The Influence of Emma Hart Willard,
The Influence
of
Emma Hart Willard
In Emma Hart Willard's autobiographical sketch as
presented to us titled "Pioneering the Education of Young Women", we get a
very clear picture of how she came to be an influence in
education, particularly female education. It is this word
influence upon which I wish to concentrate as I examine
the influence Willard had on education. "Influence" as defined
in the Webster's New World Dictionary, Third Edition, means "the
power of persons to affect others; the action or effect of such
power; the ability of a person or group to produce effects
indirectly by means of power based on wealth or high position."
Within this document we find the influence of her family on her
education, of teachers and male schools, and of her own self-
actualization of her own influence. Even though she lived in a
time where female influence was not great, she quietly and
successfully wielded her influence to the advantage of education,
especially female education.
There are striking examples of familial influence in this
short piece. The first comes when she recounts how she was
actually educated. "My father, happily for his children left to
his own family, used to teach us of evenings, and read aloud to
us; and this way I became interested in books and a voracious
reader." (p18) It was in the home, from her father, that Willard
learned modeling techniques. The "awakening" for Willard is in
the home and not in the school which was an early lesson to be
carried over into her own career as she transferred the lessons
her father taught her to her own teaching. Another family
influence was her sister, Nancy, who chose to go to school, when
Emma chose to visit some cousins. However upon return, Nancy
spoke to Emma and demonstrated that education was fun. "Nancy
showed me her books and told me of her lessons." (p19) That was
it, Emma informed her mother of her intention to attend the
school with her sister. Another sister, Lydia, was also an
influence. "The evening I wished to learn it, my sister Lydia
had a party. The house was full of bustle, and above all rose
the song-singing, which always frustrated me. The moon was full,
and the snow was on the ground. I wrapt my cloak around me, and
went out of doors of a cold winter on a horseback, I learned that
lesson. Lessons so learnt are not easily forgotten." (p19) The
ease with which she learned the lesson wasn't so much the
conditions as much as it was the desire to learn the lesson. If
the learner wants to learn, then the learner will do anything to
learn. This desire is reflected with pride when she says, "I
never failed." (p20) She is under no obligation or expectation to
pass, except to herself. It is this self-esteem she will
establish in her learners, she will awaken them and influence
them to want to be successes, and she will do this by modeling.
Family members provided Emma with the opportunity to gain
influence and to wield influence through their own financial
sacrifice.. The first situation involves her brothers and the
second her husband. "The only two remaining sons of my mother
had become merchants in Petersburg, Virginia, and were able and
willing to furnish assistance to their younger sisters and also
to relieve our parents from the dread of indebtedness, which at
one time their utmost exertions could scarcely keep from crossing
the domestic threshold." (p22) So she could support her husband,
she taught, which served as a practice for her to hone her own
skills of influence. "When I began my boarding school in
Middlebury, in 1814, my leading motive was to relieve my husband
from financial difficulties." (p22) Familial influence was vital
in her growth and will play an important role in her achieving
such great success.
Willard was strongly influenced by those teachers she had.
In her early district schooling she says, "In my childhood I
attended the district school, but mostly from causes already
related, none of my teachers so understood me as to awaken my
powers or gain much influence over me." (p18) We are not aware of
the causes, however we can sense she is not pleased with her
early school education: "..none of my teachers so understood me
as to awaken my powers or gain much influence over me." She was
not awakened in school. Her teachers didn't know her. Having
influence over a student is a positive thing as interpreted by
Willard. A teacher's influence is one which will nurture and
guide, and she obviously didn't have any guidance from her
district school. As already stated, she was taught at home.
Another educational influence came from Dr Miner, "For two
successful years, 1802-3, I enjoyed the advantages of Dr. Miner's
school, and I believe that no better instruction was given to
girls in any school, at the time, in our country." (p20) An
association she made at this school was to be very influential in
her near future. "My life at this time was much influenced by an
attachment I formed with Mrs Peck, a lady of forty, although I
was only fifteen." (p20) This association would lead to Emma
getting charge of her own school at the age of seventeen. Again
influence plays a big role in Emma's first day. There are three
conflicts and power struggles going on: Mrs. Peck suggests and
offers rods for disciplinary matters; the students are unruly and
defy Emma's rule and influence; and Emma needs to establish her
influence in the class as the teacher if she is to succeed in her
goal. The power struggle ended in Emma's favor. "The next
morning and ever after, I had docile and orderly scholars. I was
careful duly to send them out for recreation, to make their
studies pleasant and interesting, and to praise them when they
did well, and mention to their parents their good behavior."
(p21) After her marriage and move to Middlebury in 1814, she
chose to have an influence on female education in her new school.
"I had also the further object of keeping a better school than
those about me; but it was not until a year or two after, that I
formed the design of effecting an important change in education,
by the introduction of a grade of schools for women, higher than
any heretofore known. My neighborhood to Middlebury College,
made me bitterly feel the disparity in educational facilities
between the sexes." (p22) Feeling the pressure of Middlebury
College influenced her to raise up a female education standard
which would in turn influenced future female education
initiatives. Her own experiences as a student and then as a
teacher in a male scoiety, influenced her greatly as she forged a
new influential path and plan for female education.
Willard began to gain confidence with her successes and
slowly began to consciously wield her own influence subtly.
Certainly from her first day as a teacher she gained some insight
into her own influence. "Our school was soon the admiration of
the neighborhood. Some of the literati of the region heard of
the marvelous progress the children made, and of classes formed
and instruction given in higher branches; and coming to visit us,
they encouraged me in my school, and gave me valuable
commendation." (p21) This success provides the seque to her next
epiphany which happens after her marriage and in the new school
in Middlebury when she says, "..I formed the design of effecting
an important change in education." (p22) She is convinced her
vision is valid and that she can effect a change. Now she needs
to establish a reputation from which she can use this influence
to make a change. "But it was not merely on the strength of my
arguments that I relied. I determined to inform myself, and
increase my personal influence and fame as a teacher; calculating
that in this way I might be sought for in other places, where
influential men would carry my project before some legislature,
for the sake of obtaining a good school." (p23) Plain and
simple, Emma is on a mission by establishing her on personal
influence so as to make a change in education in a calculating
anner. After four years of hard work in doing what she had set
out to do, or in modern parlance, "she talked the talk and then
she walked the walk," she boldly wrote a letter to De Witt
Clinton, Governor of New York requesting his approval and support
of her "plan for improving the education of females." (p25) She
stood on her reputation as she wrote to the most influential and
powerful person in New York about instituting a major change in
philosophy in education by presenting her bold plan.
The idea, of course, became real. But as we reflect on the
word "influence" one last time, consider how it took financial
influence to get an education and now it does not today nor in
her time in some measure thanks to Emma Willard, "..female
academies in the state now receive public money." (p27) As a
student her teachers had an influence on her, both positive and
negative, while as a teacher she was influenced and influenced
others. The influence of family is most important as we saw in
her own case. In closing, imagine this image, "I (Emma) stood one
evening, candle in hand, and made to my parents, who had retired
for the night, what they considered a most sensible oration, on
the folly of people's seeking to be educated above their means
and prescribed duties in life." (p19) Then juxtapose it against
the image of her speaking before the Governor and his
assemblages, "The Governor and many of his friends called on us;
and I read my manuscript several times by special request to
different influential members; and once to a considerable
assemblage." (p26) Emma Hart Willard was an extraordinary
educator who has had a great deal of influence on our educational
system.