PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Mary Lyon

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Mary Lyon
By Vivian Bournaian

Broadcast: Sunday, January 25, 2004

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ANNCR:

Welcome to People in America in VOA Special English. Every week at this time, we tell the story of someone important in the history of the United States. Today,

Steve Ember and Shirley Griffith tell about Mary Lyon. She was a leader in women's education in the nineteenth century.

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VOICE ONE:

During the nineteenth century, women's education was not considered important in the United States. Supporters of advanced education for women faced many problems.

States did require each town to provide a school for children, but teachers often were poorly prepared. Most young women were not able to continue on with their education in private schools. If they did, they often were not taught much except the French language, how to sew clothing, and music.

Mary Lyon felt that women's education was extremely important. Through her lifelong work for education she became one of the most famous women in nineteenth century America. She believed that women were teachers both in the home and in the classroom. And, she believed that efforts to better educate young women also served God. If women were better educated, she felt, they could teach in local schools throughout the United States and in foreign countries.

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VOICE TWO:

 
Mary Lyon
Mary Lyon was born in Buckland, Massachusetts, in Seventeen-Ninety-Seven. Her father died when she was five years old. For Mary, hard work was a way of life. But she later remembered with great pleasure her childhood years in the home where she was born. This is how she described what she could see from that house on a hill:

"The far-off mountains in all their grandeur², and the deep valleys, and widely extended³ plains, and more than all, that little village below, containing only a very few white houses, but more than those young eyes had ever seen."

VOICE ONE:

At the age of four, Mary began walking to the nearest school several kilometers away. Later, she began spending three months at a time with friends and relatives so she could attend other area schools. She helped clean and cook to pay for her stay.

When Mary was thirteen, her mother re-married and moved to another town. Mary was left to care for her older brother who worked on the family farm. He paid her a dollar a week. She saved it to pay for her education. Mary's love of learning⁴ was so strong that she worked and saved her small amount of pay so she could go to school for another few months.

Mary began her first teaching⁵ job at a one-room local school teaching children for the summer. She was seventeen years old. She was paid seventy-five cents a week. She also was given meals and a place to live.

Mary Lyon was not a very successful teacher at first. She did not have much control over her students. She always was ready to laugh with them. Yet she soon won their parents' respect with her skills.

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VOICE TWO:

When Mary Lyon was twenty years old, she began a long period of study and teaching. A new private school opened in the village of Ashfield, Massachusetts. It was called Sanderson Academy⁶. Mary really wanted to attend. She sold book coverings she had made. And she used everything she had saved from her pay as a teacher. This was enough for her to begin attending Sanderson Academy.

At Sanderson, Mary began to study more difficult subjects. These included science, history and Latin⁷. A friend who went to school with Mary wrote of her "gaining knowledge by handfuls⁸." It is said that Mary memorized a complete book about the Latin language in three days. Mary later wrote it was at Sanderson that she received the base of her education.

VOICE ONE:

After a year at Sanderson Academy, Mary decided⁹ that her handwriting was not good enough to be read clearly. She was a twenty-one-year-old woman. But she went to the local public school and sat among the children so she could learn better writing skills.

In Eighteen-Twenty-One, Mary Lyon went to another private school where she was taught by Reverend Joseph Emerson. Mary said he talked to women "as if they had brains." She praised his equal treatment of men and women when it came to educating them.

VOICE TWO:

Three years later, Mary Lyon opened a school for young women in the village of Buckland. She called it the Buckland Female¹⁰ Seminary. Classes were held in a room on the third floor of a house.

Mary's students praised her teaching. She proposed¹¹ new ways of teaching, including holding discussion¹² groups where students exchange ideas.

Mary said it was while teaching at Buckland that she first thought of founding a private school open to daughters of farmers and skilled¹³ workers. She wanted education, not profits, to be the most important thing about the school. At that time, schools of higher learning usually were supported by people interested in profits from their investment¹⁴.

VOICE ONE:

In Eighteen-Twenty-Eight, Mary became sick with typhoid fever. When her health improved, she decided to leave Buckland, the school she had started. She joined a close friend, Zilpah Grant¹⁵, who had begun another private school, Ipswich Female Seminary.

At Ipswich, Mary taught and was responsible for one-hundred-thirty students. It was one of the best schools at the time. But it lacked financial support. Mary said the lack of support was because of "good men's fear of greatness in women." Zilpah Grant and Mary Lyon urged that Ipswich be provided¹⁶ buildings so that the school might become permanent. However, their appeal failed.

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VOICE TWO:

Mary resigned from Ipswich. She helped to organize another private school for women, Wheaton Female Seminary in Norton, Massachusetts. It opened in Eighteen Thirty-Five.

She also began to raise money for her dream of a permanent, non-profit school for the higher education of women. This school would own its own property. It would be guided by an independent group of directors. Its finances¹⁷ would be the responsibility of the directors, not of investors¹⁸ seeking profit. The school would not depend on any one person to continue. And, the students would share in cleaning and cooking to keep costs down.

 
Clapp Laboratory¹⁹ at Mount¹ Holyoke College
VOICE ONE:

Mary Lyon got a committee of advisers²⁰ to help her in planning and building the school. She collected the first thousand dollars for the school from women in and around the town of Ipswich. At one point, she even lent the committee some of her own money. She did not earn any money until she became head of the new school.

