There were a variety of places that a young woman of the eighteenth century could gain an education. There were "dame schools, Sunday schools, charity schools, factory schools, ragged schools, day schools" and also boarding schools (p.11, Purvis). While there were many of these educational institutions for young women, the curriculum was a problem. One woman from the eighteenth century, Clara Reeve, suggested that what many of these young women were learning could not really be conisdered schooling (p.113, Jones).
"The ubiquitous French, and dancing are not comendable but expected" behaviors for a desirable young women (p.104). These accomplishments, including dancing, needlework, playing a musical instrument and singing, drawing, and speaking a foreign language were considered schooling and were taught to young women at these institutions. The reason behind their learning these trifles, was to increase their value on the marriage market ("Education"). In light of the many persepectives introduced by conduct manual writers they "seemed to feel a woman's education amounted to little more than instilling good reading habits and cultivating conversational skills" (p. 91, Armstrong). This clarifies the point that a woman's education was solely to guide her in establishing a base to effectively maintain a home.
Some educators attempted to impart "real" knowledge upon their female students. They found ways to teach scientific curriculum to them. This was comprised of botanical sciences which were taught by educators who linked outdoor garden studies to domestic skills. But as the study of Botany became more accessible to women it was belittled by male scientists. Those like William Mavor and Reverend Mr. Richard Polwhele described it as merely a "female character builder" (p. 198, Pascoe). By women studying Botany "within the carefully delineated realm of the cottage garden" (p.205), it was no longer seen as scientific, but rather as a "fashionable amusement" (p. 200). While this domestication of scientific study served to trivialize it, it allowed women to engage in "intellectual muscle-flexing" (p. 197) with the scrutinizing observation demanded by scientific thought.
Education was seen by others as a critical means to teach sexual character and morality to young women. Chasitity and other mores were part of a religious and social education which could be provided or undermined by novels. Natural and social customs could be endoctrinated as young girls read. Richardson's chapter entitled "Women, Education, and the Novel" states that once the novel had overcome being seen as a corrupitve force in the lives of young women, it could become an ideal vehicle for teaching young women "qualities of the mind- sensibility, sympathy, modesty, prudence" (p. 186, Richardson). Domestic novels, as they came to be called, could impart "sound moral and intellectual character" ( p. 186) on their young readers, as opposed to simply instructing them on how to dress fashionably and catch a man (p. 186). Novels could help women to rise above "low minds and vulgar habits through [the] mastery of the lessons of feminine conduct" (p.91, Armstrong). With this moral elevation a young woman could even raise her social standing.
Here an emphasis is placed on feminine education, and how its main focus was conduct. In some primary sources it is shown that a young lady exhibiting a proper understanding of society's rules, she could raise herself from a lower social class. This connects directly to Jane Austen's discourses on class and social behaviors, and shows the close ties which exist between conduct and education.
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