The Ideological Origins of the Women's College: Religion, Class, and Curriculum in the Educational Visions of Catharine Beecher and Mary Lyon

Autor/in	Turpin, Andrea L.
Titel	The Ideological Origins of the Women's College: Religion, Class, and Curriculum in the Educational Visions of Catharine Beecher and Mary Lyon
Quelle	In: History of Education Quarterly, 50 (2010) 2, S.133-158 (26 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0018-2680
DOI	10.1111/j.1748-5959.2010.00257.x
Schlagwörter	Stellungnahme; Single Sex Colleges; Females; Educational History; Womens Education; Liberal Arts; Educational Philosophy; Differences + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Weibliches Geschlecht; History of education; Bildungsgeschichte; 'Women''s education'; Frauenbildung; Bildungsphilosophie; Erziehungsphilosophie; Unterscheiden
Abstract	Historical scholarship has traditionally focused on the commonalities uniting Catharine Beecher and Mary Lyon, the two leading antebellum women's educational reformers in New England. This essay shifts that focus by contrasting their educational philosophies and exploring the implications their differences had for the development of American women's collegiate education. Despite Beecher and Lyon's similar religious and educational backgrounds, a combination of childhood socio-economic differences and adult theological differences underlay disparities regarding which class of women each sought to educate, what social roles Beecher and Lyon thought these women should be educated to play, and what curriculum each believed would best accomplish their purposes. By contrasting the educational philosophies of Beecher and Lyon, the author shows that the Seven Sisters' decision to copy the liberal arts curriculum of elite male colleges was not a forgone conclusion, and neither was their high price tag. Their curriculum and the student population they targeted resulted from the ferment of ideas about gender, theology, and class generated by debates between Lyon, Beecher, and other female educational reformers in the middle of the nineteenth century. The author explores the formation of these ideas in order to clarify the ideological choices made in the design of American women's colleges--and their long-range implications. (Contains 45 footnotes.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Wiley-Blackwell. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8598; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10