The Education of American GirlsBrackett, Anna C. (Anna Callender)
General
The Education of American Girls
Brackett, Anna C. (Anna Callender)
Women -- Education -- United States
and association with those above them provided in our public schools.
The result of their better chances for improvement shows itself with
them in the same way as with us, in a tendency to overwork, though, as
we should expect, not in the same degree. Complaints are made of the
physical deterioration of this class, and laws are enacted to limit the
working hours of children; and in the last session of Parliament, Mr.
Mundella introduced a bill to fix the limit for women below that of men.
The bill did not pass, but it will be introduced again in the next
session.
The large shopkeepers and manufacturers are, again, more assimilated to
us in their possibilities for rapid changes in financial conditions; but
at best they are a small class, and efficient help is more easily
attainable. With us, as soon as a man becomes conscious that he has good
ability for work, he finds for himself an independent place. Here, as a
rule, there is no independent place for him, and he is obliged to sell
his ability to some other man who has an independent footing. So that
the leader of a scheme is not only relieved from puzzling over details,
but a large part of the planning is done by able men in his employ, and
he need give but little of his time. As a rule, a man must be on a
pretty high platform to have much hope of crowding his way up higher.
II. The importance of health is a dominant idea in the whole nation.
This is probably due to the very permanent impress given to English
civilization by the feudal system, to the demand made for the permanence
of the family, and for the production of warrior barons and warrior
retainers. The physical condition, that was formerly a necessity, is now
maintained as a matter of aristocratic fashion and pride in ancestry.
The higher classes have nothing to do that demands a strong physique,
but they devote the best part of their energies to securing it, and set
up their own results and methods as a model which the whole nation
follow. As evidence of this national interest in health, we may observe
the number of Public Health bills that come into Parliament, and it is
not strange that they get the most attention from the Conservative side
of the House. As farther confirmation we observe the great number of
holidays spent, not in merrymaking, but in a stroll in the fresh air of
the country, and the fact that nearly all the families of the whole
nation make as regular provision for one or more "outings" in the year,
as they do for the extra wraps for the winter; and still farther, that
almost the poorest classes refuse to buy bread and meat of second
quality, not from luxurious tastes, but from a belief that it is less
healthful. This consideration for health pervades all ranks of the
nation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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