Study On The Development Of American Women's College Under The Pressure Of Coeducation(1960-2019)

Women's college is an important part of women's higher education in America,They originated in the 1830 s and once became the only way for American women to receive higher education.After more than 180 years of development,today,coeducation has become the mainstream in higher education,women's college still exists in the United States,although not many,but its development is extremely characteristic and these colleges have strong power.Choosing women's colleges is one of the diverse choices of American women in the field of higher education,American women's college occupies a leading position in the development of the world women's colleges,and leading the development direction of the world women's colleges.This reflects that the existence of American women's colleges have great practical significance,but also means that they still have important research significance.The American women's colleges take serving for women as its school running concept,and its characteristic style of running a college or university is also for women.The concept and style were seen as the women's higher education domain model in the world.That to say,women's college has the inspiration and the reference significance to many countries' women's higher education and the women's colleges development.This paper focuses on the study of American women's colleges from 1960 to 2019,which is divided into four parts:The part one firstly briefly reviews the peak state of the emergence and development of women's colleges in America,and presents the difficult situation of women's colleges when the pressure of coeducation comes.This part analyzes the vigorous development of coeducation in the field of higher education in the United States,which has become the mainstream form of higher education,which is embodied in the rapid development of research universities,the prosperity of community colleges and the implementation of coeducation in men's colleges.These bring great pressure to the development of women's colleges.Then the part summarizes the plight of the women's colleges falling under the pressure of coeducation,which is mainly reflected in the crisis of competitiveness and the threat to its independence.The part two presents the situation that American women's colleges deal with the pressure of coeducation during the buffer adjustment period(1972-1981).First,the part analyses the legalizationof coeducation,which causes women's colleges a great pressure in the United States during this period,that is,the impact of the second wave of the feminist movement in the United States and the promulgation of Title IX and The Women's Education Equity Act,which provide solid social security for the development of coeducational schools;then,it analyzes the responses of women's colleges in the United States during this historical period,including changing public image to reflect career-oriented pursuit,establishing the Women's College Coalition for collective cooperation,and adjusting college enrollment policies,financial help and curriculum.The part three presents the development of American women's colleges in the period of characteristic construction(1982-2000).This historical period of coeducation continued to advance,on the one hand,Hogan v.Mississippi Women's University case led to the United States public women's colleges to the coeducation,and led to a controversy over whether private colleges need coeducation;on the other hand,as coeducation to promote gender equality,the gender gap in higher education further narrowed.For these reason,the women's colleges transform the pressure into the motive force,adjusts the development strategy,carries on the characteristic construction,manifests in strengthens the female leadership education,creates the female education environment,innovates the education project.The part four presents the opportunities and challenges faced by American women's colleges in the new century.In this time,the pressure of coeducation faced by women's colleges will persist long,mainly in two aspects: the atmosphere of encouraging coeducation and the voice of questioning single gender education.The opportunities of the women's colleges are mainly reflected in three aspects,one is the increase of cooperation opportunities,including building cooperation platforms,carrying out cooperative research and development cooperation projects;the other is the diversification of student groups,including non-traditional students,international students,transgender students;and the third is the development of more possibilities in the field of science.The last part is to sum up the important forces that American women's colleges has shown in the process of coping with the pressure of coeducation.There are three main aspects,one is its core strength,that is,to strengthen the idea of “serving women”;the other is security force,that is,supporting and inclusive environment;and the third is pillar strength,that is,the integration of arts and science education and leadership education.In addition,through the analysis of this process,we can know that the women's colleges will continue to exist for a long time.With more and more attention paid to women's higher education in the world,women's colleges and universities in our country are constantly seeking their own breakthrough in the training of women's talents,so the development experience of American women's colleges can bring enlightenment and reference from different respects.