Mary Wollstonecraft on Education: The Vindication of Women's Minds

Mary Wollstonecraft’s theory of education, developed in various works including Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787), the Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and her posthumously published novels, is one of the foundational texts of modern feminist educational thought. The theory argues for the recognition of women as rational beings who deserve the same education as men, and it develops a comprehensive program of reform that addresses the various dimensions of women’s subordination. This article examines the central arguments of Wollstonecraft’s theory of education, including her arguments for women’s education, her critique of Rousseau, and her lasting influence on modern educational thought.

The Argument for Women’s Education

Wollstonecraft’s central argument for women’s education is based on the principle of the equal moral worth of all human beings. The proper development of human nature, in her view, requires the cultivation of the rational and moral faculties, and the proper cultivation of these faculties requires the same kind of education for women as for men.

The argument is grounded in a comprehensive account of the nature of the human being. Women, in Wollstonecraft’s view, are not naturally inferior to men. The appearance of inferiority is the result of the inadequate education that women receive, of the false ideas about feminine delicacy and beauty that society has constructed, and of the legal and economic dependence that prevents women from developing their full rational and moral capacities.

The argument is also grounded in a comprehensive account of the proper function of the family and the society. The proper rearing of children, in Wollstonecraft’s view, requires mothers who are educated and capable of exercising their rational and moral faculties. The proper functioning of the society requires women who are capable of participating in the public life of the community, and not merely in the domestic life of the family.

The Critique of Rousseau

Wollstonecraft’s theory of education is developed in critical engagement with Rousseau, whose Émile (1762) was the most influential work of educational theory in the late eighteenth century. Rousseau had argued that the proper education of women required a different curriculum from the proper education of men, and that the natural differences between the sexes justified a different form of education for women.

Wollstonecraft’s critique of Rousseau is sharp and sustained. She argues that Rousseau’s account of women’s nature is not a description of natural differences but a prescription for social subordination. The “natural” differences that Rousseau identifies are, in Wollstonecraft’s view, the result of social conditioning, and the proper response is not to accept them as natural but to overcome them through the proper education of women.

Wollstonecraft’s critique of Rousseau is one of the most important early feminist critiques of the dominant educational theory. The critique has been an important source of the modern feminist engagement with the question of the proper education of women, and it has been an important source of the various feminist educational theories that have been developed in the centuries since.

The Programme of Reform

Wollstonecraft’s theory of education is not merely a critique of the existing system; it also develops a comprehensive program of reform. The program includes the following elements.

The first element is the establishment of a national system of education that would provide for the proper education of all children, regardless of their sex. The proper education, in Wollstonecraft’s view, would cultivate the rational and moral faculties of the children, and would prepare them for the responsibilities of citizenship and the duties of family life.

The second element is the reform of the curriculum. The proper curriculum, in Wollstonecraft’s view, would include the same subjects for girls as for boys, including the natural sciences, the modern languages, history, geography, mathematics, and the various other subjects that are necessary for the proper development of the rational faculties. The conventional curriculum, which was designed to produce ornamental accomplishments rather than genuine intellectual development, was an obstacle to the proper education of women.

The third element is the reform of the family. The proper family, in Wollstonecraft’s view, would be a place of equality, mutual respect, and the proper development of the human faculties. The conventional family, in which the husband exercised arbitrary authority over the wife, was an obstacle to the proper development of the moral and rational capacities of women.

The fourth element is the reform of the laws. The proper laws, in Wollstonecraft’s view, would recognize the equal rights of women to property, to divorce, to custody of children, and to the various other rights that the conventional laws had denied to them. The conventional laws, which treated women as the property of their husbands, were an obstacle to the proper development of the moral and rational capacities of women.

The Lasting Influence

Wollstonecraft’s theory of education has had a profound influence on the development of modern educational thought, especially in the area of women’s education.

The first major influence is on the development of the modern system of women’s education. The contemporary system of women’s education, with its emphasis on the same curriculum for girls as for boys, with its recognition of the importance of the natural sciences, and with its commitment to the development of the rational and moral faculties of all students, is a direct descendant of Wollstonecraft’s pioneering work.

The second major influence is on the development of the modern feminist educational theory. The contemporary feminist educational theory, with its emphasis on the importance of the recognition of gender in the design of the curriculum, with its critique of the various forms of gender bias in the educational system, and with its commitment to the proper development of the human faculties of all students, is a direct descendant of Wollstonecraft’s pioneering work.

The third major influence is on the development of the modern debate about the proper relationship between education and citizenship. The contemporary debate about the proper scope of public education, the proper relationship between the family and the school, the proper response to the various social and cultural inequalities in the educational system, is a direct descendant of the debate that Wollstonecraft helped to launch.

The Argument for Women’s Education

The Critique of Rousseau

The Programme of Reform

The Lasting Influence

Further Reading