hesadevil edited the summary of Against the Odds: Monday, February 8, 2010.
Education for women in the 19th century was considered a luxury not a necessity. It was another skill for the daughters of the wealthy; music sewing and little education could easily be bought and made them more marriageable. Right up until 1914 there were still only a handful of girls' grammar schools. In 1820 a French Vicomtesse, Marie Madeleine Victoire de Bengy de Bonnault d'Houet, set up a revolutionary teaching order, the Faithful Companions of Jesus. They would follow the rule of the Jesuits and like the Jesuits they had intellectual rigour.
"Education, education, education" is not a new clarion call; it was the guiding principal of the FCJ, the basis of their philosophy. They felt that the only way to change society was through a good education.
"Against The Odds" is an exploration of women's education through the history of one school in Manchester, The Hollies.
The book charts the movement for women's education from 19th century through the rise of the grammar schools and their eventual demise when comprehensive education swaggered into the ring. The author, Pat Harris, an exciting new historian, has successfully interwoven the history of the school from the 1840's to the 1990s with the ideas and philosophies that have directed women's education. She has used original documents and unseen, until now, archive materials to trace the often-turbulent history of the school and education.
An interesting and diverting history which will be of interest to historians with a special interest in women's history.
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