Reading Log Six
Throughout Canadian history there is a common theme to be found within government policy in regards to education. Within the analyzation of various policies throughout our history we can see the emerging societal ideals that were prevalent. Extreme racism was a dominant theme throughout Canadian history and was expressed in many ways. Education and educational policy was one method the dominant white middle class used to enforce their norms on to others. This is demonstrated in this weeks articles on eugenics and sanitation policies within Canadian schools. Similarly to the implementation of residential schooling in attempt to specifically assimilate the First Nations population of Canada.
The article “ ‘Through no fault of their own’: Josephine Dauphine and the ‘Subnormal’ Pupils of the Vancouver School System, 1911-1941” by Gerald Thomson discusses the implementation of schools for the feeble-minded and who fell into that category while analyzing the involvement of Josephine Dauphinee within these systems. Thomson reinforces this idea of racism within policy by articulating “Dauphinee’s belie[f] in preserving a strong Anglo-white majority…[by] actively campaign[ing] for [eugenics of those] who were often non-Anglo/non-white”[1]. This desire at social control was commonly placed on immigrants. Thomson continues to contribute to this idea by claiming that “…the fact that 6.2 per cent of the 205 subnormal pupils registered in 1920 were of Italian origin showed a disturbing trend [and that]… it is not a sense of rehabilitation that Dauphinee communicates in her reports but rather the exercise of social control”[2]. The term feeble-minded allowed for the predominant white middle class to exercise control over those that were different from them. This is further solidified when James S. Woodsworth, who was the founder of the socialist Cooperative Commonwealth Federation conveniently began advocating for eugenics after his frustration with “…non-Anglo immigrants in the north of Winnipeg[3].
This undying need for white middle class settlers to assimilate and impose their social norms onto Aboriginal and immigrant populations can also be seen in the article “Race, Class, and Health: School Medical Inspection and ‘Healthy’ Children in British Columbia, 1890-1930” by Mona Gleason. Here we see the attempt of the white middle-class to shape attitudes towards health by the actions of public health reformers. These views were “…inextricably bound up in concerns about racial and class ‘contagion’”[4]. The health reformers at the time claimed to be concerned about the spread of disease, and what a healthy child looked like, but Gleason makes it abundantly clear this was once again an attempt to dictate what the white middle-class deemed a healthy child. For “… Native peoples and their children, like others who had difficulty meeting the health standards of the day, would never direct a pageant scripted and managed by settler society”[5].
Populations that did not meet white middle-class standard, such as Aboriginal people and immigrants, clearly faced racism and forced assimilation every where they went. The most obvious effort at this goal, within educational means, is the implementation of residential schools. These institutions were a “…state funded…system…designed to assimilate aboriginal children into Euro-Canadian culture”[6]. In the article “A Cultural Approach to a Canadian Tragedy: The Indian Residential Schools as a Scared Enterprise” by Eric Taylor Woods historically contextualizes this reality of residentially schooling while focusing on the societal and culturally motivations at the time as to why this horrible system persisted for so long in Canadian society. In conclusion, he highlights the importance of Anglicanism in Canadian society “…as a sacred enterprise [that] contributed to its persistence”[7]. Once again, the important social views of the white middle-class majority are heavily reflected in this educational system of residential schools.
Educational policy and systems of education proved to be methods of social control in Canadian history. As this is further analyzed and discussed, this reality becomes much more shocking and hard to believe. As those who have received a form of education today might not see the of social control underlying their education, but by analyzing this topic we learn more about Canadian history while simultaneously looking into the history of education.
Bibliography
Gleason, Mona. “Race, Class, and Health: School Medical Inspection and ‘Healthy’ Children in British Columbia, 1890-1930.” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 19 (2002) : 95-112.
Taylor Woods, Eric. “A Cultural Approach to a Canadian Tragedy: The Indian Residential Schools as a Scared Enterprise.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 26. no. 2 (2013) : 173-187.
Thomson, Gerald“ ‘Through no fault of their own’: Josephine Dauphine and the ‘Subnormal’ Pupils of the Vancouver School System, 1911-1941.” Historical Studies of Education 18. no. 1 (2006) : 51-73.
[1] Gerald Thomson, “ ‘Through no fault of their own’: Josephine Dauphine and the ‘Subnormal’ Pupils of the Vancouver School System, 1911-1941,” Historical Studies in Education 18, no. 1 (2006) : 52.
[2] Gerald Thomson, “ ‘Through no fault of their own’: Josephine Dauphine and the ‘Subnormal’ Pupils of the Vancouver School System, 1911-1941” Historical Studies in Education 18, no. 1 (2006) : 64.
[3] Gerald Thomson, “ ‘Through no fault of their own’: Josephine Dauphine and the ‘Subnormal’ Pupils of the Vancouver School System, 1911-1941,” Historical Studies in Education 18, no. 1 (2006) : 54.
[4] Mona Gleason, “Race, Class, and Health: School Medical Inspection and ‘Healthy’ Children in British Columbia, 1890-1930,” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 19 (2002) : 107.
[5] Mona Gleason, “Race, Class, and Health: School Medical Inspection and ‘Healthy’ Children in British Columbia, 1890-1930,” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 19 (2002) : 108.
[6] Eric Taylor Woods, “A Cultural Approach to a Canadian Tragedy: The Indian Residential Schools as a Scared Enterprise,” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 26, no.2 (2013) : 173.
[7] Eric Taylor Woods, “A Cultural Approach to a Canadian Tragedy: The Indian Residential Schools as a Scared Enterprise,” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 26, no.2 (2013) : 173.