"We Are Making Good under the Honor System": The Social Rehabilitation of Juvenile Males through Militarism, Moral Reform, and Enforced Work Routines at the British Columbia Boy's Industrial School, 1919–1934

Abstract

Abstract: Industrial schools were the dominant mechanisms for the social rehabilitation of wayward juveniles in North America from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. The research concerning such schools in shaping young lives is scattered within the historiography of youth. Girls were taught domestic skills and boys were trained in trades such as agriculture. Forced labor was not punishment but seen as moral uplift for troubled youth. This article studies the British Columbia Boy's Industrial School from 1919 to 1934 under David Blackwood Brankin, whose "honor system" combined discipline, strict work routines, regimented leisure, and a minimum of compulsory schooling. Brankin's court missionary work in Great Britain and military career shaped his vision of juvenile social rehabilitation until his retirement in 1934. His replacement was an educator trained in psychology and mental hygiene methods of youth reclamation.