In a small northern community, nestled at the bottom of Hudson Bay Mountain, my life and education began. School provided a warm environment where parent-teacher relationships were fostered. Between my home and school, it was apparent that the child’s needs and well-being were the priority. Though this luxury I enjoyed was not the case for all, I feel as though it was an ideal that many worked towards. As seen in the mid to late 1900’s, the role of feeding, bathing, and getting children to school on time belonged to the mother. Looking at my childhood, I would describe it as average and fitting into the social norms of societies expectations. This being said, I think the ‘classic childhood’ is often played up and fewer children actually get the chance to enjoy it. That being said, childhood in today’s society is a time of nurturing and protecting children.
Author: ghollenberg
Research Paper
Grace Hollenberg
T00524488
December 4, 2017
Tracy Penny Light
Hist. 3510
Research Paper
No matter where you are in Canada, the family is often what life revolves around. Looking at the history of children’s roles in and around the home, they play a substantial role whether home is in the city or on a farm. The implementation of compulsory schooling had different effects on rural, urban, and First Nations families, but in all cases it had a large impact on family dynamics. This paper will look at how compulsory schooling inflicted change within the home and what compulsory schooling meant for the family in both rural and urban settings. As well, this paper will address the changing roles of children and the benefits and the horrors of schools compulsory attendance. What we find in urban centers is that children went from being wage contributors to being prepared for future economic prosperity through education. Within First Nations communities, compulsory schooling was a means of assimilation and meant separation from a child’s community, family and culture, which had dire lasting effects. The value of education eventually increases in all parts of Canada through labor laws and mentality of how children are viewed. The shift from exploiting children, both as wage earners[1] and as means to assimilate a population, to protecting them is clear.
As parents play an important role in their children’s lives and a strong teacher-parent relationship can help create a more positive educational experience, Milne’s article contributes an understanding as to why there is an educational inequity associated with Indigenous families and the school system. Milne[2] links the intergenerational effect of racial discrimination in residential schooling towards Indigenous people to the idea that, as parents, their interactions with schools and teachers do not align with the schools expectations. He connects the mistrust of the system to the fact that residential schooling suppressed indigenous language, culture and was notorious for having problems surrounding student health, child labor and abuse. This research is important in contributing to the impacts residential schools continue to have on Indigenous people and their inability to comply with the dominant standard of schooling expectations. Milne suggests the formal education system, controlled by provincial and federal jurisdictions, may be perceived as a means of continued assimilation and colonial oppression.[3] The connections Milne is able to make in his research are important for recognizing the impacts residential schools have on Indigenous people.
The compulsory Residential School system had impacts on Indigenous people that are still prominent today. With over 150 000 aboriginal children in Canada attending residential schools between 1867 and 1996, Donna[4] shows how far reaching the negative aspects of residential schools were. Her research shows “a family member attending residential school is correlated with poorer educational outcomes,” and, “50% of individuals who identify as aboriginal reported at least one family member attended residential school.”[5] This shows how the mass trauma of the Indian Residential School system (IRS) was able to have such a horrific impact on a large portion of the Indigenous population. Matheson’s research demonstrates how extensive abuse perpetrated by the IRS staff, and pervasive student-to-student abuse disturbed the collective wellbeing of the students.[6] Punishments by staff included public beatings, humiliation, food deprivation and solitary confinement.[7] Matheson connects the feelings of shame brought on by abuse and the constant reminder from authorities that being Indian was shameful, to pended up anger by the students- of which they were unable to express towards anyone except their peers. Matheson is able to conclude that such intragroup aggression would fundamentally alter the social identity dynamics that might otherwise have protected the esteem and identity of Indigenous children.[8] These articles are important in understanding how the residential school environment started disturbing children’s psychological process the minute they entered the compulsory system and how many generations of children it interrupted.
