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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/37739-8.txt b/37739-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c902a59 --- /dev/null +++ b/37739-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6562 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper +Canada, by J. Harold Putman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper Canada + +Author: J. Harold Putman + +Release Date: October 12, 2011 [EBook #37739] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EGERTON RYERSON, EDUCATION--UPPER CANADA *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Julia +Neufeld and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive) + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +For this text version passages in italics are indicated by +_underscores_. Small caps have been replaced by ALL CAPS. + + + + + EGERTON RYERSON + + AND + + Education in Upper Canada + + + BY + + J. HAROLD PUTMAN, B.A., D.Paed., + + Inspector of Public Schools, Ottawa, Ont. + + (Formerly in charge of the Departments in Psychology and + English, Ottawa Normal School) + + + TORONTO + WILLIAM BRIGGS + 1912 + + + + + Copyright, Canada, 1912, by + WILLIAM BRIGGS + + + + +PREFACE + + +The object of this volume is to give a succinct idea of the nature and +history of our Ontario School Legislation. This legislation is so bound +up with the name of Egerton Ryerson that to give its history is to +relate the work of his life. + +It would be useless to attempt to show how our school legislation +developed under Responsible Government without some understanding of its +history previous to the time of Ryerson. I have, therefore, devoted +three chapters to a brief account of education in Upper Canada previous +to 1844. + +No attempt has been made to give the history of our schools since +Ryerson's retirement, partly because no radical changes have been made, +and partly because it would involve criticism of statesmen and teachers +who are still actively engaged in work. Nor has any attempt been made to +trace the history of University education after 1845. To do so would +require a complete volume. But, as University education prior to 1844 +was so closely connected with Common and Grammar Schools, it seemed +necessary, up to a certain point, to trace the course of all three +together. + +The introductory chapter on the biography of Ryerson is only indirectly +connected with the other chapters, and may be omitted by the reader who +has no interest in the man himself. + +It is hoped that this volume may encourage teachers in service and +teachers in training to acquire a fuller knowledge of their own +educational institutions. + + THE AUTHOR. + +OTTAWA, July 1st, 1912. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Biographical 7 + + II. Education in Upper Canada from 1783 to 1844 33 + + III. Education in Upper Canada from 1783 to 1844-- + (_Continued_) 58 + + IV. Education in Upper Canada from 1783 to 1844-- + (_Continued_) 83 + + V. Ryerson's First Report on a System of Elementary + Instruction 110 + + VI. Ryerson's School Bill of 1846 123 + + VII. The Ryerson Bill of 1850 144 + + VIII. Ryerson and Separate Schools 173 + + IX. Ryerson and Grammar Schools 204 + + X. Ryerson and the Training of Teachers 232 + + XI. Ryerson School Bill of 1871 257 + + XII. Conclusion 264 + + Bibliography 269 + + + + +Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper Canada + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +_BIOGRAPHICAL._ + + +Egerton Ryerson was born in 1803, in the township of Charlotteville, now +a part of the county of Norfolk. His father was a United Empire Loyalist +who had held some command in a volunteer regiment of New Jersey. After +the Revolution the elder Ryerson settled first in New Brunswick, coming +later to Upper Canada, where he took up land and became a pioneer +farmer. The young Ryersons, of whom there were several, took their full +share in the laborious farm work, and Egerton seems to have prided +himself upon his physical strength and his skill in all farm operations. + +He received such an education as was afforded by the indifferent Grammar +School of the London District, supplemented by the reading of whatever +books he could secure. + +At an early age he was strongly drawn toward that militant Christianity +preached by the early Methodist Circuit Riders, and at the age of +eighteen joined the Methodist Society. This step created an estrangement +between Ryerson and his father, who already had two sons in the +Methodist ministry. Ryerson left home and became usher in the London +District Grammar School, where he remained two years, when his father +sent for him to come home. After some further farming experience, the +young man went to Hamilton to attend the Gore District Grammar School. +He was already thinking of becoming a Methodist preacher, and wished to +prepare himself by a further course of study. During his stay in +Hamilton under the instruction of John Law, he worked so eagerly at +Latin and Greek that he fell ill of a fever which nearly ended his +career. + +When barely twenty-two years of age he decided to travel as a Methodist +missionary. + +In a letter written about this time to his brother, the Rev. George +Ryerson, we get a glimpse of the young preacher's ideas upon the +preparation of sermons. "On my leisure days I read from ten to twenty +verses of Greek a day besides reading history, the Scriptures, and the +best works on practical divinity, among which Chalmers has decidedly the +preference in my mind both for piety and depth of thought. These two +last studies employ the greatest part of my time. My preaching is +altogether original. I endeavour to collect as many ideas from every +source as I can; but I do not copy the expression of anyone, for I do +detest seeing blooming flowers in dead men's hands. I think it my duty +and I try to get a general knowledge and view of any subject that I +discuss beforehand; but not unfrequently I have tried to preach with +only a few minutes' previous reflection."[1] + +[1] See "Story of My Life," by Ryerson, edited by Hodgins, page 42. + + +After being received into the Methodist connection as a probationer, +Ryerson was assigned a charge on Yonge St., which embraced the town of +York and several adjacent townships. It took four weeks on horseback and +on foot over almost impassable roads to complete the circuit. During +this time the probationer was expected to conduct from twenty-five to +thirty-five services. The accommodation furnished by the pioneers was of +the rudest kind, but the people gave the travelling preacher a hearty +welcome. Young Ryerson was acquainting himself with conditions in Upper +Canada at first hand by living among the people. At a later time, when +the opportunity came, he made use of his intimate knowledge to secure +for these people the advantages of better schools. + +During this first year of his missionary ministry, Ryerson was drawn +into the Clergy Reserves controversy. The Methodist Society in Upper +Canada was an offshoot of that body in the United States. This +connection had come about in a very natural way. Upper Canada was +largely settled by United Empire Loyalists. The Methodist circuit-riders +naturally followed their people into the wilds of Upper Canada. In many +districts no religious services of any kind were held except those of +the Methodists. + +In May, 1826, a pamphlet was published, being a sermon preached by +Archdeacon Strachan, of York, on the occasion of the death of the Bishop +of Quebec. This pamphlet contained an historical sketch of the rise and +progress of the Anglican Church in Canada. The claim was made that the +Anglican Church was by law the Established Church of Upper Canada. The +Methodists were singled out and held up to ridicule. They were +represented as American and disloyal. Their preachers were declared to +be ignorant and spreaders of sedition, and the Imperial Parliament was +petitioned to grant £300,000 a year to the Anglican Church in Canada to +enable it to maintain the loyalty of Upper Canada to Britain. + +To Ryerson, the son of a Loyalist, this was more than could be borne, +and he immediately crossed swords with the Anglican prelate by writing a +defence of Methodism and calling into question the exclusive demands +made by Strachan on behalf of the Anglicans. The contest waxed warm and +then hot. The whole country was convulsed. Within four years the +Legislature of Upper Canada passed Acts allowing the various religious +denominations to hold lands for churches, parsonages, and +burying-grounds, and also allowing their ministers to solemnize +marriages. Besides these concessions, the Legislative Assembly was +forced by public opinion to petition the Imperial Parliament against the +claims of the Anglican Church to be an Established Church in Canada and +to a monopoly of the Clergy Reserves. + +During his second year in the ministry, Ryerson spent part of his time +on a mission to the Chippewa Indians on the Credit River. While there, +he showed himself to be very practical. He encouraged the Indians to +build better houses and to clear and cultivate the land.[2] "After +having collected the means necessary to build the house of worship and +schoolhouse, I showed the Indians how to enclose and make gates for +their gardens. Between daylight and sunrise I called out four of the +Indians in succession and showed them how, and worked with them, to +clear and fence in, and plow and plant their first wheat and corn +fields. In the afternoon I called out the schoolboys to go with me and +cut and pile and burn the underbrush in and around the village. The +little fellows worked with great glee as long as I worked with them, but +soon began to play when I left them." + +[2] See "Story of My Life," by Egerton Ryerson, edited by Hodgins, page +60. + + +A letter written by Rev. William Ryerson to his brother, the Rev. George +Ryerson, on March 8th, 1827, after a visit to the Indian Mission, shows +Egerton Ryerson's practical nature and incidentally gives us his method +of instruction. "I visited Egerton at the Credit last week.... They have +about forty pupils on the list, but there were only thirty present. The +rest were absent making sugar.... Their progress in spelling, reading, +and writing, is astonishing, but especially in writing, which certainly +exceeds anything I ever saw. When I was there they were fencing the lots +in the village in a very neat, substantial manner. On my arrival at the +Mission I found Egerton, about half a mile from the village, stripped to +the shirt and pantaloons, clearing land with between twelve and twenty +of the little Indian boys, who were all engaged in chopping and picking +up the brush."[3] + +[3] See "Story of My Life," page 69. + + +At the Methodist Conference of 1827, Ryerson was sent to the Cobourg +Circuit. During his term there he was again drawn into a controversy +with Dr. Strachan, who sent to the Imperial Parliament an Ecclesiastical +Chart, purporting to give an account of religion in Upper Canada. +Ryerson claimed that this chart contained many false statements and +that it was peculiarly unfair to the Methodists. The real point at issue +was whether the Anglican Church was to become the Established Church of +Upper Canada. + +In 1828, Ryerson was appointed to the Hamilton and Ancaster Circuit, +which reached from within five miles of Brantford to Stoney Creek. On +September 10th, 1828, he married Hannah Aikman, of Hamilton.[4] + +[4] Died in 1832. In 1833, Ryerson married Mary Armstrong, of Toronto. + + +The Methodist Conference of 1829 determined to establish an official +newspaper to be known as _The Christian Guardian_. Ryerson was elected +as the first editor and was sent to New York to procure the plant. The +paper started with a circulation of 500, which in three years was +increased to some 3,000. Besides defending Methodist principles and +institutions, the paper made a strong stand for civil liberty, +temperance, education, and missionary work. It soon came to be looked +upon as one of the leading journals of Upper Canada. Ryerson gave up the +position of editor in 1832, and the following year made a trip to +England to negotiate a union between the Canadian Methodist Conference +and the Wesleyan Conference of England. The union was consummated. +Ryerson returned to Canada and was re-elected editor of the _Guardian_. + +While in England, he had interviews with Earl Ripon, Lord Stanley and +other public men, to whom he gave valuable information concerning +Canadian affairs, especially those connected with the vexed question of +the status of the Anglican Church. + +On his return to Canada, in 1833, Ryerson published in the _Guardian_ +"Impressions Made by My Late Visit to England." In this article he gave +his estimate of Tories, Whigs, and Radicals. He saw much to admire in +the moderate Tories, little to praise in the Whigs, and much to condemn +in the Radicals. His strictures on the latter called down upon him the +wrath and invective of William Lyon Mackenzie. To some extent Ryerson's +articles led the constitutional reformers in Upper Canada to separate +themselves from those reformers who were prepared to establish a +republican form of government in order to secure equal political and +civil rights. To many of his old friends it seemed that Ryerson had +given up championing liberty and had become a Tory. Many were ready to +accuse him of self-seeking in his desire to conciliate the party of +privilege. One reverend brother,[5] writing to him, says: "I can only +account for your strange and un-Ryersonian conduct and advice on one +principle--that there is something ahead which you, through your +superior political spy-glass, have discovered and thus shape your +course, while we landlubbers, short-sighted as we are, have not even +heard of it." Hundreds of subscribers gave up the _Guardian_ as a +protest against the views of its editor, but as the crisis approached +which culminated in the Rebellion of '37 and '38, the tide of public +opinion turned in Ryerson's favour. + +[5] Rev. Jas. Evans, of Niagara District. See part of letter in "Story +of My Life," page 131. + + +In 1835, Ryerson gave up the _Guardian_ and took a church at Kingston. +Scarcely was he settled when he undertook a second visit to England. The +Methodists had, in 1832, laid the corner-stone of the Upper Canada +Academy at Cobourg. They had no charter, although an unsuccessful +attempt had been made to have the Trustee Board incorporated by the +Legislature of Upper Canada. Extensive buildings were under way and the +trustees were in financial difficulties. Ryerson was sent to England to +beg subscriptions and also to attempt to secure a Royal Charter. The +work was distasteful to him, but he persevered, and after more than a +year and six months spent in England he accomplished three ends. He +secured enough money in subscriptions to relieve the most pressing +immediate needs of the Trustee Board. He secured an order from the +Colonial Secretary directed to the Governor of Upper Canada, authorizing +him to pay to the Upper Canada Academy, from the unappropriated +revenues of the Crown, the sum of £4,000.[6] Last, and most important, +he secured a Royal Charter, although up to that time no such charter had +ever been issued to any religious body except the Established Church. To +Ryerson, the visit to England was of prime importance. It gave him a +broadened view of British institutions and English public men. It gave +him a political experience that was of great value to him in later +years. It gave him an opportunity to appeal to his fellow men upon the +subject of education and educational institutions. + +[6] Later, in 1837, Ryerson secured this money only after a petition to +the Legislature. + + +While in England, Ryerson contributed a series of letters to the London +_Times_ on Canadian affairs. There was a prevalent feeling in England +that a very large part of the Upper Canadian people was determined upon +a republican form of government. Ryerson's letters did something to +remove this impression. + +After the Rebellion of 1837 was crushed, the constitutional reform party +was apparently without any influence. It seemed that the Family Compact +oligarchy would have everything in their own hands. Prospects for +equality of civil and religious liberty were not bright, and it is +significant of the Methodists' appreciation of Ryerson's ability that +they immediately planned to make him again editor of the _Guardian_. +His brother John, writing to him in March, 1838, said: "It is a great +blessing that Mackenzie and radicalism are down, but we are in imminent +danger of being brought under the domination of a military and +high-church oligarchy which would be equally bad, if not infinitely +worse. Under the blessing of Providence, there is one remedy and only +one: that is for you to take the editorship of the _Guardian_ again."[7] + +[7] See copy of letter in "Story of My Life," page 200. + + +Ryerson did take the position, and in his first editorial in the +_Guardian_ of the 11th July, 1838, says: "Notwithstanding the almost +incredible calumny which has in past years been heaped upon me by +antipodes-party-presses, I still adhere to the principles and views upon +which I set out in 1826. I believe the endowment of the priesthood of +any Church in the Province to be an evil to that church.... I believe +that the appropriation of the proceeds of the Clergy Reserves to general +educational purposes will be the most satisfactory and advantageous +disposal of them that can be made. In nothing is this Province so +defective as in the requisite available provisions for an efficient +system of general education. Let the distinctive character of that +system be the union of public and private effort.... To Government +influence will be spontaneously added the various and combined +religious influences of the country in the noble, statesmanlike and +divine work of raising up an elevated, intelligent, and moral +population." + +Dr. Ryerson clearly saw that religion, politics, and education could not +at this period be separated, and for the next two years he did his +utmost, through the _Guardian_, to prevent the Anglican Church from +securing undivided possession of the Clergy Reserves. The difficulties +of his task were increased by the fact that there were in Canada several +British Wesleyan missionaries who were not unwilling to see an Anglican +Establishment. They were cleverly used by some of the Anglicans and +their friends to cause ferment and sow discord among the Methodists in +Canada. From 1838 until 1840, when he finally gave up the editorship of +the _Guardian_, Ryerson fought strongly for equal religious privileges +for all the people of Upper Canada. Nor were Ryerson's efforts in this +direction confined to the columns of the _Guardian_. He addressed +several communications to the new Colonial Secretary, Lord Normanby. + +Lord Durham and his successor, Lord Sydenham, received the cordial +support of Ryerson in their efforts to give a constitutional government +to Canada. Largely through Ryerson's suggestion there was issued at +Toronto, in 1841, the _Monthly Review_, which was to be a medium for +disseminating the liberal views of Sydenham. Ryerson wrote the +prospectus and contributed some articles. Probably as a recognition for +this work, Sydenham sent him a draft for £100, which he promptly +returned. + +In May, 1840, Ryerson paid a fraternal visit to the American General +Conference at Baltimore. At this time he fully purposed to take a church +in New York City for one or two years. He even thought it quite possible +that he might make the United States his permanent home. On his return +to Canada from the Baltimore visit he was elected Secretary of the +Conference. Charges were made against him by a British Wesleyan which +determined him to visit England. This visit led to a rupture between the +Canadian and British Methodist Conferences. When Ryerson and his brother +returned to Canada, a special meeting of the Canada Conference was +convened to consider the break with British Methodism. The result was a +rupture in the Canadian Wesleyan Conference itself. Many blamed the +Ryersons for the quarrel with the English Conference, and Egerton again +thought seriously of going to the United States or of withdrawing from +ministerial work. The truth seems to be that Ryerson was more than a +preacher. He lived in stirring times, when the nascent elements of +constitutional government were in process of crystallization. He +unconsciously felt that he must have a part in directing the destinies +of his native country. He saw clearly that the Canadian Methodist Church +must ultimately be independent and that its ministers ought not to adopt +a policy dictated to them by the English Conference, many members of +which were wholly ignorant of Canadian conditions. + +During the next two years, 1841 and 1842, Ryerson was in charge of the +Adelaide Street Church, Toronto. He seems to have given himself up +wholly to his pastoral work and to have taken little active part in +passing events. + +On the 27th of August, 1841, Lord Sydenham signed a bill which made +Upper Canada Academy a college, with university powers. The name was +changed to Victoria College. In October of the same year, Ryerson was +appointed the first principal of the new college. He did not give up his +church work until June, 1842. On the 21st of that month he was formally +installed in his new position. On the 3rd of August the Wesleyan +University of Middletown, Conn., conferred upon him the degree of Doctor +of Divinity. + +Lord Sydenham died in 1841. It seems that shortly before his death he +had some communication with Ryerson regarding the latter's appointment +as Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada. Ryerson claimed that +the Governor actually promised him the appointment but that there had +never been any official written record. Sydenham was succeeded by Sir +Charles Bagot, who in May, 1842, made the Rev. Mr. Murray Superintendent +of Education. Sir Charles Bagot died in May, 1843, and was succeeded by +Sir Charles Metcalfe. It was a critical period in the history of Canada. +The people were supposed to be in possession of the enjoyment of +responsible government. But as a matter of fact, very few had any +definite ideas as to what was meant by responsible government. Lord +Metcalfe refused to accept the advice of his Council regarding an +appointment. Instead of resigning at once as a protest they attempted to +secure from him a promise that he would in future accept their +recommendations. He refused. Later the leading members of the Council +resigned. Party feeling ran high, and the Governor had few friends. + +Ryerson had been upon familiar terms with Lord Durham, Lord Sydenham, +and Sir Charles Bagot. He now had several communications and one or more +interviews with Lord Metcalfe. He made direct and positive offers of his +services to the Governor. He then wrote a series of nine letters in +vindication of the Governor's course. These letters caused much +excitement and won for Ryerson the lasting enmity of the advanced +Reform party, who openly accused him of toadyism and of selling his +support to Lord Metcalfe in return for the promise of office. Whatever +may have been the effect of Ryerson's letters, Lord Metcalfe's party won +a temporary victory and Ryerson himself was appointed Superintendent of +Education for Upper Canada in October, 1844. + +To show how the political opponents of Lord Metcalfe viewed Ryerson's +appointment, the circumstances connected with it and his fitness for the +position of Superintendent, I quote from the Toronto _Globe_, the editor +of which was an out-and-out opponent of Ryerson and an unsparing critic +of his early educational legislation. In the _Globe_ of May 28th, 1844, +there appeared a letter signed "Junius," protesting against Ryerson's +appointment. The writer insinuates that Ryerson was won over by +receiving some notice from Lord Metcalfe, and that the Governor hoped by +winning over Ryerson to win a united support from the Methodists. He +calls Ryerson a violent political partisan and taunts him with having +only a superficial education. He says: "Nor is it flattering to the many +learned men of the country that one represented to be of slender +attainments in a few common branches of English education, and totally +ignorant of mathematics and classics, should be entrusted with the +education of the country, many of whose youthful scholars have attained +higher knowledge than their chief." + +In a _Globe_ editorial of June 4th, 1844, in commenting upon Ryerson's +first letter in defence of Lord Metcalfe, the writer says: "If the Rev. +Mr. Ryerson's appearance in the political field is indecorous and +uncalled for, the manner in which he has begun his work is in perfect +keeping with that appearance. A more presumptuous and egotistical +exhibition from a man of talents and education has never been brought +under the public eye. The first column alone of his Address [preface to +letters in defence of Lord Metcalfe] contains fifty repetitions of the +little insignificant word _I_, to say nothing of _me_ and _my_.... We +may be permitted to express our utter astonishment, however, to find a +minister of the Gospel embarking with so much eagerness in the sea of +politics." + +That Ryerson had a very good understanding with Lord Metcalfe as to the +position of Superintendent of Education before writing the famous +letters is apparent to anyone who reads the correspondence. That there +was anything discreditable to either party in that understanding has +never been shown. On the contrary, it seems quite certain that Ryerson +honestly believed the Governor was right. It is certain he made out a +strong case and likely won many supporters for the Metcalfe party. This +was especially galling to the party who called themselves _Reformers_, +because they had looked upon Ryerson as one of their champions. But +Ryerson never had been, and never became, a mere party man. He fought +for great principles, and if up to 1844 he had generally found himself +with the Reformers, it was because they were championing what Ryerson +believed to be the right. + +To taunt him with being half-educated was the mark of a small mind. +Every man must be judged according to the way he makes use of his +opportunities, and by such a standard no man in Canadian public life has +ever measured higher than Egerton Ryerson. He may have known "little +Latin and less Greek," he may have been wholly ignorant of the binomial +theorem, and he may not have been able to write as smooth and graceful +English as the classical scholars of Oxford, but he knew that thousands +of boys and girls in the backwoods of Upper Canada were growing up in +ignorance; he knew that the secondary schools of Upper Canada were +scarcely more efficient than they had been thirty years before, and he +knew that the country had ample resources to give reasonable educational +advantages to all. More than this, he must have felt that, given +reasonable freedom and support, he could in a short time change the +whole system of education. + +Dr. Ryerson, in accepting appointment, stipulated that he should be +allowed to make a tour of Europe before taking up the active duties of +his office. He left Canada for Europe in November, 1844, and returned in +December, 1845. He made an elaborate report[8] based on personal +investigation into the schools of Great Britain and Ireland, France, +Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and other European countries, besides New +York and the New England States. Perhaps the systems of Ireland, +Germany, and Massachusetts gave Ryerson more practical suggestions than +those of any other countries. In Prussia he saw the advantages of +trained teachers and a strong central bureau of administration; in +Ireland he saw a simple solution of religious difficulties and a fine +system of national textbooks; in Massachusetts he saw an efficient +system managed by popularly elected boards of trustees. + +[8] See Chapter V. + + +During his absence Ryerson was again attacked and held up to ridicule by +the _Globe_. In an editorial of April 29th, 1845,[9] we find the +following: "The vanity of the Deputy Superintendent of Education demands +fresh incense at every turn. He has doffed the politician for the moment +and now comes out a ruling pedagogue of Canada. What a pity that he was +not a cardinal or at least a stage representative of one! At what a rate +would he strut upon the boards as Wolsey and rant for the benefit of his +hearers and for his own benefit more especially! He beats all the +presumptuous meddling priests of the day.... Doubtless the Rev. Mr. +Ryerson is preparing to astonish the world by his educational researches +in Europe and the United States. It will be a subject of no small +amusement to watch his pranks. We shall no doubt hear of his visiting +all the most celebrated Continental schools and are astonished he did +not call at Oxford and Cambridge. He could no doubt have given them some +excellent hints!" + +[9] See bound volumes of _Globe_ in Legislative Library, Toronto. + + +In a _Globe_ editorial of December 16th, 1845, when the Draper +University Bill of that year was yet a topic of public discussion, we +find this reference to Ryerson: "It is now more than twelve months since +the Province was insulted by the appointment of Dr. Ryerson to the +responsible situation of Superintendent of Public Instruction. To hide +the gross iniquity of the transaction, Ryerson was sent out of the +country on pretence of inquiring into the different systems of +education. After being several months in England this public officer, +paid by the people of Canada, has for the last eight months been on the +Continent on a tour of pleasure.... Let the people of Canada rejoice +and every Methodist willing to be sold throw up his cap. Ryerson is here +ready to dispose of them to the highest bidder, the purchase money to be +applied to his own benefit with a modicum for Victoria College." + +Ryerson's report of 1846 was favourably received, and the Government +asked him to draft a school bill based on his report. This he did, and +the Bill of 1846 became the basis of our Common School system. After +Lord Metcalfe's departure from Canada and the election of a Reform +administration, there was a clamour from strong party men that Ryerson +should be removed. The Toronto _Globe_ led in the attacks against him. +It is a tribute to his ability and to the system of education which he +proposed, that these attacks all failed and that Dr. Ryerson came by +degrees to command the confidence of both political parties. + +As soon as possible after his return from Europe in 1845, Ryerson moved +from Cobourg to Toronto. When appointed in 1844, his rank was that of +Deputy or Assistant Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, the +nominal head of the Department being the Provincial Secretary. The +School Bill of 1846 made a change, and on June 17th of that year Ryerson +received his commission as Superintendent of Education. One of his first +acts was a proposal to found a journal of education, which should be a +semi-official means of communication between the Superintendent on the +one hand and District Superintendents, Trustees, Municipal Councillors, +and teachers on the other. The "Journal" was established in 1848 and +regularly issued until Ryerson gave up office in 1876. + +In the autumn of 1847, Ryerson spent nearly three months visiting County +School Conventions, where he explained the new School Act and delivered +a lecture upon "The Importance of Education to an Agricultural People." +In 1850, Ryerson began a struggle for free schools which lasted until +1871. About the same time he obtained permission from the Legislature to +establish an Educational Depository in connection with the Education +Department. He visited Europe and some American cities and made very +advantageous arrangements for securing in large quantities books, maps, +globes, and other school appliances. These were supplied to School +Boards at 50 cents on the dollar. The Depository was continued in +operation until 1881 and handled in all $1,000,000 worth of supplies. In +1853 Ryerson spent three months in attending County Conventions and +addressed thirty meetings. During this tour he visited his native county +of Norfolk, and at Simcoe was presented with an address by the School +Board. On his return to Toronto he was presented with an address and a +silver tea service by the officials of the Education Department and the +teachers of the Normal School. + +In 1853, Ryerson took advantage of an annual grant made by the +Legislature in 1850 to establish public libraries throughout the +Province. Before the end of 1855 no less than 117,000 volumes were +distributed. In 1854 Ryerson was one of the Commissioners to prepare a +report on a system of education for New Brunswick. In June, 1855, being +in poor health, he got leave of absence to travel in Europe and to +purchase objects of art for an educational museum. He was appointed +Honorary Commissioner to the Paris Exposition by the Government. During +his tour he visited London, spent several weeks in Paris, and made brief +visits to Antwerp, Brussels, Munich, Florence, and Rome. + +In 1857, a new system of audit was adopted by the Government. Previous +to this time the total money voted for schools for Upper Canada had been +paid over to Ryerson. He gave bondsmen as security for the money and +deposited it in the Toronto banks. Interest allowed on unexpended +balances was credited to his personal account. This system seems to have +been universal among officers in charge of public money at that time. +But in 1857 the new auditor called in question Ryerson's right to this +interest. After much wrangling, Ryerson paid over to the Government +£1,375, being the amount he had received for interest. He then put in a +claim of about the same amount for his expenses to Europe in 1844, and +for amounts paid a deputy during his absence. The Government paid his +claim, thus showing that they believed him morally entitled to the +interest which he had repaid. + +In 1860, Ryerson made a three months' educational tour, addressing +County Conventions. In all, he attended thirty-five meetings, giving +addresses on the subjects of "Vagrant Children," "Free Schools," and +"Public Grammar Schools." He was given a public dinner by the teachers +of Northumberland and Durham on the occasion of his official visit to +Cobourg. In 1866 he made a similar tour, addressing forty meetings in +seven weeks. His chief object was to create public opinion in favor of +legislation on compulsory attendance, public libraries and township +Boards of Trustees. Later in the same year he again got permission to +visit Europe for the purpose of adding to the museum and collecting +information on schools for the deaf, dumb, and blind. He visited New +York, London, Paris, Rome, Venice, and Geneva, returning in 1867. On his +return he presented to the Legislature an elaborate report on education +in Great Britain and European countries. In December, 1868, Ryerson +tendered his resignation, suggesting that a responsible Minister of +Education should be appointed and proposing that he himself should be +superannuated. The resignation was not accepted. + +In 1869 he held another series of County Conventions. In the same year +he wrote a letter to the Provincial Secretary, Hon. M. C. Cameron, +reflecting on the action of Treasurer E. B. Wood in regard to a proposed +change in the financial management of the Education Department. +Ryerson's letter was indiscreet and would have led to his dismissal had +he not withdrawn it. In 1872 the long-smouldering dissatisfaction of the +Reform party with Ryerson's administration came to a head. The +Honourable Edward Blake was Premier, and his Government disallowed some +of Ryerson's regulations, questioned the authority of the Council of +Public Instruction, and sought in many ways to curtail the +Superintendent's power. Ryerson showed very little desire for +conciliation and wished to refer the dispute to the Courts. He had so +long and so successfully wielded an arbitrary power that he could not +acquiesce in the system which made his Department subordinate to a +responsible Cabinet. In 1873, Oliver Mowat became Attorney-General, and +he, too, found Ryerson obdurate. Finally, as a result of this agitation, +the Council of Public Instruction came to be composed partly of members +elected by various bodies of teachers and partly by members appointed +by the Cabinet. These latter were not recommended by the Superintendent, +as had formerly been the custom. Friction over the Council continued +during 1874 and 1875. + +In 1876, Ryerson was retired on his full salary of $4,000 a year. The +following May he went to England to consult documents in the library of +the British Museum bearing on his work, "The Loyalists of America." He +enjoyed fairly good health until within a few months of his death, which +occurred on February 19th, 1882. The Government recognized his valuable +services by a grant of $10,000 to his widow. On the 24th of May, 1889, a +statue to his memory was unveiled on the grounds of the Education +Department, the scene of his labours for nearly forty years. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +_EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA FROM 1783 TO 1844._ + + +Immediately after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1783, +United Empire Loyalists began to make homes in Upper Canada. The Great +Lakes and larger rivers were the natural highways. It happened, +therefore, that the earliest settlements were along the St. Lawrence, +the Niagara, and Lakes Erie and Ontario. + +For a few years these settlers were too busy to think very much about +schools. Man's first wants are food, clothing, and shelter. But just as +soon as rude homes were built and a patch of forest cleared upon which +to grow grain and vegetables, these Upper Canadian Loyalists began to +think of schools. It was natural that they should do so. They were +descendants of an intelligent stock, people who had good schools in New +England and of a people whose forefathers had enjoyed liberal +educational advantages in the old world. + +Governor Simcoe reached Upper Canada in 1792, and almost immediately +took steps to establish schools. He was an aristocrat who firmly +believed in such a constitution of society as then existed in the old +world. He naturally wished to see a reproduction of that society in the +new world. Hence we are not surprised to find that his educational +schemes were intended for the classes rather than for the masses. In a +letter[10] written by Simcoe, April 28th, 1792, to the British Secretary +of State, he urges grants of £100 each for schools at Niagara and +Kingston. He also proposed a university with English Church professors. + +[10] See D. H. E. ("Documentary History of Education," by Dr. Hodgins), +Vol. I., p. 11. + + +In 1797, the House of Assembly and Legislative Council adopted an +address to the King praying him to set apart waste lands of the Crown +for the establishment of a respectable grammar school in each District, +and also for a college or university. In answer to this petition, the +Duke of Portland wrote saying that His Majesty proposed to comply with +the request and wished further advice as to the best means of carrying +it out. + +The Executive Council, the Judges and law officers of the Crown met in +consultation in 1798 and recommended that 500,000 acres of waste Crown +lands be set apart to build a provincial university, and a free grammar +school in each of the four Districts. Grammar schools were to be built +at once at Kingston and at Niagara, and, as soon as circumstances would +permit, at Cornwall and at Sandwich. The university was to be at York. +It was estimated that each grammar school would cost £3,000 to build and +£180 a year to maintain. The schools were to accommodate one hundred +boys each, and have a residence for the master, with some rooms for +boarders.[11] No steps were taken to carry out these plans until after +1807. + +[11] See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 21. + + +Several private schools were opened prior to 1800. The chief of these +were at Newark, York, Ancaster, Cornwall, Kingston, Adolphustown, St. +Catharines, and Belleville. Some were evening schools. All were +supported by fees. Many were taught by clergymen. The principal subjects +were reading, writing, and arithmetic. + +On December 17th, 1802, Dr. Baldwin, of York, the father of Hon. Robt. +Baldwin, issued the following notice;--[12] + + "Understanding that some of the Gentlemen of this Town have + expressed much anxiety for the establishment of a Classical School, + Dr. Baldwin begs leave to inform them and the Public that he + intends, on Monday, the third day of January next, to open a school, + in which he will instruct twelve boys in Reading, Writing, the + Classics, and Arithmetic. + + "The terms are for each boy, Eight Guineas per annum, to be paid + quarterly. One guinea entrance and one cord of wood to be supplied + by each boy." + +[12] See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 33. + + +John Strachan, afterwards Bishop Strachan, opened a private school at +Kingston in 1799. Later he opened one at Cornwall, and still later one +at York. Attempts to open a public school in each District were defeated +in the Legislature in 1804 and 1805. In 1806 the sum of £400[13] was +appropriated to purchase scientific apparatus. + +[13] This £400 worth of apparatus was promptly handed over to Mr. +Strachan by the Lieutenant-Governor. Mr. Strachan at this time had a +private school at Cornwall. It seems quite evident that the apparatus +was purchased purposely for his school and at his suggestion. See D. H. +E., Vol. I., p. 155. + + +In 1807, the Legislature took steps to carry out the plan proposed in +1797. There were by this time eight Districts in Upper Canada--Eastern, +Johnstown, Midland, Newcastle, Home, Niagara, London, and Western. The +sum of £800 was fixed as an annual appropriation to support "a Public +School in each and every District in the Province." This meant £100 for +each school or teacher. The Legislature also fixed the places where the +schools were to be held. The Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council was to +appoint not less than five trustees[14] for each District school. These +trustees were given almost absolute control over the management of the +schools. + +[14] See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 61. + + +It must not be supposed that these schools were public schools in the +sense we now attach to that term. Their founders had in mind the great +English public school, whose curriculum was largely classical and whose +benefits were confined to the wealthy. These schools were not in any +sense popular schools. It would seem that Governor Simcoe's proposal in +1798 was to have "Free Grammar Schools."