Trends+in+the+20's+Assignment

Making Changes: Trends in the 1920's
 Here are six major changes for Canadians in the 1920's: 1. Most Canadian homes and business get electric power. 2. Cars and trucks become very common. At least half of all Canadian families own one. 3. Millions of Canadians get factory jobs. Large factories replace small local businesses. Instead of growing or making things on their own, people now work in factories and get a weekly pay cheque and then buy what they need in stores. Everyone wants to buy new electrical appliances, radios, and cars. 4. Canadians start to turn away from British culture and attitudes and get more influence from the U.S. with consumer products, magazines, radio programs, movies, recorded music. 5. Women fight to receive more freedom and rights, including the right to vote, the right to own property, the same legal authority over children that their husbands have, the freedom to get a job or get a high school, college, or university education, the freedom to dress as they wish, to go out on their own, to dance, smoke, drive, etc. 6. Canadians start to see Canada as a distinct country, not just an extra part of Britain. We begin to express our own ideas in world affairs and to make agreements with other countries without British approval. We begin to develop our own ideas in art, music, writing, society, instead of copying what is done in Britain.

Your Task...
a) Explain what effect these changes would have on the following businesses. Would these changes help or hurt these businesses? b) What changes could these businesses make to help them survive?

1. Your store imports British magazines, books, and sheet music (the sort of music you need to play a piano) What changes do you have to make to your store to survive? 2. You run a stable where people can rest their horses when they are not needed. What changes do you have to make to your business in order to survive? 3. You own a theatre where visiting British actors put on live plays. What changes do you have to make to your business in order to survive? 4. You own a factory that makes inexpensive games and musical instruments so people can entertain themselves at night. What changes do you have to make to your business in order to survive? <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">5. You operate a local carpenter and blacksmith shop where you make horseshoes and repair carriages and buggies. What changes do you have to make to your business in order to survive? <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">6. You own a factory that makes wood and coal stoves. What changes do you have to make to your business in order to survive? <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">7. You run a local railway that specializes on cheap day tours so people without transportation can get out into the fresh air. What changes do you have to make to your business in order to survive? <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">8. You own a clothing store that specializes in fancy women's clothing for women who socialize and go to tea parties while their maids look after the house. What changes do you have to make to your store in order to survive? <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">9. You own a local store that sells oil lamps, hand powered washing machines, hand irons, and other simple, traditional home appliances. What changes do you have to make to your store in order to survive? <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">10. Your construction company has a lot of experience building railways and ship docks. What should you learn to build to be successful in the 1920's? <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">11. You are a student in 1920. You want to study something in college that will help you become very successful in business. What sort of subject will help you make a lot of money in a new business? <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Other Questions: <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">12. Name three major modern Port Colborne (use own community) area businesses whose products could not have been built before the 1920's. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">13. Name some new inventions or ideas from the 1990's and 2000's that will affect what we buy or do for a living in the near future. Example: How will the Internet create, change, or eliminate jobs? <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">14. What would be a good thing to study at university or college today to help you make a lot of money in a new business? <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">