in september 1937, the toronto daily star and the globe and mail began publishing lessons for high school students who had already lost four weeks of school due to the polio epidemic that raged that summer. soon, the star reported that children had eagerly taken up their studies at home. teachers were available by telephone if students needed them.
indeed, covid-19 is not the first time we’ve considered closing schools to prevent the spread of disease. after ontario’s worst polio epidemic in the summer of 1937 , schools were closed in the fall to protect children, who were the most vulnerable to polio’s ravages.
psychologists assured parents that the extended holiday was likely to be beneficial, but for some families, school closures were stressful. as the mother of nine school-aged children put it in a globe and mail article from sept. 18, 1937: “the children are very restless,” even though she had kept them busy playing ball, pole-vaulting and boxing in the backyard.
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during the summer of 1937, mothers kept their children off the streets. sunnyside beach, despite the warm water, had only a few bathers. streets in the central part of toronto — described by the toronto daily star as “the playgrounds of hundreds of poor children” — were deserted. survivors of polio epidemics remember a deep-seated fear of infection .
across canada, several municipal health officials felt that schools should remain open. john w.s. mccullough, ontario’s chief officer of health, noted that with proper medical inspection and the “watchful eyes” of teachers, nurses and doctors , children would be safer in school rather than roaming around the streets unmonitored.
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quoted in an article in the toronto daily star from sept. 27, toronto school trustee c.m. carrie denounced doctors who lent themselves to “panic” regarding the polio epidemic. “why are the children kept out of school and not kept out of anywhere else?” he said. “you can see them running round everywhere.”
broadly, these debates reflected parental anxiety, confusion over the mode of transmission of the disease and tension between health officials and school authorities.
in a toronto daily star article published on oct. 16, another parent claimed that “children have been in just as close, if not closer contact with each other when the schools were closed than at present.”
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children of all ages have responded to lockdown and school closures in varying ways . some thrived in the online environment and adapted quickly. others found online learning challenging.
demands for mental health services for children and adults alike have increased.
a statistics canada study reveals that balancing child care, schooling and work was a top concern for families, with worries about managing loneliness and anxiety a major stressor. in july, a growing number of parents put pressure on the ontario government to open schools safely and fully in september. the ford government announced its school reopening plan on july 30 , but for many parents it does not go far enough to ensure safety.
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this stress is particularly felt by mothers during the covid-19 pandemic , who are a much greater part of the workforce than they were in 1937.
this burden also falls more heavily on essential workers and lower-income families .
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school closings affect parents differently. single parents who do not have relatives nearby find balancing working from home and home schooling their young children particularly challenging, if not impossible .
and this is not to say that a return to school would mitigate emotional stress: for some, lockdown and the fear of a dreaded second wave of covid-19 means parents will choose to keep their children home despite any school reopening scenario.