Voormalige HBS
To be admitted to university, Aletta Jacobs took classes at this school, then an HBS.
Becoming a doctor was Aletta Jacobs' big dream. But going to HBS (now VWO) was still out of the question for girls. When she heard that a girl had passed the exam of student pharmacist, Aletta immediately decided to do the same. And she went to this Rijks Hogere Burgerschool (HBS), which was normally only for boys. The headmaster of the HBS in Sappemeer was progressive. He welcomed Aletta as the first and only girl to attend his school, not knowing that the same school would be named after her years later. As a now 16-year-old, Aletta completed the pharmacy course and the HBS with ease, which was unique for a girl in 1870.
Aletta's sister Frederika was i...
Becoming a doctor was Aletta Jacobs' big dream. But going to HBS (now VWO) was still out of the question for girls. When she heard that a girl had passed the exam of student pharmacist, Aletta immediately decided to do the same. And she went to this Rijks Hogere Burgerschool (HBS), which was normally only for boys. The headmaster of the HBS in Sappemeer was progressive. He welcomed Aletta as the first and only girl to attend his school, not knowing that the same school would be named after her years later. As a now 16-year-old, Aletta completed the pharmacy course and the HBS with ease, which was unique for a girl in 1870.
Aletta's sister Frederika was really the first girl, along with two more girls from the village, to be officially enrolled at this Rijks HBS in 1872. Aletta's father had sent a special letter to Minister Thorbecke for this purpose. There was quite a fuss about this 'notorious case of young Miss Jacobs in Sappemeer', almost more than about Aletta's enrolment at university. Frederika was one of the first full-time female students at the Rijks HBS and was the first woman in the Netherlands to take exams in mathematics and accountancy. Later, sister Charlotte also attended the HBS. She became the first female independent pharmacist.