Part 1 (1/2)

The Education of American Girls

by Anna Callender Brackett

PREFACE

The Table of Contents sufficiently indicates the purpose and aihts of American women, of wide and varied experience, both professional and otherwise; no one writer being responsible for the work of another The connecting link is the common interest Some of the names need no introduction The author of Essay IV has had an unusually long and varied experience in the education and care of Western girls, in schools and colleges The author of the essay on English Girls is a graduate of Antioch, has taught for many years in different sections of this country, and has had unusual opportunities, for several years, of observing English methods and results

The essays on the first four institutions, whose names they bear, co officers of those institutions, who vouch for the correctness of the statements Of these, VII is by a member of the present Senior Class of the University, who has instituted very exact personal inquiries a the women-students

The author of VIII is the librarian of Mt Holyoke Seraduate--a teacher of wide experience, and has been for three or four years the Principal of the Ladies'

Departe The resident physician at Vassar is too well known as such, to need any introduction

There are many other institutions whose statistics would be equally valuable, such, for instance, as the Northwestern University of Illinois, which has not only opened its doors to girl-students, but has placed women on the Board of Trustees, and in the Faculty

From Antioch, which we desired to have fully represented, we have been disappointed in obtaining statistics, which may, however, hereafter be eive 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 fores 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 e for any such partial treatment

To friends, iven me the benefit of their criticism on different parts of the introductory essay, ation to Dr W Gill Wylie, of this city, whose line of study and practice has reat value

I cannot refrain fro that I a acquired in the profession of teaching

Civilization, i, as it does, division of labor, necessarily renders all personsprofession, 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 frohtforwardness of speech, which savors, to others who are not immature, of brusqueness and positiveness, if it ance 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 ravated 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 clai hours of a short vacation

I do not offer these explanations as an apology, siood 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 sub only that the screen of the honest purposefaults of manner or expression

ANNA C BRACKETT

117 East 36th street, New York City, January, 1874

THE

EDUCATION OF AMERICAN

GIRLS

There see and holding attention ahtful people in America, than the question of the Education of Girls We may answer it as ill, we may refuse to answer it, but it will not be postponed, and it will be heard; and until it is answered on rounds than that of previous custom, or of preconceived opinion, it may be expected to present itself at every turn, to crop out of every stratuht Nor is woman to blame if the question of her education occupies so much attention The deitation is not prie, of which it is only the index It would be as hts of a clock for theof the hands, while, acted upon by an unseen, but constant force, they descend slowly but steadily towards the earth

That this is true, is attested by the widely-spread discussion and the contemporaneous attempts at reform in widely-separated countries While the wo for a lish wo their right at least to be exaht, and the Russian wo that the one object tohich they will bend all their efforts of refor of a solid education from the foundation up” When the water in the Scotch lakes rises and falls, as the quay in Lisbon sinks, we know that the cause of both must lie far below, and be independent of either locality