244 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



larger than that of all the woman's colleges combined. That is, the 

 majority of these college women were educated in institutions where 

 their instructors were almost exclusively men. If then colleges and 

 especially woman's colleges play so small a part in the success of the 

 women who have been invited to enter the doors of 'Who's Who,' the 

 question naturally rises, where have they received their education? 



The prevailing idea seems to be that the private school is all very 

 well for the girl who wants some knowledge of the so-called 'accom- 

 plishments' and a sufficient amount of general knowledge to make 

 her fairly intelligent, that they are of value only to those parents who 

 wish the school associates of their daughters to be as nearly as pos- 

 sible among their own social class, but as for giving a pupil anytliing 

 like thoroughness in the subjects studied, that the private school stand- 

 ards are far below those of the public school. A glance at the table, 

 however, seems to tell quite another story. 



The scientists educated in the public school stand to those educated 

 in the private school in the ratio of 5:4, but in every other profession 

 the number educated in private schools far exceeds that of the public 

 schools. Even among educators where thorough knowledge is cer- 

 tainly essential to success, the ratio of those educated in the private 

 school is to those educated in the public school as 6:5; the journalists 

 over 3:1; the physicians 7:2 and the authors over 4:1. 



While the public school should not for a moment be undervalued, 

 these figures would seem to give one a reason to believe the private 

 schools of the country to be a valuable educational factor in fitting a 

 woman for a successful career. 



It is greatly to be regretted that the biographies investigated are 

 in many cases so incomplete. The results of the investigation are 

 therefore only partly conclusive, or perhaps suggestive. But so far 

 as they go they speak with a degree of authority and nothing is true 

 beyond that point. 



