What Mary Wollstonecraft thinks about education
English moral and political philosopher (1759 to 1797); author of A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).
Mary Wollstonecraft did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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7 dated positions, c. 1787 to c. 1792, in their own words. Our reading of what Mary Wollstonecraft has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Our readingUnless women are educated to be men's companions, they will hold back the progress of knowledge
Their wordsContending for the rights of women, my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge, for truth must be common to all, or it will be inefficacious with respect to its influence on general practice.
↗A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsBusiness of various kinds, they might likewise pursue, if they were educated in a more orderly manner, which might save many from common and legal prostitution.
↗A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsThe 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.
↗A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Our readingTo improve both sexes, boys and girls should be educated together at home and in public schools
Their wordsI have already animadverted on the bad habits which females acquire when they are shut up together; and I think that the observation may fairly be extended to the other sex, till the natural inference is drawn which I have had in view throughout—that to improve both sexes they ought, not only in private families, but in public schools, to be educated together.
↗A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsThose productions which give a wrong account of the human passions, and the various accidents of life, ought not to be read before the judgment is formed, or at least exercised. Such accounts are one great cause of the affectation of young women.
↗Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsI shall not contest about the graces, but the virtues are best learnt at home, if a mother will give up her time and thoughts to the task; but if she cannot, they should be sent to school; for people who do not manage their children well, and have not large fortunes, must leave them often with servants, where they are in danger of still greater corruptions.
↗Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsA teacher at a school is only a kind of upper servant, who has more work than the menial ones.
↗Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book