Examination of the rules and regulations of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary reveal that it was this strict regulation of the students' lives that embodied the very values of the middle-class. In his book, Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault addressed the evolution of discipline from that of the body to that of the soul. He noted that rules of discipline are used in all institutions, including places of education and the Church; Mount Holyoke Female Seminary was one such institution. In addition, he noted that it is the "ruling class" and, in this case, the middle-class that dictates what these rules are. Therefore, the very rules of Mount Holyoke came from the deeply imbedded values of the middle-class, in order to instill the proper behavior in, or discipline of, its students in the eyes of the middle class.
Foucault discussed the purpose of a strict schedule in light of the fact that, "For centuries the religious orders had been masters of discipline: they were the specialists of time, the great technician of rhythm and regular activities." Foucault noted that the time was not simply regulated in an attempt to discipline those following the schedule, but also to ensure that their time was spent in a manner deemed as qualitative in the eyes of the figures of authority. He said this was done so in the following ways:

"But an attempt is also made to assure the quality of the time used: constant supervision, the pressure of supervisors, the elimination of anything that might disturb or distract. . . Precision and application are, the fundamental virtues of disciplinary time."

. . .Foucault's discussion of discipline also revealed that discipline of the body can lead to an overarching discipline, as in the case of "a soldier." He wrote:

By the late eighteenth century the soldier has become something that can be made; out of formless clay, an inapt body, the machine required can be constructed; posture is gradually corrected; a calculated constraint runs slowly through each part of the body, mastering it, making it pliable, ready at all times, turning silently into the automatism of habit; in short on has 'got rid of the peasant' and given him 'the air of a soldier.'

The students of Mount Holyoke were physically trained to lose the "air of the peasant." Smith, in a letter home, described the purpose of the full length mirrors in the gym, which were the only mirrors of that sort at Mount Holyoke. She wrote, "I found out today what the long mirror in the gym is for. Miss B. talked to us some about sitting up straight & walking erect. She said the mirror was put there not for us to admire ourselves in but to correct bad habits of walking etc." In another letter home, written less than a month later, Smith addressed the attention paid to the students physical carriage. She maintained, "Ms. H talked to us some today about the way we sat in class. She said when she was a girl, she had a [Mount Holyoke educated] teacher such awkward & unladylike ways of sitting on the platform that people thought they did not teach manners here." Discussions of posture and carriage appear in several advice texts to women. A "true women" was supposed to hold herself as such. The clothing and carriage of a pious, pure, submissive, and domestic women should reflect such traits. Mount Holyoke Female Seminary placed heavy emphasis on the proper carriage of a woman. A farm girl or working-class girl would not necessarily be expected to hold herself high, due to sore and tired muscles, but a Mount Holyoke educated woman would be educated in how a middle-class and a "true woman" would hold herself.

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