In Deborah Gorham’s article, “The Ottawa New School and Educational Dissent in Ontario in the Hall-Dennis Era”, she discusses the idea that some parents were not advocates for the progressive education that was being brought into schools and the effects it had on the children’s learning. The New School that was established in Ottawa gave the children a different way of learning than the public schools did, but they maintained in touch with the school board to ensure they were providing the right amount of education. This article showed that some parents didn’t approve of the new education and were willing to pay a high price of tuition to ensure their children received an education that was different than what was offered at the public schools. This sheds light on parents’ perspectives of school during the transition and even though it was advertised as a positive and beneficial way of education. Parents still created and funded their own alternative schools to make sure their children were education the way they thought they should be.

In Nancy Janovicek’s article, “The community school literally takes place in the community”: Alternative Education in the Back-to-the-Land Movement of the West Kootenays, 1959 to 1980,” she discusses the many different alternative schools that popped up after progressive education was brought into public schools. These schools showed more parent involvement as there was little to no funding or any help from the government. As well as different schools, homeschooling was in its early stages at this time as well. This article sheds light on the history of this topic and it describes all the different methods of schooling started up after progressive education came into play. Janovicek suggested the increase in parent involvement and how they wanted their children to get the best education they could, based off the techniques they thought were sufficient. This article adds to the greater historiography of this topic as it shows the alternative schools that were to provide a different approach to teaching children. It also shows the different perspectives that parents had and what they incorporated into the alternative education, that they thought was best for their children.

Michael Marker argues in his article, “It was two different times of the day, but in the same place”: Coast Salish High School Experience in the 1970s,” the struggles that Aboriginal teenagers had in Canadian high schools. The experiences that came with Residential schools, altered the way First Nations were treated in the community. It was suggested that these high school students endured racism, and a change in status at home and at school. Marker suggest that First Nations teenagers have a high level of responsibility and status when they are at home in their community, but at school they seem to have very limited to no status. This article sheds light on the history of the topic of education and how it affected the Aboriginal students. The new progressive education was supposed to provide children with the learning and knowledge to bring home with them, but for these students, what they were taught was not beneficial to their community, as the culture was different. The greater historiography of this topic was enhanced by this article as it sheds light on a different perspective towards the new education. Education has always been a struggle with the Aboriginal community, as Residential schools played a major role. With their culture playing a big role, they were unable to take as much from the new education as it did not take their culture into consideration.

 

Bibliography

Gorham, Deborah. “The Ottawa New School and Educational Dissent in Ontario in the Hall-Dennis Era.” Historical Studies in Education 21, no.2 (Fall 2009): 104-122.

Janovicek, Nancy, “’The community school literally takes place in the community’: Alternative Education in the Back-to-the-land movement in the West Kootenays, 1959 to 1980,” Historical Studies in Education, 24, 1 (Spring 2012): 150-169.

Marker, Michael. “‘It Was Two Different Times of the Day, But in the Same Place’: Coast  Salish High School Experience in the 1970s.” BC Studies 144 (Winter 2004/05): 91-113.