•The primary purpose of the Plan was to convince the
voters and legislators to
provide public funds for higher education for women.
•Higher education which had intellectual goals instead of
finishing schools.
•Education should seek to bring its subjects to the
perfection of their moral, intellectual
and physical nature, that they may be of the greatest possible use to themselves and others.
•Female seminary – supported by public funds, would
provide instruction in religion
and morals, literary, domestic and ornamental.
•Benefits of Female Seminaries – graduates of these
seminaries would become
teachers in the common schools, where they would raise the level of instruction because of their specific training. The advantage to the nation was that women would teach at lower salaries than men,
but men would increase
productivity in male-dominated occupations because they would not be teaching.