VI: Reflections

Having gone to school long after the war, it was interesting to see how wartime impacted the experiences of children growing up in Canada. By the time I was in school, the only thing we did that would be considered patriotic was singing ‘O Canada’ at the beginning of assemblies. Patriotism wasn’t a huge component of our school experience. It was interesting to see how wartime impacted how a classroom was ran and how they used the classroom as a place to get children and families on board with the war efforts of the time. The continued theme of discrimination was also demonstrated in this topic, as the experiences of Japanese children were impacted during this era as the Canadian government was afraid that if Japanese people were near the coast, some kind of attack may take place on Canadian soil. Although this never happened, children and families were uprooted and put in camps in Central British Columbia, thereby disrupting their learning experiences, even though many of them were regarded as very intelligent students.