OF Education in Upper Canada, FROM THE PASSING OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL ACT OF 1791 TO THE CLOSE OF THE REVEREND DOCTOR RYERSON'S ADMINISTRATION VOL. XXIII., 1871-72. FORMING AN APPENDIX TO THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION. BY J. GEORGE HODGINS, I.S.O., M.A., LL.D. OF OSGOODE HALL, BARRISTER-AT-LAW, EX-DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION; HISTORIOGRAPHER TO THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF ONTARIO. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY L. K. CAMERON, 1908. PREFATORY NOTE TO THE TWENTY-THIRD VOLUME. This Volume furnishes a sort of aftermath to the one which preceded it. It is largely devoted to the reconstruction, on broad and comprehensive lines, of our School System as sketched out for it in the recent School Legislation of 1871. This reconstruction involved the extension of the Course of Study for the Public Schools by the Council of Public Instruction, so as to include in it the Elements of Mechanical and Natural Science. It also necessitated an enlargement of the scope and object of the Grammar Schools, the better class of which are hereafter to be also known as High Schools and Collegiate Institutes. The Course of Study in this three-fold grade of Schools, as revised by the Council of Public Instruction, included, (1), a good elementary and preliminary Course of English; (2), a Classical and Modern Language Course; and, (3), a superior, but, purely English Course, including a knowledge of English Literature. The standard of admission to any grade of the Grammar Schools was fixed, so as to include as a basis, a satisfactory knowledge of what was the final Course of Study in the Public Schools; this was prescribed to prevent the influx, as had formerly been the case, of ill-trained and badly prepared Pupils. The design and intention of thus keeping up the standard of admission was that, when admitted, the Parents might intelligently determine which Course of Study should be pursued by their children. In determining the new and enlarged Course of Study, not only for the Public Schools, but also for the three-fold grade of Grammar Schools, the former lists of Text-books had to be carefully revised, so as to furnish the best aids in promoting the study of the subjects embraced in the enlarged Curriculum, as prescribed. With a view to aid in the maintenance of the various grades of Grammar Schools, a new financial principle was adopted in regard to the apportionment to them of the Legislative Grants, that of "payment by results"; which had been for some time in satisfactory operation in England, and which was strongly recommended by our successive Inspectors. The adoption of this principle, upon the specific report of the Inspectors as to the work actually done in the School, had a most beneficial effect, as it embodied the true principle of payment for good work efficiently done, as certified by the Grammar School Inspectors. As a fitting sequel to the enlarged Course of Study in our various Schools, was the issue of a Commission by the Government to collect and report full and authentic information in regard to the subject of Technical Education, chiefly in the United States. The result of this new departure was the establishment of a College of Technology in Toronto, which was afterwards enlarged in its scope and functions and re-organized as the School of Practical Science. [iii] 193715 As the result also of a specific Report by the Chief Superintendent of Education, on the character and condition of Schools, in Europe and the United States, for the Deaf and Dumb, and also for the Blind, the Government established similar Institutions, one at Brantford, and the other at Belleville. With a view to increase the efficiency of the Public School Teachers, and to make the profession of Teaching more worthy of the name than it had hitherto been, the Course of Study in the Normal School, and the exercises, to that end, in the (Model) Schools of Practice, were greatly enlarged and improved; and, in addition, arrangements were made for holding Teachers' Institutes in the outlying portions of the Province by Inspectors and Teachers of experience, so that Teachers who could not readily attend the Normal School, might be stimulated to qualify themselves better for the discharge of their duties in the Schools. In addition to this scheme for the improvement of the Teachers' profession, a greatly improved system of examination and classification of Teachers was adopted, whereby the local Boards of Examiners could, after examination, based upon a uniform system for the whole of the Province, issue Second and Third Class Certificates of Qualification,-reserving to the Council of Public Instruction the right, on the report of the Central Committee of Examiners, to alone issue First Class Certificates available in any part of the Province. In other respects the old system of granting Certificates to Teachers and Public School Inspectors was greatly enlarged and improved. With a view to create an additional interest in the condition of the Schools, and to stimulate the zeal of Ratepayers, Municipal Councils and Trustees, in the continued success of our School System, the Chief Superintendent issued Circulars, calling their attention to the great advantages to be derived from the increased facilities which the new School Act provided for the improvement of the status and character of both Public and Grammar Schools. It was not to be supposed that an educational movement of this enlarged and comprehensive kind would escape criticism, and even misrepresentation. Nor did it; but, in a timely and able Letter, addressed to the "Public Press" by the Chief Superintendent, he pointed out the value and importance of the recent legislation in raising the standard of Public and High Schoo's, in elevating the condition of the Teaching profession, and in practically providing for an advanced stage of education, which would fit the pupils in the Schools for those Commercial and Mechanical pursuits in after life, to which, as a rule, they all looked forward. The subject of Schoolroom accommodation, and the condition of the School premises have, as will be seen, been fully discussed in the chief Superintendent's Annual Report, and the excellent example of other Countries, in dealing with these questions, pointed out. The usual extended reports of the proceedings of the various Churches in University matters are fully recorded in this Volume. The important questions, are also discussed, of the "compulsory education" of children, where Parents neglect that obvious duty; and the necessity, as well as convenience, of Township School Boards, instead of School Section Trustees, so as to facilitate the attendance of children at their nearest School, instead of one at some distance in a local School Section, for the support of which the Parent pays taxes. In the proceedings of the Legislature it will be seen that additional School legislation was proposed by two Members, and also an elaborate scheme of University Reform by another Member; but the House of Assembly refused to give these measures its sanction, being satisfied, (in the case of the Public and High Schools,) that the comprehensive School legislation of 1871 would accomplish all that was desirable for the present time; nor was it disposed to enter again upon a season of unrest and agitation in regard to the University question. J. GEORGE HODGINS, Historiographer of the Education Department. TORONTO, 12th February, 1908. |
