Reading Log Four
The realities of schooling in the Canadian past act as an accurate representation of the racism that was present during the nineteenth century and still lingers today. Canada is stereotyped as such a diverse, accepting, and friendly country. Both in our history, and in this current day. The matter of fact is that topics, such as segregated schooling in Canada, is not common knowledge. Those who begin studying Canadian history, within my own personal experiences and those of my peers, tend to be shocked when learning new material on our countries past. The article “White Supremacy, Chinese Schooling, and School Segregation in Victoria: The Case of Chinese Students’ Strike, 1922-1923” by Timothy Stanley proved be just as shocking. The extent to white citizens, especially white boys, went to prevent Chinese children from attending public school was astonishing[1]. The use of extreme violence and the lack of governmental support left no other option but to create schools such as the “…Victoria Chinese Public School…”[2] and other similar institutions. We have come along way as a nation in terms of racism, but it is true that “…the full participation of all the peoples of Canada remains unfinished”[3].
Racism within the Canadian educational system was not singular to Chinese immigrants, but also to those of African background. The lack of governmental support for the integration of these people in white schools is thoroughly discussed in the article “Black Parents Speak: Education in Mid-Nineteenth Century Canada West” by Claudette Knight. With great effort and government plea, the parents of African descent only received sympathy from the government rather than actual support. It is quite pathetic, that Egerton Ryerson who was the superintendent at the time, eventually claimed that “…’ the prejudice and feelings of people are stronger than the law’”[4] after a multitude of failed attempts to aid African-American Canadian families.
This lack of governmental aid and distrust relates can be shared with another marginalized group in Canadian history. In the article “A Treaty Right to Education” by Sheila Carr-Stewart she discusses how the Canadian government “…did not fulfil its constitutional obligations…[and] chose to provide limited educational services not as a treaty right, but as an assimilationist mechanism…”[5]. Similar to all history, the history of education is not one filled solely with positive events, but rather bumps along the road that have been swept under the rug. The experiences of Chinese, African American, and Indigenous children in the education system were not pleasant and gives us a direct insight into the popular societal ideas at the time. In history, and as historians, we must look at those in history that were not as documented, and those were perhaps neglected. All the above authors do exactly this in their respective articles and help us in understanding the history of education.
Bibliography
Claudette Knight. “Black Parents Speak: Education in Mid-Nineteenth Century Canada West.” Schooling in Transition. (2012). 225-237
Sheila Carr-Stewart. “A Treaty Right to Education.” Canadian Journal of Education 26. no.4 (2001). 125-143
Timothy Stanley. “White Supremacy, Chinese Schooling, and School Segregation in Victoria: The Case of Chinese Students’ Strike, 1922-1923.” Schooling in Transition. (2012)
[1] Timothy Stanley, “White Supremacy, Chinese Schooling, and School Segregation in Victoria: The Case of Chinese Students’ Strike, 1922-1923,” Schooling in Transition, (2012), 246
[2] Timothy Stanley, “White Supremacy, Chinese Schooling, and School Segregation in Victoria: The Case of Chinese Students’ Strike, 1922-1923,” Schooling in Transition, (2012), 246
[3] Timothy Stanley, “White Supremacy, Chinese Schooling, and School Segregation in Victoria: The Case of Chinese Students’ Strike, 1922-1923,” Schooling in Transition, (2012), 246
[4] Claudette Knight, “Black Parents Speak: Education in Mid-Nineteenth Century Canada West,” Schooling in Transition, (2012), 233
[5] Sheila Carr-Stewart, “A Treaty Right to Education,” Canadian Journal of Education 26, no.4 (2001), 126