On the Education of Empresses, Part I

It occurred to me, as I was attempting to find a way to begin this year's posts on the theme of Empresshood, that most of the time it all boils down to what an Empress knows. There are many things which an Empress must know how to do. Many of them apply across the board, some of them are specific to the particular type of Empress, but the fact is, an Empress, to be effective, must be educated. This idea that a lady can grow up learning only a few skills which amount to hobbies compared to the important things, with an incomplete education full of gaps in understanding, simply must be dropped. Especially if the lady intends to educate her future children herself.

However, we must view education with a proper lens. My lens is admittedly narrow, and because I understand the scope of a young woman preparing for marriage and homeschooling her children, that is the perspective from which I write. As we delve further into the education of Empresses practical ideas that anyone can use will be the focus, but for now I'd like to expound a little on my philosophy of education.

For some blessed few, an armful of books is all they need to understand every concept under the sun, but most of us have areas in which we are gifted, and areas in which we are weak. I, for instance, can soak up tidbits of history like a sponge made of reconstituted egg, and an appreciation for music, art, and literature, and an ability to put my feelings about them into words, comes as second nature. This isn't to say that I don't like learning from knowledgable people, but if I have to teach myself such subjects, I can, and I feel confident that with a little preparation I could teach them to a high-school level, which is important to me in particular, as I plan to teach my children, up to a high school level.

But on certain matters I'm downright clueless. I benefit greatly from having a knowledgable teacher to explain matters involving numbers, symbols, and formula. My brain is just far more intuitive and far less concrete. My time in college, therefore, has an end beyond studying subjects I enjoy. I owe it to my future Emperor and our subjects (children) to educate myself, and to make certain that education is complete. Do I have to filter through a lot of mud to find the nuggets of gold? Of course I do, it's a public University. But it teaches me to think critically and to examine everything I read in the light of Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and to a girl who intends to someday homeschool Catholic children, that is perhaps the most valuable skill I can pass on.

And there are many other possible scenarios. A young lady who would make a perfectly wonderful Empress may live in an isolated area far away from any University. Or her family may not have the money to spend on a brick-and-mortar education. Such a situation is most definitely one in which having built up a network of friends and family is of the utmost importance. If she's having trouble with a subject, let's say chemistry, it's more than probable that one of her friends at Church or elsewhere is a natural at it. And perhaps she is a natural at English, which eludes her chemistry-minded friend. It's a perfect trade-off wherein they can help each other excel at subjects that otherwise they have difficulty navigating on their own. If she has a large family, even greater is the likelihood that one of her brothers or sisters can help her in a similar trade-off.

But even so, an Empress cannot learn everything. In fact, every Empress is bound to have a child or two whose appetite for a subject exceeds her knowledge. What is she to do if she only has a survey knowledge of history, but all of the sudden her daughter expresses a profound desire to delve into the specifics of the history of Australia in the late 1800s? What if it was all she could do to feign interest in algebra, and her son is fascinated by vector calculus?

Well, that's perfectly alright. Even the most complete education will not be totally "complete" because no one human being can learn everything about everything. In many cases the knowledge an Empress has and the knowledge her Emperor has will interlock in such ways as to take up one-another's slack. If not, again, that's perfectly alright. As long as she is aware of the homeschooling regulations in her state and is confident she can teach all of her children what they would need to know to go forward and continue, whether at college, technical school, or independently, and has also imparted to them the values of her religion so that when they do go out they are prepared to defend their faith, she has done the on-paper job of educating her children well. I want to stress something.

The most important thing an Empress can do is foster in her children a love of learning. If her children love to learn, oftentimes they will take care of the problem of teaching them themselves when they reach enough of an independent age. A child, no matter the age, seeking knowledge on their own and working dilligently to gain it is a beautiful thing. In such a situation, a lady must only assure her son or daughter has the means, be it a book or a college course or a knowledgable friend to act as tutor, to gather sound knowledge on the subjects they love. Teaching a child how to learn is of the same importance as teaching them what to learn.

With my own personal philosophy of home education out of the way, we now can focus on specifics.

So what must an Empress know?

Frankly, a little bit about everything.

More to come.