Scan barcode
A review by brenticus
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.0
This is a really interesting examination of the purpose of education and why it should be granted to women as well as men, from a time when that was uncommon. The approach it takes in that argument is very well put forth, arguing both that the virtues promoted through education, and through the specific educational paradigms that Wollstonecraft puts forth, help both men and women fit into their gender roles more easily.
While I really like the way Wollstonecraft writes, and her philosophy is both strong and still relevant today, there are a lot of chapters that are kind of... eh. She'll examine some aspect of how women are being educated at the time, through some handbook or some such that someone has written, and proceed to tear it to pieces. It's kind of fun, in a way, but it gets repetitive and it doesn't add a lot to her argument outside of establishing that the current education of women is insufficient.
This read is about half incredibly powerful arguments for education, applicable even beyond her core arguments, and about half tearing down obviously bad ideas. When it's good it's incredible, and when it's bad it's bad.
While I really like the way Wollstonecraft writes, and her philosophy is both strong and still relevant today, there are a lot of chapters that are kind of... eh. She'll examine some aspect of how women are being educated at the time, through some handbook or some such that someone has written, and proceed to tear it to pieces. It's kind of fun, in a way, but it gets repetitive and it doesn't add a lot to her argument outside of establishing that the current education of women is insufficient.
This read is about half incredibly powerful arguments for education, applicable even beyond her core arguments, and about half tearing down obviously bad ideas. When it's good it's incredible, and when it's bad it's bad.