| All | Durant or Wellesley scholars | |
|---|---|---|
| Per cent married | 44 | 35 |
| Number of children: | ||
| Per graduate | .37 | .20 |
| Per wife | .87 | .57 |
It must not be thought that Wellesley's record is an exception, for most of the large women's colleges furnish deplorable figures. Mount Holyoke's record is:
| Decade of graduation | Children per married graduate | Children per graduate |
|---|---|---|
| 1842-1849 | 2.77 | 2.37 |
| 1850-1859 | 3.38 | 2.55 |
| 1860-1869 | 2.64 | 1.60 |
| 1870-1879 | 2.75 | 1.63 |
| 1880-1889 | 2.54 | 1.46 |
| 1890-1892 | 1.91 | 0.95 |
Nor can graduation from Bryn Mawr College be said to favor motherhood. By the 376 alumnæ graduated there between 1888 and 1900, only 138 children had been produced up to Jan. 1, 1913. This makes .84 of a child per married alumna, or .37 of a child per graduate, since less than half of the graduates marry. These are the figures published by the college administration.
Professor Sprague's tabulation of the careers of Vassar college graduates, made from official records of the college, is worth quoting in full, for the light it throws on the histories of college girls, after they leave college:
| CLASSES FROM 1867 TO 1892 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number of graduates | 959 | |
| Number that taught | 431 | (45%) |
| Number that married | 509 | (53%) |
| Number that did not marry | 450 | (47%) |
| Number that taught and afterward married | 166 | (39% of all who taught) |
| Number that taught, married and had children | 112 | (67% of all who taught and married) |
| Number that taught, married and were childless | 54 | (33%) |
| Number of children of those who taught and had children | 287 | (1.73 children per family) |
| Number of children of those who married but did not teach | 686 | (2 per married graduate that did not teach) |
| Total number of children of all graduates | 973 | (1 child per graduate) |
| Average number of children per married graduate | 1.91 | |
| Average number of children per graduate | 1.00 | |
| CLASSES FROM 1867 TO 1900 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number of graduates | 1739 | |
| Number that taught | 800 | (46%) |
| Number that married | 854 | (49%) |
| Number that did not marry | 885 | (51%) |
| Number that taught and afterward married | 294 | (31%) |
| Number that taught, married and had children | 203 | (69% of all who taught and married) |
| Number that taught, married and were childless | 91 | (31%) |
| Number of children of those who taught and had children | 463 | (1.57 children per family) |
| Number of children of those who married but did not teach | 1025 | (2 each) |
| Total number of children of all graduates | 1488 | (.8 child per graduate) |
| Average number of children per married graduate | 1.74 | (per married graduate) |
| Average number of children per graduate | 0.8 | |
If the women's colleges were fulfilling what the writers consider to be their duty toward their students, their graduates would have a higher marriage and birth-rate than that of their sisters, cousins and friends who do not go to college. But the reverse is the case. M. R. Smith's investigation showed the comparison between college girls and girls of equivalent social position and of the same or similar families, as follows:
| Number of children | Per cent childless at time | |
|---|---|---|
| College | 1.65 | 25.36 |
| Equivalent Non-College | 1.874 | 17.89 |