Two of the goals in HaSS are that students learn to look at events from different perspectives and that they understand the contexts in which they occur.

In Grade 9 HaSS, students have been studying the Industrial Revolution, with a recent focus on child labour. 

Here is how Sophie creatively used the perspective of a privileged child to show what a child worker’s life was like: 

Today has been rather strange. Father took me to see the new steam engines in his factory—oh, what a banging, loud to see! I tried placing my hands over my ears, but somehow the sound pierced my very hands. Father told me they are "the future," though I am not so sure what he means by this. 

The workers look so small beside the machines, soot streaking their faces, their clothes ragged. I questioned Father why they do not dress in finer attire, and he was upset at my questions, so I did not press the issue, but it brought me to intense wonder. How strange that the machines make us rich, yet they make the workers poor? 

Below, Paige really showed awareness of historic context with her work. Her teacher had to apologise for attempting to correct her spelling when she responded with “I deliberately misspelt words as working kids only got education in 1833. For my diary’s time, they would have had little education.”  

Let’s hope all our HaSS students are as excited about learning as Paige’s character Francine.