美国女子高等教育的早期发展:以瓦萨女子学院课程为例

Early Development of Women’s Higher Education in American: a Case Study of the Course of Vassar College

瓦萨女子学院作为早期女子高等学院的代表,为美国女子高等教育的发展做出了重要贡献。从课程创设的角度看,瓦萨女子学院的课程设置在一定程度上反映了美国早期女子高等教育发展的特征:重视课程改革与办学质量的提高;加强女性德行、艺术和审美能力的培养;注重与女性相关的实用课程和科学课程的开设,力图拓展女性视野,让她们获得更多的高质量的教育。这在一定程度上反映了美国高等教育希望女性既能保持自身特点,又能融入社会的基本要求。当然,美国早期女子高等教育的服务对象仅限于少数上层女性,且女性高等教育较多指向传统道德观念,在关注和参与社会事务方面才刚刚起步。

As a representative of early women’s colleges, Vassar College has made important contributions to the development of women’s higher educationin American. From the perspective of curriculum creation, to some extent, the curriculum setting of Vassar College reflects the characteristics of the early development of women’s higher education in the United States in which it attaches importance to the curriculum reform and the improvement of the quality of running schools;it strengthens the cultivation of women’s morality, art and aesthetic ability;it focuses on practical courses and scientific courses related to women, and strives to expand women’s horizons and enables them to obtain more high-quality education. To a certain extent, this reflects the basic requirements of American women’s higher education that women should not only maintain their own characteristics, but also integrate into the society. In the early days of the United States, the service objects of women’s higher education were limited to a few upper-class women, and women’s higher education mainly concerned about traditional moral concepts and it just began to pay attention to and participate in social affairs.