Mary Wollstonecraft offers lots of ideas that still sound appropriate today not to mention remarkably progressive for her time. Wollstonecraft notes the importance of rational education so that the students (future elements of society) would be able to contribute fully. Even though her idea was directed at women mostly, this is currently applicable to both genders. It is often that different educational establishments offer knowledge that contributes nothing to the individual’s readiness to adult life within the society. Wollstonecraft says: “when they [women] receive a careful education, they are either made fine ladies … or mere notable women.” (Wollstonecraft 73)
Wollstonecraft says that the most perfect education in her view is “such an exercise of the understanding as is best calculated to strengthen the body and form the heart.” (Wollstonecraft 22) This is the issue that does not seem to be at the forefront of most college programs and in mine as well. Little attention is being now dedicated to ensuring that the students are brought up to be decent human beings. The accent is made on knowledge exclusively, meaning academic prowess. Little is being done to ensure that the students grow up to be good natured adults who put kindness and helping others to the forefront. What the colleges do ensure is the part about strengthening the body by offering numerous additional courses that allow for keeping fit and ensuring a healthy life style through various kinds of sports. The component that deals with the development of the heart has to be developed without any doubt. In the day and age of digital consumerism when people became de facto further apart from each other, the value of human connection should be propagated at all educational establishments constantly.
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"College Education Idea from Mary Wollstonecraft".
- Wollstonecraft, Mary. Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Renascence Editions, 2000. Print.
