The edges of centuries are interesting places, full of change. When the eighteenth century bumped into the nineteenth, the winds of reform were definitely blowing – reform of political systems,
including who could participate, and reform of social systems, including a review of gender roles. While the view of the two different spheres of operation (public for men, domestic for women) still definitely held sway, new opportunities were opening for women, especially within the realm of education. A new view of childhood had also been emerging for some time, characterized in the works of John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau.
When John Locke wrote his Thoughts Concerning Education in 1693, he considered the child as a rational creature, an individual that needed to be trained to think for himself (or, indeed herself, as he was writing about the education of a friend’s sons and daugther). This view was a change from that held earlier of children as little adults or as beings for adults to exercise their will upon.
Locke’s view also became extremely influential, and set the stage for those who would later expand on his ideas. One such author was Jean Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau wrote Emile in 1762. In this book, Rousseau writes about the character Emile’s educational progress. The child throughout is assumed to be good, and assumed to have natural inclinations which can be brought out and trained through directed
experiences which respect the child’s naturally developing
abilities. The child should, in short, be respected, and guided by activity/experience, as well as given a certain degree of autonomy in decision making. The outcome that Locke, Rousseau and others sought has everything to do not only with emerging views of childhood and human development but with emerging democratic views of a society of responsible free thinking individuals.
One can then track this amazingly modern view of education forward from Rousseau to Richard Lovell Edgeworth, a man of many accomplishments and interests, including education. This type of experiential guided education of children-including girls is outlined in “Practical Education”, published in London in 1798 and co-authored with his own daughter Maria, whose education he had himself had carefully guided. There were many objections to this kind of broadly based, scientific, free-thinking education for
girls. These objections are outlined and then succinctly dealt with the first section of Maria Edgeworth’s Letters for Literary Ladies
published in London in 1795. It’s important to note the nature of the objections, as they give us some insight into how progressive these ideas were, as well as giving us some context for Maria’s accomplishments as an author. The “gentleman” cited warns his friend about the dangers of the education he has outlined for his new-born daughter. He warns him about the limits of what women can safely learn; expounding a widely held belief that women’s minds could be harmed by too much learning that took them away from their more domestic natures (their “natural abilities”). As stated on page 5: “In the course of my life it has never been my good fortune to meet with a female whose mind, in strength, just proportion and activity, I could compare to that of a sensible man”. He also later warns (pages 10, 12) of the inevitable moral and political decline of society when women have power
(though there may be exceptions, he notes in careful consideration of the past queens of his own society). All of these objections amount to a belief that the natural abilities of men and women fall into the aforementioned two separate spheres of operation –public for men and domestic for women.
The Edgeworth’s treatise Practical Education was first published in 1798, consisting of two volumes outlining what they see as the
ideal approach to educating children. The educational system they propose is practical, experiential, scientifically based and developmentally
appropriate (as we would say today). They applied the focus on science and observation seen in Locke’s time to the understanding of children’s cognitive, moral and social development. As stated in the first page of the preface: “We have chosen the title Practical Education to point out that we rely entirely upon practice and experience.” They therefore emphasized practicality, daily life skills and life lessons drawn from and building on the natural consequences of carefully limited choices made by the child. They also had a direct focus on introducing a subject early, without the child necessarily knowing they were being introduced to a “subject”
or “lesson”. Also from the preface (p 3-4):
“We have found from experience that an early knowledge of the first principles of science may be given in conversation, and may be insensibly acquired from the usual incidents of life. If this knowledge be carefully associated with the technical terms which common use may preserve in the memory much of the difficulty of subsequent instruction may be avoided”.
Walk into any school where children are examining fall leaves they’ve brought in from outside during recess and listen to the teacher explaining in a fun way a child can understand, but using the appropriate terms why the leaves have color, and you are looking at this educational principle in operation. The Edgeworths had a keen understanding of how to introduce a topic experientially, and then build upon the knowledge thus gained. They were also themselves keen observers of children. All of these basic educational principles came to life in Maria Edgeworth’s Rosamond stories.
including who could participate, and reform of social systems, including a review of gender roles. While the view of the two different spheres of operation (public for men, domestic for women) still definitely held sway, new opportunities were opening for women, especially within the realm of education. A new view of childhood had also been emerging for some time, characterized in the works of John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau.
