... keep their wives and children. Girls on the other hand were considered to be a civilising force, and therefore needed to be taught how to care for their future husbands and offspring. Education also served a differentiating function, maintaining the different strata of society, by supplying the necessary numbers of suitably socialised recruits for the workforce and underpinning the capitalist structure. Middle class boys were educated to be gentlemen who could take up professions, whereas working class boys received the basic education for their role in the factories and on the farms. All girls were taught to be good wives and mothers, the difference was that those from the middle classes also learned the rituals involved in the etiquette and household management, including how to treat domestic servants. Working class girls were just taught the basic practical domestic skills. As Deem (1978:17) suggests: "...the advent of free education for many ...

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