Normal Schools' Influence on Women's Changing
Roles in Society by Amy Synenki
Abstract
Horace Mann's creation of Massachusetts Normal Schools greatly
affected womens' roles in society, providing them with a higher education. This
paper focuses on the opportunities that normal schools gave women. It also focuses
on the change in women's career possibilities. For example, women were offered
the chance to continue their education. This enabled them to become better teahers,
obtain higher salaries, and train in other professions besides teachin. Beverly
High School was affected positively by these normal schools.
There are several documents that support this thesis. Horace
Mann's notes about what he thought a normal school should accomplish is a document
that gives the reader a first-hand account of what Mann was thinking while planning
this revelation. The published journals of Cyrus Pierce and Mary Swift are also
primary documents that explain what the first normal schools were really like
and what went on in these schools. Beverly's school committee reports were extremely
helpful by providing a list of teachers from Beverly High School and their previous
education and training. They also show how many men versus women teachers from
Beverly High School went to normal schools.
There has been no writing on this thesis before. There have,
however, been papers that studies normal schools. Beverly High School has never
been studied in this manner, nor has any other high school. Several documents
from Beverly contain elements of this thesis. However, no one previously has
put this data together to write a paper that focused on women teachers and their
training.
When looking at Massachusetts normal schools as a big picture,
Beverly High School is only one school that has been affected by their creation.
In this paper, women are used as a vehicle to explain the affect of normal schools
on secondary schools such as Beverly High School, Peabody High School, and the
West Newton Allen School.
