EQUAL TO MEN?
Perspectives on women's education from the Cotteysphere
Fully realizing, we trust, the great fact that God has called woman to a high
and holy destiny in that He has commissioned her to be a co-laborer with Himself
in the great work of enlightening and saving the world, we desire to open a
school that shall have for its prime object the adjustment of woman to this her
natural and God-given relation. A school for the education and training of girls
demands vastly more than that which is contained in the ordinary curriculum. The
moral, religious and domestic elements are all necessary for a symmetrical development.
Virginia Alice Cottey,
Cottey Founder & President, 1884
[T]he domestic element so commonly overlooked, is by no means of least importance,
since upon it depends in large measure that which give happiness and prosperity to
our country—healthy and happy homes.
Virginia Alice Cottey,
Cottey Founder & President, 1884
Virginia Alice Cottey, c. 1890
Cottey College faculty, 1893
Thirst for knowledge is the inevitable result of a real moral stimulus.
This is the ground for schools and colleges for women. Christ created
the thirst for knowledge, and provided the means for its attainment.
Rev. Dr. William McClure,
Cottey Baccalaureate Sermon, 1898
Gone are the days when a girl went into wage earning only because her
father was unable to support her. Gone are the days when women think of
occupation only something to fill in the time before marriage. Modern
young women are taking their occupational planning and their occupational
preparation seriously.
Dr. Florence Boehmer,
Cottey President, 1933
Dr. Florence Boehmer, c. 1938
If you will try out some of the adaptations which socially minded educators
commend, if you will dare to experiment in education for personality,
you may inaugurate a new movement in higher education.…
First, every girl has a right to look forward to a home, but how much training do colleges give directed toward the making of a really beautiful home?
I do not mean courses in art and chemistry and psychology and literary criticisms, in the hope that some fragments of the courses will be appropriated for home making, I mean direct, conscious training for gracious living.
First, every girl has a right to look forward to a home, but how much training do colleges give directed toward the making of a really beautiful home?
I do not mean courses in art and chemistry and psychology and literary criticisms, in the hope that some fragments of the courses will be appropriated for home making, I mean direct, conscious training for gracious living.
Dr. Harold Tuttle,
professor at City College, New York,
in an address to P.E.O.s, 1937
Dr. Orpha Stockard, 1940
The whole trend in the higher education of women has been toward proving
that women have intellectual equality with men. We
think that has been proved. We think it has been successfully demonstrated
also that women can put their disciplined intellects to work effectively at
the tasks that are engaging the efforts of men.
Dr. Florence Boehmer,
Cottey President, 1937
We are now ready to enter upon a new era in the education of women. We women
are ready to ask ourselves seriously whether we want – and whether we should
want – to engage in activities identical with those of men, and, as a
corollary, whether the aims of our college education should be identical
with aims of the college education of men. Why shouldn’t they? But just as
logically, why should they?
Dr. Florence Boehmer,
Cottey President, 1937
Sewing class, 1939
I believe in education for women with all my heart; I believe in large
universities, and in coeducational colleges; yet I also believe in junior
colleges and in small women’s colleges. In other words, I believe that
women should be educated, but that there is not, necessarily, one right
way, as yet, to conduct that educational process.
Dr. Marjorie Mitchell,
Cottey President, 1938
College should and does, in most cases, prepare the
individual for service, whether this service be in marriage and
parenthood or in a business or professional life.
Every college graduate should be a social asset to the community in which she lives. She should have acquired the ability to assume responsibility whether it is in her own home or in the community. She should know how to entertain so that the entertained will be comfortable and at ease.
Every college graduate should be a social asset to the community in which she lives. She should have acquired the ability to assume responsibility whether it is in her own home or in the community. She should know how to entertain so that the entertained will be comfortable and at ease.
Dr. Orpha Stockard,
Cottey Dean, 1938
Chem laboratory, 1939
It would seem that all the training every girl can have in matters of human
relationships and moral values will be none too great for her need. Biologically,
she is ready for marriage at eighteen; socially, marriage is unwise at that
age for most young women; and when marriage comes it will not solve her
problems, but probably increase them. It would seem evident that the years
which elapse between her arrival at young adulthood and her marriage should
be spent in preparing herself for every contingency which may be prepared for.
