Warehousing Girls, Part 2: Off to College

By Joanna Griffith

What is a young Christian woman to do after high school graduation? As I mentioned last week, this question stirs much controversy in Christian and homeschooling circles today. This week we will look at some of the arguments made that it is fine for a girl to pursue college and a career after high school. Next week I plan to examine the arguments made against these points and the alternatives proposed by individuals who believe a girl should remain at home.

In the last 20 years or so, we have witnessed a slight reversal of the feminist movement through the homeschool movement. Thousands of mothers are choosing to stay home and educate their children. Now the homeschooled children are beginning to graduate and make decisions after post-graduation life. Many homeschool families still feel a college education and career is right for their daughter. However, if a girl will follow in her mother's footsteps and homeschool her own children, she likely will not have a long career. So why should these girls go to college?

First, even though many homeschool families agree that Scripture primarily calls women to be “keepers at home” some feel that a women need not be limited to the home. Yes, it is good for children to have a mother in the home, but a woman will not always have children at home. During these seasons of life a woman needs something to occupy her time. No where does Scripture say that a woman can do nothing but keep house. Certainly, there is nothing to keep her from getting a job.

Secondly, all girls should be highly educated. Homemaking is not an inferior, unintelligent calling, and a homeschool mother must be a knowledgeable teacher. So it is important for a girl to receive a thorough quality education. Thus she should go to college and earn a degree. And, it is said, she can use this degree to get a job and earn money if her husband dies, is injured, leaves her, or for some other reason is not providing for the family. Additionally, if a woman never marries, she will need to be able to provide for herself.

Thirdly, a single woman need not use all her time between high school and marriage in learning homemaking skills. Many women graduate high school already capable of running a household. Skills a young woman does not already have can be easily and quickly mastered. She need not spend years focused only on this when a myriad of opportunities await her in the world.

Finally, in response to the patriarchal argument that a girl should remain under her father's authority until she is married, some believe that a father can still retain adequate authority over his daughter while she is away at college. Mollie, a writer at Got Me A College Girl notes, “Does it [the idea that a woman must stay home] boil down to the parents wanting to control every decision of the child, even the grown child? If so, at what point does a grown woman have any control over the specifics of her life? Ever? Does the issue center around the patriarchal idea that a daughter is controlled by her father until she is passed on to an approved husband who will also control her? Does submission mean that the woman never makes choices without first having approval from a man, that she cannot educate herself and learn and believe things that may be contrary to the beliefs of her father or her husband? Is not submission something a person decides to do because they want to do it?”

This is just a brief introduction to the many arguments made in favor of a young woman leaving home after high school to pursue college and a career. For more on this subject, consider the following the Got Me a College Girl Blog and The Young Ladies Christian Fellowship Journal. Next week I will consider the argument made against this view, and some alternatives for a single young woman in the 21^st century.