Wollstonecraft assessment on women education Essay

Wollstonecraft assessment on women education - Essay Example To begin with, it would be advantageous to examine her views on the topic. One of the basic claims that she makes focuses on the idea that â€Å"women are miseducated rather than educated under the reigning system, debilitated and â€Å"depraved† physically from lack of exercise and excessive restrain, debased morally by being taught only to â€Å"abstain† from vice but not how to attain to virtue† (Johnson 32). This is a rather insightful approach since it undermines the whole education system of that time. The author mentions lack of physical education which results in both actual and abstract deprivation of power. In addition to that the moral health of women is also at risk. Moreover, Wollstonecraft appeals to emotions of the audience when she â€Å"relies heavily on the rhetoric, image, and idea of enslavement† (Buss, Macdonald and McWhir 100). While for her contemporaries slavery has nothing, but another phenomenon which takes place in society, the m odern people fully understand the dramatic comparison that this author made. What is more important is that Wollstonecraft does not simply acknowledge the problem, but points out the major obstacles on the way of coping with it. Thus, she â€Å"recognizes that monarchist miseducation of sexual character comes about through various societal institutions† (Laird 189). Indeed, it is rather hard to introduce any changes in society especially in her times: the social life was considered to be static and the above mentioned institution were dedicated to make sure that nothing would be changed in the accepted state of affairs. Finally, Wollstonecraft elaborated on the major problem of lives of women: she argues that â€Å"a woman trained only to be desired and flirtatious, who has then no means to satisfy herself after marriage except by continuing to work her charms† (Bach and Clements 113). In other words, there is not room for personal evolution that is left by the system. Wollstonecraft saw education as a viable