![[The Real Pupils of...] The Boarding School](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E0GyREsJIR4/SOgoVM12jUI/AAAAAAAAABo/HmJmy2mfwjU/S1600-R/BoardingSchool.jpg)
How has your reading and/or research changed and/or deepened your view of the text? About what are you most excited (or somewhat interested in)? How do your analyses and hunches mesh with those of your colleagues?
How has this step in the process changed and/or deepened your sense of where you want to take this project? What strategies worked and/or failed? For what aspects of this process will you need help, and about what are you most confident?
Before getting help on the process of research (with Professor Logan), I wasn't completely sure where my topic could go. I am interested in the fashion portion of this book, where Foster links dress with age, class, and--most interestingly—propriety. After perusing the articles I found, I realized there is much to consider for my paper. Who was dictating the fashion of women? How important to the whole society was women's fashion? What was happening politically that affected the choices women made in dress? I'm sure I'll know the answers soon...
I am excited about my group. I am doing fashion, Kassey is doing needlework, Alle is doing the boarding school experience, and Justine is doing reading and/or education. All of those ideas interconnect and complicate each other. How did the boarding school experience change what people read, wore, and did?
31 October 2008
Key Words & Preliminary Biography
Preliminary Bibliography
The Boarding School: Or, Lessons of a Preceptress to Her Pupils
“Propriety is that garb which becomes our situation and circumstances in life” (Foster 57).
Key Words:
“gender” and “fashion”
“gender” and “clothing”
“clothing” and “women”
“fashion” and “eighteenth century”
“female education”
“women" and "fashion" and "dress." limited by the time period (1790-1800)
Doak, Melissa, and Melissa Karetny.. "How Did Diverse Activists Shape the Dress Reform Movement, 1838-1881?." Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 3.0 (1999).
Finch, Martha L. "'Fashions of Worldly Dames: Separatist Discourses of Dress in Early Modern London, Amsterdam, and Plymouth Colony.” Church History 74.3 (2005): 494-533.
Kelly, Catherine E. In the New England Fashion: Reshaping Women's Lives in the Nineteenth Century. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999.
Kerber, Linda K. Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America. Chapel Hill: Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture by the University of North Carolina Press, 1980.
Messer, Peter C. "Writing Women into History: Defining Gender and Citizenship in Post-Revolutionary America." Studies in Eighteenth Century Culture 28 (1999): 341-360.
Modestus. “On The Dress of Women.” Ladies Afternoon Visitor 1 (1807): 42
Octavius. “Affectation in Female Dress.” Weekly Visitory, or Ladies' Miscellany 2 (1804): 378.
Pettengill, Claire C. “Sisterhood in a Separate Sphere: Female Friendship in Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette and The Boarding School.” Early American Literature 27 (1992): 185-203.
Rush, Benjamin. “Thoughts Upon Female Education.” The Universal Asylum and Columbian Magazine (Apr.1790): 209.
Smith, Chloe Wigston. "Practical Habits: Clothes, Women, and Fashion in the Eighteenth-Century Novel." Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences 67.9 (Mar. 2007): 3415-3415.
proposal
Hannah Foster’s The Boarding School explains the necessity of a boarding school experience for young women. She does this through documentation of letters of pupils and instructors studying at the finishing school Harmony Grove. Foster enunciates the necessity of sisterhood and literature, which the finishing school strives to offer their pupils. Foster claims that only through the support of sisterhood and with proper reading can young women flourish in society.
Foster uses letter from to support her claim that boarding school supports an environment unlike any other. She tells of how the pupils go home disappointed in the lack of support and sisterhood even offered by their blood sisters, often yearning to return to Harmony Grove. My claim on the necessity of sisterhood and literature during the late 18th century will find support through examining the lifestyles of respectable women during this era, and how sisterhood and literature influenced them. In order to make this claim first I need to explain how boarding school supports and encourages a sisterly environment and literature. From there the paper will concentrate on successful women of the time, what classified them as successful, and how literature and sisterhood inspired their lifestyles. Then, I will relate my research back to The Boarding School in order to show how the development of these sisterly and reading skills will eventually transform the lives of these young pupils.
