Early Female Education: Because Women were Cheaper

Originally published in the Times Argus/Rutland Herald Weekend Magazine, June 18, 2022 for the “Remember When” column with the title, “Female education: From the home to the school house“

Sampler made in Orange, Vermont, with text: “Made in school A.D. 1814 by Roxcinda Richardson”
(Vermont Historical Society)

1800–20

Early Vermont women were far from uneducated. In the 1770s, literacy among females is estimated to have been at 60%, and by 1820, over 80%. But most girls educated prior to 1800 could only expect to learn enough basic skills to become a proficient housekeeper.

When Miss Ida Strong opened a girls-only school in Middlebury in 1800, it was the first of its kind in Vermont. The idea of designing schools and curricula specifically for girls was progressive and marked the beginning of a nascent trend in Vermont’s female education.

Educating women to be interesting wives

Originally published in the Times Argus/Rutland Herald Weekend Magazine, May 18, 2022 for the “Remember When” column with the title, “Female education, for happiness and cordiality“

Sampler made in Orange, Vermont, with text: “Made in school A.D. 1814 by Roxcinda Richardson” in the 9th year of her age.
(Vermont Historical Society)

“Whatever the fine ladies think of the matter, it is certain that the only rational ambition they can have must be to make obedient daughters, loving wives, prudent mothers and mistresses of families, faithful friends, and good Christians.” 

From the “Of the peculiar Management of Daughters” in the August 14, 1802 edition of Randolph’s Weekly Wanderer

At a time when schooling was usually limited to subjects and skills deemed absolutely necessary to their future roles as wives and mothers, the above statement makes sense. But it was actually in an 1802 article written in support of furthering the formal education of young girls. 

Two years earlier, Miss Ida Strong – considered to be the “pioneer of female education in this state “ by Vermont’s more famous first lady of education, Emma Willard – had begun instructing the “various branches of Female Education” at the Middlebury Female Seminary. And in her belief that girls should receive a more well-rounded and thorough education than had their mothers and grandmothers, she was not alone.