[15] But those established by +the Act of 1807 levied considerable sums in fees. They were designed to +educate the sons of gentlemen. They were to prepare for professional +life. They were essentially for the benefit of the ruling classes. They +were largely controlled by Anglicans,[16] and in many cases the teachers +were Anglican clergymen. + +[15] See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 20. + +[16] In 1830, when the United Presbytery of Upper Canada petitioned the +Legislature against appointing so many Anglicans as trustees of grammar +schools, the only reply was that Anglicans had not always been +appointed. + + +If these schools were not public schools as we now use the term "public +school," neither were they high schools as we now use that term. The +curricula had no uniformity. Each school was a law unto itself and +depended almost wholly upon the teacher. If he were scholarly and +earnest the school would accomplish much. Often very young boys who +could scarcely read were admitted. In some schools a fine training in +classics was given; in others even the elements of a common education +were neglected. + +But although these schools were not for the mass of the people, their +establishment was none the less an event of far-reaching importance. It +was a decided advantage to the mass of the people that their rulers +should have some educational advantages. No one can read the lists of +names of men educated in these schools and afterwards prominent in +Canadian public life without recognizing that their establishment was a +blessing to the whole of Canada. They were caste schools, but they kept +alive the torch of learning and civilization. Being founded out of +public funds, there was created an interest in their welfare among the +members of the Legislative Assembly. As years went on and the members of +the Assembly came to really represent the people of Upper Canada, they +were led to extend to all of the people such educational advantages as +had been granted to a section of the people in 1807. + +Several efforts were made to repeal the Act of 1807 and substitute for +it one of a more popular nature. These efforts were baffled either by +the Legislative Council or through the influence of that body in the +Assembly itself. A petition[17] presented by sixty-five residents of the +Midland District to the Legislature of 1812 will give a fair idea of +the state of feeling throughout Upper Canada in regard to education: +"Your petitioners ... feel themselves in duty bound to state that 'An +Act to establish Public Schools in each and every District of this +Province' is found by experience not to answer the end for which it was +designed. Its object, it is presumed, was to promote the education of +our youth in general, but a little acquaintance with the facts must +convince every unbiased mind that it has contributed little or nothing +to the promotion of so laudable a design. By reason of the place of +instruction being established at one end of the District, and the sum +demanded for tuition, in addition to the annual compensation received +from the public, most of the people are unable to avail themselves of +the advantages contemplated by the institution. A few wealthy +inhabitants, and those of the Town of Kingston, reap exclusively the +benefit of it in this District. The institution, instead of aiding the +middling and poorer class of His Majesty's subjects, casts money into +the lap of the rich, who are sufficiently able, without public +assistance, to support a school in every respect equal to the one +established by law.... Wherefore, your petitioners pray, that so much of +the Act first mentioned may be repealed, and such provisions made in the +premises as may be conducive to public utility." + +[17] See Journals of Legislature of Upper Canada for 1812. + + +A repeal bill of the Act of 1807 was passed by the Legislative Assembly +of 1812, but thrown out by the Legislative Council. The Act of 1807 +limited the schools to one for each District. This was unsatisfactory +even to that class for whom the schools were especially designed. As the +country made progress and became more thickly populated, eight schools +were a wholly inadequate provision for the education of those requiring +it. But the Legislative Assembly steadily resisted any attempt to +enlarge the scope of these class schools. Perhaps it was owing to their +resistance that in 1816 they secured the consent of the Legislative +Council to a really forward movement in elementary education. + +But it would be a serious mistake to infer that the educational +machinery of Upper Canada previous to 1816 was limited to these eight +District Grammar Schools. What the Government failed to provide, private +enterprise secured. More than two hundred schools were certainly in +operation in 1816. These schools were maintained partly by subscriptions +from well-to-do people and partly by fees collected from the pupils. In +many cases they were private ventures, conducted by teachers who +depended wholly upon fees. In some cases these schools were of a high +order, perhaps superior to the District Grammar Schools; in other cases, +probably in the large majority of cases, they were very inefficient. +The average fees paid by pupils in the elementary schools were about +twelve shillings per quarter. + +William Crooks, of Grimsby, writing to Gourlay, in January, 1818, +says:[18] "The state of education is also at a very low ebb, not only in +this township but generally throughout the District; although the +liberality of the Legislature has been great in support of the District +Grammar Schools (giving to the teachers of each £100 per annum) yet they +have been productive of little or no good hitherto, for this obvious +cause, they are looked upon as seminaries exclusively instituted for the +education of the children of the more wealthy classes of society, and to +which the poor man's child is considered as unfit to be admitted. From +such causes, instead of their being a benefit to the Province, they are +sunk into obscurity, and the heads of most of them are at this moment +enjoying their situations as comfortable sinecures. Another class of +schools has within a short time been likewise founded upon the +liberality of the Legislative purse denominated as Common or Parish +Schools, but like the preceding, the anxiety of the teacher employed +seems more alive to his stipend than the advancement of the education of +those placed under his care; from the pecuniary advantages thus held +out we have been inundated with the worthless scum, under the character +of schoolmasters, not only of this but of every other country where the +knowledge has been promulgated of the easy means our laws afford of +getting a living here, by obtaining a parish school." + +[18] See Gourlay's "Statistical Account of Upper Canada." Pages 433-434 +of Vol. I. Published by Simpkin & Marshall, London, Eng., 1822. + + +The Common or Parish Schools referred to in this letter were the result +of the legislation of 1816, a red-letter year in school affairs because +it saw the first attempts in Upper Canada to give schools under public +control to the common people. The sum of $24,000 a year was appropriated +for four years to establish Common Schools. The law provided that the +people of any village, town or township might meet together and arrange +to establish one or more schools, at each of which the attendance must +be not less than twenty. Three suitable trustees were to be chosen to +conduct the school, appoint teachers, and select textbooks from a list +prescribed by a District Board of Education. The Legislature authorized +payments to each of these schools of a sum not exceeding £100. The +balance needed to maintain the school had to be made up by +subscriptions. + +In 1819 the Grammar School Act of 1807 received some slight amendments. +The grant of £100 per school was reduced to £50 for new schools, except +where the number of pupils exceeded ten. A new school was authorized +for the new Gore District, at Hamilton. Trustee Boards were required to +present annual reports to the Lieutenant-Governor and to conduct an +annual public examination. But the most important change was provision +for the free education of ten poor children at each District Public +School. These children were chosen by lot from names submitted by +Trustee Boards of Common Schools. + +In 1822 the Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, on his own responsibility, +had established in Toronto a school known as the Upper Canada Central +School, formed on the plan of the British National Schools, which had +been established in Britain by Rev. Dr. Bell. These schools were +decidedly Anglican in tone, and that established in Toronto was at the +instigation of Rev. Dr. Strachan.[19] In a despatch to Earl Bathurst, +Colonial Secretary in 1822, Governor Maitland said:[20] "It is proposed +to establish one introductory school on the national plan in each town +of a certain size. It is supposed that a salary of £100 per annum to the +master of each such school would be sufficient. The number of these +schools may be increased as the circumstances of the Province may +require and the means allow." + +[19] See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 176. + +[20] See copy of despatch in D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 179. + + +In answer, the Earl of Bathurst, under date of October 12th, 1823, +says:[21] "I am happy to have it in my power to convey to you His +Majesty's consent that you appropriate a portion of the Reserves set +apart for the establishment of a University for the support of schools +on the National [Church of England] plan of education." This action +established one school, and had in contemplation the establishment of +others under the direct control of the Governor and his Council. The +Legislative Assembly naturally resented the action, and for two reasons. +They objected to the disposal of any Crown property other than upon +their authority. They objected to anything being done that would lessen +the resources of the proposed University. + +[21] See copy of despatch in D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 179. + + +A side-light upon education in Upper Canada is furnished by Mr. E. A. +Talbot, who published a series of letters upon Upper Canada in London, +1824. I quote from Letter XXX: "The great mass of the [Canadian] people +are at present completely ignorant even of the rudiments of the most +common learning. Very few can either read or write; and parents who are +ignorant themselves, possess so slight a relish for literature and are +so little acquainted with its advantages, that they feel scarcely any +anxiety to have the minds of their children cultivated.... They will not +believe that 'knowledge is power,' and being convinced that it is not +in the nature of 'book-learned skill' to improve the earnestness of +their sons in hewing wood or the readiness of their daughters in +spinning flax, they consider it a misapplication of money to spend any +sum in obtaining instruction for their offspring. Nothing can afford a +stronger proof of their indifference in this respect than the +circumstance of their electing men to represent them in the Provincial +Parliament, whose attainments in learning are in many instances +exceedingly small, and sometimes do not pass beyond the horn-book. I +have myself been present in the Honourable the House of Assembly when +some of the members, on being called to be Chairmen of Committees, were +under the disagreeable and humiliating necessity of requesting other +members to read the bills before the Committee, and then, as the +different clauses were rejected or adopted, to request these, their +proxies, to signify the same in the common mode of writing." + +In 1823 there was established a General Board of Education, consisting +of: The Hon. and Rev. John Strachan, D.D., Chairman; Hon. Jos. Wells, +M.L.C.; Hon. G. H. Markland, M.L.C.; Rev. Robert Addison; John Beverley +Robinson, Esq., Attorney-General; Thomas Ridout, Esq., Surveyor-General. +The same session of the Legislature set apart £150 as an annual grant +for purchasing books and tracts designed to afford moral and religious +instruction. + +By the creation of a General Board of Education, Rev. Dr. Strachan +became very prominently identified with education in Upper Canada. No +man was better qualified through zeal, practical knowledge, and a +genuine interest in higher education. He had been made an honorary +member of the Executive Council in 1815, and an active member in 1817. +In 1820 he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council. Being a +prominent Churchman, an experienced and successful teacher, and residing +at York, he was naturally consulted by successive Governors on +educational matters. Strachan was an uncompromising Churchman with +ritualistic tendencies, and in politics a Tory of the George III. +school. He had neither faith in, nor sympathy for, a democracy. He +accepted things as he found them, and wished to preserve them so. He +could conceive of no more perfect state of society for the new world +than that which he left behind him in the old. He firmly believed in +education of the most noble kind for gentlemen, but it is doubtful if he +recognized the right of every man to the highest possible cultivation of +his intellectual powers. He would have looked upon such a plan as +subversive of the existing orders of society. At any rate he never +evinced any passion for popular education except that moral and +religious education given under the ægis of an Established Church. On +the other hand, no man in Canada had a more sincere desire to foster +higher institutions of learning, and it had from the very first been +Strachan's plan that the District Grammar Schools should be feeders for +a Provincial University, and now, in 1824, when he became virtually head +of educational affairs in Upper Canada, he determined to carry his +scheme to a successful issue. + +There were serious difficulties. An endowment had been provided for a +university by the Crown grant in 1797, but it was at this time almost +worthless. It consisted of blocks of land, containing several townships, +in remote parts of the Province. The lands were good, but so long as the +Government had free lands to give incoming settlers, the school lands +were not in demand. Besides these school or university lands, there were +other lands in possession of the Crown. The original surveyor reserved +two-sevenths of all land. One-seventh was the reserve for a "Protestant +Clergy," which eventually caused so much strife and ill-feeling. The +other seventh was known as the Crown Reserve. In many cases this Crown +Reserve was becoming valuable, even in 1824, because of the labour of +settlers who owned adjoining farms. Much of the Crown Reserve was under +lease and giving a more or less certain revenue. Strachan conceived a +bold and successful plan. He suggested to Sir Peregrine Maitland that +for grants to new settlers the school lands were worth as much to the +Government as the Crown Reserves. Why not exchange school lands for an +equal area of Crown Reserve land? The matter was put before the Home +Government, and in 1827 a favourable reply was given. The result was +that the University got 225,944 acres of land, distributed throughout +every District in Upper Canada, but having more than one-half its total +area in the Home, Gore, and London Districts, the wealthiest and most +populous parts of Upper Canada. The Commissioners, appointed in 1848 by +Lord Elgin to enquire into the affairs of King's College, state (pages +16 and 17): "The Crown Reserves thus converted into the University +Endowment, consisted of lands in various parts of Upper Canada in actual +or nominal occupation under lease, at rate of rental fixed by a certain +scale established by the Provincial Government, and a large proportion +of the lots were in an improved or cultivated state." + +In March, 1826, Rev. Dr. Strachan submitted to the Lieutenant-Governor a +very able and comprehensive report[22] showing why a university ought at +once to be established. The report gives an interesting and authentic +summary of the state of education in Upper Canada at that time. "The +present state of Education in this Province consists of Common Schools +throughout the Townships, established under several Acts of the +Provincial Legislature, and which are now, by the exertions of Your +Excellency, placed on an excellent footing, requiring no other +improvements than the means of multiplying their number, which, no +doubt, will be granted as the finances of the Province become more +productive. In about three hundred and forty Common Schools established +in the different Districts of the Colony, from seven to eight thousand +children are taught reading and writing, the elements of arithmetic, and +the first principles of religion; and when it is considered that the +parents commonly send their children in rotation--the younger in summer +when the roads are good, and the older in winter--it is not too much to +say that nearly double this number, or from twelve to fourteen thousand +children, profit annually by the Common Schools. The consequence is that +the people, scattered as they are over a vast wilderness, are becoming +alive to the great advantage of educating their children, and are, in +many places, seconding, with laudable zeal, the exertions of the +Legislature, and establishing schools at their own expense. + +[22] See copy in D. H. E., Vol. I., pp. 211-213. + + +"Provision is made by law for the translation of some of the more +promising scholars from the Common to the District Schools, where the +classics and practical mathematics are taught. In these schools, eleven +in number, there are at present upwards of 300 youth acquiring an +education to qualify them for the different professions; and, although +they can seldom support more than one master, several of the young +gentlemen who have been brought up in them are now eminent in their +professions, and would, by their talents and high principles, do credit +to seminaries of greater name. But the period has arrived when the +District Schools [Grammar Schools] will become still more useful by +confining themselves to the intention of their first establishment, +namely, nurseries for a University--an institution now called for by the +increased population and circumstances of the Colony, and most earnestly +desired by the more respectable inhabitants. + +"There is not in either Province any English Seminary above the rank of +a good school, at which a liberal education can be obtained. Thus the +youth of nearly 300,000 Englishmen have no opportunity of receiving +instruction within the Canadas in Law, Medicine, or Divinity. The +consequence is that many young men coming forward to the learned +professions are obliged to look beyond the Province for the last two +years of their education--undoubtedly the most important and critical of +their lives. Very few are able on account of the great expense to go to +England or Scotland; and the distance is so great and the difficulties +so many that parental anxiety reluctantly trusts children from its +observation and control. The youths are, therefore, in some degree, +compelled to look forward to the United States, where the means of +education, though of a description far inferior to those of Great +Britain, are yet superior to those within the Province, and a growing +necessity is arising of sending them to finish their education in that +country. Now, in the United States, a system prevails unknown to, or +unpractised by, any other nation. In all other countries morals and +religion are made the basis of future instruction, and the first book +put into the hands of children teaches them the domestic, social, and +religious virtues; but in the United States politics pervade the whole +system of instruction. The school books from the very first elements are +stuffed with praises of their own institutions and breathe hatred to +everything English. To such a country our youth may go, strongly +attached to their native land and all its establishments, but by hearing +them continually depreciated and those of America praised, these +attachments will, in many, be gradually weakened, and some may become +fascinated with that liberty which has degenerated into licentiousness +and imbibe, perhaps unconsciously, sentiments unfriendly to things of +which Englishmen are proud.... + +"The establishment of a University at the seat of Government will +complete a regular system of education in Upper Canada from the letters +of the alphabet to the most profound investigations of science.... In +regard to the profession of medicine it is melancholy to think that more +than three-fourths of the present practitioners have been educated or +attended lectures in the United States.... There are, as yet, only +twenty-two clergymen in Upper Canada, the greater number from England. +It is essential that young men coming forward to the Church should be +educated entirely within the Province, but for this there is no +provision.... But the wants of the Province are becoming great, and +however much disposed the elder clergy may be to bring forward young men +to the sacred profession, they have neither time nor means of doing it +with sufficient effect. There can be nothing of that zeal, of that union +and mutual attachment, of that deep theological and literary enquiry and +anxiety to excel, which would be found among men collected at the +University, and here it is not irrelevant to observe that it is of the +greatest importance that the education of the Colony should be conducted +by the clergy. + +"Nothing can be more manifest than that this Colony has not yet felt the +advantage of a religious establishment. What can twenty-two clergymen +do, scattered over a country of nearly six hundred miles in length? Can +we be surprised that, under such circumstances, the religious benefits +of the ecclesiastical establishment are unknown, and sectaries of all +descriptions have increased on every side? And when it is further +considered that the religious teachers of all other Protestant +denominations, a very few respectable ministers of the Church of +Scotland excepted, come almost universally from the Republican States of +America, where they gather their knowledge and form their sentiments, it +is evident that if the Imperial Government does not step forward with +efficient help, the mass of the population will be nurtured and +instructed in hostility to all our institutions, both civil and +religious.... From all which it appears highly expedient to establish a +university at the seat of Government, to complete the system of +education in the Colony at which all the branches requisite for +qualifying young men for the learned professions may be taught.... The +principal and professors, except those of Medicine and Law, should be +clergymen of the Established Church; and no tutor, teacher, or officer +who is not a member of that Church should ever be employed in the +institution." + +I have given this long quotation from Rev. Dr. Strachan's report for +several reasons. It shows very clearly the point of view of a remarkable +man who had much to do with educational affairs in Upper Canada for a +period of nearly seventy years. It shows his zeal for higher education, +his belief in the efficacy of a religious establishment, his narrow +bigotry and intolerance of all outside of an establishment, his +old-world belief that the clergy should control education, his loyal +attachment to British institutions, and above all, to those who read +between the lines, his lack of real interest in elementary education. He +is perfectly satisfied with the state of the Common Schools, although +they were then accommodating less than one in twenty of the total +population. The schools of which he says, "which are now, by the +exertions of Your Excellency, placed on an excellent footing, requiring +no other improvements than the means of multiplying their number," were +conducted in rude buildings, without any apparatus, with a motley +assortment of textbooks, and taught in many cases by ignorant itinerant +schoolmasters who were of no use at any other occupation, and who +received from $80 to $200 a year! Little can ever be expected in the way +of improvement from those who are wholly satisfied with present +conditions, and it is safe to say that any improvements that took place +in the Common Schools of Canada under the _régime_ of the Rev. Dr. +Strachan were owing to other causes than the efforts put forth by that +gentleman. The Common Schools of Upper Canada had to wait for a new +birth--until Ryerson breathed life into them. + +Rev. Dr. Strachan's Report is interesting for another reason--it deals +with the proposed King's College and its relations with what Dr. +Strachan calls the "religious establishment" in Canada. This "religious +establishment" was to have as its basis the one-seventh of all lands in +Upper Canada as provided for by the Constitutional Act of 1791. Now +these two things, the Clergy Reserves and King's College, caused more +trouble to the Canadian Legislature and engendered more bitter feeling +among the people of Upper Canada than any other two questions that ever +were debated in the Parliament of Upper Canada, or in the Parliament of +the united Canadas. In the Parliamentary struggle over both these +questions the Rev. Dr. Strachan was an active and valiant leader of the +party of privilege, and among those who led the opposing forces to a +final victory none was more courageous or more successful than Dr. +Ryerson. + +Dr. Strachan went to England in 1826 to use his personal influence +towards securing a Royal Charter for a University. He there issued an +appeal to the English people for aid on the ground that the proposed +College would be largely occupied in educating clergymen for the +Anglican Church.[23] A Royal Charter, making the proposed university a +close corporation under the control of Anglican clergymen, was obtained. +Besides granting the charter the British Government made a grant toward +buildings of £1,000 a year for sixteen years. + +[23] See "An Appeal to the Friends of Religion and Literature in behalf +of the University of Upper Canada." By John Strachan, Archdeacon of +York, Upper Canada, 1826. + + +When the Legislative Assembly met in 1828 several members presented +numerously signed petitions praying for definite information about the +newly granted charter of King's College. The Governor sent down a copy +of the charter which was referred to a select committee. The committee +protested against the nature of the charter in that the university was +to become an Anglican institution, supported out of public funds. This +they thought unjust, inasmuch as only a small proportion of the settlers +of Upper Canada were Anglicans.[24] The committee also drafted an +address to His Majesty the King. This address was adopted by the +Assembly, and immediately despatched to His Majesty by the Governor. The +address was courteous and loyal in tone, but the exact condition of +affairs in Canada was made clear. The King was petitioned to cancel the +charter to King's College, and grant one that would make possible a +university for all classes. This address to His Majesty and the protest +of the Assembly of Upper Canada attracted the attention of a select +committee of the Imperial Parliament. This committee[25] reported +against that part of the Charter which required religious tests. George +Ryerson, of Canada, gave valuable evidence before this committee +relative to Canadian affairs. It seems doubtful whether His Majesty's +advisers, when the King's College charter was given, were really made +aware of the conditions of society in Canada. Those Canadians who had +the ears of His Majesty's advisers were, for the most part, interested +in forming and strengthening an Anglican Establishment. + +[24] See Journals of House of Assembly for Upper Canada, 1828. + +[25] See Report made 22nd July, 1828, by Select Committee of House of +Commons, appointed to inquire into the State of Civil Government in +Canada. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +_EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA FROM 1783 TO 1844--(Continued)._ + + +Late in the year 1828, Sir Peregrine Maitland was replaced as +Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada by Sir John Colborne. About the same +time Sir George Murray, who had acted as Administrator of the Government +of Upper Canada in 1815, and who consequently knew something of Canadian +affairs, became Colonial Secretary in the Imperial Parliament. In +acknowledging receipt of the petition to His Majesty of the Assembly of +Upper Canada protesting against the King's College charter, Sir George +Murray, in a communication to Sir John Colborne, said:[26] "It would be +deservedly a subject of regret to His Majesty's Government, if the +University, recently established at York, should prove to have been +founded upon principles which cannot be made to accord with the general +feelings and opinions of those for whose advantage it was intended.... I +have observed that your predecessor (Sir Peregrine Maitland) in the +Government of Upper Canada differs from the House of Assembly as to the +general prevalence of objections to the University founded upon the +degree of exclusive connection which it has with the Church of England. +It seems reasonable to conclude, however, that on such a subject as this +an address adopted by a full House of Assembly, with scarcely any +dissentient voices,[27] must be considered to express the prevailing +opinion in the Province upon this subject. + +[26] See copy of Sir George Murray's letter in D. H. E., Vol. I., pp. +257 and 258. + +[27] The vote stood 21 for and 9 against. + + +"In the event, therefore, of its appearing to you to be proper to invite +the Legislative Council and House of Assembly to resume the +consideration of this question, you will apprise them that their +representations on the existing charter of the University have attracted +the serious attention of His Majesty's Government and that the opinion +which may be expressed by the Legislative Council and House of Assembly +on that subject will not fail to receive the most prompt and serious +attention." + +Shortly after the receipt of this communication Sir John Colborne, as +Chancellor of King's College, convened the College Council and declared +that no immediate steps were to be taken toward active University work, +and that not one stone should be put upon another until certain +alterations had been made in the charter. + +In 1829 the Chairman of the General Board of Education, Rev. Dr. +Strachan, presented to the Legislative Assembly his first annual report. +It is an able and very suggestive document. It showed 372 pupils[28] in +the eleven Grammar Schools, and 401 Common Schools with 10,712 pupils. +Dr. Strachan had personally visited each Grammar School during 1828, and +had incidentally learned something of the Common Schools. Referring to +Grammar Schools he says:[29] "It will be seen that in some places girls +are admitted.[30] This happens from the want of good female schools, and +perhaps from the more rapid progress which children are supposed to make +under experienced and able schoolmasters. It is to be wished, however, +that separate schools for the sexes were established, as the admission +of female children interferes with the government which is required in +classical seminaries; it is, nevertheless, an inconvenience of a +temporary nature, which will gradually pass away as the population +increases in wealth and numbers." This "inconvenience of a temporary +nature" persisted until 1868, when girls were formally admitted as +pupils in Grammar Schools. + +[28] In 1827 there were 329 pupils, of whom 8 in the Cornwall School +were girls. + +[29] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. I., pp. 266 and 267. + +[30] The Report for 1828 showed 25 girls in the eleven District +Schools. + + +Dr. Strachan pointed out very clearly in this Report that the Common +Schools could never improve very much until the teachers were better +paid. He also made an excellent practical suggestion.[31] "The +Provincial Board, therefore, would submit with all deference, that in +addition to the public allowance, even if increased beyond its present +amount, a power should be given to the Townships to assess themselves +for this special purpose." + +[31] See original Report in Appendix to Journals of Assembly, U. C., pp. +16 and 17 of Appendix on Education. + + +Here we have laid down the correct principle of support for public +schools, and one cannot but feel that had Dr. Strachan followed up this +suggestion by pressing it upon the Legislature, and by discussing it +with school-managers and the general public, he might have secured its +early adoption. + +When the Legislature convened in 1829, Sir John Colborne in the Speech +from the Throne[32] made direct reference to education as follows: "The +Public [Grammar] Schools are generally increasing, but their +organization appears susceptible of improvement. Measures will be +adopted, I hope, to reform the Royal Grammar School [the District School +at York] and to incorporate it with the University recently endowed by +His Majesty, and to introduce a system in that Seminary which will open +to the youth of the Province the means of receiving a liberal and +extensive course of instruction. Unceasing exertions should be made to +attract able masters to this country, where the population bears no +proportion to the number of offices and employments that must +necessarily be held by men of education and acquirements, for the +support of the laws and of your free institutions." + +[32] See Journals of Assembly for U. C. for 1829, p. 5. + + +This message from the Governor may require some explanation. In the +first place let us note that Sir John Colborne was an able and +enlightened man, sincerely desirous of giving to Upper Canada a +government that would be acceptable to the mass of the people. He seems +to have realized clearly that the Assembly was a fairly accurate +reflection of public opinion, and that no policy could ultimately +prevail unless it was in harmony with its wishes. His action in +arresting the working of King's College was one proof of this, although +his subsequent action in founding Upper Canada College solely on his own +responsibility showed his belief in the power of the Crown to take +independent action. He saw that the District Grammar Schools were very +inefficient and were touching the lives of an insignificant proportion +of the people of Upper Canada. He foresaw that for some years the +revenue to be derived from the endowment of King's College would not +support a very pretentious institution, and that for such an +institution, even if it were in operation, there would be very few +students prepared by previous study to profit from its courses. In his +opinion the immediate wants of the country would be better served by a +high-class school than by a university. Hence his proposal to reform the +Royal Grammar School at York and incorporate it with King's College. + +The Assembly of 1829 contained many eminent men, of whom it is +sufficient to mention Marshall Bidwell (the Speaker), William Lyon +Mackenzie, W. W. Baldwin (father of Hon. Robert Baldwin), and John +Rolph, the latter a graduate of the University of Cambridge. The +Assembly appointed a select committee on Education. This committee made +an extensive report[33] upon both District Grammar and Common Schools. +In regard to the former they were pronounced in their condemnation and +recommended their abolition. The report claimed that the District or +Grammar School Trustees, appointed by the Crown, were chosen to promote +the interests of the Anglican Church; that in many cases the schools +themselves were merely stepping-stones for the clergy of the Anglican +Church; that they were under no efficient inspection; that they were +quite as expensive to those parents who did not live immediately beside +them as much better schools in the United States; and finally that as +only 108 pupils in the whole Province were studying languages in these +schools, that their work could be done equally well by really good +Common Schools. The report lamented the low salaries of teachers in +Common Schools and suggested that no Government grants should be given +unless the managers of schools themselves raised by subscription equal +amounts. The report also protested against the payment out of public +funds of £300 a year to Rev. Dr. Strachan, as Chairman of the General +Board,[34] and against his assumption that reports of District Schools +should be made to him instead of to the Lieutenant-Governor. The report +expressed a hope that something might be done to encourage the +publication of textbooks in Canada, and concluded with expressing +approval of the Governor's plan to found a seminary of a high class, +which should be free from sectarian influences and afford advanced +instruction to the youth of Canada. + +[33] See Report in Appendix to Journals of Assembly for 1829, p. 42. + +[34] The General Board of Education had been organized by Sir Peregrine +Maitland wholly on his own authority and that of the Home Government. +The Assembly naturally refused to acknowledge any obligation to support +it with public funds. + + +Later in the session of 1829 this select committee on Education prepared +a series of resolutions which were adopted by the Assembly. The +following are the chief points in the resolutions:--[35] + +1. That the Governor, or Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, not being +amenable for his conduct to any tribunal, ought not to be Chancellor of +King's College. + +2. That it ought not to be required that the President of King's College +be a clergyman of the Anglican Church, and that he ought to be elected +or appointed for a stated term. + +3. That the Archdeacon of York ought not by virtue of his clerical +office to become President of King's College. + +4. That the President and Professors of King's College ought not to be +required to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles. + +5. That the Degree of Doctor of Divinity ought to be conferred by King's +College upon any professing Christian who passed the required +examinations in Classical, Biblical, and other subjects of learning. + +6. That wherever the charter of King's College is in any way sectarian +it should be amended. + +[35] See Appendix to Journals of Assembly of U.C. for 1829, pp. 72 and +73. + + +The Governor asked the Legislative Council to consider in what way the +charter of King's College could be amended to make it more acceptable to +the people of Upper Canada. The Council in reply recommended that +instead of the Archdeacon of York any Anglican clergyman should be +eligible for President. They also recommended that tests for the Council +be dispensed with. + +Having the sanction of the Home Government, and feeling sure of the +active support of the Assembly, Sir John Colborne immediately put in +execution his plan of forming a high-class school to replace the Royal +Grammar School at York. He caused advertisements to be inserted in the +British papers for masters. The head master was to have a house, £600 +per annum, and the privilege of taking boarders. The classical and +mathematical masters were to receive £300 a year and similar privileges. +The Assembly had suggested that the new school should be known as +Colborne College, but the name adopted was Upper Canada College. The +school opened in 1830 with a staff of seven specialists, nearly all +chosen in England. The work was carried on in the buildings of the old +Grammar School until handsome and elaborate buildings were erected on +Russell Square, north of King Street. An endowment of some 60,000 acres +from the School lands was given the new institution. It was generally +felt that the new school would, for the present, supply the want of a +university, and also make it unnecessary for Canadian youths to complete +their education in the United States. + +Before Upper Canada College had been working a year a very +numerously-signed petition was presented by some York patrons of the +school praying for some modification of the exclusively classical nature +of the programme for those boys destined for commerce and mechanical +pursuits. The Governor's attempt to give Canadians a high-class +collegiate school seemed only partially successful. The error was in +attempting to adapt to a new country a form of school that suited the +requirements of a select class in an old and highly civilized country. +Latin and Greek must be crammed into boys whether or not they had any +natural aptitude for language study, and quite irrespective of their +future occupations in life. + +The founding and liberal equipment of Upper Canada College had one +effect that might easily have been foretold. Petitions came from almost +every Grammar School District praying for endowed and well-equipped +schools similar to Upper Canada College. The petitioners resented the +concentration at York of two important institutions, Upper Canada +College and King's College, deriving support from an endowment +originally set aside to give educational facilities to the whole of +Upper Canada. + +The Assembly of 1833, through a select committee, made a minute +examination into the affairs of Upper Canada College, and passed a +resolution recommending that it be incorporated with King's College. I +give here quotations from two writers on Upper Canada College, showing +how differently things appear when viewed through different eyes. The +first is from a letter written in 1833 by Rev. Thomas Radcliffe.[36] +"Future generations will bless the memory of Sir John Colborne, who, to +the many advantages derived from the equity and wisdom of his +government, has added that of a magnificent foundation [in Upper Canada +College] for the purposes of literary instruction. The lowest salary of +any of the professors of this institution is £300 per annum, with the +accommodation of a noble brick house and the privilege of taking +boarders at £50 per annum." + +[36] See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. II., pp. 120 and 121. + + +The next is from "Sketches," published by William Lyon Mackenzie, +London, 1833. "Splendid incomes are given to the masters of the new +[Upper Canada] College, culled at Oxford by the Vice-Chancellor, and +dwellings furnished to the professors (we may say) by the sweat of the +brow of the Canadian labourer. All these advantages and others not now +necessary to be mentioned, are insufficient to gratify the rapacious +appetite of the 'Established Church' managers, who, in order to +accumulate wealth and live in opulence, charge the children of His +Majesty's subjects ten times as high fees as are required by the less +amply endowed Seminary at Quebec. They have another reason for so doing. +The College (already a monopoly) becomes almost an exclusive school for +the families of the Government officers, and the few who, through their +means, have, in York, already attained a pecuniary independence out of +the public treasury. The College never was intended for the people, nor +did the Executive endow it thus amply that all classes might apply to +the fountain of knowledge."[37] + +[37] See volume in Library of Parliament, Ottawa, pp. 190 and 191. + + +As time passed the College founded by Sir John Colborne did good work as +a secondary school for people of wealth, but all attempts to make it +popular with the mass of the people proved ineffective. The Legislature +gave it an annual grant somewhat unwillingly.[38] The buildings were +erected, and part of the annual expenses paid from advances made by the +King's College Council. + +[38] See D. H. E., Vol. III., p. 123. + + +By an Act passed in 1839[39] there was an attempt made to raise the +College to the dignity of a temporary university. This action displeased +the Council of King's College because it tended to delay the opening of +lectures in that institution. In 1849, when the Baldwin University Bill +made an independent corporation of Upper Canada College, that +institution was indebted to the University for nearly $40,000, which was +never repaid.[40] + +[39] See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 170 and 171. + +[40] For the later history of Upper Canada College see "History of Upper +Canada College," by Principal George Dickson. + + +In 1831 the Methodists began to build at Cobourg the Upper Canada +Academy, which was to be open to all religious denominations. They felt +that although Upper Canada College was non-sectarian in a legal sense, +yet, inasmuch as the principal and professors were Anglican clergymen, +the institution was essentially an Anglican College. + +At this time the Rev. Egerton Ryerson was editor of _The Christian +Guardian_ newspaper, the official organ of the Methodist Conference. In +an editorial, April, 1831, he thus refers to the proposed Upper Canada +Academy: "It is the first literary institution which has been commenced +by any body of ministers in accordance with the frequently expressed +wishes of the people of Upper Canada. The Methodist Conference have not +sought endowments of public lands for the establishment of an +institution, contrary to the voice of the people as expressed by their +representatives.... Desirous of promoting more extensively the interests +of the rising generation and of the country generally, we have resolved +upon the establishment of a Seminary of Learning--we have done so upon +liberal principles--we have not reserved any peculiar privileges to +ourselves for the education of our children; we have published the +constitution for your examination; and now we appeal to your liberality +for assistance.... On the characteristics of the system of education +which it is contemplated to pursue in the proposed Seminary, we may +observe that it will be such as to produce habits of intellectual labour +and activity; a diligent and profitable improvement of time; bodily +health and vigour, a fitness and relish for agricultural and mechanical, +as well as for other pursuits; virtuous principles and Christian morals. +On the importance of education generally we may remark, it is as +necessary as the light--it should be as common as water, and as free as +air.... Education among the people is the best security of a good +government and constitutional liberty; it yields a steady, unbending +support to the former, and effectually protects the latter. An educated +people are always a loyal people to good government; and the first +object of a wise government should be the education of the people. An +educated people are always enterprising in all kinds of general and +local improvements. An ignorant population are equally fit for, and are +liable to be, slaves of despots and the dupes of demagogues; sometimes, +like the unsettled ocean, they can be thrown into incontrollable +agitation by every wind that blows; at other times, like the +uncomplaining ass, they tamely submit to the most unreasonable +burdens.... Sound learning is of great worth even in religion; the +wisest and best instructed Christians are the most steady, and may be +the most useful. If a man be a child in knowledge he is likely to be +tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, and +often lies at the mercy of interested, designing men; the more knowledge +he has the safer is his state. If our circumstances be such that we have +few means of improvement, we should turn them to the best account. +Partial knowledge is better than total ignorance; and he who cannot get +all he may wish, must take heed to acquire all that he can. If total +ignorance be a bad and dangerous thing, every degree of knowledge +lessens both the evil and the danger."