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Violet McNaughton: the Mighty Mite Reformer From Saskatchewan
Welton, Michael
http://www.counterpunch.org/2018/03/28/violet-mcnaughton-the-mighty-mite-reformer-from-saskatchewan/Date Written: 2018-03-18 Publisher: CounterPunch Year Published: 2018 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX22201 Violet McNaughton deserves recognition as one of Canada's greatest and most formidable adult educators and co-operator of the twentieth century bar none Abstract: - Excerpt: Violet McNaughton deserves recognition as one of Canada's greatest and most formidable adult educators and co-operator of the twentieth century bar none. For sixty of her eighty-nine years, this 4'10" mighty mite reformer was involved in educating others, with time left over to make quilts and strawberry jam. She learned her techniques of organizing and teaching working in Kent, England in the late 19th century as a school teacher (at age seventeen, she even bought a school and ran it for a few years). By the time she arrived in Canada in 1909 she already had embraced the values of co-operativism, women's and reform movements. She plunged into the tide of reform surging across Canada from sea to sea. This adult educator shared much in common with her sisters in the Woman's International League for Peace and Freedom and many other reform movements. Radical changes could be achieved non-violently and co-operatively. This required learning how to co-operate. No advocate of radical separatism, McNaughton believed that each gender had to play its part, sometimes together, sometimes in their own associations. "Organize, organize, organize"! That was her mantra. Subject Headings |