How Does Emma Willard Have A Women's Role In Education

Abigail Smith Adams was born on November 11, 1744, in Weymouth, Massachusetts to Elizabeth Quincy Smith and Reverend William Smith. Her father was one of the best educated and most prestigious citizens of the community. Abigail’s mother spent most of her time caring for the sick and providing for families in need. From a young age, Abigail was taught to be a leader in her community. New England schools of the time rarely admitted women. Few people believed they needed much schooling. These limitations did not satisfy Abigail, and she began to read books from her father’s library. She went on to become well educated in many subjects and one of the most well read women in eighteenth century America (NPS). Abigail learned a great deal during her

An inspiring woman once said, “Educate a boy, you educate a man, but educate a girl and you educate a family.” This woman was Adelaide Hunter Hoodless who was a Canadian educational reformer who believed that women had value as mothers and wives in their home. She fought for their right to education and didn't back down. Haunted by the death of her small son, she launched a twenty year campaign and gave women the knowledge and institutions that they needed to serve and safeguard their families.

Being a mother is not an easy, stress less, and quick endeavor--- motherhood is a never-ending struggle to instill life lessons, knowledge, and leadership into their child’s minds. A mother always wants what is best for their child, and Abigail Adams is no different from these mothers. She sees how brilliant John Quincy Adams is, how many “advantages” he has, and how with him nothing is needed of him, “but attention, diligence, and steady application.” Abigail Adams advises J.Q. Adams through the rhetorical devices of, pathos, logos, and allusions that he must work hard to become a great man.

If there had ever been a quick wit to match that of the great John Adams one would more often than not look toward the many distinguished men of the revolution however behind every strong man is an equally strong woman. In the letter written by Abigail Adams to John Adams the reader quickly becomes aware that Mrs. Adams was no push over behind the pen. She just like her husband John can easily be seen as a linguistic weaver moving from serious hard-pressed questioning to a more “And, by the way” (Abigail Adams 349) here’s what I want mentality. It is almost humorous to see their letters to one another due to the fact that numerous people hold John Adams on a pedestal when in reality he had to deal with domestic problems just like

"Education should seek to bring its subject to the perfection of their moral, intellectual, and physical nature in order that they may be the means of the greatest possible happiness of which they are capable, both as to what they enjoy and what they communicate." - Emma Willard. Emma Willard was a leader in women’s education. She opened Troy Female Seminary, the first school for girls offering them an education equal. (Lutz, A. (1964). Emma Willard: pioneer educator of American women)

In early America, women were expected to take care of the household and of the children. However, writers such as Anne Bradstreet and Judith Sargent Murray wanted to emphasize the importance of education for women. The two texts by these authors that will be discussed are the poem, “The Prologue” by Anne Bradstreet and the essay, “Desultory Thoughts upon the Utility of Encouraging a Degree of Self-Contemplacency, especially in Female Bosoms,” By Judith Sargent Murray. A theme seen prominently throughout both texts is fairer treatment of women through education. Although both women do believe in opportunity for women in education, Bradstreet focuses more on the idea that women should have more acceptance in the intellectual world by men while Murray however, emphasizes the importance of women to be raised properly which resulted in them understanding their self-worth.

Abigail Adams faced many hardships throughout her life. She was the daughter of a minister and had two sisters and a brother. In the 1700’s, children did not have a high survival rate due to the amount of diseases and nothing to treat them with. Abigail Adams said in her old age that she “was always sick” (Akers 5). This reminds people how tough life was in the 1700’s and how easy it was to pass away from a mere cold. Abigail also did not have any education growing up. Women, in the colonial era, were not supposed to have an education and were supposed to watch the kids, cook, and clean. Readers of this book learn that many women back then were illiterate and were self-taught, if they had any education. Abigail did find a love for literature due to her sister’s spouse, Richard Cranch. He influenced her love for literature at a young age and she started to become more literate. Along with the disease and educational deficiency, women were considered as property. A young woman could either give up