[41] + +[41] See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. II., pp. 7 and 8. + + +Ryerson wrote this when he was only twenty-eight years of age, but it +foreshadows the fundamental principles upon which he later attempted to +base a national system of education. + +It is interesting to note that in this same year the United Presbytery +of Upper Canada were discussing the establishment of a Literary and +Theological Seminary at Pleasant Bay, in Prince Edward County. This +seminary never was established, but the agitation for it led to the +founding of Queen's University, at Kingston. + +While Methodist and Presbyterian clergy were forming plans for +academies, the members of the Legislative Assembly were debating a +series of resolutions on the School Reserves and the failure of the +people of Upper Canada to secure the free Grammar Schools for which the +Crown Lands were appropriated in 1798. Several things are made plain in +these resolutions regarding the attitude of the popularly elected branch +of the Legislature. The following stand out prominently:-- + +1. That the existing Grammar Schools were wholly inadequate to perform +the work for which they were created. + +2. That the real intentions of the Crown in setting apart the immense +School Reserves in 1798 had never been carried out. + +3. That the successive Canadian Administrations had been largely +concerned in appropriating the lion's share of these Reserves for +University education. + +4. That the School Reserves of 1798, with proper management, would be +now (1831) sufficiently productive to give great assistance to education +if applied in accord with the real wishes of the people. + +5. That the money received from these School lands from time to time +ought to be paid in to the Receiver-General and disposed of only by +vote of the Legislature. + +Further protests were made against the exclusive nature of King's +College charter, and the Assembly was assured by Sir John Colborne that +some changes would be made. As a matter of fact, on the 2nd of November, +1831, Lord Goderich, the British Colonial Secretary, in a lengthy +communication to Governor Colborne, showed that His Majesty's Government +was fully seized of the situation in regard to the charter of King's +College. Lord Goderich said,[42] "I am to convey through you to the +Members of the Corporation of King's College, at the earnest +recommendation and advice of His Majesty's Government, that they do +forthwith surrender[43] to His Majesty the charter of King's College of +Upper Canada, with any lands that may have been granted them." Lord +Goderich then proceeds to intimate that a new charter will be granted by +the Legislature of Upper Canada. Lord Goderich further proceeds to give +some very sound advice concerning the necessity of mutual forbearance +among a people of diverse religious creeds. + +[42] See copy of despatch in D. H. E., Vol. II., p. 55. + +[43] This the College Council positively refused to do. + + +In the Assembly there was shown an intelligent grasp of the educational +needs of the country and a determination to secure better schools. Had +the Executive Council and Legislative Council been equally zealous in +the cause of education, the fathers and mothers of the generation which +profited from Ryerson's reforms might themselves have had the advantage +of good schools. + +The following extracts from an address to His Excellency, Sir John +Colborne, will show the temper and wishes of the Assembly: "We, His +Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Upper Canada in +Provincial Parliament assembled, most respectfully beg leave to +represent that there is in this Province a very general want of +education; that the insufficiency of the Common School fund [the total +Government grant for schools in 1831 was $11,200] to support competent, +respectable, and well-educated teachers, has degraded Common School +teaching from a regular business to a mere matter of convenience to +transient persons, or common idlers, who often teach the school one +season and leave it vacant until it accommodates some other like person +to take it in hand, whereby the minds of our youth are left without +cultivation, or, what is still worse, frequently with vulgar, low-bred, +vicious, or intemperate examples before them in the capacity of +monitors."[44] The address proceeded to state that there was urgent need +of a Government fund to secure larger grants for teachers' salaries, and +asked His Excellency to lay before the Colonial Secretary a plan to set +aside one million acres of waste land in Upper Canada for the support of +Common Schools. + +[44] See Journals of Assembly, U. C., 1831, p. 40. + + +In this Address the Assembly virtually said to the Crown, "Give us some +fixed capital as a source of revenue and we will speedily reorganize our +schools." The Assembly knew what was needed and knew how to remedy the +existing conditions, but was powerless because the Crown revenue was +subject only to the control of the Executive Council. + +The session of 1832-33[45] was very active from an educational point of +view. The Assembly was informed by His Excellency that the Crown had +consented to give over to the Legislature, for the support of Grammar +Schools, control of the 258,330 acres of School lands, being the balance +of the original grant of half a million acres made in 1798, and from +which had already been made extensive grants to endow King's College and +Upper Canada College. Much of the remainder of this land, which was now +vested in the Legislature, was not of a superior quality. It had also +been selected in township blocks and naturally had very little value +until settlements were made in surrounding townships. + +[45] The previous session, William Lyon Mackenzie had been expelled from +the Assembly because of his criticism of the Governor, in his newspaper, +the _Colonial Advocate_. It is interesting to note that Mackenzie's +criticisms of the Governor were largely based on His Excellency's +actions in regard to education. + + +The Assembly prepared an Address to His Majesty praying for a grant of +one million acres of Crown lands for the establishment and support of +Township Common Schools. As a measure of immediate relief for these +schools, a bill was passed by the two branches of the Legislature, and +assented to by His Excellency, providing for two years an additional +grant of $22,000. This sum was allotted to the several Districts, +approximately in proportion to population, but no Board of Trustees was +to receive any of this grant unless they secured for their teacher a sum +equal at least to twice the Government grant. + +The most significant feature of the session, however, was a Common +School Bill, introduced into the Assembly by Mr. Mahlon Burwell, and +read a first time. The bill proposed to repeal all previous Common +School legislation; to establish a General Board and also District +Boards of Education; to grant £10,000 to Common Schools as a Legislative +grant and to assess a further £10,000 on the rateable property of the +Districts. + +This bill, had it become law, would have anticipated Ryerson's +legislation by nearly twenty years, and it is interesting to note the +comments made upon it by that gentleman, who was at this time editor of +the _Christian Guardian_. The _Guardian_ of January 15th, 1834, +expressed a general approval of the plan of taxation but was totally +opposed to the _appointment_ of Boards of Education. After showing that +the principle of local taxation was borrowed from the New England +States, where it was working satisfactorily, Ryerson says: "The next +leading feature of the bill is the appointment of a General Board of +Education and also District Boards of Education. This is proposed to be +left to the Governor, or person administering the Government, a +proposition, in our opinion, radically objectionable. It makes the +system of education, in theory, a mere engine of the Executive, a system +which is liable to all the abuse, suspicion, jealousy and opposition +caused by despotism; and it withholds from the system of Common School +education, in its first and prominent feature, that character of common +interest and harmonious co-operation which, as we humbly conceive, are +essential to its success, and even to its acceptance with the Province. +Education is an object in which the Government, as an individual portion +of the Province, and the people at large possess, in some respects, a +common interest, consequently they should exercise a joint or common +control.... And in an equitable and patriotic administration of +Government, the more its agents and the people's agents are associated +together in promoting the common weal, the more strongly will mutual +respect and confidence and co-operation between the people and the +Government be established, the less room there will be for Executive +negligence, or partiality, or popular or local abuse; and the less +opportunity there will be for either despotic oppression or demagogue +misrepresentation." + +In 1834 there was a General Election, which resulted in the return to +the Assembly of a large majority in favour of reform principles, and +wholly opposed to the arbitrary and aristocratic ideas of the +Legislative Council. Bidwell, Rolph, and William Lyon Mackenzie were +three leading spirits in the new House. + +When the Assembly opened the Governor laid before the members a despatch +from the Colonial Office, stating His Majesty's readiness to transfer +240,000 acres in the settled townships in return for the School lands +which were in township blocks and not then saleable. + +A bill was passed by the Legislature renewing for two years, 1835 and +1836, the increased grant of £5,650 for Common Schools. + +A grant of £200 was also made to Mechanics' Institutes at York and a +grant of £100 to one at Kingston. + +Considerable time was spent in the Assembly upon two bills which were +rejected by the Executive Council. One was a bill to regulate Common +Schools which would have given them a thorough organization and made +them subject to popular control by elected Boards and Superintendents. +The Executive Council had no faith in control by the people. They +doubted whether "the respectable yeomanry of the country" were capable +of choosing suitable Superintendents. The other was a bill to amend the +charter of King's College. These amendments were designed to remove all +religious tests and to have the College governed by a Council, half of +whom were to be appointed by the Assembly and half by the Legislative +Council. The only reasons given by the Council for rejecting these +amendments were that they knew of no university so governed and that a +university must have as a basis some established form of religion. In +the meantime, while the hide-bound worshippers of European traditions +who made up the Council were delaying the active work of King's College, +the youth of Upper Canada, preparing for the learned professions, were +compelled to seek university advantages in the United States or Great +Britain. More than this, owing to the lack of advantages in their own +country, many who could otherwise have afforded it were wholly deprived +of the higher education and training necessary for the professions they +had in view. + +The Legislative Council at this time, and for many years afterwards, +made boasts of their loyalty to the Crown, and upon some occasions +arrogated to themselves and their friends a monopoly of all loyal spirit +in Upper Canada, and yet they firmly refused to surrender the charter +and endowment of King's College when requested and even urged to do so +by His Majesty's Colonial Secretary[46]. From 1831 to 1835, the Council +refused to accept any substantial amendments made in that charter +suggested by the Assembly, although Lord Goderich had, in 1831, made it +quite clear that His Majesty's Government wished the question of the +charter to be settled by the Upper Canada Legislature. + +[46] See letter of Lord Goderich of Nov. 2nd, 1831, to Sir John +Colborne. + + +When, upon the 6th of May, 1835, Sir John Colborne sent to the Colonial +Secretary the King's College Charter Amendment Bill passed by the +Assembly, he urged the immediate opening of King's College, although he +had declared to the College Council that "not one stone should be placed +upon another" until the charter was amended. It may also be gathered +from this despatch to Lord Glenelg[47] that Sir John Colborne +accompanied it with a draft of amendments which he thought would be +acceptable to both branches of the Legislature of Upper Canada. His +Lordship was too astute a politician and too thoroughly informed +concerning Canadian public opinion to be easily misled. Sir John +Colborne, as a concession to the Assembly, proposed that five out of +seven of the governing body should be permanently of the faith of the +Church of England. The other two members were to be the +Lieutenant-Governor and the Archdeacon of York! Lord Glenelg, in reply, +says: "I cannot hesitate to express my opinion that this plan claims for +the Established Church of England privileges which those who best +understand and most deeply prize her real interests would not think it +prudent to assert for her in any British Province on the North American +Continent.... I would respectfully and earnestly impress upon the +Members of both these Bodies [Assembly and Council] the expediency of +endeavouring, by mutual concessions, to meet on some common ground. +Especially would I beg the Legislative Councillors to remember that, if +there be any one subject on which, more than others, it is vain and +dangerous to oppose the deliberate wishes of the great mass of the +people, the system of national instruction to be pursued in the moral +and religious education of youth is emphatically that subject."[48] Lord +Glenelg concludes by referring the question of amending the charter back +to the Legislature of Upper Canada and states that His Majesty will act +as mediator only if the two branches of the Legislature fail to agree +and then only upon their presenting a joint Address. + +[47] See D. H. E., Vol. II., p. 214. + +[48] See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. II., pp. 213 and 214. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +_EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA FROM 1783 TO 1844--(Continued)._ + + +During the Legislative session of 1836, Sir John Colborne was replaced +by Sir Francis Bond Head as Lieutenant-Governor. It would seem that the +difference of opinion between Sir John Colborne and Lord Glenelg of the +Colonial Office was responsible for the former's asking to be recalled. +His last official act as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and one +intimately connected with educational controversy at a later date, was +to sign patents for the endowment of forty-three Anglican rectories out +of the Clergy Reserve lands. + +In the Legislature no real progress was made in education, although a +lengthy report[49] and a draft School Bill were presented by a member of +the Assembly, Doctor Charles Duncomb. This report was based on a visit +paid by Doctor Duncomb to the Eastern, Middle and Western United States. +It is interesting and emphasizes the importance of a suitable education +for women. + +[49] See Appendix to Journals of Assembly of U.C., 1836. See also +Assembly Journals for 1836, pp. 213 and 214. + +The most important event of the year in its after effects upon education +in Upper Canada was the formal opening of Upper Canada Academy[50] at +Cobourg, under a Royal Charter secured by Egerton Ryerson. + +[50] See Chapter I. + + +In resigning his position as editor of _The Guardian_, the official +organ of Methodism, Ryerson referred to the condition of education in +Upper Canada, emphasizing the supreme importance of elementary +instruction for every child in the country. It is also interesting to +note that at this date, when he had probably never dreamed of having any +official connection with elementary education, he should have touched +the very root of the problem by pointing out the utter impossibility of +making any real progress without a body of educated and trained +teachers. + +The Legislature of 1837 set at rest for a few years the vexed question +of an amendment to King's College charter. The majority of the +Legislative Council were stoutly opposed to any modifications that would +lessen the control of the Anglican Church, but they saw that public +opinion was strong enough to prevent the opening of the college until +amendments were made. They also saw that they were running a risk of +having the charter cancelled and a new one granted by the Crown. They +accordingly accepted certain amendments proposed by the Legislative +Assembly. These amendments[51] gave _ex-officio_ seats on the College +Council to the Speaker of the two branches of the Legislature and to the +Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General of Upper Canada; they removed +from members of the Council and from professors every semblance of a +religious test except the following declaration: "I do solemnly and +sincerely declare that I believe in the authenticity and Divine +Inspiration of the Old and New Testaments and in the Doctrine of the +Holy Trinity"; they removed absolutely from religious tests all students +and candidates for degrees; they made the Judges of His Majesty's Court +of King's Bench visitors instead of the Lord Bishop of Quebec, and +vested the appointment of future presidents in His Majesty instead of +conferring that office _ex-officio_ upon the Archdeacon of York. + +[51] See Journals of Assembly of Upper Canada for 1837, Legislative +Library, Toronto. + + +Steps were taken at once to place the college in a position to begin +work. A very able and comprehensive scheme[52] of studies and courses +was drawn up by the President, Dr. Strachan, and everything promised +favourably, when the Rebellion broke out and all operations were +suspended. + +[52] See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 93-98. + + +The following sketch of the Common Schools of this period, written by +Mr. Malcolm Campbell, an old teacher of Middlesex, is inserted because +it is believed to be typical of Upper Canada conditions. Mr. Campbell +began to teach in 1835:-- + +"The School Houses, during the time I taught, were built of round logs +about 14 × 16 ft., with clapboard roofs and open fireplaces. A window +sash on three sides for light, a board being placed beneath them, on +which to keep copies and slates. There were long hewn benches without +backs for seats. There were no blackboards or maps on the chinked walls. +There was a miscellaneous assortment of books, which made it very +difficult to form classes. Cobb's and Webster's Spelling-books +afterwards gave place to Mavor's. The Testament was used as a Textbook, +a supply of which was furnished by Rev. Benjamin Cronyn, afterwards +Bishop of Huron. The English Reader, and Hume and Smollett's History of +England were used by the more advanced classes. Lennie's Grammar, and +Dilworth's and Hutton's Arithmetics, and the History of Cortez' Conquest +of Mexico were used, also a Geography and Atlas, and a variety of books. +Goose-quills were used for pens, which the teacher made and mended at +least twice a day. The hours of teaching were somewhat longer than at +present, and there was no recess. The number of scholars varied from 15 +to 30, and school was kept open eight to ten months in the year with a +Saturday vacation every two weeks. Teachers, after having taught school +for some months, underwent a pretty thorough oral examination by the +District Board of Education, and were granted First, Second, or Third +Class certificates according to their merits, real or supposed. They had +the Government grant apportioned to them according to their standing. +Mr. Donald Currie, in the section west of me, drew annually $120 on the +ground of his high qualifications as well as his teaching Latin. My +share of the grant was $80. Mr. Benson east of me drew $50.... The +Government grant was what the teacher mainly depended on for cash. The +rest of his pay, which varied from $10 to $16 a month, Government grant +included, was mostly paid in "kind," and very hard to collect at that. + +"The Trustees in these early days assumed duties beyond what they now +possess. In engaging a teacher, they examined him as to his +qualifications in the three R's and as much farther as any of themselves +knew. They fixed the rate bill which each scholar should pay, usually at +a dollar and fifty cents a quarter; and any family sending more than +three scholars should go free, as well as the children of widows.... The +teacher was expected to 'board round' at that rate of pay. He usually +boarded in one or two houses near the school, doing chores morning and +evening. The Trustees assessed each scholar with half a cord of wood +during winter, which was scantily supplied; sometimes the teacher and +bigger boys went with an axe to the woods to make up the deficiency. The +trustees were to examine the school quarterly, and sign the Quarterly +Reports so that the teacher might draw the Government grant."[53] + +[53] See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 131, 132. + + +The following "Rules for the Government of Common Schools" prescribed by +the Board of Education for the Niagara District is taken from Gourley's +"Statistical Account of Upper Canada, 1817-1822," Vol. II.; Appendix, +pp. 116-119:-- + + "1. The Master to commence the labours of the day by a short prayer. + + "2. School to commence each day at 9 o'clock and five hours at least + to be given to teaching during the day, except on Saturdays. + + "3. Diligence and Emulation to be cherished and encouraged among the + pupils by rewards judiciously distributed, to consist of little + pictures and books, according to the age of the scholar. + + "4. Cleanliness and Good Order to be indispensable; and corporal + punishment seldom necessary, except for bad habits learned at + home--lying, disobedience, obstinacy and perverseness--these + sometimes require chastisement; but gentleness even in these cases + would do better with most children. + + "5. All other offences, arising chiefly from liveliness and + inattention, are better corrected by shame, such as gaudy caps, + placing the culprits by themselves, not permitting anyone to play + with them for a day or days, detaining after school hours, or during + a play afternoon, or by ridicule. + + "6. The Master must keep a regular catalogue of his scholars and + mark every day they are absent. + + "7. The forenoons of Wednesday and Saturday to be set apart for + Religious Instruction; to render it agreeable the school should be + furnished with at least ten copies of Barrows' 'Questions on the New + Testament,' and the Teacher to have one copy of the key to these + questions for his own use; the teacher should likewise have a copy + of Murray's 'Power of Religion on the Mind,' Watkin's 'Scripture + Biography,' and Blair's 'Class Book,' the Saturday Lessons of which + are well-calculated to impress religious feeling. + + "Note.--These books are confined to no religious denomination, and + do not prevent the Masters from teaching such Catechism as the + parents of the children may adopt. + + "8. Every day to close with reading publicly a few verses from the + New Testament, proceeding regularly through the Gospels. + + "9. The afternoons of Wednesday and Saturday to be allowed for play. + + "10. A copy of these Rules to be affixed up in some conspicuous + place in the School-room, and to be read publicly to the Scholars + every Monday morning by the Teacher." + +No doubt much good teaching was done in schools nominally governed by +similar codes of instruction. The teacher is always the real force in a +school and good teachers are never slaves to mechanical rules. + +These "rules," however, suggest a form of punishment that was largely +used in those days even by good teachers and has not yet been wholly +banished from the schoolroom--ridicule. Here we see it offered as an +improvement upon corporal punishment. It may have had its advantages +over the brutal punishments sometimes inflicted in the old days, but I +think Dr. Johnson was right in saying that a reasonably severe corporal +punishment was better for both teacher and pupil than either "nagging" +or ridicule. No doubt the systems of Bell and Lancaster were responsible +for the use recommended of ridicule in the Niagara District in 1820. + +One important Bill, "An Act to Provide for the Advancement of +Education,"[54] became law during the session of 1839. This Bill set +apart 250,000 acres of waste lands for the support of District Grammar +Schools, made provision for additional schools in districts where they +were needed, and provided for the erection of new buildings and +assistant masters. The Bill also placed the revenue and management of +these schools under the Council of King's College. In this way King's +College, Upper Canada College, and the District Grammar Schools--all the +machinery of higher education--were brought under central authority. + +[54] See Journals of Legislature of Upper Canada for 1839. Legislative +Library, Toronto. See also copy of bill in D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 170, +171. + + +From a careful reading of a despatch[55] sent by Sir George Arthur to +the Colonial Office, in connection with the Act referred to above, it +seems quite clear that the land grant of 250,000 acres now set apart for +District Grammar Schools was the balance of the original 549,217 acres +granted by the Crown in 1798 for the endowment of Free Grammar Schools +and a University. Thus, after forty years, the intentions of the Crown +regarding Grammar Schools were to be realized. But only in part, because +the Act of 1839 did not make the Grammar Schools free. + +[55] Reprinted in D. H. E. See Vol. III., pp. 173-183. + + +It was confidently hoped by many of the King's College Council, and +especially by the President, Rev. Dr. Strachan, that when the college +charter was amended in 1837 nothing would interfere with the immediate +execution of plans for building and opening King's College. Elaborate +plans and models of a building were prepared and sent out from England, +an architect was employed, advertisements for tenders for a building +were inserted in various newspapers, and the contract was about to be +awarded, when Sir George Arthur hurriedly convened the Council and +ordered an investigation into the finances of the College. + +His suspicions had evidently been awakened by some returns on College +affairs presented in response to an Address by the Assembly. The report +of the special audit committee[56] appointed by the Council revealed a +startling condition of affairs and incidentally a strong argument +against allowing any body or corporation to handle public funds without +an annual audit by someone responsible to Parliament. + +[56] See proceedings of King's College Council, 1837-1840. + + +The Bursar, the Hon. Joseph Wells, a prominent member of the Legislative +Council, had diverted to his own use and that of his needy friends some +£6,374, and the sum of £4,312 had been loaned to the President, Dr. +Strachan. There was in use a very primitive system[57] of book-keeping, +and on the whole just such management as might have been expected from +the close corporation which had, up to 1837, made up the King's College +Council. There was also much mismanagement of the financial affairs of +Upper Canada College. These revelations delayed building operations +until 1842. + +[57] See Report of T. C. Patrick, Vol. II., manuscript Minutes King's +College Council, pp. 68-73. + + +On December 3rd, 1839, the last session of the Legislature of Upper +Canada was opened by Charles Poulett Thompson, afterwards Lord Sydenham. +A Bill was passed granting a charter to the "University of Kingston." +When the Bill was introduced into the Assembly, the name was to be the +"University of Queen's College."[58] Why the change was made does not +seem very clear, but perhaps it was because the promoters of the Bill +were not certain that Her Majesty had given her consent to the use of +her name in the Act. The Act placed the College largely under the +control of the Presbyterian Church and wholly under control of +Presbyterians, but no religious tests were to be exacted from students +or graduates except in Divinity. The 15th section of the charter +authorized the representative of Her Majesty in Canada to pay from the +revenues of King's College a sum sufficient to establish a Chair in +Divinity. This arrangement doubtless was the result of a despatch from +the Colonial Office some years previous to the effect that any +modification of King's College charter should provide for a Divinity +Professor of the Church of Scotland. Some readers of the present day may +ask, Why not also for other religious denominations--Methodists, +Baptists, and Congregationalists? The answer is simple. The Churches of +England and Scotland were national churches in Great Britain and +Ireland. The Anglican Church in Canada in 1840 claimed to be an +Established Church, and as the Clergy Reserve controversy was then +unsettled, her claim had reasonable expectation of realization. Had her +claim been allowed, it would have strengthened any claim the +Presbyterian Church might have made also to rank as an Established +Church. + +[58] See D. H. E., Vol. III., Chap. XVI., pp. 284-299. + + +This Canadian charter to the "University of Kingston" was cancelled by +the Crown with the consent of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and a +Royal Charter issued to the "University of Queen's College." By this +Royal Charter, Queen's lost the Divinity Professorship which, by the +Canadian charter, was to be established out of King's College +foundation. The Crown had power to grant a charter but no power to +interfere with the funds of King's College, which were subject to the +Canadian Legislature. + +The Commission[59] appointed by the Legislature in 1839 to prepare a +report[60] on education gave a comprehensive account of the condition of +schools, but without throwing much new light upon them. The total number +of pupils in the District Grammar Schools was still about 300, but the +number in the Common Schools was estimated at 24,000, or about one in +eighteen of the total population. As to the nature of the schools +attended by these 24,000, there is abundant evidence to prove that they +were very inefficient. The Rev. Robt. McGill, of Niagara, says: "I know +the qualifications of nearly all the Common School teachers in this +district, and I do not hesitate to say that there is not more than one +in ten fully qualified to instruct the young in the humblest +department." The London District Board for 1839 says: "The Masters +chosen by the Common School Trustees are often ignorant men, barely +acquainted with the rudiments of education and, consequently, jealous of +any school superior to their own."[61] + +[59] The members were: Rev. John McCaul, Rev. Henry Grasett and +Secretary Harrison. + +[60] See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 243-283. Also Appendix to Journals of +Assembly for 1840. + +[61] See D. H. E., Vol. III., p. 266. + + +The Grammar Schools had been gradually improving since their +establishment, but were still very far from supplying the real needs of +the people. They had no uniformity in course of study or textbooks, and +were under no inspection. In fact, lack of supervision was the weakest +spot in the whole school system. + +Lord Durham, in his famous Report,[62] refers to education in Upper +Canada thus: "A very considerable portion of the Province has neither +roads, post offices, mills, schools, nor churches. The people may raise +enough for their own subsistence and may even have a rude and +comfortless plenty, but they can seldom acquire wealth; nor can even +wealthy landowners prevent their children from growing up ignorant and +boorish, and from occupying a far lower mental, moral and social +position than they themselves fill.... Even in the most thickly peopled +districts there are but few schools, and those of a very inferior +character; while the more remote settlements are almost entirely without +any." + +[62] See Lord Durham's Report, p. 66. + + +The Committee recommended better salaries, normal schools for training +teachers, British textbooks, an Inspector-General of Education, and a +Provincial Board of School Commissioners. Looking at the matter +three-quarters of a century later, we can see that really good schools +were not then immediately possible. Schools, like everything else, +cannot be created at command. They are the result of evolution. Upper +Canada College illustrates this. Expensive buildings were erected and +capable masters secured in England, and yet the school was not really +efficient for many years. The country was largely a wilderness. The +people were comparatively poor and their first care was to provide the +necessities of life. The sad side to the picture is that there was among +the mass of the people so little real interest in education and so +little appreciation of its worth. People will never struggle to acquire +that of which they feel no need. It seems quite clear, too, that the +struggle for civil and religious freedom and equality hindered the +development of a good school system. The latter could scarcely be +possible before the former had triumphed. The natural leaders of the +people and those who by superior attainments and education were fitted +for leadership were straining every nerve and mustering every known +resource to overthrow a corrupt oligarchy. Even among the spiritual +leaders of the people there was no unity of purpose. Instead of working +shoulder to shoulder with one another for the moral and intellectual +growth of their people, they were in many cases sapping their strength +through acrimonious and recriminating discussions of state church, +sectarianism, Clergy Reserves, endowment and grants. When once it was +finally settled that Upper Canada was to have responsible government and +that all races and all creeds were to enjoy equal civil, religious and +political rights, it was much easier to lay a solid foundation for the +development of efficient schools. + +To this nothing contributed more than the Municipal Act of 1841. It +supplied the necessary local machinery, working in harmony and in close +connection with a central government. It seemed to leave almost +everything to local initiative and local control, thus appealing to +local patriotism. In reality it gave a central authority power to direct +by laying down broad general principles, and it stirred up a maximum of +local self-effort by distributing Provincial grants. + +Sydenham's first Speech from the Throne to the Legislature of the United +Canadas in 1841 referred to the necessity of a better system of Common +Schools. During the session the Legislature passed an elaborate Act for +this purpose, and although it proved not to be of a practical nature it +showed an earnest desire on the part of the Legislature to improve the +Common Schools. The Act appropriated £50,000 per year to be distributed +among the Common Schools in proportion to the number of pupils between 5 +and 16 years of age in each district. It provided a Superintendent of +Education for the United Canadas and prescribed his duties. It +established popularly-elected Township Boards and passed certain rates +to be assessed on the ratepayers. + +The most significant feature of the Bill was that it contained the germ +which later developed into our elaborate system of Separate Schools. +Early in the session, forty petitions were presented asking that the +Bible be used in the schools. There was also a petition from Rev. Dr. +Strachan and the Anglican clergy asking that Anglican children be +educated by their own pastors and that they receive a share of public +funds for support of their schools. The Roman Catholics also petitioned +against some principles of the Common School Bill then before the House. + +These things will probably explain why the Bill as passed contained a +clause allowing any number of dissentients (not necessarily Roman +Catholics) in Township Schools to withdraw and form a school of their +own, and also a clause which created for cities and incorporated towns a +School Board, half of whom were Protestant and half of whom were Roman +Catholic. The Catholics and Protestants might work together and maintain +schools in common, or they might constitute themselves into separate +committees, each committee virtually controlling its own schools. + +Thus we see that while the Assembly were fighting to break down a system +of sectarianism in university education, they were introducing into the +Common Schools a policy that led to divisions on account of religion. + +During the session of 1841, the Upper Canada Academy at Cobourg secured +incorporation as Victoria College with university powers, and also a +grant of £500, which later was made annual. Here, too, the Legislature +was granting public money to a sectarian institution, although it should +be noted that no religious tests were to be exacted of any students, and +that five public officers, the President of the Executive Council, the +Speakers of the two branches of the Legislature, and the +Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General for Canada West were to be +_ex-officio_ visitors and members of the Victoria College Senate. + +Early in 1842, Queen's University was opened for the reception of +students. Later in the same year the corner-stone of King's College was +laid with imposing ceremony by Sir Charles Bagot, the Governor-General. +In 1843 the King's College professors began lectures. This gave three +colleges with university powers in active operation in Upper Canada in +1843. + +In May, 1842, the Governor-General appointed the Hon. Robert Jameson, +Vice-Chancellor of Upper Canada, to be Chief Superintendent of +Education, and the Rev. Robert Murray, of Oakville, to be Assistant +Superintendent for Upper Canada. Mr. Murray was a scholarly gentleman, +but possessed no special qualifications for so important an office. It +seems probable that as early as 1841 Sydenham had some thought of +giving the position to Ryerson. It also seems probable that Sir Charles +Bagot knew of this and had some communication with Ryerson in respect to +it. It is more than likely that Ryerson had been too active, both in +opposing the arbitrary acts of the Legislative Council and in promoting +the interests of his own Church, to be readily acceptable to His +Excellency's Council, nearly all of whom were Churchmen. + +It was soon discovered that the Common School Act of 1841 could never be +put into operation. It had only a single merit--good intentions. In 1843 +it was decided to amend it and enact a separate Bill for Upper and Lower +Canada. That for Upper Canada was introduced by Hon. Francis Hincks. +Speaking of the Bill[63] he says: "The principle adopted in the School +Bill of 1843 is this: The Government pays a certain amount to each +Township--the property in that Township pays an equal amount; or if the +Councillors elected by the people choose it, double the amount. This +forms the School Fund, which is divided among the school districts, the +Trustees of which raise the balance of the teacher's salary by a Rate +Bill on the parents of the children. The system is as simple as it is +just.... In framing this system, gentlemen, you will observe that, as +in all other instances, the late Ministry have divested the grant of all +local patronage. Everything has been left to the people themselves; and +I feel perfectly convinced that they will prove themselves capable of +managing their own affairs in a more satisfactory manner than any +Government Boards of Education or visiting Superintendents could do for +them. + +[63] See "Reminiscences of His Public Life," by Sir Francis Hincks, pp. +175-177. Library of Parliament, Canada. + + +"The new School Act provides also for the establishment in each Township +of a Model School--the teacher of which is to receive a larger share +than others of the School Fund, provided he gives gratuitous instruction +to the other teachers in the Township, under such regulations as may be +established. + +"There is also provision for a Model School in each county, on a similar +plan, but, of course, of a higher grade. It is left to the people +themselves or their representatives in the several municipalities, to +establish these Model Schools or not, as they deem expedient. But it is +provided that as soon as a Provincial Normal School shall be in +operation (and the system will never be complete without one) the +teachers of the Model Schools must have certificates of qualification +from the professors of the Normal School." + +This Act of 1843 is much more elaborate in its provisions than any +preceding legislation affecting Common Schools in Upper Canada. It +provided for county superintendents appointed by wardens and for +township, town or city superintendents appointed by the municipal +council. It would seem that in many points the duties of these two +classes of superintendents would conflict, as both were allowed to +examine and appoint teachers, and both were to visit schools. Every +section was to have a Board of Trustees elected by ratepayers, and to +these trustees was given charge of school property and the regulation of +course of study, including choice of textbooks. It would seem that full +local control was given except in the matter of certificating teachers +and regulating the government grant. + +Either Protestants or Roman Catholics might petition for a Separate +School on the application of ten or more resident freeholders, but such +schools when established were maintained and controlled by the same +machinery as other schools. Model Schools were to receive a larger grant +from the Legislature. A county superintendent could issue unlimited or +limited certificates, but all certificates issued by a township, town, +or city superintendent were limited to the division in which they were +issued and were valid for one year only. + +The marked weaknesses of the Act may be summed up as follows:-- + +1. Possible conflict of authority between county and local +superintendents. + +2. No uniformity of course of study or textbooks. + +3. No accepted standard of qualification for teachers. + +4. No method provided for training of teachers, as a Normal School was +merely suggested, and Model Schools were optional. + +5. No provision made to secure competent local superintendents. Any man +might be appointed. + +But with all its deficiencies the School Bill of 1843 was a proof that +the Legislature earnestly desired to promote elementary education. It +was, no doubt, felt by many public men, and especially by the Governor, +that no man was so well qualified as Ryerson to direct that system at +headquarters. To pave the way for Ryerson's appointment, Rev. Robert +Murray was made Professor of Mathematics in King's College, and in +September, 1844, Ryerson became Assistant Superintendent of Education +for Upper Canada. He was to have leave of absence for travel and for +investigation into the school systems of Europe. + +As events proved, Ryerson's appointment as Superintendent of Education +soon bore fruit in a more efficient system of Common Schools. But +university affairs were still in a state of chaos. + +The amendments to the charter of King's College made in 1837 were +disappointingly unfruitful of any practical changes. The College +remained in charge of Anglicans, and was in reality, if not in a legal +sense, a Church of England institution. The question may naturally be +asked, why did the legislation of 1837 not effect greater changes? The +answer is simple. In 1837 the seat of government was at Toronto, and the +five _ex-officio_ Government officers could easily attend meetings of +King's College Council. But after the Act of Union in 1841 the seat of +government was moved first to Kingston and later to Montreal. It then +became wholly impossible for the five lay members of King's College to +attend regular meetings in Toronto. The result was that the affairs of +King's College remained practically in the hands of the president and +professors, who made no real efforts to adapt the College to the needs +of the people of Upper Canada. Bishop Strachan, the President, could not +forget his original plans in securing the charter, and was still trying +to realize them as far as possible. In a petition which he presented to +Parliament in 1845 against the Draper University Bill, he makes his real +object very clear. He says: "Above all things, I claim from the +endowment the means of educating my clergy. This was my chief object in +obtaining the Royal Charter and the Endowment of King's College; ... and +was indeed the most valuable result to be anticipated by the +institution.... This is a point which never can be given up, and to +which I believe the faith of Government is unreservedly pledged."[64] As +time went on and the history of the Royal grant of 1798 came to be more +fully discussed and understood, the determination of the people grew +more and more fixed to secure such modifications in the King's College +Charter as would make it a national instead of a sectarian institution. + +[64] See D. H. E., Vol. V., p. 137. + + +The proposal of Baldwin, introduced in 1843, was statesmanlike, and +although it failed to pass owing to the early resignation of his +Ministry, it is interesting because it outlined in part the principles +upon which the University question was finally settled. The Bill +proposed to create a University of Toronto, and leave King's College as +a theological seminary without power to confer degrees. Queen's, +Victoria, and Regiopolis[65] were to become affiliated in connection +with Toronto University, and were to surrender their powers to confer +degrees. In return they were to receive certain grants from the King's +College endowment. Toronto University was to become the only +degree-conferring power in Upper Canada. Baldwin had the Governor's +consent to bring in this Bill, and had his Ministry remained in power +it would doubtless have passed. The Bill had the active support of +Queen's and Victoria, and the bitter opposition of Dr. Strachan.[66] + +[65] Regiopolis, a Roman Catholic college incorporated by the +Legislature in 1837, had not, at this time, degree-conferring powers. + +[66] See his petition presented to House of Assembly, 1843, against +Bill. + + +Dr. Ryerson summed up the whole situation in a reply to an eloquent and +very able argument of Hon. W. H. Draper, who appeared at the Bar of the +House of Assembly as Counsel of King's College Council, in opposition to +the Bill. Dr. Ryerson concludes as follows: "The lands by which King's +College has been so munificently endowed, were set apart nearly fifty +years ago (in compliance with an application in 1797 of the Provincial +Legislature) for the promotion of Education in Upper Canada. This was +the object of the original appropriation of those lands--a noble grant, +not to the Church of England, but to the people of Upper Canada. In 1827 +Doctor Strachan, by statements and representations against which the +House of Assembly of Upper Canada protested again and again, got 225,944 +acres of these lands applied to the endowment of the Church of England +College. Against such a partial application and perversion of the +original Provincial objects of that Royal grant the people of Upper +Canada protested; the Charter of King's College was amended to carry out +the original object of the Grant; the general objects of the amended +Charter have been defeated by the manner in which it has been +administered, and the University Bill is introduced to secure their +accomplishment; and the Council of King's College employ an advocate to +perpetuate their monopoly. The reader can, therefore, easily judge who +is the faithful advocate and who is the selfish perverter of the most +splendid educational endowment that was ever made for any new +country.... I argue for no particular University Bill; but I contend +upon the grounds of right and humanity, that Presbyterians, Methodists +and all others ought to participate equally with the Episcopalians in +the educational advantages and endowments that have been derived from +the sale of lands, which, pursuant to an application from the Provincial +Legislature, were set apart in 1797 by the Crown for the support of +Education in Upper Canada."