One thing I find very interesting about the Owenites is their outlook on education. Owen believed that the members of the society should be raised by the community as a whole in order to “fashion a superior character” (Pitzer 94), not by there families, which could be a negative influence on the children. As a result of Owen’s educational beliefs, children learned mostly through interaction with other members of the community. The schooling even included the adults in the community, offering to them educational, social and cultural activities (Pitzer 94). I find this aspect of the Owenite culture quite curious because it is so different from the culture within I was raised. I learned almost everything I know and believe today from my family. Although I attended school with all of my friends, we are all different people and all have different beliefs and morals.
I would like to learn more about the role of women in this community. According to the source, women entered into the society expecting to have equal civil and social rights to men, however, women from cultured families in the east often felt as though they were being forced to perform great amounts of demeaning domestic labor. Were the majority of women happy with their life in the Owenite society? What role did Owenites play in advocating for women’s rights? Were men equal to women? These are questions I think are both interesting and important because it helps to see deeper into the Owenite community and learn what it was truly all about.
Work Cited:
Pitzer, Donald E. “The New Moral World of Robert Owen and New Harmony” in America’s Communal Utopias. Edited by Donald E. Pitzer. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1997, pp. 88-134.