The essentialness of understanding how sisterhood and literature affects the lives of young women in the late 18th century remains crucial even today. It is important to understand how the first school’s educated women, and what they considered necessary for them to know. Sisterhood and literature, which prove to be prominent subjects of the boarding school, remain significant for women today. Literature throughout all levels of education remains vital, and this sense of sisterhood over the years transformed into sororities and other organizations where the respect and love for women alike remain recognized. This project will provide readers with an understanding of where, how and why the foundations for women in literature and sisterhood came to be and remain significant.
Foster uses letter from to support her claim that boarding school supports an environment unlike any other. She tells of how the pupils go home disappointed in the lack of support and sisterhood even offered by their blood sisters, often yearning to return to Harmony Grove. My claim on the necessity of sisterhood and literature during the late 18th century will find support through examining the lifestyles of respectable women during this era, and how sisterhood and literature influenced them. In order to make this claim first I need to explain how boarding school supports and encourages a sisterly environment and literature. From there the paper will concentrate on successful women of the time, what classified them as successful, and how literature and sisterhood inspired their lifestyles. Then, I will relate my research back to The Boarding School in order to show how the development of these sisterly and reading skills will eventually transform the lives of these young pupils.
The essentialness of understanding how sisterhood and literature affects the lives of young women in the late 18th century remains crucial even today. It is important to understand how the first school’s educated women, and what they considered necessary for them to know. Sisterhood and literature, which prove to be prominent subjects of the boarding school, remain significant for women today. Literature throughout all levels of education remains vital, and this sense of sisterhood over the years transformed into sororities and other organizations where the respect and love for women alike remain recognized. This project will provide readers with an understanding of where, how and why the foundations for women in literature and sisterhood came to be and remain significant.
30 October 2008
abstract
Abstract
Pettengill, Claire C. "Sisterhood in a Separate Sphere: Female Friendship in Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette and The Boarding School." Early American Literature 3 (1992): 185-203.
In “Sisterhood in a Separate Sphere: Female Friendship in Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette and The Boarding School," Pettengill addresses her claim that The Boarding School exemplifies how instructors and pupils of Harmony Grove“powerfully evoke the complex ideology of sisterhood that helped shape the daily lives of young American women at the turn of the eighteenth century” (Pettengill 187). She does this through explaining the significance of sisterhood and womanly friendship that pervade the book and lifestyle at Harmony Grove (The boarding School Foster’s book concentrates on). Pettengill further explores the idea of sisterhood that Foster so vigorously advocates, and expands on it to noting the significance of sisterhood in the era.
Throughout her article Pettengill compares Foster’s two literary works, The Coquette and The Boarding School. She explains that though Foster writes both in a similar fashion (by using letters) and to support the importance of sisterhood, she does so in different manners. The Coquette concludes tragically showing loss of friendship whereas The Boarding School shows the significance of sisterhood through the resulting boarding school graduate. Both of the books still portray a need for sisterhood, “The Boarding School’s presentation of the meaning and function of female friendship echoes and affirms that in The Coquette” (Pettengill 188). Furthermore, she argues that together the books “powerfully evoke the complex ideology of sisterhood that helped shape the daily lives of young American women at the turn of the eighteenth century” (Pettengill 187). Pettengill analyzes the importance of sisterhood in both books separately then compares them. She portrays both as enunciating “overlapping ideologies such as ‘separate spheres,’ ‘republican motherhood,’ ‘the cult of single blessedness,’ and ‘the cult of domesticity,’ all of which began to be formulated during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, attest to the culture’s anxious concern with inscribing ‘woman’s place’ during a period of great uncertainty” (Pettengill 185).
Though her article presents some outstanding points, Pettengill fails to include an interpretation of why women needed sisterhood so much then compared to now. If, in fact she feels it remains just as significant in the late 20th and early 21st centuries then she still fails to explain why, and how finishing schools such as Harmony Grove helped this idea of sisterhood flourish. She also fails to include an argument against the support of sisterhood. Surely there must have been women of the time who found success and status without attending a finishing school or having female companions.