[67] + +[67] See D. H. E., Vol. V., pp. 49-59. + + +In looking back upon the situation from our vantage-ground, covering a +lapse of nearly three-quarters of a century, we may marvel that all +parties were not ready to compromise upon the basis of a purely secular +and national university. But secular, state-owned colleges are a very +modern growth, and few men among our grandfathers had the courage to +champion such institutions. An educational institution without some +religious basis had uncanny associations. Therefore, it is not a matter +for surprise that many good men were prepared to mutilate the University +Endowment of Upper Canada, and dissipate it among sectarian colleges. +Such, to a large degree, would have been the result had the Draper Bill +of 1845 become law. + +The Draper Government made a further attempt to settle the vexed +question in 1846. John A. Macdonald (afterwards Sir John A. Macdonald) +made another unsuccessful attempt in 1847. The Hon. Robert Baldwin then +became Premier, and after securing the Report of a Commission on +University Affairs, he introduced and passed a University Bill in 1849. +This Act has been many times amended, but the final result has been to +preserve for the people of Upper Canada the University Endowment, and to +remove from the management every semblance of sectarian control. The +University has become the property and the pride of all classes, +irrespective of race, politics, or religion. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +_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 £10 to £20 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. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +_RYERSON'S SCHOOL BILL OF 1846._ + + +The year 1846 will ever be memorable in the annals of school legislation +in Upper Canada, because it established the main principles upon which +all subsequent school legislation was founded. As already pointed out, +the Act of 1843 was largely a failure because it did not provide +adequate machinery for the enforcement of its provisions. No important +school legislation was undertaken during 1845 in anticipation of +Ryerson's report. After making his report, Ryerson drafted a Bill which, +with a few trifling emendations, became the Common School Act of 1846. +It will assist us to an intelligent grasp of future legislation if we +examine this Act with some care. + +It first defined the duties of the Superintendent of Schools. He became +the chief executive officer of the Government in all school matters. He +was to apportion among the various District Councils (there were twenty +at this time) in proportion to the school population, the money voted by +the Legislature for the support of common schools (the total Legislative +grant for 1846 was £20,962 to 2,736 schools) and see that it was +expended according to the Act; he was to supply school officers with all +necessary forms for making school returns and keep them posted as to +school regulations; he was to discourage unsuitable books as texts and +for school libraries and to recommend the use of uniform and approved +texts; he was to assume a general direction of the Normal School when it +became established; he was to prepare and recommend plans for +school-houses, with proper furniture; he was to encourage school +libraries, and finally he was to diffuse information generally on +education and submit an annual report to the Governor-General. + +The Act established the first General Board of Education.[70] It was to +consist of the Superintendent of Education and six other members +appointed by the Governor-General. This Board was to manage the Normal +School, to authorize texts for schools and to aid the Superintendent +with advice upon any subject which he should submit to it. + +[70] The one in existence from 1823 to 1833 was not established by +Parliament but by the Lieutenant-Governor by the authority of the +Imperial Government. + + +The Act provided for a Normal and Model School. It required each +Municipal District Council to appoint a Superintendent of Schools. No +qualification was fixed for the District Superintendent. It would have +been useless to do so, because there were no men technically qualified +for such positions. The only thing to do was trust to the District +Council to choose the best man available. The District Municipal Council +was also instructed to levy upon the rateable property of the District a +sum for support of schools at least equal to the Legislative grant. They +were to divide each township, town or city into numbered school +sections. They were also given power by by-law to levy rates upon any +school section for the purchase of school sites, erection of school +buildings or teachers' residences in that section. + +The District Superintendents became very important officers, and upon +their learning, zeal, integrity and tact must have depended much of the +success or failure of the schools of this period. They were required to +apportion the District School Fund, consisting of the Legislative grant +and Municipal levy, among the various school sections in proportion to +the number of children between five and sixteen years of age resident in +the section, and pay these sums to the teacher on the proper order being +presented; to visit all schools in their Districts[71] at least once a +year and report on their progress and general condition; to advise +trustees and teachers in regard to school management; to examine +candidates for teachers' certificates, and grant licenses, either +temporary or permanent, to those who were proficient; to revoke licenses +held by incompetent or unsuitable teachers; to prevent the use of +unauthorized textbooks; and finally, to make an annual report of the +schools in their districts to the Chief Superintendent. + +[71] Five Districts had, in 1846, more than 200 schools each, the +average for the Province being 155 schools for each District. + + +The Act declared that all Clergymen, Judges of the District Court, +Wardens, Councillors and Justices of the Peace were to be school +visitors, with the right to visit any school or schools in their +districts except Separate Schools. They were given authority to question +pupils, conduct examinations and advise the teachers, or make reports to +the District Superintendent. They were especially charged with the duty +of encouraging school libraries. One remarkable power was conferred upon +them. Any two school visitors of a district were allowed to examine a +candidate for a teacher's license and grant such license if they saw fit +for a term not exceeding one year in a specified school. + +There are two simple explanations[72] of this clause in Ryerson's School +Act. He may have wished to interest school visitors in the schools by +giving them some power. He may have wished to create a local power to +act in an emergency if a school became vacant through any cause during a +school term. In many cases the Superintendent lived fifty to +seventy-five miles from the remote corners of his District, and with the +primitive means of communication in use at that time, it was an +advantage to have some local body with authority to license teachers. + +[72] Ryerson also gives as a reason his desire to make a gradual +transition from the old system of license by Township Boards to the new +plan of granting licenses only by the District Superintendent. See D. H. +E., Vol. VII., P. 155. + + +It is a matter for regret that at the present time the various officials +mentioned here as school visitors, as well as parents generally, are so +seldom seen inside the public schools. True, we now have trained +teachers, and teaching has so far become a profession that few school +visitors would care to question pupils, but the very presence in the +school-room from time to time of educated men and women, and especially +those occupying public positions, has a beneficial effect upon both +teachers and pupils. Pupils feel that the work of the school must be +important if it is worthy of the attention of busy and successful men. +Teachers are encouraged to make a good showing and are often hungry for +the few words of sympathy and encouragement that would naturally +accompany such visits. The school can never fully realize its function +as a social institution unless the best citizens take an active interest +in it. This was uppermost in Ryerson's mind when he penned that part of +his report relating to individual efforts in promoting the welfare of +the school.[73] + +[73] See Report in D. H. E., Vol. VI., p. 208. + + +The Act of 1846 defined in detail how school trustees were to be +elected. In all previous Acts the whole Trustee Board was elected +annually. This gave to the Board no continuity of corporate life. One +Trustee Board might have certain plans and make a certain bargain with a +teacher. The new Board might have different plans and repudiate the +contracts of its predecessor. Ryerson's Bill solved the difficulty by +having trustees elected for three years, one to retire annually. +Trustees' duties were not materially different from those of trustees +to-day except in one or two particulars. They had to raise by a rate +bill upon parents of pupils attending school such sums as were required +over and above the two school grants for payment of the teacher's salary +and the incidental expenses of the school; they were required to make +provision by which the children of indigent parents were exempted, +wholly or in part, from school rates; and they were required to select +school books from a list sanctioned by the Department of Education. In +Ryerson's draft bill he proposed that the rate bill should be levied +upon the property of the section. This would virtually have given free +schools. The Legislature of 1846 amended this clause and made the rate +bill assessable only upon parents of children in actual attendance. +Ryerson says of these rate bills:[74] "The evils of the present system +of school rate bills have been brought under my notice from the most +populous townships and by the most experienced educationists in Canada. +When it is apprehended that the rate bill in a school section will be +high, many will not send their children to the school at all--then there +is no school; or else a few give enough to pay the teacher for three +months, including the Government grant; or even after the school has +commenced, if it be found that the school is not so large as had been +anticipated, and that those who send will consequently be required to +pay more than they had expected, parents will begin to take their +children from school in order to escape the rate bill as persons would +flee from a falling house! The consequence is that the school is either +broken up, or the whole burthen of paying the teacher falls upon the +trustees, and often as a consequence a quarrel ensues between them and +the teacher. I have been assured by the most experienced and judicious +men, with whom I have conversed on the subject, that it is impossible to +have good schools under the present rate bill system. I think the +substitute I proposed will remedy the evil. I know of none who will +object to it but the rich and the childless and the selfish. Education +is a public good; ignorance is a public evil. What affects the public +ought to be binding upon each individual composing it. In every good +government and in every good system the interests of the whole society +are obligatory upon each member of it." + +[74] See D. H. E., Vol. VI., p. 76. + + +This rate bill, as authorized in 1846, was, however, an improvement on +the old one which was levied upon parents according to the actual time +of the child's attendance, whereas the Bill of 1846 levied a tax upon +the parents of children in actual attendance for at least two-thirds of +the whole school term, whether the children attended regularly or +irregularly. + +Teachers' duties were defined by the Act much as they are to-day. +District Model Schools were authorized on the same condition as in the +Act of 1843. The clauses in the Act of 1843 relating to the formation of +Separate Roman Catholic or Protestant schools were also embodied in the +Act of 1846. + +Now, what are the distinguishing features of this School Act that +reflect credit upon its author? It would be idle to pretend that there +were not in Upper Canada many able men who saw the weaknesses of the +school system as clearly as Dr. Ryerson. Ryerson's claim to distinction +rests upon the fact that he organized a system that _worked_. He not +only co-ordinated the several parts of the system, but put life into +it. This was no easy task. The people were very jealous of their power +of local control, and yet unless this local control could be subjected +to some central control, improvement was hopeless. It was here that +Ryerson did what no other man had done. He lessened local, and +strengthened central, control, and did it so gradually, so wisely, and +so tactfully, that local prejudices were soothed and in many cases the +people scarcely recognized what was being done until the thing was +accomplished. We must not suppose that all this was completed by the +legislation of 1846. It began then, but its complete evolution was the +work of a quarter-century. + +If we ask through what agency Ryerson was enabled to secure this gradual +executive strength that makes our educational machinery so effective the +answer must be--the Legislative grant. The Legislature placed the grant +at the disposal of the Superintendent for him to apportion among the +Districts. Here was a lever of wonderful power, and Ryerson was quick to +perceive its possibilities. If Districts wished a grant they must +conform to certain requirements. If school sections wished a grant from +the District Superintendent, they, too, must satisfy certain +requirements as to textbooks, qualified teachers, building and +equipment. + +No doubt the Prussian system gave Ryerson many hints on this subject, +but he knew that the Canadian spirit was very different from the docile +German spirit fostered by generations of benevolent paternalism. I +think, too, there can be no reasonable doubt that he received many +practical hints on this point from the workings of Her Majesty's +Committee on Education formed by the Imperial Parliament. The history of +the world presents no more significant illustration of how an outside +body may come to exercise an effective control over various kinds of +schools than is presented by the history of the schools of Great Britain +and Ireland and their control by Her Majesty's Government through +parliamentary grants. + +That the leaders of Canadian public opinion in the years following 1846 +saw all that was involved in Ryerson's gradual strengthening of central +control of educational affairs is made abundantly clear by the leading +editorials in the press of that period. The Toronto _Globe_, which had +been established in 1844 by the Browns, was already in 1846 the leading +exponent of advanced liberal ideas in Upper Canada. As the _Globe_ had +been bitterly opposed to Lord Metcalfe, and had resented Ryerson's +defence of him, it was not to be expected that Ryerson's appointment as +Superintendent of Education would be satisfactory to that journal, or +that his educational plans would be leniently criticised. Indeed, the +_Globe_ editor's first objection to Ryerson's Bill of 1846 was to the +great powers conferred upon the Superintendent and to the irresponsible +nature of his Commission. The following is from a _Globe_ editorial of +April 14th, 1846;[75] "We have read a draft of the new School Bill for +Upper Canada brought in by Mr. Draper. We have not been able to go over +all its claims, but it contains one objectionable principle, viz.: the +appointment and dismissal of the Superintendent is vested in the +Governor-General personally and not in the Governor-General with the +advice of his Council, as it ought to be. The whole funds from which the +school system is to derive support are raised by the people of Canada, +and the disposal of them should be subjected to the control of the House +through the Executive Council.... The powers of the Superintendent are +very great and embrace many points such as the selection of proper +books, etc. A Board of seven Commissioners to assist the Superintendent +is named, but the Governor may appoint them, or not, and the +Superintendent may take their advice, or not, and he has also power to +prevent interference at any time, for he is only to receive advice on +all measures which he may 'submit to them.' The whole of this extensive +institution, if the Bill passes, will be lodged in the Governor-General +personally and in the Superintendent, and they may work it for any +purpose that suits their views." On July 14th, 1846, the editor of the +_Globe_ again criticises the School Bill, because the Superintendent +reports to the Governor and not to the Governor-General-in-Council. + +[75] See bound volume of _Globe_ in Legislative Library, Toronto. + + +These articles are interesting and important. Why was Ryerson's +appointment vested in the Governor and not in the Executive Council? The +answer not only throws valuable light upon the way that Ryerson himself +viewed his office and its relation to the public, but it incidentally +shows how imperfectly responsible government was established in Upper +Canada in 1846. We should gasp with astonishment in Canada to-day if it +were proposed to vest the appointment of any public officers in the +Governor-General personally. We allow our Governors no personal freedom +in the conduct of public affairs. But in 1846 that idea was not wholly +accepted. There still lingered a feeling that the Crown had certain +vaguely-defined prerogatives, which might be exercised without let or +hindrance from Councillors. And many who recognized that the British +Crown had little individual freedom of action in public affairs in +Britain could not see that the same status ought to be established for +the Crown's representative in a colony. Or, to put it in another way, +the people did not see how a colony could be self-governing without +being wholly independent. + +Ryerson wished his appointment to be vested in the Governor, rather than +in the Executive Council, because he thought that by such an arrangement +he was a servant of the country and not of any political party. He +thought that a Superintendent of Education ought, like a judge, to be +placed beyond the accidents and turmoil of politics. No doubt that was +an illogical position. Indeed, time showed it to be so, and that full +recognition of the principle of responsible government required a +Minister of Education responsible directly to the Legislature. We can +only speculate as to what would have been the effect upon our schools +had Ryerson's position been looked upon as political and had he been +forced to vacate his office with every change of government. It seems +doubtful whether our schools would have improved as rapidly as they did +under the conservative, but truly progressive, policy of Ryerson. + +There is abundant evidence that there were many in Upper Canada who +wished to see the position of Superintendent closely connected with +politics. A _Globe_ editorial, Jan. 6th, 1847, commenting on Ryerson's +report, says: "We expected that when our new Superintendent stepped into +his ill-gotten office he would immediately take measures to make +himself acquainted with the replies to such questions as the following: +First, the situation, condition and number of schools and school-houses +of all kinds in the Province. Second, the manner in which school +trustees, town, county and district Superintendents had discharged their +several duties. Third, the desire manifested by parents generally for +the education of their children. Fourth, the competency and efficiency +of the teachers, their salaries, etc. Fifth, the kind of school books +used, the school libraries and other apparatus for teaching. Had such +questions been proposed and answered, the Superintendent would have had +something to base a report upon. It was but natural to suppose that an +officer whose sole prospects of success are in the confidence and +co-operation of the people would have taken some steps to gain that +confidence and co-operation, that he would have been desirous by direct +communication with superintendents, trustees, experienced teachers and +influential persons in the Province of ascertaining their views and of +obtaining their suggestions as to the best means of promoting the +interests of the noble department over which he had been called to +preside. But no, it is true he was devising a system of education for +Canada, but what had the wants or wishes of the people to do with it? +The serfs must receive anything I, their lord and master, may import +from the cringing subjects of despotic monarchies. We are more and more +convinced from the examination of this report that Mr. Ryerson is not +competent for the situation which he occupies." + +This is manifestly unfair. Ryerson knew from previous experience and +without any further special investigation, the answer to every one of +the five questions propounded above. In 1848, just after the +Baldwin-Lafontaine administration was formed, and before the +newly-formed ministry had met Parliament, there was more or less +discussion about dismissing Ryerson from his position as Superintendent +of Education. The _Globe_ of April 29th, 1848, says: "Will any man, +except a few of his own clique, say that Egerton Ryerson should be +Superintendent of Education under a Liberal Government? We apprehend +none. He has done nothing wrong since his appointment, it is said. We +say he has. He spent many months on the Continent of Europe and in +Britain in amusement or recreation, professing to get information about +things which every person knew already.... We have had hints of the +Prussian system being applicable to Canada and we feel convinced that +he, who sold himself to the late Administration, would have readily +brought all the youth of Canada to the same market and placed them +under the domination of an arbitrary and coercive power. He had sold +their fathers for pelf, why not sell the sons also? Was he not in league +with that party which would retain the Province in vassalage to the old +Compact which he had so heartily denounced in former times? Is he not a +member of that Methodist Committee which bargained away to a worthless +Ministry the Methodist votes for £1,500 to Victoria College? These are +most memorable events in the annals of political corruption.... But we +care not if there had been no ground for complaint since 1844. We know +that Egerton Ryerson sold himself body and spirit to Lord Metcalfe and +that he broached doctrines of the most unconstitutional kind, +threatening those who were but asking the common rights of British +subjects with the vengeance of the whole Empire. The man who holds such +views is unfit to be at the head of the country's education. He would +convert the children of the Province into the most pliable tools of an +arbitrary system." + +These articles show clearly that the party press was not disposed to +judge Ryerson by his work as Superintendent of Education. They claimed +that because he championed Lord Metcalfe in 1844 he was a partizan, and +if a partizan in 1844 he must still be one in 1848. + +Besides a certain amount of political prejudice, Ryerson had to overcome +the many points of friction caused by an attempt to work the Bill of +1846, and when we consider the ignorance and incompetence among those +upon whom the administration of the Act rested, and the prejudices +against the Act by many who were supremely selfish, we have to admit +that a less courageous man would have utterly failed. Many trustees +could neither read nor write. In some cases the District Municipal +Councillors who were parties to school administration were equally +ignorant. District Superintendents of schools were not always fitted for +such a responsibility. Perhaps half the whole body of teachers made up a +motley assortment of impecunious tramps. The Superintendent's report for +1847 shows that out of 2,572 schoolhouses only 133 were of brick or +stone, and that 1,399 were made of logs; 1,378 had no playground, and +only 163 were provided with water-closets. With many superintendents, +trustees, and teachers miserably incompetent, with buildings and +equipment woefully inadequate, it required a stout heart to undertake a +reformation. + +Ryerson had two temperamental qualities that stood him in good stead; he +had an idealist's faith in humanity, believing that men would choose the +higher if it could once be shown them; he had besides an infinite +capacity for hard work and for taking pains. This is fully shown by the +way he met the many objections to his Bill of 1846. The bitterest +opposition came from the Council of the Gore District, now the County of +Wentworth, a District from which more progressive ideas might have been +expected. On the 10th November, 1846, this Council[76] petitioned the +Legislative Assembly against Ryerson's Bill. They objected to a +Provincial Board of Education and to a Chief Superintendent. They wished +to have re-enacted the School Bills of 1816 and 1820. Among other things +the petition says: "With respect to the necessity of establishing a +Normal, with elementary Model Schools in this Province, your +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 service in almost every vocation will +scarcely yield the common necessaries of life, they are altogether +unsuited to a country like Upper Canada, where a young man of such +excellent character as a candidate is required to be to enter a Normal +School and having the advantage of a good education besides, need only +turn to the right hand or to the left to make his service much more +agreeable and profitable to himself, than in the drudgery of a common +school, at an average of £29 per annum [the average in Upper Canada for +1845]; nor do your memorialists hope to provide qualified teachers by +any other means in the present circumstances of the country than by +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 energy, or by employing such of the newly-arrived +immigrants 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 abilities are known and turned to +better account for themselves." + +[76] See copy of petition in D. H. E., Vol. VII., pp. 114-116. + + +This petition was sent to every District Council in Upper Canada. Some +districts agreed with it, some were indifferent and some wholly opposed +its spirit. Colborne District Council took a very different attitude. +They praised the Chief Superintendent, warmly approved of a Normal +School, and found much to admire in the legislation of 1846. The +following from their report will serve as an illustration:[77] "As the +Normal and Model Schools begin to yield their legitimate fruits, and as +the blighting effects of employing men as school teachers who are +neither in manners nor in intellectual endowments much above the lowest +menials, shall press less and less heavily upon the mental and moral +habitudes of the rising generation, the great benefits to be derived +from the present Common School Act, and its immense superiority over +all former school laws of Upper Canada, will become more and more +confessed and appreciated. Already that public apathy which is the +deadliest enemy to improvement is slowly yielding to the necessity +imposed by the present school law upon the trustees and others of +acquiring extended information, of entering with a deeper interest into +all matters connected with Common Schools and of joining with school +visitors, superintendents and municipal councillors in a more active and +vigilant oversight of them." + +[77] See copy of memorial in D. H. E., Vol. VII., p. 117. + + +Ryerson saw that public opinion must be educated. The problem was a +wider one than the education of the rising generation in the +schoolhouses. The fathers and mothers and all who made public opinion +must be awakened. This work Ryerson did in a characteristic manner. He +had been a missionary preacher of the Gospel; he now became an +educational missionary. He sent carefully-prepared circulars to +Municipal Councils, to District Superintendents, to school trustees and +to teachers. He established at his own financial risk, and without +accepting a penny of the profits for his labour, an educational journal +as a means of communication with the general public. In the autumn of +1847 he spent ten weeks in visits to the twenty-one Districts into which +Upper Canada was at that time divided. He called District Educational +Conventions, lasting each two days. To these were invited teachers, +District Superintendents, School Visitors, Municipal Councillors and the +general public. The Warden was generally secured as chairman. During the +day, Ryerson discussed the School Act and its operation. He found that +often the people had been misled and that trustees who had never made +any attempt to enforce the Act had laid the blame for their poor school +upon the Act of 1846. In almost every case a frank discussion face to +face with the parties concerned removed unreasonable prejudices and made +friends for the new Superintendent. In the evening, Ryerson gave a +public lecture. His subject in 1847 was "The Advantage of Education to +an Agricultural People." No subject could have been more appropriate to +secure the sympathy of the mass of the people and to give the lecturer +an opportunity to show what he hoped to do for Upper Canada. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +_THE RYERSON BILL OF 1850._ + + +The Act of 1846 provided that the Municipal Councils of Toronto and +Kingston were to have the same powers in school matters as the District +Councils. Toronto had at this time twelve school sections, each with its +own Trustee Board, and each fixing its own textbooks and course of +study. Such a system was cumbersome, wasteful, and inefficient, and the +practical mind of Ryerson devised a remedy. In 1847, the Cities and +Towns Act was passed. This Act required the Municipal Councils of cities +and towns to appoint a School Board of six members. These six, together +with the Mayor of the Corporation, had full control of all schools and +school property. They could determine the number and kind of schools and +the texts to be used, but they had no power either to levy an assessment +upon property or to collect rate bills from parents. Any funds needed by +the School Board in addition to the Legislative and Municipal grants +were to be levied upon the taxable property of the city or town by the +Municipal Council. But the Act did not say that the Municipal Council +must grant the sums asked for by the Board of Trustees. In Toronto the +Council of 1848 refused to levy the necessary assessment, and the School +Trustees were compelled to close the schools from July to December. + +The Toronto _Globe_[78] declared that Ryerson was introducing a Prussian +despotism into Canada. Ryerson said that he desired nothing Prussian in +the Canadian schools except the method of schoolroom instruction, and +claimed that his new School Bill was almost a literal transcript of that +in force in the State of New York. Ryerson then set forth the chief +advantage of the new Bill, viz.: that it gave to the poor man the +_right_ to have his children, however numerous, educated, whereas the +rate bill system compelled him in many cases to claim free schooling +only on the ground of his poverty. The new School Act was to enable a +poor man to educate his children and still maintain his self-respect. +The school tax was to be levied not upon the children of the section, +but upon the real property. Ryerson concluded as follows: "Wealthy +selfishness and hatred of the education of the poor and labouring +classes may exclaim against this provision of the law, but enlightened +Christian philanthropy and true patriotism will rejoice at its +application." + +[78] See editorial, Toronto _Globe_ of May 8th, 1848. + + +Commenting on Ryerson's letter, the following issue of the _Globe_ said: +"The Doctor makes a great fuss about the cruel position of a man who +cannot 'brook to say he was a pauper' under the old system and the +delightful and 'enlightened Christian philanthropy' of his new system +which 'places the poor man and his children upon equal footing with the +rich man and his children.' All bunkum, Dr. Ryerson. If it is hard to +have ten or fifty or one hundred scholars as paupers at present, will it +improve the matter to make the children of the common schools all +paupers? If one class keep their children away now because the schools +are above their means, and pride won't let them submit to state the fact +to a trustee, will there not hereafter be a much larger class whose +pride will prevent them sending their children to what even Dr. Ryerson +admits will be pauper schools?... Is it not melancholy that so crooked, +so visionary a man as this should be at the head of the literary +institutions of the country?" + +But Ryerson was fighting for free schools. He knew that thousands of +children were growing up ignorant, especially in the large towns. He was +able to show that in the city of Toronto, out of 4,450 children of +school age in 1846, only 1,221 were on the common school registers and +that the average attendance was scarcely one thousand. Even if it were +granted that another thousand were in attendance at private and church +schools, the fact remained that not more than half the children in +Toronto were being educated. + +In October, 1848, Ryerson submitted to the Government a draft School +Bill, designed to remedy the defects in the legislation of 1846-1848. In +a report[79] which he submitted with his draft Bill he says: "No law +which contemplates the removal of grovelling or selfish ignorance and +the elevation of society by means of efficient regulations and general +taxation for schools ever has been, or ever will be, popular with the +purely selfish or the listlessly ignorant. All such laws must be +sustained for a time at least by the joint influence of the Government +and the intelligent and enterprising portion of the community." + +[79] See copy in D. H. E., Vol. VIII., p. 85. + + +The outcry against free schools and taxation of property to educate the +children of the poor showed clearly that the time had not yet come for +the realization of his plans, and Ryerson in his draft Bill restored to +towns and cities the right to impose rate bills upon parents, at the +same time declaring his faith in the ultimate triumph of free schools. + +In February, 1849, Ryerson submitted additions to his draft Bill of the +previous October. Among other changes he recommended additional +Superintendents for Districts of more than 150 schools; District Boards +of Examiners who would replace the District Superintendent and school +visitors[80] in issuing teachers' certificates; Teachers' Institutes for +lectures and professional training of teachers; provision for separate +schools for coloured children; school libraries for each section, and +also township libraries; township School Boards; a School of Art and +Design, connected with the Normal School; provincial certificates for +Normal School graduates; making trustees personally responsible for a +teacher's salary; the distribution of school funds on a basis of actual +attendance, rather than on the number of children in the section; better +provision for fixing school sites; more equitable division of the +$200,000 legislative grant between Upper and Lower Canada, and provision +for the admission into the common schools of pupils from sixteen to +twenty-one years of age. + +[80] The report of the Bathurst District Superintendent for 1848 showed +82 teachers certificated by School Visitors and 42 by the District +Superintendent. See Report of Chief Superintendent for 1848. + + +The Baldwin Government entrusted the handling in the Legislature of the +School Bill of 1849 to the Honourable Malcolm Cameron. It should be +borne in mind that the Legislature met in Montreal and that the +Education Office for Upper Canada was in Toronto. Dr. Ryerson was, +therefore, not in direct communication with the Government, nor was he +officially informed from day to day as to the progress of the Bill. It +should further be borne in mind that during this session the Parliament +Buildings were burned, the Governor-General mobbed, and party feeling +strongly aroused, thus creating conditions favourable for hasty and +careless legislation. It seems to have been taken for granted by the +Legislature that the Bill as brought in was prepared by Ryerson. As a +matter of fact, Ryerson's Bill had, with Cameron's assent, been so +mutilated by an enemy of the Superintendent that its essential +provisions were destroyed. As soon as Ryerson learned its real nature, +he protested on several grounds, but especially because it aimed to +destroy the usefulness of the Chief Superintendent; excluded clergymen +from being school visitors; destroyed the provincial nature of the +school system; injured the prospects of a Normal School; would subject +teachers to serious loss in collecting their salaries; re-established +school sections in towns and cities; made no provision for uniform +textbooks, and because it was cumbersome and unworkable. After an +elaborate analysis of the Bill, Ryerson intimated that he would not +attempt to administer the law as passed and that sooner than do so he +would resign. The Government soon ascertained that the Bill was +unsatisfactory to everybody and intimated to Ryerson that it would not +be brought into operation. This course was followed, and in the +meantime Ryerson perfected his plans for a new Bill to go before the +Legislature in 1850. + +As the Cameron Act of 1849 was never given effect, it has no interest +for us, except in so far as it shows the evolution of the Act of 1850. +During the Parliamentary recess, 1849-50, the Government issued circular +letters to School Superintendents, ministers and other official persons, +to secure suggestions as to school legislation. The replies were handed +to Dr. Ryerson by the Hon. Francis Hincks, who had charge of the School +legislation for 1850. + +Ryerson's draft of the Bill of 1850 is a tribute to his practical common +sense and is sometimes called the Charter of the Ontario School System. +Ryerson knew the people of Upper Canada as few knew them, and he was +quick to see the dividing line between that which seemed highly +desirable and that which was possible. He moved steadily toward a +distant goal, but was ever educating public opinion to move with him and +seldom showed impatience over the slow pace of travel, so long as there +was actual progress. He wished to see free schools, but in this Act +contented himself with securing permissive legislation, which he +believed would soon lead to the adoption of a free system. + +The outstanding feature of the Act was the strengthening of Trustee +Boards by recognizing them as corporate bodies with full power to +manage schools under Government regulations and full power to levy taxes +or rates upon the District which they represented. In case the Municipal +Council collected school money, they did it only as a matter of +convenience. Provision was made for securing school sites, erecting and +furnishing new buildings, electing trustees, holding board meetings, +keeping schools accounts, appointing collectors for school moneys, +providing books and apparatus, educating indigent children and forming +school libraries. Teachers' duties and responsibilities were not +materially altered. They were, however, effectually secured against loss +of the full amount of salary promised them by trustee boards. Adequate +provision was made for school sections composed of adjoining parts of +two or more townships. Provision was made for Township Boards of +Trustees on the request of a majority of the school supporters, to +manage all the schools of a township. County Boards of Public +Instruction were formed, consisting of the County Superintendent and the +Trustees of the District Grammar School. These boards were to meet four +times a year, to hold examinations and license teachers. They were to +use their influence to establish school libraries and promote the cause +of education. District superintendents were limited to one hundred +schools each, and were to receive one pound per annum for each school, +besides necessary travelling expenses. The Superintendent was no longer +the custodian of school money, but gave orders to the Township Treasurer +to pay to teachers their proper allowances. The Superintendent was to +visit every school in his District once each quarter, and to deliver a +public lecture in every school section once each year. Thus the way was +open for the District Superintendent to become an expert, giving a +minimum of time to clerical work and a maximum to the encouragement of +pupils and teachers. He was to become a link between the Department of +Education on the one hand and the District Council and Trustee Boards on +the other. He was a local officer, but his duties were definitely +prescribed by a central authority. Through him the Chief Superintendent +and the Council of Public Instruction were able to keep in touch with +pupils, teachers, school visitors, trustee boards, county boards, and +district councils. School visitors were given the same privileges as by +the Act of 1846, except the right to grant licenses to teachers. The +General Board of Education was merged into the Council of Public +Instruction, with duties substantially the same as those assigned the +former body in 1846. + +Incorporated towns and cities were no longer to have school sections, +but instead a Board of Trustees to manage school affairs. Town and City +School Boards were allowed three ways of securing the money necessary, +in addition to the school fund, for common school purposes. The Board +might ask the Municipal Council to levy an assessment for the required +sum, in which case the said Council were bound to comply with its +wishes; the Board might levy a rate bill upon the parents of pupils +attending school; or they might raise the required funds partly by a +rate bill and partly by an assessment levied by the Municipal Council. + +The only real difference between the methods of raising money in towns +and cities on the one hand and rural sections on the other, lay in the +plan of deciding how the money was to be raised. In rural sections the +ratepayers assembled at the annual meeting, made the decision, and the +trustees carried out their wishes; in towns and cities the trustees had +full power to decide upon the method of taxation without consulting the +ratepayers. School trustees in incorporated villages were governed by +the same rules as trustees of towns and cities, except in the manner of +the annual election. + +One very important feature of the new Act was the setting apart of +£3,000 a year for the establishment and support of school libraries, and +£25 a year for each District Teachers' Institute. A sum was also set +apart for procuring plans and publications for the improvement of school +architecture. The Chief Superintendent was authorized to issue +provincial certificates to Normal School graduates. + +The Act of 1850 also made some important changes relating to Separate +Schools, which will be noted in another chapter. + +Dr. Ryerson always felt that he owed much to the Governor-General, Lord +Elgin, for helping him to form a public opinion which made possible the +legislation of 1850. That distinguished nobleman was a graduate of +Oxford, and he never lost an opportunity of helping forward any movement +designed to raise the intellectual status of the people. But it was +largely Ryerson's unaided efforts that gave Upper Canada in 1850 such a +splendid educational machinery. It was no factory-made plan, but a +system developed step by step out of partial failures into something +better. It was, like all English law, the result of applying a +common-sense remedy to a clearly proved weakness. + +During the passage through the Legislature of the Bill of 1850, a debate +arose about Ryerson's salary, and the value of his services to the +country. The following condensed account of a speech delivered in +Parliament in July, by Hon. Francis Hincks, makes clear the attitude +finally adopted by the Liberal Government toward Ryerson, and for that +reason has some historical interest: + +"The member for Toronto, Mr. Boulton, had charged the Administration +with buying the support of the Superintendent of Education with an +increased salary. He had desired, in bringing forward this question, to +make it as little a political question as possible. He thought that the +great question of education might be treated without reference to party +differences. He thought it his duty, considering the position which the +Reverend Superintendent of Education occupied towards the party with +whom he acted, to state his whole course of conduct towards that +gentleman since he had taken office. It was well known to the House that +the reverend gentleman was engaged, before accepting the office which he +now held, in very keen controversy with the members of the present +ministry; he had taken a course decidedly hostile to them. As writer for +the public press at that time, he had himself engaged in that contest, +though without personal feeling, as he trusted he had engaged in every +contest of the kind. But there was undoubtedly on his own part, and on +that of his colleagues, a strong political feeling of dislike to the +reverend gentleman, on account of the formidable opposition with which +they were met by him. He was appointed to the office of Superintendent +by the late Government, and he did not blame that Government for so +appointing him; for, if anyone ever established strong claims upon a +party, it was the reverend gentleman by his defence of that +administration. The present ministry again assumed the duties of the +Government, and undoubtedly there was a general feeling among their +supporters that one of the first measures expected of them was to get +rid of the reverend gentleman in some way or other, and in that feeling +most certainly he sympathized. He had found, however, bye-the-bye, that +those who were most eager to recommend the Government to dismiss +officials, when they were put into similar situations, into the +municipal councils for instance, that they did not carry out those +views, that they did not turn out their opponents without a reason for +it. There were two or three ways of removing the Chief Superintendent; +one was to make the office a political one; but after the best +consideration being given to the question, it was not considered +advisable to do that, and the proposition to abolish the office +altogether, he was satisfied would have had the worst possible +consequences on the educational interests of the country, after +observing the benefits of active superintendents in New York, and our +own Province. The only other mode then, if these two were resisted, was +to remove the incumbent altogether, and then the question came, whether +he had acted in such a manner as to justify his dismissal. He had often +asked this question of the persons who urged his dismissal, and they +had never given one good reason to support the affirmative. He was not +one of those who thought that because a person supported one Government +that he was therefore incapable of serving faithfully those who +succeeded them, whom he had formerly opposed, always supposing, of +course, that his office was not a political one. He could not find that +the reverend gentleman had entered in the slightest degree into the +field of politics, and as he had discharged his duties with great zeal +and ability, they had no reason to interfere with him. Then the point +was, how they were to act towards him in his position, and his (Mr. +H.'s) determination was to give him the most cordial support; as a +member of the Government he considered it his duty to do so. He felt it +his duty to give the same support to officers who came oftener into +contact with him, the officials of the Custom House, and he defied +anyone to say that any political opponent of his had received less +cordial support in the discharge of the duties of his office than his +friends had; the efficiency of the service absolutely required that he +should do so. He put himself in communication with the reverend +gentleman in reference to this Bill, and as he (Mr. H.) believed that +Doctor Ryerson possessed a more complete knowledge of the school system +than any other person, he thought that any Government would have done +very wrong not to have availed themselves of that knowledge. He deeply +regretted the course which some gentlemen with whom he generally acted +had taken on this matter. + +"He would only say now, that he considered he should be paid the highest +salary given to any officer, for the duties of none were more onerous or +more important. He might remark that he had not found lawyers in the +House very anxious to reduce the salaries of the judges, but when it +came to civilians, to superintendents of schools, then five hundred +pounds a year was far too much. Now he considered the duties of that +office as quite equal in importance, and requiring equal talents to +those of a Collector of Customs, and thought that he should not be +placed in an inferior position to them."