Saga - 1997, Side 179

177
KYNJASÖGUR Á 19. OG 20. ÖLD?
'vomen and children, the myth now had a negative effect. It is argued that the
middle class mentality was so far removed from the daily experiences of the
common people that the challenge of the myth put a great burden on
women of all classes and affected their overall social position. This is espe-
cially interesting since the greatest contribution to the myth came from
Women who were at the forefront of the women s movement in its early
days.
But how is it possible to assess the importance of the myth about women
in the twentieth century and to evaluate its effect? A good starting point is
formal education and the new primary school system installed at the begin-
ning of the century. With the introduction of compulsory education the mid-
dle class was able, as in other Western cultures, to use the schools to impose
iheir standards upon the general public. The primary schools, especially in
Urban areas, were well organized from the start which put them in a good
Position to mould gender roles of the new generation.
In order to answer the question one has to look for first hand accounts of
fhose attending primary schools early this century. The first step is to con-
frast their school experiences with their families' expectations regarding
'vork. For this purpose data from the Department of Ethnology at the
Mational Museum were used. The Department sent out a questionnaire, con-
siructed by the author, to 500 people 70 years of age and older, randomly
chosen from the total population. Life-course analysis was used to recon-
struct the answers which were then grouped into three categories, based on
people's own perceptions of the kind of lives their families lived. The three
categories used were: (1) a traditional path, (2) a transitional path, and (3) an
emergent class path. The terminology, borrowed from the American social
historian Harvey J. Graff, has enabled the author to highlight major trends
'n people's everyday lives. The vast majority of people followed the first
fwo paths, which means that work played a major role in the children s lives
but education did not.
Iu other words, the lessons the children learned in their everyday lives
and which dominated their world view were very different from those
taUght at school. Seen in this light the similarities between rural and urban
s°ciety are more striking than the contrasts.
12-Saga