Overall, Pettengill’s argument for sisterhood presents itself as persuasive and successful. She utilizes both of Foster’s works to explain how in two completely different plots Foster still finds portrays the essentialness of sisterhood. She further supports her claim through outside sources and goes as far to explain that “social historians have convincingly documented the importance to postrevolutionary American women of a network of sisters and friends” (Pettengill 187). Pettengill uses this as well as additional views to support her claim.
My project concerns the importance of the original New England boarding schools such as Harmony Grove. Prior to reading this article I wanted to concentrate largely on the reading system incorporated within the boarding school and how that influenced the pupils. However, after reading the article I definitely want to include the necessity for a strong sisterhood support system that Foster keenly portrays in The Boarding School. Pettengill explains The Boarding School as presenting “females friendship in terms of this intense, culturally significant sisterhood” (Pettengill 187). Pettengill analyzed Foster’s book with such a compelling argument toward the need for sisterhood during the time that I feel it could have been just as important, if not more so, for women of the era to have women companions than being well read. Pettengill even presents the point that “In The Boarding School the male world is shadowy and vague” showing the little necessity for men in the development and flourishing of young women (Pettengill 188). Pettengill’s article inspired me to include the obligation of sisterhood in a young woman’s life and how Foster utilizes Harmony Grove to enunciate this necessity.
The article successfully persuaded me to alter my project and incorporate sisterhood into the ideology of how the original New England finishing schools molded their young women. The article read easily and flowed nicely from the supporting views of The Coquette and The Boarding School. Anyone reading The Boarding School would find this article helpful regardless of their topic because it describes the overall lifestyle of the pupils. Projects concerning women and friendship would also find the article useful.
Pettengill, Claire C. "Sisterhood in a Separate Sphere: Female Friendship in Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette and The Boarding School." Early American Literature 3 (1992): 185-203.
In “Sisterhood in a Separate Sphere: Female Friendship in Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette and The Boarding School," Pettengill addresses her claim that The Boarding School exemplifies how instructors and pupils of Harmony Grove“powerfully evoke the complex ideology of sisterhood that helped shape the daily lives of young American women at the turn of the eighteenth century” (Pettengill 187). She does this through explaining the significance of sisterhood and womanly friendship that pervade the book and lifestyle at Harmony Grove (The boarding School Foster’s book concentrates on). Pettengill further explores the idea of sisterhood that Foster so vigorously advocates, and expands on it to noting the significance of sisterhood in the era.
Throughout her article Pettengill compares Foster’s two literary works, The Coquette and The Boarding School. She explains that though Foster writes both in a similar fashion (by using letters) and to support the importance of sisterhood, she does so in different manners. The Coquette concludes tragically showing loss of friendship whereas The Boarding School shows the significance of sisterhood through the resulting boarding school graduate. Both of the books still portray a need for sisterhood, “The Boarding School’s presentation of the meaning and function of female friendship echoes and affirms that in The Coquette” (Pettengill 188). Furthermore, she argues that together the books “powerfully evoke the complex ideology of sisterhood that helped shape the daily lives of young American women at the turn of the eighteenth century” (Pettengill 187). Pettengill analyzes the importance of sisterhood in both books separately then compares them. She portrays both as enunciating “overlapping ideologies such as ‘separate spheres,’ ‘republican motherhood,’ ‘the cult of single blessedness,’ and ‘the cult of domesticity,’ all of which began to be formulated during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, attest to the culture’s anxious concern with inscribing ‘woman’s place’ during a period of great uncertainty” (Pettengill 185).
Though her article presents some outstanding points, Pettengill fails to include an interpretation of why women needed sisterhood so much then compared to now. If, in fact she feels it remains just as significant in the late 20th and early 21st centuries then she still fails to explain why, and how finishing schools such as Harmony Grove helped this idea of sisterhood flourish. She also fails to include an argument against the support of sisterhood. Surely there must have been women of the time who found success and status without attending a finishing school or having female companions.
Overall, Pettengill’s argument for sisterhood presents itself as persuasive and successful. She utilizes both of Foster’s works to explain how in two completely different plots Foster still finds portrays the essentialness of sisterhood. She further supports her claim through outside sources and goes as far to explain that “social historians have convincingly documented the importance to postrevolutionary American women of a network of sisters and friends” (Pettengill 187). Pettengill uses this as well as additional views to support her claim.
