_RYERSON'S FIRST REPORT ON A SYSTEM OF ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION._
"The true greatness of a people does not consist in borrowing nothing
from others, but in borrowing from all whatever is good, and in
perfecting whatever it appropriates."--_M. Cousin._
This quotation from the eminent Frenchman admirably illustrates the
spirit of Ryerson's first Report[68] and the draft of proposed
legislation accompanying it. His Report contains comparatively little
that is original, being made up of ninety per cent. of quotations from
Horace Mann's Report and from reports of eminent European statesmen and
educators. And yet the Report is none the less valuable because of the
quotations, nor does a reading of it tend to lessen one's respect for
the writer. On the contrary, the aptness of the quotations and the
skilful way in which Ryerson marshals his proofs, show his statesmanship
and genius for organization. He saw enough during his European and
American tours of investigation to convince him that Canada could, with
profit to herself, borrow many things from other peoples. His shrewd
common sense and intimate first-hand knowledge of Canadian conditions
told him exactly what ought to be done, and he wisely allowed others to
tell in his Report their own stories. His position was that of a skilled
advocate bringing forth witness after witness to give evidence to the
soundness of his theories.
[68] See "Report on a System of Public Elementary Instruction for Upper
Canada," by Egerton Ryerson, published 1847, consisting of 191 pages.
_Note._--Unless otherwise specified, all quotations in this Chapter are
from the above report.
He sets out by defining education, and although his definition is not
scientific in a psychological sense, it is essentially correct--it
points to the school as an agency to promote good citizenship. "By
education I mean not the mere acquisition of certain arts or of certain
branches of knowledge, but that instruction and discipline which qualify
and dispose the subjects of it for their appropriate duties and
employments of life, as Christians, as persons of business, and also as
members of the civil community in which they live."
Ryerson then points out that in Upper Canada the education of the masses
has been sacrificed to the education of a select class. He wishes to see
a system of universal education adapted to the needs of the country.
"The branches of knowledge which it is essential that all should
understand should be provided for all, and taught to all; should be
brought within the reach of the most needy and forced upon the attention
of the most careless. The knowledge required for the scientific pursuit
of mechanics, agriculture, and commerce must needs be provided to an
extent corresponding with the demand and the exigencies of the country;
while to a more limited extent are needed facilities for acquiring the
higher education of the learned professions." The Report sets forth a
great array of proof drawn from the United States, Britain, Switzerland,
Germany, and other European countries, to show that the productive
capacity of the people, their morality and intelligence, are in direct
proportion to their schools and institutions of learning. Ryerson lays
down as fundamental that any system adopted for Upper Canada must be
universal in the sense of giving elementary instruction to all and
practical in the sense of fitting for the duties of life in a young
country. He goes to considerable trouble to show that in his view the
practical includes religion and morality, as well as a development of
the merely intellectual powers.
Ryerson was no narrow ecclesiastic, but still he could conceive of no
sound system of elementary instruction that did not provide for the
teaching of the essential truths of Christianity. He was decidedly not
in favour of secular schools or secular colleges. And yet he believed
that religious instruction in mixed classes was possible, and pointed
out in his Report how it might be conducted. He made a very sharp
distinction between religion and dogma, between the essential truths of
Christianity and sectarianism. Dogma and sectarian teaching, in his
opinion, had no place in schools except in those where all the pupils
were of a common religious faith. What he pleads for in his Report is
the recognition of Christianity as a basis of all instruction, and the
teaching of as much of the Bible as could be given without offending any
sectarian prejudices. "To teach a child the dogmas and spirit of a Sect,
before he is taught the essential principles of Religion and Morality,
is to invert the pyramid, to reverse the order of nature,--to feed with
the bones of controversy instead of with the nourishing milk of Truth
and Charity.... I can aver from personal experience and practice, as
well as from a very extended enquiry on this subject, that a much more
comprehensive course of Biblical and Religious instruction can be given
than there is likely to be opportunity for doing so in Elementary
Schools, without any restraint on the one side or any tincture of
sectarianism on the other,--a course embracing the entire history of the
Bible, its institutions, cardinal doctrines and morals, together with
the evidences of its authenticity." The Report goes on to show how from
Ryerson's viewpoint the absence of religious teaching in the schools of
the American Union was having a damaging effect upon the moral fibre of
the national life. He further illustrated by reference to what he saw in
France, Germany, and Ireland, how religious instruction might be given
without causing any denominational friction or unpleasantness.
