Reading Analysis #1:

In the upcoming lecture, we will be discussing and trying to understand the topic of “Childhood in 19th Century Canada and the Rise of Public Education”. However, we were first assigned readings to give us some context on what we will be discussing. Within this topic, the readings pertained to the emergence of free education, such as The Prince Edward Island Free Education Act of 1852, and how education was not a very big part of a child’s life growing up, but rather came second or third behind working and contributing to their family’s economy.

In Ian Ross Robertson’s article, “Reform, Literacy, and the Lease: The Prince Edward Island Free Education Act of 1852”, he focuses on the act and how it “was part of a comprehensive reform programme of the Liberals”[1], and marked a change on Prince Edward Island[2]. The construction and implementation of this act, was very beneficial to PEI, in a way that it opened up the island to more opportunities and people. In addition to the “Free Education Act, the Public Schools Act of 1877 had established a system of tuition-free education, made attendance compulsory”[3], as well as other things. This easy accessibility to free education for children, is very good, mainly because children are able to get education to help and enrich their future without the burden of the cost.  However, even though education started to become free and more accessible to children, a large majority of the children did not see the need to go to school. This is because, children were a main contributor to the household economy, and without their labor and wages, it may take a toll on the family. In John Bullen’s article, “Hidden Worker: Child Labour and the Family Economy in Late Nineteenth-Century Urban Ontario”, he outlines how influential child labor was to the family, and how school was not as important as a satisfactory home life. Throughout the reading, several sources that Bullen drew on expressed that “youngsters [worked] as wage-earners in the manufacturing and commercial establishments of large industrial centers… [other] factories and shops, and duties in their home and on city streets… [to contribute] to the family economy”[4]. These duties the children played in the economy of the household was very important and difficult to erase if they decided to go to school. Therefore, many of the children and family members did not see the point and the importance in receiving an education. It was noted that, there was a large amount of “non-enrollment and irregular attendance of working-class children”[5]. With these schools, their task was “was to direct not only intellectual behaviour but also moral and social behaviour”[6]. Even though schools provided free public education and a variety of other benefits to the children, the vast majority of children did not have any desire to partake in school. However, as the decade progressed and the new century emerged, it became increasingly difficult for children to work in factories due to upgrading and complexity of machines and other equipment. This then drew the children out of the labour force and by this time, receiving an education was becoming more and more common.

All of these articles contribute to the main topic that we will be further discussing in our lecture. The topic of childhood in the 19th century and the emergence of public education are important topics that must be discussed in order to understand the history of childhood and education. These articles depict one aspect of a typical childhood for a child in the 19th century Ontario, as well as explain an education act implemented first in Prince Edward Island, but then over the course of the decade, a similar act became implemented in other provinces. All these articles contribute to the wider historiography of the topic, and helps us to better understand this part in Canadian history.

 

Endnotes:

[1] Ian Ross Robertson, “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: 65.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] John Bullen, “Hidden Workers: Child Labour and the Family Economy in Late Nineteenth-Century Urban Ontario,” Labour/Le Travail 18, (Fall 1986): 167.

[5] Ibid., 183.

[6] Neil McDonald, “Egerton Ryerson and the School as an Agent of Political Socialization,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 49.

Bibliography:

Bullen, John. “Hidden Workers: Child Labour and the Family Economy in Late Nineteenth-Century Urban Ontario.” Labour/Le Travail 18, (Fall 1986): 163-187.

McDonald, Neil. “Egerton Ryerson and the Schools as an Agent of Political Socialization,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 39-56.

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 the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 56-71.

Reflection:

The reason why I chose to incorporate this reading analysis into my ePortfolio was because it touches on an aspect of childhood and education that I will be discussing. This aspect is “inabilities” of children, and the inibility to go to school is very prominent in this reading analysis. It explains how children had some inabilities that made limitations to go to schools and have a good childhood and experiences at a young age. Throughout this analysis, it highlights how children could not attend, or had limited access to education because they had to help provide to the family economy. The children had an inability to go to school because at such a young age, they had to help contribute to the family, and in some situations, children were the biggest contributor. To have children being a main contributor to the family, this not only took a toll on their education, but also their childhood because they were doing “adult” jobs and not fulfilling the perceived “child” role. This reading analysis is evidence to support my argument of the ePortfolio because is shows how segregation and discrimination of the children’s inability to go to school for various reasons, effects the child, and their childhood and education.

Header Image from: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/child-labour/