2. It should be practical.
3. It should be founded on religion and morality.
4. It should develop all the intellectual and physical powers.
5. It should provide for the efficient teaching of the following
subjects: Biblical history and morality, reading and spelling,
writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, linear drawing, vocal
music, history, natural history, natural philosophy, agriculture,
human physiology, civil government, political economy. Each of these
topics was fully discussed and illustrated in the first part of the
report.
* * * * *
The second part explained the machinery of the system, which was
summarized as follows:--
1. Schools--their gradation and system.
2. The teacher and his training.
3. The text-books recommended.
4. Control and inspection on the part of the Government.
5. Individual and local efforts.
These several topics wore also fully discussed and illustrated, so
that the whole comprehensive scheme of education proposed by Dr.
Ryerson was clearly and fully understood. The report occupied nearly
200 pages.
The school law founded upon this report provided, amongst other
things, for--
1. A general Board of Education for the Province, to take charge
of a normal school, and to aid the Chief Superintendent in certain
matters.
2. A normal school, with practice or model schools attached.
3. The regulation of school libraries.
4. Plans of school houses.
5. Appointment of district, instead of county and township, school
superintendents.
6. Apportionment of school moneys to each school according to the
average number of children in each school district, as compared with
those in the whole township.
7. Levy of a school rate by each district (county) municipal
council, of a sum at least equal to the legislative grant to each
such district.
8. The collection, by the local school trustees, of the balance
required to defray the expenses of their school, in any way which
the school ratepayers (at the annual meeting) might determine.
9. The recommendation of a uniform series of text books, with the
proviso that no aid would be given to any school in which books
disapproved of by the general Board of Education might be used.
10. The establishment of district model schools (reënacted from the
Act of 1843).
11. Examination and licensing of teachers.
12. Visitation of schools by clergymen, magistrates, municipal
councillors, etc.
13. Protection of children (reënacted from the Act of 1843) from
being "required to read or study in or from any religious book, or
join in any religious exercise or devotion, objected to by parents."
14. Establishment (reënacted from the laws of 1841 and 1843) of
Roman Catholic Separate Schools, where the teacher of the locality
was a Protestant, and _vice versa_. (These schools received grants
in accordance with their average attendance of pupils.)
15. Levy of rates by district municipal councils, at their
discretion, for the erection of school houses and teachers'
residences.
Such were the principal provisions of the first School Act, proposed
and adapted from other school laws by Dr. Ryerson in 1846, so far
as rural schools were concerned. In the following year he prepared
a comprehensive measure in regard to schools in cities, towns and
incorporated villages.
CHIEF FEATURES OF DR. RYERSON'S FIRST REPORT AND SCHOOL BILL OF 1846.
In sending his draft of School Bill to the Government, early in
March, 1846, Dr. Ryerson, in a private letter to Hon. Attorney
General Draper, dated 30th of that month, thus explained its general
features:--
"I thank you sincerely for your kind favor of the 23rd instant, and
feel not a little gratified that you approve of the draft of Bill
which I had prepared for your consideration. I feel the justice
of the high ground on which you place the moral qualifications of
teachers and their duties....
"That to which I attach the highest importance in the measure is the
authority of trustees to levy a rate-bill upon all the inhabitants
of a school section. The rate-bill will thus be a second edition
of the school tax imposed by the District Council. The principle,
once established, it will be seen after a while that the Council may
as well impose the whole of the school tax at once as to have the
imposition of it divided between the Council and the trustees....
"I attach the greatest importance to the Normal School. I have no
doubt the Legislature will be disposed to support it when once
established.... I hope, however, that you will have in view the
providing for it hereafter, and some appropriation for school
libraries ... from which an offer to a district or township, five
pounds for example, upon the condition that it would also contribute
so as to purchase books from a list recommended by the Provincial
Board of Education, and, therefore, the most suitable for the young
and grown-up people of the country....
"It has been mentioned to me, and I have thought that the term
inspector, instead of superintendent, would be the better
designation of the District overseer of Schools....
"I this day transmit to Mr. Secretary Daly my 'Report on a system
of Elementary Instruction for Upper Canada.'... I have introduced
no debatable topics, except that of Christianity, the principle of
maintaining which as the basis and cement of a system of public
instruction, I have discussed at large. On the defective modes of
teaching those branches (viz., reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar
and geography), which are taught in the Common Schools, I have also
dwelt at some length in order to furnish District Superintendents
and other persons concerned with a proper standard of teaching
and examination, and in order to inculcate the true principles of
teaching which are applicable to all subjects. I hope the Report
will be the means of laying a good foundation in the leading minds
of the country on the great work of public instruction.
"I should add in respect to my Report that, in pointing out defects
in systems of instruction and modes of teaching, I have almost
invariably quoted American authors, and have thus incidentally
exposed the defects of almost every part of the American system,
and have practically shown that every redeeming feature of the
American school system has been or is being borrowed from European
governments."
OBJECTIONS TO DR. RYERSON'S SCHOOL BILL OF 1846 ANSWERED.
In a private letter to Hon. Attorney-General Draper, dated 20th
April, 1846, Dr. Ryerson replies to several objections made in the
House of Assembly and by the press to his first School Act of 1846.
I quote the following:--
"The Montreal _Pilot_ objects to appointing trustees for three
years. This is one of the improvements adopted in the New York law
of 1843. The superintendents, in their reports, speak largely of
the evils of the annual system, and strongly on the advantages of
the triennial one. The opposition to the Bill seems to be based on
notions derived from what the State of New York system was several
years ago. The opponents do not seem to be aware that it was amended
in 1841, and amended again in 1843. Messrs. Price, Roblin, etc.,
seem to be where the Americans were ten years ago.
"I anticipate the objection to the rate-bill clause. I look upon
that above all others to be the poor man's clause, and at the very
foundation of a system of public education. It is objected to by
precisely the class of persons or rather by the individuals that
I expected. I have heard of one rich man objecting to it, who
educates his own children at colleges and ladies' seminaries, but
who looks not beyond his own family. He says, I am told, that 'he
does not wish to be compelled to educate _all the brats_ in the
neighborhood.' Now, to educate 'all the brats in every neighborhood'
is just the very object of this clause; and, in order to do so, it
is proposed to compel selfish, rich men to do what they ought to do,
but what they will not do voluntarily.[46]
[46] In this matter of trustees' rate bill or school rate on the
property of the school section, Dr. Ryerson was quite in advance of
his times. The rate-bill clause, as he had prepared it, was rejected
by the House of Assembly and a school fee substituted for it. In
a brief, private note from Mr. Draper, dated 22nd April, 1846, he
said:--
"Last night, or rather this morning at one, I got the School Bill
through Committee of the Whole. I have been forced to submit to some
changes, none very serious.... The rate-bill is to be on people
sending children to school--not on the whole section. I fought this,
but was well beaten."
In his reply, Dr. Ryerson said:--
"I deeply regret the loss of the original rate-bill clause. It
involved a new and important principle.... I am persuaded that it
will on a future occasion pass by a strong majority."
It did so pass in 1850; but it was not until 1871 that the Municipal
Council was authorized by the Legislature to impose the whole of the
school tax as desired and predicted by Dr. Ryerson in 1846.
"Mr. Gowan's statements as to the evils of not extending the period
of keeping a school open in each district beyond three months of the
year are substantially what have been communicated to me in many
reports and letters. In several of the annual district reports which
I have received, it is stated that giving public money to districts
in which a school is not taught more than three months of the year
is an actual injury rather than a benefit, and an abuse of the
intentions of the Legislature."
FIRST AND SECOND COUNCILS OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, 1846 AND 1850.
Dr. Ryerson was assisted in his important work by an able council of
representative men, who were appointed in 1846. The members of this
first council were as follows:--
Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D.D., Chief Superintendent of Schools; Right
Rev. Michael Power, D.D., Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto; Rev.
Henry James Grasett, M.A., Rector of Toronto; Hon. Samuel Beaty
Harrison, Q.C., Judge, County of York; Joseph Curran Morrison, Q.C.,
M.P.P.; Hugh Scobie, Esq., Editor of the _British Colonist_; James
Scott Howard, Esq., Treasurer, County of York.
Dr. Ryerson proposed to Bishop Strachan that he should represent the
Church of England on the new Board. The Bishop was quite pleased at
his request, and so expressed himself. He declined, however, on the
ground that he feared his appointment might embarrass, rather than
aid, in the promotion of the new scheme of education. He suggested
that Rev. H. J. Grasett be appointed in his place.[47] He also gave
friendly advice to Dr. Ryerson to be careful not to recommend a
personal enemy for appointment on such a board.
[47] In a letter to the writer of this Retrospect from the Very Rev.
Dean Grasett in 1875, he said:--"I esteem it an honour that I should
have been associated with Dr. Ryerson in his Council for so many
years (30), and a privilege if I have been of the least assistance
in upholding his hands in performing a work, the credit of which is
exclusively his own.
"I shall carry with me to the end of life the liveliest feelings of
respect for the public character and regard for the private worth
of one who has rendered to his country services which entitle him
to her lasting gratitude. My venerable friend has had from time to
time many cheering recognitions of his valuable public services
from the heads of our Government ...; but I think that in his case,
as in others that are familiar to us, it must be left to future
generations adequately to appreciate their value when they shall be
reaping the full benefit of them."
Two more members were added in 1850, viz., Rev. John Jenning, D.D.,
Presbyterian Minister; Rev. Adam Lillie, D.D., Congregational
Minister. Not one of the gentlemen named survive; but, in their day,
they rendered effective service to the country as members of the
first and second Councils of Public Instruction.
The Hon. S. B. Harrison (afterwards Judge of the County of York)
was nominated by Rev. Dr. Ryerson, as Chairman of the reconstructed
Board of Education in 1850 (then named the Council of Public
Instruction), as successor to the lamented Bishop Power, who died in
1847.[48] Mr. Harrison held that position until his death, in 1862.
[48] In his address at the beginning of the Normal School for Upper
Canada, in November, 1847, Dr. Ryerson thus referred to the then
recent decease of Bishop Power. He said, referring to the harmony
which had characterized the meetings of the Provincial Board of
Education:--
"One event indeed has occurred, over which the members of the Board
have reason to mourn--the decease of the Right Reverend Prelate,
who, by his colleagues had been unanimously chosen Chairman of
the Board, and whose conduct as Chairman and Member of the Board
was marked by a punctuality, a courtesy, a fairness, a zeal
and intelligence which entitle his memory to the affectionate
remembrance of his colleagues and the grateful esteem of every
member of the community.... I cannot reflect upon the full and
frequent conversations which I have had with him on subjects of
public instruction, and with the scrupulous regard which ever
manifested for the views, and rights and wishes of Protestants,
without feelings of the deepest respect for his character and
memory."
Dr. Ryerson did not enter practically upon the duties of his office
until about the middle of 1846. In the meantime, the correspondence
and routine duties of the Education Office were (on Dr. Ryerson's
suggestion) placed in the hands of his friend, the Rev. Alexander
MacNab, D.D., now Rector of Darlington (Bowmanville).
RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS, 1846.
Among the first duties of the new Provincial Board of Education was
the establishment of a Normal School, the authorization of a series
of text-books, and the preparation of regulations for the government
of the Common Schools. The most important of these regulations was
the one relating to religious instruction in the schools. Before
submitting it to the Board for adoption Dr. Ryerson consulted
various representative persons on the subject. In a private letter
to Hon. Attorney-General Draper, dated December 17th, 1846, Dr.
Ryerson thus explained his proceedings in regard to the preparation
of the clause in the new regulations relating to religious
instruction in the schools. He said:--
"I submitted the clause first to Rev. Mr. Grasett. He quite approved
of it, as he felt exceedingly anxious that there should be such an
explicit recognition of Christianity in our school system. I then
waited on the Roman Catholic Bishop, who examined it and concurred
in it.... I showed it also to the Bishop of Toronto. After he had
read the section he said he believed I had done all that could be
done on that subject, and that ... he would write a circular to
his clergy, recommending them to act as school visitors, and to do
all in their power to promote the efficiency and usefulness of the
Common Schools."
In his report for 1847, Dr. Ryerson stated that he consulted other
ministers on the subject. The Hon. Mr. Draper, in a private note to
Dr. Ryerson, dated 1st January, 1847, said:--
"I am more gratified than I can express that you have so
successfully met the difficulty about the religious instruction of
children in Common Schools. You (to whom I expressed myself about
three years ago on the subject of the importance of not dividing
religion from secular instruction) will readily understand the
pleasure I feel that in Common Schools at least the principle and
promoted application of it, for mixed schools, has been approved by
the Bishop of my own Church and by the Roman Catholic Prelate."
In a letter to the late Hon. Robert Baldwin, written in 1849, Dr.
Ryerson thus refers to the question of religious instruction and the
Bible in school: "Be assured that no system of popular education
will flourish in a country which does violence to the religious
sentiments and feelings of the churches of that country. Be assured,
that every such system will droop and wither which does not take
root in the Christian and patriotic sympathies of the people--which
does not command the respect and confidence of the several religious
persuasions, both ministers and laity--for these in fact make the
aggregate of the Christianity of the country."
Speaking in a subsequent letter of another feature of the question
of the Bible in schools, Dr. Ryerson says: "The principal opposition
which, in 1846 and for several years afterwards, I encountered was
that I did not make the use of the Bible compulsory in the schools,
but simply recognized the right of Protestants to use it in the
school (not as an ordinary reading book), as it was not given to
teach us how to read but to teach us the way to Heaven), as a
book of religious instruction, without the right or the power of
compelling any others to use it. The recognition of the right has
been maintained inviolate to the present time; facilities for the
exercise of it have been provided, and recommendations for that
purpose have been given, but no compulsory authority assumed, or
right of compulsion acknowledged; and the religious exercises in
each school have been left to the decision of the authorities of
such school, and the religious instruction of each child has always
been under the absolute authority of the parents or guardian of each
child."
To the objection urged against the reading of the Bible in the
schools because "a majority of the teachers are utterly unfit to
give religious instruction," Dr. Ryerson replied: "The reading of
the Bible and giving religious instruction from it are two very
different things. The question is not the competency of teachers to
give religious instruction, but the right of a Protestant to the
reading of the Bible by his child in the school as a text-book of
religious instruction. That right I hold to be sacred and divine."
STATE OF COMMON SCHOOL EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA, 1845.
From the reports then made to him by the County Superintendents
of Schools, I select the following extracts, showing what was the
actual state of education in the province when Dr. Ryerson commenced
his labors as Superintendent of Education.
Mr. Hamilton Hunter, Superintendent of Schools in the Home District
(County of York), in his report for 1845, says:--
"There is one fact with which I have been forcibly struck,
in my visits to the schools, which shows, in the clearest
manner, the great necessity that existed in this Colony for the
establishment of a system of Common School education. It is
this: That in our schools the amount of attainment, on the part
of the pupils, is generally in an inverse ratio to their size
and age, after they have reached their twelfth or thirteenth
year. The largest scholars that attend our schools are by
far the lowest in point of attainment, which shows how sadly
the education of that portion of the community, now about to
attain the years of manhood and womanhood has been neglected.
In many of our country schools, it is a very common thing
to find persons advanced to the age of young men and women
commencing to learn the first rudiments. The mind feels pained
upon contemplating this; but it is gratifying to think that a
remedy has been provided against it in the establishment of our
Common Schools, by which the elementary branches of education
are brought within the grasp of all. It leads us to reflect upon
the melancholy state of ignorance that must have existed at no
distant period in this Province had no means been provided other
than those which formerly existed for placing the elements of
knowledge within the reach of the rising generation."
Hon. Hamnett Pinkey, Superintendent of Schools in the District of
Dalhousie (Carleton, etc.), in his report, says:--
"The Common Schools are very indifferently conducted, and the
masters in general very inadequately perform the duties required
of them; a reform is expected from the establishment of the
District Model School."
Rev. Alexander Mann, M.A., Superintendent of Schools in the Bathurst
District (Lanark, etc) says:--
"In existing circumstances I have declined giving a regular
certificate to any teacher.... I made an effort on my own
responsibility, and at my own expense to improve teachers, by
opening a private school, solely for their benefit, but as I did
not meet with proper encouragement I was obliged to relinquish
my purpose."
Richey Waugh, Esq., Superintendent of Schools in the Johnstown
District (Leeds and Grenville), says:--
"The trustees of many schools employ teachers only for whatever
time the school fund will pay their wages, and they receive but
little benefit from the public money thus expended."
Patrick Thornton, Esq., Superintendent of Schools in the Gore
District (Wentworth, etc.), says:--
"It is a matter of regret that the old parrot system of
repeating words without attaching ideas to them, does still in
too many instances prevail; and the dregs must remain till some
of the old formal teachers are off the field."
Rev. Newton Bosworth, F.R.S., Superintendent of Schools in the Brock
District (Oxford, etc.), says:--
"The diversity of books and modes of teaching referred to in
my last report, still exists, nearly to the same extent; and
in the qualifications of teachers also, as great a variety was
observable as before.... It appears to me that parents should
be impressed, to a much greater extent than at present, with a
sense of the necessity and importance of education for their
children."
George Duck, jr., Esq., Superintendent of Schools in the Western
District (Kent, etc.), says:--
"In many townships little or nothing was raised by rate-bill.
In many places the poverty of the settlements prevented it; and
the only school that was kept open in these districts was just
during the time that the allowance from the aggregate fund was
sufficient to pay the teacher. This course is, in fact, of very
doubtful benefit, as the school is seldom kept open for more
than three months in the year, and the children lose so much
benefit continuous education produces."
SCHOOL HOUSES AND SCHOOL TEACHERS IN 1845-1850.
The Rev. Dr. Ryerson, in his report for 1845-46, speaking of school
houses in the Province, says:--
"With a few exceptions, the school houses are deficient in
almost every essential quality of places adopted for elementary
instruction. Very few are furnished with any thing more than desks
and forms of the most ordinary kind, and have no apparatus for
instruction, nor appendages, or conveniences either for exercise or
such as are required for the sake of modesty and decency."
In his annual Report for 1847, Dr. Ryerson incidentally refers to
the character of teachers in some districts. He says:--
"In one district, where intemperance heretofore prevailed to a
considerable extent, even among school teachers, the Superintendent
gave notice that he would not give a certificate of qualification
to any but strictly sober candidates, and that, at the end of six
months he would cancel the certificates of all teachers who suffered
themselves at any time to become intoxicated.... I know of two
other districts in which the Superintendents have acted thoroughly
on the same principle, with the same happy results.... In a note
in reference to it in the printed Form of Regulations, I remarked
that 'no intemperate or profane person should be intrusted with the
instruction of youth.'... No one will doubt that there are fewer
unqualified and immoral teachers employed now than there were before
the passing of the present School Act (of 1846)." Pages 8 and 9.
In his circular issued to the newly formed County Boards of
Examiners, dated 8th October, 1850, Dr. Ryerson thus referred to
this matter:--
"Many representations have been made to this Department respecting
intemperate and profane and Sabbath-breaking teachers.... I cannot
but regard it as your special mission to rid the profession of
common school teachers of unworthy character, and ... to protect the
youth against the poison of a vicious teacher's example." _Report
for 1850, pages 305, 306._
DR. RYERSON'S PRACTICAL AGENCIES TO GIVE INFORMATION AND REMOVE
PREJUDICE.
It will thus be seen from the foregoing, that at this time
educational affairs were at a low ebb. Dr. Ryerson, therefore,
sought in every practical way to overcome this educational apathy
and inertia. His pen and personal effort were freely used. The first
circular to municipal councils--prepared by him--was issued by the
new Provincial Board of Education in August, 1846. This he followed
up by one from himself addressed to county councils, in which he
explained fully and at length the scope and objects of the new
scheme of popular education. This was done under three heads:--1.
That it was "based upon the principles of our common Christianity."
2. That "upon the duty of educating the youth of our country there
exists but one opinion, and, therefore, there should be but one
party." 3. That "the system of elementary education is public, not
private."
Another agency Dr. Ryerson sought to employ to aid the Department in
its great work. And by it he hoped to educate and rightly influence
public opinion in favor of the new departure then in progress. The
plan he proposed to the Government in 1846, to authorize the issue,
under his direction, of a departmental _Journal of Education_,
"to be devoted," among other things, to the exposition of every
part of our school system," then new to the people, ... "and to
the discussion of the various means of promoting the efficiency of
the schools." This the Government felt unwilling at the time to
do. He, therefore, undertook the expense and responsibility of the
publication himself in January, 1848. And it was not until years had
demonstrated the practical value and success of the proposed agency
that the expense of the publication was provided for by an annual
vote of the Legislature.
A third agency which Dr. Ryerson successfully employed to aid the
Department was that of personally holding county school conventions.
In explaining this project to the Government in 1846, he said:--
"I propose ... to visit and employ one or two days in school
discourse and deliberation with the Superintendent, Visitors,
Trustees and Teachers in each of the several Districts of Upper
Canada. I know of no means so effectual to remove prejudice, to
create unanimity of views and feelings, and to excite a general
interest in the cause of popular education," etc.
This project was concurred in by the Government, on condition that
the expense of the proposed nearly three months' visitation "should
not exceed £75."
Thus was inaugurated, in 1846, a series of county school conventions
which, at intervals of about five years each, were held all over
the country. The early ones involved travelling in all kinds of
weather and in all kinds of conveyances, so as to keep engagements
made weeks before. They were, however, of immense service to the
Department in removing prejudice, settling difficulties and solving
doubts as to the practicability of plans proposed for improving the
condition of the schools and raising the intellectual and social
status of the teacher.