My project concerns the importance of the original New England boarding schools such as Harmony Grove. Prior to reading this article I wanted to concentrate largely on the reading system incorporated within the boarding school and how that influenced the pupils. However, after reading the article I definitely want to include the necessity for a strong sisterhood support system that Foster keenly portrays in The Boarding School. Pettengill explains The Boarding School as presenting “females friendship in terms of this intense, culturally significant sisterhood” (Pettengill 187). Pettengill analyzed Foster’s book with such a compelling argument toward the need for sisterhood during the time that I feel it could have been just as important, if not more so, for women of the era to have women companions than being well read. Pettengill even presents the point that “In The Boarding School the male world is shadowy and vague” showing the little necessity for men in the development and flourishing of young women (Pettengill 188). Pettengill’s article inspired me to include the obligation of sisterhood in a young woman’s life and how Foster utilizes Harmony Grove to enunciate this necessity.
The article successfully persuaded me to alter my project and incorporate sisterhood into the ideology of how the original New England finishing schools molded their young women. The article read easily and flowed nicely from the supporting views of The Coquette and The Boarding School. Anyone reading The Boarding School would find this article helpful regardless of their topic because it describes the overall lifestyle of the pupils. Projects concerning women and friendship would also find the article useful.
29 October 2008
thoughts on poetry
In The Boarding School, Foster uses multiple perspectives to enunciate how boarding school assists the development for young ladies. In the first pages she frequently quotes from the headmistress, Mrs. Williams, who talks largely about different types of literature. I found the section on poetry especially intriguing. “Poetry is, by some, ranked with novels; but I think injudiciously. Good poetry is certainly a sublime source of entertainment and instruction. What music is to the ear, poetry is to the heart” (Foster 24).
I was concentrating my thesis on the significance of literature in boarding school education during the 18th century. I want to learn what type of reading instructors, pupils, and outsiders felt to be most significant. Originally, my focus aimed on different types of literature such as novels and romance but now I am considering purely poetry. For me, this means that much of my previous research will not be as helpful as I originally thought and that I will have to aim my searches in a different direction, but I think the end results will prevail. I do not know a lot about poetry during this era so I am excited to further my knowledge in both the poetry and how it affected women education. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them!
I was concentrating my thesis on the significance of literature in boarding school education during the 18th century. I want to learn what type of reading instructors, pupils, and outsiders felt to be most significant. Originally, my focus aimed on different types of literature such as novels and romance but now I am considering purely poetry. For me, this means that much of my previous research will not be as helpful as I originally thought and that I will have to aim my searches in a different direction, but I think the end results will prevail. I do not know a lot about poetry during this era so I am excited to further my knowledge in both the poetry and how it affected women education. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them!
Front matter revised
The front matter of Hannah Foster’s The Boarding School, shows Foster vigorously advocating for a boarding school education for young women. In the front matter she writes “the foundation of a useful and happy life must be laid in youth,” thus implying that mental structures of women form early in life and that the boarding school process greatly contributes to the transformation of a young lady into a woman (Foster front matter). On the books cover Foster writes how she supports her claims on boarding school, “information, instruction, and advice, calculated to improve the manners, and form the character of young ladies” (Foster cover). The book’s front matter also includes a dedication to “The young ladies of America” telling them of “the many advantages of a good education” (Foster front matter). The information provided within The Boarding School’s cover and front matter enunciates the importance of a boarding school education, how this significance will be explained, and whom the book’s audience should be.
20 October 2008
abstract
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3211085.pdf
Goetz, Judith P., and Linda Grant. "Conceptual Approaches to Studying Gender in
Education." Anthropology & Education Quarterly 19 (1988): 182-96.
