A girl who dropped honors in history told of her earlier excitement over the subject and long hours in the library. Maybe I just lost courage. Mrs. Friedan says No. In the Fifties, she charges, women dropped out of college at a startlingly faster rate than men. Even before college, girls were discouraged from taking physics, advanced algebra or analytic geometry.
Conformity becomes a form of tyranny.
Mrs. Friedan concludes that it actually prevents many girls from preparing for a realistic career or intellectual commitment. It hides the fact that most modern women will spend 25 or more years of their adult lives on jobs or activities outside the home. It fosters preoccupation with boys, dates, and sex that becomes, not a real interest at all, but a defense against intellect. This, the sex-directed education, turns into as much of a danger for boys as for girls. In fact, while Mrs. Friedan is concerned with the education of women, much of her criticism could be applied to the education of men as well.