# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1938_S82
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

82 Action Regarding Individual Institutions

bind upon the conscience of our membership the duty of Christian
education, we work intensively for the establishment of Christian
elementary schools, and stress the patronage of our Lutheran uni-
versity. On the other hand, we make little effort to bridge the gap
between elementary schooling and collegiate training, the most
dangerous age in the life of young people. In the West, where
church-work must be carried on under the handicap of a special
measure of indifference, this kindly and constructive criticism rep-
resents a victory for sound Lutheran preaching; and your Board
feels that this attitude is worthy of being entered as a reason for
this petition.

3. The people of this District and of Southern California have
invested heavily in building the Oakland Concordia. To buiid an
additional high school to which girls might have access would call
for an extra investment and would be injurious both to the male
enrolment and the financial support of Concordia. The people who
made the erection of the present institution possible have requested
that the girls of their relationships no longer be excluded from the
educational advantages which it offers. If this cannot be effected
and their belief in Christian high-school training is sincere, there
can be only one alternative, namely, the erection of an additional
school. Your Board is convinced that it is far better to concentrate
efforts upon the institution already in existence.

4, Lest it be thought that the difficulty might be solved by re-
ferring the parents of girls to the Lutheran high schools in the
Middle West where girls are admitted, permit us to remind your
honorable body that our District is some two thousand miles distant
from these schools. Were the sending of girls to these institutions
feasible, many daughters of California and Nevada families would
have attended them before now. The isolation of this Western
Coast from the populous sections of our beloved Synod, in addition
to the reason developed as No. 3, constitutes a plea which in our
opinion merits particular consideration.

5. The sincerity of the interest in coeducation is attested by the
fact that applications for the admittance of girls to our Concordia
have actually been made during the past years and were again
made this year. It is gratifying to note that a number of these re-
quests have been received in behalf of graduates of our parochial
schools.

6. Finally, both the California Concordia faculty and your
Board feel that coeducation can be introduced without hampering
the main objective of this institution. ;

We are presenting this overture, dear brethren, in full recog-
nition of our synodical responsibility for the welfare of the school