4. KNOWLEDGE – The Knowledge of Sor Juana Inés
Once she learned how to read, Juana grew determined to know more than just the Bible. She spent countless hours in her grand- father’s library reading books on all sorts of subjects, and the more she read, the more her curiosity (#21) increased. By age five, she learned to read and write Latin and do accounting. At eight, she was writing holy poems. Everything interested her. She once observed two young girls playing with a top and watched how the toy danced across the floor. This event left her with ques- tions. To answer them, she spread flour on the floor and spun a top across it. She watched as the toy twirled and left behind a trail of curved lines in the powder. From this, she figured the top traveled in circles at high speeds but, as it slowed, went into spirals before coming to a complete stop. This is one way she used her perception (#16) to improve her knowledge.
She was happy to find out that in Mexico City there were universities and schools where students could study the sciences. Unfortunately, she also dis- covered that these academies of learning were for boys and men only. No matter how much she begged, she could not convince her mother to send her to these schools.
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