COMBINED OPPOSITION TO THE PROJECTED SYSTEM OF EDUCATION.
It was not to be expected that so comprehensive a scheme of
education as that proposed by Dr. Ryerson in 1846 and 1847 would
meet with general acceptance. The very reverse was the fact.
It was assailed as revolutionary and oppressive. It certainly
was revolutionary in the best sense; but not oppressive, for
it was largely permissive and wholly tentative. And, for many
years the Town of Richmond, in the County of Carleton, refused
to establish schools under its provisions. The new measures were
so far revolutionary that they differed almost wholly from the
former projected school acts. The system proposed was composite.
Its machinery was adopted chiefly from the State of New York. The
principle upon which the schools were to be supported was taken from
New England--Normal schools, from Germany, and the uniform series of
school books, from Ireland. All were, however, so blended together
and harmonized, to meet the requirements and circumstances of the
country that they became, in Dr. Ryerson's moulding hands, "racy of
the soil."
Up to this time no one but Dr. Ryerson had been able to give a
practical turn to the rather crude theories which had been held
on the subject of popular education. He, however, had to pay the
penalty of all such reformers; but yet he lived to see the fuller
details of his system of education worked out on his own lines.
It is needless to say that Dr. Ryerson's scheme was assailed
as impracticable. This I have explained. It was held to be too
comprehensive for the country. Even his reference to the compact
and systematized plan adopted in Prussia was seized upon as an
indication of his covert design to introduce the baneful system of
so-called "Prussian despotism." His commendation of "free schools,"
as a prospective feature of our educational system was denounced as
an attempt to legalize an "outrageous robbery," and as communistic
"war against property." As an example of the injustice of these
criticisms on Dr. Ryerson's scheme of education, he said in a
lecture on education in 1847:--
"I have seen in certain of the public prints, a provision of our
school law ascribed to Prussia, which was borrowed from the school
law of the City of Buffalo; and another provision declared to be
incompatible with the rights of man which forms the basis and glory
of the common school system of Massachusetts."
Although opposition to Dr. Ryerson's educational plans, as embodied
in his school acts, was somewhat general, yet it was singularly
illogical. The sore point was that it touched men's pockets in the
form of school rates.
EDUCATIONAL PROCEEDINGS OF DISTRICT COUNCILS IN 1847, 1848.
An influential district council in the West sought to influence
all of the others against the new system, especially against the
establishment of a Normal School. In a memorial to the Legislature
(which it sent broadcast), dated Hamilton, 10th November, 1847, and
signed by James Little, Chairman of the Education Committee, John
White and Francis Cameron, and adopted by the Gore District Council,
the following passages occur:
"With respect to the necessity of establishing a Normal, with
Elementary Model Schools in this Province, memorialists are of
opinion that, however well adapted, such an institution might
be to the wants of the old and densely populated countries of
Europe, where services in almost every vocation will scarcely
yield the common necessaries of life, they are, so far as this
object expected to be gained is concerned, altogether unsuited
to a country like Upper Canada.... Nor do your memorialists hope
to provide qualified teachers by any other means, in the present
circumstances of the country than securing as heretofore, the
services of those whose physical disabilities from age render
this mode of obtaining a livelihood the only one suited to their
decaying energies, or by employing such of the newly arrived
emigrants as are qualified for common school teachers year by
year as they come amongst us, and who will adopt this as a means
of temporary support, until their character and ability are
known and turned to better account for themselves."
This memorial having been sent to each of the district councils in
Upper Canada for their concurrence, and with a view to procure the
repeal of the School Act, 9 Vic., ch. 20, the Colborne District
Council not only refused to concur in it but subjected it to severe
criticism. In regard to the foregoing extract from the Gore District
Memorial, the Colborne Council (now Peterboro' and Victoria) in its
report on that memorial said:
"That the moneys required to pay for the establishment and
support of Normal and Model Schools are little less than a waste
of so much of the Legislative grant, is an opinion in which your
committee are so far from concurring, that they believe it is
from these sources must mainly arise the instrumentality through
which the friends of education can alone hope for the first
considerable amelioration of the evils they lament.... Nor can
your committee reconcile it either with their just expectations,
or their sense of duty to rest satisfied with the services of
those whose physical disabilities from age and decaying energies
render them unfit, or of those 'newly arrived emigrants,' whose
'unknown character and abilities' render them unable to procure
a livelihood by any other means than by becoming the preceptors
of our children; the dictators of their sentiments and manners;
the guardians of their virtue; and in a high degree the masters
of their future destinies in this world and the next."
This report was prepared by Mr. Thomas Benson, Chairman of the
Education Committee, and Warden of the District (father of Judge
Benson of Port Hope). It was adopted by the Colborne District
Council in February, 1848.[49]
[49] Correspondence between members of the Government and the Chief
Superintendent, 1850, pp. 17-20.
The Western District Council, in its memorial to the Legislature
against the School Act, represented that "spite, hatred and malice
between neighbors and friends," existed, and was "occasioned by the
present School Act." It added:
"So numerous are the petitions on the subject that more than
half of the time of the Council is taken up in endeavoring to
settle the differences, but unfortunately without any beneficial
effect."
The Chief Superintendent, in his report, referring to this statement
says:
"Now, in examining the printed report of the committee, to
whom all these petitions were referred, I find that of the
twenty-nine petitions presented to the Council, one prayed for
the establishment of a female school in one of the sections
(which was granted); one prayed for a local school tax in a
section; two related to the formation of new school sections,
and the remaining twenty-five related to the disputes as to the
boundaries of school sections and the non-payment of school
moneys by township superintendents. Thus not one of these
disputes could have arisen out of the School Act, but must have
all been caused by an improper division of the school sections,
either by the township superintendents under the late Act, or by
the Council under the present statute."
In this (Western) District the Council says:
"We well know that a very large number of the trustees can
neither read nor write, and, therefore, it must be obvious that
the greater part of the requirements of the law remain undone."
On this statement the Chief Superintendent remarks:
"In other districts where the trustees can read and write,
and where the councillors an correspondingly intelligent
and discreet in their school proceedings, no disputes or
inconvenience have, as far as I am aware, occurred on this
subject."
In the District of Dalhousie, the Chief Superintendent states:
"Still greater dissatisfaction and confusion were created by
the mode of proceeding adopted by the council. Before the
passing of the present School Act the council of this district
never imposed a school assessment.... The introduction of a
district assessment (under the new Act) would naturally excite
some dissatisfaction, and especially in a district bordering on
counties in Lower Canada where the school assessment had been
resisted.... In addition the Chief Superintendent adds:
"The Council in the autumn of 1847 passed a by-law to this
effect:
"Whereas the school section division mode by this Council at
its last session, are in many instances, discordant to the
convenience and wishes of the inhabitants, and that to correct
them satisfactorily this present session is impracticable. The
District Superintendent is empowered and required to make a
distribution of the school fund (legislative grant and county
assessment) 'share and share alike,' among qualified teachers
without reference to the number of scholars under their tuition,
but in proportion to the time such teachers may have been
teaching, etc."
Thus the Superintendent remarks, "this by-law contemplated
the abolition of the statute requiring the school grant to be
distributed according to the school population of each section.
It made no distinction between the able teacher who taught
sixty scholars and the young one who taught twenty; it had no
regard to the engagements which may have been made by trustees
according to law; it required of teachers conditions which the
law had not enjoined, and proposed to deprive many of them of
advantages which the law had conferred.... Of course I pointed
out the illegality and injustice of the by-law and it was
not acted upon. At the session of the Council lately held, a
resolution was adopted praying the Governor-General to dissolve
the Council that the sense of the inhabitants of the Dalhousie
District might be taken on the school law.... It is doubtless
probable that many of the inhabitants have not distinguished
between the provisions of the law and the proceedings of their
own Council--attributing to the former what has been occasioned
by the latter."[50]
[50] Chief Superintendent's Annual Report for 1847-8, page 6.
Contrast the enlightened discussion of such questions to-day with
the ignorant dogmatism of that day, and you can form some idea of
the magnitude of Dr. Ryerson's labors,--not only in laying broad
and deep the foundations for his superstructure, but in seeking
to overcome the deep-rooted and unreasoning prejudices of those
days--days indeed of anxiety and toil and fierce opposition, which I
so well remember.
ESTIMATE OF LORD ELGIN'S CHARACTER BY THE HON. W. H. DRAPER.
On the arrival in Canada of Lord Elgin, as Governor-General, Dr.
Ryerson wrote confidentially to Hon. Attorney-General Draper (on
the 16th February, 1847), asking him for his "opinion of the new
Governor-General." Mr. Draper replied on the 22nd as follows:--
"As far as my opportunities of judging go, I think Canada will
find cause of satisfaction in having Lord Elgin for a Governor. He
is industrious in habit, pleasing in manner, extremely courteous
and affable in bearing. I find him also diligent and shrewd in
inquiry; and the observations which fall from him show that he has
studiously kept pace with the great questions of the day (I do not
mean our Canadian politics simply), and besides the cultivation
of classical education in its broader sense, he possesses a mind
stored with facts bearing on and illustrative of those questions.
In these respects, or more correctly speaking in the latter, and
as regards trade and finance, he reminds me more of Lord Sydenham
than any other governor of my time. I think he possesses also
caution and firmness;--that he will not resolve hastily, that he
may not have to change his resolves. He has large ideas of the
capabilities and resources both of Canada and of the British North
American Provinces, and, as it strikes me, without any reference to
a political union of these provinces, thinks that a course might
be taken to develop the whole, by separate parts taking a common
course in matters in which they have a common interest--internal
communication, favorable to our European commerce and connections
will serve as an illustration of the sort of questions to which I
allude.... All this, of course, is mere opinion, but such are my
first impressions, and as such, and no more, I readily give them to
you in reply to your enquiry, etc."
Subsequently, Dr. Ryerson met Lord Elgin in Montreal, and, in a
letter to me, dated 24th July, 1847, he says:--
"At his own request I have had an interesting interview with Lord
Elgin. He is exceedingly well versed in systems of education, and is
a thoroughly practical man on the subject."
INVALUABLE ASSISTANCE GIVEN TO DR. RYERSON BY LORD ELGIN.
It was fortunate that just at this crisis Canada was favored with
the presence of one of the most accomplished, in every sense of
the term, of the Queen's representatives, the Earl of Elgin and
Kincardine.
That distinguished statesman, who afterwards filled with great
dignity the highest post in the civil service of Great Britain,
that of Governor-General of India, reached Canada at a critical
transitional period in our history. Few can recall the incidents of
those days without a feeling of admiration for the fearlessness,
tact, and ability with which he discharged the delicate and
difficult duties of his high office.