Dr. Marjorie Mitchell,
Cottey President, 1938
Dr. Marjorie Mitchell, c. 1945
Foods laboratory, 1940
Recently I read an article which called all the softer qualities
of character “feminine.” I doubt the intellectual value of such a designation
or the soundness of any sex categories in regard to kindness, affection, love of
one’s fellows.… But I do believe that if we are to live through especially
disturbing times, our greatest safeguard lies in the intelligence and training of
our women because of their greater and unbroken intimacy with children. If we
must sacrifice the more generally “cultural” education for men, temporarily,
I pray that we need not do so for women.
Dr. Marjorie Mitchell,
Cottey President, 1940
Secretarial room, 1940
Duty, citizenship and what is the woman’s job in this disturbed world,
are the big lessons for every Cottey girl now. To help young women adjust
themselves and make themselves more useful and worthwhile in our war
effort is one of Cottey’s purposes today.
Barbara L. Kipper,
Cottey graduate of '38, 1943
Naturally with the changing times some of Cottey’s rules may
have been relaxed. But the school’s chief aims are still
character-building, class discipline and
the responsibilities of group living. The years have not relaxed
their vigilance in giving the Cottey girl that certain "something" that
is peculiarly Cottey’s mark. She leaves Cottey able "to stand on her own
feet." She is more mature for her age, and remarkably ready to accept
responsibility. She is living up to one of Mrs. Stockard’s trademarks:
"I no longer look for easy tasks; I try to accomplish the hard tasks
well and I soon find they become easy."
Virginia Watson,
Assistant in Public Relations, 1955
Chapel, 1959
Chem lab, 1952
As it was Virginia Alice Stockard’s desire, so Cottey strives
to build Christian character into the lives of the students
and at the same time to maintain recognized educational standards....
The college believes that in the two-year period immediately following
secondary school, the liberal arts curriculum with a concurrent
opportunity in the fine arts provides the intellectual resources, the
disciplines, the breadth that constitute the most desirable preparation
for the responsibilities of home and community living and for a
continuing growth in a field of specialization.
Billie Anne Beaumont,
President of the Student Body, 1956
International students, 1966
I hope that at Cottey you will come to understand that
while grades are important, the really important factor of college life
is that a student shall have an awakening and a
realization of her own good mind. The best way
to develop character at college is to study and thereby to grow.
Remember, no education is ever worthwhile unless it is achieved with
some degree of battle and sacrifice.
Dr. Blanche Dow,
Cottey president, 1960
Dr. Blanche Dow, c. 1950
To a certain regrettable degree College has become a status symbol…
one of the big problems is that too many girls are going
for reasons not related to higher education.
Dr. Blanche Dow,
Cottey president, 1963
Biology class, 1966
In a thousand subtle ways young women in college and even in high school
are propelled by their counselors toward soft courses, pushed into so-called
women’s occupations, and turned away from science and mathematics and
philosophy. Consider the waste of human resources built up by this attitude
toward the abilities and talents of women. Women constitute not only an
essential but a distinctive part of our human resources and yet in the need
for more talent to fill the vacancies in the required work of our modern,
complex, automated civilization, the notion is being perpetuated that
leadership, scholarship and administrative aptitude are not human qualities
found in all gifted persons, but are the property of the male sex alone. To
cling to this outworn notion that occupation should be sex related is an
expensive luxury in the face of the present shortages.
Dr. Anna Rose Hawkes,
Cottey Dean of Students, 1964
Coffee Hour, 1968
Coffee Hour, 1968
Coffee hours, dinners, formal dances, decorating the suite
living rooms for special occasions, and similar Cottey activities foster
social development. One of the reasons why I selected a college for women
was that I feel a woman’s education should follow her life’s pattern. It
is not Cottey’s primary purpose to “knock the rough edges off,” but the
gracious Cottey atmosphere maintains a kind of contact with the real world
and wards off the feeling of institutionalization found on many campuses.
The ability to be at ease in various situations does not blight the
intellect, indeed, it complements it.
Ellen Messerer,
Cottey graduate of '66, 1967
Dr. Jon Hondrum, 1969
The Cottey experience is a commitment to self realization, a commitment
to making the young woman aware of her essential
natures, and how each can contribute to the totality of her
being, how each can widen and deepen her vision of herself and the
world surrounding her, and how each will in turn affect and contribute
to the mystique of her own identity – her particular
dimension of personality.
Dr. Jon Hondrum,
Cottey President, 1969
Within the span of their lifetimes American women will successively be students,
careerists, homemakers; as they move through the college years, as a rule, they
become less career-oriented than at the time of initial enrollment; but this
merely indicates postponement of career or scholarly ambitions rather than
abandonment, because of more immediate personal concerns and interest in marriage....
