A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society.[1][2][3] The name reflects the fact that it follows ordinary school and is intended to complete a young woman's education by providing classes primarily on deportment, etiquette, and other non-academic subjects. The school may offer an intensive course, or a one-year programme. In the United States, a finishing school is sometimes called a charm school.
Graeme Donald claims that the educational ladies' salons of the late 19th century led to the formal finishing institutions common in Switzerland around that time.[4] At the schools' peak, thousands of wealthy young women were sent to one of the dozens of finishing schools available.[5] A primary goal of such education was to teach students to acquire husbands.[5]
The 1960s marked the decline of the finishing school.[5] This decline can be attributed to the shifting conceptions of women's role in society, to succession issues within the typically family-run schools, and, sometimes, to commercial pressures driven by the high value of the properties that the schools occupied.[5] The 1990s saw a revival of the finishing school, although the business model was radically altered.[5]
In the early 20th century, Switzerland was known for its private finishing schools. Most operated in the French-speaking cantons near Lake Geneva.[5] The country was favoured by parents and guardians because of its reputation as a healthful environment, its multi-lingual and cosmopolitan aura, and the country's political stability.[5][need quotation to verify]
The finishing schools that made Switzerland renowned[citation needed] for such institutions included:
About a decade after these schools had closed, mostly by the end of the 20th century, public relations and image consultancy firms started to appear in London offering largely 1- or 2-day finishing courses and social skills at commercial rate fees which were proportionately far higher that those charged by the schools.[citation needed]
The old finishing schools were stand-alone organizations that lasted 15–50 years and were often family run. Curricula varied between schools based on the proprietor's philosophy, much like the British private school model of the 18th and 19th centuries. Some schools offered some O-level and A-level courses or recognised arts and languages certificates. They sometimes allowed pupils to retake a course they may not have passed at secondary school level. They often taught languages and commercially and/or domestically applicable skills, such as cooking, secretarial and later business studies with the aim of broadening the students horizons from formal schooling education.[citation needed]
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See also: Women's college |
Through much of their history, American finishing schools emphasised social graces and de-emphasised scholarship: society encouraged a polished young lady to hide her intellectual prowess for fear of frightening away suitors.[17] For instance, Miss Porter's School in 1843 advertised itself as Miss Porter's Finishing School for Young Ladies—even though its founder was a noted scholar offering a rigorous curriculum that educated the illustrious classicist Edith Hamilton.[18]
Today, with a new cultural climate and a different attitude to the role of women, the situation has reversed: Miss Porter's School downplays its origins as a finishing school, and emphasises the rigour of its academics.[19] Likewise, Finch College on Manhattan's Upper East Side was "one of the most famed of U.S. girls' finishing schools", but its last president chose to describe it as a liberal arts college, offering academics as rigorous as Barnard or Bryn Mawr.[20][21] It closed in 1976.
The term finishing school is occasionally used, or misused, in American parlance to refer to certain small women's colleges, primarily on the East Coast, that were once known for preparing their female students for marriage.[22] Since the 1960s, many of these schools have closed as a result of financial difficulties. These stemmed from changing societal norms, which made it easier for women to pursue academic and professional paths.[23]
The Finishing School, a 2004 novel by Scottish author Muriel Spark, concerns 'College Sunrise', a present-day finishing school in Ouchy on the banks of Lake Geneva near Lausanne in Switzerland. Unlike the traditional finishing schools, the one in this novel is mixed-sex.