[81] + +[81] See issue of Toronto _Globe_, July 11th, 1850, p. 331. + + * * * * * + +The Toronto _Globe_, of July 16th, 1850, speaking on the debate in the +Assembly, said: + + "The debate on Egerton Ryerson's salary was, we think, just another + instance of pandering to the cry of the moment. His salary was + sought to be made the same as the Lower Canada Superintendent's. + Well, the Lower Canada Superintendent's salary is five hundred + pounds, but it would not do to name that sum for Upper Canada until + the retrenchment committee had operated upon Lower Canada. Now, why + not say at once that five hundred pounds is the proper salary for + the Superintendent of Education of nearly a million people, and + stick to it? We are no admirers of Egerton Ryerson, and we have + always thought, and we think still, that the present ministry should + have turned him out neck and crop the moment they got into power; + but we are free to admit that he is a man of very great talent, who, + at any mercantile or professional business he might engage in, would + readily make five hundred pounds a year, and we do think that this + sum is as little as could be assigned to an office of such high + public importance." + +This article clearly shows that the _Globe_ recognized Ryerson's talents +and his professional ability, while objecting to him on political +grounds. Mr. George Brown, the _Globe_ Editor, was too shrewd a man, and +had too strong an interest in popular education, not to see that Ryerson +was working a reformation in school affairs. The following from a +_Globe_ editorial of September 14th, 1850, is really a tribute +grudgingly paid to Ryerson's efforts:-- + + "While other professions, the clergy, the lawyers, the physicians, + have long gained a certain position and influence in society, and + have assumed the management of their own affairs, teachers, as a + class, have, until lately, stood alone, disregarded by the + community, and in many instances treated as beneath the notice of + men infinitely their inferiors in mental acquirements, and engaged + in pursuits certainly not more important to the well-being of the + community. While others were improving their circumstances and + acquiring wealth and power, the schoolmaster alone appeared + stationary, doomed to drag on a life of poverty and contempt, and + looked upon by parents as a sort of nurse for their naughty + children, who received their wages for their services, and not to + meddle with the affairs of the world. We but repeat what we wrote + some years ago, prior to any of Egerton Ryerson's schemes, when we + say that it is a reproach to the Christian world, that those who + prepare the rising generation for entry into business life, should + have been left so long to poverty, and to have occupied so low a + place in society. Only conceive a schoolmaster--profoundly versed in + the vast variety of knowledge which the human mind can master, a man + who can solve the most difficult problem in mathematics, and take + the highest flights in astronomy--rarely reaching beyond the mark of + a person to be patronized. To such a man, the constant toil and + drudgery of a school, the annoyance of unruly children and + unreasonable parents, and above all the pinching poverty to which he + is too often subject, present a life of hardship which it is + difficult to conceive. The smith, or the carpenter of the village, + may by industry realize something for the wants of a surviving + family, and the shopkeeper, or the baker, may perhaps become + wealthy; but the idea of a schoolmaster having any other position + than poverty, would be thought the height of absurdity." + +Ryerson believed that if school trustees were given the option of free +schools and power to enforce taxation for their support, they would soon +abolish rate-bills upon parents. Public sentiment was rapidly changing. +This was fairly shown by the city of Toronto, where there were many +wealthy men who objected to free schools, and where private and +denominational schools were more popular than in any other part of Upper +Canada. In March, 1851, a committee of the Toronto Board submitted to +the Chairman a special report showing that 3,403 children who should be +in the schools of that city were roaming the streets and growing up +without educational advantages of any kind. The report ascribed this +condition of affairs mainly to two causes, rate-bills and lack of school +accommodation, and concluded by making a strong stand for free schools. + +The Toronto _Globe_ had scoffed at free schools in 1848. The rapid +change that took place in the views of this journal is a fair index of +the change that was taking place among the people of Upper Canada in +regard to free schools. I shall, therefore, quote from the _Globe_ to +show the trend of public opinion on free schools during the early +fifties. As early as January 30th, 1851, the _Globe_ said editorially: + + "We are glad to observe that the plan of free common schools has + been adopted at the recent annual meetings in very many school + sections throughout Upper Canada. The best gift the people of Canada + can confer on their children is education, sound, practical + education available to all. Public money employed in educating the + masses is a most profitable investment, and we hope the day will + soon be when a good education is open to every child in the + country." + +On January 5th, 1852, the _Globe_ expressed itself as follows:-- + + "The most important change proposed in our present system of common + schools, is the abolition of all direct charges against the parents + of the children attending, and the support of these institutes by + direct tax on the whole body of the people. We trust the day is not + far distant when the Reserve and Rectory lands will be devoted to + the support of the common schools of Upper Canada, the school tax + abolished, and the unspeakable advantages of a sound education + placed without any charge within the reach of every child in the + Province. Every effort should be put forth to effect this, but + meantime let us seek to obtain the best system which our position + admits of, and that, we believe, is an entirely free system + supported by a direct tax. There are many reasons urged against this + proposed change by sincere friends of education, which are not + without weight. It is said to be unjust and tyrannical to make + people who are childless pay for those who are blessed with a + numerous progeny; it is urged that parents will value the blessing + of education more, when they are compelled to pay for it; it is + alleged to be a weakening of the parental tie, to take the expense + of the education of the child from the shoulders of the parent. + These arguments will have more or less influence according to the + position and character of the individual who considers them, but we + assert without fear of contradiction that all the evils which our + warmest opponents anticipate from the introduction of free schools + sink into insignificance beside the frightful consequences of our + children growing up in the blindness of ignorance, the result which + a free system is designed to avert. No reasonable disinterested man + would place the one class of evils in comparison with the other.... + + "Many opponents of free schools, however, are willing that the + children of the poor should be educated without charge, as they are + at present. Most parents, however, would be, and are, prevented by + their pride from taking advantage of this favour, and we think it + highly desirable that the idea of begging education, or anything + else, should be set as far as possible from the mind of every + Canadian. The children of the poor should look to the common schools + as a place to which they have a right to go, having paid a quota of + the expense in proportion to their means, in the same way that they + claim the right to walk the pavement, and on the same grounds. It is + indeed a noble thought to place the education of the people in the + same position as the protection of the people and the government of + the people, to make it one of the necessaries of the existence of a + state in peace and security, and to provide it at the expense of + all, for the benefit of all. With a Government formed as ours is by + the people, and entirely under its control, our only safeguard + against anarchy and confusion is the intelligence and right of the + people. A thorough system of common school education is the only + means which can ensure these high advantages. Education ought to be + universal, and to be so, it must be entirely free from all expense; + there must be inducements held out to the short-sighted, unwilling + parent." + +As I have already shown, free schools had stronger opposition in Toronto +than at any other point, yet at a large public meeting held in January, +1852, in St. Lawrence Hall,[82] there were only twelve people who +opposed a motion for free schools. Later in the same month Doctor +Ryerson himself attended a public meeting in Toronto and discussed the +free school issue. I shall quote from his speech[83] to show how +skilfully he could use a concrete illustration to influence public +opinion. "Speaking of free schools he said he well remembered how he +went to visit one of the public schools of Boston, the High School, +where boys were prepared for College, yet as free of expense to all +classes as the lowest, and the Mayor of the city, who accompanied him, +wishing to give a lesson in aristocracy, probably, pointed out two lads +who occupied the same seat. He told him that one of these was the son of +Abbot Lawrence, the great manufacturer, and now American minister in +England, and the other was the son of the doorkeeper of the City Hall, +which they had just left. They were enjoying the same advantages, the +son of the millionaire and the son of the doorkeeper; that was what he +wished to see in Canada, the sons of our poor have the same opportunity +of educational advancement as those of the rich. Did it appear from +this that the rich did not attend the common schools of Massachusetts? +The Governor of that State, in a speech which he made lately at Newbury +Port, said that if he had as many sons as old Priam, and was as rich as +Astor, that he would send them to the free school. There were rich and +proud men in Massachusetts, undoubtedly, who would not send their +children among the poor, and rich stingy men who objected to be taxed +for other people's children, but they were the exceptions to the rule. +There was one fact that he wished to mention in connection with the free +schools of Massachusetts. A body of European clergy belonging to the +Catholic Church had gone to their Bishop in Boston to request him to use +his influence against the free school system. He returned for answer +that he knew the character of the schools, having been educated in them, +and having owed to them his position in the Church and the world, and +would do nothing to impair their usefulness." + +[82] See report in _Globe_ of January 10th, 1852. + +[83] See report in _Globe_ of January 13th, 1852. + + * * * * * + +It would be a mistake to suppose that there were not valiant champions +against the free school principle, and it would be a worse mistake to +suppose that all the sound arguments were on the side of free schools. +The following letters from the Reverend John Roaf, a Toronto clergyman +(Congregationalist), will give a fair idea of the stand taken by those +who favoured rate bills upon parents. The first letter, published in the +_Globe_, January 31st, 1852, is as follows: + + "I am happy to inform you that school section No. 1, Township of + York, including the village of Yorkville, have this day negatived a + proposal to have a free school, preferring to give the teacher £60 + from the Public funds, and a right to charge 1s. 3d. per month for + every child attending the school. The mechanics and labourers here + have thus discharged the power, for there cannot be any such right, + so wrongfully given them by the School Act, to educate their own + children at the expense of their more wealthy neighbours. All praise + to their honesty. Thus they will escape from the pauperizing + tendencies of the free school system. They encourage their + schoolmaster with the hope of being rewarded for making a good + school. They suffer the proprietors of private schools to maintain a + useful competition with the common school teacher; they keep up + valuable select schools, and yet in return for the public fund, they + will get free education for the children whose parents need + exemption from the school fees. + + "May we not hope that the city of Toronto will next year follow this + honourable example, and spurn the unrighteous counsel which is + introducing communism in education to the undermining of property + and society? The French people and the Normans ought to serve as + warnings of the abyss to which this plausible socialism is enticing + us." + +The second letter was published in the Toronto _Globe_, February 5th, +1852: + + "The idea of the outlay for education being profitable for the + holders of property, and thus justifying the impost, is much like a + joke; for surely no one thinks it necessary to force upon men of + property so great a gain, as they seldom need be convinced by their + poor neighbours where their true interests lie. Gain indeed; why, + probably three-fourths of the children now in the Toronto common + schools will carry their education away to the West, and here be + succeeded by others who will similarly want to use our property for + their own benefit. Besides we might give free education to those who + otherwise would be destitute of it, but make those purchase it who + have the means. + + "While I thus dwell on the injustice of the arrangement, I do so + because what is unjust cannot be wise, and not because the futility + of the system is not otherwise apparent. The free system divests the + teacher of all proprietary and personal interest in his school, and + will speedily render him sycophantic and servile to his trustees, + but haughty and negligent towards his pupils and friends. It will + throw education into the hands of an electioneering party, and what + kind of party that will be in such places as Toronto, need not be + said. It will destroy all the confidence and love felt towards the + teacher as the employee and friend of the child's parents, and + substitute for them a cold respect due to the public official. It + will render school attendance desultory and variable, because unpaid + for, and always to be had for asking. Instead of the soft, familiar, + and refined circle in which wise parents like to place their + children, it will drive gentle youths and sensitive girls into the + large herds of children with all the regimental strictness and + coldness and coarseness by which such bodies must be marked, and + thus, while the child asks bread you will give him a stone." + +The opposition to free schools did not all come from wealthy +property-owners who objected to educating the children of the poor. +Voluntary schools, wholly independent of Government control and closely +allied with some church, were already in operation in populous centres +in Upper Canada. The managers of these schools had to depend wholly upon +subscriptions and fees. So long as all schools were supported mainly +from rate bills upon parents the purely voluntary schools were not at a +serious disadvantage. But if free common schools were established, then +all patrons of voluntary schools must submit to be taxed twice for the +education of their children. The following from a _Globe_ editorial of +February 14th, 1852, shows that the effects of free schools upon +voluntary schools were fully appreciated: + + "The _Patriot_ of Tuesday gives us the real reason for his + opposition to free schools. Formerly he talked of pauperizing the + whole people, of socializing them, of a number of other direful + evils to be dreaded as consequences of all free schools. In his last + article, however, he admits that his main objection is, that + denominational schools can never be supported beside those entirely + free. We commend this fact to our friends who are sincerely opposed + to sectarian education, and yet are not prepared to accept the + principles of entire freedom. It is undoubtedly true what the + _Patriot_ says, denominational schools cannot exist beside free + schools. So long as we continue to exact payment from parents, so + long will efforts be made by the sects to obtain aid from the public + funds and private support in order to weaken the common schools, + draw away scholars from them, and destroy their efficiency. When the + schools are supported entirely by taxation, no such attempts can be + met with success. No sectarian school only partially supported by + the State can compete with the free institution, and no one would + be foolish enough to propose to endow more than one entirely free + school. The people would not stand the taxation. The free principle + is a deathblow to the attempts of the priests to get the education + of the people into their own hands, to train up the children in + classes and denominations, to shut them out from free knowledge, and + to give them just what pleases their prejudiced views. The _Patriot_ + thinks it would be tyrannical to prevent the establishment of + sectarian schools by means of a free system. We cannot see it in + that light. The denominational plan has been tried in England, but + it has failed. The schools were never established in sufficient + numbers to educate the people. It is not reasonable to expect that + sects managed by cliques of clergymen in the large towns should be + able to manage a complete system of education for the people. The + very idea is absurd. Are we then to give up our efforts for the + education of the people, because these efforts would interfere with + the small, ineffectual endeavours these denominations might make to + secure proselytes to their churches through secular schools? + Certainly not; the greatest friend to sectarian education could not + admit that; and we who oppose that system rejoice that free schools, + which are spreading so fast, will effectually put down the + endeavours of the sects after educational influence which has + produced both in Ireland and England such a scarcity of knowledge, + and which have not been without their ill-effects in Canada." + +These quotations will for us serve two purposes. They give a fair +picture of the free school movement, and they sum up the arguments for +and against State education. No thoughtful person in this age can +observe the apathy of thousands of people in regard to the education of +their children without at times feeling that these people would +appreciate schools much more if they had to make some personal sacrifice +to secure their advantages. But further thought is almost certain to +convince us that free schools are the natural support of a democratic +government, and that without their socializing influence a +self-governing people would always be more or less at the mercy of +demagogues. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +_RYERSON AND SEPARATE SCHOOLS._ + + +The purpose of this chapter is to set forth as briefly as possible the +origin and development of Separate Schools in Upper Canada, showing +incidentally the part taken in that development by Doctor Ryerson. + +If we seek to discover the primary cause of our Separate School system +we undoubtedly find it in the almost unanimous desire of the pioneer +settlers to have the Common Schools established upon a basis of +Christianity, and to secure for their children some positive instruction +in the Holy Scriptures. From their standpoint secular schools were of +necessity godless schools. We need also to remember that sectarian +prejudices were more bitter seventy years ago than they are to-day. +Dogma and religion were thought to be inseparable. To-day the various +bodies of Christians throughout the world make much of what they hold in +common; seventy years ago their grandfathers could not forget the petty +differences of doctrine that held them apart. If the schools were to +give religious instruction, and if the adoption of some form of +instruction acceptable to all was impossible, then separate schools +were the logical outcome. And as separate schools for each one of the +many sects into which the scattered population of Upper Canada was +divided were clearly impossible it naturally followed that such schools +were established for Roman Catholics who were comparatively few in +number, and who differed in doctrine from Protestants more radically +than the various Protestant bodies differed amongst themselves. No one +of the Protestant bodies could object to the reading of the Protestant +Bible in the schools, but the Roman Catholics naturally objected to +their children taking any part in such an exercise. + +As pointed out in Chapter IV., the Common School Act of 1841 laid the +foundation of Separate Schools. The provisions of that Act applied to +the United Canadas. In any township or parish any number of dissentients +might elect a trustee board and establish a school, receiving for its +support public money in proportion to their numbers. It is clear that in +practice under this clause a dissentient school could be established +only where the dissentients were sufficiently numerous to furnish at +least fifteen children of school age, and contribute a considerable sum +for school purposes. Another clause in the Act of 1841 required the +Governor to appoint, in towns and cities, school boards made up of an +equal number of Protestants and Roman Catholics, the Protestants to +manage schools attended by Protestant children and the Catholics to +manage schools attended by Catholic children. But this clause made no +provision for Roman Catholics from two or more city school sections +combining to form one school for their children, and as Catholics in a +single city section were seldom if ever numerous enough to form a school +the Act was practically inoperative in securing separate Roman Catholic +schools. + +The Bill of 1841, as introduced into the Assembly, contained none of the +above provisions for Separate Schools, and the question naturally +arises, why were they inserted? Several petitions were presented from +Boards of Education, and some from Synods of the Presbyterian Church, +praying that the Bible be made a textbook in the schools. Bishop +Strachan and the clergy of his diocese petitioned "that the education of +the children of their own Church may be entrusted to their own pastors, +and that an annual grant from the assessments may be awarded for their +instruction."[84] The Roman Catholic Bishop of Kingston also petitioned +against the Bill as brought in, but did not expressly ask for Separate +Schools. It seems natural then to infer (and the Journals of the +Assembly for 1841 bear out this inference), that the amendments +granting Separate Schools were a compromise. + +[84] See copy in D. H. E., Vol. IV., p. 20. + + +Another amendment authorized Christian Brothers to teach even if they +were not naturalized British subjects. In 1843 the Act of 1841 was +repealed in so far as it related to Upper Canada. The new Act made it +unlawful in any common school to compel the child to read from any +religious book or join in any religious exercise to which his parents or +guardians objected. It also provided that if the teacher of a school +were a Roman Catholic, then any ten householders or freeholders might +petition for a Separate School with a Protestant teacher or, in the same +way, Roman Catholics might form a Separate School if the teacher were a +Protestant. + +The grants to these Separate Schools were to be that proportion of the +total school fund in any Municipal District that the children in actual +attendance at the Separate School bore to the total number of children +of school age in the district, and they were subject to the same rules +and regulations regarding courses of study and inspection as the Common +Schools. + +In 1847 an amendment to the Common School Act was passed known as the +Towns and Cities Act. This Act gave the Trustee Boards of towns and +cities full power to determine the number of, and regulate, +denominational schools. An extract from Ryerson's Annual Report for +1847 as presented to the Provincial Secretary will make clear the nature +of the Act and the Chief Superintendent's views of it. Speaking of the +provision for Separate Schools in the Act of 1843 he says: + + "I have never seen the necessity for such a provision in connection + with any section of the Common School Law, which provides that no + child shall be compelled to read any religious book or attend any + religious exercise contrary to the wishes of his parents and + guardians; and besides the apparent inexpediency of this provision + of the law it has been seriously objected to as inequitable, + permitting the Roman Catholics to have a denominational school, but + not granting a similar right or privilege to any one Protestant + denomination ... nor does the Act of 1847 permit the election of any + sectarian school trustees nor the appointment of a teacher of any + religious persuasion as such even for a denominational school. Every + teacher of such school must be approved by the town or city school + authorities. There are, therefore, guards and restrictions connected + with the establishment of a denominational school in cities and + towns under the new Act which did not previously exist; it, in fact, + leaves the applications or pretensions of each religious persuasion + to the judgment of those who provide the greater part of the local + school fund and relieves the Government and Legislature from the + influence of any such sectarian pressure. The effect of this Act has + already been to lessen rather than to increase denominational + schools, while it places all religious persuasions on the same legal + footing, and leaves none of them any possible ground to attack the + school law or oppose the school system. My Report on a system of + Public Elementary Instruction for Upper Canada, as well as various + decisions and opinions which I have given, amply show that I am far + from advocating the establishment of denominational schools; but I + was not prepared to condemn what had been unanimously sanctioned by + two successive Parliaments."[85] + +[85] See copy in D. H. E., Vol. VII., p. 178. + + +During the Legislative Session of 1850, and while the School Bill was +under discussion, a petition was presented by prominent Roman Catholic +authorities praying for some modifications of the provisions for +Separate Schools in the Bill then before the House. The result was that +the 19th clause of the Act of 1850 made it compulsory upon the Municipal +Council of any township or the School Board of any city or town or +incorporated village, upon the written request of twelve or more +resident heads of families, to establish one or more Separate Schools +for either Protestants or Roman Catholics. At this time only fifty-one +Separate Schools were in operation in the whole of Upper Canada,[86] of +which nearly one-half were Protestant. + +[86] See circular, issued by Ryerson, of April 12th, 1850, to Municipal +Councils on Act of 1850. + + +According to a letter written by Ryerson to Hon. George Brown[87] there +was a movement among certain Anglicans to secure Separate Schools for +their children. Had Roman Catholics and Anglicans[88] both secured +Separate Schools, it would have wrecked the Common School system, and +these two denominations acting in concert were strong enough to defeat +the Baldwin-Lafontaine Government. Acting on Ryerson's suggestion, the +Government conceded in the main the Roman Catholic claim and secured +their support to the Bill. This Bill gave Separate Schools one distinct +advantage over the Act of 1843. It made their share of the Separate +School fund that part of the total fund which the Separate School +attendance bore to the total school attendance. But Separate School +supporters were still far from having their schools recognized as a +right and placed on an equality with Common Schools. Separate Schools +were granted as a privilege or concession, but not as a right. Let me +quote from Ryerson's circular to town reeves on the Act of 1850: "But, +notwithstanding the existence of this provision of the law since 1843, +there were last year but 51 Separate Schools in all Upper Canada, nearly +as many of them being Protestant as Roman Catholic; so that this +provision of the law is of little consequence for good or for evil.... +It is also to be observed that a Separate School is entitled to no aid +beyond a certain portion of the School Fund for the salary of the +teacher. The schoolhouse must be provided, furnished, warmed, books +procured, etc., by the persons petitioning for the Separate School. Nor +are the patrons or supporters of a Separate School exempted from any of +the local assessments or rates for common school purposes."[89] + +[87] See D. H. E., Vol. IX., p. 25. + +[88] It is not meant to suggest that even a majority of the Anglicans +would have done anything to wreck the Common School System. As a matter +of fact, only a few of the Anglican laity sympathized with the extreme +views of Bishop Strachan, either in Common School or University affairs. + +[89] See D. H. E., Vol. IX., p. 208. + + +This makes it clear that Separate School supporters were liable to be +taxed by the municipality for the support of Common Schools; they might +be called upon to pay an assessment to build, repair or furnish a Common +School, or to pay a part of the teacher's salary. On the other hand, the +only aid they received in support of their own school was a share of the +legislative and municipal grants which together made up the school +fund.[90] It will at once be seen that every step toward free Common +Schools placed the Separate School supporters at an increased +disadvantage because it made them contribute more and more toward the +Common School. + +[90] It was long a favourite argument of those opposed to Separate +Schools that inasmuch as the bulk of the property was owned by +Protestants, the Roman Catholics were not entitled to a share of the +school fund reckoned on the basis of the pupils' attendance. + + +The Act of 1850 caused some friction in Toronto, where the Roman +Catholics asked for a second Separate School. The Trustee Board refused +on the ground that they were not legally compelled to establish more +than one Separate School in the city and the Court of Queen's Bench +upheld their decision. By the old Act, under which cities were divided +into school sections, there was no legal bar to the establishment of a +Separate School in every city school section. Ryerson thought the Roman +Catholics had a grievance and consented to recommend the Bill giving a +Separate School in each city ward or a Separate School for two or more +wards united for such purpose. This amendment was passed in 1851 and +caused considerable discussion. A large party in Upper Canada were +opposed to Separate Schools on principle and objected to any legislation +that would multiply them, make them more efficient and popular, or +grant them more favourable financial support. + +The attitude of the out-and-out opponents to Separate Schools was very +well expressed by the following Bill,[91] introduced in 1851 by William +Lyon Mackenzie:-- + + "Whereas the establishment of sectarian or Separate Schools, upheld + by periodical grants of money from a provincial treasury and placed + under the control of the Executive Government through its + Superintendents of Education and other civil officers, is a + dangerous interference with the Common School system of Upper + Canada, and if allowed to Protestants and Roman Catholics cannot + reasonably be refused to Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Quakers, + Tunkers, Baptists, Independents and other religious denominations; + and whereas if it is just that any number of religious sects should + have Separate Public Schools it is not less reasonable that they + should have separate Grammar Schools, Colleges and professorships in + the Universities; and whereas it is unjust for the State to tax + Protestants in order to provide for the instruction of children in + Roman Catholic doctrines or to tax Roman Catholics for religious + instruction of youth in principles adverse to those of the Church of + Rome; and as the early separation of children at school on account + of the creeds of their parents or guardians would rear nurseries of + strife and dissension and cause thousands to grow up in comparative + ignorance who might under our Common School system obtain the + advantages of a moral, intellectual and scientific education, be it + enacted therefore that the nineteenth section of the Act of 1850 be + repealed." + +[91] See Journals of Canadian Assembly for 1851. + + +Mackenzie's Bill was defeated by 26 to 5. It lays down broad general +principles that are not easy to overthrow, and no doubt several who +voted against it would have been glad to see all young Canadians +educated together. But if the right to have Separate Schools be granted, +and it had been granted by successive School Acts for Upper Canada, then +it seems naturally to follow that the Legislature was bound to place no +obstacles in the way of their formation and to make them efficient. + +Separate Schools were at first grudgingly granted as a privilege, but +not as a right. Naturally, every extension of the privilege was used by +the supporters of these schools as a vantage-ground from which to secure +further privileges and gradually convert these into rights. At first the +parties seceding from the Public Schools shared only in the school fund +made up of the legislative grant and an equal sum levied by the +district, town or city council--the whole being available only for the +payment of teachers' salaries. Supporters of Separate Schools were +liable to be taxed for the building and equipment of Public Schools in +addition to the support of their own. They claimed a _pro rata_ share of +all moneys levied by taxation, and in some cases the law was invoked in +an attempt to secure such share. + +In 1853, a radical amendment was adopted by which Separate School +supporters received a _pro rata_ share of the legislative grant only, +and upon subscribing for school purposes a sum equivalent to the grant +secured were relieved of all taxation for Common School purposes. The +Act of 1853 also gave the Separate School trustees power to issue +certificates to the teachers employed by them, and the same power of +levying rates upon the supporters of their schools as that exercised by +trustees of Common Schools. + +While the Separate School Bill of 1853 was before the Legislature, there +was an attempt to introduce a clause establishing a general Board of +Trustees for Separate or sectarian Schools in towns and cities. Ryerson +went to Quebec to confer with the Attorney-General and vigorously +opposed the Bill. His correspondence shows that he had no wish to place +Separate Schools on an equality with Public Schools. In fact he wished +to do nothing that would encourage or make easy their formation. The +law as it stood allowed Separate Schools only when the teacher was of a +different religious faith from those wishing the Separate School. A +general Board of Separate School Trustees for every town or city would +have greatly increased the number of Separate Schools. Ryerson says: +"This is placing Sectarian Schools upon a totally different foundation +from that on which they have always stood; it is the introduction of a +system of sectarian schools without restriction and almost without +conditions.... If there are city and town Boards of Sectarian School +Trustees they will claim the right of appointing their own local +superintendents, and thus their schools will be shut up against all +inspection except that they themselves may please to require or +permit.... Thus such a Board in Toronto might recognize and claim public +aid for every child taught in convents and by other private teachers of +the same religious persuasion.... If provision be made in each city and +town to incorporate into one Board one religious persuasion, exempting +it from the payment of school rates and authorizing it to tax and +collect from its own members to any amount for school purposes, the +application of any other religious persuasion in any such city or town +cannot be consistently or fairly resisted.... The effect of all this +would be to destroy the system of Public Schools in cities and towns +and ultimately perhaps in villages and townships, and to leave all the +poorer portion of the population and that portion of it connected with +minor religious persuasions without any adequate and certain means of +education. I think the safest and most defensible ground to take is a +firm refusal to sanction any measure to provide by law increased +facilities for the multiplication and perpetuation of sectarian +schools."[92] + +[92] See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 172 and 173. + + * * * * * + +The attitude of the extreme opponents of Separate Schools may be made +clear from the editorials of George Brown in the Toronto _Globe_. On +April 2nd, 1853, he says:-- + + "But under the new Bill the taxation of the Roman Catholic parents + and the whole charge of the Separate Schools are to devolve on the + Popish authorities. The schools are to become henceforth distinct, + not only in their mode of tuition, but in the machinery by which + they are to be conducted. They are to retain no vestige of + connection with the general educational system, which is the pride + and glory of the Canadian people. Any Roman Catholic has only to + declare himself a supporter of a Separate School and straightway he + is relieved from taxation for the maintenance of the general system. + As at present constituted, there is a kind of guarantee that Roman + Catholics are educated, that they are not left entirely in + ignorance, but under Mr. Richards' Bill there would be none.... The + plain and obvious intention of the Bill is the still further + development of the sectarian element in our Common Schools. The + Roman Catholics were not satisfied with what they had already + gained. They wished to obtain their share of the annual + Parliamentary grant, paid out of the revenue, which is made up + almost exclusively from Protestant money. They wished to have their + schools altogether free from the supervision of the general + trustees. Their bishops went down to Quebec, the _Mirror_ announcing + their departure, and hinting at the object of their journey, and + straightway we have the Bill from Mr. W. B. Richards, granting to + them all they had demanded. If they had asked much more it would + have been granted to them by the present Government. If this Bill + passes into law, the sectarian system will be fully and thoroughly + introduced, and must be carried out to its utmost extent. The Roman + Catholics say that they are not satisfied to send their children to + the Common Schools, and they are free from taxation. The + Episcopalians are ready to say the same, and we ask whether in + fairness we can refuse to one what we grant to the other? And then + the Methodists will demand separate schools, and the Presbyterians, + and all hopes of the education of the people may be abandoned. Yet + this Bill has been introduced by a Government raised to power upon + the principle that our school system should be free from clerical + control. 'No sectarian schools' was the watchword at the last + election among Reformers, yet one of the first measures introduced + by the Reform Government is to establish sectarian schools more + thoroughly than before. We look to them to abolish, and behold! they + ratify and confirm the evils of their predecessors. Where is this to + stop? When is the measure of the iniquity of this Government to be + filled up?... Let our school system, the source of light and + intelligence, be destroyed, and what remains to us of hope for the + country? They, as it were, would go gradually back to the darkness + of ignorance and superstition. We shall consider no institution safe + from priestly encroachments if this Bill is carried. There is no + point upon which the people of Upper Canada can be more severely + wounded than their common schools. Every true patriot has fondly + looked to them as the safeguards against the despotism of + priestcraft, and against violence of an ignorant and, therefore, + vicious populace. If they are sacrificed, if their noble endowment + is scattered among the sects, frittered away on a dozen different + school systems, if the priests are to take possession of all the + avenues of knowledge, what will be the fate of this Province? Will + it rise in the scale of nations, ever to be distinguished for the + intelligence of its people, for its prosperity and advancement?"[93] + +[93] See bound volumes of _Globe_ in Legislative Library, Toronto. + + +The following from the Toronto _Examiner_, reprinted in the _Globe_ of +April 7th, 1853, shows that the _Globe_ was not alone in its opinions:-- + + "We are reluctantly forced to the conviction that the rupture, + complete and final, of the Common School system of Canada is only a + question of time. We were among those who looked anxiously to the + Government for a liberal and decided policy on this momentous + question. An examination of the supplementary School Bill which we + give in other columns will bear us out but too fully, we fear, in + pronouncing its liberality exceedingly questionable.... How + different in Canada. Reformers have been bidding for Roman Catholic + votes until they are likely to bid away every distinctive principle + which they hold, and when this is done will it satisfy the ends of + men whose mission is to establish in the place of free institutions + the domination of priestcraft?" + +The following from the Roman Catholic _Mirror_, quoted in the _Globe_, +April 9th, 1853, shows that the Roman Catholics were well pleased with +the Bill: + + "We freely admit that we had certain misgivings respecting the + amount of relief which might be expected from the measure proposed, + which from the haughty and dictatorial tone assumed by the Chief + Superintendent of Schools for Upper Canada, in his late + perambulations, we were prepared at least to regard with suspicion. + The terms on which justice has been hitherto meted out in stinted + and niggard instalments, under the existing law, and the many + instances in which it has been withheld or contemptuously refused, + may have rendered us over-sensitive; but we must acknowledge that + when we observe Dr. Ryerson publicly promulgate the conditions on + which he would concede to Catholics the privilege of directing the + education of their own children, we were prepared to expect a + reiterated legislative insult and a gross injustice, not a measure + restrictive, partial and oppressive. We have been most agreeably + disappointed; the Bill of the 'Honourable Attorney-General West,' + with some slight modifications which can be readily introduced in + committee, will form the basis of an educational system of sound + principle, particularly calculated to do justice to all classes of + the community." + +The following resolutions of the Synod of the United Presbyterian +Church, printed in the _Globe_, June 30th, 1853, shows the opinion of +that body on the Common School question:-- + + "Resolved. I. That this Synod approve of a national system of + education, placing all the members of the community upon a level, + and encouraging, as that now in force in this Province does, the use + of the Scriptures under certain reasonable regulations, as are also + prescribed therein. + + "II. Holding these views, we deeply regret to perceive the principle + of sectarian schools, so distinctly recognized in the latest + amendments of the Provincial School Act, and do strongly testify + against such a principle as impolitic and mischievous, recognizing + as it does the right of the Government to take the moneys of the + public and appropriate them for the purpose of sustaining and + extending religious distractions, and thereby continuing to + stimulate the elements of discord throughout the community and mar + greatly social interests. + + "III. That this Synod recommend to those under their care the use of + every proper and constitutional means to secure the repeal of all + such statutes as recognize the principle of sectarian schools." + +The movement for extended Separate School privileges was being +championed by Bishop de Charbonnel, of Toronto. During 1852 he had a +long controversy with Ryerson on the school question.