19th Century Rise of Education
The two articles by Ian Ross[1] and John Bullen[2] focus on the importance of education and work for children, but more so emphasize how the progressing world in nineteenth century Canada impacted their meanings within a new culture. Education is much more than an establishment where you sheepishly follow what the teacher says and does; it is the concept of learning. Ross and Bullen state the importance of education and how the benefits of education are not confined to an institution. Their articles show cultural growth and how this growth leads to progression and realization.
Ross’ article exemplifies the expansion of land ownership in PEI and how this growth meant the people had to be literate to avoid conflict. He explains the problems that arose in an attempt to keep old ways while progressing a population[3]. PEI’s struggle to own and lease land without proper contracts gave rise to the problems of ‘he said she said;’ thus proving that contracts and formal deals were necessary. This proves more than the importance of contracts, but also presents progression. These formal deals show that in the early nineteenth century there was a need for order within Canadian society. As a country who was trying to sway Europeans to migrate west and assimilate them once they arrived, they learned that the diversity between the many cultures was a problem; therefore making the people realize the necessity of civil law. In Ross’ article it is clear PEI recognized the importance of education, but not for education simply as a learning experience, but as a way to attain social order and be capable of following the rules they were in need of implying.
Bullen’s article on child labour and sweat shops focuses on the notion of desperation and how it impacts actions. People do not desire to live on the streets; therefore they will do anything to keep a roof over their heads. Sweat shops from a business perspective “are overwhelmingly lucrative since they capitalize on low-wage labor in developing countries and significantly reduce production costs.”[4] The fact that “human nature is fundamentally selfish and each man exists for his own sake, and the achievement of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose”[5] is not a new phenomenon, but rather an explanation the evolution of humanity. Szalavitz’s statement is intriguing and from a perspective not many have pondered:
Did selfishness — or sharing — drive human evolution? Evolutionary theorists have traditionally focused on competition and the ruthlessness of natural selection, but often they have failed to consider a critical fact: that humans could not have survived in nature without the charity and social reciprocity of a group.[6]
Ross and Bullen’s articles prove the truths in this statement by the progress throughout the nineteenth century.
Conflict is a main issue represented in each article and explains the changing attitudes of citizens towards people in power. In both articles people struggle to survive and were doing anything to keep a roof over their heads; therefore reformists in order to achieve success came to realize they could not simply say no, but rather had to try to find a way to say yes because the people were going to find away to bend the rules and make it work anyways. This is proven when Ottawa attempted to implement the license for vendors[7] as well as when PEI first attempted land lease and ownership[8]. Rather than worrying about the needs of adults, in each article we find reformists learning through trial and error that the focus when altering a law should accommodate the quickly changing society, but mainly children. Children at this time had the potential to catch up with the changes taking place; therefore it was learned the laws should benefit them.
The main factors underlying progress was education and the changing attitudes of citizens. Solutions were found by educating people, “it took the establishment of free, compulsory public education at the end of the 19th century and the changed attitudes that followed to reduce, if not fully eliminate child labour in Britain, Canada, the U.S.A., and other industrialized countries.”[9] Progress came from education, and education opened citizens eyes to things the world could not teach them.
[1] Robertson, Ian Ross. “Reform, Literacy, and the Lease: The Prince Edward Island Free Education Act of 1852.” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 56-71.
[2] Bullen, John, “Hidden Workers: Child Labour and the Family Economy in Late Nineteenth-Century Urban Ontario.” Labour/Le Travail 18 (Fall 1986): 163-87.
[3] Ross. “Reform, Literacy, and the Lease: The Prince Edward Island Free Education Act of 1852.” 159-160.
[4] Annabelle Wong, “Two Faces of Economic Development: The Ethical Controversy Surrounding U.S. Related Sweatshops in Developing Asian Countries. May 1, 2013. http://www.globalethicsnetwork.org/m/blogpost?id=6428686%3ABlogPost%3A22778
[5] Szalavitz, Maia. Is Human Nature Fundamentally Selfish or Altruistic?” Time. October 8, 2012. http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/08/is-human-nature-fundamentally-selfish-or-altruistic/
[6] Ibid.
[7] Bullen. “Hidden Workers: Child Labour and the Family Economy in Late Nineteenth-Century Urban Ontario.”178.
[8] Ross. “Reform, Literacy, and the Lease: The Prince Edward Island Free Education Act of 1852.” 159-160.
[9] “Child Labour- Then and Now.” BC Teachers Federation. 83. https://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/public/TeachingResources/YouthUnionsYou/SS9_L4.pdf
