In the first half of the nineteenth century, as more girls attended high school and college, the medical establishment became alarmed. Edward Hammond Clarke, a respected Harvard-trained physician, claimed educating girls was dangerous. He said that when girls aged 13 to 17 spent too much time learning, it hindered the growth of their ovaries and uterus. Boys could handle six to eight hours of schooling a day; girls no more than four or five. Read more about Clarke’s theories and his “evidence” in BEHIND THE STORY.
