Wolstonecraft Co Education Analysis

In her second vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft proposes the reform of the Education system, which at the time was viewed as radical as it challenged the ideas and notions held by society regarding segregated education. Wollstonecraft’s main reform was the push for co-education as the main way of gaining equality for Women. In her first reform, Wollstonecraft proposes the co-education of boys and girls till the age of nine. Co-education she believed promoted equality allowing boys and girls to gain an equal education, in the pursuit of knowledge and virtue which Wollstonecraft believed to be important. This is prevalent in her Vindication where she outlines the benefits of co-education; ‘By individual education, I mean, for
Her proposal for co-education becomes problematic as working class individuals are destined to carry out manual labour jobs as she proposes the teaching of both sexes in the morning together, whereas during the afternoon they are segregated and thought manual skills. Furthermore, her lack of discussion of higher education is also problematic and to some extent promotes educational privilege as continuing with education requires an individual to possess a reasonable level of wealth, as a result of this class differences still seem prevalent. This lack of discussion surrounding higher education is discussed by Poston (1975:217) who argues that ‘Class distinction would thus remain, to divide society into two classes the educated and the uneducated’. Wollstonecraft’s radicalism is insufficiently appreciated, as her proposal for the radical proposal for the reform of the education system was at the time important however the lack of consideration and discussion on the impact of education in maintaining class inequalities and the importance of the impact of higher education, leads to the insufficient appreciation of her