Neeganagwedgein points to the IRS as the main effort to achieve assimilation, with the government trying to reach its goals through the aboriginal children. [9] The schools were one large assimilation system. Children were removed from their homes and placed in the schools, strategically positioned with the intent to sever all ties with their parents, community and culture. Through this article, Neeganagwedgein describes the process of the schooling system in its attempt to achieve assimilation, including public punishment for children if found speaking their Indigenous language or to a member of the opposite sex. This article is an important contribution in finding out how the residential schools impacted the Indigenous population. It gives insight to the trauma such young children were exposed to and the effects of this mass trauma. Neeganagwedgein and Eigenbrod[10] both demonstrate assimilation taking place. “Our belief in the superiority of the white race grew stronger as we grew older.” “Let white values intervene in relationships with her family: “How can they live like that? I asked myself repeatedly.””[11] The brainwashing of the children was ever apparent with the clear message of cultural inferiority. This is an important insight, as this understanding that the children had of culture inferiority is an untrue, but prominent, feeling that many minority groups have today. The result of this feeling leads to PTSD in many people. As demonstrated in Fountaine’s [12] article, these schools were not intended to support or educate the aboriginal children. Rather, they kept the Indigenous people out of the way of the settler developments.[13] Contributing to Neeganwedgein, Fountaine brings in the fact that these policies targeted children, to ensure continuous destruction from one generation to the next.[14] “It was pounded into me that our people were no good, that our language was one of savages, that we were less than our keepers.” Here Fountaine’s article contributes emotion and shows the lack of love that was provided for the children. Lack of parental and emotional support, especially at the ages children were forced to attend the IRS, can cause delayed and damaged psychological development and create problems that are long lasting. It is quite clear that compulsory schooling for First Nations children was for a completely different purpose than their white counterparts.
Compulsory schooling for First Nations in Canada was vastly different compared to those of white urban and rural families. Though compulsory, schooling was not an attempt to assimilate a population, but rather to educate children to be economically prosperous in the future. Compulsory schooling did have some positive aspects. Where it wasn’t trying to attain assimilation, it was proactive in eliminating the child labor force. Within urban centers, upper middle class Anglo Canadians were first to adopt the new concept of childhood, which considered children to be both fragile and highly malleable, requiring protective yet stimulating environments in order for their full potential as individuals and citizens to be developed.[15] This cultural transformation emphasized schooling for work and a self conscious nurturing of children and adolescence.[16] With this view, they sought to impose control over the family life of the lower middle class.[17] Though their hearts may have been in the right place, the changes implemented had large effects on the home life of lower class Canadians. In rural settings, children were key in helping around the house, starting as toddlers, their responsibilities only increased with age. Whether they were plowing, caring for animals, or helping in the kitchen, they were beside their parents, sharing the constant strenuous effort to build a living. This being said, many parents were anxious for their children to get an education.[18] In urban settings, many relied on their children’s participation in the labor force to support the family economy and in turn the family’s well-being.[19] Anti child labor and compulsory education legislation demonstrates the middle classes misunderstanding – families didn’t want their children to work, they needed their children to work. Middle class promoters of free education lacked the insight of children’s importance in contributing to the family economy, and that for many, where children weren’t contributing; they were a burden on the rest of the wage earners in the family. However these new social standards for children meant they were encouraged to attend school and gave a new opportunity to many. For example, a boy working in the coalmines was beneficial for both employees and employers. It was a steady job and often led to a life’s work in mines, which had a positive impact on the family economy. However, new legislation reflected new views and decreased child laborers in mines.[20] This being said, where literacy was needed, particularly in rural settings, it was strongly encouraged. On the Prince Edward Islands, the combination of leasehold as the predominant form of land tenure, the lack of faith in the legal system / profession, and the chaotic way in which settlement had proceeded combined to create a uniquely urgent need for literacy.[21] This allows one to see that a family’s views on compulsory schooling, and how it effected them, depends on their prior position in the economy and their individual needs as a family unit.