[94] Ryerson's +letters during this controversy make it quite clear that he thought +Separate Schools a huge blunder, and that while he had honestly +attempted to give Roman Catholics all the law allowed them he hoped and +expected to see their schools die a natural death. + +[94] See appendices to Journals of House of Assembly, 1852-1853. + + +In his Report for 1852, the Superintendent points with pride to the fact +that Separate Schools are not increasing. Indeed, he congratulates +himself that the provision in the law allowing them is really a good +thing, since it is not very effective in practice but yet acts as a +safety valve to prevent violent opposition to the school system. He +believed that the Roman Catholics themselves would ultimately see that a +policy of isolation of their children would have the effect of cutting +them off from many of their natural privileges as Canadian citizens. And +had the Separate School Act of 1853 remained unaltered, events would +likely have shown Ryerson to be correct in his views. He believed the +Act of 1853 was final, and that without any municipal machinery for +collecting their taxes Separate Schools would never become numerous. + +In this he was greatly mistaken, as events proved. In 1854, the Roman +Catholic Bishops of Toronto, Kingston and Bytown, drew up a Separate +School Bill which they wished should become law. This Bill would have +forced all Roman Catholics to support Catholic Separate Schools wherever +such were established. It also had other provisions which Ryerson +thought objectionable. In 1855 a Separate School Bill, known as the +"Taché Bill," was introduced into the Legislative Council, and after +some amendments adopted by both branches of Parliament. This Act +differed from all previous Acts in that its provisions were exclusively +for Roman Catholic Separate Schools. It repealed all previous +legislation for Separate Schools in so far as Roman Catholics were +concerned. It made possible the establishment of a Roman Catholic +Separate School in any school section or any ward of a town or city on +petition of ten Roman Catholic ratepayers and gave them a Separate +School Board with their own Superintendent in towns and cities. Such +Roman Catholic ratepayers were relieved from all municipal rates for +Common School purposes, and received for their own school a _pro rata_ +share of the Legislative grant if they had an average attendance of 15 +pupils. The Act also made possible general Boards of Separate School +Trustees in towns and cities and gave all Separate School Boards power +to license their own teachers and levy rates for Separate School +purposes upon the supporters of those schools. The Act was in principle +a distinct gain for the champions of Separate Schools, but it led to no +rapid increase in the number of such schools. In 1858, only 94 Separate +Schools were in existence with an enrolment of less than 10,000 +children, as compared with an enrolment of 284,000 in the Public +Schools. The Act of 1855 was really forced upon Upper Canada by the +votes of members from Lower Canada, there being a majority of Upper +Canada members against the Bill. + +It would seem that the Roman Catholics did not gain by the Taché Bill as +much as they expected. The following letter written to Dr. Ryerson from +Quebec, on June 8th, 1855, by John (afterwards Sir John) A. Macdonald, +Attorney-General for Upper Canada, who had charge of the Bill in the +Assembly, shows that political exigencies played no small part in school +legislation: "Our Separate School Bill, which, as you know, is now quite +harmless, passed with the approbation of our friend, Bishop Charbonnel, +who, before leaving here, formally thanked the administration for doing +justice to his Church. He has got a new light since his return to +Toronto, and he now says the Bill won't do. I need not point out to your +suggestive mind that in any article written by you on the subject it is +politic to press two points on the public attention: 1st, That the Bill +will not, as you say, injuriously affect the Common School system. This +for the people at large. 2nd, That the Bill is a substantial boon to the +Roman Catholics. This to keep them in good humour. You see that if the +Bishop makes the Roman Catholics believe that the Bill is no use to them +there will be a renewal of an unwholesome agitation which I thought we +had allayed."[95] + +[95] See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. XII., p. 40. + + +That Sir John A Macdonald was largely in agreement with Dr. Ryerson on +the Separate School question is the opinion of Sir Joseph Pope, his +biographer, who says on page 138 of his Memoirs: "Mr. Macdonald said +that he was as desirous as anyone of seeing all children going together +to the Common School, and if he could have his own way there would be no +Separate School. But we should respect the opinions of others who +differed from us, and they had a right to refuse such schools as they +could not conscientiously approve of." + +From 1855 to 1863, no important changes took place in the law governing +Separate Schools. These schools were increasing very slowly, not so +fast as the natural growth of the Roman Catholic population. In 1860, +there were only 115 Separate Schools with an enrolment of 14,708 as +compared with some 325,000 in the Public Schools. In 1860, Mr. +(afterwards Honourable) R. W. Scott introduced a Bill planned to give +Separate Schools additional privileges. Substantially the same Bill was +introduced annually by Mr. Scott until 1863, when it passed with +amendments, some of which were suggested by Dr. Ryerson. As a matter of +fact, the Taché Act of 1855, which was suggested partly by the status of +Protestant dissentient schools in Lower Canada, had imposed some useless +but vexatious restrictions upon Separate School supporters. In 1862, +Ryerson proposed to satisfy what he called the reasonable demands of +Roman Catholics by making four changes, as follows:--[96] + +1st. To allow the formation of Separate Schools in incorporated villages +and in towns (the Taché Act allowed a Separate School only in the ward +of a town and not a school for the town as a whole); 2nd. To allow a +union of two or more Separate Schools; 3rd. To make it unnecessary for a +Separate School supporter annually to declare himself such; and 4th. To +exempt Separate School trustees from making oath as to the correctness +of their school returns. + +[96] See D. H. E., Vol. XVII., pp. 192 and 193. + + +The Scott Bill of 1863[97] as finally adopted by the Legislature, +embodied all these provisions and some others of importance. Separate +School teachers were to submit to the same examinations and receive the +same certificates of qualification as Public School teachers, but all +teachers qualified by law in Lower Canada were to be qualified teachers +for Separate Schools in Upper Canada. This provision was to allow the +teachers of religious orders[98] recognized by law as qualified in Lower +Canada to teach in Separate Schools in Upper Canada. The Act also made +taxpayers who withdrew their support from Separate Schools liable for +their share of debts incurred while Separate School supporters in +building or equipping Separate Schools. On the whole, the Scott Bill, +while in its unamended form it aroused great opposition in Upper Canada, +as finally adopted, tended to bring the Separate Schools into closer +harmony with the principles governing Public Schools. The feature of the +Bill that aroused most opposition was its being forced upon Upper Canada +by votes of Lower Canadian members--there being a majority[99] of ten +Upper Canada members against the third reading of the Bill in the +Assembly. Such well-known men as John A. Macdonald, John Sandfield +Macdonald and Wm. Macdougall supported the Bill, while George Brown, +Alexander Mackenzie and Oliver Mowat opposed it. + +[97] The Scott Bill, as originally introduced, made any Roman Catholic +priest an ex-officio trustee of a Separate School in his parish; made +all the property of a Separate School supporter exempt from taxation for +Public School purposes, even though some of the property was outside a +Separate School district; gave Separate School trustees unlimited power +to form union sections; created a separate County Board of Examiners to +license Separate School teachers, and gave the Superintendent of +Education little or no power to control textbooks, holidays or +inspection of Separate Schools. + +[98] The Report of the Chief Superintendent for 1871 shows 70 teachers +in Separate Schools belonging to religious orders out of a total of 249. + +[99] See Journals of Canadian Assembly for 1863. + + +Ryerson claimed[100] that he agreed to the amended Scott Bill only on +the distinct understanding that it was to be a finality in Separate +School legislation. He also claimed that the Roman Catholic Bishops of +Quebec, Kingston and Toronto accepted the Bill as a final settlement. +But nothing is final in legislation, and Dr. Ryerson ought to have known +this. Legislation is as much the result of a process of evolution as any +other institution of human society, and no three or four men, whether +priests or laymen, could speak authoritatively and finally for the +thousands of Roman Catholics in Upper Canada. + +[100] See D. H. E., Vol. XVII., p. 219. + + +Separate Schools increased slowly. In 1863 they numbered 115, with +15,000 pupils, the Public Schools having during the same year 45,000 +Roman Catholic pupils. In 1864, Separate Schools had increased to 147 +with 17,365 pupils. In 1871, the number was 160, with 21,000 pupils. + +Almost immediately after the Scott legislation of 1863, an agitation +began for further amendments to the Separate School Act. Ryerson made +strong objections partly on the ground of the alleged compact of 1863, +and partly on the ground that no legislation could possibly make +Separate Schools really popular and efficient outside of large towns and +cities. + +In 1865, the school administration was attacked by James O'Reilly, of +Kingston, and, in a memorandum prepared as a reply to these attacks, +Ryerson goes into some detail to justify his Separate School policy and +reiterates his firm belief that sectarian schools must ever be +relatively inefficient. He concludes as follows: "The fact is that the +tendency of the public mind and of the institutions of Upper Canada is +to confederation and not isolation, to united effort and not divisions. +The efforts to establish and extend Separate Schools, although often +energetic and made at great sacrifice, are a struggle against the +instincts of Canadian society, against the necessities of a sparsely +populated country, against the social and political interest of the +parents and youth separated from their fellow-citizens. It is not the +Separate School law that renders such efforts fitful, feeble and little +successful; their paralysis is caused by a higher than human law, the +law of circumstances--the law of nature, and the law of interest. + +"If, therefore, the present Separate School law is not to be maintained +as a final settlement of the question and if the Legislature finds it +necessary to legislate on the Separate School question again, I pray +that it will abolish the Separate School law altogether; and to this +recommendation I am forced after having long used my best efforts to +maintain and give the fullest effect and most liberal application to +successive Separate School acts--and after twenty years' experience and +superintendence of our Common School system."[101] + +[101] See copy of Memorandum, D. H. E., Vol. XVIII., pp. 304-316. + + +When the Confederation resolutions adopted at Quebec in 1864 were being +discussed in the Canadian Assembly in 1865, an extended debate arose +over the clause which secured for the minorities in Upper and Lower +Canada the privilege of Separate Schools. Men like George Brown and +Alexander Mackenzie, who had opposed the Scott Bill of 1863, defended +the minority clause on the ground that it would place Upper Canada in no +worse position than she already was in regard to sectarian schools, and +that privileges given ought not to be withdrawn. The Assembly were +almost unanimous in supporting the Separate School clause which was +incorporated into the British North America Act. + +No changes in Separate School legislation were made after Confederation +until 1886, and the only events of passing importance in Separate School +affairs were the objections raised in Kingston in 1865 and in Toronto in +1871 to visits of inspection by the Grammar School Inspector, who had +been appointed to make these visits by the Council of Public +Instruction. When Dr. Ryerson pointed out that these visits were +authorized by the Scott Bill of 1863, the Bishops very gracefully waived +their objections and the principle of Separate School inspection by +Government officers was established. In 1874, the three High School +Inspectors made a general inspection of Separate Schools. In their +report to the Government they say: "The inspection of the Separate +Schools derives an additional interest and importance from the peculiar +position they occupy in our educational system. Among them we have found +both well-equipped and ill-equipped, both well-taught and ill-taught +schools. On the whole we regret that in the majority of cases the +buildings, the equipment, and the teaching are alike inferior. There are +but few Separate School teachers whose school surroundings are such as +to make their positions enviable, and accordingly a large measure of +approbation is due to those who have succeeded in doing good work. We +have pleasure in stating that in many places the Separate School Boards +are beginning to see that they must either make the schools under their +charge more efficient or close them altogether. There are many things +connected with the operation of the Separate School Act which invite +comment; but we think it best to postpone the expression of our views +until they are matured by the experience of another year." + +Some years after this, in 1882, the Education Department adopted the +plan of appointing special Roman Catholic Inspectors of Separate +Schools. No doubt regular inspection of these schools has done much to +increase their efficiency, but it is to be regretted that the plan of +inspection adopted tends to widen still further the breach between them +and the schools of the mass of the people. + +Four years after Ryerson's death, the Act relating to Separate Schools +was revised and amended. No new principles were introduced, but every +amendment made tended to place Separate School supporters on an equality +with supporters of Public Schools. The number of schools has gradually +increased owing to the rapid increase in our urban population. In 1884 +there were 207 Separate Schools, with 27,463 pupils; in 1894, 328 +schools with 39,762 pupils; and in 1906, 443 schools with 50,000 pupils. + +Perhaps the most important event connected with the history of Separate +Schools since 1886 was the decision of the Judicial Committee of the +Privy Council in November, 1906. This decision made it clear that the +clause declaring persons qualified as teachers in Quebec at the time of +Confederation to be qualified teachers of Separate Schools in Ontario +applied only to individuals and not to religious corporations as such. +The result will be that the Separate Schools ought soon to have a body +of teachers with the same academic standing and the same normal training +as the Public Schools. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +_RYERSON AND GRAMMAR SCHOOLS._ + + +As already shown in the chapters on the early history of schools in +Upper Canada, Grammar Schools were provided for before any provision was +made for Common Schools. In fact the chief nominal purpose of the large +grant of public land in 1799 was to endow Grammar Schools, and in 1807 +schools were opened in each of the eight Districts into which Upper +Canada was then divided. These schools were supposed to be classical +schools, fashioned upon the model of the great English Public Schools. +As a matter of fact they had no uniform standard of equipment, staff, +course of study or graduation. A few schools, such as Cornwall, +Kingston, York, and Niagara, were famous and turned out many able men. +Some of the schools received pupils who could not read, and were in no +sense secondary schools. As the population increased, new schools were +opened. Although originally intended to be free schools, they all +charged fees. The public grant, which was paid direct to the principal, +was one hundred pounds for each school. As the population increased, new +schools were opened, and by 1844, when Ryerson became Superintendent of +Education, twenty-five Grammar Schools and Academies were in operation. + +These schools were managed by trustees appointed by the Crown, but were +under no proper Government control. They were never really inspected. +Each school was a law unto itself. All were supposed to teach Latin and +Greek, but in many of them there was not a single pupil studying either +of these languages. They were handicapped in many ways. For years there +were no good elementary schools from which they could draw pupils with a +foundation for a secondary education. During the same long period there +were in Upper Canada no colleges to which graduates of Grammar Schools +might go for professional training. This gave these schools a wide scope +and great opportunities, but few seized the opportunities. The poverty +of the people and the natural apathy of many in regard to education also +prevented the development of good schools. + +Good schools are possible only with good teachers, and good teachers in +Upper Canada were not easily secured. The professions of law and +medicine then, as now, were much more attractive than teaching for men +of ability and education. Mercantile life also offered great +opportunities. The result was that the Grammar Schools were often in +charge of incompetent teachers. + +Ryerson's commission gave him no control over Grammar Schools. But his +first Report in 1846 recommended a graded, unified system of schools +from the Common School to the University. He also pointed out that these +Grammar Schools which were intended for a special work were teaching +everything taught in a Common School. In his Report for 1849 he +recommended a commission of inquiry into the state of Grammar Schools +and showed that the whole thirty or forty schools had matriculated only +eight students into the University during that year. He suggested a +fixed course of studies, a minimum qualification for entrance, and +Government inspection. "Surely," he says, "it never could have been +intended that the Grammar Schools should occupy the same ground as +Common Schools, should compete with them, thus lowering the character +and efficiency of both.... I am far from intimating an opinion that +there are no efficient Grammar Schools in the Province, even under the +present system or rather absence of all system. There are several +instances in which separate apartments for different classes of pupils +are provided and assistance employed to teach the English branches, but +such examples are rather exceptions to the general rule than the rule +itself. The general rule is whether there be an assistant or not to +admit pupils of both sexes and all ages and attainments for A B C and +upwards into schools which ought to occupy a position distinct from and +superior to that of the Common Schools. Equally far be it from me to +intimate that there is any deficiency of qualifications on the part of +masters of Grammar Schools. But I doubt not that they will be the first +to feel how much the efficiency and pleasures of their duties will be +advanced by the introduction of a proper and uniform system as they will +be the first to confess, '_non omnia possumus omnes_.'"[102] + +[102] See extract from Report of 1849, published in D.H.E., Vol. VIII., +p. 291. + + +After the Common Schools had been brought under the rule of law it was +inevitable that the Grammar Schools should be reorganized. In 1850, +Francis Hincks introduced a Grammar School Bill prepared by Doctor +Ryerson. This Bill aimed at bringing the schools under popular control +and administering them on lines similar to those governing Common +Schools. Trustees were to be appointed by County Councils; Trustee +Boards were to have power to levy rates for buildings, equipment and +apparatus; the Legislative grant was to be distributed to the several +Districts on the basis of population, but only when local contributions +made up a sum equal to the grant exclusive of pupils' fees; the +programme of studies was to be broad enough to prepare for +matriculation; the Council of Public Instruction was to fix Grammar +School programmes, prescribe texts and appoint inspectors. A +meteorological station was to be established in connection with one +Grammar School in each District. This Bill was withdrawn, but a similar +one[103] became law on January 1st, 1854. The new Act, as amended in +1855, also provided for uniting Grammar Schools with Common Schools and +provided that a Grammar School master, unless a university graduate, +must secure a certificate from a Board of Examiners appointed by the +Council of Public Instruction. This Act also authorized an annual +appropriation of £1,000 to establish a Model Grammar School in +connection with the Normal School, authorized the Council of Public +Instruction to appoint Grammar School inspectors, and made up a liberal +grant to secure libraries and apparatus. After this legislation, the +Council of Public Instruction drew up regulations governing the +curriculum of Grammar Schools and took steps to bring about the use of +uniform texts. From the first there were two courses of study, a general +English course and a classical course leading to matriculation. The head +master of each Grammar School was required to conduct an examination of +candidates for admission, the requirements being intelligible reading +from any common reading book, spelling, writing, elementary arithmetic, +and the elements of English grammar, with definitions of geography. + +[103] This Act did not give trustees power to levy assessments, but they +might ask municipal councils to do so. The distribution of the +Legislative grant did not, as in the Bill of 1850, depend upon the +raising of any fixed amount by the local Board. + + +In the autumn of 1855, the Grammar Schools were inspected, those in the +east by Thomas Jaffray Robertson and those in the west by William +Ormiston. Their reports show that many of these schools were indifferent +and a few hopeless. Perhaps half of them were doing fairly well. The +attendance averaged about thirty, of whom nearly one-half were studying +Latin. Half of the schools admitted female pupils. The highest salary +paid a head master was $1,200, while the average for head masters was +$700. Few of the schools had two masters. Half the total number of head +masters were graduates of British or Canadian universities. In some +cases the teachers were paid a fixed salary, and in some cases they got +the Government grant and the school fees. These fees averaged about +three dollars per quarter. In a few cases the head master had a dwelling +in connection with the school. + +The inspectors criticised the buildings, equipment and grounds severely, +as the following extracts will show:-- + + "Of the Grammar School houses seventeen were originally built for + school purposes and several of them, which were spacious and + substantial buildings, may be classed as good; ten were somewhat + inferior; and one, a very old wooden building, could scarcely be + considered habitable. Nine schools were carried on in premises + rented for the purpose and were in most instances totally unfit. In + many cases the grounds attached to the schoolhouses were partially + or entirely unfenced, and the sheds or outhouses were in a shameful + state of neglect. Even in the neatest premises I saw no attempt at + ornament; not a tree, shrub or flower to awaken or cultivate a taste + so simple and natural in itself and so easily gratified as it could + be in rural districts.... Very many of these houses are inferior to + the Common Schools. In most cases the premises present a dull, + unthrifty and unattractive appearance, destitute alike of ornament + and convenience, without fence, shed, well, tree, shrub or flower, + while within an entire lack of maps, charts and apparatus is with + too few exceptions the general rule."[104] + +[104] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XII., p. 81. + + +Two years later the same inspectors made another general report on +Grammar Schools. They found some improvements but many weak schools +doing the most elementary Common School work. They deprecated the +practice, then becoming somewhat common, of establishing new Grammar +Schools in small villages. + +It is abundantly clear from Ryerson's Reports, 1856-58, that he was +dissatisfied with the progress being made in Grammar Schools and eager +to attempt their improvement by means of further legislation. The most +serious problem was that of providing an adequate and certain financial +support for these schools. The schools were managed by trustee boards +appointed by County Councils, but were attended largely by pupils of +towns and cities. The people using them and contributing largely to +their support were not given the power to manage them. + +Ryerson was also very doubtful about the result of the experiment +authorized in 1854, of uniting Common and Grammar Schools. The union +gave trustee boards increased freedom of management, but in many cases +the union school became, for all practical purposes, a common school, +having, perhaps, three or four senior pupils studying Latin and Greek. +Such schools brought all Grammar Schools into contempt. + +The report of the Grammar School inspector on the schools of Eastern +Ontario, for 1860, shows that things were far from satisfactory: + + "With the exception of two or three really good schools our Grammar + Schools in the extreme East are in a very low state. Some of them I + can only designate as infant schools. Nor do I see anything from the + localities in which they are placed or the present state of the + Grammar School law which gives me any hope of amelioration. + Advancing civilization and the material growth of the country in + time may act upon them, but immediate remedies and those of a + stringent nature are imperatively needed.... The want of a class of + specially trained Grammar School masters who have taken this as a + permanent profession for life is a great drawback to the efficiency + of our schools. The supposed inferior social status of the Grammar + School master and the larger rewards held out for superior mental + activity in the other professions turn aside most of those who are + most eminently qualified for the scholastic office. Of the + twenty-two schools mentioned in my report six were in the hands of + persons who avowedly were making teaching the stepping-stone to the + attainment of other professions, as law, medicine, or the church. + Several were evidently conducted by persons who had taken to + teaching after having failed in other walks of life. Comparatively + few were held by those who were fitted for their office by previous + training, or were devoting themselves entirely to their work as the + main business of their lives."[105] + +[105] See D. H. E., Vol. XVI., pp. 148, 149. + + +There seems also to have been a disposition to unduly multiply Grammar +Schools because they were supported so largely by the Legislative grant. +The Rev. Dr. Paxton Young, Inspector of Grammar Schools, in his report +for 1864, says: "The too free and inconsiderate exercise by County +Councils of the large power thus entrusted to them has led to a heedless +and most unfortunate multiplication of the Grammar Schools, and the evil +instead of showing any symptoms of abatement appears to be growing worse +from year to year. In 1858 the number of the schools was seventy-five; +in 1860 it was eighty-eight; in 1863 it had risen to ninety-five; and +the number of recognized schools is now as high as one hundred and +eight. Not a few of the schools thus hastily established are Grammar +Schools in name rather than in reality, the work done in them being +almost altogether Common School work, which, as a rule, would be much +better performed in a well-appointed Common School. I believe that +County Councils are often led to establish Grammar Schools in localities +where they are not needed under the idea that if the schools should be +productive of no good at any rate they can do no harm. There could not +be a greater mistake. Men ought to be wise enough by this time to +understand that all public institutions, especially if forming parts of +a great plan, must, where unnecessary, be positively bad. Needless and +contemptible Grammar Schools are a blot upon the whole school system, +the sight of which is fitted to shake the confidence of the country in +the administrative wisdom or firmness of those to whom the direction of +educational matters is committed. When it is considered that the +apportionment from the Grammar School fund to a particular county is +divided according to certain fixed principles between the different +schools in that county, it will be seen that the disposition manifested +by some councils to secure the largest number of schools for their +county, is practically a disposition to secure quantity for quality, for +as the number of schools is augmented the salaries of the masters are +diminished, the tendency of which is, of course, to throw the schools +into the hands of a lower grade of teachers.... About three out of every +five Grammar Schools in Upper Canada have Common Schools united with +them, and, in not a few instances, where unions have not yet been +formed, I found a strong disposition existing to enter into such an +arrangement. I made it my business to inquire particularly into the +benefits supposed to result from the union of the Common with the +Grammar Schools. The chief advantage was in almost every case admitted +to be a pecuniary one. By the existing law Grammar School trustees have +of themselves no power to raise money for Grammar School purposes, but +in case of the Common and Grammar Schools becoming united the joint +boards may levy money for the support of the united schools. This being +so, it is easy to comprehend how strongly the trustees of a Grammar +School who feel their hands tied up from doing anything to put the +school in an efficient state may be tempted to make with the Common +School Board a league which will give them a voice in the important +matter of taxation.... But of nothing am I more convinced than that as a +rule such a union is undesirable. In a large number of instances it +throws upon the Grammar School master the necessity of receiving into +his room, and personally instructing, Common School pupils, as well as +those whom it is his more particular duty to attend to. A consequence of +this is that he cannot afford the Grammar School pupils the time that is +necessary for drilling them in the subjects that they are +studying."[106] + +[106] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XVIII., pp. 199-205. + + * * * * * + +But Doctor Young saw much promise in the schools, as the following from +the same Report will show: "Leaving out of view schools of this sort, I +do not hesitate to say that the Grammar Schools of Upper Canada are, as +a class, not only in the promise of what they may become, but in what +they actually are at the present moment, an honour to the country. We +must not look for too much. It would be preposterous to expect at this +early period in the history of our Province, that its Grammar Schools +generally should be able to bear comparison with the better classical +and mathematical schools of Great Britain and Ireland. To this Canada +does not pretend, but she has begun well, and appears to be steadily, if +not rapidly, progressing." + +In June, 1865, Ryerson went to Quebec to press upon the Government the +necessity of a new Grammar School bill. As the Confederation scheme was +approaching maturity he found the Government unwilling to embark upon +any legislation that might prevent an early prorogation. Mr. John A. +Macdonald suggested that the difficulty might be met by a regulation +issued under the authority of the Council of Public Instruction. This +was accordingly done, and the Council immediately framed regulations as +follows: First, the Legislative grant was to be apportioned on the basis +of the attendance of those learning Greek and Latin, as certified by the +Grammar School Inspector. Second, no school was to receive any portion +of the Legislative grant unless suitable accommodations were provided, +and unless there were an average of at least ten pupils learning Latin +and Greek, nor were any pupils to be admitted or continued in a Grammar +School unless they were learning Latin and Greek. + +This absurd regulation never went into effect, as the Legislature passed +a Grammar School Bill in the latter part of 1865. The new Bill made each +city a county for Grammar School purposes; it allowed County Councils to +appoint half the Grammar School trustees, the other half being appointed +by the village or town council where the school was situated. This +latter provision was planned to give increased local control and thus +create a stronger interest in the management of the schools. The +distinction which had so long existed between senior and junior county +Grammar Schools[107] was abolished and the Legislative grant was +apportioned solely on the basis of attendance, but no school was to +share the grant unless there was raised from local sources, exclusive of +pupils' fees, a sum equal to half the grant. It was made more difficult +to establish new schools. Only graduates of universities in British +dominions were to be eligible for head masters' positions. On the +suggestion of the Hon. William Macdougall, a clause was inserted +providing for a grant of fifty dollars a year to those Grammar Schools +giving a course of elementary military instruction. + +[107] This senior Grammar School, being the one first established in +each county, had drawn a larger Legislative grant than the others. + + +The Report of Rev. Geo. Paxton Young on the Grammar Schools in 1865 is +of great interest, read in the light of nearly half a century's progress +in the higher education of women. I shall quote his exact words: + + "I have frequently been asked whether I considered it desirable that + girls should study Latin in the Grammar Schools. It is, in my + opinion, most undesirable; and I am at a loss to comprehend how any + intelligent person acquainted with the state of things in our + Grammar Schools can come to a different conclusion.... Since I + became Inspector, I have not met with half a dozen girls in the + Grammar Schools of Canada by whom the study of Latin has been + pursued far enough for the taste to be in the least degree + influenced by what has been read. Aesthetically, the benefits of + Grammar Schools to girls are _nil_.... It may perhaps be said that + although they have for the most part made but little progress in + Latin up to the present time, a fair proportion of them may be + expected to pursue the study to a point where its advantages can be + reaped. I do not believe that three out of a hundred will. As a + class, they have dipped the soles of their feet in the water, with + no intention or likelihood of wading deeper into it. They are not + studying Latin with any definite object. They have taken it up under + pressure at the solicitation of the teachers or trustees to enable + the schools to maintain the requisite average attendance of ten + classical pupils or to increase that part of the income of the + schools which is derived from public sources. In a short time they + will leave school to enter on the practical work of life without + having either desired or obtained more than the merest smattering of + Latin, and their places will be taken by another band of girls who + will go through the same routine. It may perhaps be urged that these + remarks are as applicable to as large a number of the Grammar School + boys as they are to the girls. I admit that they are; and I draw the + conclusion that such boys, equally with the girls in the Grammar + Schools, are wasting their time in keeping up the appearance of + learning Latin. It would be unspeakably better to commit them to + first-class Common School teachers, under whose guidance they might + have their reflective and aesthetic faculties cultivated through the + study of English and of those branches which are associated with + English in good Common Schools. This would, of course, diminish the + number of the Grammar Schools in the Province; but it might not be a + very grievous calamity, especially if it led to the establishment + of first-class Common Schools in localities where inferior teachers + are now employed."[108] + +[108] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XIX., pp. 96, 97. + + +It was a part of a Grammar School inspector's duty to examine the pupils +who had been admitted by the Grammar School masters and reject any who +were too immature or were insufficiently prepared. Dr. Young complains +strongly in his Report of 1865 of the poor teaching of English grammar. +In some cases he had to reject more than half those admitted. He found +pupils wholly unable to parse such easy sentences as: "The mother loved +her daughter dearly," "John ran to school very quickly," "She knew her +lesson remarkably well." + +It is doubtful whether the Grammar School Bill of 1865 made any real +improvement in the schools. Without denying that some of them were doing +a good work, and that as a force in the national life they were +fostering some love for higher education, it is safe to assert that they +were not very closely related to the real needs of the people. Their aim +was narrow. Their very name shows this. There was a crying need in the +country for schools that would give an advanced English and scientific +education with classic and modern languages to those who wished to +pursue university studies. But the most of the Grammar Schools aimed +only at a study of Latin and Greek, and indeed the Grammar School +legislation and the regulations of the Council of Public Instruction had +made a certain number of Latin pupils one of the conditions upon which a +Grammar School might receive a public grant. + +The Act of 1865 soon showed some disastrous tendencies. It did not check +the desire to form unions between Grammar Schools and Common Schools, as +such unions made it easier to levy a rate in support of the union +schools, and thus comply with the conditions upon which Grammar Schools +received grants. The clause in the new Act making average attendance the +basis of attendance, together with a regulation of the Council of Public +Instruction which counted only Latin pupils in making the grant, led the +head masters of union schools to draft every available pupil into the +Grammar School departments[109] and put them all, boys and girls, into +Latin. Often they were not prepared for such work and got no real +benefit from it. They wasted their time and lost the benefits of a sound +English education which a good Common School would have given them. +Hundreds of boys and girls who had no foundation for a classical +education, and who had no prospect of ever advancing far enough to +receive any solid knowledge of Latin, were making a pretence of studying +it in order that the school might draw a Government grant. Ignorant +parents raised no objections, thinking perhaps that Latin possessed some +charm which would be an "open sesame" for the future advancement of the +boys and girls. + +[109] It should be remembered that while a Public School pupil drew less +than one dollar per year Legislative grant, the moment this pupil was +enrolled in a Grammar School he drew from $20 to $35 yearly. In 1872, +the average Legislative grant to a Public School pupil was 40 cents, and +to a Grammar School pupil $20. See D. H. E., Vol. XXIV., p. 302. + + +Dr. Ryerson was not the man to diagnose the case. But the hour brought +forth the man, and that man was George Paxton Young, one of the +Inspectors of Grammar Schools. In two very able Reports[110] presented +in 1867 and 1868, he sets forth clearly and convincingly the defects of +the system then in operation and suggests the direction that reforms +should take to make the Grammar Schools serve a useful purpose. He +wished to see their character wholly changed. He did not undervalue +classics, but he believed that a smattering of classics was of no +benefit, and that it caused a waste of time that might be given to +subjects of real value. He wished to see High Schools that would give an +advanced English training, together with natural science, mathematics, +and history. He did not believe in forcing all to study Latin, nor did +he believe in apportioning grants to High Schools on the basis of the +number of pupils studying Latin. He wished to see better Common Schools +and objected to the plan of union which robbed the Common School of its +older pupils and degraded its function. Speaking of this, he says: "The +number of union schools is increasing and is likely to increase. In many +of the schools of this class all the Common School pupils, boys and +girls alike, who have obtained a smattering of English grammar are +systematically drafted into the Grammar School. The consequence is that +in localities where such a system is followed there is no mere Common +School education (observe I say mere Common School education) given to +any pupils, boys or girls, which is not of the most elementary +description; and not only have the Grammar Schools thus become to a +great extent girls' schools as well as boys' schools, but--what is +especially noteworthy--the girls admitted to these schools are in a +majority of instances put into Latin as a matter of course; in other +words, the study of Latin is made practically a condition of their +admission into the Grammar School. Will any man say that this state of +things is satisfactory, a state of things in which the Common Schools +are degraded by being suspended from the exercise of all their higher +functions? Unless I misunderstand the object of the Common School law, +the Common Schools are designed to furnish a good English and general +education to those desiring it. But how can this end be accomplished +where the Common Schools are subject to arrangements under which the +highest stage of advancement ever reached by the pupils is to be able to +parse an easy English sentence? ... Children under thirteen years of age +who do not mean to take a classical course of study have no educational +wants which the Common Schools, properly conducted, are not fitted to +supply. For children of thirteen and upwards who have already obtained +such an education as may be got in good Common Schools, it would, I +think, be well to establish English High Schools--a designation which I +borrow from the United States although, unfortunately, I have only a +very vague idea of what the High Schools in the United States are." + +[110] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XX., pp. 98-128. + + +Dr. Young strongly urged a more rigid inspection of Grammar Schools and +the apportioning of the Legislative grant upon the basis of Inspectors' +reports. As so many girls had been drafted into Grammar Schools and put +in grammar classes apparently to increase the school grant, it was +proposed during 1868 to allow only fifty per cent. of girls' attendance +to count in apportioning the grant and even to make no allowance +whatever for attendance of female pupils in future years. This opened up +the whole question of co-education of the sexes in Grammar Schools and +caused lively debates in the Legislature and in Teachers' Institutes. +The general opinion seemed to prevail that girls should have equal +rights with boys but that the law should be so amended as to remove all +pressure upon girls to study Latin. + +After one or two abortive attempts, a Bill reorganizing Grammar Schools +was passed in 1871. This Bill abolished the term "Grammar School," and +substituted that of "High School." Adequate provision was to be made in +each High School for an advanced English education, including natural +sciences and commercial subjects. The study of Latin, Greek and modern +languages was to be at the option of the pupils' parents or guardians. +Provision was made for a superior class of High School, to be known as +Collegiate Institutes. These schools were required to have at least four +masters and an average of not less than sixty boys studying Latin or +Greek, and were to receive a special grant of $750 a year. County +Councils were empowered to form High School districts and provision was +made by which the High School Board could levy an assessment upon the +district. High School vacations were extended from July 1st to August +15th. A very important feature of the new Bill was the provision for the +admission of pupils. The county, city or town Inspector of Schools, the +Chairman of the High School Board and the head master of the High School +were constituted a Board with power to conduct a written examination and +admit pupils according to regulations prescribed by the Council of +Public Instruction. + +At first the local examining Board set the entrance papers, but this +plan was soon superseded by one requiring uniform papers set by the High +School Inspectors. This aroused a storm of opposition, and the +resolution of the Council of Public Instruction requiring uniform papers +was set aside by an Order-in-Council. But the plan of uniform papers was +so sensible, and so much chaos resulted from the other plan, that by +1874 the Government authorized a uniform entrance examination which shut +out immature pupils and those insufficiently prepared. It raised the +status of High Schools, enabling them to begin advanced work, and +indirectly increased the efficiency of the Public Schools by fixing a +standard of attainment. The Legislature also made further provision for +High Schools by appropriating an additional $20,000 a year, exclusive of +the grants to be given to Collegiate Institutes. + +The Act of 1871 provided for a minimum Legislative grant[111] for each +High School, and made the maximum grant depend upon average attendance. +The Rev. George Paxton Young had, in his last Report as Grammar School +Inspector, strongly recommended the adoption in a modified form of the +English system of payment by results. He wished to see the High Schools +graded by the Inspectors according to their general efficiency and the +grant based upon this grading. In 1872 the High School Inspectors, +Messrs. McKenzie and McLellan, urged the adoption of a similar plan and +showed how it would serve as a stimulus to better work in all the +schools. They also pointed out how such a plan would encourage Boards to +employ good teachers, since they would have a pecuniary interest in +keeping up a good school. + +[111] The minimum grant per school was $400. The High Schools of the +Province had, in 1872, from Legislative grant and County Councils, +$105,000. This was more than $1,000 per school and about $30 per pupil. +Many of the High Schools charged no fees. + + +The Act of 1871 gave the Council of Public Instruction a large measure +of control over textbooks to be used in High Schools. The Council issued +lists of those authorized, and this did much to bring about uniformity +in courses of study. Previous to 1871, many High Schools had only one +teacher, but the new legislation required at least two for High Schools +and four for Collegiate Institutes. To secure this required much +firmness on the part of Dr. Ryerson. Even two teachers were wholly +unable to do efficient work in large High Schools, and there was no easy +way to force School Boards to employ more. The Superintendent had +steadily to oppose a tendency to form weak High Schools, and in some +cases Grammar Schools which had been able to exist in a sickly state +under the old law were wholly unable to meet the requirements of the Act +of 1871, which threw some of the burden of support upon the local +municipality. + +The Inspectors' Reports for 1874 emphasize the need of additional +teachers, the poor quality of work done in English literature, and the +necessity of increased provision for natural science. Referring to the +latter, the Inspectors' joint Report speaks as follows: "In regard to +the direct utility of the knowledge imparted, the physical sciences are +equalled by few subjects of study. We regret to report that the teaching +of science is not making progress in the schools. For this there are +many reasons, of which perhaps the most important are the lack of +apparatus and the impracticable character of the prescribed programme of +studies. All places might advantageously follow the example of Whitby +and fit up a science room, that is, a room to be devoted to the teaching +of science and furnished with the necessary appliances and apparatus. It +cannot too often be inculcated that there can be no effective teaching +of chemistry without experiments. Effective teaching implies first of +all a qualified teacher, and few of our masters consider themselves well +qualified to teach any of the physical sciences. Yet the number of +masters qualified to teach in this Department is increasing every year +and it is much to be regretted that where the master is qualified he is +often compelled, if he wishes to teach chemistry, to provide the +apparatus at his own expense. The public indifference to the claims of +physical science is greater than the indifference of the masters. +Besides, three-fourths of High School Boards either are so poor, or +believe themselves to be so poor, that they will grumble if asked to +spend $10.00 annually for chemical purposes."