When Lord Elgin arrived in Canada in 1847, and when he removed
to Toronto, after the riot and burning of the Parliament House
in Montreal in 1849, educational affairs were fiercely discussed
and were yet almost at the low ebb at which Dr. Ryerson had found
them. Not that they had previously reached a higher plane and had
gradually settled down to a lower one. The reverse was the fact, but
the question of education had only then (in Dr. Ryerson's hands)
begun to attract serious public attention. It was, however, as I
have explained, in an adverse direction, for the whole subject, in
the advanced form in which it was presented by Dr. Ryerson, was
unpopular. It involved taxation and other unpalatable "burdens," as
its opponents averred. Notwithstanding the zeal and ability with
which Dr. Ryerson had collected and arranged his facts, analyzed the
various systems of education in Europe and America, and fortified
himself with the opinions of the most experienced educationists in
these countries, the system which he projected, and the school law
which embodied it, continued to be fiercely assailed by a portion of
the press, and by hostile politicians. This hostility culminated in
an event which brought things to a crisis in 1849.
At this time, an administration was in office, one or two members
of which were personally unfavorable to Dr. Ryerson's continuation
in office. One of these, a prominent and popular member of the
cabinet (Hon. Malcolm Cameron, who afterward became a warm friend of
Dr. Ryerson) induced his colleagues to assent to the passage of a
school bill which practically legislated Dr. Ryerson out of office,
besides being objectionable in other respects. He at once tendered
his resignation. The Hon. Robert Baldwin, Attorney-General, declined
to recommend its acceptance. By advice of the Cabinet, the operation
of the bill was suspended until a new one, framed by Dr. Ryerson,
could be prepared and passed. The result was the passage of the
School Act of 1850--popular in its character and comprehensive in
its provisions. It now forms the broad basis of the present school
system of Ontario.
It was at this period of our educational history that Lord Elgin
first came into official contact with our educational system. Being
familiar with the Scottish parochial school system, he soon mastered
the whole subject, and perceived the great importance to the whole
country of the question which was then being so fiercely discussed.
Being in England in 1853, Dr. Ryerson wrote to me there:--
"I was glad to learn that Lord Elgin was to go in the same
steamship with you from Boston. I have no doubt it will have proved
interesting to him as well as to you, and perhaps useful to you.
I miss you very much from the office, but I do not like to employ
any more aid without sanction of the Government, though I could get
no one to take your place. I would wish you to write me what Lord
Elgin may have thought or have said as to our doings and plans of
proceeding. If the library plan succeeds, it will achieve noble
results.[51] I feel that our success and happiness in the Department
are inseparably united."
[51] Lord Elgin always referred to Dr. Ryerson's library scheme
in his educational addresses as the "Crown and Glory of the
Institutions of the Province."
It was indeed fortunate for my mission that I was on the same Cunard
steamer to England with His Excellency the late lamented Lord Elgin,
to whom I entered into full detail in regard to the objects of that
mission. Before leaving the steamer, Lord Elgin most kindly promised
to aid me in every way he could while in England, and wrote me his
address as "Broom Hall, Dumfermline," in case I should have occasion
to refer to him. He also added the following paragraph to the
letter of your instructions and authority, which, in more than one
instance, I found to be of essential service to me:--
"I believe the object of Mr. Hodgins' mission to be most
important to Canada, and I trust that he will meet with all
support and encouragement.
(Signed) "ELGIN AND KINCARDINE,
"Governor-General.
"September, 1853."
One of my letters, reporting to Dr. Ryerson as far as I had gone, my
proceedings in England, having been enclosed to the Hon. Mr. Hincks,
he said in reply:--"I return you Mr. Hodgins' interesting letter,
with thanks for its perusal. It was fortunate he went by the same
steamer as Lord Elgin. I am much interested in the success of your
libraries, which is beyond my most sanguine expectations.
"QUEBEC, 11th Oct. 1853."
I recall with pleasure the great services which Lord Elgin then
rendered to the cause of education at a critical period of its
history in this Province. His speeches and addresses on the subject
at that time had a wonderful effect in moderating the opposition
which Dr. Ryerson received while laying the foundations of our
system of education. They had also the potent effect of popularizing
that system in the estimation of the people which it was designed to
benefit. That popularity has, happily, continued to this day, thanks
in a great degree to the dignity imparted to the subject by the
persuasive eloquence of Lord Elgin. His eminence as a distinguished
graduate of Oxford, and his general knowledge of European systems
of education, enabled him to speak with a precision and certainty
which few could gainsay. It was a gratifying fact that he identified
himself personally, as well as officially, throughout the whole of
his seven years' administration, with the general education and
intellectual improvement of the people of Canada. The first bill to
which His Excellency assented in the Queen's name was the School Act
of 1850, to which I have referred.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST COUNCIL OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION--THE NORMAL
SCHOOL.
One of the first and necessary acts of the Provincial Board of
Education, or first council of public instruction, was the adoption
of a uniform series of text-books--one only on each subject. Those
chosen were the Irish National Series, with two additions. The
next important step taken by the Board was the establishment, in
November, 1847, of a Normal School, with the necessary adjunct
of a Model School. The old Government House was fitted up as a
Normal School, and the stable connected with it was renovated
and converted into a Model School, or school of practice for
teachers-in-training.[52] On the removal of the seat of government
to Toronto, in 1849, the Normal School was held in the Temperance
Hall, and other arrangements were made.
[52] _Apropros_ of this, Dr. Ryerson, in a private note to Hon. W.
H. Draper, in April, 1846, said:--
"The stables of the Government House may be fitted up for Model
Schools, etc. It is a curious and not interesting fact that the
stables of Louis the Fourteenth, at Versailles, are now used for the
great National Normal School of France, and is the most splendid
establishment of the kind on the Continent of Europe."
So successful were these schools in raising the status of the
teaching profession that the government of the day--the memorable
Baldwin-Lafontaine administration--willingly listened to a
proposition of the Provincial Board of Education to grant funds for
the purchase of a site and the erection of suitable buildings for
these schools. The Hon. Francis Hincks, who was Inspector General,
had (upon Dr. Ryerson's estimate) a proposed grant of £15,000 put
in the estimates of 1850 for the purposes named. A site of seven
acres and a half of land was purchased from the estate of the Hon.
Peter M'Gill. The writer of this retrospect had the pleasure (in
the absence of Dr. Ryerson in Europe) of signing the cheque for the
purchase money, £4,500, and of seeing that the deed was duly made
out in the name of Her Majesty the Queen and her successors, and
transferred for safe keeping to the Crown Lands Department.
After the plans for the buildings had been approved, certain
important additions were considered desirable (chiefly a theatre,
or central lecture hall, etc.). As the grant already made was
quite insufficient for the proposed additions, Mr. Hincks was once
more appealed to. He responded very promptly and heartily, and
recommended to his colleagues that a further grant be made, which
was done, and an item of £10,000 additional was placed in the
estimates of 1851 and concurred in by the Legislature. The work then
proceeded and near the close of the second year it was brought to a
conclusion.
So carefully had these two grants been husbanded that when the
buildings were completed and furnished, there was a balance
left over of £90. With this sum the expense of fitting up the
Departmental Library was defrayed. The result was highly gratifying
to Mr. Hincks, and he so expressed himself at the opening of the
buildings in the following year.
LAYING THE CORNER STONE OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL BUILDING, 1851.
On Wednesday, the 2nd of July, 1851, the imposing ceremony of laying
the corner stone of the new edifice took place. The guard of honor
was the 71st Highlanders, under Sir Hew Dalrymple. Ministers of
both Houses of Parliament, the city corporation, etc., attended.
The inscription on the brass plate--I quote from the original, as
written by Dr. Ryerson--was as follows:
"This Institution, Erected by the Enlightened Liberality of
Parliament, is Designed for the Instruction and Training of
School Teachers upon Christian Principles."
Right Rev. Bishop Charbonnell, to whom was assigned the duty of
presenting the Governor-General with the silver trowel, spoke with
great cordiality, and with French grace and eloquence. He said:
"MONSEIGNEUR,--Je suis très heureux et très honoré d'avoir èté
choisi par le Conseil de l'Instruction Publique, dont votre
Excellence a daignè me faire membre, pour lui prèsenter cette
truelle d'argent aux industrieuses emblèmes du blazon des Bruces.
"L'etablissement dont votre Excellence va poser la pierre
angulaire, Monseigneur, sera un des plus glorieux monuments
de tout ce que son libéral gouvernment aura fait pour la
prospérité, de ce pays: _ad ædificationem_."
This in substance is as follows:--
"MY LORD,--I am very happy and am highly honored to have been
chosen by the Council of Public Instruction--of which your
Excellency has condescended to make me a member--to present to
you, on their behalf, this silver trowel emblazoned with the
industrial emblems which form the arms of the Bruces.
"The institution, of which your Excellency is about to lay
the corner stone, is destined to be, my Lord, one of the most
glorious monuments amongst all of those which your liberal
administration has devised for the welfare of this country."
In laying the corner-stone, Lord Elgin was particularly happy in his
reply to these remarks, and to the address of the newly-constituted
Council of Public Instruction. He said, addressing Dr. Ryerson:--
"It appears to me, sir, ... that this young country has
had the advantage of profiting by the experience of older
countries--by their failures and disappointments, as well as
by their successes; and that experience, improved by your
diligent exertions and excellent judgment ... and fortified by
the support of the Council of Education, and the Government and
Parliament of the Province, has enabled Upper Canada to place
herself in the van among the nations in the great and important
work of providing an efficient system of general education for
the whole community.... I do not think that I shall be charged
with exaggeration when I affirm that this work is _the_ work of
our day and generation--that it is the problem in our modern
society which is most difficult of solution.... How has Upper
Canada addressed herself to the execution of this great work?...
Sir, I understand from your statements--and I come to the same
conclusions from my own investigation and observation--that it
is the principle of our educational system that its foundation
be laid deep in the firm rock of our common Christianity....
Permit me to say, both as an humble Christian man and as the
head of the Civil Government of the Province, that it gives me
unfeigned pleasure to perceive that the youth of this country,
... who are destined in their maturer years to meet in the
discharge of the duties of civil life upon terms of perfect
civil and religious equality--I say it gives me pleasure to hear
and to know that they are receiving an education which is fitted
so well to qualify them for the discharge of these important
duties; and that while their hearts are yet tender ... they are
associated under conditions which are likely to provoke amongst
them the growth of those truly Christian graces--mutual respect,
forbearance and charity."
One of His Excellency's last acts in Toronto, when about to
leave the country, was to visit those buildings and express his
satisfaction with the several departments of the system therein
conducted.
THE COUNTY MODEL SCHOOLS OF 1843-1850.
The necessity of these schools was felt more than forty years ago,
and provision was then made for their establishment. Thus, in the
first School Act passed in 1843 to regulate Common Schools in this
province, section 57 of that Act declares:--
"That it shall and may be lawful for the court of wardens of any
county in Upper Canada ... to raise and levy by county rate a sum
not exceeding £200 ($800), and to appropriate and expend the same
for the maintenance of one or more _County Model Schools_, within
such county and to constitute, by by-law, or by-laws, to that
effect, any township, town, or city school, or schools within the
county, to be, for any term not less than one year, such County
Model School or Schools," etc.
