Week One

This week we read, “Reflections on Age as a Category of Historical Analysis” by Steven Mintz. I thought this was the perfect article to start the class on because it allowed me to think of age and childhood as a social, cultural and political construct which I believe are all important aspects and influences in the education system. Ultimately this article related to most if not all of our future readings allowing me to connect these readings to Mintz and his perception of age as a category allowing me to see age as a category in history and in contemporary education.

Week 2

The “Hidden Workers” article by John Bullen really made me feel thankful and realise the privilege I had in my childhood. This article outlines childhood in the 1800’s showcasing how children held a lot of responsibility within the family dynamic. Most all children spent most of their day doing chores and helping out wherever their parents fell short due to economic struggles. If household duties were not sufficient help these children would often work in sweat shops or tasks on the streets such as selling newspapers or polishing shoes. When comparing this to my childhood I see nothing but contrast. I spent my childhood playing with friends not even thinking about the financials of my family dynamic, I probably could not even comprehend that my family could ever be in economic struggle. This really made me re-think the notion of childhood and how this definition changes vastly between time, culture and family.

Week 4

I related to the article, “Women Teachers in Canada, 1881-1901” by Eric Sager because I am working towards becoming a teacher myself. This article speaks towards teaching as one of the few job opportunities available for women at this time which made me reflect on the available job opportunities today. Even though I do want to go into elementary teaching I feel very privileged to be able to have other job options available to me and my female peers.

The article, “Boys Will Be Men and Girls Will Be Mothers” by Chun directly relates to Steven Mintz article on age as a category as it speaks towards such things as consent age and age limits. I found reading Mintz article allowed me to better understand the social and political influences behind this article and a shift towards middle class norms being pushed onto all classes of society.

Week 5 and 6

These two weeks was especially beneficial to me because we discussed residential schools which is what I decided to write my research paper on. All the articles, “Schooled for inequality” by Jean Barman, “Implementing integrated Education policy for On-reserve Aboriginal Children in British Colombia”by Helen Raptis, “A New Understanding of Things Indian” by Paige Raibmon and “It was Two Different Times of the Day but in the Same Place” by Michael Marker allowed me to gain a beginners insight to my research. I ended up using Barman’s and Raibmon’s articles for a large portion of my essay they speak towards how these schools were run and by whom. Week 5 was the week I presented with my group. I was very happy my group chose a week where we were discussing the topic of my research paper, this allowed me to hear other in depth perspectives on the topic which translated into narrowing my topic and research.

Week 8

This week we discussed health, science and the connection to education. I found Cynthia Comacchio’s article specifically interesting because of how she related science to social norms and perceptions. Before this article I had not thought of science as being influenced by societal norms but once this article opened my eyes I began to see this in many areas of science. As this article did, I relate these ideas to perceptions and available resources for women related and sexual health. Even today growing up in a small town, it was not common for doctors to provide girls with accurate, if any, information on sex, birth control, abortions and UTIs. Through my experience with male doctors in a small town they often have little knowledge on health problems like these that directly relate to women and if they do, this information is often presented with a stigmatised tone. I relate this to the social norms that often consume small towns like the one I grew up in as they are rarely progressive.

Week 9

This week we discussed progressiveness within the education system during the 1950’s. These articles started a discussion in class about if the school system today is truly progressive or if it is still mainly traditional. I believe that in a high school setting schools are still mainly traditional due to the testing, exam, seating arrangements and lecture style teaching methods that students still face to this day. Although in the 1950’s the shift to progressive schools revolved around forming a more well rounded student, they failed to provide a more well rounded education system. In high school they do pressure students to make their resumes more well rounded through volunteering, being involved in extra-curricular activities they have failed to change the core traditional aspects of schooling that I mentioned above. However, I believe the government is doing a much better job in elementary schools. I volunteer in an elementary classroom and I find it a much different environment than when I was in school. They try to integrate more hands on learning and moving the kids throughout the classroom and different classrooms often instead of having them constantly in their desks. I found this to be beneficial as the children would have an easier time staying focused as they were in a new environment for each activity or lesson taught, allowing them to move allowed them to stretch their legs and move about instead of being restless in their desks.