life,
both academic and otherwise. And nowhere to be seen
were the Wellesley ideals of sisterhood, which were
drummed into me from the very first day I got to the
campus, another thing which made Wellesley so different
from other colleges of the day. We were taught to give
each other support through trying times, both during
college and afterwards, and one Wellesley graduate will
always recognize another with the word “sisterhood”
echoing in their hearts
The administration in “Mona
Lisa Smile” were seen as backbiting and gossipy
spinsters who seemed to have nothing more to do than
tear each other down and scheme against each other in
the faculty room. Again, nothing could be further than
the truth; there was immense unity of goals and purpose
at all levels of the administration, from the President
of the College all the way down to the newest assistant
professor. Certainly there were differences of opinion
and the Wellesley College newspaper chronicled many
lively debates and issues that had the campus up in
arms, but the entire atmosphere inculcated by the people
in charge of running the college was one of professionals
and teachers who held in their hands the mission of
educating women to deal with the challenges posed by
an increasingly complicated world.
But did Wellesley really hold classes
on deportment, how to set a perfect table, and how to
keep your husband happy for students who were inevitably
bound for the state of holy matrimony after four years
in the state of Massachusetts? Not at all. Miss Manners,
aka Judith Martin, who graduated from Wellesley in 1959,
is happy to report that there were
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