"A sum not less than £40" was appropriated to each such school
towards 'the payment of the teachers and the purchase of books and
apparatus.' The 66th section of the same Act also declared:--
"That in every such township, town or city Model School gratuitous
instruction shall be given to teachers of Common Schools within the
township, town or city, wherein such Model School may be established
during such periods and under such regulations of the township, town
or city superintendent may from time to time direct."
"Again, in the first Common School Act prepared by Dr. Ryerson, and
passed in 1846, after providing for the establishment of District
Model Schools--it was declared (sec. 40):--
"That at every such District Model School gratuitous instruction
shall be afforded to all teachers of Common Schools within the
district in which such Model School may be established during such
period and under such regulations as the district superintendent may
from time to time direct."
These County Model Schools (as will be seen) had higher functions
than have the County Model Schools of the present day. They were
designed to afford instruction to persons who were already teachers,
and were thus in Dr. Ryerson's views constituted local Normal
Schools for that purpose. So much importance did Dr. Ryerson attach
to the value of training institutions for teaching, and so much did
he anticipate a demand for them that on page 162 of his "Report on
a System of Public Elementary Instruction," published in 1845, he
said:--
"As soon as examples of the advantages of trained teachers can be
given, I believe the ratio of demand will increase faster than
that of supply, and that an additional Normal School will soon be
required in each of the most populous districts."
Then again so jealously was the efficiency of these District or
County Model Schools guarded that in the same Act, 9 Victoria,
chapter 20, it was provided that no teacher could be appointed
to such school without the approval in writing of the district
superintendent, and unless he held a certificate from the Normal
School (which was established in 1847). In addition to these
requirements power was given to the district superintendent to
suspend or dismiss Model School teachers and to appoint others in
their places, in case the local trustees neglected or refused to do
so. This district superintendent was also authorized to examine (as
they often did at the Model School) all "candidates for teaching
in Common Schools" and to give them certificates of qualification,
special or general, at his discretion.
The question may here be asked, "Of what practical value were these
County Model Schools in the work of training school teachers, and
did they at all discharge the higher functions to which reference is
made?"
It was clear that these schools were regarded in those early days as
a necessary adjunct to our system of education, for the very purpose
of aiding teachers in their professional work. Thus, Mr. Hamilton
Hunter, in his report as School Superintendent of the Home District
for the year 1844 says:--
"The deficiency in the qualification of teachers could be remedied
by establishing in each district a Model School upon a good scale,
and having it under the management of a superior teacher or
teachers.... The School Bill makes provision for this, etc."
In his report for 1847 Dr. Ryerson thus speaks of the operation and
success of these schools wherever they had been established:--
"The School Superintendent of Dalhousie District says: 'In this
[County Model School] I have there held public examinations of
Common School teachers; and on some occasions, when reluctant
to give them certificates, I have sent them to the Model School
Master for information and examination.... [These teachers] did
not make any permanent stay except one, merely learning the mode
of instruction, the value of the studies and discipline of the
school.'... The Superintendent of the Johnstone District says:-- ...
'Much good has been done by the establishment of the Model School
in this district. Several teachers, whose education was by no means
good, have acquired a sound knowledge of the subjects which are
required to be taught in the Common Schools.' The Superintendent of
Schools in the Midland District says:--'Almost every teacher who has
attended the Model School for any length of time is now teaching
with good success.'"
In the Act which was hurriedly passed in 1849, but which, by
Order-in-Council, never went into operation, provision was made to
establish, or continue the County Model Schools "in any township,
town, or city," and granting to each of them "£25 over and above the
sum to which such schools would be entitled as a Common School ...
which sum shall be expended in the payment of a teacher or teachers,
and for no other purpose."
In the Act of 1850, provision for the establishment and maintenance
of Township Model Schools was made. Township councils were
authorized to raise a special tax for the support and efficiency
of these schools; and it was "provided likewise, that tuition to
student-teachers in such Model Schools should be free."
The reason why Township Model Schools were substituted for county
ones, is given by Dr. Ryerson in his circular to town reeves, dated
12th August, 1850. Other reasons contributed to this change, but the
circular gives the chief reason.
"The attempts of district councils to establish Model Schools have
thus far proved entire failures...: The late district councils have
in every instance, except one, abandoned the attempt.... To the
success and usefulness of a Model School, a model teacher, at any
expense, is indispensable, and then a Model School-house, properly
furnished, and their judicious and energetic management."
In addition, I may say that the causes of failure of these valuable
training institutions in 1850, may be incidentally learned from
the very words here used by Dr. Ryerson by way of suggestions
to town reeves. These schools had neither model teachers, nor
were the buildings "model school-houses." Besides, the district
superintendents of that day, and after them, the township
superintendents, had, as a rule, no experience as trained teachers
themselves.
By the Act of 1871, the status and qualifications of these most
important officers were raised to their present high standard. The
very name was changed, and that of inspector was substituted.
It was felt by Dr. Ryerson that until these new officers had secured
some degree of popular favor, and had proved their efficiency as
organizers of schools, and as practical judges of the necessary
qualifications of teachers, it would be useless for him to attempt
the re-establishment of the County Model Schools. Before that time
had fully arrived he retired from office--leaving this important
and necessary duty to be undertaken (as it was efficiently) by his
successor, Hon. Adam Crooks, as Minister of Education.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF DR. RYERSON'S SCHEME OF EDUCATION.
In founding the system of public instruction for Upper Canada,
Dr. Ryerson wisely laid down certain fundamental principles which
he believed to be essential to the success and stability of that
system. These general principles may be thus summarized:
1. That the machinery of education should be in the hands of the
people themselves, and should be managed through their own agency;
they should, therefore, be held, be consulted, by means of public
meetings and conferences, in regard to all school legislation. This
he himself did every few years.
2. That the aid of the Government should only be given where it
could be used most effectually to stimulate and assist local effort
in this great work.
3. That the property of the country is responsible for, and should
contribute toward the education of the entire youth of the country;
and that, as a complement to this, "compulsory education" should
necessarily be enforced.
4. That a thorough and systematic inspection of the schools is
essential to their vitality and efficiency.
These and other important principles, Dr. Ryerson kept steadily in
view during his long administration of the school system of his
native Province. He was not able to embody them all at once in his
earlier school bills, but he did so in the final legislation on the
subject with which he was connected in 1870-1874. Their judicious
application to the school system contributed largely, under the
Divine blessing, which he ever sought, to the wonderful success of
his labors.
CAN UPPER CANADA EMULATE THE STATE OF NEW YORK IN EDUCATIONAL
MATTERS?
In his "Address to the People of Upper Canada" on school affairs in
1850, Dr. Ryerson thus answers this question:--
"Another ground of encouragement in our country's educational work
is the practical proof already acquired of the possibility of not
only improving our schools, but of successfully emulating our
American neighbours in this respect. Often have we heard this, both
publicly and privately, pronounced utopian; and often have we sought
in friendly discussion to prove that it was neither impracticable
nor extravagant to aim in rivalling our New York neighbours in our
Common Schools."--_Journal of Education for Upper Canada_, vol. 3,
page 2.
In his report for 1851, Dr. Ryerson returns to this subject. He
says:--
"The period is very recent when the [subject of educational
comparison with the State of New York] would have been an
absurdity--when the word 'contrast' must have been employed instead
of the word 'comparison,' when not a few of our fellow countrymen,
and some of our public men, considered the project, or the idea
of emulating the Common School doings of our New York neighbours,
as presumptuous and chimerical. I have not viewed the noble and
patriotic exertions of the American people in any spirit of
jealousy.... I hold up their example to the admiration and imitation
of the people of Canada; but I have not despaired of, much less
depreciated my own country; and have had, and have still in a higher
degree than ever, a strong conviction that there are qualities in
the people of Upper Canada, which, under a proper and possible
organization, and with judicious counsel, would place schools and
education in this country upon more than a level with what we have
witnessed and admired in the State of New York. It is true our
American neighbours have had more than thirty years the start of us;
but I am persuaded we shall not require half that time to overtake
them--profiting, as we have done, and doubtless will do, by their
mistakes and failures, as well as by their ingenuity and success.
To rebuke an unpatriotic spirit of Canadian degradation in which
some Canadians indulge,[53] and to animate the hopes and exertions
of the true friends of our intellectual and social progress, I will
show what has already been accomplished in Upper Canada in respect
to Common Schools by a comparison, in a few particulars, with what
has been done in the State of New York." (The particulars which
Dr. Ryerson points out are seven in number).--_Report for 1851_,
(written in 1852), page 17.
[53] Dr. Ryerson constantly deprecated, in these early years, this
want of the spirit of Canadian Patriotism. In an eloquent paper
(in the third volume of the _Journal of Education_) he shows that
"_Canadian Patriotism (is) the Lever of Canadian Greatness_." He
sums it up in these words: "It cannot be too strongly impressed
upon every mind that it is on Canadian energy, Canadian ambition,
Canadian self-reliance, skill and enterprize--in a word, on Canadian
patriotism--that depends Canadian prosperity, elevation and
happiness."--_Page 40._
In his reply to a complimentary letter from the Municipal Council of
the County of Norfolk, in 1851, Dr. Ryerson thus referred to this
subject:--
"No person who has at all studied the subject of comparative school
legislation between Canada and other countries, can fail to observe
that there is an extent of local discretion and power in each of
our School and County Municipalities not found in any one of the
neighbouring States, while there are other elements incorporated
into our school system, which secure to the remotest municipality
of Upper Canada the information and facilities which can alone be
acquired and provided by a Public Department. But the rational
conviction and voluntary co-operation of the people themselves have
been relied upon and appealed to as the basis of exertion and the
instrument of success. When, therefore, steps were taken to improve
the text-books of the schools, a set of the books recommended was
procured and furnished to each County Municipality in Upper Canada,
that the people might examine and judge of the desirableness of
the books proposed, in regard to both excellence and cheapness.
In promoting an improvement in the condition and character of
school-houses, plans and illustrations of school-houses and premises
were procured and placed in the hands of the local councils, and
several of them were published in the _Journal of Education_. The
same course has been adopted in respect to School Maps, etc. And in
pressing upon the public mind the necessity and advantage of duly
qualified School Teachers, an institution has been established to
train them; and the specimens of Teachers thus trained (though but
partially trained in most instances, from the short period of their
training) have excited a desire and demand for improved teachers in
every County in Upper Canada. I trust this year will witness the
introduction of Libraries--thus completing the establishment of
every branch of our school system.
"In all this there has been no coercion--but a perfect blending of
freedom and unity, of conviction and action; and the entire absence
of any opposition to the school system during the recent elections
throughout Upper Canada, shows how general and cordial is the
conviction of the people as to its adaptation to their circumstances
and interests.