[112] + +[112] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XXV., pp. 244-245. + +Progress on the whole was rapid. Several weak schools were closed,[113] +but they were schools which should never have been opened. Fees were +either abolished or lowered.[114] The standard for pupils' admission was +gradually raised and the old "Grammar Schools" were truly doing the work +for which they were established in 1807. + +[113] About fifteen in all. + +[114] Out of 106 schools in operation in 1875, no less than 81 were +absolutely free. Fees in the others varied from 75 cents to $6.00 per +quarter, the average being $2.70. + + +Much was yet to be desired in the qualifications of High School masters. +In 1874, one hundred out of one hundred and six head masters were +university graduates, but forty-five assistants held only Second Class +Normal School Certificates, or County Certificates, and twenty-three +schools had to employ teachers for a whole or a part of the year without +any legal qualifications. The average salary of head masters was +$930.00, of male assistants $664.00, and of female assistants $416.00. +The following extract from the Inspector's Report is interesting in the +light of what has since been accomplished: "In the absence of any +special training college or chair of pedagogy in the University, we +would suggest that as so many men are pursuing a collegiate course, with +a view to becoming High School masters, it would be well for the +Government to establish a lectureship in Education. It would not, we +think, be difficult if proper encouragement were given to secure the +services of several experienced and skilled educationists, one of whom +might deliver a short course of lectures on the above subjects during +each college session." + +Perhaps no part of our school system has developed more since Ryerson +retired in 1876 than our High Schools. But this development has been +almost wholly a natural growth. True, there has been much legislation +and many changes in departmental regulations, but nothing of a +revolutionary character. The opening of the doors of the universities to +women and their increased employment as teachers has led to their being +placed on an absolute equality with men in the High Schools and in all +graduating examinations. The number of schools has almost doubled and +the teaching of every department has been improved; incompetent teachers +have given place to those having high academic and professional +training; natural science has been greatly strengthened and the teaching +of languages much improved; good laboratories have been built; spacious +buildings with fine grounds have become the rule; the number of students +preparing for university matriculation has multiplied many times; the +average salaries of teachers have more than doubled, and finally the +High Schools are so adapting themselves to the social needs of the +people that they are becoming as much the schools of the people as are +the Public Schools. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +_RYERSON AND THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS._ + + +Normal Schools were mooted in Upper Canada before Ryerson became +Superintendent. As early as 1843, Sir Francis Hincks said that the +school system would never be complete without them.[115] In his Report +on a System of Education made in 1846, Ryerson made it clear that any +system of education must have as its basis trained teachers, and to +secure trained teachers was almost impossible without Normal Schools. +His report gives details of the Normal School systems of Great Britain +and Ireland, France, Holland, Germany, and the United States. One or two +schools had just been established in Massachusetts and one in Albany. +Ryerson visited these, but was most favourably impressed with the Dublin +Normal and Model Schools, as managed by the Commissioners of the Irish +National Board of Education, and our first Normal School was modelled +largely after the Dublin type. + +[115] See extract from his speech, Chap. IV., pp. 101, 102. + + +The legislation of 1846 appropriated £1,500 for fitting up a Normal +School building and made an additional appropriation of £1,500 per +annum for maintenance. The School Bill of 1846 created a Council of +Public Instruction to work with the Chief Superintendent, and placed the +proposed Normal School under its management. The Council of Public +Instruction lost no time in beginning work. As early as May, 1846, they +were planning an early opening of the Normal School, and were in +communication with John Rintoul, of the Dublin Normal School, about +accepting the head mastership of the proposed Normal School at Toronto. +It was proposed to give Mr. Rintoul £350, Halifax currency, and £100 for +moving expenses. Mr. Rintoul accepted the appointment, resigned his +position in Dublin, and was about to leave for Canada when, owing to +some domestic affliction, he had to abandon his plans. The Commissioners +of the Irish National Board then selected Thomas Jaffray Robertson to +take Rintoul's place and the Council of Public Instruction chose as his +assistant Mr. Henry Hind, of Thorne Hill. Robertson sailed from Ireland +in July, 1847, and in November of the same year the Normal School was +opened. + +It was a part of Ryerson's plan that the several District Councils of +Upper Canada should choose two or three promising young men and send +them to the Normal School, paying at least part of their expenses. The +following extract from the Regulations issued by the Council of Public +Instruction in 1847 will illustrate the requirements for admission to +the first Normal School in Upper Canada: "1st. That the Provincial +Normal School shall be open about the 1st of July next, and the first +session shall continue until the middle of October, 1847. 2nd. That +every candidate for admission into the Normal School, in order to his +being received, must comply with the following conditions: He must be at +least sixteen years of age; produce a certificate of good moral +character signed by a clergyman; be able to read and write intelligibly +and be acquainted with the simple rules of arithmetic; must declare in +writing that he intends to devote himself to teaching (other students +not candidates for school teaching to be admitted only on paying fees +and dues to be prescribed). 3rd. Upon the foregoing conditions +candidates for school teaching shall be admitted to all the advantages +of the Normal School without any charge either for tuition or for books. +4th. Candidates shall lodge and board in the city under such regulations +as shall from time to time be approved by this Board."[116] + +[116] See Report of Superintendent of Education for 1848. + + +The school was formally opened by Dr. Ryerson, November 1st, in the +presence of a distinguished company. The Model School was opened the +following February. + +The Normal School pupils were, many of them, poorly equipped for a +course of training. They had received no adequate secondary education. +In fact, many of them were direct from the Common Schools. A few were +mature men who had a considerable teaching experience.[117] + +[117] Women were not admitted until the opening of the second term in +1848. + + +It was necessary to give a broad academic course and judiciously +interweave some professional training. Grammar and mathematics received +much greater attention than their importance merited. Physical science +and natural philosophy, together with some agricultural chemistry, +received a prominent place on the programme. Geography was also made +much of, but it was largely mathematical and political and elaborately +illustrated with globes and maps. Literature and history were taught, +but not in a way to arouse much enthusiasm. Pupils were supposed not to +learn by heart what they did not understand, but there was in practice +much memory work and repetition of rules. + +On the whole, the Normal School was approved by all classes of people, +and the teachers trained there were in great demand. But there was some +criticism, especially of the provision by which four shillings a week +was granted to students to aid them in paying their board. Inasmuch as +this money was deducted from the school grant, it was argued that the +teachers in service were actually educating in the Normal School others +who would displace them. Exception was also taken to granting aid to +students who had no intention of making teaching their life work. To +meet this difficulty, students accepting public money towards their +expenses were required to give assurance that they would teach a stated +time, and others, called private pupils, were charged fees for tuition. + +In 1849 the experiment was made of a nine months' session, but the +country was not yet ready for this step and the attendance was so +reduced that the plan was abandoned. + +In 1850, the Council of Public Instruction attempted to widen the +influence of the Normal School by sending the Normal School masters to +attend Teachers' Institutes throughout the Province. In this way many +earnest teachers who had received no training were given suggestions +that bore much fruit. + +When the Normal School was established, it was held in the old +Legislative Buildings of Upper Canada. After the riots in Montreal, in +1849, Toronto again became the seat of Government and the Normal School +had to move. Temporary quarters were obtained while the Council of +Public Instruction took steps to secure a permanent home, not only for +the Normal School, but for the Education Department. The present site +was secured and Parliament made an appropriation of £15,000 to provide +for it and for a building. In July, 1851, Lord Elgin laid the +corner-stone.[118] + +[118] See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 5-14. + + +The address of Dr. Ryerson, in introducing the Governor, shows that he +had no thought of divorcing the Common Schools from agriculture, the +backbone industry of the people. He says: "The land on which these +buildings are in course of erection is an entire square, consisting of +nearly eight acres, two of which are to be devoted to a botanical +garden, three to agricultural experiments, and the remainder to the +buildings of the institution. It is thus intended that the valuable +course of lectures given in the Normal School in vegetable physiology +and agricultural chemistry shall be practically illustrated on the +adjoining grounds, in the culture of which the students will take part +during a portion of their hours of recreation.... There are four +circumstances which encourage the most sanguine anticipations in every +patriotic heart in regard to our educational future. The first is the +avowed and entire absence of all party spirit in the school affairs of +our country from the Provincial Legislature down to the smallest +municipality. The second is the precedence which our Legislature has +taken of all others on the western side of the Atlantic in providing +for Normal School instruction, in aiding teachers to avail themselves of +its advantages. The third is that the people of Upper Canada have during +the last year voluntarily taxed themselves for the salaries of teachers +in a larger sum in proportion to their numbers and have kept open their +schools on an average more months than the neighbouring citizens of the +old and great State of New York. The fourth is that the essential +requisite of a series of suitable and excellent textbooks has been +introduced into our schools and adopted almost by general acclamation, +and that the facilities of furnishing all our schools with the necessary +books, maps, and apparatus will soon be in advance of those of any other +country."[119] In November, 1852, when the buildings[120] were formally +opened, the Honourable John Beverley Robinson, Chief Justice of Upper +Canada, said: "Without such a general preparatory system as we see here +in operation, the instruction of the great mass of our population would +be left in a measure to chance. The teachers might be, many of them, +ignorant pretenders without experience, without method, and in some +respects very improper persons to be entrusted with the education of +youth. There could be little or no security for what they might teach, +or what they might attempt to teach, nor any certainty that the good +which might be acquired from their precepts would not be more than +counterbalanced by the ill effects of their example. Indeed the footing +which our Common School teachers were formerly upon in regard to income +gave no adequate remuneration to intelligent and industrious men to +devote their time to the service. But this disadvantage is largely +removed, as well as other obstacles which were inseparable from the +conditions of a thinly-peopled and uncleared country traversed only by +miserable roads, and henceforth, as soon at least as the benefits of +this institution can be fully felt, the Common Schools will be +dispensing throughout the whole of Upper Canada, by means of +properly-trained teachers and under vigilant superintendents, a system +of education which has been carefully considered and arranged, and which +has been for some time practically exemplified. An observation of some +years has enabled most of us to form an opinion of its sufficiency. +Speaking only for myself, I have much pleasure in saying that the degree +of proficiency which has been actually attained goes far, very far, +beyond what I had imagined it would have been attempted to aim +at."[121] + +[119] See D. H. E., Vol. X., p. 6. + +[120] These included what is now the main Departmental building and the +Model School to the north. The present Normal School building was +erected later. + +[121] See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 278-283. + + +The following from Honourable Francis Hincks leaves us in no doubt as to +Ryerson's part in securing the building. He says: "With regard to this +institution, so far it has been most successfully conducted, and I feel +bound to say that we must attribute all the merit of that success to the +reverend gentleman who has been at the head of our Common School system. +It is only due to him that I should take this public opportunity of +saying that since I have been a member of the Government I have never +met an individual who has displayed more zeal or more devotion to the +duties he has been called upon to discharge than Dr. Ryerson. A great +deal of opposition has been manifested both in and out of Parliament to +this institution, and a good deal of jealousy exists with regard to its +having been established in the city of Toronto. I can speak from my own +experience as to the difficulties experienced in obtaining the +co-operation of Parliament to have the necessary funds provided for the +purpose of erecting this building. I will say, however, that there never +was an institution in which the people have more confidence that the +funds were well applied than in this institution. There is but one +feeling that pervades the minds of all those who have seen the manner +in which this scheme has been worked out. In regard to the Normal School +itself, the site has been well chosen, the buildings have been erected +in a most permanent manner, and without anything like extravagance, and +I have no doubt there will be no difficulty in obtaining additional +Parliamentary aid to finish them."[122] + +[122] See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 282-284. + + +In his report for 1853, Ryerson suggests Normal training for Grammar +School teachers. I shall give his own words: "The Provincial Normal and +Model Schools have contributed, and are contributing, much to the +improvement of our Common Schools by furnishing a proper standard of +judgment and comparison as to what such schools ought to be and how they +should be taught and governed, and by furnishing teachers duly qualified +for that important task. There is equal need of a Provincial Model +Grammar School, in which the best modes of teaching the elements of +Greek and Latin, French and German, the elementary mathematics and the +elements of natural science, may be exemplified, and where teachers and +candidates for masterships of Grammar Schools may have an opportunity +for practical observation and training during a shorter or longer +period. Such a school would complete the educational establishments of +our school system and contribute powerfully to advance Upper Canada to +the proud position which she is approaching in regard to institutions +and agencies for the mental culture of her youthful population."[123] + +[123] See Superintendent's Report for 1853. + + +The Legislature voted £1,000 for a Model Grammar School, and in 1855 +plans for a building were prepared under direction of the Council of +Public Instruction. The estimate exceeded the means at the disposal of +the Council and nothing was done until 1856, when Ryerson wrote the +Executive Council as follows: "There is no branch of our system of +Public Instruction so defective as our Grammar Schools, and the 'Model' +for them as to both structure and furniture, discipline, modes of +classification and teaching is of the utmost importance.... I am +persuaded that a saving of one-half of the time and expense usually +incurred in the Grammar School education of youth may be saved by +improved methods in teaching and directing their studies, a result which +will greatly increase the number of those who will aspire to a higher +literary education apart from other advantages and intellectual habits +and discipline. It is proposed to erect the Model Grammar School in the +rear of the present Model School.... The proposed mode of admitting +pupils will prevent the Model Grammar School from interfering with or +being the rival of any other Grammar School. It is also intended to +afford every possible facility and assistance to masters and teachers of +Grammar Schools throughout the Province to come and spend some weeks in +the Model Grammar School."[124] + +[124] See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. XII., p. 321. + + +The Government now authorized the Council of Public Instruction to +proceed with the erection of a building to accommodate one hundred +Grammar School pupils. The school was opened in 1858. It was the +intention to give a preference to the two or three pupils from each +county and city in Upper Canada who were recommended by the respective +Municipal Councils. Ryerson's circular to these Councils will throw some +light on the subject: "The object of the Model Grammar School is to +exemplify the best methods of teaching the branches required by law to +be taught in the Grammar Schools, especially the elementary classics and +mathematics, as a model for the Grammar Schools of the country. It is +also intended that the Model Grammar School shall, as far as possible, +secure the advantages of a Normal Classical School to candidates for +masterships in the Grammar School; but effect cannot be given to this +object of the Model Grammar School during the first few months of its +operation."[125] In 1859, in a report to the Government, Ryerson speaks +further and says: "In regard to the Model Grammar Schools the buildings +are completed and the school has been in operation several months and +with the most gratifying success. Upwards of thirty masters of Grammar +Schools have in the course of a few weeks visited and spent a longer or +shorter time in the Model Grammar School with a view to improving their +own methods of school organization, discipline, and teaching; and I have +reason to believe that it has already exerted a salutary influence in +improving the several Grammar Schools--an influence that will be greatly +increased when we are enabled to form a special class consisting of +candidates for Grammar School masterships."[126] + +[125] See copy of Circular in D. H. E., Vol. XIV., p. 65. + +[126] See Report of Superintendent for 1859. + + +In 1861, Mr. G. R. Cockburn, Rector of the Model Grammar School, +resigned to become principal of Upper Canada College. Ryerson wished to +transfer the functions of the Model Grammar School to Upper Canada +College. This was not agreed to, but the same year provision was made +for admitting candidates for Grammar School masterships to a course in +training in the Model Grammar School. Up to this time the School had +been of professional service as a school of observation, the holidays +being so arranged that its classes were in session while Grammar School +masters were on holiday. + +In July, 1863, the Model Grammar School was finally closed. The +following from a letter sent by Ryerson to the Provincial Secretary +makes clear the reasons for this action: "When the Model Grammar School +was established it was expected that nearly every county in Upper Canada +would be represented in it and provision was made for that purpose. That +important object has not been realized; and although the attendance at +the school has been larger during the last year than during any previous +year, reaching even to 100, the attendance as in former years has been +chiefly from Toronto and its neighbourhood. I do not think it just to +the General Fund to maintain an additional Toronto Grammar School. +During the past year a training class for Grammar School masterships, +consisting to a considerable extent of students in the University, has +been successfully established. But it has been found that the +instruction in all subjects, except Greek, Latin, and French, can be +given in the Normal School to better advantage than in the Model Grammar +School."[127] + +[127] See Ryerson's letter in D. H. E., Vol. XVIII, p. 69. + + +Trained teachers for the Grammar Schools were much to be desired, and +Ryerson deserves credit for his progressive ideas. But just at that +stage in their evolution, although they contained many scholarly men, +the Grammar Schools as a whole were more in need of teachers with sound +scholarship than of teachers with a little professional training. + +There continued to be complaints that teachers trained in the Normal +Schools did not continue to teach. In his Report for 1856, Ryerson makes +clear that in his opinion these defections from the teaching ranks were +no condemnation of Normal Schools. He says: "The only objection yet made +to the training of teachers, as far as I know, is that many of them do +not pursue that profession but leave it for other employments. Were this +true to the full extent imagined, the conclusion would still be in +favour of the Normal School, since its advantages are not confined to +schools or neighbourhoods in which its teachers are employed, but are +extended over other neighbourhoods and municipalities.... In all +professions and pursuits there are changes from one to another. I do not +think it wise, just, or expedient to deny to the Normal School teacher +the liberty, if opportunity presents itself, to improve his position or +increase his usefulness.... In whatever position or relation of life a +Normal School teacher may be placed, his training at the Normal School +cannot fail to contribute to his usefulness."[128] + +[128] See Report of Chief Superintendent for 1856. See copy in D. H. E., +Vol. XIII., p. 51. + + +Nor was all the criticism of Normal School affairs directed towards the +teachers who left the profession; those who remained in it were +emissaries of evil. Then, as now, there were croakers who thought that a +boy born on a farm naturally belonged there, and that any enlightenment +which tended to make him dissatisfied with his surroundings was an evil. +One, signing himself Angus Dallas of Toronto, wrote several pamphlets +attacking the school system. Speaking of the Normal School, he said: +"The young men who have attended six months at that institution and +leave it with certificates to teach, go forth into the country with the +most mistaken estimate of their own importance. They open schools +wherever accident places them, and by teaching and familiar intercourse, +combined with the example of nomadic habits, for they seldom remain +longer than twelve months in one place, they soon contaminate the minds +of the older pupils and also of young men who may reside in the +neighbourhood, by their doctrines of enlightened citizenship; and thus +these pupils soon learn to disdain honest labour."[129] + +[129] The Toronto schools were at this time very expensively managed as +compared with schools in other cities of Upper Canada. This could not be +attributed to the expense of Normal-trained teachers. In 1858, ten years +after the Normal School was established, no Common School in Toronto was +in charge of a Normal-trained teacher, and only two or three such +teachers had ever been employed there. See D. H. E., Vol. XIII., p. 299. + + +In 1855, the Legislature had authorized a museum and library in +connection with the Department of Education. These were formally opened +in 1857 and the library contributed much to increase the efficiency of +the Normal School by widening the scope of the students' reading. + +In the following year the Council of Public Instruction revised the +Normal School Regulations. Qualifications necessary for admission were +accurately set forth and the course of study defined for both second and +first-class certificates. There continued to be two sessions a year, but +students who entered to qualify for a second-class certificate spent two +or more sessions before reaching a standard entitling them to a +first-class certificate. + +An interesting sidelight is thrown upon the nature of the instruction +given in the Toronto Normal School by the Report for 1868 of George +Paxton Young, Inspector of Grammar Schools. Young was trying to raise +the standard of the Grammar Schools, and shows how their improvement +would affect the Normal Schools. He says: "I suppose there can be no +doubt that if High Schools like those which I have described were +established, it would be necessary to modify the work of the Normal +School considerably. Teachers who would have to perform different duties +from what have hitherto been expected at their hands would need a +different training from what has hitherto been given. The instructions +in English in the Normal School would require to be raised to a far +higher level than is now aimed at. Much of the elementary drilling which +Normal School students at present receive might be dispensed with. Our +institution for the training of teachers ought not to be a school for +teaching English grammar. In the same way I would lighten the ship of +such subjects as the bare facts of geography and history; not rejecting +of course prelections on the proper method of teaching geography and +history. The English master in the Normal School might thus be enabled +to devote a portion of his time to lessons in the English language and +literature of a superior cast--lessons which he would have a pride in +giving and on which the students would feel it a privilege to wait. Such +lessons would be immensely useful even to those young men and women who +might only desire to qualify themselves for becoming Common School +teachers. In the department of physical science, it is plain that if the +views which I have expressed in regard to the way in which science +should be taught in the High Schools be just, the object of the +prelections in the Normal School should not be to cram the students with +a mass of facts but to develop in them a philosophic habit of mind and +to make them practically understand how classes in science ought to be +conducted in the schools."[130] + +[130] See D. H. E., Vol. XX., p. 127. + + +No man in Canada was better qualified to estimate the real work of any +educational establishment than Young, and although he was not closely +connected with the Normal School, we may assume that his analysis was +essentially correct and that the study of formal grammar and the +acquisition of scientific facts bulked large in the Normal School +programme. In his report for 1867,[131] in speaking of the Normal and +Model Schools, Ryerson says: "They are not constituted as are most of +the Normal Schools in both Europe and America to impart the preliminary +education requisite for teaching. That preparatory education is supposed +to have been attained in the ordinary public or private schools. The +entrance examination to the Normal School requires this. The object of +the Normal and Model Schools is, therefore, to do for the teacher what +an apprenticeship does for the mechanic, the artist, the physician, the +lawyer--to teach him theoretically and practically how to do the work of +his profession." + +[131] See D. H. E., Vol. XX., p. 139. + + +A little consideration will show us that a school trying to realize such +an aim and attempting to teach only the rudiments of the science of +education, upon which the theory of teaching is based, must become +empirical and rule-of-thumb in its methods. The real difficulty lay in +the inadequate preparation with which the teachers in training entered +upon their work. The Normal School could not improve until an +improvement should be effected in the Grammar Schools. + +During the first nine sessions of the Normal School no certificates were +granted which entitled the holder to teach. The Normal School graduates +simply received certificates of attendance and had to submit to +examination by a County Board before securing a license. It almost +invariably happened that Normal School graduates were able to take a +high standing at these examinations, and hence Ryerson met with no +serious opposition from County Boards when in 1853 he proposed to issue +Provincial certificates to Normal School graduates upon the +recommendation of the Normal School masters. From 1853 to 1871 a dual +system of granting certificates was in operation. Normal School +graduates received Provincial certificates of various grades, and County +Boards issued certificates valid only in the county where issued. In +1871 a radical change was made, by which County Boards were allowed to +issue only third-class certificates valid for three years in the county +where given, and renewable on the recommendation of the County +Inspector. Second and first-class certificates were granted only by the +Department of Education and valid during good behaviour, and in any part +of the Province. A first-class certificate of the highest grade (Grade +"A") was made the qualification for County Inspectors. It should also be +noted that the third-class certificates referred to above were granted +after 1871 only upon the passing of a written examination upon papers +prepared by a central committee chosen by the Council of Public +Instruction. This was a radical change from the old method, which +allowed each County Board to fix its own standard, a plan which +necessarily led to many certificates being granted to wholly incompetent +persons. + +The change of 1871, which virtually established a Provincial system of +licensing teachers, brought upon Ryerson's head much abuse from +incompetent teachers and their friends. The Superintendent stood firmly +by his guns, knowing well that his act was in the best interests of the +Province. A few words from his reply to those who objected that old +teachers were being set aside because of failure to pass the Provincial +examination is worth mentioning. He says: "I answer, as government +exists not for office-holders but for the people, so the school exists +not for the teachers but for the youth and future generations of the +land; and if teachers have been too slothful not to keep pace with the +progressive wants and demands of the country, they must, as should all +incompetent and indolent public officers, and all lazy and +unenterprising citizens, give place to the more industrious, +intelligent, progressive, and enterprising. The sound education of a +generation of children is not to be sacrificed for the sake of an +incompetent although antiquated teacher."[132] + +[132] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XIII., p. 131. + + +Having secured the adoption of a system by which all licensing of +teachers was under Departmental control, Ryerson next turned his +attention to an extension of facilities for training teachers. His plans +were comprehensive and had to wait thirty-five years for complete +realization. In 1872[133] he reported to the Provincial Treasurer as +follows: "I desire to state in reply that last year I thought and +suggested to the Government that two additional Normal Schools were +required, one in the eastern and the other in the western section of the +Province, but I am now inclined to think that three additional Normal +Schools will be required to extend the advantages of a Normal School +training to all parts of the Province--one at London, one at Kingston, +and one at Ottawa. If provision be not made to establish them all at +once, I think the first established should be at Ottawa--the centre of a +large region of country where the schools are in a comparatively +backward state, and where the influence of the Normal School training +for teachers has yet been scarcely felt except in a few towns, and which +is almost entirely separated from Toronto in all branches of business +and commerce, and therefore, to a great extent, in social relations and +sympathies.... As the whole Province east of Belleville is less advanced +and less progressive in schools than the western parts, I think a second +Normal School should be established at Kingston. The whole region of +country from Belleville, on the west, to Brockville, on the east, has +very little more business or commercial connection with Toronto than the +more eastern parts of the Province. Although London is not so remote +from Toronto as Ottawa or Kingston, yet it is the centre of a populous +and prosperous part of the Province from which an ample number of +student teachers would be collected to fill any Normal School.... With +the establishment of these three Normal Schools I am persuaded there +would still be as large a number of student teachers attending the +Toronto School as can advantageously be trained in one institution.... I +think all the Normal Schools should be subject to the oversight of the +Education Department and under the same regulations formally sanctioned +by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council. This I think necessary on the +grounds of both economy and uniformity of standard and system of +instruction. As to the extent of accommodation in each Normal School, I +think that provision should be made for training 150 teachers in each +school." + +[133] See D. H. E., Vol. XXIV., p. 22. + + +In the meantime, while negotiations for more Normal School accommodation +were in progress, an attempt was made to give some professional training +through teachers' institutes. As far back as 1850 the Legislature had +made a grant for such meetings, and they had been conducted by the +Normal School masters. In 1872 the plan was revised and some very +successful institutes held. The movement is important because out of it +grew County Model Schools, and the adoption of a principle which meant +some professional training for every teacher. + +In 1875, a Normal School was opened at Ottawa, but the plan of having +schools at Kingston and London was abandoned largely because of the +apathy of the Legislature in regard to the expense. In fact it is +doubtful if any Government could have forced through the Legislature a +vote for such a purpose. + +Ryerson found the schools in 1844 taught by teachers without +certificates and without professional training; he left them in 1876 +with teachers, all of whom were certificated under Government +examinations, and many of whom were Normal-trained. More important +still, he had, by his lectures at County Conventions and by his +writings in the _Journal of Education_, created a sentiment throughout +the Province in favour of trained teachers. He thus made easy the +pathway of his successors in securing increased efficiency; but it may +be doubted whether any of his immediate successors achieved results in +keeping with the material advance of the Province. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +_RYERSON SCHOOL BILL OF 1871._ + + +From 1850 to 1871 no wholly new principles relating to the Common +Schools were adopted by the Legislature, although some changes were +necessarily made. The legislation of 1850 had, from time to time, to be +supplemented by amendments in order that the spirit of the previous +legislation should be made applicable to the needs of a rapidly growing +community. + +An Act passed in 1853[134] provided further machinery for the working of +Trustee Boards; gave a liberal annual grant for an educational museum; +set apart £500 a year toward teachers' pensions, and increased by £1,000 +a year the grant to Normal Schools. + +[134] See copy of Act reprinted in D. H. E., Vol. X., p. 133. + + +An Act passed in 1860[135] more clearly defined the powers of trustees, +the manner of conducting elections, and auditing school accounts. The +same Act made Saturday a school holiday. + +[135] See copy of Act reprinted +in D. H. E., Vol. XV., pp. 45-49. + + +The Act of 1871[136] was the last important school legislation prepared +by Ryerson.[137] The important features of the Act may be summed up +under four headings, viz., compulsory and free education, efficient +inspection, teachers' pensions, and the licensing of teachers under +Government direction.[138] + +[136] See copy of Act reprinted in D. H. E., Vol. XXII., pp. 213-222. + +[137] The Act of 1874, in as far as it contained new principles, was +forced upon Ryerson by the Government of Sir Oliver Mowat. + +[138] For changes made in Grammar Schools by Act of 1871, see Chapter +IX. + + +The free school was the natural complement of the Act of 1850. The +permissive legislation then enacted allowing trustee boards and +ratepayers to establish free schools had been so generally acted +upon[139] that by 1871 the abolition of all rate bills upon parents +seemed to come as a matter of course. The logical corollary of free +schools is compulsory attendance, and the Act of 1871 fixed penalties to +be imposed upon parents and guardians who neglected the education of +their children. It may be doubted whether this compulsory clause has +ever been of any real advantage to the cause of education. The real +forces that move human beings are always moral forces. Many a man has +unwillingly sent his children to school because of public opinion, but +few because of fear of the law. + +[139] Only some 400 schools out of 4,000 were levying rate bills in +1870. These 400 were chiefly in towns and cities. The total rate bill +levy for 1870 was about $24,000. See Superintendent's Report for 1870. + + +The Act provided for county inspectors who should be experts and devote +their whole time to the work of inspection. Ryerson's first Report had +foreshadowed such action, and the fact that he had to wait a +quarter-century to realize his plan shows how impossible it is to +legislate much in advance of public opinion. + +The County Inspector, together with two or more qualified teachers, were +to form a County Board, with power to license second and third-class +teachers upon examinations prescribed by the Council of Public +Instruction. In this way the Superintendent had at last secured a +uniform standard of qualification for teachers throughout the whole +Province. + +The small annual grant made for teachers' pensions in 1853, and +increased a few years later to $4,000 per annum, had enabled the +Superintendent to dole out pittances[140] to a few score of worn-out +teachers whose need was most pressing. Ryerson wished to establish a +system such as was in operation in Germany--a system of compulsory +payments by teachers in service sufficient to give a substantial pension +for old age. He hoped by this means to secure a body of teachers with a +professional spirit, and to enable them to spend their declining years +in independence. + +[140] See D. H. E., Vol. XX., p. 143. + + +The Act of 1871 required compulsory payments from male teachers of four +dollars per year.[141] At a later date County Inspectors and all +first-class teachers were required to pay six dollars a year. This +payment guaranteed an annual pension upon retirement of four or six +dollars for every year's contribution. Female teachers were allowed, but +not forced, to support the Pension Fund. The compulsory payments aroused +much opposition from some teachers, especially those who were making +temporary use of the teachers' calling as a stepping-stone to some other +profession.