After reading this you may also be interested in reading about the new
<br>
<a href="http://www.singlesexschools.org/philadelphia.html"> single sex
schools </a> in Philadelphia.
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    From: Louis Bonder 1967 Oct 31 2005 6:03:18PM
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 	To: ALL
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 	(11) What year did women start attending Central?
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Hi Guys! I graduated from the class of the 226 in '72.
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At that time I believe that Girl's High girls were given access
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to our planetarium under the principle that resources unavailable
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at Girl's High must be shared. To my chagrin, I can't remember a single girl
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taking Central up on the offer DARN!).
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Since that celibacy, (although I dated a Girl's High girl who became
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1st Runner up for Miss Teenage America and quickly dumped me, thereafter)
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I've been married, only once, for 35 years. I've been the Director of a
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Cardio-Pulmonary Department and then practiced law in Austin, Texas,
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defending all of the major pharmaceutical companies. I'm now at Boston
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University School of Medicine, credentialing to run multi-site clinical
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trials for drugs and biologicals. Through it all, Central remains my fondest
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and most valuable academic experience. My hope and concurrent fear is that my
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Central remains the august institution that it was in 1967 at my entree as
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the 226. Remember, at some earlier time in it's history from 1886, Central
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conferred a Bachelor of Science degree. I received an honorary B.S.?
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Does Central still do that?
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In a more relevant response the the initial inquiry, although I was a
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raging heterosexual adolescent boy (or maybe because I was) I found that
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the absence of girls was a definite plus. Our raw language and
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normal male/male interaction was uninhibited by fear of female scrutiny.
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Most of all, we could think with the appropriate head. The standards were
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high and the curricula was demanding. The teachers were called professors
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and the Principal was called the President. We dressed appropriately
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(although without uniforms, thank God)! I've always been afraid that the
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integration of girls (woman?? --come on, 16 year old females are girls.
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There's plenty of time to be called women) would dilute and distract from
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the academic and athletic focus of Central. I found that women on any campus
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on which I was a student (and there were many) created a tremendous
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distraction. Likewise, the identical comments and observations concerning the
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1967 environment and standards just described are completely transferable to
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Girl's High at that time. I think that any GH graduate from my era would
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offer a very similar commentary. There is no chauvinism here, trust me!
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Please, yall, send me your feelings, observations, criticisms
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(although I'm casting zero aspersions only value judgments)
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From my time and before, it was generally the case that CHS grads were more
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loyal and proud of their Central attendance than any academic achievements
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to follow. We all share a really special history and very cool bond).
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What other school has their graduates think of themselves as
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"the '226, 225...etc? If you don't already know, the first school
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photographed in the US was of Central. Also, Teddy Roosevelt, in person,
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dedicated Central when it was downtown (I think that it's now Franklin High
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but I'm not certain).
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One last thing. Overbrook High would have been my "neighborhood high school
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if I hadn't "shlept" from overbrook Park by bust to 69th Street;
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then take the "El to 15th St. and catch the Broad Street Subway to Only and
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walk down the hill, past Girl's High, the Central. Will Smith stands in front
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of Overbrook in his intro to "Fresh Prince of Bel air" I just thought that
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this anecdote might be interesting. Here from you soon, I really hop! Lou.
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