The “Conceptual Approaches to Studying Gender in Education” theorizes that few differences exist in the learning capabilities between genders. The article reasons that men traditionally hold a stronger education over women due to dissimilarities in taught materials and not because a man’s mind holds superior traits, "in school boys are assigned manipulative jobs while girls are given nurturant tasks. This complementary division is reinforced by boys' being encouraged to lead and act, whereas girls are encouraged to follow and watch" (Goetz 185). Throughout the article, the authors question, "What happens to students in classrooms and schools to reinforce their identities as masculine and feminine? What role does education play in learning to be a woman or a man? How do teachers and educational leaders affect the process? How do students influence one another to be girl-like or boy-like? (Goetz 182). To answer these questions, Goetz and Grant observe gender in education, considering several aspects, throughout history and into the present (1988). Goetz and Grant also frame their arguments with strong support by using studies as examples and other scholarly articles. Through the authors wrote a thorough analysis they overlook some historical aspects that I want to research further. They fail to mention the origins of education, why men received the first opportunities, and a contrasting point to their theory. Though these points do not present themselves throughout the article, the text remains useful in information and interesting with the support.
The article presents important points that will assist the research and development of my project. Though not relating directly to The Boarding School, or even the timeframe, this article presents crucial facts to the differences and similarities of gender roles on education. Foster’s The Boarding School, tells the account of an all girls boarding school in the late 1700s. During this time, and as The Boarding School validates, the education of women was rare and if given one consisted of needlework and housewife knowledge, not the equivalent of male education. As the article explains, the gap between genders in education has closed over the centuries. Single sex education reveals few differences in their learning material today. In fact, the school that The Boarding School focuses on we consider a finishing school today. Therefore, the article adds to my project by explaining differences and theories of gender in education.
The article presents an especially compelling argument claiming that little evidence supports “the existence of sex differences in the inheritance of traits relevant to educational performance or ability for educational leadership. Instead, they emphasize the strong evidence for sociocultural influences on differential treatment of boys and girls; for example, parental expectations, variations in teachers' responses, and gender-discriminatory counseling" (Goetz 183-4). I can use this argument to support my paper because it provides reasoning for the education of ladies in The Boarding School. While observing the accounts and stories of teachers in The Boarding School I will compare them with teachers today and male teachers of the time, while considering the articles point that teacher’s reasoning differed in the genders taught.
Overall, the article greatly added to my thoughts for the research project. It provides useful facts that will assist me in supporting my paper on education and gender, though the article relates to a later date than my concentration. This article will definitely be useful to the others doing The Boarding School, along with anyone else working with gender roles or education. I would recommend the text because the information remains useful and interesting.
Goetz, Judith P., and Linda Grant. "Conceptual Approaches to Studying Gender in
Education." Anthropology & Education Quarterly 19 (1988): 182-96.
The “Conceptual Approaches to Studying Gender in Education” theorizes that few differences exist in the learning capabilities between genders. The article reasons that men traditionally hold a stronger education over women due to dissimilarities in taught materials and not because a man’s mind holds superior traits, "in school boys are assigned manipulative jobs while girls are given nurturant tasks. This complementary division is reinforced by boys' being encouraged to lead and act, whereas girls are encouraged to follow and watch" (Goetz 185). Throughout the article, the authors question, "What happens to students in classrooms and schools to reinforce their identities as masculine and feminine? What role does education play in learning to be a woman or a man? How do teachers and educational leaders affect the process? How do students influence one another to be girl-like or boy-like? (Goetz 182). To answer these questions, Goetz and Grant observe gender in education, considering several aspects, throughout history and into the present (1988). Goetz and Grant also frame their arguments with strong support by using studies as examples and other scholarly articles. Through the authors wrote a thorough analysis they overlook some historical aspects that I want to research further. They fail to mention the origins of education, why men received the first opportunities, and a contrasting point to their theory. Though these points do not present themselves throughout the article, the text remains useful in information and interesting with the support.
The article presents important points that will assist the research and development of my project. Though not relating directly to The Boarding School, or even the timeframe, this article presents crucial facts to the differences and similarities of gender roles on education. Foster’s The Boarding School, tells the account of an all girls boarding school in the late 1700s. During this time, and as The Boarding School validates, the education of women was rare and if given one consisted of needlework and housewife knowledge, not the equivalent of male education. As the article explains, the gap between genders in education has closed over the centuries. Single sex education reveals few differences in their learning material today. In fact, the school that The Boarding School focuses on we consider a finishing school today. Therefore, the article adds to my project by explaining differences and theories of gender in education.