After decades of coping with the doubt and the regulation that women could not be educated, a number of women began to revolt. The women felt they too should be highly educated just the same as the men. They protested against the fact that men could go to college and this was not allowed for them and wanted the right to learn (Westward Expansion 1). Women wanted to be educated to better and to prove themselves solid. Schools for women began to up rise and gain some admiration in the 1820’s (The American Pageant 327). 1818 a lady by the name of Emma Willard, made a request to the legislature of New York, to fund a education for women. She got support from President Thomas Jefferson and The Common Council, in which she received four thousand dollars to fund in a school she later opened in the 1820’s, called, Troy Female Seminary (Westward Expansion 1). Soon after many schools began to come up, and Oberlin College, in Ohio, became the first college to accept men and women (Westward Expansion 1). In the turn of the nineteenth century, more and more thoughts and ideas of education for women became topic of interest. Political ideals scoped support for the better education for women, because leaders of policies of education and political issues seemed to feel that there need to be citizens with a creditable history of

“The subject of the Education of Women of the higher classes is one which has undergone singular fluctuations in public opinions” (Cobbe 79). Women have overcome tremendous obstacles throughout their lifetime, why should higher education stand in their way? In Frances Power Cobbe’s essay “The Education of Women,” she describes how poor women, single women, and childless wives, deserve to share a part of the human happiness. Women are in grave need of further improvements in their given condition. Cobbe suggests that a way to progress these improvements manifests in higher education, and that this will help further steps in advance. Cobbe goes on to say that the happiest home, most grateful husband, and the most devoted children came from a woman, Mary Sommerville, who surpassed men in science, and is still studying the wonders of God’s creations. Cobbe has many examples within her paper that shows the progression of women as a good thing, and how women still fulfill their duties despite the fact that they are educated. The acceptance of women will be allowed at the University of New England because women should be able to embrace their abilities and further their education for the benefit of their household, their lives, and their country.

However, she focuses on the importance and value of education, believing that “the most perfect education…is such an exercise of the understanding as is best calculated to strengthen the body and form the heart” (Wollstonecraft 134). Like her Enlightenment contemporaries, she believed that reason was a virtue since it empowered the mind to think freely and independently. Reason allowed one to truly express his or her ideas. The best way to cultivate such reasoning was to become educated. Thus, both men and women should be educated for the betterment of society as a whole since both sexes would then be able to contribute a broader range of ideas. However, the general consensus amongst her contemporaries in 18th century England was that women were “more artificial, weak characters…and, consequently, more useless members of society” (Wollstonecraft 134). Women were expected to lead domesticated lives and become dependent on men. They were considered as housewives, not expected to contribute to society or stand out in anyway. Therefore, women did not have the same amount of access to a proper education as men did since they were not expected to be involved with forming their own reasoning and opinions. As a result, women only learned what they perceived and experienced from the world, left to play “guess-work” rather than make observations and draw conclusions and speculations. Without critical thinking,

After stating these points she continues on to discuss the importance of women having the same opportunities as men. One of the first opportunities being the choice to pursue the education she desires and not one that be designated to her, “The education that will fit her to discharge the duties in the largest sphere of human usefulness, will best fit her for whatever special work she may be compelled to do.” She states that, “The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities for higher education, for the full development of her faculties, her

Women know their roles as mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters; involve certain education to fulfill their duties. Education for a women, could benefit her in many ways; that even men would approve of. As Elizabeth C. Stanton states “The education that will fit her to discharge the duties in the largest sphere of human usefulness will best fit her for whatever special work she may be compelled to do.” With no education of her assigned role, a young woman is expected to know how to complete her duties with no education; all by human nature. Knowledge is power, if a young girl is uneducated she would not benefit the economy. A women must play her assigned role perfectly with no reference to knowledge to help her. For a wife and mother, political knowledge is

Schools have changed remarkably since they were first introduced centuries ago. Continue reading in order to find out how the past has shaped education, as we know it. There are six main eras or time periods in which important things occurred for the American School System, The colonial era, The growth of public schooling, The progressive era, the segregation and Integration era, the 1960s-1970s, and the 1980- present era.

The first and foremost best way that women had approached equality would be the pursuit of education. Judith Sargent Murray

In eighteenth century which feminist in social status was not popular by that time, author can only through literature to express her thought and discontented about society. Jane Austen’s Emma advocates a concept about the equality of men and women. Also satirizes women would depend on marriage in exchange to make a living or money in that era. By the effect of society bourgeois, Emma has little self-arrogant. She is a middle class that everyone could admire, “Young, pretty, rich and clever”, she has whatever she needs. She disdains to have friends with lower levels. However, she is soon reach satisfaction with matchmaking for her friend. Story characterizes a distorted society images and the superiority of higher class status. It