In household science for girls and manual training for boys, the quest for a practical education that would truly reform society found another outlet. Boys, it was felt, were becoming alienated from manual labour; manual training would promote a better image for such work, and at the same time provide practical training for the working man of the future. The boys in the lower photograph demonstrated the benefits of manual training at the 1903 Dominion Exhibition, Toronto. Girls too knew far too little about their "true" vocations; in domestic science classes they would learn the latest, approved methods of housekeeping and child care. Their future roles as housewives and mothers were idealised. The Biblical quotation on the blackboard behind these household science students from a Toronto public school conveniently summarises the theme of the programme: "She looketh well to the ways of her household and eatethot the bread of idleness" (Proverbs, chapter 31, verse 27). The household science and manual training movements led eventually into vocational education and educational streaming, for practical training was considered to be especially suitable for those classes in society that could not or should not aspire to professional or white collar, middle-class jobs.
Courtesy: Provincial Archives of Ontario Historical Collection, Toronto Board of Education