"I have the deepest conviction of the strong common sense and
patriotism of the Canadian people at large--a conviction founded
on long observation and comparison between the people of Canada
and those of many other countries; and I have a faith, little short
of full assurance, as to the advancing and glorious future of our
country. With this conviction and faith, and animated with the
consciousness of general approval and co-operation on the part of
the people, I shall renew my humble contributions of labour to the
common treasury of Canadian progress and civilization."
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL DEPOSITORY, AND ITS RESULTS.
In 1850-51, Dr. Ryerson, while in England, made arrangements for
establishing a library, a prize book and an apparatus and map
depository, in connection with his Department. His reasons for doing
so may be thus briefly stated:
1. He felt it to be practically useless to train teachers in the
best methods of imparting instruction, and in the use of apparatus
and other school appliances in the normal school and not provide for
them, when in charge of schools, a constant and abundant supply of
these necessary appliances at the very cheapest rates.
2. He held it to be equally necessary that the pupils, who had
acquired a taste for reading and knowledge in the schools, should
have an equally abundant and perennial supply of the best and purest
literature as it is issued from the press; otherwise they would be
sure to procure reading matter (often pernicious, as he had painful
proof) for themselves.
3. He could see no distinction, and therefore could not admit of
any, in the principle of providing such a two-fold supply of school
material and reading matter, and in that of providing trained
teachers and skilled inspectors at the expense of the Province, as
well as a money bonus to aid in maintaining the schools in a state
of efficiency.
4. He further felt that it was immaterial whether the money voted by
Parliament was expended in one direction or the other, so long as in
each department of the system the best interests and necessities of
the schools were consulted, and the symmetry and efficiency of the
school system, as a whole, were preserved and promoted.
5. He projected this plan of supply on a purely commercial basis,
and so arranged and successfully carried out his scheme that
while there was distributed nearly a million dollars' worth of
school material and books up to the time when the depository was
closed, it did not cost the country anything for the expenses of
its management, as it more than paid its way. An elaborate report
on this subject was prepared by Mr. James Brown, an experienced
accountant, under the direction of Hon. Adam Crooks, the first
Minister of Education. It more than sustained the statement here
made. The particulars are as follows:--
ABSTRACT OF DEPOSITORY SCHEDULE PRESENTED TO THE LEGISLATURE IN 1877.
Total amount of legislative grants to the depository for all
purposes, viz.:
(1) Purchase of stock, and (2) Salaries and the
entire cost of management, etc., 1850 to 1875
inclusive $811,523 72
Total value of books, maps and apparatus despatched
from the depository, 1850 to 1875 inclusive 803,067 86
__________
Difference to be accounted for 8,455 86
Net value of the stock on hand at the end of 1875,
after paying all expenses of management, etc 79,509 41
Deduct the difference to be accounted for (as above) 8,455 86
----------
Grand total of profits made by the depository after
paying all charges, as above, during the years
1850-1875 71,054 55
DR. RYERSON A COMMISSIONER ON KING'S COLLEGE, ETC., NEW BRUNSWICK IN
1854.
On the 1st of May, 1854, the Legislature of New Brunswick passed
an Act empowering the Lieutenant-Governor to appoint a Royal
Commission:--
"To enquire into the present state of King's College, its management
and utility, with a view of improving the same, and rendering that
institution more generally useful, and of suggesting the best mode
of effecting that desirable object," etc.
In accordance with this Act, Sir Edmund Head, the then
Lieutenant-Governor, in August, 1854, appointed the following
gentlemen as commissioners, viz.:--Hon. John Hamilton Gray, (late
Judge of the High Court of British Columbia), Rev. Dr. Egerton
Ryerson, John William (now Sir Wm.) Dawson, Hon. John Simcoe
Saunders, and Hon. James Brown.
In accepting the position of commissioner, Dr. Ryerson, at the close
of his letter to Provincial Secretary Partelow, said:--
"When I mentioned to the head of the Canadian Administration the
request which had been made to me from New Brunswick, and the
probability that a compliance with it would cause my absence for two
or three weeks from the duties of my department, he thought I ought,
by all means, to go--that it was part of my appropriate work, and
that we should regard each Province of British North America as a
part of our own country.
"New Brunswick is so to me, in a peculiar sense, as the birth-place
of my sainted mother and my elder brothers and sisters."
The commission met first at Fredericton, and afterwards at Toronto.
To Dr. Ryerson was entrusted the principal duty of drawing up the
elaborate report, and in Hon. J. H. Gray's letter as chairman,
accompanying the report in December, 1854, he says:
"I beg to express, with the full concurrence of my fellow
commissioners, our acknowledgements of the very valuable assistance
afforded us by Dr. Ryerson. His great experience and unquestioned
proficiency on all subjects connected with education, justly entitle
his opinion to great weight."
Sir Wm. Dawson, in a letter to Mr. Gray, thus summarizes the
contents of the report:--
"1st. The improvement of the College course of instruction and
its extension by the introduction of special courses. 2ndly, The
definition of the true place of the Provincial College in its
relations to the other educational institutions of the Province,
and to the religious beliefs of the people; and 3rdly, The union of
all the educational institutions in a Provincial university system,
under official supervision."
A change in the Government of New Brunswick in 1854, prevented the
report being considered in the Legislature at that time. In a letter
from Mr. Gray to Dr. Ryerson, dated May 15, 1855, he says:--
"The change of Government prevented our report being adopted and
acted upon, but it met with universal approbation, and from every
portion of the Province the voice of praise has gone up. I give
you credit for it all; and in my remarks in the House, I made my
acknowledgements publicly to you and Mr. Dawson."
In a confidential letter to me, on Separate School matters, from Dr.
Ryerson, dated Quebec, January 30, 1858, he said:--
"Sir Edmund Head (now Governor-General), highly approved of my
Report, etc., on the New Brunswick College question and has sent it
to the authorities of McGill College to see if they cannot adopt
something of the same kind."
Mr. Gray had hoped that the comprehensive bill proposed by the
commission in 1854, and to give effect to their recommendations
relating to King's College, Normal and Model Schools, and a Chief
Superintendent of Education, would be passed in the following year,
1855. In this he was disappointed, for the bill did not pass until
1860. In a letter to Dr. Ryerson from the Hon. Charles Fisher, dated
Fredericton, 14th May, 1860, he said:--
"After years of controversy and difficulty we have passed an Act
to remodel King's College on the plan proposed by your commission,
under the title of the University of New Brunswick. We have not
connected the College or the head of it with the other educational
interests in the Province, but confined him to the University,
and he must be a layman. This provision was inserted to prevent
difficulty."[54]
[54] In 1858 Mr. Henry Fisher (Brother of Hon. Charles Fisher) was
appointed Superintendent of Education for New Brunswick. He visited
Dr. Ryerson in that year to confer with him before undertaking
the duties of his new office. His death occurred in 1860, and in
communicating the sad news to Dr. Ryerson, Hon. Charles Fisher,
referring to his brother, said:--
"He wished particularly (just before his death) to be remembered
to you, and that I should thank you for your kindness to him on
all occasions. He was succeeding in his efforts to improve the
educational interests of the Province, and had been enabled to
secure the support of all parties."
PARTIAL CHRONOLOGICAL SKETCH OF DR. RYERSON'S EDUCATIONAL WORK,
1855, ETC.
I will now give a brief summary, in chronological order, of the
successive steps which Dr. Ryerson took to develop the system of
education which he had founded.
In 1855 Dr. Ryerson established meteorological stations in
connection with twelve selected county grammar schools, ten
following the coast line of the lakes and on the large rivers, and
two entirely inland. In this he was aided by Colonel now General Sir
(J. H.) Lefroy, R.E., for many years director of the Provincial (now
Dominion) Magnetical Observatory at Toronto. Sets of instruments,
having been purchased in London and tested at the Kew Observatory,
were sent out to the twelve stations, duly equipped and provided
with all necessary appliances.
In 1857 Dr. Ryerson made his third educational tour in Europe,
where he procured, at Antwerp, Brussels, Florence, Rome, Paris and
London, an admirable collection of copies of paintings by the Old
Masters, statues, busts, etc., besides various other articles of a
typical character for an educational museum in connection with the
Department. In 1867 I was deputed to largely add to this museum
collection, which I did in Paris, London, etc., especially in the
direction of Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities, busts, casts,
fictile ivory, etc.
In 1858-61 Dr. Ryerson took a leading part in a protracted public
discussion before a committee of the House of Assembly, in favor
of grants to the various "outlying" denominational universities,
chiefly in terms of Hon. Robert Baldwin's liberalized University
Act of 1853. He maintained that these colleges "did the State
some service," and that it was right that their claims should
be recognised in a substantial manner, as colleges of a central
university. He deprecated the multiplication of universities in the
Province, which he held would be the result of a rejection of the
proposed scheme. His plan was not adopted, and universities were
increased from five to eight subsequently. Twenty-five years after
the close of that discussion a scheme for the confederation of these
colleges was again considered but without much effect.
In 1862, Dr. Ryerson addressed a circular to boards of trustees
in cities and towns, deploring the "numbers of children in these
centers of population, growing up with no other education than a
training in idleness, vagrancy and crime." He added: "I have, at
different times, submitted three propositions or plans for the
accomplishment of the object of free schools in cities and towns.
First, that as the property of all is taxed for the common school
education of all, all should be compelled to allow their children
the means of such education at either public or private schools.
Or, secondly, that each municipality should be empowered to deal
with the vagrancy of children of school age, or the neglect of their
education, as a crime, subject to such penalties and such measures
for its prevention as each municipality, in its own discretion,
might from time to time adopt. Or, thirdly, that the aid of
religious benevolence should be invoked and encouraged to supplement
the agency of our present school system."
Before bringing the matter again before the Government, Dr. Ryerson
solicited the opinion and suggestions of the school boards on the
subject.
BISHOP FRASER'S ESTIMATE OF THE U. C. SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN 1863.
In 1863, Rev. James (afterwards Bishop) Fraser (of Manchester),
was appointed a Royal Commission to enquire into the American and
Canadian systems of education. From his report, published after his
return to England, I quote the following passages:--
"The Canadian system of education, in those main features of it
which are common to both Provinces, makes no pretence of being
original. It confesses to a borrowed and eclectic character. The
neighboring States of New York and Massachusetts, the Irish, English
and Prussian systems, have all contributed elements, which have
been combined with considerable skill, and the whole administered
with remarkable energy, by those to whom its construction was
confided. It appears to me, however, that its fundamental ideas
were first developed by Mr. (now, I believe, Sir Arthur) Buller,
in the masterly report on the state of education in Canada,
which he addressed in the year 1838 to Lord Durham, the then
Governor-General, in which he sketched the programme of a system,
'making,' as he candidly admitted, 'no attempt at originality,
but keeping constantly in view, as models, the system in force in
Prussia and the United States, particularly the latter, as being
most adapted to the circumstances of the colony.'
