EXHIBITS
What's in a Name?: Growth During the World Wars
With the social upheaval of the First World War, the priorities of the curriculum began to change according to the changes in social conditions. There came a shift in the role of women towards an emphasis on child development. Although it would take a number of years before the Department of Child Development and Parental Education in 1931, courses related to child development were being taught as early as 1918. [1] The creation of this department expanded the curriculum to include courses in child psychology, nutrition, and behaviour. [2] Women’s roles and opportunities were expanding beyond the material ones of cooking and sewing, and were now beginning to include the idea of motherhood as a science.
In the wake of the Second World War, the program expanded again, now offering five majors, adding Child Development and Parent Education, and Home Economics Education. [3] After such an increase in course offerings and subject matter, the school once again decided to undergo a name change in 1955 and became the School of Home and Family Living, though this name was short-lived because by 1959 it would acquire the more recognizable name, the College of Family Life. [4]
Compared to its earliest predecessor, the Department of Domestic Arts, the course offerings of the College of Family life had both expanded and specialized just as women’s roles during and after the World Wars had. With women’s entry into the workforce in the wake of the Second World War, the curriculum changed accordingly in order to afford women not only the skills to be home-makers, but also to be professionals in what was becoming the industry of home-making, as well as connected fields such as psychology and sociology.