Jane Addams the Hull House

JANE ADDAMS & THE HULL HOUSE

Jane lost her mother at less than 3 years of age.

She was also physically disabled hence had empathy over the less privileged.

She joined school when education was considered manageable for the girl child.

Rockford Seminary offered courses to suit girls.

Jane benefitted from a new system that offered mathematics, philosophy, Latin and Greek for all students.

Jane Addams & the Hull House

Tribulations that Jane suffered when she was like the death of her mother when she was hardly three years old and the congenital spinal injury endeared her to the course of helping others (Linn, 1935). Growing up motherless and physically disabled made her responsive to the plight of the disadvantaged. Jane followed in the trail of her other three sisters in 1877 when she joined the Rockford Seminary. By the time she was joining the school the notion that college education was too strenuous for the girl-child seemed to have started fizzling out (Linn, 1935). In fact, it was by then believed that women could benefit by going to college. Initially, Rockford Seminary offered disciplines that equipped women with religious norms and how they could become graceful and efficient homemakers. However, the curriculum changed when Addams was there. She is one of the pioneer students who studied mathematics, philosophy, Latin, and Greek. She finally graduated in 1881 (Linn, 1935).

Unfortunately Jane entered a male dominated world.

She enrolled in a medical college to pursue her career but dropped out due to the pain on her spine.

She was bed ridden for 6 months after an operation to correct her spine.

She later travelled to Europe.

She visited Toynbee Hall in London that offered recreational programs and education to poorest neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, there were no positions in the society that she could fill because her education did not give her an entrance to men's world of politics and business. She had very limited choices. She could either marry and raise a family or stay single and become a schoolteacher.

Unfortunately, she settled for none of these choices in spite of pressure from her family who expected her to settle down or help care for other relatives. In a bid to determine her career path, she enrolled into a medical college but dropped out after one term because of the excruciating pain from her crooked spine (Linn, 1935). A surgical operation done to repair her spine confined her to bed for six months. After the death of her father, she decided to travel to Europe. In 1888, she visited Toynbee Hall in London that was operated by Oxford University students. The hall offered recreation and educational programs to the poorest neighborhoods in London (Segal, 2013).

This experience made Jane to form a center offering the same back at home.