"As a result of Mr. Buller's recommendations, (not, however, till
after the legislative union of the Provinces which Lord Durham
had suggested, as the best remedy for the various political ills
under which they severally laboured,) a law was passed in 1841,
covering both Provinces in its range, for the establishment and
maintenance of public schools. It provided for the appointment of
a Superintendent of Education for the whole Province, with two
Assistant Superintendents under him, one for each of the sections. A
sum of $200,000 was appropriated for the support of schools, which
was to be distributed among the several municipal districts, in
proportion to the number of children of school age in each of them;
$80,000 being assigned to Upper and $120,000 to Lower Canada, such
being the then ratio of their respective populations.
"The circumstances of the two sections, however, particularly in
the proportions of Roman Catholics to Protestants in each, and
the extent to which the Roman Catholic religion may be said to be
established in Lower Canada, were soon found to be so different
that insuperable difficulties were encountered in working a
combined system under one central administration, and in 1845 the
law was changed. The nominal office of Chief Superintendent was
abolished, and the entire executive administration of the system
was confined to the sectional superintendents, and the Provinces,
for all educational purposes, again became separated. The law
itself was thoroughly revised and adapted to the peculiar wants of
each Province, as ascertained by experience; and ever since there
have been two systems at work, identical in their leading idea,
differing, sometimes widely, in their details, administered by
independent executives, and without any organic relations at all.
"Before we proceed to observe the manner and record the results
of its practical working, it is proper to premise that it is a
purely permissive, not a compulsory system, and its adoption by
any municipality is entirely voluntary.... Entering a Canadian
school, with American impressions fresh upon the mind, the first
feeling is one of disappointment. One misses the life, the motion,
the vivacity, the precision--in a word, the brilliancy. But as you
stay, and pass both teacher and pupils in review, the feeling of
disappointment gives way to a feeling of surprise. You find that
this plain, unpretending teacher has the power, and has successfully
used the power, of communicating real, solid knowledge and good
sense to those youthful minds, which, if they do not move rapidly,
at least grasp, when they do take hold, firmly. If there is an
appearance of what the Americans call "loose ends" in the school,
it is only an appearance. The knowledge is stowed away compactly
enough in its proper compartments, and is at hand, not perhaps very
promptly, but pretty surely, when wanted. To set off against their
quickness, I heard many random answers in American schools; while,
per contra to the slowness of the Canadian scholar, I seldom got
a reply very wide of the mark. The whole teaching was homely, but
it was sound. I chanced to meet a schoolmaster at Toronto, who had
kept school in Canada, and was then keeping school at Haarlem, New
York, and he gave Canadian education the preference for thoroughness
and solid results. Each system--or rather, I should say, the result
of each system--seems to harmonize best with the character of the
respective peoples. The Canadian chooses his type of school as the
Vicar of Wakefield's wife chose her wedding-gown, and as the Vicar
of Wakefield chose his wife, "not for a fine, glossy surface, but
for such qualities as will wear well." I cannot say, judging from
the schools which I have seen--which I take to be types of their
best schools--that their choice has been misplaced, or that they
have any reason to be disappointed with the results. I speak of the
general character of education to which they evidently lean. That
the actual results should be unequal, often in the widest possible
degree, is true of education under all systems, everywhere.
"One of the most interesting features in the Canadian system is the
way in which it has endeavored to deal with what we find to be one
of our most formidable difficulties, the religious difficulty. In
Canada it has been dealt with by the use of two expedients; one, by
prescribing certain rules and regulations, which it was hoped would
allow of religious instruction being given in the schools without
introducing sectarianism or hurting consciences; the other, by
permitting, in certain cases, the establishment of "separate," which
are practically denominational, and in fact Roman Catholic schools.
"The permission under certain circumstances to establish separate,
that is, denominational schools, is a peculiar feature of the
system both of Upper and Lower Canada. Dr. Ryerson thinks that the
admission of the principle is a thing to be regretted, though at the
same time he considers that the advantages which it entails entirely
rest with those who avail themselves of its provisions, and he would
not desire to see any coercion used either to repeal or modify them.
"Such, in all its main features, is the school system of Upper
Canada. A system, in the eyes of its administrators, who regard
it with justifiable self-complacency, not perfect but yet far in
advance, as a system of national education, of anything that we can
show at home. It is indeed very remarkable to me that in a country,
occupied in the greater part of its area by a sparse and anything
but wealthy population, whose predominant characteristic is as far
as possible removed from the spirit of enterprise, an educational
system so complete in its theory and so capable of adaptation in
practice should have been originally organized, and have been
maintained in what, with all allowances, must still be called
successful operation for so long a period as twenty-five years. It
shows what can be accomplished by the energy, determination and
devotion of a single earnest man. What national education in Great
Britain owes to Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, what education in New
England owes to Horace Mann, that debt education in Canada owes to
Egerton Ryerson. He has been the object of bitter abuse, of not a
little misrepresentation; but he has not swerved from his policy or
from his fixed ideas. Through evil report and good report he has
resolved, and he has found others to support him in the resolution,
that free education shall be placed within the reach of every
Canadian parent for every Canadian child. I hope I have not been
ungenerous in dwelling sometimes upon the deficiencies in this noble
work. To point out a defect is sometimes the first step towards
repairing it; and if this report should ever cross the ocean and be
read by those of whom it speaks, I hope, not with too great freedom,
they will perhaps accept the assurance that, while I desired to
appreciate, I was bound, above all, to be true; and that even where
I could not wholly praise) I never meant to blame. Honest criticism
is not hostility."
* * * * *
In a letter addressed to Dr. Ryerson in 1875, the Bishop says:--
"I take it very kindly in you that you remember an old acquaintance,
and I have read with interest your last report. I am glad to observe
progress in the old lines almost everywhere. I was flattered also to
find that some words of mine, written in 1865, are thought worthy
of being quoted.... It is pleasant to find a public servant now in
the thirty-second year of his incumbency, still so hopeful and so
vigorous. Few men have lived a more useful or active life than you,
and your highest reward must be to look back upon what you have been
permitted to achieve."
Speaking of the character of Dr. Ryerson's educational work and of
the way in which he met difficulties in accomplishing it, Mr. J.
Antisell Allen, of Kingston, in his paper on "_Dr. Ryerson, a Review
and a Study_," says:--
"There is hardly a foot-length of our civilization on which he
has not left his mark. For those who believe that, on the grounds
of expediency, a government is justified in interfering with the
ordinary working of the great human life-struggle, and so, in
taking one man's money to benefit another man's children, that is
to a majority so overwhelming as to come almost under the category
of universal, as to be every one's belief--what system of general
education can recommend itself more fully, or work more smoothly,
than does his? In his struggles in this direction, neither seduced
by friends, nor cowed by enemies, nor damped in his ardour by the
vastness of the undertaking--turning neither to the right hand nor
to the left--he has raised to himself a "_monumentum perennius
ære_," and has bequeathed to us and posterity a system of public
and high school education second to none anywhere, and, making some
deduction for possible mistakes incident to our weak humanity,
a system almost as perfect as we in this generation are perhaps
capable of generally acquiescing in."
In 1867 Dr. Ryerson made his fourth and final educational tour in
Europe and America. On his return he submitted to the Government a
highly valuable "Special Report on the Systems and State of Popular
Education in the several countries in Europe and the United States
of America, with practical suggestions for the improvement of
public instruction in Upper Canada." He also made a separate and
interesting "Report on the Institutions for the Deaf and Dumb in
various countries." A few years afterwards he had the happiness of
seeing institutions of a similar kind in successful operation in
this Province.
CHARACTER OF THE IMPORTANT SCHOOL LEGISLATION OF 1871.
The fifth and last series of conventions was held in 1869, and
on the results of the consultations and deliberations of these
conventions, Dr. Ryerson framed that crowning measure of his
administration, which received the sanction of the legislature in
1871--twenty-one years after the first great departure in school
legislation--that of 1850.
For the various objects which he had recommended during the years
from 1850 to 1871, liberal grants were made by the Legislature.
The policy of the Government during those years was to sustain
Dr. Ryerson and to second his efforts to build up and consolidate
the system of public instruction which he had taken such pains to
establish. The result was that our school system expanded and grew
in every direction, and became firmly rooted in the affections of
the people. In this way it came to be regarded as one of the most
successful and popular systems of education on the continent. And
yet, as I have shown, he was continually suggesting improvements in
it, for he always held that there was room, as well as a necessity,
for them.
School legislation, chiefly in regard to high schools and matters of
detail, took place at intervals during the intervening years, but it
was is 1871 and 1874 that the final legislation under Dr. Ryerson's
auspices took place. That of 1871 was strikingly progressive and
took a wide range. That of 1874 was largely supplemental and
remedial.
The Act of 1871 introduced into our school law for the first
time some important principles, which, as yet, had not received
legislative sanction. They were chiefly those which related, among
others, to the following matters:
1. Governmental, combined with improved local, inspection of schools.
2. A high and fixed standard of qualifications for inspectors of
public schools.
3. The abolition of non-certificated township superintendents of
schools, and the substitution therefor of duly licensed county
inspectors.
4. The institution of simultaneous and uniform examinations
in the several counties for teachers desiring certificates
of qualification. This principle was soon extended to other
examinations, including competitive examinations in counties, etc.
REVIEW OF THE SCHOOL LEGISLATION OF 1871.
At Dr. Ryerson's request I prepared for him and wrote the text of
his education report for 1870. In that report I reviewed in detail
the various provisions and improvements introduced into our school
system by the School Act of 1871. I reproduce here the more salient
points of that report, touching upon the reasons for the passing of
that progressive measure, and indicating some of its main features.
I said:--
So many and important have been the changes recently made in the law
affecting our System of Public Instruction, that it may be well, as
a preliminary to a discussion of those changes, briefly to refer
to a few facts relating to the history and progress of our School
System.
In 1844, our municipal system (on which our then elementary School
Law was engrafted), was in its infancy. The principle of local
self-government was new, and much opposition was experienced in
giving effect to the School Law then in operation. The theory
of local taxation for the support of schools was in some places
vigorously opposed, and in others regarded as a doubtful experiment.
Even as late as 1850, some municipalities refused to accept the
improved law enacted that year, or act under its provisions, and
thus deprived their constituents of the great boon of popular
education. It is only six years since the last disability, caused by
such refusal, was removed,--thus uniting the entire Province in a
cordial acceptance of the School Law.
The following brief statistical references will illustrate the
growth and advance of our School System:--
In 1844, there were but 2,610 Public Schools, in 1870, there were
4,566. In that year, (1844), the school population was 183,539--of
which 96,756 children attended the Public Schools, while 86,783
(or nearly as many more) were reported as not in attendance at any
school whatever.
In 1870, the school population was 483,966--of which 420,488
children were in attendance in our schools, and 63,478 reported
as not in attendance--not one-seventh, instead of nearly one-half
of the children of school age, as in 1844. In 1844, the whole
sum available for the support of the Public Schools was about
$280,000--of which, approximately $190,000 were raised by local
taxation.[55] In 1870, the whole sum available for Public Schools
was $1,712,060--of which $1,336,383 were raised by local taxation
and fees--an increase of more than seven hundred per cent over 1844!
