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Mary Wollstonecraft(1759-1797)

EDCI658

Fall, 2006

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Mary’s Life and Times She was born 147 years after Rousseau, 13

years after Pestalozzi and 15 years earlier than Johann Friedrich Herbart

Born in London to a alcoholic father and an Irish mother

The whole family moved to Beverly since her father inherited a farm

Mary’s father lost all the inheritance on drinking and gambling

Mary attended a day school in Beverly where she learned French and how to be a good wife

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Mary’s Life and Times Mary liked reading and writing at home and

showed interest in various social issues Her schooling stopped when her family moved

back to London Mary experienced violent headaches, gloom, and

nervous fevers, and symptoms of depression and melancholy

She suffered depression her whole life She helped her sister Elsa to escape from her

husband after giving birth to a child She developed a close friendship with Fanny and

opened a girl’s school with her Fanny died during giving birth to a child

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Mary’s Life and TimesShe is the first self-support woman

author in historyFamous works:

Original Stories for Children Reflections on the Revolution in France A Vindication of the Rights of Men A Vindication of the Rights of Women

(published this book anonymously, but used her name in the second edition)

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Mary’s Life and Times Attacked aristocracy, privilege, power of rank,

and wealth as impediment of human freedom The Vindication of the Rights of Women is the

first frankly feminist manifesto; She was considered a Revolutionary feminist

The minds of women were no difference than the minds of man

She moved to Paris later because of an involvement with a married man

In Paris, she learned about people who advocated the rights of women to vote, to inherit property, and to have child custody rights as divorcees

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Mary’s Life and Times Mary had an affair with Gilbert Imlay, an

American man Had a child, named after her dead friend,

Fanny, with Gilbert and eventually was abandoned by him

She had another affair with William Godwin and persuaded him to marry her when she was pregnant

Mary died when giving birth to a child with William just as her childhood friend, Fanny did.

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Wollstonecraft’s Importance in Education Two types of private schools: day school and

boarding school Advocated for government-supported public

school She disliked parents’ interference with school

affairs She believed that the form of public schools

can alleviate this problem and allow parents and schools to work together

She also had ideas about modern kindergarten, industrial training, and Socratic form of teaching

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Wollstonecraft’s Importance in Education

She mocked the ideas of the cultural icon at her time, Rousseau.

In Emile, Rousseau seemed to believe that there should be distinct education for boys and girls

Agreed with Locke about the mind as a blank slate

Promoted an education for women that is beyond preparing them for family life and dependence and instead cultivate their minds

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Sample Writings

“The good effects resulting from attention to private education will ever be very confined, and the parent who really puts his own hand to the plow, will always, in some degree, be disappointed, till education becomes a grand national concern”

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Sample Writings Cont. “…Nor will women ever fulfill the

peculiar duties of the sexes, till they become enlightened citizens, till they become free by being enabled to earn their own subsistence, independent of men; in the same manner, I mean to prevent misconstruction, as one man is independent of another”

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Sample Writings Cont. “Nay marriage will never be held sacred ‘til

women, by being brought up with men, are prepared to be their companions rather than their mistresses…”

“…for it will be a long time, I fear, before the world will be so far enlightened that parents, only anxious to render their children virtuous, shall allow them to choose companions for life themselves…”

“…women must be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge, which is scarcely possible unless they be educated by the same pursuits as men…”

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Resources on Wollstonecraft http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wwollst

onecraft.htm http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/woll.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecr

aft http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philoso

phers/wollstonecraft.html http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/wollstone

craft.html http://www.bartleby.com/144/ http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m

/mary_wollstonecraft.html

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Resources on Mary Wollstonecraft Cont. http://www.english.uga.edu/~232/mws.html http://www.macalester.edu/~warren/courses/

Wollstonecraft/index.html http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/bailey/

wollston.htm http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/

blwollstonecraft.htm http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/authors/

wollstonecraftm.html http://www.bartleby.com/people/Wollston.html http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/

marywollstonecraft.html