Report Cards (Group 2)
In the early 1900's came about of period of progressional reform for the rights of women. The academy movement, a transition into opening a moral based, literary fueled, and domestic style of learning for women was gaining lots of attention. A major supporter being that of the Catholic church. With the church's support, both parties had reasoning to commit to the movement. While the church was originally in favor, the push for women's education brought a surge of millions of new followers into Catholicism. This inevitably spread catholicism and women's right to a fair learning environment hand in hand.
The spread of coeducation started from the west, as less populated areas were able to become more profitable with the increase in students. On the contrary, well established educational institutions, such as Harvard and Brown, chose to remain male only institutions. This was not the settling point as new affiliations of these presitgous schools began to appear in succession. The difference being, they welcomed females to attend. Approaching the 20th centruy, many females were still under the impression that acting against the female standard was wrong and strike karma in one way or another. Whether the reasoning for this was fear of men is yet to be decided.
It wasnt until the 20th century that females were given a selection a degrees in which they could pursure within their education. These degrees did not hold substantial value, in comparison to the variety of careeers men were able to have. After seeing the depiction of a female's report card in the early 20th century, I can understand why STEM courses, or the common core structured subjects we took throughout our lives were not present. It is safe to say Laura and her fellow companninons were restricted to either vocational training, domestic science, or home economics.
Even with the emergence of the first all female college, society at this time had not evolved yet to be accepting of such change. The idea of equal oppurtunity for females was not fully accepted up until around 40 years ago. It's disturbing to think about the idea of our own grandmothers, whom may have been extraordinarily smart, be stripped of her education and only be allowed to partake in secretarial, nursing, teaching, or motherhood.
These reports cards strike us as odd at first glance, but it is a rude awakening as to how our world behaved, only two generations before us. We are a generation striving for wrold renown equality, and these reports serve as a reminder of how far we have in the last few decades.
Citations:
“Researching 19th and Early 20th Century Women's Higher Education.” University History Collections, library.une.edu/university-history/university-history/westbrook-college-history/features/researching-19th-and-early-20th-century-womens-higher-education/.
“Women's Education Grew in the 19th Century as Attitudes Changed, but Challenges Remained :: Tusculum University.” TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY NEWS, 1 Mar. 2019, www3.tusculum.edu/news/news/2019/womens-education-grew-in-the-19th-century-as-attitudes-changed-but-challenges-remained/.