The development of mass education that came with industrialization had profound implications for both children and youths, but these changes did not occur at the same time for both age groups or for all social groups. We see in Neff’s article that by 1871 education had become compulsory for four months of the year for children aged 7-12, and that anyone between the ages of 5-21 had the right to attend it,[22] however, many children only went to school when it coordinated with their duties at home. This was the same for rural and urban families that relied on their children’s source of income or hands. But as time went on we see a shift of more children attending school, and steadily decreasing after age 12. This was a luxury not enjoyed by the First Nations communities, as it was required by law for their children to attend the Residential Schools, and if they refused they would be jailed.
Compulsory schooling had diverse effects on residents of Canada. In some cases it was positive, giving children access to education. In other cases, such as for many First Nations, it had horrific lasting impacts on families, which are still evident today. In both cases, compulsory schooling affected everyone. Positive or negative, its prominence in history has had an important impact on the education system we have today.
Bibliography
Bullen, John, “Hidden Workers: Child Labour and the Family Economy in Late
Nineteenth-Century Urban Ontario.” Labour/Le Travail (Fall1986): 163-87.
Clubine, Christopher, “Motherhood and Public Schooling in Victorian Toronto,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 126-139
Cochrane, Jean. “Children on the Farm.” Beaver 72, no. 4 (Agust 1992): 12. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed October 2, 2017).
Darroch, Gordon. 2001 “Home and Away: Patterns of Residence, Schooling, and Work Among Children and Never Married Young Adults, Canada, 1871 and 1901.” Journal Of Family History 26, no. 2: 220. Complementary Index EBSCOhost (accessed November 3, 2017).
Donna L., F. (2016). The Intergenerational Effects of Residential Schools on Childrens Educational Experiences in Ontario and Canada’s Western Provinces. International Indigenous Policy Journal, Vol 7, lss 3 (2016), (3),
Eigenbrod, R. (2012). For the child taken, for the parent left behind”: Residential School Narratives as Acts of “Survivance. English Studies in Canada, 28(3/4), 277-297.
Fountaine, T. (2016). Stolen Lives: A Survivor of Canada’s Residential School Program Welcomes a New Education Resource. CCPA Monitor, 22(6), 20-22.
Hurl, Lorna F. 1988. “Restricting Child Factory Labour In Late Nineteenth Century Ontario.” In Labour / Le Travail, 87-121. n.p.: Athabasca University Press, 1988. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost(accessed November 4, 2017).
Matheson, K., Bombay, A., Haslam, S. A., & Anisman, H. (2016). Indigenous Identity Transformations: The Pivotal Role of Student-to-Student abuse in Indian Residential Schools. Transcultural Psychiatry, 53(5), 551-573.
McIntosh, Robert. “The Boys in the Nova Scotian Coal Mines: 1873-1923,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronoto Press, 2012: 126-139.
Milne, E. (2016). ‘I Have the Worst Fear of Teachers’: Moments of Inclusion and Exclusion in Family/School Relationships among Indigenous Families in Southern Ontario. Canadian Review of Sociology, 53(3), 270-289. doi:10.1111/cars.12109
Neeganagwedgin, E. (2014) ‘They Can’t Take Our Ancestors Out of Us’: A Brief Historical Account of Canada’s Residential School System, Incarceration, institutionalized Policies and Legislations Against Indigenous Peoples. Canadian Issues, 31.
Neff, Charlotte. 2000. “YOUTH IN CANADA WEST: A CASE STUDY OF RED HILL FARM SCHOOL EMIGRANTS, 1854-1868.” Journal Of Family History 25, no. 4: 432. Complementary Index, EBSCOhost(accessed November 4, 2017).
Robeson, Virginia R., and Patick Douglas. 1977. Upper Canada in the 1830’s. n.p. : Toronto : Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1977., 1977. Thompson Rivers University Catalog, EBSCOhost (accessed October 4, 2017).