[55] In 1850, (the first year in which we have positive information
on this subject), we find that the total sum expended in this
Province for public elementary education, was $410,472; of which
$326,472 were raised by local rates and fees.
There are few Canadians who do not now refer with an mixed pride
and satisfaction to the vastly improved condition of our Public
Schools under the operation of the present law, revised in 1850,
and now revised and extended.[56] On no one point have we greater
cause for thankfulness and congratulation, than in the fact of the
unanimity and cordiality with which our School System is supported
by all classes of the community, by men of all shades of political
feeling, and, with a single exception (and that in part only), of
all religious persuasions in the Province.
[56] No one is more sensible than I am of the numerous defects of
our School system, and for this reason I have labored all the more
assiduously to have these detects removed by our recent school
legislation. As I have stated further on, I have even had to combat
the views of those friends of the system who had thought that it was
not susceptible of much improvement.
OBJECTIONS TO IMPROVE OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM ANSWERED.
It is a singular and gratifying (yet in some respect it has proved
an embarrassing) fact that the chief difficulty experienced in
promoting the improvement of our School System has arisen from the
somewhat over-sensitiveness of the friends of our Schools, lest the
proposed changes should disturb the foundations of a system which
they had learned to regard with so much favor and affection. This
solicitude arose partly from a mistaken view of the condition and
necessities of our system, and partly from a misapprehension of
the scope and objects of the proposed ameliorations in our School
Law. It will be my aim, however, in the following remarks to justify
and illustrate the principles and policy involved in the recent
important changes which have been made in our School Law.
I would, in the first place, remark that were we, in making
improvements in our School System, to confine our observation and
experience to our own Province alone, we might be disposed to look
with complacency upon that system, and to rest satisfied with the
progress which we have already made. The effect of such a state
of feeling would be that we would seek to profit little by the
educational experience and advancement of other countries. But such
a short-sighted and unpatriotic course, though approved by some on
the principle of "let well-alone," yet would not commend itself to
the maturer judgment of those who are accustomed to look at the
"stern logic of facts," and to take a comprehensive and practical
view of the underlying causes of the social progress in other
countries.
5. The fixing and rendering uniform of a higher standard of
qualification for public and high school teachers.
6. Giving the profession of teaching a fixed legal status, and
providing more fully and equitably for the retirement and united
support, by the profession and the legislature, of worn out or
disabled teachers.
7. The establishment by law of a national system of free schools.
8. Declaring the right by law, as well as the necessity, of every
child to attend some school, thus recognizing the principle of, and
providing for, "compulsory education."
9. Requiring, by law, that adequate school accommodation, in regard
to school house, playground and site, be provided by the trustees,
for all of the resident children of school age in their localities.
10. Prescribing a more systematic and practical course of study for
each of the classes in the public schools.
11. Discriminating, by a clearly defined line, the course of study
in public and high schools respectively.
12. Providing for the establishment and support of collegiate
institutes, or local colleges.
13. Requiring municipalities to maintain high schools and collegiate
institutes, equally with the public schools, and as part of the
general school system.
14. Providing, at the option of the ratepayers, for the substitution
of township boards of education, in place of local trustee boards.
15. Authorizing the establishment of industrial schools.
* * * * *
Such were the main features of the comprehensive and progressive
School Act passed in 1871. In many respects it revolutionized
the existing state of things. It gave a wonderful impetus to the
schools, and to every department of school system--the effects of
which we feel to this day.
We are a young country, placed in close proximity to a large and
wonderfully progressive people. In the good providence of God, we
are permitted to construct on the broad and deep foundations of
British liberty, the corner-stone of a new nationality, leaving
to those who come after us to raise the stately edifice itself.
Apart from the vital Christianity of our people, what more lasting
bond and cement of society in that new nationality, than a free
and comprehensive system of Christian education for the youth of
the land, such as we have sought to establish? Our aim should,
therefore, be to make that system commensurate with the wants of
our people, in harmony with the progressive spirit of the times,
and comprehensive enough to embrace the various branches of human
knowledge which are now continually being called into requisition in
the daily life of the farmer, the artizan, and the man of business.
In no department of social and national progress have our neighbors
made greater advances, or prided themselves more justly, than, in
that of free popular education. On the other hand, in no feature of
progress under British institutions up to a late period has there
been less satisfaction, as a whole, or less positive advancement
than in that of public education. By many of our neighbors on the
other side of the lines, such inertness and non-appreciation of
a vital part of national life has been regarded as inherent in
monarchical institutions. The fact, however, has been overlooked
that the lingering effects of the long prevalence in Britain of
the feudal theory, on which her social and political institutions
were originally founded, has, in spite of various ameliorations in
the condition of her people, exercised a sure but silent influence
against the earlier adoption of the principle of the free and
universal education of the people. But so surely and certainly has
this latent feeling of opposition to popular education given way
before the prevalence of more enlightened views, that, even in
the most monarchical countries of Europe, the desire felt and the
efforts put forth for the diffusion of public education in all its
comprehensiveness and fulness have been remarkable. Nevertheless,
even among ourselves, that principle of latent opposition to popular
education did exist in the earlier stages of our educational
history. Its gradual removal, therefore, under the beneficent
operation of our School Laws, and the prevalence of juster and more
patriotic views in matter of education are subjects of sincere
congratulation to our people.
NECESSITY FOR THE CHANGES IN THE SCHOOL LAW OF ONTARIO IN 1871.
We will now proceed, in the light of the educational facts and
illustrations which we have given from other countries, to discuss
the recent improvements which have been effected in our own law.
The population of this Province, according to the recent census,
is 1,620,842. The number of children of school age is 483,966, or
a little over one-fourth of the whole. The number of Elementary
Schools is not much below 5,000, and are maintained at an annual
cost of nearly $1,800,000, or one dollar per head of the population.
Such being the magnitude to which our Educational System has grown,
every man will feel how imperative it is upon us to see that
that system is as thorough and complete in all of its details as
possible; and that in no respect should it be allowed to fall below
the standard now reached by the other educating countries to which
we have referred.
So long as our system of schools was in its infancy, and might be
fairly regarded as yet an experiment, so long as we confine our
efforts to mere elementary organization and be content with very
moderate results. Experience has shown, however, that without great
care and constant effort the tendency of all systems of education,
and ours among the rest, is to a state of equilibrium, or to a
uniform dead level of passable respectability. This is the stage
in its history, as elsewhere, at which our system has arrived, and
at which, as we have explained, many of its friends are disposed
to leave it. But those who have carefully studied the subject in
all its bearings, and have looked more closely into the educational
history, the progress and failures of other countries, know full
well that our school system would fall behind that of other
countries and become stationary, unless it embodies within itself
from time to time the true elements of progress, and provides fully
and on a sufficient scale for the educational wants of the youth of
the country.
Since 1850 it was left to the ratepayers in each school division
to decide annually whether the schools should be free or partly
supported by rate-bill on pupils attending the school. The
principle, that a Public School education is the right of every
child in the land, and that every man should contribute, according
to his property, to the education of every child in the community,
by whose influence and labors such property is protected and
rendered valuable, had greatly obtained, so that Free Schools had
increased from one hundred to five hundred per annum, until upwards
of four thousand of the four thousand four hundred Public Schools
were made free by actual experiments, and by the annual discussions
and votes in these primary meetings of the people. The demand was
very general for several years, that all the Public Schools should
now be made free by law, and all local disputes on the subject be
thus terminated. This has now been happily accomplished by the new
law.
It is not necessary to go farther into detail in this retrospect, as
the foregoing extracts indicate the scope and spirit of the improved
Act of 1871.
HON. ADAM CROOKS ON THE SCHOOL INSPECTION LEGISLATION OF 1871.
In his speech before the Legislative Assembly on the 18th of
February, 1877, the first Minister of Education for Ontario, in
referring to the improved system of school inspection introduced by
the Act of 1871, and the more certain tenure of office secured to
County Inspectors under that Act, said:
"I have also been ready to say that most valuable results were
secured by the change in the law in 1871, under which the
present mode of school inspection took the place of the old
plan of local superintendence. Inspectors now must possess high
qualifications, both as teachers and in scholarship, while
the emoluments of the office make it an object of ambition to
every school teacher; and we have many teachers in the Province
who posses qualifications of the high standard prescribed for
Public School Inspectors. The tenure of the office of County
Inspector is such as should secure their impartiality. So long
as an Inspector discharges his duties efficiently, he can be
removed only by a two-thirds majority of the County Council. It
is unlikely that such two-thirds majority would be found unless
the Inspector had given reasonable cause for his dismissal. It
would not be wise therefore to alter the tenure by which County
Inspectors hold office."
EFFECT OF THE SCHOOL ACT OF 1871 IN THE COUNTY OF HALDIMAND.
The following valuable testimony as to the great improvement in our
schools which was wrought through the agency of the School Act of
1871, is highly suggestive and practical in its character. What is
true of Haldimand, as here expressed, is also true of other parts of
the Province.
In an address to the teachers of Haldimand in 1873, Mr. Inspector
Harcourt, M.P.P., said:--
"No one, whose attention has been called to the matter, could
imagine the miserable condition of the majority of the school-houses
of 1871. At that time there were not ten properly furnished
buildings in Haldimand. Many of them with low ceilings, broken
floors and damaged windows, had for seats nothing better than the
antiquated bench facing the wall. Too cold or too hot by turns in
winter, and suffocating in summer. With nothing to attract and
everything to discourage scholars, we wonder that an intelligent
public has so long tolerated their existence.... In the main,
however, I am especially gratified at the improvements effected. In
two years sixteen brick buildings have been erected; all of them
substantial and well furnished--some of them models of neatness
and finish. In a dozen sections preparations are being made for
replacing the old houses, so that we have good reason to hope
that in a year or two, at furthest, our country will no longer be
noticeable for the miserable style of its school-houses."
"Connected with the question of progress in certain branches of
study, in relation of which I might say of cause and effect, are the
two items of Examination of Teachers and School Accommodation. The
provisions now in force for the examination of teachers are such
that, if wisely carried out, the standard of the profession must be
raised, and along with it the status of our schools.... The fact
that somehow or another teachers received first and second class
certificates, three or four years ago, who could not now obtain a
third; that while it was exceptional for an applicant to fail then,
those who succeed now are but thirty per cent. of the whole is known
to all of us....
"To summarize the foregoing statements we HAVE progressed since
1871, swiftly in one particular, slowly and steadily in several
others."--_Address, pages 5-7._
EFFECT OF THE SCHOOL LAW OF 1871 IN THE COUNTY OF SIMCOE (SOUTH.)
At the inauguration of the new school-house in Barrie in 1872, the
Rev. Wm. McKee, B.A., Inspector of Schools in South Simcoe, stated
what had been the salutary effect of the School Law of 1871 in his
county. He said:--