The article presents an especially compelling argument claiming that little evidence supports “the existence of sex differences in the inheritance of traits relevant to educational performance or ability for educational leadership. Instead, they emphasize the strong evidence for sociocultural influences on differential treatment of boys and girls; for example, parental expectations, variations in teachers' responses, and gender-discriminatory counseling" (Goetz 183-4). I can use this argument to support my paper because it provides reasoning for the education of ladies in The Boarding School. While observing the accounts and stories of teachers in The Boarding School I will compare them with teachers today and male teachers of the time, while considering the articles point that teacher’s reasoning differed in the genders taught.
Overall, the article greatly added to my thoughts for the research project. It provides useful facts that will assist me in supporting my paper on education and gender, though the article relates to a later date than my concentration. This article will definitely be useful to the others doing The Boarding School, along with anyone else working with gender roles or education. I would recommend the text because the information remains useful and interesting.
19 October 2008
Food For Thought - 10/19
As I was reading the first twenty or so pages of The Boarding School several things were grabbing my attention. Some of which may just be me looking in between the lines a little to hard but it is still something that distresses me. I noticed that Foster is trying to convey that women need to be educated and learn lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic, music and dancing, and dress: to name a few. Yet she also stresses something very opposite of these things at the beginning of this novel - that women need to learn to be domestic i.e. be able to do needlework. This novel is a "walking" contridiction, in my eyes. As I was reading though my sources I noticed that they have all noticed the same thing: education is stressed in young women but that it is not what is going to get them through their lives. Reading through these sources also helped me understand the historical context I should be reading this novel, though I may have my opinions as a 21st century scholar; this novel was written by a lady of the 18th century.
Preliminary Bibliography
Key Issues:
Needle Work
Domestic Duties in the 18th Century
Women’s education in the 18th Century
Women’s roles in the 18th Century
Widows in the 18th Century
Boarding Schools
Works Cited:
Chambers, Jacqueline M. "'Thinking and Stitching, Stitching and Thinking': Needlework, American Women Writers, and Professionalism." Famine and fashion : needlewomen in the nineteenth century (2005): 171-184.
Kelley, Mary. Learning to stand & speak : women, education, and public life in America's republic. Williamsburg: Chapel Hill, 2006.
Martin, Theodora P. The sound of our own voices : women's study clubs 1860-1910 . Boston: Beacon Press, 1987.
Mays, Dorothy A. Women in early America : struggle, survival, and freedom in a new world. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004.
Nash, Margaret A. Women's education in the United States, 1780-1840 . New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Winterer, Caroline. The mirror of antiquity : American women and the classical tradition, 1750-1900 . Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007.
Needle Work
Domestic Duties in the 18th Century
Women’s education in the 18th Century
Women’s roles in the 18th Century
Widows in the 18th Century
Boarding Schools
Works Cited:
Chambers, Jacqueline M. "'Thinking and Stitching, Stitching and Thinking': Needlework, American Women Writers, and Professionalism." Famine and fashion : needlewomen in the nineteenth century (2005): 171-184.
Kelley, Mary. Learning to stand & speak : women, education, and public life in America's republic. Williamsburg: Chapel Hill, 2006.
Martin, Theodora P. The sound of our own voices : women's study clubs 1860-1910 . Boston: Beacon Press, 1987.
Mays, Dorothy A. Women in early America : struggle, survival, and freedom in a new world. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004.
Nash, Margaret A. Women's education in the United States, 1780-1840 . New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Winterer, Caroline. The mirror of antiquity : American women and the classical tradition, 1750-1900 . Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007.
13 October 2008
Works Cited
Darling-Hammond, Linda. "Teaching as a Profession: Lessons in Teacher Preparation and
Professional Development." Phi Delta Kappan 87 (2005): 237-40.
Foster, Hannah. The boarding school; or, Lessons of a preceptress to her pupils. Boston, MA: I.
Thomas and E.T. Andrews, 1798. 1-248.