Robertson, Ian Ross. “Reform, Literacy, and the Lease: The Prince Edward Island Free Education Act of 1852.” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 56-71
Sager, Eric W. “Women Teachers in Canada, 1881-1901 in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 140-165.
[1] Bullen, John, “Hidden Workers: Child Labour and the Family Economy in Late Nineteenth-Century Urban Ontario.” Labour/Le Travail (Fall1986): 163-87.
[2] Milne, E. (2016). ‘I Have the Worst Fear of Teachers’: Moments of Inclusion and Exclusion in Family/School Relationships among Indigenous Families in Southern Ontario. Canadian Review of Sociology, 53(3), 270-289. doi:10.1111/cars.12109
[3] Milne 2016
[4] Donna L., F. (2016). The Intergenerational Effects of Residential Schools on Childrens Educational Experiences in Ontario and Canada’s Western Provinces. International Indigenous Policy Journal, Vol 7, lss 3 (2016), (3),
[5] Donna, 2016
[6] Matheson, K., Bombay, A., Haslam, S. A., & Anisman, H. (2016). Indigenous Identity Transformations: The Pivotal Role of Student-to-Student abuse in Indian Residential Schools. Transcultural Psychiatry, 53(5), 551-573.
[7] Matheson, K. 2016
[8] Matheson, K. 2016
[9] Neeganagwedgin, E. (2014) ‘They Can’t Take Our Ancestors Out of Us’: A Brief Historical Account of Canada’s Residential School System, Incarceration, institutionalized Policies and Legislations Against Indigenous Peoples. Canadian Issues, 31.
[10] Eigenbrod, R. (2012). For the child taken, for the parent left behind”: Residential School Narratives as Acts of “Survivance. English Studies in Canada, 28(3/4), 277-297.
[11] Eigenbrod, R. 2012
[12] Fountaine, T. (2016). Stolen Lives: A Survivor of Canada’s Residential School Program Welcomes a New Education Resource. CCPA Monitor, 22(6), 20-22.
[13] Fountaine, T. 2016
[14] Fountaine, T. 2016
[15] Hurl, Lorna F. 1988. “Restricting Child Factory Labour In Late Nineteenth Century Ontario.” In Labour / Le Travail, 87-121. n.p.: Athabasca University Press, 1988. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost(accessed November 4, 2017).
[16] Darroch, Gordon. 2001 “Home and Away: Patterns of Residence, Schooling, and Work Among Children and Never Married Young Adults, Canada, 1871 and 1901.” Journal Of Family History 26, no. 2: 220. Complementary Index EBSCOhost (accessed November 3, 2017).
[17] Hurl, 1988
[18] Cochrane, Jean. “Children on the Farm.” Beaver 72, no. 4 (Agust 1992): 12. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed October 2, 2017).
[19] Hurl, 1988
[20] McIntosh, Robert. “The Boys in the Nova Scotian Coal Mines: 1873-1923,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronoto Press, 2012: 126-139.
[21] Robertson, Ian Ross. “Reform, Literacy, and the Lease: The Prince Edward Island Free Education Act of 1852.” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 56-71
[22] Neff, Charlotte. 2000. “YOUTH IN CANADA WEST: A CASE STUDY OF RED HILL FARM SCHOOL EMIGRANTS, 1854-1868.” Journal Of Family History 25, no. 4: 432. Complementary Index, EBSCOhost(accessed November 4, 2017).
Reading Analysis Reflection
Reading Analysis #7
What has been and continues to be required of students and teachers during times of national crises and uncertainty?
Gleason, Mona. “Disciplining Children, Disciplining Parents: The Nature and Meaning of Advice to Canadian Parents, 1945-1955,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 357-375.
