The purpose of Gerald Thomson’s article, ‘“Through No Fault of Their Own’: Josephine Dauphinee and the ‘Subnormal’ Pupils of the Vancouver School System, 1911-1941” is to shed light and expose the motivation of Josephine Dauphinee who was seen as an important person in regards to forming and establishing early special education. Thomson provides an article from the Vancouver Sun when she died where it stated she was, “A pioneer teacher of Vancouver’s retarded children.”[1] However, Thomson reveals the dark side and that Dauphinee was not someone to be admired as her motivation behind implementing a special school was not to benefit these children but to be rid of them. He exposes the fact that she was an advocate for eugenics through segregation, institutionalization and sterilization. The author shows how she used her education as a nurse and teacher to reach a position of power and implement these practices of segregation in order to sterilize and institutionalize the children that were deemed feeble to keep a strong white race.[2] Evidence of her motives are clear in her speech that he provides; “clear the schools of low-functioning children, socialize them if possible, institutionalize them if necessary.”[3] Thompson examines her career chronologically which provides proof of her determination to preserve white population through ridding it of the “feeble minded” especially if they were immigrants.[4] Her collaboration with other like-minded white women and political leaders such as Pickens and Woodworth strengthen his argument. Direct quotes of Dauphinee further support his thesis of eugenics being the sole motivation, “mentality of our race may not degenerate.”[5] Thomson examines reports written by Dauphinee in regards to immigrants and noted the percentage of them were said to be “subnormal immigrants & mentally deficient.”[6] The fact that laws were put in place to perform sterilizations and that a CNCMH was formed further indicates the social implications of Dauphinee’s career and crusade. The author concedes that she was prominent in establishing Special Education programs and obtaining funding, however it needs to be understood that the origins were not from a humanitarian standpoint.

The article, “Race, Class, and Health: School Medical Inspection and “Healthy” Children in British Columbia, 1890 to 1930” by Mona Gleason depicts the societal norms of how cleanly one was supposed to present themselves. Through studies of the health inspectors, it showed that Chinese immigrants, First Nations and lower classes were known for not meeting the sanitation laws. The author gives an example of the First Nations in comparison to the Whites, “rates of death from tuberculosis among Native peoples were five times higher that of Whites in 1929”[7], gives insight of cultural cleanliness as well as social standing. As Whites had higher access to such medical advancements which allowed them to fight the illnesses, which leads to less spreading within their culture. As for the lower classes, the author gives an example of a young girl in the lower class in which she struggles to present herself as clean, “how could they know I had to work in the vegetable garden every morning before school and didn’t have time to clean up?”[8] This gives direct insight on the struggles in which certain classes and cultures faced. There were multiple diseases during this period that were worrisome, as the author states the school buildings were in poor conditions which also has an impact on illnesses among children.

In the article, “School Health Practices: Ritualistic or Purposeful?” by Trenna G. Hunter and C.H. Gundry was focused on the control of hygiene in order to gain control and prevent dangerous diseases. This article also includes Special Education briefly described for mental hygiene, although, Thomson’s article, ‘“Through No Fault of Their Own’: Josephine Dauphinee and the ‘Subnormal’ Pupils of the Vancouver School System, 1911-1941” gives more insight on the Special Education being provided to those in need and the poor treatment the higher classes thought were right in order to rid of certain pupils. However, this article is mainly focused on physical hygiene as thoroughly described in the article, “Race, Class, and Health: School Medical Inspection and “Healthy” Children in British Columbia, 1890 to 1930” by Mona Gleason. These articles both focus on the hygiene of the schools as well as in their homes, the importance of proper hygiene in these environments as well as one’s personal hygiene and nutritional importance. The author describes the challenges that each individual child has including “physical, emotional and social factors.”[9] This gives insight on the struggles children and their family faced.

 

Bibliography:

Gleason, Mona, “Race, Class, and Health: School Medical Inspection and “Healthy” Children in     British Columbia, 1890 to 1930,” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, Vol. 19, No. 1 (2002): 95-112.

http://www.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/cbmh.19.1.95.

Hunter, G. Treena, and C.H. Gundry, “School Health Practices: Ritualistic or Purposeful?” Canadian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 46, No. 1 (1955): 9-14.   http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41980746.pdf.

Thomson, Gerald, ‘“Through No Fault of Their Own’: Josephine Dauphinee and the ‘Subnormal’ Pupils of the Vancouver School System, 1911-1941,” Historical Studies in Education, Vol. 18, No. 1 (2006): 51-73.       http://historicalstudiesineducation.ca/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/view/402/520.

 

Endnotes:

[1] Gerald Thomson, ‘“Through No Fault of Their Own’: Josephine Dauphinee and the ‘Subnormal’ Pupils of the Vancouver School System, 1911-1941,” Historical Studies in Education, 18, no. 1 (2006): 52.

http://historicalstudiesineducation.ca/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/view/402/520.

[2] Ibid, 67.

[3] Ibid, 56.

[4] Ibid, 51.

[5] Ibid, 52.

[6] Ibid, 64.

[7] Mona Gleason, “Race, Class, and Health: School Medical Inspection and “Healthy” Children in British Columbia, 1890 to 1930,” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 19, no. 1 (2002): 98.

[8] Ibid, 107.

[9] Trenna G. Hunter and C.H. Gundry, “School Health Practices: Ritualistic or Purposeful?” Canadian Journal of Public Health, 46, no. 1 (1955): 13.