The Education of American GirlsBrackett, Anna C. (Anna Callender)
General
The Education of American Girls
Brackett, Anna C. (Anna Callender)
Women -- Education -- United States
From Antioch, which we desired to have fully represented, we have been
disappointed in obtaining statistics, which may, however, hereafter be
embodied in a second edition. In place thereof, we give the brief
statement of facts found under the name of the institution, supplied by
a friend.
With reference to my own part of the volume, if the words on "Physical
Education" far outnumber those on the "Culture of the Intellect," and
the "Culture of the Will," it can only be said that the American nation
are far more liable to overlook the former than the latter two, and that
the number of pages covered is by no means to be taken as an index of
the relative importance of the divisions in themselves. Of the
imperfection of all three, no one can be more conscious than their
author. The subject is too large for any such partial treatment.
To friends, medical, clerical, and unprofessional, who have kindly
given me the benefit of their criticism on different parts of the
introductory essay, my thanks are due. Especially do I recognize my
obligation to Dr. W. Gill Wylie, of this city, whose line of study and
practice has made his criticism of great value.
I cannot refrain from adding that I am fully aware of the one-sided
nature of the training acquired in the profession of teaching.
Civilization, implying, as it does, division of labor, necessarily
renders all persons more or less one-sided. In the teaching profession,
the voluntary holding of the mind for many hours of each day in the
position required for the work of educating uneducated minds, the
constant effort to state facts clearly, distinctly, and freed from
unnecessary details, almost universally induce a straightforwardness of
speech, which savors, to others who are not immature, of brusqueness and
positiveness, if it may not deserve the harsher names of asperity and
arrogance. It is not these in essence, though it appear to be so, and
thus teachers often give offense and excite opposition when these
results are farthest from their intention. In the case of these essays,
this professional tendency may also have been aggravated by the
circumstances under which they have been written, the only hours
available for the purpose having been the last three evening hours of
days whose freshness was claimed by actual teaching, and the morning
hours of a short vacation.
I do not offer these explanations as an apology, simply as an
explanation. No apology has the power to make good a failure in
courtesy. If passages failing in this be discovered, it will be cause
for gratitude and not for offense if they are pointed out.
The spirit which has prompted the severe labor has been that which seeks
for the Truth, and endeavors to express it, in hopes that more perfect
statements may be elicited.
With these words, I submit the result to the intelligent women of
America, asking only that the screen of the honest purpose may be
interposed between the reader and any glaring faults of manner or
expression.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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