"Potatoes and Pedagogic"
Children of the countryside between tradition and modernity 1940-1960
The period around and after the Second World War was a time when the children of farmers and children in the countryside were exposed to increasing pressure from two directions. One came from their families, who needed them for work on the farmstead. The other pressure came from schooling. Work had, since almost prehistorically times, been the "duty" of the children of farmers and peasants. They were expected to join the daily work on the farm together with their parents. Parents and grown-ups saw their work as natural and self-evident. To these circumstances came another matter. During the first decades of the 20th century there was a growing shortage of labour in agriculture. The children became even more wanted as labour because of this. At the same time the State raised their ambitions concerning schooling. In order to educate "competent citizens" for the modem society, compulsory schooling was prolonged with one year and the school year was made longer. Pedagogics and schooling were seen as the keys to the future. White the children of the cities tilled their days with schooling and leisure, the children in the countryside filled their days with work and schooling. They had a rather busy and hard time. The wartime made labour scarce - especially men were called to do their duty in the defense of the country. Women filled the gaps to a certain extent but also children had to go to work. Women and children were the reserve-army of the labourmarket. In order to secure the provision of food the State created a "holiday" for the children 1939 - a holiday especially designed for picking potatoes in the autumn. In this way the culture of working among children was strengthened, in conflict with the new conception of childhood which surrounded schooling. The children of the countryside and their culture of working, representing "tradition" came in conflict with the modem concept of childhood.
