Despite all the superlatives garnered by Emma Willard in her lifelong dedication to the education of women and the training of teachers, it must be said, there were those who were not fans of hers. The unnamed author of a “Review of New Books” in The Gentleman’s Magazine was definitely not a fan. Invoking a tale from Samuel Taylor Coleridge of his teacher who would consign students’ unsatisfactory theses to the fire, he wrote:
“If this … somewhat stern principle, were applied to the works of Mrs. Willard, we fear there is scarcely one of them that would escape the flames.”
Now, given the time at which Emma Willard was writing, in this case 1838, we might suspect a certain sexism in this review of her discourse, which was delivered to the Willard Association for the Mutual Improvement of Female Teachers. But the author assures us this is not the case:
“This may be thought a harsh judgment, and wanting in the gallantry due by the common consent of well bred gentlemen to the female sex. In reference to the first charge, if it is preferred by any sensible persons, we have only to say, Read and judge for yourselves. In reference to the second, we admit that it would be valid in the majority of cases, but we deny that in the present instance it has any proper force; for Mrs. Willard has voluntarily surrendered all the immunities peculiar to her sex, by fairly doffing the simple and graceful attire of feminine modesty, and substituting in its place the flaunting robes of a more than masculine self-complacency.”
No, don’t hold back, just say what you really feel:
“Her power of analysis is exceedingly feeble; her conceptions are often confused and indistinct; her knowledge of the real power and apposite use of words seems scarcely to have passed its nonage; and the ordinary current of her thoughts is very common place. Yet her egotism makes up for all other deficiencies. This literally knows no bounds. Obviously, in her mind, Mrs. Emma Willard and the Troy Female Seminary are the two most important entities within the limits of the United States. Her imagination riots in the idea of her own greatness, and she looks upon herself as the greatest benefactor of the female sex in this land.”