Mary Wollstonecraft: Mr. Hume, how important do you feel education is to our nation?
David Hume: Mrs. Wollstonecraft in my studies of how the human mind learns and understands, I have stated that both custom and education mold the young mind. However, I also see that studying the natural world and observing the uniformity of nature can also deepen human understanding.
Mary Wollstonecraft: I think you share my fervor that education is a national concern. I agree and assert that children should be excited and encouraged to think for themselves. Education should not be endless reciting of facts or passages of which the children have little understanding. We do not wish to have a nation of parrots.
David Hume: I do agree.
Mary Wollstonecraft: Do you feel young boys and girls should be educated in the same subjects and in the same schools?
David Hume: I did propose the rhetorical question in my treatise,” Is the behavior and conduct of the one sex very unlike the other?” Thus, I would have to say that I feel the male mind and female mind are equally able to learn and understand. However, I don’t know that educating them in the same school would be needed.
Mary Wollstonecraft: I propose education boys and girls in a day school setting where they can learn to be affectionate sons and daughters in the evenings. Rich and poor would be educated together and they would all wear uniforms to keep them from displaying their social status. After all, it is not a benefit for the country if some are educated well at the expense of the others. Boys and girls will one day marry. It is far better that they learn side by side and learn respect for one another at an early age. Marriage will only become sacred when women become companions rather than mere mistresses. Women have had educations that focused on walking properly or making social conversation. Because of this, women have resorted to cunning to fulfill their wants and needs. We’ve also seen what happens at private schools where boys have lost all modesty by living together, get into all sorts of mischief, and only look forward to vacations.
David Hume: You have said that all, rich and poor, should be educated? One man can surpass another man in attention, memory and observation. This would ultimately make a great difference in their reasoning ability. How would you account for this in your education plan?
Mary Wollstonecraft: My education system advocates educating all children together with the same curriculum until the age of nine. At that point, the children would be separated into the skills they would need for their future roles. However, they would still be educated together in the mornings. Afternoons might be spent in learning hat making or mechanical skills. Those of outstanding reasoning ability would receive a more academic education.
David Hume: I see that we approach education from very different perspectives. I focus on how the mind works, the meta cognition. You, Ms. Wollstonecraft, focus on how to best deliver an education which will allow the mind to be developed to its fullest. We both have the same goal: to have a well educated citizens.
