ABSTRACT
The different phenomena were mutually reinforcing. The professional ambitions of reforming teachers led them to promote curricular innovations and changes in the formal structure of girls' schools. The moral mission of the reforming headmistress was sometimes said to be tied to the idea of culture. Miss Burstall conceived one of her tasks to be that of bearing sweetness and light to the ladies that they might save civilization from being altogether given over to the philistines, who were their male kinsmen. The new institutional framework within which they functioned enhanced the authority of the heads of girls' public schools and promoted their professional aspirations. The most dramatic change which occurred was the shift away from the traditional accomplishments in the public schools. It is curious to note how headmistresses initially opposed to applying a competitive principle to girls' education gradually came round to tolerate and apply it.
