On this page
-
Text (1)
-
132 FEMALE EDUCATION IN MICHIGAN.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
In And The House Message Of Represen Del...
mon school system , as the early nurseries of the future statesman , and the very foundation on which our free institutions must ever
rest ; yet we could not carry on this system one day without the aid of those females who are excluded from the university . The
Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction , for the year I 860 shows that out of the 7941 qualified teachers in our
primary schools , , 5 , 342 are females . , These female teachers mould the minds of our children , and stamp _uj _3 on their youthful intellects
impressions as lasting * as life . " The influence _ivhich they exert upon the rising generation is far
greater than that of the male teachers , and in the same proportion as they are educated _tvill this influence he beneficial ; and yet the State
moves effort towards along * apparentl educating y indifferen 1 our daug t , and ters wi in thout ' the making higher * the branches slightest of
learning . ' For twenty years the university fund , which is the joint property of both sexeshas been exclusively devoted towards
, educating * our sons . Every consideration of state policy demands — -justice demands—that you should make provision for the building
of a ' Female College / that our daughters may have the advantages now enjoyed by our sons at the university ; I ask you to make an
appropriation of 30 , 000 dollars for this purpose . This would be just four cents , apiece to the inhabitants of our State , a cheap way
of meting out long-delayed justice . I would locate it somewhere in the rural districtsand if possible in the vicinity of some beautiful
lake , but its particular , locality _^ should be left open to competition . No Female College should be built for less than 50 , 000 dollars ,
and I would require the successful locality to pay at least 20 , 000 dollars towards the building of it . There are a great many ,
localities in our State where the citizens would cheerfully contribute 20000 dollars towards securing such an institution in their midst . "
It , must not be inferred from the foregoing extract that no opportunities of pursuing advanced—though not , it would appear , what
are esteemed " the highest "—branches of , learning are afforded to the female sex in Michigan . There are several colleges to which
they are admitted , some being open to both sexes , others to young women only . We find that the curriculum for female students for
their first year at the Olivet College , embraces Cicero ' s Orations , higher algebra , geometry , & c . & c , and we may thus estimate the
height of that standard of attainment which the Governor desired to hold out to themin proposing to facilitate their pursuit of still
further studies . , Let us now reflect , that the State in which this enlightened view
of female education is promulgated , has not been for centuries the scene of an advanced civilizationwhere learning is held _injDossibly
an exaggerated esteem , but is one , of the youngest children , of the , North American Republicnumberingindeedbut a very few years
since its promotion from merel , y territorial , existence , .
Though in extent exceeding by one-fifth that of Scotland , it
132 Female Education In Michigan.
132 _FEMALE EDUCATION IN MICHIGAN .
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1861, page 132, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041861/page/60/
-