Jean
Paul says, "To insure modesty, I would advise the education of the
sexes together; for two boys will preserve twelve girls, or two girls
twelve boys, innocent amidst winks, jokes, and improprieties, merely
by that instinctive sense which is the forerunner of matured modesty.
But I will guarantee nothing in a school where girls are alone
together, and still less when boys are." A certain amount of
juxta-position is an advantage to each sex. More than a certain amount
is an evil to both. Instinct and common sense can be safely left to
draw the line of demarcation. At the same time it is well to remember
that juxtaposition may be carried too far. Temptations enough beset
the young, without adding to them. Let learning and purity go hand in
hand.
There are two considerations appertaining to this subject, which,
although they do not belong to the physiology of the matter, deserve
to be mentioned in this connection. One amounts to a practical
prohibition, for the present at least, of the experiment of the
special and appropriate co-education of the sexes; and the other is an
inherent difficulty in the experiment itself. The former can be
removed whenever those who heartily believe in the success of the
experiment choose to get rid of it; and the latter by patient and
intelligent effort.
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