Hall, Nazareth. "Regulations of the paedagogium or boarding school, established by the United
Brethren, at Nazareth, in the county of Northhampton, in Pennsylvania." Evans (1785).
Leon, Vincent H. "Erasmus Darwin on Boarding-Schools." Peabody Journal of Education 10
(1932): 37-44.
Levine, Steven B. "The Rise of American Boarding Schools and the Development of a National
Upper Class." Jstor 28 (1980): 63-94.
Rogers, Rebecca. "Boarding Schools, Women Teachers, and Domesticity: Reforming Girls'
Secondary Education in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century." Jstor 19 (1995): 153-81.
Westtown, Boarding School. "Rules and Regulations for the Government of Friends' Boarding
School at West-Town." Evans (1796): 1-3.
Professional Development." Phi Delta Kappan 87 (2005): 237-40.
Foster, Hannah. The boarding school; or, Lessons of a preceptress to her pupils. Boston, MA: I.
Thomas and E.T. Andrews, 1798. 1-248.
Hall, Nazareth. "Regulations of the paedagogium or boarding school, established by the United
Brethren, at Nazareth, in the county of Northhampton, in Pennsylvania." Evans (1785).
Leon, Vincent H. "Erasmus Darwin on Boarding-Schools." Peabody Journal of Education 10
(1932): 37-44.
Levine, Steven B. "The Rise of American Boarding Schools and the Development of a National
Upper Class." Jstor 28 (1980): 63-94.
Rogers, Rebecca. "Boarding Schools, Women Teachers, and Domesticity: Reforming Girls'
Secondary Education in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century." Jstor 19 (1995): 153-81.
Westtown, Boarding School. "Rules and Regulations for the Government of Friends' Boarding
School at West-Town." Evans (1796): 1-3.
My first blog!
I am going to blog about The Boarding School by Hannah Foster. I chose this novel because I went to boarding school and am interested to compare the too, love Foster’s writings, and becasue I want to work with education. This novel was published in Boston in 1798 which makes sense because that is around the time where the first female boarding school appeared in America. The American boarding school also began in the northeast where it remains the most prominent. During this time, every female boarding school was a finishing school. The first female boarding school in America to focus primarily on women’s education will not appear until the early 1900s. I am interested to see how much education Foster discusses compared to aspects that would make a graduate ‘finished,' and furthermore what her interpretation of finished is. I also look forward to reading other blogs that focus on young female characters of the time, so I can compare how the boarding school girl was considered ‘different’ in the 1700s.
When the boarding school I attended opened in 1911, the head mistress kept a journal (which I read) of the first years with the students and the difficulties they originally faced. I am interested to see if any similarities will occur. While reading her journal I realized that many of the traditions we celebrated came from events that occurred during those first years, I am curious to see if Foster will unknowingly add some of her traditions in the letters as well.I tried uploading the cover of the novel to this blog but it was too large!
When the boarding school I attended opened in 1911, the head mistress kept a journal (which I read) of the first years with the students and the difficulties they originally faced. I am interested to see if any similarities will occur. While reading her journal I realized that many of the traditions we celebrated came from events that occurred during those first years, I am curious to see if Foster will unknowingly add some of her traditions in the letters as well.I tried uploading the cover of the novel to this blog but it was too large!
Chapter 1
Okay I am going to attempt to post this correctly... attempt 3!
