Calgary, Alberta
There is an off-leash dog park not far from my daughter’s place that allows humans to wander freely, so Riley and I occasionally take Uli the Wondermutt there for a walk and to have a yak.
Uli usually stops for a pee, well everywhere, but almost always behind this school.
While Riley and I were waiting for Uli to do his business the other day, I glanced at the school and noticed that it has an entrance marked “Girls” at the south end.
I am sure any student can use these doors today, but in 1910 when this sandstone school was erected, boys’ and girls’ education was segregated.
I took a closer look at schools as I drove around the older part of the city the last few weeks. Most of the schools in Calgary built between 1900 and 1920 have divided entrances.
Central Collegiate in the downtown core, has “Boys” and “Girls” entrances prominently etched into the west and east wings.
Hillhurst School has a Girls entrance, but the door boys would have used is covered by a porch, added later.
I didn’t notice segregated entrances on Ramsay School, but it is such a beautiful structure I couldn’t resist putting a photo in here. The school has been in continuous operation since 1912 and it appears that it will be standing for at least another century.
There may be separate boy/girl entrances at the back, but an old guy hanging around a school by himself, taking pictures, might be misinterpreted, so I can’t say for sure.
I pulled this photo off the internet. I don’t know where it was taken, but “Infants” were allowed to enter with the girls.
Either way, the kids must have felt like they were going to prison.
I am not sure why educators at the turn of the last century thought it was necessary to keep boys and girls separated, but it seems like an oppressive practice. Fortunately, level heads prevailed; for the last 100 years boys and girls in public schools have been treated more or less as equals.
Unfortunately, a renewed gender offensive is underway in the 21st century. If the current spate of categorization of children by sexual orientation continues, schools built in the 2030s may need multiple doors, with a wide range of identifiers …
… carved in stone.
Uli and his friends at Bark Park understand. None of them care which entrance the others use, or which way the gate swings.
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