bo taken up upon a moment after an ar interval of ot twenty years and i seem cm as fresh and as fragrant as ns the tho flower oer o'er o otho of the tho friendship when it first budded There Thero Is ono one danger of or a n college edu education cation catlon and four years years' life lite under tinder coll college ge influences that It seems wl wise e to warn wan agaInst It Is Js th tho he danger of or discern discontent ten with Uh the surroundings of ot this Hie home to which n rL college girl goes back Dad after graduation and tho lie yielding to tho tim feelIng feeling feel feel- In ing that her hoer own town ton or city riots does no not otter orIel to her tho the opportunities which silo she is entitled to In tho lisa of or the education which hi h Hh site she has hUI acquired It gives cs her het after she hp Is settled at nt home again a a. nl nil spirit a 11 longing for something she docs does not have havo a a. spirit of ot criticism toward everything c which surrounds her hoer nI a-nI U a consequent Inability to contribute to the happiness of or those thos thOE with wih whom she lives or 01 comes come In contact This Is If not trie right result of or thin tho higher education A young oun l hub uly with wih ti u higher education huns lias haq much to learn lear after graduation In th tim homely details and arid the drudgeries o of ordinary ordinal life and the tIm sooner sho loo learns It I time the happier and the earlier carUm she can adapt to its ItH tH hl highest u use the tIm and md- nd tho the mental training acquired in c col cal cal- l- l lege lese |