The Education of American GirlsBrackett, Anna C. (Anna Callender)
General
The Education of American Girls
Brackett, Anna C. (Anna Callender)
Women -- Education -- United States
In the lower division, the servants are less numerous and less
efficient. Mothers and daughters do a part, or all, of the domestic
work. But the baking, in most parts of the country, and much of the
sewing, is done out of the house. More servants are employed than in
corresponding families with us, and altogether much less work is
included in the domestic occupations. In the higher grades of this lower
division, the education of the girls continues till from fourteen to
sixteen, and is carried on either under a governess, or in small
schools, which are either boarding-schools or day schools. The
governesses are cheap, and the schools are cheap, and there seems to be
little choice between the two plans.
The girls have a little history, French, music, and ornamental
needlework. Below these upper grades, girls are educated at the National
schools, where, if they remain long enough, they are taught the common
branches and plain needlework, moderately well. Through the upper
division of society, the education of the girls continues till from
seventeen to eighteen. About half of their education, also, is given by
governesses, and the other half about equally in boarding and day
schools. Nearly all private schools are small, rarely exceeding forty
pupils, and giving an average of from twenty to twenty-five. If there is
but one session of the school, it never exceeds four hours. Great pains
are taken not to have the schools change the dietary and hygienic habits
to which the girls are accustomed at home. They either go home for their
simple midday dinner, or they dine at the school, and their daily walks
are provided for at home, or taken with a governess at school. That is,
there is an approved system of habits for English girls, and these are
rigidly carried out, whether they are in a boarding-school or a day
school, or under a governess; and on the average, either in the
efficiency of the teaching, or the physical results, there seems to be
little choice between the three plans. As to the amount of intellectual
work accomplished, no English person speaks well, nor indeed with a
moderate degree of censure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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