More on Education

Like Kate and Tara, I am also interested in the educational system described in the first few chapters of Adeline Mowbray. Mrs. Mowbray, unlike her parents, has a love for literature and philosophy. Amelia Opie states in the first chapter that Editha has a "passion for education" as a whole. And then, although the Woodvilles are not educated in the same fashion as their daughter, Opie labels them as "geniuses." Adeline, Mrs. Mowbray's daughter, gains her initial education from her grandmother, not her mother. This education consists of economy, housewifery, and charity. Opie introduces a strange pattern within the Woodville family:  Editha teaches herself and ignores the educational values of her parents; Adeline looks to her grandmother to learn what her mother never did. Why does Opie set up this hierarchy of knowledge? And what does she consider more important? What is a "genius"? In my Victorian England class, we read John Ruskin's "Of Queen's Gardens," in which he proposes that the woman should remain within the home and use her mind for arrangement, ordering, and decision (not adventure, conquest, or war). A woman's knowledge "should be given her as may enable her to understand" and "to sympathise in her husband's pleasures." A widow, Mrs. Mowbray's education does not serve this purpose. What does Opie think about that?