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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Remove from our midst these unfortunates : a historical inquiry into the influence of eugenics, educational efficiency as well as mental hygiene upon the Vancouver school system and its special classes, 1910-1969 Thomson, Gerald E.
Abstract
This is a history of special education in the Vancouver school system from 1911 to 1969. Special education is taken in the broadest sense to mean all forms of school instruction specifically created to depart from the preparation of a pupil for matriculation or academic graduation. The historical course of school reform in Vancouver was driven by the need to accommodate children who traditionally left school for work when they became too old for their grade placement. However, in a general sense, this history documents the evolution of the Vancouver school system itself from the early to mid-twentieth century and the forces which lay behind various aspects of school reform. The special classes for subnormal students was the first reform effort to deal with non-traditional pupils or feeble-minded school children as found by the second school doctor after 1910. This, in turn, led to the hiring of an American psychologist from Seattle, Washington, to find a new type of feeble-minded child, the higher-grade moron, in order to expand the special classes even further. The psychologist introduced mental testing into Vancouver's schools and helped to create a climate of acceptance for such scientific innovations in education. This study reveals the important role a group of principals played in promoting education reform within Vancouver's schools. They began to take courses at the University of Washington during the early 1920s and helped to popularize many facets of American educational efficiency. Platooning, mental testing, differential high school curriculum organized into vocational/academic tracks, and the expansion of the special classes for subnormal children acted to organize, as well as categorize, large numbers of students in order to achieve educational efficiency. The creation of the Bureau of Measurements in 1927 and the opening of Kitsilano Junior High in 1928 represented the culmination of this effort to bring scientific efficiency to the schools of Vancouver. The influence of the 1925 Putman/Weir Survey of the School System must be re-evaluated in light of the evidence this study presents regarding the transmission of ideas from the Seattle school system and the University of Washington to Vancouver. The study also elucidates two other intellectual forces that propelled school reform in Vancouver. American educational efficiency has already been mentioned. Eugenics and the promotion of its principles by the first special education teacher, the first woman to chair the School Board, and the Local Council of Women had long-term consequences. The eugenic rationale for the segregation of subnormal school children became entrenched in educational policies of the school system itself. The forced institutionalization of the feebleminded, as well as their sterilization, were legalized under provincial statutes. Mental hygiene was officially introduced to Vancouver's schools in 1939 and was dispensed by the first clinical psychiatrist who remained in his position of authority until retiring in 1969. As head of the Mental Hygiene Division of the Metropolitan Health Services during the post-Second World War period the psychiatrist began training counsellors to deal with mentally-troubled youths. Archival data shows that most of these troubled youths were from the working-class east side of the city as opposed to the wealthier west side. What emerges is a historical pattern emerges of discrimination against various types of exceptional students who had to be removed from the midst of the regular classroom. This study encompasses the scope of school reorganization in Vancouver during the period 1911 to 1969 through various special education reforms. It traces the erosion of traditional education but also attempts to reveal the conservative nature of the enacted school reforms. The differentiation, segregation and labelling of students in order to educate them according to their natural intellectual ability was on the surface educationally progressive. In the end this study will show these practices to be more bureaucratic solutions than reformist measures.
Item Metadata
Title |
Remove from our midst these unfortunates : a historical inquiry into the influence of eugenics, educational efficiency as well as mental hygiene upon the Vancouver school system and its special classes, 1910-1969
|
Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
|
Date Issued |
1999
|
Description |
This is a history of special education in the Vancouver school
system from 1911 to 1969. Special education is taken in the broadest
sense to mean all forms of school instruction specifically created to
depart from the preparation of a pupil for matriculation or academic
graduation. The historical course of school reform in Vancouver was
driven by the need to accommodate children who traditionally left school
for work when they became too old for their grade placement. However,
in a general sense, this history documents the evolution of the Vancouver
school system itself from the early to mid-twentieth century and the
forces which lay behind various aspects of school reform. The special
classes for subnormal students was the first reform effort to deal with
non-traditional pupils or feeble-minded school children as found by the
second school doctor after 1910. This, in turn, led to the hiring of an
American psychologist from Seattle, Washington, to find a new type of
feeble-minded child, the higher-grade moron, in order to expand the
special classes even further. The psychologist introduced mental testing
into Vancouver's schools and helped to create a climate of acceptance for
such scientific innovations in education.
This study reveals the important role a group of principals
played in promoting education reform within Vancouver's schools. They
began to take courses at the University of Washington during the early
1920s and helped to popularize many facets of American educational
efficiency. Platooning, mental testing, differential high school
curriculum organized into vocational/academic tracks, and the expansion
of the special classes for subnormal children acted to organize, as well
as categorize, large numbers of students in order to achieve educational
efficiency. The creation of the Bureau of Measurements in 1927 and the
opening of Kitsilano Junior High in 1928 represented the culmination of
this effort to bring scientific efficiency to the schools of Vancouver.
The influence of the 1925 Putman/Weir Survey of the School System must be re-evaluated in light of the evidence this study presents regarding
the transmission of ideas from the Seattle school system and the
University of Washington to Vancouver.
The study also elucidates two other intellectual forces that
propelled school reform in Vancouver. American educational efficiency
has already been mentioned. Eugenics and the promotion of its principles
by the first special education teacher, the first woman to chair the
School Board, and the Local Council of Women had long-term consequences.
The eugenic rationale for the segregation of subnormal school children
became entrenched in educational policies of the school system itself.
The forced institutionalization of the feebleminded, as well as their
sterilization, were legalized under provincial statutes. Mental hygiene
was officially introduced to Vancouver's schools in 1939 and was
dispensed by the first clinical psychiatrist who remained in his position
of authority until retiring in 1969. As head of the Mental Hygiene
Division of the Metropolitan Health Services during the post-Second World
War period the psychiatrist began training counsellors to deal with
mentally-troubled youths. Archival data shows that most of these
troubled youths were from the working-class east side of the city as
opposed to the wealthier west side. What emerges is a historical pattern
emerges of discrimination against various types of exceptional students
who had to be removed from the midst of the regular classroom.
This study encompasses the scope of school reorganization in
Vancouver during the period 1911 to 1969 through various special
education reforms. It traces the erosion of traditional education but
also attempts to reveal the conservative nature of the enacted school
reforms. The differentiation, segregation and labelling of students in
order to educate them according to their natural intellectual ability was
on the surface educationally progressive. In the end this study will
show these practices to be more bureaucratic solutions than reformist
measures.
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Extent |
31315537 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-08-06
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0055545
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1999-05
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.