9. Chapter IX: Education Of Young Women In The United States
No free communities ever existed without morals; and, as I
observed in the former part of this work, morals are the work of
woman. Consequently, whatever affects the condition of women,
their habits and their opinions, has great political importance
in my eyes. Amongst almost all Protestant nations young women
are far more the mistresses of their own actions than they are in
Catholic countries. This independence is still greater in
Protestant countries, like England, which have retained or
acquired the right of self-government; the spirit of freedom is
then infused into the domestic circle by political habits and by
religious opinions. In the United States the doctrines of
Protestantism are combined with great political freedom and a
most democratic state of society; and nowhere are young women
surrendered so early or so completely to their own guidance.
Long before an American girl arrives at the age of marriage, her
emancipation from maternal control begins; she has scarcely
ceased to be a child when she already thinks for herself, speaks
with freedom, and acts on her own impulse. The great scene of
the world is constantly open to her view; far from seeking
concealment, it is every day disclosed to her more completely,
and she is taught to survey it with a firm and calm gaze. Thus
the vices and dangers of society are early revealed to her; as
she sees them clearly, she views them without illusions, and
braves them without fear; for she is full of reliance on her own
strength, and her reliance seems to be shared by all who are
about her. An American girl scarcely ever displays that virginal
bloom in the midst of young desires, or that innocent and
ingenuous grace which usually attends the European woman in the
transition from girlhood to youth. It is rarely that an American
woman at any age displays childish timidity or ignorance. Like
the young women of Europe, she seeks to please, but she knows
precisely the cost of pleasing. If she does not abandon herself
to evil, at least she knows that it exists; and she is remarkable
rather for purity of manners than for chastity of mind. I have
been frequently surprised, and almost frightened, at the singular
address and happy boldness with which young women in America
contrive to manage their thoughts and their language amidst all
the difficulties of stimulating conversation; a philosopher would
have stumbled at every step along the narrow path which they trod
without accidents and without effort. It is easy indeed to
perceive that, even amidst the independence of early youth, an
American woman is always mistress of herself; she indulges in all
permitted pleasures, without yielding herself up to any of them;
and her reason never allows the reins of self-guidance to drop,
though it often seems to hold them loosely.
In France, where remnants of every age are still so
strangely mingled in the opinions and tastes of the people, women
commonly receive a reserved, retired, and almost cloistral
education, as they did in aristocratic times; and then they are
suddenly abandoned, without a guide and without assistance, in
the midst of all the irregularities inseparable from democratic
society. The Americans are more consistent. They have found out
that in a democracy the independence of individuals cannot fail
to be very great, youth premature, tastes ill-restrained, customs
fleeting, public opinion often unsettled and powerless, paternal
authority weak, and marital authority contested. Under these
circumstances, believing that they had little chance of
repressing in woman the most vehement passions of the human
heart, they held that the surer way was to teach her the art of
combating those passions for herself. As they could not prevent
her virtue from being exposed to frequent danger, they determined
that she should know how best to defend it; and more reliance was
placed on the free vigor of her will than on safeguards which
have been shaken or overthrown. Instead, then, of inculcating
mistrust of herself, they constantly seek to enhance their
confidence in her own strength of character. As it is neither
possible nor desirable to keep a young woman in perpetual or
complete ignorance, they hasten to give her a precocious
knowledge on all subjects. Far from hiding the corruptions of
the world from her, they prefer that she should see them at once
and train herself to shun them; and they hold it of more
importance to protect her conduct than to be over-scrupulous of
her innocence.
Although the Americans are a very religious people, they do
not rely on religion alone to defend the virtue of woman; they
seek to arm her reason also. In this they have followed the same
method as in several other respects; they first make the most
vigorous efforts to bring individual independence to exercise a
proper control over itself, and they do not call in the aid of
religion until they have reached the utmost limits of human
strength. I am aware that an education of this kind is not
without danger; I am sensible that it tends to invigorate the
judgment at the expense of the imagination, and to make cold and
virtuous women instead of affectionate wives and agreeable
companions to man. Society may be more tranquil and better
regulated, but domestic life has often fewer charms. These,
however, are secondary evils, which may be braved for the sake of
higher interests. At the stage at which we are now arrived the
time for choosing is no longer within our control; a democratic
education is indispensable to protect women from the dangers with
which democratic institutions and manners surround them.