Mary Lyon opened Mount Holyoke Seminary for Women in Eighteen-Thirty-Seven. It was in the town of South Hadley, Massachusetts. She had raised more than twelve-thousand dollars. It was enough to build a five-story building.

Four teachers and the first class of eighty young women lived and studied in the building when the school opened. By the next year, the number of students had increased to one-hundred-sixteen. Mary knew the importance of what had been established -- the first independent school for the higher education of women.

VOICE TWO:

The school continued to grow. More students began to attend. The size of the building was increased. And, all of the students were required to study for four years instead of three.

Mary Lyon was head of the school for almost twelve years. She died in Eighteen-Forty-Nine. She was fifty-two years old.

She left behind a school of higher education for women. It had no debt. And it had support for the future provided by thousands of dollars in gifts.

In Eighteen-Ninety-Three, under a state law, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary became a college. Mount Holyoke College was the first college to offer women the same kind of education as was offered to men.

VOICE ONE:

People who have studied Mary Lyon say she was not fighting a battle of equality between men and women. Yet she knew she wanted more for women.

Her efforts led to the spread of higher education for women in the United States. Historians²¹ say she was the strongest influence on the education of American young people during the middle of the nineteenth century. Her influence lasted as the many students from Mary Lyon's schools went out to teach others.

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VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Vivian Bournazian. I'm Shirley Griffith

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week at this same time for another People in American program on the Voice of America.

1 mount   

n.山峰，乘用马，框，衬纸；vi.增长，骑上（马）；vt.提升，爬上，装备

参考例句：

• Their debts continued to mount up.他们的债务不断增加。
• She is the first woman who steps on the top of Mount Jolmo Lungma.她是第一个登上珠穆朗玛峰的女人。

2 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

3 extended   

adj.延伸的；伸展的；延长的；扩大的v.延伸(extend的过去式和过去分词)；伸展；延长

参考例句：

• an extended lunch hour 延长了的午餐时间
• France has greatly extended its influence in world affairs. 在世界事务中，法国的影响已大大地扩大了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

5 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

6 academy   

n.(高等)专科院校；学术社团，协会，研究院

参考例句：

• This is an academy of music.这是一所音乐专科学院。
• I visited Chinese Academy of Sciences yesterday.我昨天去访问了中国科学院。

7 Latin   

adj.拉丁的，拉丁语的，拉丁人的；n.拉丁语

参考例句：

• She learned Latin without a master.她无师自通学会了拉丁语。
• Please use only Latin characters.请仅使用拉丁文字符。

8 handfuls   

一把（的量）( handful的名词复数 )； 用手抓起的数量； 少数人（或事物）； 难以控制的人（或动物）

参考例句：

• We shall take part in it as handfuls of dust and splinters of bone. 我们将是作为一撮尘土，几根枯骨参加将来的生活。 来自英汉文学
• He reached gloomily into one of his trees and picked handfuls of fruit. 他闷闷不乐地把手伸到一棵树上，摘下一把水果来。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。

11 proposed   

被提议的

参考例句：

• There is widespread discontent among the staff at the proposed changes to pay and conditions. 员工对改变工资和工作环境的建议普遍不满。
• an outcry over the proposed change 对拟议的改革所发出的强烈抗议

12 discussion   

n.讨论，谈论；论述

参考例句：

• It is certain he will come to the discussion.他肯定会来参加讨论。
• After months of discussion,a peace agreement is gradually taking shape.经过几个月的商讨，和平协议渐渐有了眉目。

13 skilled   

adj.(in)熟练的，有技能的；需要技能的

参考例句：

• Unskilled workers usually earn less money than skilled workers.无技能的工人通常比有技能的工人挣钱少。
• She was skilled enough in French to translate a novel.她法语娴熟，足以翻译小说。

14 investment   

n.投资，投资额；(时间、精力等的)投入

参考例句：

• It took two years before I recouped my investment.我用了两年时间才收回投资。
• The success of the project pivots on investment from abroad.这个工程的成功主要依靠外来投资。

15 grant   

vt.同意给予，授予，承认；n.拨款；补助款

参考例句：

• If you grant my request, you will earn my thanks.如果你答应我的要求，就会得到我的感谢。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

16 provided   

conj.假如，若是；adj.预备好的，由...供给的

参考例句：

• Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好，我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
• I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨，我就来。

17 finances   

n.(pl.)财源，资产

参考例句：

• I need a professional to sort out my finances. 我需要专业人士为我管理财务。
• The company's finances are looking a bIt'shaky. 这个公司的财政情况看来有点不稳定。

18 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

19 laboratory   

n.实验室，化验室

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a laboratory.她捐款成立了一个实验室。
• Our laboratory equipment isn't perfect,but we must make do.实验室设备是不够理想，但我们只好因陋就简。

20 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

21 historians   

n.历史学家，史学工作者( historian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Historians seem to have confused the chronology of these events. 历史学家好像把这些事件发生的年代顺序搞混了。
• Historians have concurred with each other in this view. 历史学家在这个观点上已取得一致意见。