[Margaret Milano]

In her work, Stanton’s argument is for women’s right to a voice in government, education opportunities, and equality in society. In order to provide support for this argument, she uses the belief held by Thoreau and other Transcendentalists that a communion with nature was necessary for self-realization and happiness. Stanton ends Solitude of Self by quoting a writer’s account of a few instances when he felt truly connected with nature, and then she goes on to say that the solitude we feel when we are alone with nature is a smaller version of the solitude that exists within each one of us. This solitude, she says, “is individual life. Who, I ask you, can take, dare take, on himself the rights, the duties, the responsibilities of another human soul?” Everyone has this solitude within them because of their own unique spirit, and Stanton argues that each individual, regardless of gender, should have the means to “the full development of their faculties.” Stanton also uses nature to point to instances where women have acted to save their husbands and families with just as much bravery and intelligence as would be expected of a man. It is not the nature of their design, therefore, that puts women and men in their unequal stations in society, it is the differences in the opportunities and rights they are afforded. Stanton would likely not agree with Thoreau’s ideas on education because she believes that young women need and deserve formal education, not simply the kind of education that would come from hands-on learning of household chores from their mothers, if progress is to be made. Alcott’s satire seems to be commenting on what can happen when Transcendentalist ideas are taken too far. In her work, the men are portrayed as impractical dreamers, willing to put their family at risk for their ideals. While they engage in pointless debates, it is Sister Hope who does all the actual work to maintain their existence. Even Thoreau acknowledged that Walden pond was for him an experiment. Alcott seems to be pointing out the foolishness of taking these ideals too seriously and rejecting reason to the extent that these pioneers did.

[Margaret Milano]

Thoreau makes the argument that the education one receives when paying a large amount of money to sit in a classroom and passively take notes is not as useful as what they would gain if they learned from experiences in the real world. His argument seems to work better for certain fields of study than it does for others. For example, some students have pointed out that in the field of education the best place to learn how to be a good teacher is not a classroom in which they are the student, but rather a classroom in which they are the teacher. I agree with this argument because there is only so much that you can learn from textbooks about teaching; the rest comes from personal experiences and observations.

As someone who is going on to veterinary school next year, however, I view my undergraduate degree as being indispensable. I cannot think of any real-life experience that I could have had that would replace the four years I have spent learning the fundamentals that I will need to know in order to go on to the next step in my education. Kaitlyn noted that pursuing a college degree may be the only way to attain the job we desire, and I agree; I think that Thoreau fails to take that into account when he advocates for a strictly experiential education.

However, Thoreau’s ideas about the value of learning by doing are reflected in changes that have been taking place in the education philosophy of veterinary schools. There has been a shift from strictly classroom and lecture-based learning to more case-based learning; instead of blindly memorizing abstract facts from a textbook, students are given a case that they might encounter in real life and have to work through it in groups by applying their knowledge. Similar to the “discovery learning” that Lauren explained, case-based learning prompts students to play a more active role in learning and is reminiscent of Thoreau’s ideas of learning by experience.

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