So,
why should we educate women? What’s the point? I mean, does it even help
society or anything?
Mary
Wollstonecraft had a rough life. Her argument on this subject was profound and
can be
tied back to Kant when he speaks of tutelage. The main difference between man and woman in Wollstonecraft’s opinion was in the way they were taught. Women were taught sensibility, docility, manners, etc. Basically, this cultured the “weak elegancy of mind”. Wollstonecraft said this hindered the woman’s ability to reason, think rationally, and left her overly dependent on her emotions. This made women to be less of human, and more an object of appearance and desire.
Why should women be educated? The more they understand, the more they attach to their duty. (pg. 3) How can a woman know how to be a functioning member of society if she isn’t granted the same educational basis as a man? How can she know true virtue if she only can adorn the outward appearance? All that is made of her in the end is a convenient, household slave.
Truth should be common to all. (pg. 2) Marriages would be made so much more sacred with education. How can a woman ever be a companion to a husband if she be ignorant, and a man a companion to his wife if he only knows to think of her virtue by her beauty? Wollstonecraft quoted this of the women’s’ desire for marriage. “And this desire making mere animals of them, when they marry they act as such children may be expected to act: they dress; they paint, and nickname God’s creatures…Can they be expected to govern a family with judgement, or take care of the poor babes whom they bring into the world?” (pg. 9)
The minds of these women were not in a healthy state, and this was known by their conduct and manners (pg. 6). They were seen as females and not as human creatures, as objects rather than the Imago Dei. Wollstonecraft described the women’s conditions as a perpetual childhood! (pg. 8) These women were in no place or position to perform their societal and motherly duties well—they were thoroughly unequipped! How can you expect corn from tares, and figs from thistles? (pg. 15) In their present state, women served as silly and useless members of society. (pg. 21)
It goes to show Wollstonecraft’s disgust at the current state or women, especially when she sees Milton’s portrayal of Eve in Paradise Lost. She refers to Milton as “only bend[ing] to the indefeasible right of beauty…” (pg. 19) The most perfect education in Wollstonecraft’s opinion was “is…an exercise of the understanding…calculated to strengthen the body and form the heart.” (pg. 20) To gain independence, you must first gain virtue, and to gain virtue you must first gain understanding.
Men can fall to the same trap too. “But, alas! Husbands, as well as their helpmates, are often only overgrown children; nay, thanks to early debauchery, scarcely men in their outward form—and if the blind lead the blind, one need not come from heaven to tell us the consequence.” (pg. 21) Here lay the problem all along. Men were unequipped as husbands to lead, and women were unequipped as wives to follow. Men treated their wives as objects, women treated their husband as their conscience.
The most prevalent form of enslavement is the cramping of understanding. (pg. 21) When we acquire manners before morals, and a knowledge of life before an understanding of the human nature, we fall to the same prey: prejudices and blind submission to authority. This is why education is for everyone. When you have an accurate understanding, you are liberated from the slavery of tutelage.
So go outside and heckin’ learn something.
I commented on Caroline and Jamie
tied back to Kant when he speaks of tutelage. The main difference between man and woman in Wollstonecraft’s opinion was in the way they were taught. Women were taught sensibility, docility, manners, etc. Basically, this cultured the “weak elegancy of mind”. Wollstonecraft said this hindered the woman’s ability to reason, think rationally, and left her overly dependent on her emotions. This made women to be less of human, and more an object of appearance and desire.
Why should women be educated? The more they understand, the more they attach to their duty. (pg. 3) How can a woman know how to be a functioning member of society if she isn’t granted the same educational basis as a man? How can she know true virtue if she only can adorn the outward appearance? All that is made of her in the end is a convenient, household slave.
Truth should be common to all. (pg. 2) Marriages would be made so much more sacred with education. How can a woman ever be a companion to a husband if she be ignorant, and a man a companion to his wife if he only knows to think of her virtue by her beauty? Wollstonecraft quoted this of the women’s’ desire for marriage. “And this desire making mere animals of them, when they marry they act as such children may be expected to act: they dress; they paint, and nickname God’s creatures…Can they be expected to govern a family with judgement, or take care of the poor babes whom they bring into the world?” (pg. 9)
The minds of these women were not in a healthy state, and this was known by their conduct and manners (pg. 6). They were seen as females and not as human creatures, as objects rather than the Imago Dei. Wollstonecraft described the women’s conditions as a perpetual childhood! (pg. 8) These women were in no place or position to perform their societal and motherly duties well—they were thoroughly unequipped! How can you expect corn from tares, and figs from thistles? (pg. 15) In their present state, women served as silly and useless members of society. (pg. 21)
It goes to show Wollstonecraft’s disgust at the current state or women, especially when she sees Milton’s portrayal of Eve in Paradise Lost. She refers to Milton as “only bend[ing] to the indefeasible right of beauty…” (pg. 19) The most perfect education in Wollstonecraft’s opinion was “is…an exercise of the understanding…calculated to strengthen the body and form the heart.” (pg. 20) To gain independence, you must first gain virtue, and to gain virtue you must first gain understanding.
Men can fall to the same trap too. “But, alas! Husbands, as well as their helpmates, are often only overgrown children; nay, thanks to early debauchery, scarcely men in their outward form—and if the blind lead the blind, one need not come from heaven to tell us the consequence.” (pg. 21) Here lay the problem all along. Men were unequipped as husbands to lead, and women were unequipped as wives to follow. Men treated their wives as objects, women treated their husband as their conscience.
The most prevalent form of enslavement is the cramping of understanding. (pg. 21) When we acquire manners before morals, and a knowledge of life before an understanding of the human nature, we fall to the same prey: prejudices and blind submission to authority. This is why education is for everyone. When you have an accurate understanding, you are liberated from the slavery of tutelage.
So go outside and heckin’ learn something.
I commented on Caroline and Jamie
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