In the first article analyzed, “Cadets, Curfews, and Compulsory Schooling: Mobilizing Anglophone Children in WWII Montreal”, by Tamara Myers and Mary Anne Poutanen, found in the scholarly journal, Histoire Sociale, the effects of war on children at the home front is explored. Myers and Poutanen state that children on the home front, and the effects war had on their lives, is a subject that has yet to be deeply explored. By using primary sources from the time, such as media and official legislations, Myers and Poutanen delve into this subject. They argue that there was a fear that the war was increasing juvenile delinquency. The main reasons for this argued at the time were absent fathers at war, and mothers who have abandoned the home to work. With the lack of parents in the lives of youth, the government, school and juvenile officials, and the media stepped in. This resulted in the government extending social control to try and curb the delinquency appearing in society. They implemented compulsory schooling for children, making it mandatory for children until age 14. This helped redefine schools, and increased their power and the amount of respect surrounding them. They also implemented a curfew, to attempt to hinder petty crimes occurring in the dim hours of each day. Many also pushed forth clubs and organizations for children, in which they would learn and experience a version of army training. This was an attempt to make children more patriotic and proud, and deter them from becoming burden to society, by turning them into cadets. Altogether, Myers and Poutanen make the argument that, in the increasing absence of fathers and mothers, it fell to schools and the government to care for children, and direct them in life.

         In the next article by Patricia E. Roy, found in Historical Studies in Education, “The Education of Japanese Children in the British Columbia Interior Housing Settlements During World War Two”, the effects of the war on the Canada’s Japanese population, their children, and their education, is discussed. Roy uses primary sources from the time in the form of newspapers, images, and direct quotes to display the changes and challenges faced by Japanese youth in Canada. Though they were traditionally thought of as smart and hardworking, the war brought the fear of sympathy for Japan from Canada’s Japanese population. To counter this, along with fears of delinquency, and to encourage parents to help the war effort, Japanese education was transitioned into the form of housing settlements. These settlements brought up a lot of controversy with Japanese parents, as they feared their children would not be properly educated. The housing settlements were poorly equipped, many temporary, and the time it took to build them often delayed the school year. There was also a shortage of staff and teachers due to the war. This resulted in temporary supervisors, part time teachers, previously retired, and teachers trained quickly over a month period in summer. Still, Roy argues despite the setbacks and troubles in manifesting the interior housing settlements, they still managed to educate the Japanese-canadian children, due mostly to the kindness and generosity of the public and new teachers, and the determination of the government to ensure all canadian children, regardless of their immigrant past, were in school.

         The final article, found in the text edited by Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski, Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, is  “Disciplining Children, Disciplining Parents: The Nature and Meaning of Advice to Canadian Parents, 1945-1955”, by Mona Gleason. In this article Gleason argues that though teaching parents how to raise children was not something new, it seemed to increase after the end of world War II. Gleason uses primary sources to explores the forces that stepped in to make up for the “inadequate parenting” society saw at this time. Many blamed the war for creating more absent parents, who were less involved in their children’s lives and upbringing. They specifically targeted mothers, who were seen as to have abandoned their traditional role and the home. This led to many parents feeling insecure in how they raised their children. Many also feared at the time the increase in crime themed comics, juvenile delinquency, divorce, child abuse, and sexual prominence of Canada’s youth. Gleason suggests that for these reasons, and the general desire to bring children, and the public in general, back to older ways and traditions, was why childhood psychologists stepped in. They were to ensure parents were raising their children properly, so that their children would not fall into the dangerous ways of modern times. They encouraged parents, and even teachers, to think psychologically when raising their kids, a method aimed mostly at white, anglo-saxon, middle-class families. They agreed that if a parent or teacher had a problem child, the shortcomings were not because of the child, but because of the parent of teacher, and so they must look inside themselves and correct their behaviour, in order to discipline the children. Gleason’s findings display the idea that parents could not be trusted to raise their children into proper citizens on their own, due to their own personal failures in self discipline, and so they required outside assistance.

         All three of the articles above display a common fear: that the effects of World War II, during and after, led to changes in family dynamics that subsequently led to the Canadian youth becoming involved in juvenile delinquency. The absences of fathers, and shift of mothers from the home to the workforce, worried many people, and led to the idea that parents were no longer able to properly care for their children, and bestow upon them the ideals, beliefs, and patriotism needed for them to grow, and flourish as dedicated, and moral adults. Thus, it was up to the government, and various institutions, to step in and do this instead. All three articles also touch on the use of education to deter juvenile delinquency. In the case of the first article, compulsory schooling and military training in the form of cadets were to teach children the proper ways of life, and keep them from trouble. In the second article, the housing settlements were to educate Japanese-canadian children, with hopes of assimilating them, keeping them from sympathizing with Japan, and keep them from delinquency. In the third and final article, parents were educated, mainly by childhood psychologists, so they might pass their disciplined ways onto their children. All these articles also show the effects this had not only on parents and children, but teachers. Like the apparent absence of parents, teachers also turned absent in the war, as many left to fight or join the workforce. This left a shortage of teachers, many of which had little experience or training, such as the case in Roy’s article. Teachers were, like parents, also taught and disciplined, to ensure their children under their care were being properly educated, this is shown in Gleason’s article. The role of schools was also changed to help direct Canada’s youth, and steer them away from any sort of petty crime or immoral behavior, as displayed in Myers and Poutanen’s article. Altogether these articles follow the similar struggle society had in finding out how to teach children in a nation changed forever by war. They display a want to follow older traditions in a time of extreme change and modernization. The changing roles of families and schools is displayed, as are the ways to counteract these changes, imposed mostly by the government and other institutions, which were encouraged by public opinion that children are turning more towards delinquency. This adds to our greater understanding of the Canadian past, as we see the ways parenting and education changed as a result of these fear, war, modernization, and a greater understanding of youth.   

Bibliography

Gleason, Mona. “Disciplining Children, Disciplining Parents: The Nature and Meaning of Advice to Canadian Parents, 1945-1955,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 357-375.

Myers, Tamara and Mary Anne Poutanen. “Cadets, Curfews, and Compulsory Schooling: Mobilizing Anglophone Children in WWII Montreal.” Histoire Sociale 38, no.76 (2005): 367-398.

Roy, Patricia E. “The Education of Japanese Children in the British Columbia Interior Housing Settlements during World War Two,” Historical Studies in Education, 4, 2 (1992): 211-231.

Image: Tiger Lily, taken by Katryna Barone