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nBoston,nMassachusetts, is a lovely city, and the nearby town of Cambridge isnthe home of onenof the most prestigious universities in the U.S., Harvard. ElizabethnCabot Agassiz (born Elizabeth Cary on this date in 1822) lived in Boston,nand when her sister married a Harvard professor, Elizabeth began tonhang out with a group of professors and other intellectuals innCambridge. That’s where she met her husband, a Swiss scientist namednLouis Agassiz.
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nElizabethnAgassiz worked with her husband at his scientific research andnaccompanied him on his expeditions. She also started a school forngirls, and her husband and other Harvard professors taught classesnthere. After her husband died, Agassiz published several books onnnatural history and, in 1894, helped start Radcliffe College forngirls and women. She was the college’s first president.
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| Helen Keller was one of Radcliffe’s most famous graduates. |
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nInnthe first half of the 19th century, women were not allowednto attend colleges or universities, although there were a fewnall-female academies. After the Civil War, some colleges began to bencoed—which means men and women together on the same college campus.nSome women thought that “separate but equal colleges” were nevernreally equal. For many years, most universities remained all-male, andnstarting a nearby “sister” college was the best option to helpnwomen get a university education. Radcliffe, the “sister” college tonHarvard, was one of the “Seven Sisters colleges.”
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nThesendays, most colleges are coed, but there are still about 60 women’s collegesnand three non-religious men’s colleges. (There are many religiousnschools that are all-male.) Radcliffe became a part of Harvard University, starting in 1977, with full integration achieved by 1999.
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nWhatndo you think? What are the advantages and disadvantages to havingnsingle-sex colleges, as opposed to coed colleges? Can separate butnequal work?
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nAlsonon this Date:
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nDay of the Ninja
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nSinter Klaas
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nAnniversary of Mozart‘s Death – 1791
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