They Called It Prairie Light Chapter 4

Just as the boys were given the duty of tending the farm, the girls were also responsible for helping keep up the school. The fed and clothed eight hundred to one thousand students. The girls were not given the option of helping out with the farm. It’s sad that because they were female they were supposed to assume the motherly role. They were going to be wives and mothers and take care of the household.
Being a young woman, you were limited to sewing, cooking, and cleaning. They were not given the opportunity to develop into anything else besides homemakers. Girls weren’t taught any skills that would help them develop an interest in becoming a nurse or holding a higher position than males. I found it strange how the only employment for graduates of boarding schools was in a boarding school itself.
I understand that both the males and females were being made into what the teachers thought that they should be, but females were especially. Young women were transformed into wives and mothers. They even attended classes that ranked them according to their responsibility level.
There were even places where the girls coul go and play house. The exercise wasn’t for them to have fun and be kids, instead, they were practicing for the future. They experienced what it would be like if they lived in a home with two parents and two children. Four children would live in a cottege for six weeks and practicing being housewives. This was like telling the girls to forget any and all motherly advice that may have been given to them while still living at home.
I’ve noticed that many boarding school alumni have gone on to raise large families. After reading Chapter 3, I was left wondering if this was because they were so prepared for this grueling task while they were away at boaring school. Some of the girls were very thankful for what they were taught and I believe this was what made them into such loving mothers.