Since the colonization of America feminists have been fighting the ongoing battle for equality in the school system. From education in the home, to dame schools, to the coeducation of colleges, women have struggled for centuries to receive a formal education. Even today, women are given all the liberties in the school system that men are, but there are many issues concerning gender bias in the education system of America?s schools.
In the 17th century Colonial America, women had no access to a public education. Girls were educated primarily at home by private teachers or parents until the establishment of dame schools. Dame schools consisted of a group of girls that came together every day for lessons in reading and writing. These lessons most often took place in the kitchen of someone?s home. The boys of this time attended Master?s schools. Every town in early America with more than one hundred residents was required by law to resurrect a Master?s school for boys.
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Education vs ExperienceOccasionally a few lucky girls would be allowed to attend the Master?s school when there was room, usually during the summer months.
The remainder of the 17th century and most of the 18th century saw little advancement for women in education. It was not until the 19th century that America saw the establishment of women?s colleges. The eastern males colleges still provided a far superior quality of education. Early feminists knew that separate education for women would be drastically inferior to that of men; therefore they pursued the insistence that women and men be educated together. Coeducation appealed to the leaders of the early women?s movement not simply on academic grounds but on sexual grounds as well. They believed that the segregation of men and women led to an excessive preoccupation with sex. They saw joint education...