In his article “Reflection on Age as a Category of Historical Analysis” Steven Mintz uses both primary and secondary sources to unravel how the category of age in relation to societies expectations and reactions have changed and remained static over time. Overall, it seems Mintz wrote his article to convey that; “age is a construct that has changed over time” (98). While visually said claim appears to be true as experiences typically associated with a certain age or category of age have drastically shifted over time Mintz argues that; “the institutional boundaries surrounding the young have remained strongly intact” (93). This is an aspect of the article that I would like to discuss further. The idea that institutional boundaries have not yet changed, regardless of the apparent shift surrounding the idea of being young and the examined differences in youthful experiences are thought-provoking. I find it interesting that this article was written in 2008, yet the same instance seems to remain prevalent in 2017. An example of this would be the delay in sexual education within the public school system and its failure to properly educate youth before youth themselves believe they have reached sexual maturity. “Reflection on Age as a Category of Historical Analysis” sheds light on our understanding of the Canadian past as it reflects on the importance society has placed on the concept of age. At times it seems as if society has a complete obsession with the idea of age and the identity one must feel obligated to associate with the different categories of age and the aging process. Further, societies obsession with age is very apparent as “no society is unaware of age,” but why is the necessary (92)? Arguably, those with more life experience may be more qualified to lead a nation or dictate what a group of people should do to survive; it seems rather discriminatory to determine someones worth or capabilities based on how long ago they came into this world. An individuals age creates assumptions about personality from individuals who deem themselves superior solely on the fact that they are older than said person. It is possible that in come cases age has little correlation with intelligence and that an individual cannot be deemed more qualified for a position or job based solely on this personal quality. At one point, Mintz claims that “age is a concept with multiple meanings,” and while I do agree with this, he classifies these meanings as a chronological marker and subjective experience, which can be confusing (91). Obviously, age works as a chronological marker, however categorizing it as a subjective experience, one which exists in the thinking mind of the individual subject, can deteriorate the idea of age having categories. I feel this way because each individual who is placed into a visual or chronological category will have different experiences regardless of their age. Every individual will live an entirely unique experience, and even those with similar situations will perceive and react to the events they cross in a different manner.

Ian Ross Robertson’s article “Reform, Literacy, and the Lease: The Prince Edward Island Education Act of 1852” was written to highlight the relation between the seemingly random pass of the 1852 Free Education Act and the leasehold land tenure which was predominant during the 19th century. Overall, it seems this article was written to unravel the reasons why Prince Edward Island decided to instate the Free Education Act, as it was the first colony of the Maritime provinces to do so. Entirely, “[the paper] … provides the explanation for the early acceptance by the colony of the principle of free education” as being necessary to even out the literary dominance landowners had over their tenants (58). This reasoning sheds light on our understanding of the Canadian past as it explores the educational issues of this area during the mid-19th century for prior to the act, “poor and possibly irregular pay made it difficult to retain the more capable teachers,” and the education system was harshly undeveloped (56). This resulted in a widely uneducated population of which made landowners, being the more wealthy and educated, easily capable of taking financial advantage of their tenants. In a larger picture, this brief glimpse at the socio-economical past of Prince Edward Island gives insight to the modern public school system which seems to follow a path paved by the Free Education Act. Robertson uses dominantly primary sources to support his argument that the act was passed in an attempt to level the imbalance of power within society during this period and largely it makes logical sense. The main question I have in relation to “Reform, Literacy, and the Lease: The Prince Edward Island Education Act of 1852” stems around the fact that Prince Edward Island was the first of the Maritime provinces to establish ‘free education’ (53). While they were the first within the eastern area to establish this, when did the other provinces of what is now Canada establish similar protocols and were they based off of a need to rebalance economic and political power between the wealthy and the common people?