Speeches Delivered to Female High School Students on the Value of Education, 1890

Pamphlet

"Three Addresses to Girls at School," J.M Wilson. Percival and Co: London, 1890. 7" x 5" inches. 74 pages. Soft cover pamphlet. A series of speeches delivered by the vice president of the Clifton High School for Girls in Covent Garden, 1890. The speeches were given on "Education," "High School Education for Girls," and "Religion" in 1887, 1889 and 1890 respectively. In them Wilson, the school's vice president and late head master, addresses the female students on the value of their education,"You are living in a great age, when changes of many kinds are in progress in our political and social and religious ideas. There never was a greater need of trained intelligence, clear heads and earnest hearts. And the part that women play is not a subordinate one." Whereas in 1840 60% of British women were illiterate, that number dropped dramatically to 40% by 1860, and the momentum for female education picked up considerably through the end of the nineteenth century into the twentieth. Wilson's speeches, delivered to high school girls, give fascinating insight into both the vision and anxiety bound up in educational reform during the time. "We earnestly desire that women should be highly educated," he writes. "And yet is there not a type of educated woman which we do not wholly admire? I am not going to caricature a bluestocking, but to point out one or two real dangers. Education is good; but perfect sanity is better still.. Sanity is the most excellent of all women's excellences..It is a small matter that you should protest against some small maladjustment or folly; but it is a great matter that you should be perfectly sane and well-balanced. Now education helps sanity." The addresses both promote women's education and caution against radically upending existing social structures. Wilson advises the girls throughout to be gentle, humble and sane and celebrates the role educated women play in supporting men in positions of power. Front soft cover detached. Textblock is partially detached. Text block clean and bright. Overall good condition.

Item #18017

Price: $180.00