I've seen this "intend to marry" over and over again on this board and I thought that automatically should be the case unless she is joining a religious community.
I am one who has made this designation in my replies. I guess I do it because not all women are called to marriage, and for these women there might be exceptions regarding her education. I would still say campus life and many course offerings are unsuitable for
any woman, but one not planning marriage might be more justified in exploring the pursuit of higher education (like maybe, nursing?) because time at a university isn't such a time waster for her.
I guess I don't know for certain if it is okay for a woman to pursue single life and not become a nun. I will have to read what Paul says on this subject, because I've never noticed before. Perhaps my idea of granting exceptions has feminist undertones. Sometimes I unintentionally find myself being politically correct not to hurt the feelings of others.
I do know that God has always designed women in a way where her fertility begins at a young age. It seems very counter to his perfect design of women that when fertility is fast approaching its peak, society (and even traditional Catholics, apparently) believe a woman should be ignoring her nature and instead immersed
only in academic and social pursuits. Even as a young child I always knew I wanted to be a wife and Mom. Maybe I was not the norm, but by the time I could actually physically
have a baby, I was already strongly desiring just that. Being able to identify at 13-14 that I wanted to get married and be a mother someday, it would have been best for my soul (and isn't that the ultimate goal?) to begin being focused on learning and living to be a keeper of the home.
I am certainly not saying that girls should be betrothed at menarche, but if the instinctive desire is there, a young girl's education and training should begin to be geared towards becoming a keeper of the home. Young teenage girls are so vulnerable, this is the time their attitudes can still be molded. Parents should be encouraging the correct values and lifestyle, not throwing her into battle (modern high school environments and college) and hoping she has enough spiritual armor to withstand immoral environments. The period of "adolescence" now extends way too far beyond physical puberty, and constantly telling girls they need a period of being "independent" before marriage is just not founded in scripture and teaching. At least not that I can find.
It is a really taboo subject, even though we are really just talking nature. I still remember what my mother said to me when I was little and I told her I was getting married at 16 because that is when Ariel from The Little Mermaid got married. :wink: I guess I've just always wondered why we are called to be fruitful, but then designed to be
most fruitful when it is totally unacceptable (to the world) to do so. It seems to me that when women are having to resort to evil science to extend their fertility, it should be a sign that we are pushing too much against our nature. What is the logic in the world saying a young lady is grown up enough at 18 to be sent to live with strangers in a corrupt environment where she must constantly fight for herself, but somehow at this same she is not grown up to have a family? When she would have a husband to protect and guide her against evil, which she does not have at a University? Yes, not everyone can get married right as they become an adult, but a major reason for that is because they don't think it is a possibility and aren't prepared for it. Isn't that an easily fixed problem?
I worry about questioning God's design of women. It hasn't worked out very well so far. Maybe as a convert to tradition I romanticize too much. I've also been told that knowing I wanted a family at a young age was just me making up for having parents that fought all the time and having no siblings. I'd be really surprised though if other young girls didn't think about marriage and babies. I just think it is just how we teach them to alter and suppress such instincts. It was okay to promote lusting after male celebrities at this age, but don't dare associate certain feelings with innate desire for marriage and understanding of personal fertility! Isn't that how the world stopped courting and started "dating" in the modern sense? Separating natural feelings from their true purpose?
As far as college for social enrichment? The point was, that even if different classes have different roles in society, morals do not change. I don't recall reading anything about the purpose and role of women where there is a footnote made that said that wealthy young ladies who want to be wives and mothers should have different moral values than poor women who desire the same thing. That is what this entire discussion was about. Is going to college a good
moral choice for young women?
Sorry for long this is. Middle of the night nursing sessions are when I think way too much. =)
Topic: Women going to college? (Read 44514 times)