After defining the aim and scope of a national system of education, and
giving it a religious foundation, the Report outlines the subjects that
should be taught in Elementary Schools, and illustrates in almost every
case how these several subjects should be presented. While the basis of
the instruction proposed is the three R's--reading, including spelling;
'riting, and 'rithmetic--yet it is remarkable to what an extent Ryerson
proposed to go in "enriching" the Common School programme. Indeed, as
one reads the Report he is inclined to repeat the old adage: "There is
nothing new under the sun." Almost every subject introduced into Ontario
schools during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and many
which yet, in the twentieth century, seem to have an insecure foothold,
and are by many denominated "fads," were included by Ryerson in his
memorable Report of 1846, and the arguments he uses in favour of their
adoption would not seem out of place if used by an advanced educator of
the present day. He pleads for music, drawing, history, civics,
inductive geography, inductive grammar teaching, concrete number work,
oral instruction, mental arithmetic, nature study, experimental science,
book-keeping, agriculture, physical training, hygiene, and even
political economy. He illustrates some German methods of teaching
reading that many Ontario teachers fondly think were originated in their
own country.
Ryerson from Canada, Horace Mann from Massachusetts, Sir Kay
Shuttleworth from England, besides many others, about this time paid
visits to Prussia, and went home to recommend the adoption of much that
they saw. These men were acute observers. They recognized that the
Germans had learned something that was not generally known by other
teachers. How are we to explain it? Had the German teachers by accident
blundered upon better _methods_ of teaching than were practised by other
nations? Not so. The German methods were the natural result of the
German philosophy. The work of Herbart, Froebel, and other thinkers, was
bearing its natural fruit, and many of the improvements introduced into
the Canadian schools by Ryerson and practised by Canadian teachers,
perhaps in an empirical way, were far-away echoes of principles
laboriously worked out by German scholars.
Ryerson's remarks on teaching Biography and Civil Government seem almost
like an echo from some modern school syllabus. "Individuals preceded
nations. The picture of the former is more easily comprehended than that
of the latter, and is better adapted to awaken the curiosity and
interest the feeling of the child. Biography should, therefore, form the
principal topic of elementary history; and the great periods into which
it is naturally and formally divided,--and which must be distinctly
marked,--should be associated with the names of some distinguished
individual or individuals. The life of an individual often forms the
leading feature of the age in which he lived and will form the best
nucleus around which to collect, in the youthful mind, the events of an
age, or the history of a period.... Every pupil should know something of
the Government and Institutions and Laws under which he lives, and with
which his rights and interests are so closely connected. Provision
should be made to teach in our Common Schools an outline of the
principles and constitution of our Government; the nature of our
institutions; the duties which they require; the manner of fulfilling
them; some notions of our Civil, and especially our Criminal Code."
The second part of Ryerson's Report is wholly concerned with the
machinery of a System of Public Elementary Instruction for Upper Canada.
The Report, after giving an outline of the various classes of schools
in France and Germany, recommends for Canada a system as
follows:--Common or Primary Schools for every section of a township;
District Model Schools, which would correspond with the German Real or
Trade Schools; District Grammar Schools, which would correspond with the
German Higher Burgher Schools and Gymnasia; and, completing all, one or
more Provincial Universities. The Report also suggested that as
Districts became more populous each would in time be able to support,
say three Model Schools, and these might specialize, one training for
agriculture, another for commercial life, and a third for mechanical or
industrial life.
Normal Schools were also recommended for the training of teachers, and
elaborate arguments set forth showing their benefits. The example of
France, Germany, Ireland, and the United States is quoted to show how
these schools would secure better teachers, and that better teachers
would mean better schools. Ryerson believed that Normal Schools would
elevate teaching to the rank of a profession. He believed that the
people were intelligent enough to choose good teachers in preference to
poor ones if the good ones were at hand. He also pointed out how a good
teacher would be able to economize the child's time and advance him much
faster than an indifferent teacher.
The Report then deals with the subject of textbooks. We need to remember
that in Upper Canada at this time there was no control of textbooks.
Each local Board or each teacher made a selection. In the majority of
cases the matter regulated itself. Pupils used what they could get. With
many of the people, a book was a book, and one was as good as another.