[M]any college-educated women will assume or resume careers in professional life
after their family responsibilities have become minimized. It might well be said
that the opportunities available to women for personal as well as professional
fulfillment are greater now than ever before.
If their life-styles are becoming richer and more varied, then young women on the threshold of maturity need to be made more aware that their aspirations, despite cultural conditioning to the contrary, can now be more easily met and realized. And heretofore as its special province of total concern and commitment, these particular needs of women have been better understood and better met by the women’s college.
If their life-styles are becoming richer and more varied, then young women on the threshold of maturity need to be made more aware that their aspirations, despite cultural conditioning to the contrary, can now be more easily met and realized. And heretofore as its special province of total concern and commitment, these particular needs of women have been better understood and better met by the women’s college.
Dr. Jon Hondrum,
Cottey President, 1970
English comp. class, 1976
As a two-year college for women, Cottey is not content to provide just another
educational experience but rather one that prepares and involves the young
woman in decision-making roles, enables her to explore career options and makes
the most of her intelligence and confidence in fulfilling her own goals and in
her contributions to society.
Dr. Earl Tinsley,
Cottey Dean, 1975
Cottey students,
1976
If education is to prepare young women for the future, then it must
assist them in acquiring the coping behavior to assess the opportunities,
crises, and even perils of the real world. To release the potential of
young women, independency in learning and decision-making
must be encouraged. The capable and creative person, and that includes the
young woman, is known for what she does and not for what she remembers. If
we accept this idea then some experience must be included in the college
program for developing expertise and encouraging independency on the part
of our young women. An environment which is supportive of young women
seeking careers, not jobs, lends to the establishment of a common bond
between women that sensitizes them to ways they can help other women gain
the confidence to pursue a variety of roles and careers.
Dr. Evelyn Milam,
Cottey President, 1974
Many of Cottey’s young women graduates will continue their liberal arts
emphasis in four-year institutions. Others will begin as third year
students to move into areas of specialization. A very few will go
directly into marriage or into the job market. Whatever choice the
student makes, the liberal arts foundation will provide a solid base for
her, to be called upon for daily living, for future educational
experiences, and for career adjustments or changes.
Dr. Evelyn Milam,
Cottey President, 1980
P.E.O.s, from the time of the seven founders to the present, appreciate
Virginia Alice Cottey Stockard’s purpose for Cottey and its corollary:
to provide an outstanding liberal arts education for young women in their
first two years of college, and to encourage young women to develop
independence, self-reliance, leadership skills, and the
art of working effectively with other women.
Dr. Evelyn Milam,
Cottey President, 1980
Because 65 per cent of the women’s colleges have
women presidents and women represent about 55 per cent of the faculty,
their students can observe first-hand women in positions of leadership.
The qualities and skills admired in women in homes and businesses are
presented on another level. Teachers or administrators may not wish to
be role models, but they are in a position to help young women
considering professional careers.
Dr. Evelyn Milam,
Cottey President, 1981
Dr. Evelyn Milam, 1977
She [Virginia Alice Cottey Stockard] believed that
young women should receive
the same education offered to young men. No women’s college (and that
includes Cottey) has any right to exist if its academic program is inferior.
Dr. Evelyn Milam,
Cottey President, 1981
Chem lab, 1981
Women’s colleges are more likely to take education of women seriously
than are coeducational colleges. A person teaching at a women’s college
cannot downgrade women students and maintain academic excellence. Young
women are not transformed into better homemakers or professional women by
professors who feel that women are incapable of handling demanding courses
in mathematics, science and humanities.
Dr. Evelyn Milam,
Cottey President, 1981
Dr. Helen Washburn, 1994
I believe there is a renewed call for science education among our
undergraduate population. In particular, I believe we will see more calls for women
to pursue careers in the sciences to help our country remain competitive with the
technologically changing world. As such, women’s colleges, and Cottey in particular,
have been ahead of the curve in educating women in the sciences.
Dr. Helen Washburn,
Cottey President, 1992
There is clearly a crucial role for women's colleges
for the future. There is really no reason to continue to debate the
effectiveness and relevance of women's education. Our role is, rather,
to embrace the continuing needs for educational opportunities for
girls and women throughout our nation and our world.
Dr. Judy Rogers,
Cottey President, 2009
Dr. Judy Rogers, 2005
Our experience assures us that many women at women's colleges develop
strong self-images and self-confidence, enabling them to communicate
their interests and passions. They often find the direction for their
lives and develop the thinking skills and analytical skills necessary
to succeed. At Cottey, we describe this as "finding a voice."
Dr. Judy Rogers,
Cottey President, 2009