Young Womans Guide, The | Page 6

be"--we

would add must be--"derived;" at least in no small proportion!
But I am using the term education without explaining it. Let me, then, ere I proceed to
say more on the subject of female responsibility, explain what I mean by education,
especially female education.
Mere instruction in the sciences is, indeed, education; it is, however, but a very small part
of it. To educate, is to train up. In this view, all are of course educated; and every thing
which has an influence in developing mind or body, and in training up, either for good or
for evil, is entitled, justly, to the name of education.
But if the above definition be just--if whatever concerns our development, or the
formation of any part of our character, physical, intellectual, social or moral, is
education--then it must follow that there are two kinds of education, bad and good. All
persons, places and things, which affect us (and what does not affect us?) and influence
us, for good or for evil, must educate us.
I am aware that this definition is not new: still, it is not generally received, or if received,
not generally acted upon. There is still an almost universal clinging to the old, inadequate,
incorrect idea, that the principal part of education consists in the cultivation of the
intellect; and that, too, by set lessons; received, for the most part, at the schools. The true
idea of education, therefore, must be continually enforced, till it becomes common
property, and until mankind act as if they believed what they profess in regard to it.
When Solomon says, "Train up a child in the way he should go," he is talking of what I
call _education;_ and the kind of education which he is there recommending, is good
education. I do not believe he had the schools in his mind--the infant school, the Sabbath
school, the common school, the high school, or the university.
Far be it from me to attempt to detract from the value of our schools; on the contrary, I
regard them as of inestimable worth, when duly attended to. What I insist on is, that they
are not the all in all of education; and that, in fact, their influence in training up or
forming good character, is so trifling--that is, comparatively--that they scarcely deserve
to be thought of when speaking of education, as a whole, especially the education of
daughters. And though one of the tribes of the nation to which Solomon belonged, over
which he reigned, and for whom, in particular, he wrote, is said to have been school-
masters by profession, and another priests, I can hardly conceive that when he was
inspired to give the educational advice just alluded to, he ever turned so much as a
thought to the little corner of Palestine allotted to Simeon, or to the Levites in their
respective but more scattered stations.
Solomon was, in all probability, addressing himself chiefly to the fathers and mothers,
and grand-fathers and grand-mothers, and other relatives of Israel; the class who, by their
united influence, make the son and daughter, and grand-son and grand-daughter, what
they are--a blessing or a curse to the world in which they are to live. For, according as
children are brought up by these teachers, and by the influences which are shed upon
them from day to day and from hour to hour, so are they well or ill educated.
If I have been successful in presenting the meaning of a term which is not only frequently
used in this book, but almost every where else, it will follow, as a matter of course, that I
do not attach too much importance to the education of daughters themselves, nor to their
education as the teachers of others. For if to educate, is to form character, what young
woman can be found, of any age or in any family, who is not a teacher?
Have young women often considered--daughters, especially--how much they influence

younger brothers and sisters, if any such there are in the family where they dwell? Have
they considered how much they sometimes influence the character--and how much more
they might do it--not only of their school-mates and play-mates, but also of their more
aged friends and companions--their parents, grand-parents, and others? [Footnote: On
reading these paragraphs in manuscript, to one of our more eminent teachers, he observed
that if he had been useful in the world, he owed his usefulness to the exertions of a
maiden lady who resided in his father's family, while his character was forming.]
I could tell them--were this the place for it--many a true story of reading daughters who
have been the means of awakening, in their aged parents, or grand-parents, or other
friends, a taste for reading, which they might