- Gleason starts her article with the legislative consequences seen as a result of crime comic books: the Fulton Bill. This made it a criminal act to ‘print, publish, sell or distribute any magazine or book that was devoted to the pictorial presentation of crime.’ This act shows the intentions of the government in their pursuit of creating psychologically sound young humans. From here, the intervention of psychologists and the government into Canadian lives only increases. ‘The psychologically informed advice of the experts helped to shape attitudes towards genders and, by claiming to safeguard the mental health of the country’s children, legitimized the intervention of outside institutions into the private real of the family.’ More often than not mothers and female teachers alike were made the scapegoats for unruly children, whether it is in the home or in the classroom. With new information on parenting, regarding youth’s psychological vulnerability, flying around, approaches to parenting were constantly being revised. In turn, this created the need for parents and teachers to continuously relearn the appropriate methods in childrearing. Constant scrutiny of others followed children’s behavior reflected teachers within the classroom, and mothers in regards to home life. This article shows that parents required disciplining themselves (by experts), in order to properly discipline their children in a socially acceptable way to meet social norms.
Neff, Charlotte. 2000. “Youth in Canada West: A Case Study of Red Hill Farm School Emigrants, 1854-1868.” Journal of Family History 25, no. 4: 432. Complementary Index, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2017).
- Within this article, Neff depicts the changing roles within the family as compulsory schooling came to play. As children spent a longer time at home and attending school, the age in which most children left home rose to age 16-21. This implies the degree of dependency that parents fostered in their children. School attendance accounts for significant lifestyle changes for most children. Though it was only mandatory 4 months of they year, many in rural areas attended periodically. Neff shows that attendance declined gradually after age 12 and dramatically after age 16, but reliance on the family refuses to wafer. This article takes into account the benefits of living away from home as well: “being able to enjoy a degree of choice, mobility, and freedom, not shared by those living with their families, particularly those still in school.” This allows the reader to interpret the changing requirements of children and adolescents, whether they live with or without their families.
John, B. (1996). Hidden Workers: Child Labour and the Family Economy in Late Nineteenth-Century Urban Ontario. Labour/ Le Travail. 163.
- This article explains the roles of children aged 7-14 years old, and how their duties contributing to economic stability were necessary for a successful home. For a home to survive financially, many mothers entered the work force, leaving the children responsible for domestic duties. Often these domestic duties included working out of sweatshops. With a surplus of workers, employers are able to lower wages leaving the workers to compete with one another. This issue meant that many brought their work home for those precious overtime hours. ‘The more the sweating system exploited the free or cheap labour of children, the less of a chance adults faced of ever receiving a fair wage for their own work.’ This cycle allows insight as to how families were stuck in ruts, just making ends meet. With education in question, it was an unfortunate reality that the achievement of education brought no occupational reward to children and they were more beneficial as wage earners or contributing to the household in other ways. Everyone had to pull their weight. Though there are many differences between rural and urban life, John Bullen points out that despite where they lived, workers still found ‘their most reliable and effective support system under their own roof. This is a key note as it allows insight as to how all work that was needed to be done in and around the home was a family affair. The parents often were not out to be cruel, but for economic survival it was necessary for everyone to contribute.
Primary Document Analysis
Reading Analysis #5
Racialized Childhoods and Segregated Schooling
How is separate schooling today similar or dissimilar to segregated schooling in Canadian history?
Barnes, Rosemary, et al. “Residential Schools: Impact on Aboriginal Students’ Academic and Cognitive Development. “Canadian Journal of School Psychology, vol. 21, no. 1-2, 01 Jan. 2006, pp. 18-32.
- This article dives into the long term effects that residential school students face. The conditions of residential schools including the racism, maltreatment, inadequate curriculum, staffing, instruction time and lack of parental influence are all factors in creating generations of indigenous people having delayed psychological development. Approaching this issue from a psychological epistemology allows it to demonstrate the key issues that surround indigenous peoples psychological development
Knight, Claudette. “Black Parents Speak: Education in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Canada West.” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 225-237.
