wendynerdwrites:

boiledleather:

One thing that’s very, very important to keep in mind about Sansa is that she didn’t come to all her enormously destructive illusions about
the way the world works and her natural place in it on her own. These
ideas were drummed into her over the course of years by her Septa, who
of course was hired and supported throughout by Papa and Mama Stark.
Okay, fine, maybe Sansa’s a bigger tool in terms of her
fairytale-princess fixation than most of the other women/young
women/girls we meet. And okay, fine, obviously her kid sister didn’t
take to all this claptrap the way she did. But none of that changes the
fact that it’s the failure of the education system, hopelessly tainted
by cultural/institutional misogyny, that basically drove her to
dipshittery. If Ned and Catelyn had paid more attention to the damage
being done to Sansa, damage that was at least visible enough for Ned to
need to step in from time to time to get her to back off of Arya, a lot
of problems could have been averted.

A few other relevant things to note: the idea that Arya “didn’t buy into” that stuff is also inaccurate. Arya herself has a painfully naive view of the world in many ways as well. The way she freely associates with the lower classes, not realizing the inherent risk it poses to, say, Mycah, to have him play at swords with her. A lowborn boy in many medieval cultures (and, as we see, in Westeros) would be at risk if seen playing with a highborn girl, especially in a way that could be perceived as aggressive. At Winterfell, clearly there was less class tension. But clearly Septa Mordane and Arya’s parents completely failed her in warning her that outside the more casual environment of Winterfell, it’s extremely likely that no one would take kindly to the sort of friendship that she has with Mycah. If Joffrey hadn’t arrived, likely at some point, some other noble would have stepped in and somehow punished Mycah for presuming to play with a noble girl, especially the way he was playing with Arya (though not to the sadistic degree that Joffrey did perhaps, at least not in front of Arya and Sansa). Arya’s dismissal of class distinctions sounds all fine, rosy, and dandy to a modern reader, but as we see, it in fact could have deadly consequences. 

Another person who is given a real “rose-colored glasses” view of the world is Jon, who is raised to believe the Night’s Watch were all noble knights. Furthermore, the idea that his situation as a noble, acknowledged bastard is just THE WORST speaks to a rather “head in the clouds” mentality that seems to have been instilled in the Stark children overall.

This point is especially good to point out because it does highlight the fact that: SANSA IS NOT STUPID. In what she was educated in, she excelled in everything but figures. We hear it from Arya herself:

“Sansa could sew and dance and sing. She wrote poetry. She knew how to dress. She played the high harp and the bells. ” – Chapter Seven, A Game of Thrones

Furthermore, we know she can read and write well. Extremely well by the standards of the time, even:

“Child, do you know your letters?”
Sansa nodded nervously. She could read and write better than any of her brothers, although she was hopeless at sums.”— Chapter Fifty-one, A Game of Thrones

I love this passage because it highlights a couple of things. One: Cersei asks her if she’s literate despite having spent about a year in Sansa’s company. That’s how little interest ANYONE has taken in this girl’s abilities and accomplishments outside looks and manners. PEOPLE WHO HAVE ACTUALLY SPENT TIME WITH HER DON’T EVEN KNOW IF SHE CAN READ OR NOT. 

Two: She can read and write BETTER THAN ANY OF HER BROTHERS. Any of them. Including Jon and Robb, who are three years old than them. That’s actually pretty impressive when you think about it. Sure, she sucks at math, but that doesn’t make her much different from a lot of kids. But she, at age eleven/twelve, reads and writes on a higher level than teens who, let’s face it, by virtue of their gender (and, in Robb’s case, especially by virtue of his status as heir to Winterfell), likely had more attention paid to their academics than either Sansa or Arya.

Sansa HAS excelled in the areas where she’s gotten educational focus (save for math). She can read and write better than children older than her, she can play two instruments, write poetry, sew, and we know from several instances in the books that she has a fine knowledge of music, literature, and history (her knowledge of stories/songs like Florian and Jonquil, The Dragonknight, the twin knights Erryk and Arryk, etc she displays frequently). This girl isn’t stupid. 

She was raised in an education system that constantly instilled in her the importance of making an advantageous marriage to an “ideal” husband. At first glance, Joffrey WAS that ideal. As his wife, she’d have been QUEEN. There was LITERALLY no higher thing she was taught to aspire to.

The Westeros education system failed her as well as her siblings.