The utmost confusion prevailed. There had been many complaints that some
of the books used were American and anti-British in tone. By 1846 the
enterprise of Canadian publishers had driven out many of the American
texts, but in some districts they were still in common use.[69] In
reference to this, Ryerson says: "The variety of textbooks in the
schools, and the objectionable character of many of them, is a subject
of serious and general complaint. All classification of the pupils is
thereby prevented; the exertions of the best teacher are in a great
measure paralyzed; the time of the scholars is almost wasted; and
improper sentiments are often inculcated." The Report suggests that this
matter must be under central control and not left to any local board or
district superintendent. To fully appreciate the importance of this
matter we need to remember that books meant more sixty years ago than
they do to-day in any system of instruction. The better the teacher the
less he is dependent upon a book, especially in such subjects as
arithmetic, grammar, geography, or history. But in 1846 the teachers
were in many cases wholly helpless without books. A boy went to school
to "mind his book." Rote learning, working problems by a rule laid down
in the book, studying printed questions and answers, were largely what
was meant by "schooling." Bad as such a system was, its evils were
increased when the books were especially unsuitable. Ryerson praised
very highly the series in use in the National Schools of Ireland, and
later he introduced them into Canada.
[69] A Report made to the Education Office, for 1846, shows that there
were in use in Upper Canada schools 13 Spelling, 107 Reading, 35
Arithmetic, 20 Geography, 21 History, and 16 Grammar texts, besides 53
different texts in various other subjects.
Public men in Upper Canada who took an interest in education had long
recognized that the Common Schools were sadly in need of a stronger
central control, and some system of inspection. But how to secure these
safeguards and yet not destroy the principle of local control was no
easy problem to solve. The township superintendents were not educators.
They often were intelligent men, but as a class were without any
knowledge of how to guide schools or inspire teachers to nobler things.
They received from L10 to L20 a year for their services, which sum was
as good as wasted. The Act of 1841, and that of 1843, had made
provision for local superintendents of education, and had also defined
their duties, but the Act had made no provision to secure the due
performance of their orders. They were without power except such as the
District and Township Boards voluntarily allowed them to assume. They
might make suggestions and give advice, but with that their legal
functions were at an end.
When M. Cousin, in 1836, visited Holland to examine into the system of
primary instruction in that country, the Dutch Commissioner who had
founded the system said to him: "Be watchful in the choice of your
inspectors; they are the men who ought to be sought for with a lantern
in the hand." Ryerson recognized the truth of this, and in his Report
laid it down as essential to any efficient system.
His report on the control that should be exercised directly by the
Government I shall quote entire.
"(1) To see that the Legislative grants are faithfully and judiciously
expended according to the intentions of the Legislature; that the
conditions on which the appropriations have been made are in all cases
duly fulfilled.
"(2) To see that the general principles of the law as well as the
objects of its appropriations are in no instance contravened.
"(3) To prepare the regulations which relate to the general character
and management of the schools, and the qualifications and character of
the teachers, leaving the employment of them to the people and a large
discretion as to modes of teaching.
"(4) To provide or recommend books from the catalogue of which Trustees
or Committees may be enabled to select suitable ones for the use of
their schools.
"(5) To prepare and recommend suitable plans of school-houses and their
furniture and appendages as one of the most important subsidiary means
of securing good schools--a subject upon which it is intended by me, on
a future occasion, to present a special report.
"(6) To employ every constitutional means to excite a spirit of
intellectual activity and enquiry, and to satisfy it as far as possible
by aiding in the establishment and selection of school libraries and
other means of diffusing useful knowledge.
"(7) Finally and especially, to see that an efficient system of
inspection is exercised over all the schools. This involves the
examination and licensing of teachers, visiting the schools, discovering
errors and suggesting remedies as to the organization, classification
and methods of teaching in the schools, giving counsel and instruction
as to their management, carefully examining the pupils, animating
teachers, trustees and parents by conversations and addresses, whenever
practicable, imparting vigour by every available means to the whole
school system. What the Government is to the system and what the teacher
is to the school, the local inspector or superintendent of schools
should be within the limits of his district."
This plan made the Local Superintendent responsible for the examination
and licensing of teachers according to regulations laid down by the
Department. With this important exception it will be seen that the
functions of the Government as exercised through the Department of
Education are substantially the same to-day as they were outlined in
Ryerson's first report.
The concluding part of the report dealt with what Ryerson called
"Individual Efforts," and under this heading he said some very sensible
things. He emphasized the importance of parents taking an interest in
the school, of clergymen and magistrates visiting the school, of good
school libraries, of Teachers' Institutes, of debating clubs, and of
every agency that would assist in stimulating intellectual life.