100 years of education, income and expenditures, health and urban development

Article: 100 years of education, income and expenditures, health and urban development (PDF)

Objective

• To explore the different ways in which the lives of Canadians have changed during the course of the 20th century.

Method

Students select one of the topics related to the special "100 years of." articles that appeared in the four issues of CST from the year 2000. The earlier articles are available free under E-STAT.

• One hundred years of families
• 100 years of immigration in Canada
• One hundred years of labour force

1. Conduct a classroom discussion about the social and economic impact that women's increased involvement in the paid labour force participation has had. How has this affected the family and family formation?
2. Apart from Aboriginal people, all Canadians are descended from or are themselves immigrants. What is the history of your family's immigration to Canada? Talk to your parents, grandparents or other relatives about their experiences. Gather these stories along with photos, documents or other items together into a scrapbook or website.
3. At the beginning of the century most households owned few possessions; today, households generally own many more possessions. List the things your family owns that you think are essential, and compare it with the essentials of a century ago.
4. In the early 1900s, children were likely to leave school before finishing high school. Nowadays, it seems to be mandatory to have a postsecondary education in order to get a job. What kinds of skills were necessary 80 or 100 years ago to make a living?
5. Compare lifestyles in the city and the country now; compare them to 100 years ago. Issues include transportation, medical care, and jobs.
6. Ask your grandparents about illnesses they may have had as children, and the treatment they received for it. Compare their experience of childhood illness with yours.

Using other resources

• A few good sources of information include: Statistics Canada's Historical Statistics of Canada; Statistics Canada's Canada Year Book; public and school libraries.

Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.