The three readings this week focus on the issue of white supremacy in the Canadian education system from 1850-1950. Ranging from the east coast in Nova Scotia to the West Coast in British Columbia, each province refused to pursue their promise that coloured immigrants would “have the right to a meaningful education equal to whites”[1]. Each province experienced an influx of immigrants because it was thought that in Canada “there was not a man to be known by his colour under the British flag”[2] and they would have access to free public education. Each province had jurisdiction over their own educational system; “education laws were changed to accommodate racism, while guardians of the education system tolerated illegal discriminatory practices.”[3] The power of school officials caused inconsistency in the education system, and showed how Caucasians took advantage of their education by secluding others ability to utilize their free education, thus tainting children’s minds.
When the Chinese and African Americans began to enrol their in school “specific methods [were] used by those in authority to discourage [coloured immigrants] from attaining the education they wanted.”[4] The absurd thing is the authority was not the Superintenant, but rather the school officials and parents who were forcing the segregation. I found these articles to be very focused on power, but they did not mention how this power eventually effected the kids. The parents were exemplifying racism and their children were influenced by these actions; being taught they should alienate people who are not white. Although parents thought “segregation… was essential for the protection of white children”[5] they were tainting their minds with their own beliefs and not giving them a choice to interact with non-white Canadians. This generation of children would have had the chance to take the first step against discrimination, but this was imposed by forced segregation.
The non-white communities persistence to gain the rights to partake in a mixed education system shows how much they value education. They are deemed inferior but their determination and perseverance in my opinion make them superior. White children learned a more valuable lesson from non-whites than they did from their parents and authority figures because the coloured people showed the importance of egalitarianism and “they fought for their rights to equal participation in British-Canadian institutions. The Committee for the Colored People of Windsor asserted in 1859 that, ‘…we desire to share the common blessings of a Free Government in the education of our rising generation … according to the established Laws of the country of our adoption and choice.’”[6] White children were taught to hide whereas non-whites in each province did not back down to their seclusion which “strengthened [their] sense of self and solidarity”[7] and taught their kids– exemplified by the Chinese children involvement in the strike.
White supremacy secluded colored people as well as white children of that generation. The power of parents and officials tainted the children’s minds to accept the environment they lived in and believe that other cultures should be alienated rather than accepted. The fact none of the articles focused on this issue was surprising because authority was taking opportunities away from their own people while segregating others.
[1] Moreau, Bernice. “Black Nova Scotian Women’s Experience of Educational Violence in the Early 1900s: A Case of Colour Contusion.” Dalhousie Review 77, no.2 (1997): 184.
[2] Knight, Claudette. “Black Parents Speak: Education in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Canada West.” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 225-237.
[3] McLaren, Kristen. “’We had no desire to be set apart’: Forced Segregation of Black Students in Canada West Public School and Nyths of British Egalitarianism.” York University, 2004. P. 27. http://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/viewFile/4373/3571
[4] Moreau. “Black Nova Scotian Women’s Experience of Educational Violence in the Early 1900s: A Case of Colour Contusion.” P. 192.
[5] Stanley, Timothy J. “White Supremacy, Chinese Schooling, and School Segregation in Victoria: The Case of the Chinese Students’ Strike, 1922-1923.” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 239.
[6] McLaren. “’We had no desire to be set apart’: Forced Segregation of Black Students in Canada West Public School and Nyths of British Egalitarianism.” P. 32.
[7] Moreau. “Black Nova Scotian Women’s Experience of Educational Violence in the Early 1900s: A Case of Colour Contusion.” P. 182.
