Linda Kerber argued in the mid-

1980’s that after the American Revolution

(1775-1783), an ideology of “republican

Line motherhood” resulted in a surge of edu-

(5) cational opportunities for women in the

United States. Kerber maintained that

the leaders of the new nation wanted

women to be educated in order to raise

politically virtuous sons. A virtuous citi-

(10) zenry was considered essential to the

success of the country’s republican form

of government; virtue was to be instilled

not only by churches and schools, but

by families, where the mother’s role

(15) was crucial. Thus, according to Kerber,

motherhood became pivotal to the fate

of the republic, providing justification for

an unprecedented attention to female

education.

(20) Introduction of the republican moth-

erhood thesis dramatically changed

historiography. Prior to Kerber’s work,

educational historians barely mentioned

women and girls; Thomas Woody’s 1929

(25) work is the notable exception. Examining

newspaper advertisements for acade-

mies, Woody found that educational

opportunities increased for both girls

and boys around 1750. Pointing to “An

(30) Essay on Woman” (1753) as reflecting

a shift in view, Woody also claimed that

practical education for females had

many advocates before the Revolution.

Woody’s evidence challenges the notion

(35) that the Revolution changed attitudes

regarding female education, although it

may have accelerated earlier trends.

Historians’ reliance on Kerber’s “repub-

lican motherhood” thesis may have

(40) obscured the presence of these trends,

making it difficult to determine to what

extent the Revolution really changed

women’s lives.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q10:

According to the passage, within the field of educational history, Thomas Woody’s 1929 work was

innovative because it relied on newspaper advertisements as evidence

exceptional in that it concentrated on the period before the American Revolution

unusual in that it focused on educational attitudes rather than on educational practices

controversial in its claims regarding educational opportunities for boys

atypical in that it examined the education of girls

GWD gave (B) as answer. But I think E is more correct. Please give me some advice.

D is right.

please check in the article, the author have mentioned many times "studies have shown ..." in line 11, 29, ... but I did not find any asssumption, evaluation, nor did i see any progressess and importance mentioned in the given information. so I choose D.

by the way, what is opinion to the q13, the answer is D. i could not understand very well.

Even this article is not too long, but the questions and choices are very confused. I made all the wrong choices in my first-time exercise.