COLLEGE WOMEN

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 90, 13 October 1934, Page 18

COLLEGE WOMEN

"MAKE EXCELLENT WIVES"

Exception to the charge by Dr. W. P. Wilson of the Los Angeles Institute of Family Belations that the college woman when she becomes a wife."makes more "trouble than all the other classes of wives put together" is taken by Miss Agnes Ellen Harris, dean of women at the University of Alabama and president of the National Association of Deans of. Women, states the "Christian Science Monitor." She insists that '.college-, women -make excellent wives provided they marry educated men. • ■ '■: • : .- . '."...;' ;:■',. ' ' * Dean Harris issued the following defence of the college, woman:—

"It is true that the educated woman of today gives less of herself to marriage than the uneducated woman of the past. But that does not mean that she is less successful as a wife.

' ".The college i woman, with her knowledge and her many interests, refuses to be'~shoved completely into the background of her husband's life...;

"If the man is educated, if he is in step with modern standards of, living, ■he does not "want his wife to be tucked away in the background. He wants k mate who will keep pace with him, who will grow with him in.mentality through the years.", - ■'.':'■' ■ . .„

Dean Harris is convinced that, trouble begins when the college-girl marries an uneducated man with old-fashioned^ ideas. . .

"There is-no doubt that the 'coed' of today has high standards," Miss Harris continued. "She wants a comfortable and attractive ■ home. She wants to be able to lead an active social and civil life. And she certainly wants the means to rear and educate her children well. These high standards of living are responsible for women in the business and professional world.

"When I hear 'coeds' chattering on the campus about lofty peaks they

intend to scale in the professions, I smile to' myself. .

"I know that every last one of these girls desires, deep down in her heart, to marry a man who will be the whole support of his family," Dean Harris said. "-All of them dream of being perfect honiemakers and mothers. But they * are ■ forced/ to put ■ aside their dreams and realise that only a few menin these";times can/make the entire', living for their families if those families have' ordinarily/-high standards. Rather than lower their standards, the girls do their share of earning the family's income.. .. ;~. '. '' "The 'coed' marries before she receives her diploma usually cheats herself of the rightful enjoyment of college life. Even if she doesn't care for campus social life, she is running a greater risk ■ than if she waited a year or so after her graduation.- Maturity is necessary for the finest type of marriage. The maturing process goes on through the four years of college. And after the girl has remained single during the maturing process, I think that she is benefited by a couple of years of freedom." /,