The first chapter
From reading the first chapter of Hannah Foster’s The Boarding School, it becomes evident that Foster vigorously advocates for a boarding school education for young women. She claims that, “the foundation of a useful and happy life must be laid in youth,” thus implying that mental structures of women form early in life and that the boarding school process greatly contributes to the transformation from a young lady into a woman (Foster front matter). Even on the book’s cover this thesis prevails, “information, instruction, and advice, calculated to improve the manners, and form the character of young ladies” (Foster cover). By making these claims, Foster enables her book to associate with and attempt to convince parents in sending their daughters to boarding school by utilizing ethos, logos, and pathos appeals. She incorporates ethos because
Foster herself attended boarding school, logos by including the accounts of a boarding school headmistress and students, and pathos by relating to the parents through herself being a mother of six. In Foster’s first chapter alone, she assuages many concerns parents share before sending their daughter away, including a schedule of an average day.From outside research I discovered that Hannah Foster never owned or worked at a boarding school. However, shortly following her mother’s death in 1762, she attended a New England boarding school. The boarding school that Foster describes in her book is not the same as she attended; furthermore, today both of these schools would not be considered boarding schools but instead finishing schools (concentrating more on preparing young women for marriage and proper etiquette than education).From her writings, which enunciate the importance of boarding school, it can be concluded that Foster enjoyed her boarding school experience. In The Boarding School, Foster writes in a perspective point of view. She frequently quotes or writes in observation of others, such as Mrs. Williams who oversees the school, “William’s inspection, and the candid perusal and criticism of her companions; and the subject canvassed with great freedom of opinion, they withdrew from the tasks of the day to feel that relaxation and amusement, which each preferred” (Foster 10).
Foster constantly reinstates the good mannerisms of the ladies who attend the boarding school of Mrs. Williams. Following the conclusion of a speech by the headmistress addressing graduating students, foster portrays the ladies as well mannered well taught by describing how “they most affectionately assured Mrs. Williams, that it should be their daily study to profit by her lessons” (Foster 16).She continues to describe the process of selecting the young women to live and study with the sensible Mrs. Williams as selective and privileged, “all young ladies, who had previously received the first rudiments of learning, and been initiated into the polite accomplishments, which embellish virtue and soften the cares of human life” (Foster 6). Foster supports the first pages in her book by pervading them with quotes from Mrs. Williams concerning the graduation and personal experiences of students. Through Mrs. Williams quotes, Foster’s claims on the value of a boarding school experience expand and flourish.
The first chapter
From reading the first chapter of Hannah Foster’s The Boarding School, it becomes evident that Foster vigorously advocates for a boarding school education for young women. She claims that, “the foundation of a useful and happy life must be laid in youth,” thus implying that mental structures of women form early in life and that the boarding school process greatly contributes to the transformation from a young lady into a woman (Foster front matter). Even on the book’s cover this thesis prevails, “information, instruction, and advice, calculated to improve the manners, and form the character of young ladies” (Foster cover). By making these claims, Foster enables her book to associate with and attempt to convince parents in sending their daughters to boarding school by utilizing ethos, logos, and pathos appeals. She incorporates ethos because
Foster herself attended boarding school, logos by including the accounts of a boarding school headmistress and students, and pathos by relating to the parents through herself being a mother of six. In Foster’s first chapter alone, she assuages many concerns parents share before sending their daughter away, including a schedule of an average day.From outside research I discovered that Hannah Foster never owned or worked at a boarding school. However, shortly following her mother’s death in 1762, she attended a New England boarding school. The boarding school that Foster describes in her book is not the same as she attended; furthermore, today both of these schools would not be considered boarding schools but instead finishing schools (concentrating more on preparing young women for marriage and proper etiquette than education).From her writings, which enunciate the importance of boarding school, it can be concluded that Foster enjoyed her boarding school experience. In The Boarding School, Foster writes in a perspective point of view. She frequently quotes or writes in observation of others, such as Mrs. Williams who oversees the school, “William’s inspection, and the candid perusal and criticism of her companions; and the subject canvassed with great freedom of opinion, they withdrew from the tasks of the day to feel that relaxation and amusement, which each preferred” (Foster 10).
Foster constantly reinstates the good mannerisms of the ladies who attend the boarding school of Mrs. Williams. Following the conclusion of a speech by the headmistress addressing graduating students, foster portrays the ladies as well mannered well taught by describing how “they most affectionately assured Mrs. Williams, that it should be their daily study to profit by her lessons” (Foster 16).She continues to describe the process of selecting the young women to live and study with the sensible Mrs. Williams as selective and privileged, “all young ladies, who had previously received the first rudiments of learning, and been initiated into the polite accomplishments, which embellish virtue and soften the cares of human life” (Foster 6). Foster supports the first pages in her book by pervading them with quotes from Mrs. Williams concerning the graduation and personal experiences of students. Through Mrs. Williams quotes, Foster’s claims on the value of a boarding school experience expand and flourish.
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