This module employs primary sources from Japan to illustrate themes in the rise of modern education systems, such as the equation of “education” with "schooling", the impact of modern schooling upon the culture and social experience of childhood, the connection between education and the nation-state, and the influence of European imperialism upon schooling.

By the early 20th century, urbanization and industrialization led many reformers to focus on child welfare and a recognition of children's rights as separate from those of adults. Several years later, Congress responded by creating the U.S.… [more]

Examining children's rights as human rights provides avenues for understanding the complexity of creating and implementing universal declarations of rights and makes international diplomatic history more approachable; the case study offers students the opportunity to research the current status of children from around the world, and connects the history of human rights to the children's rights movement that marked the opening and closing decades of the 20th century. echo [more]

In recent years, testimonies, diaries and memoirs of Holocaust victims (those who perished and those who survived) have gained belated recognition as essential (not auxiliary) data for historical reconstruction. Early postwar children's… [more]

In recent years, testimonies, diaries and memoirs of Holocaust victims have gained belated recognition as essential (not auxiliary) data for historical reconstruction. In spite of the sketchy nature of postwar children's testimonies, a critical… [more]

The official records and reports of social welfare agencies and institutions provide insight into societal beliefs and attitudes related to deviance and changes in those beliefs and attitudes over time. While review of such documents may in some… [more]

This case study uses reports from an institution that housed some children with disabilities and helps students understand children's experience of disability over time, giving the institutional perspective on how such children were classified and how attitudes toward disabilities might have influenced how society dealt with them during the period. echo [more]

Many African boys, teachers, and community leaders were genuinely inspired by scouting and founded their own unauthorized independent troops. In other cases, individuals dressed as scouts to claim the benefits of belonging to the movement. Scout… [more]

Imperial scout headquarters and the national and territorial scout associations were deeply concerned with ensuring that only respectable and responsible men became scoutmasters. In colonial Africa, this meant that potential scoutmasters had to also… [more]