This study argues for a transition from imperialism to internationalism in British Columbia
educational thought, policy and practice from 1900 to 1939. Three contrasting and complementary
internationalist orientations were dominant in British Columbia during that period. Some educators
embraced an altruistic “socially transformative internationalism” built on social gospel, pacifist, social
reform, cooperative and progressivist notions. This contrasted with a self-interested “competitive
advantage internationalism,” more explicitly economic, capitalist and entrepreneurial. A third type was
instrumental and practical, using international comparisons and borrowing to support or help explain the
other two.
The thesis pays special attention to province-wide developments both in government and out.
These include the work of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), of several voluntary
organizations, and provincial Department of Education policy and programme innovations. Examples
include the rise, demise, and revival of cadet training, technical education, Department curriculum policy,
and the work of the Overseas Education League, the National Council on Education, the Junior Red
Cross, the World Goodwill Society of British Columbia, the Vancouver Board of Trade, and the League of
Nations Society in Canada. A diverse array of BCTF leaders, parents, teachers, voluntary organizations,
students, educational policy makers and bureaucrats, editorialists, the general public, and the provincial
government supported international education and internationalist outlooks.
The argument is supported chiefly by organizational and government documents, by editorials,
letters, articles, commentaries, conference reports, and speeches in The B.C. Teacher, by Department of
Education and sundry other reports, by League of Nations materials, and by newspapers and other
publications.
Distinctive imperially-minded educational ideas and practices prevailed in British Columbia
from about 1900 to the mid-1920s, whereas explicitly internationalist education notions and practices
complemented or overshadowed imperial education from about 1919 to 1939. The transition from
imperialism to internationalism in British Columbia education and society coincided with Canada’s
industrialization in an interdependent global economy, and its maturation into an independent self
governing nation within the Commonwealth and League of Nations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8945 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Nelles, Wayne Charles |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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