When John Locke wrote his Thoughts Concerning Education in 1693, he considered the child as a rational creature, an individual that needed to be trained to think for himself (or, indeed herself, as he was writing about the education of a friend’s sons and daugther). This view was a change from that held earlier of children as little adults or as beings for adults to exercise their will upon.
Locke’s view also became extremely influential, and set the stage for those who would later expand on his ideas. One such author was Jean Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau wrote Emile in 1762. In this book, Rousseau writes about the character Emile’s educational progress. The child throughout is assumed to be good, and assumed to have natural inclinations which can be brought out and trained through directed
experiences which respect the child’s naturally developing
abilities. The child should, in short, be respected, and guided by activity/experience, as well as given a certain degree of autonomy in decision making. The outcome that Locke, Rousseau and others sought has everything to do not only with emerging views of childhood and human development but with emerging democratic views of a society of responsible free thinking individuals.
One can then track this amazingly modern view of education forward from Rousseau to Richard Lovell Edgeworth, a man of many accomplishments and interests, including education. This type of experiential guided education of children-including girls is outlined in “Practical Education”, published in London in 1798 and co-authored with his own daughter Maria, whose education he had himself had carefully guided. There were many objections to this kind of broadly based, scientific, free-thinking education for
girls. These objections are outlined and then succinctly dealt with the first section of Maria Edgeworth’s Letters for Literary Ladies
published in London in 1795. It’s important to note the nature of the objections, as they give us some insight into how progressive these ideas were, as well as giving us some context for Maria’s accomplishments as an author. The “gentleman” cited warns his friend about the dangers of the education he has outlined for his new-born daughter. He warns him about the limits of what women can safely learn; expounding a widely held belief that women’s minds could be harmed by too much learning that took them away from their more domestic natures (their “natural abilities”). As stated on page 5: “In the course of my life it has never been my good fortune to meet with a female whose mind, in strength, just proportion and activity, I could compare to that of a sensible man”. He also later warns (pages 10, 12) of the inevitable moral and political decline of society when women have power
(though there may be exceptions, he notes in careful consideration of the past queens of his own society). All of these objections amount to a belief that the natural abilities of men and women fall into the aforementioned two separate spheres of operation –public for men and domestic for women.
The Edgeworth’s treatise Practical Education was first published in 1798, consisting of two volumes outlining what they see as the
ideal approach to educating children. The educational system they propose is practical, experiential, scientifically based and developmentally
appropriate (as we would say today). They applied the focus on science and observation seen in Locke’s time to the understanding of children’s cognitive, moral and social development. As stated in the first page of the preface: “We have chosen the title Practical Education to point out that we rely entirely upon practice and experience.” They therefore emphasized practicality, daily life skills and life lessons drawn from and building on the natural consequences of carefully limited choices made by the child. They also had a direct focus on introducing a subject early, without the child necessarily knowing they were being introduced to a “subject”
or “lesson”. Also from the preface (p 3-4):
“We have found from experience that an early knowledge of the first principles of science may be given in conversation, and may be insensibly acquired from the usual incidents of life. If this knowledge be carefully associated with the technical terms which common use may preserve in the memory much of the difficulty of subsequent instruction may be avoided”.
Walk into any school where children are examining fall leaves they’ve brought in from outside during recess and listen to the teacher explaining in a fun way a child can understand, but using the appropriate terms why the leaves have color, and you are looking at this educational principle in operation. The Edgeworths had a keen understanding of how to introduce a topic experientially, and then build upon the knowledge thus gained. They were also themselves keen observers of children. All of these basic educational principles came to life in Maria Edgeworth’s Rosamond stories.