In our readings this week, we explored the idea of what it means to grow up as a Canadian and how these lessons were brought into the classroom setting. As a result of events such as urbanization, industrialization, as well as the war, the experiences of children underwent significant changes. As urbanization and industrialization took place, many families were forced to restructure their home-life in order to accommodate the need for both parents to work outside of the home. As Tamara Myers and Mary Anne Poutanen write in their article, “Cadets, Curfews, and Compulsory Schooling: Mobilizing Anglophone Children in WWII Montreal,” “Familial difficulties were believed exacerbated by the expansive opportunities for employment in the city… Observers pointed to the overcrowded and deteriorating living conditions that fuelled familial problems. Thus neglectful parents and a deleterious housing situation meant a lack of social control on the city’s children, which could only lead to a future generation of criminal adults.” [1] A heavy amount of blame was placed on working class parents, especially mothers, [2] as it had been common practice for mothers to remain at home with their children prior to this era. In addition to an increase in the number of working mothers, “the dramatically increasing number of jobs available” [3] also contributed to “youth enthusiastically [leaving] school and [entering] the labour force.” [4] Compulsory education was viewed as a critical means of controlling adolescents and preventing the rise of delinquency.

In addition to the prevention of juvenile delinquency, the classroom was a place where patriotism was able to flourish during wartime. As Myers and Poutanen add in their aritcle, “Principals, teachers, parents, relatives, community leaders, and government officials all reiterated the importance of war work.” [5] They add, “At Protestant schools, principals and teachers promoted the war effort, encouraged classroom discussions about its importance, and acted as role models. Moreover, their daily contact with children had shown them how to engage pupils in war work.” [6] However, not all children we subjected to positive educational experiences during wartime, as demonstrated in Patricia E. Roy’s article, “The Education of Japanese Children in the British Columbia Interior Housing Settlements during World War Two.” Roy writes, “Before the war, Japanese children had… well-deserved reputations as intelligent and hard-working students in British Columbia’s public schools;” [7] however, as war efforts took place through the early 1940s, many Japanese-Canadian citizens were evacuated to the central parts of British Columbia, thereby impacting their educational experience. According to Daniel Lachapelle Lemire, author of “Bittersweet Memories: Narratives of Japanese Canadian Children’s Experiences before the Second World War and the Politics of Redress,” “In British Columbia, the Japanese language schools played an important role in the development of Japanese Canadian communities prior to the Second World War;” [8] however, as the war efforts took place, Japanese families were evacuated, which resulted in children being removed from their Japanese language schools and culture.

As demonstrated in these articles, factors such as industrialization, urbanization, and war impacted the experiences of children both inside and outside of the classroom. Wartime had a significant and varying impact on students throughout Canada, depending on their cultural background; however, the majority of Canadians were impacted in some way by these changes, thereby determine the individual experience of growing up as a Canadian during this era.

[1] Tamara Myers and Mary Anne Poutanen. “Cadets, Curfews, and Compulsory Schooling: Mobilizing Anglophone Children in WWII Montreal.” Histoire Sociale 38, no.76 (2005): 374.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid., 376.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid., 390.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Patricia E. Roy, “The Education of Japanese Children in the British Columbia Interior Housing Settlements during World War Two,” Historical Studies in Education, 4, 2 (1992): 231.

[8] Daniel Lachapelle Lemire, ““Bittersweet Memories: Narratives of Japanese Canadian Children’s Experiences before the Second World War and the Politics of Redress,” BC Studies, 192 (Winter 2016/2017): 80.