- This article discusses how through the mid 19th century the government was supportive of black access to public schooling; however, the local white prejudice was often the limiting factor. With the struggle for work, competing against Irish immigrants of whom were equally willing to work for exploitive pay, a majority struggled financially and were often poorly prepared for winter months. Many hoped black inferiority might be destroyed once blacks gained educational opportunities. Within the west, public education was altered by the elite of upper Canada. Egerton Ryerson dealt with many racial disputes, many of which he sided with the blacks rights to public education, however there were some cases in which he sided with the white elites. During this time black parents sought more educational opportunities for their children and along them there were white racists opposed to integrated schooling. This view point in comparison to today is similar, but on a smaller scale. There is still subtle racism within the schools today and black parents continue to show active concern for the education of their children as initiated in the 1840’s.
Matheson, K., Bombay, A., Haslam, S. A., & Anisman, H. (2016). Indigenous Identity Transformations: The Pivotal Role of Student-to-Student abuse in Indian Residential Schools. Transcultural Psychiatry, 53(5), 551-573.
- This article connects the feelings of shame brought on by severe neglect and abuse accompanied by the constant reminder from authorities that being Indian was shameful, to accumulated anger by the students. An emotion that they were unable to express towards anyone except their peers. Matheson is able to conclude that such intragroup aggression would fundamentally alter the social identity dynamics that might otherwise have protected the esteem and identity of indigenous children. This article is important in helping understand how the residential school environment was so traumatizing and the long-term effects it had on the students.
Reading Analysis #4
Sager, Eric W. “Women Teachers in Canada, 1881-1901 in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 140-165.
- This article demonstrates the appeal of teaching to young women. As many came from small town farms, becoming a teacher was often the sole cash income for the family, as well, many occupations were still closed to women. A majority of the young teachers still lived with their family, and along with contributing economically came a degree of respect. Though barred by gender from achieving the status of a professional, teaching was still associated with authority. For many, the decision to become a teacher was based on the family needs and the job market/ conditions. This article depicts the limitations of being a female and how the rise of education created job opportunities for women. Children are forced to attend school at a very influential age and by having a majority of teachers being female might instill stereotypes of how gender plays a role in society.
Wilson, J. Donald. “’I Am Here To Help If You Need Me’: British Columbia’s Rural Teachers’ Welfare Officer, 1928-1934,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Meliwski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Educatoion, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 201-22
- This article takes a deeper look into the lives of rural teachers and the impact that isolation and loneliness had on them. Though it didn’t have a long-term effect, Wilson describes the positive influence the Rural Teachers Welfare Officer had on the young female teachers. As many of them were at the mercy of loneliness, isolation, difficult & unfriendly trustees, parents and landlords, the RTWO would come along to the communities and tend to the social and psychological needs of these young women. This paper shows that there were many factors that teachers had to consider if they were to fit into the community. Who she involves herself with and the community politics could often prove to be deal breakers if the community wasn’t accepting. An unaccepting community paired with the fact that these girls were away from home for the first time could create a stressful environment. The fact that a RTWO existed was reassuring for many parents and teachers. This article shows the importance of being social and the drastic lifestyle change for many women entering this occupation. Schools that proved to be difficult or dangerous for young women required a male teacher. Showing the reader that men were able to handle difficult schools and communities more so than women.
Elias, Mignone, Hall, Hong, Hart, Sareen. (2012). Trauma and suicide behavior histories among a Canadian indigenous population: An empirical exploration of the potential role of Canada’s residential school system. Social Science & Medicine, 741560-1569.
- This article argues that suicidal behavior and poor mental health is directly related to the trauma experienced as a result of colonization. With the federal government anticipating that these children and subsequent generations would contribute economically to modernizing Canada, many residential school children experienced a loss of culture, language, traditional values, family bonding, life and parenting skills, self respect, and respect for others. This was a multigenerational issue were a high percent of the population sustained traumatic exposure, influencing their own and others offspring. The authors of this paper go on to show that children with parents or grandparents who attended residential schools often mirror psychological problems of their parents and have an increased chance of experiencing abuse, neglect and poor mental health due to poor parenting styles.