Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1841-03-06
WI y e L; " Z.
EDUCATION OF AMERICAN WOMEN.

EDUCATION or AMERICAN WOMEN.
There are few things on which the we'll being
of society so much depends, which is SO much
neglected and misna6aged, as the physicat and
intellectual education offsmaes in this country.
On hearing that q gfand niece o! Corneilie was
living in great indulgence in Paris, Voilaife said,
8 il becomes an old follower of the great Corne.lle
10 cudeavor to be useful to the descendant Of his
general" and he accordingly adopted her as a
member of his family, aud with benevelen, anxi
ETY. superintendent her education as to The plan
Of which he wrote to one Of his correspondents
ID do not wish to make her learned, but desire
that she should learn how to conduct the" affairs
Of life and be happy it would be a great i'm
provemenl on the system usually pursued, if this
rnle were adopted in the education of American
women of whatever class or condition. The suGda"
mental error Of the course usually followed is,
tha,.it is calculated to give a su .'tering Of too
many things at once, and ends in moking Super
fcia' scholars, and captivating Bellies, rather than
women'of useful knowledge and sound judgement,
qualified to perform the ardlous duties, and fri.
fed 10 sustain the ,icissitudes Of life, and espe.
cj4IIy ofconjugal life.
Look al the programme of instruction put forth
by most of our fasliionabIs and very expensive
boarding schools for young ladies'. aud we might
readily conclude, that with ordinary capacity to
learn. many Of the pupils could not fail 10 shine
as brilliant iuminaries in the world of scieBce.-
That not a few of them would unite tile pro-
fouudness Of Newton with The wit Of Voliaire-
the hesoism OF Madame Roland wild the genius
of Madame de S:ael. Enter one Of lliese acade-
mics and you will see little girls eight and ten
| AMI twelve years old, reciling lessons III Geogra
| ,.hy, Astronomy. Chemistry, History, Music.
French. besides Mineralogy, stone. oiogy, bird-ol
| ogy, insect-olosy, star-oloey, heather god
| nlogy, and heaven knows how many more olo-
| gies, and sometimes Latin and Greek, all ct the
same time, aud all of which demand, to s:edy
| them with profit. a degree Of intellectual c%uItiva-
ton and advancement belonging to a much later
| period Of life, and only to be acquired by pre-
| vious ski!ful preparation; and most Of them ahen
| acquired OF no practical utility to women, 10 the
! actual state and condition Of social life in this
country.
w t eStteNl, iDD, as d iJtsClttsOUS pfbcliCE, mat
ascending our children, TO be confined in school,
and made to learn at too early an sge; thereby
exciting a disgust for books, the very sight Of
which is attended with painful associations for
years afterwards. This coercion often ex.inguish-
cs tina. curiosity and tbisst for knowledge which
is implanted in our very nature, and which if left
alone for a few years would grow Of Itself, requir.
ing only to be we'll directed. Our system tasks
the youthful and mustered mind simultaneously
with numerous subjects beyond its strength OF
comprehension, and the whole scheme proves abb
ortive. Thus the most promising youths are too
often sacrificed by baing prematureIy and unskii~
fully broken in and worked, as surely as you
break down a colt of The highest form and the
best me,1ie,by putting upon him the weight Of an
aged horse!
Of what avail for any useful end. that little
girls can tell with exac, chronological accuracy
the time when q certain war broke out, when the
Edict of Nantz vas issued, when Cesar was slain,
OF Cromwell usurped the Government of England.
when these mere facts arc stored up in The mind
it has not strength enough IL reason and form its
| own conclusions as TO the spifll Of these transac~
lions, the character Of the ~prioeipal actors and
the consequences tina: grew out of the events re-
| coried1 When ia other words the mind of the
| pupii is too young TO analyze and resolve these
events 10 a manner to gain from them a better
| knowledge of human nature. Can mere chilLen
at the age, when they are usually instructed in
| history, be expected so to compare The testimony
Of con,emporaneous and contradictory annalis,s,
as to make a near approach to the truth, and
draw conclusions applicable to our own times and
to useful purposes IN real life! As in eating and
drinking and travelling and office hunting. SO in
the Instruction of both sexes, We push on with tne
much haste-too much on The high pressure sys'
tenn. Uti!tarians in all things more than in ou
~ stem Of education.-1n that we go too muel
for the ornamental, too little for The useful. lftol
early confinement in school, and too little exer
else afterwards, produces with our young womel
physical dyspepsia, so too ea1iy, and indisefimin