[142] Ryerson thought that this class might very properly be +taxed a trifle for the general cause of education. + +[141] No doubt this seems a ridiculously small contribution, but we must +remember that teachers received very small salaries. The Pension Fund +clause was repealed in 1885 on request of the teachers of Ontario, and +since that date no names have been added to the list. The payments by +teachers provided only a small proportion of the annual charge upon the +Pension Fund. The present annual charge (1910) upon the Fund is $55,926. + +[142] See D. H. E., Vol. XXIII., pp. 253-256. + + +Minor provisions of the Act of 1871 gave trustee boards power to build +teachers' residences and to secure land for school sites by arbitration. +The Act also authorized the creation of Township Boards of Trustees, +where public opinion favoured them. + +During its passage through the Legislature the Bill of 1871 was severely +criticized by Hon. George Brown, in the Toronto _Globe_, and by Edward +Blake, on the floor of the Assembly. Perhaps neither of these gentlemen +had any love for Ryerson, but they represented a new spirit which +Ryerson scarcely understood, and with which he certainly had no +sympathy. + +Mr. Blake opposed the Bill upon several grounds, but especially upon the +abolition of rate bills and the irresponsible nature of the Council of +Public Instruction. As regards the former he expressed himself heartily +in favour of free schools, but since they were gradually becoming free +without compulsion he wished to let them alone. His objection to the +Council of Public Instruction[143] is worthy of note because it brings +out in a strong light the real bone of contention between Ryerson and +the Ontario Liberals, and enables us to understand why at a later date +it was impossible for Ryerson to work in harmony with a Liberal +Executive Council. The Council of Public Instruction was an +irresponsible body appointed by the Crown and dominated by the Chief +Superintendent. It had extensive powers. It might act arbitrarily, and +yet there was no way by which the members of the Legislature could call +it to account or insist upon explanations. Mr. Blake and his colleagues +argued that this was not compatible with representative government. +Doctor Ryerson insisted that the Education Department must be wholly +removed from party politics. Conscious of purity of purpose and +personal integrity, he was ever more desirous of giving the people what +he thought they needed than of giving them what they wanted. + +[143] See Pamphlet in Parliamentary Library, Ottawa, addressed by Edward +Blake to the electors of South Bruce. + + +Although Ryerson had taken a partisan's part in politics before his +appointment as Superintendent, he wisely tried to administer his +Department upon a non-partisan basis. And he met with a large measure of +success because all sensible men realized that education ought not to be +a topic for partisan bickerings. For many years it was so arranged that +the leader of the Government introduced educational bills and the leader +of the Opposition seconded them. + +Such a procedure was possible only so long as both political parties had +more confidence in the wisdom of the Superintendent to deal with +education than they had in the educational foresight of their own +leaders. But such a confidence could not be indefinitely retained by any +Superintendent, and certainly not by Ryerson, who was very sensitive to +criticism of his administration, and always ready to challenge any +layman who had the temerity to express an opinion upon education +contrary to his. It was inevitable that a clash should come, and it was +a great tribute to Ryerson's wisdom in gauging public opinion that the +clash was so long delayed. It was also quite to be expected that the +Liberal leaders should be the ones to precipitate the shock, seeing that +Ryerson had ridden into office upon a wave of Tory reaction. + +Mr. Blake and Hon. George Brown could, however, make little headway +against Ryerson in connection with the School Bill of 1871. Except in +regard to the irresponsible nature of the Council of Public Instruction, +the Act was progressive and truly liberal. Ryerson had discussed every +clause in the Bill at County Conventions, and had behind him the support +of all actively engaged in the work of education and in the other +learned professions. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +_CONCLUSION._ + + +How are we to sum up the work of this man who moulded the schools of +Ontario during a period as long as the life of a single generation? +Would the schools of 1876 have been what they were had there been no +Ryerson? We think not. + +No doubt the people of Upper Canada would, without Ryerson, have worked +out a good school system, because a school system must in the end +reflect the average intelligence and the fixed ideals of a people. But +in Ryerson, Upper Canada had a man who, by his dogged determination and +his hold upon the affections of the people, was able to secure +legislation somewhat in advance of a fixed public opinion. To a +considerable extent he created the public sentiment which made his work +possible. He knew what the people needed and persuaded them to accept +it. This we conceive to be the work of a statesman. + +Ryerson was neither a demagogue nor a constitutionalist. He had none of +the arts of one who wins the populace by flattering its vanity. He was +too sincere and too deeply religious to appeal to the lower springs of +human action. On the other hand he had no real sympathy with popular +government. He would let people do as they wished, only so long as they +wished to do what he believed to be right. He never could believe that +he himself might be wrong. Even had he wished to do so, he never could +have divested himself wholly of the character of priest and pedagogue. +He was always either shouting from the pulpit or thumping the desk of +the schoolmaster. + +His environment after 1844 strengthened and developed his natural +tendency to be autocratic. He worked like a giant. He created the +Education Department, appointed his subordinates, was his own finance +minister, established a Normal School and appointed its instructors, +nominated members of a Council of Public Instruction who often did +little more than formally register his decrees, organized a book and map +depository and an educational museum, edited an educational journal in +which he published his decrees, and prepared legislation for successive +Legislatures having comparatively few members competent to criticize +school administration. He administered one of the largest spending +Departments of Government, and ruled somewhat rigorously a score of +subordinates, and yet, for many years, was not subject to any check +except the nominal one of the Governor-General, and later of the +Governor-General-in-Council. + +When he visited District or County Conventions he came as a lawgiver, +either to explain existing regulations, promulgate new ones, or obtain +assent to those for which he wished to secure legislation. Only after +the Grammar Schools had become efficient did Ryerson meet at Teachers' +Conventions men who were intellectually his equals and who were ready to +criticize his policy, and, when necessary, give him wholesome advice. +Had Ryerson been a responsible Minister with a seat in the Legislature, +either his nature would have been modified or he would have failed, +probably the latter. + +This would seem to lead to the conclusion that Ryerson after all was not +a statesman, since a statesman must, in our age, carry out his measures +and at the same time retain the confidence of his colleagues and the +electors. But this is just what Ryerson did, although he did not do it +directly through the Legislature. He appealed to a Court beyond the +Legislature--the whole body of intelligent men and women of Upper +Canada--and this Court sustained him in his work for thirty-two years, +during which time it is doubtful if any single constituency in the +country would have elected him to two successive Parliaments. If this be +true we may safely assume that it was a happy chance which gave us a +non-political Education Department during our formative period. + +Ryerson's greatest admirers can scarcely claim that he was a scholar. +This was his misfortune and not his fault. He never failed to embrace +whatever opportunities for intellectual improvement came in his way. His +reading of history was broad and discriminating. He had little interest +in anything that did not bear somewhat directly upon the problem of +human virtue. Consequently his interests centred largely in civil +government and theology. + +Nor can we claim for Ryerson that he introduced original legislation. +Hardly anything in our system of education was of his invention. New +England, New York, Germany, and Ireland gave him his models, and his +genius was shown in the skill with which he adapted these to suit the +needs of Upper Canada. Even in the details of his school legislation, +especially that relating to High Schools, Ryerson adopted suggestions of +men more competent than himself to form a judgment. To say this in no +way detracts from the man's greatness. Little after all in modern +legislation is actually new, and to say of a man that he is successful +in using other men's ideas is often to give him the highest praise. + +In one department of work Ryerson stood in a class by himself. He was +without a peer as an administrator. His intensely practical mind was +quick to discover the shortest route between end and means. His energy, +his system and attention to details, his broad personal knowledge of +actual conditions, his capacity for long periods of effort, his thrift, +his courteous treatment of subordinates, and even his sensitiveness to +criticism were factors which enabled him to administer the most +difficult Department of the Government with ease and smoothness. + +The history of Upper Canada during a period of nearly sixty years is as +much bound up with the labours of Egerton Ryerson as with the work of +any other public man. He gave us lofty ideals of the meaning and purpose +of life, and he had an abiding faith in the power of popular education +to aid in a realization of these ideals; he fought for free schools in +Upper Canada when they needed a valiant champion. Let the present +generation of men and women honour the memory of the man who wrought so +faithfully for their fathers and grandfathers. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + Documentary History of Education in Upper Canada. 28 vols. Dr. J. + Geo. Hodgins. + + Story of My Life. Egerton Ryerson. Edited by Dr. J. Geo. Hodgins. + + Egerton Ryerson. Chancellor Burwash. + + Loyalists of America. 2 vols. Egerton Ryerson. + + Ryerson Memorial Volume. Edited by Dr. J. Geo. Hodgins. + + History of Upper Canada College. Principal Dickson. + + Journals of Assembly of Upper Canada, Legislative Library, Toronto. + + Journal of Education, 1848-1876. 29 vols. Library of Parliament, + Ottawa. + + Ryerson's Special Reports on European Schools. Library of + Parliament, Ottawa. + + Ryerson's Annual School Reports, 1845-1876. Library of Parliament, + Ottawa. + + Gourlay's Statistical Account of Upper Canada. 3 vols. Published by + Simpkins and Marshall, London, Eng., 1822. + + Sketches of Canada and the United States. William Lyon Mackenzie. + Published by Effingham & Wilson, London, Eng., 1833. + + Reminiscences of His Public Life. Sir Francis Hincks. + + Ryerson's Controversy with Rev. J. M. Bruyère on Free Schools. + Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 50. Library of Parliament, Ottawa. + + Ryerson's Letters to Doctor Strachan, on Education. Canadian + Pamphlets, vol. 83. + + Ryerson's New Canadian Dominion. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 418. + + Ryerson's Defence Against Attacks of Hon. George Brown. Canadian + Pamphlets, vol. 418. + + Ryerson on the Separate School Law of Upper Canada. Canadian + Pamphlets, vol. 416. + + Ryerson on a Liberal Education in Upper Canada. Canadian Pamphlets, + vol. 416. + + Ryerson on the School Book Question. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 416. + + Ryerson, a Review and a Study. J. A. Allen. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. + 667. + + Bishop Strachan, a Review and a Study. Rev. Doctor Scadding. + Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 169. + + Report on Grievances in Upper Canada. William Lyon Mackenzie. + Library of Parliament, Ottawa. + + Bound Volumes of Toronto _Globe_, 1844-1876, in Legislative Library, + Toronto. + + _British Colonist._ Published by H. Scobie, 1838-1854. Library of + Parliament, Ottawa. + + _Kingston Chronicle and Gazette_, 1840-1842. Library of Parliament, + Ottawa. + + Courier of Upper Canada, 1836-1837. Library of Parliament, Ottawa. + + _Weekly Colonist_, 1852-1855. Library of Parliament, Ottawa. + + Ryerson's Correspondence with Provincial Secretaries, 1844-1876. + Canadian Archives, Ottawa. + + +Transcriber's Note: Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation (e.g., +school-houses/schoolhouses) have been resolved in all cases where it was +possible to divine the author's intent with a reasonable degree of +certainty. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper +Canada, by J. 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Harold Putman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper Canada + +Author: J. Harold Putman + +Release Date: October 12, 2011 [EBook #37739] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EGERTON RYERSON, EDUCATION--UPPER CANADA *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Julia +Neufeld and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p> <br /><br /></p> +<h1>EGERTON RYERSON</h1> + +<h3>AND</h3> + +<h2>Education in Upper Canada</h2> + + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>J. HAROLD PUTMAN, B.A., D.Paed.,</h2> + +<div class="center">Inspector of Public Schools, Ottawa, Ont.<br /><br /> + +(Formerly in charge of the Departments in Psychology and<br /> +English, Ottawa Normal School)<br /> +<br /><br /><br /> + +TORONTO<br /> +WILLIAM BRIGGS<br /> +1912</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="center">Copyright, Canada, 1912, by<br /> +WILLIAM BRIGGS</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>The object of this volume is to give a succinct +idea of the nature and history of our +Ontario School Legislation. This legislation is +so bound up with the name of Egerton Ryerson +that to give its history is to relate the work of +his life.</p> + +<p>It would be useless to attempt to show how +our school legislation developed under Responsible +Government without some understanding +of its history previous to the time of Ryerson. +I have, therefore, devoted three chapters to a +brief account of education in Upper Canada +previous to 1844.</p> + +<p>No attempt has been made to give the history +of our schools since Ryerson's retirement, +partly because no radical changes have been +made, and partly because it would involve +criticism of statesmen and teachers who are +still actively engaged in work. Nor has any +attempt been made to trace the history of University +education after 1845. To do so would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +require a complete volume. But, as University +education prior to 1844 was so closely connected +with Common and Grammar Schools, it +seemed necessary, up to a certain point, to trace +the course of all three together.</p> + +<p>The introductory chapter on the biography +of Ryerson is only indirectly connected with +the other chapters, and may be omitted by the +reader who has no interest in the man himself.</p> + +<p>It is hoped that this volume may encourage +teachers in service and teachers in training to +acquire a fuller knowledge of their own educational +institutions.</p> + +<div class="signature"> +<span class="smcap">The Author.</span></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ottawa</span>, July 1st, 1912.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">CHAPTER</td> +<td align="left">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td align="left">Biographical</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td align="left">Education in Upper Canada from 1783 to 1844</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td align="left">Education in Upper Canada from 1783 to 1844—(<i>Continued</i>)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td align="left">Education in Upper Canada from 1783 to 1844—(<i>Continued</i>)</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td align="left">Ryerson's First Report on a System of Elementary Instruction</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td align="left">Ryerson's School Bill of 1846</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td align="left">The Ryerson Bill of 1850</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td align="left">Ryerson and Separate Schools</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td align="left">Ryerson and Grammar Schools</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">X.</td><td align="left">Ryerson and the Training of Teachers</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI.</td><td align="left">Ryerson School Bill of 1871</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XII.</td><td align="left">Conclusion</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"> </td><td align="left">Bibliography</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> +<h2>Egerton Ryerson and Education<br /> +in Upper Canada</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3><i>BIOGRAPHICAL.</i></h3> + + +<p>Egerton Ryerson was born in 1803, in the +township of Charlotteville, now a part of the +county of Norfolk. His father was a United +Empire Loyalist who had held some command +in a volunteer regiment of New Jersey. After +the Revolution the elder Ryerson settled first in +New Brunswick, coming later to Upper Canada, +where he took up land and became a +pioneer farmer. The young Ryersons, of +whom there were several, took their full share +in the laborious farm work, and Egerton seems +to have prided himself upon his physical +strength and his skill in all farm operations.</p> + +<p>He received such an education as was afforded +by the indifferent Grammar School of +the London District, supplemented by the reading +of whatever books he could secure.</p> + +<p>At an early age he was strongly drawn toward +that militant Christianity preached by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +early Methodist Circuit Riders, and at the age +of eighteen joined the Methodist Society. This +step created an estrangement between Ryerson +and his father, who already had two sons in the +Methodist ministry. Ryerson left home and +became usher in the London District Grammar +School, where he remained two years, when his +father sent for him to come home. After some +further farming experience, the young man +went to Hamilton to attend the Gore District +Grammar School. He was already thinking +of becoming a Methodist preacher, and wished +to prepare himself by a further course of study. +During his stay in Hamilton under the instruction +of John Law, he worked so eagerly at +Latin and Greek that he fell ill of a fever +which nearly ended his career.</p> + +<p>When barely twenty-two years of age he +decided to travel as a Methodist missionary.</p> + +<p>In a letter written about this time to his +brother, the Rev. George Ryerson, we get a +glimpse of the young preacher's ideas upon +the preparation of sermons. "On my leisure +days I read from ten to twenty verses of Greek +a day besides reading history, the Scriptures, +and the best works on practical divinity, among +which Chalmers has decidedly the preference +in my mind both for piety and depth of thought. +These two last studies employ the greatest part +of my time. My preaching is altogether original. +I endeavour to collect as many ideas from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +every source as I can; but I do not copy the +expression of anyone, for I do detest seeing +blooming flowers in dead men's hands. I think +it my duty and I try to get a general knowledge +and view of any subject that I discuss beforehand; +but not unfrequently I have tried to +preach with only a few minutes' previous reflection."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>After being received into the Methodist connection +as a probationer, Ryerson was assigned +a charge on Yonge St., which embraced the +town of York and several adjacent townships. +It took four weeks on horseback and on foot +over almost impassable roads to complete the +circuit. During this time the probationer was +expected to conduct from twenty-five to thirty-five +services. The accommodation furnished +by the pioneers was of the rudest kind, but the +people gave the travelling preacher a hearty +welcome. Young Ryerson was acquainting +himself with conditions in Upper Canada at +first hand by living among the people. At a +later time, when the opportunity came, he made +use of his intimate knowledge to secure for +these people the advantages of better schools.</p> + +<p>During this first year of his missionary +ministry, Ryerson was drawn into the Clergy +Reserves controversy. The Methodist Society +in Upper Canada was an offshoot of that body<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +in the United States. This connection had +come about in a very natural way. Upper +Canada was largely settled by United Empire +Loyalists. The Methodist circuit-riders naturally +followed their people into the wilds of +Upper Canada. In many districts no religious +services of any kind were held except those of +the Methodists.</p> + +<p>In May, 1826, a pamphlet was published, +being a sermon preached by Archdeacon +Strachan, of York, on the occasion of the death +of the Bishop of Quebec. This pamphlet contained +an historical sketch of the rise and progress +of the Anglican Church in Canada. The +claim was made that the Anglican Church was +by law the Established Church of Upper Canada. +The Methodists were singled out and +held up to ridicule. They were represented as +American and disloyal. Their preachers were +declared to be ignorant and spreaders of sedition, +and the Imperial Parliament was petitioned +to grant £300,000 a year to the Anglican +Church in Canada to enable it to maintain the +loyalty of Upper Canada to Britain.</p> + +<p>To Ryerson, the son of a Loyalist, this was +more than could be borne, and he immediately +crossed swords with the Anglican prelate by +writing a defence of Methodism and calling +into question the exclusive demands made by +Strachan on behalf of the Anglicans. The contest +waxed warm and then hot. The whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +country was convulsed. Within four years the +Legislature of Upper Canada passed Acts +allowing the various religious denominations +to hold lands for churches, parsonages, and +burying-grounds, and also allowing their ministers +to solemnize marriages. Besides these +concessions, the Legislative Assembly was +forced by public opinion to petition the Imperial +Parliament against the claims of the +Anglican Church to be an Established Church +in Canada and to a monopoly of the Clergy +Reserves.</p> + +<p>During his second year in the ministry, +Ryerson spent part of his time on a mission to +the Chippewa Indians on the Credit River. +While there, he showed himself to be very +practical. He encouraged the Indians to build +better houses and to clear and cultivate the +land.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> "After having collected the means +necessary to build the house of worship and +schoolhouse, I showed the Indians how to enclose +and make gates for their gardens. +Between daylight and sunrise I called out four +of the Indians in succession and showed them +how, and worked with them, to clear and fence +in, and plow and plant their first wheat and +corn fields. In the afternoon I called out the +schoolboys to go with me and cut and pile and +burn the underbrush in and around the village.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +The little fellows worked with great glee as +long as I worked with them, but soon began to +play when I left them."</p> + +<p>A letter written by Rev. William Ryerson +to his brother, the Rev. George Ryerson, on +March 8th, 1827, after a visit to the Indian +Mission, shows Egerton Ryerson's practical +nature and incidentally gives us his method of +instruction. "I visited Egerton at the Credit +last week.... They have about forty pupils on +the list, but there were only thirty present. +The rest were absent making sugar.... Their +progress in spelling, reading, and writing, is +astonishing, but especially in writing, which +certainly exceeds anything I ever saw. When +I was there they were fencing the lots in the +village in a very neat, substantial manner. On +my arrival at the Mission I found Egerton, +about half a mile from the village, stripped to +the shirt and pantaloons, clearing land with +between twelve and twenty of the little Indian +boys, who were all engaged in chopping and +picking up the brush."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>At the Methodist Conference of 1827, Ryerson +was sent to the Cobourg Circuit. During +his term there he was again drawn into a +controversy with Dr. Strachan, who sent to the +Imperial Parliament an Ecclesiastical Chart, +purporting to give an account of religion in +Upper Canada. Ryerson claimed that this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +chart contained many false statements and that +it was peculiarly unfair to the Methodists. The +real point at issue was whether the Anglican +Church was to become the Established Church +of Upper Canada.</p> + +<p>In 1828, Ryerson was appointed to the +Hamilton and Ancaster Circuit, which reached +from within five miles of Brantford to Stoney +Creek. On September 10th, 1828, he married +Hannah Aikman, of Hamilton.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>The Methodist Conference of 1829 determined +to establish an official newspaper to be +known as <i>The Christian Guardian</i>. Ryerson +was elected as the first editor and was sent to +New York to procure the plant. The paper +started with a circulation of 500, which in +three years was increased to some 3,000. Besides +defending Methodist principles and institutions, +the paper made a strong stand for civil +liberty, temperance, education, and missionary +work. It soon came to be looked upon as one +of the leading journals of Upper Canada. +Ryerson gave up the position of editor in 1832, +and the following year made a trip to England +to negotiate a union between the Canadian +Methodist Conference and the Wesleyan Conference +of England. The union was consummated. +Ryerson returned to Canada and +was re-elected editor of the <i>Guardian</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> + +<p>While in England, he had interviews with +Earl Ripon, Lord Stanley and other public +men, to whom he gave valuable information +concerning Canadian affairs, especially those +connected with the vexed question of the status +of the Anglican Church.</p> + +<p>On his return to Canada, in 1833, Ryerson +published in the <i>Guardian</i> "Impressions Made +by My Late Visit to England." In this article +he gave his estimate of Tories, Whigs, and +Radicals. He saw much to admire in the +moderate Tories, little to praise in the Whigs, +and much to condemn in the Radicals. His +strictures on the latter called down upon him +the wrath and invective of William Lyon Mackenzie. +To some extent Ryerson's articles led +the constitutional reformers in Upper Canada +to separate themselves from those reformers +who were prepared to establish a republican +form of government in order to secure equal +political and civil rights. To many of his old +friends it seemed that Ryerson had given up +championing liberty and had become a Tory. +Many were ready to accuse him of self-seeking +in his desire to conciliate the party of privilege. +One reverend brother,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> writing to him, says: +"I can only account for your strange and un-Ryersonian +conduct and advice on one principle—that +there is something ahead which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +you, through your superior political spy-glass, +have discovered and thus shape your course, +while we landlubbers, short-sighted as we are, +have not even heard of it." Hundreds of subscribers +gave up the <i>Guardian</i> as a protest +against the views of its editor, but as the crisis +approached which culminated in the Rebellion +of '37 and '38, the tide of public opinion turned +in Ryerson's favour.</p> + +<p>In 1835, Ryerson gave up the <i>Guardian</i> and +took a church at Kingston. Scarcely was he +settled when he undertook a second visit to +England. The Methodists had, in 1832, laid +the corner-stone of the Upper Canada Academy +at Cobourg. They had no charter, although an +unsuccessful attempt had been made to have +the Trustee Board incorporated by the Legislature +of Upper Canada. Extensive buildings +were under way and the trustees were in financial +difficulties. Ryerson was sent to England +to beg subscriptions and also to attempt to +secure a Royal Charter. The work was distasteful +to him, but he persevered, and after +more than a year and six months spent in England +he accomplished three ends. He secured +enough money in subscriptions to relieve the +most pressing immediate needs of the Trustee +Board. He secured an order from the Colonial +Secretary directed to the Governor of Upper +Canada, authorizing him to pay to the Upper +Canada Academy, from the unappropriated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +revenues of the Crown, the sum of £4,000.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +Last, and most important, he secured a Royal +Charter, although up to that time no such +charter had ever been issued to any religious +body except the Established Church. To Ryerson, +the visit to England was of prime importance. +It gave him a broadened view of +British institutions and English public men. +It gave him a political experience that was of +great value to him in later years. It gave him +an opportunity to appeal to his fellow men +upon the subject of education and educational +institutions.</p> + +<p>While in England, Ryerson contributed a +series of letters to the London <i>Times</i> on Canadian +affairs. There was a prevalent feeling in +England that a very large part of the Upper +Canadian people was determined upon a republican +form of government. Ryerson's +letters did something to remove this impression.</p> + +<p>After the Rebellion of 1837 was crushed, +the constitutional reform party was apparently +without any influence. It seemed that the +Family Compact oligarchy would have everything +in their own hands. Prospects for +equality of civil and religious liberty were not +bright, and it is significant of the Methodists' +appreciation of Ryerson's ability that they +immediately planned to make him again editor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +of the <i>Guardian</i>. His brother John, writing +to him in March, 1838, said: "It is a great +blessing that Mackenzie and radicalism are +down, but we are in imminent danger of being +brought under the domination of a military +and high-church oligarchy which would be +equally bad, if not infinitely worse. Under the +blessing of Providence, there is one remedy and +only one: that is for you to take the editorship +of the <i>Guardian</i> again."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>Ryerson did take the position, and in his +first editorial in the <i>Guardian</i> of the 11th July, +1838, says: "Notwithstanding the almost incredible +calumny which has in past years been +heaped upon me by antipodes-party-presses, +I still adhere to the principles and views upon +which I set out in 1826. I believe the endowment +of the priesthood of any Church in the +Province to be an evil to that church.... I +believe that the appropriation of the proceeds +of the Clergy Reserves to general educational +purposes will be the most satisfactory and advantageous +disposal of them that can be made. +In nothing is this Province so defective as in +the requisite available provisions for an efficient +system of general education. Let the distinctive +character of that system be the union +of public and private effort.... To Government +influence will be spontaneously added the various<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +and combined religious influences of the +country in the noble, statesmanlike and divine +work of raising up an elevated, intelligent, and +moral population."</p> + +<p>Dr. Ryerson clearly saw that religion, politics, +and education could not at this period be +separated, and for the next two years he did +his utmost, through the <i>Guardian</i>, to prevent +the Anglican Church from securing undivided +possession of the Clergy Reserves. The difficulties +of his task were increased by the fact +that there were in Canada several British +Wesleyan missionaries who were not unwilling +to see an Anglican Establishment. +They were cleverly used by some of the +Anglicans and their friends to cause ferment +and sow discord among the Methodists +in Canada. From 1838 until 1840, when he +finally gave up the editorship of the <i>Guardian</i>, +Ryerson fought strongly for equal religious +privileges for all the people of Upper Canada. +Nor were Ryerson's efforts in this direction +confined to the columns of the <i>Guardian</i>. He +addressed several communications to the new +Colonial Secretary, Lord Normanby.</p> + +<p>Lord Durham and his successor, Lord +Sydenham, received the cordial support of +Ryerson in their efforts to give a constitutional +government to Canada. Largely through +Ryerson's suggestion there was issued at Toronto, +in 1841, the <i>Monthly Review</i>, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +was to be a medium for disseminating the +liberal views of Sydenham. Ryerson wrote +the prospectus and contributed some articles. +Probably as a recognition for this work, +Sydenham sent him a draft for £100, which +he promptly returned.</p> + +<p>In May, 1840, Ryerson paid a fraternal visit +to the American General Conference at Baltimore. +At this time he fully purposed to take +a church in New York City for one or two +years. He even thought it quite possible that +he might make the United States his permanent +home. On his return to Canada from the +Baltimore visit he was elected Secretary of +the Conference. Charges were made against +him by a British Wesleyan which determined +him to visit England. This visit led to a rupture +between the Canadian and British Methodist +Conferences. When Ryerson and his +brother returned to Canada, a special meeting +of the Canada Conference was convened to +consider the break with British Methodism. +The result was a rupture in the Canadian Wesleyan +Conference itself. Many blamed the Ryersons +for the quarrel with the English Conference, +and Egerton again thought seriously of +going to the United States or of withdrawing +from ministerial work. The truth seems to +be that Ryerson was more than a preacher. He +lived in stirring times, when the nascent elements +of constitutional government were in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +process of crystallization. He unconsciously +felt that he must have a part in directing the +destinies of his native country. He saw +clearly that the Canadian Methodist Church +must ultimately be independent and that its +ministers ought not to adopt a policy dictated +to them by the English Conference, many +members of which were wholly ignorant of +Canadian conditions.</p> + +<p>During the next two years, 1841 and +1842, Ryerson was in charge of the Adelaide +Street Church, Toronto. He seems to have +given himself up wholly to his pastoral work +and to have taken little active part in passing +events.</p> + +<p>On the 27th of August, 1841, Lord Sydenham +signed a bill which made Upper Canada +Academy a college, with university powers. +The name was changed to Victoria College. +In October of the same year, Ryerson was +appointed the first principal of the new +college. He did not give up his church work +until June, 1842. On the 21st of that month +he was formally installed in his new position. +On the 3rd of August the Wesleyan University +of Middletown, Conn., conferred upon +him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.</p> + +<p>Lord Sydenham died in 1841. It seems +that shortly before his death he had some +communication with Ryerson regarding the +latter's appointment as Superintendent of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +Education for Upper Canada. Ryerson +claimed that the Governor actually promised +him the appointment but that there had never +been any official written record. Sydenham +was succeeded by Sir Charles Bagot, who in +May, 1842, made the Rev. Mr. Murray Superintendent +of Education. Sir Charles Bagot +died in May, 1843, and was succeeded by Sir +Charles Metcalfe. It was a critical period in +the history of Canada. The people were supposed +to be in possession of the enjoyment of +responsible government. But as a matter of +fact, very few had any definite ideas as to what +was meant by responsible government. Lord +Metcalfe refused to accept the advice of his +Council regarding an appointment. Instead of +resigning at once as a protest they attempted to +secure from him a promise that he would in +future accept their recommendations. He +refused. Later the leading members of the +Council resigned. Party feeling ran high, and +the Governor had few friends.</p> + +<p>Ryerson had been upon familiar terms with +Lord Durham, Lord Sydenham, and Sir +Charles Bagot. He now had several communications +and one or more interviews with Lord +Metcalfe. He made direct and positive offers +of his services to the Governor. He then wrote +a series of nine letters in vindication of the +Governor's course. These letters caused much +excitement and won for Ryerson the lasting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +enmity of the advanced Reform party, who +openly accused him of toadyism and of selling +his support to Lord Metcalfe in return for the +promise of office. Whatever may have been +the effect of Ryerson's letters, Lord Metcalfe's +party won a temporary victory and Ryerson +himself was appointed Superintendent of Education +for Upper Canada in October, 1844.</p> + +<p>To show how the political opponents of Lord +Metcalfe viewed Ryerson's appointment, the +circumstances connected with it and his fitness +for the position of Superintendent, I +quote from the Toronto <i>Globe</i>, the editor of +which was an out-and-out opponent of Ryerson +and an unsparing critic of his early educational +legislation. In the <i>Globe</i> of May 28th, +1844, there appeared a letter signed "Junius," +protesting against Ryerson's appointment. The +writer insinuates that Ryerson was won over +by receiving some notice from Lord Metcalfe, +and that the Governor hoped by winning over +Ryerson to win a united support from the +Methodists. He calls Ryerson a violent political +partisan and taunts him with having only +a superficial education. He says: "Nor is it +flattering to the many learned men of the country +that one represented to be of slender attainments +in a few common branches of English +education, and totally ignorant of mathematics +and classics, should be entrusted with the education +of the country, many of whose youthful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +scholars have attained higher knowledge than +their chief."</p> + +<p>In a <i>Globe</i> editorial of June 4th, 1844, in +commenting upon Ryerson's first letter in defence +of Lord Metcalfe, the writer says: "If +the Rev. Mr. Ryerson's appearance in the political +field is indecorous and uncalled for, the +manner in which he has begun his work is in +perfect keeping with that appearance. A more +presumptuous and egotistical exhibition from a +man of talents and education has never been +brought under the public eye. The first column +alone of his Address [preface to letters in defence +of Lord Metcalfe] contains fifty repetitions +of the little insignificant word <i>I</i>, to say +nothing of <i>me</i> and <i>my</i>.... We may be permitted +to express our utter astonishment, however, +to find a minister of the Gospel embarking +with so much eagerness in the sea of +politics."</p> + +<p>That Ryerson had a very good understanding +with Lord Metcalfe as to the position of +Superintendent of Education before writing +the famous letters is apparent to anyone who +reads the correspondence. That there was anything +discreditable to either party in that understanding +has never been shown. On the contrary, +it seems quite certain that Ryerson +honestly believed the Governor was right. It +is certain he made out a strong case and likely +won many supporters for the Metcalfe party.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +This was especially galling to the party who +called themselves <i>Reformers</i>, because they had +looked upon Ryerson as one of their champions. +But Ryerson never had been, and never +became, a mere party man. He fought for +great principles, and if up to 1844 he had +generally found himself with the Reformers, +it was because they were championing what +Ryerson believed to be the right.</p> + +<p>To taunt him with being half-educated was +the mark of a small mind. Every man must +be judged according to the way he makes use +of his opportunities, and by such a standard no +man in Canadian public life has ever measured +higher than Egerton Ryerson. He may have +known "little Latin and less Greek," he may +have been wholly ignorant of the binomial +theorem, and he may not have been able to +write as smooth and graceful English as the +classical scholars of Oxford, but he knew that +thousands of boys and girls in the backwoods +of Upper Canada were growing up in ignorance; +he knew that the secondary schools of +Upper Canada were scarcely more efficient than +they had been thirty years before, and he knew +that the country had ample resources to give +reasonable educational advantages to all. More +than this, he must have felt that, given reasonable +freedom and support, he could in a short +time change the whole system of education.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dr. Ryerson, in accepting appointment, +stipulated that he should be allowed to make +a tour of Europe before taking up the active +duties of his office. He left Canada for +Europe in November, 1844, and returned +in December, 1845. He made an elaborate +report<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> based on personal investigation +into the schools of Great Britain and +Ireland, France, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, +and other European countries, besides +New York and the New England States. Perhaps +the systems of Ireland, Germany, and +Massachusetts gave Ryerson more practical +suggestions than those of any other countries. +In Prussia he saw the advantages of trained +teachers and a strong central bureau of administration; +in Ireland he saw a simple solution +of religious difficulties and a fine system +of national textbooks; in Massachusetts he +saw an efficient system managed by popularly +elected boards of trustees.</p> + +<p>During his absence Ryerson was again +attacked and held up to ridicule by the <i>Globe</i>. +In an editorial of April 29th, 1845,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> we find the +following: "The vanity of the Deputy Superintendent +of Education demands fresh incense +at every turn. He has doffed the politician for +the moment and now comes out a ruling pedagogue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +of Canada. What a pity that he was not +a cardinal or at least a stage representative of +one! At what a rate would he strut upon the +boards as Wolsey and rant for the benefit of +his hearers and for his own benefit more +especially! He beats all the presumptuous +meddling priests of the day.... Doubtless the +Rev. Mr. Ryerson is preparing to astonish the +world by his educational researches in Europe +and the United States. It will be a subject of +no small amusement to watch his pranks. We +shall no doubt hear of his visiting all the most +celebrated Continental schools and are astonished +he did not call at Oxford and Cambridge. +He could no doubt have given them some +excellent hints!"</p> + +<p>In a <i>Globe</i> editorial of December 16th, 1845, +when the Draper University Bill of that year +was yet a topic of public discussion, we find this +reference to Ryerson: "It is now more than +twelve months since the Province was insulted +by the appointment of Dr. Ryerson to the +responsible situation of Superintendent of +Public Instruction. To hide the gross iniquity +of the transaction, Ryerson was sent out of the +country on pretence of inquiring into the different +systems of education. After being several +months in England this public officer, paid by +the people of Canada, has for the last eight +months been on the Continent on a tour of +pleasure.... Let the people of Canada rejoice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +and every Methodist willing to be sold throw +up his cap. Ryerson is here ready to dispose of +them to the highest bidder, the purchase money +to be applied to his own benefit with a modicum +for Victoria College."</p> + +<p>Ryerson's report of 1846 was favourably +received, and the Government asked him to +draft a school bill based on his report. This +he did, and the Bill of 1846 became the basis +of our Common School system. After Lord +Metcalfe's departure from Canada and the +election of a Reform administration, there was +a clamour from strong party men that Ryerson +should be removed. The Toronto <i>Globe</i> led +in the attacks against him. It is a tribute to +his ability and to the system of education which +he proposed, that these attacks all failed and +that Dr. Ryerson came by degrees to command +the confidence of both political parties.</p> + +<p>As soon as possible after his return from +Europe in 1845, Ryerson moved from Cobourg +to Toronto. When appointed in 1844, his rank +was that of Deputy or Assistant Superintendent +of Education for Upper Canada, the +nominal head of the Department being the +Provincial Secretary. The School Bill of 1846 +made a change, and on June 17th of that year +Ryerson received his commission as Superintendent +of Education. One of his first acts was +a proposal to found a journal of education, +which should be a semi-official means of communication<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +between the Superintendent on the +one hand and District Superintendents, Trustees, +Municipal Councillors, and teachers on +the other. The "Journal" was established in +1848 and regularly issued until Ryerson gave +up office in 1876.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1847, Ryerson spent nearly +three months visiting County School Conventions, +where he explained the new School Act +and delivered a lecture upon "The Importance +of Education to an Agricultural People." In +1850, Ryerson began a struggle for free schools +which lasted until 1871. About the same time +he obtained permission from the Legislature to +establish an Educational Depository in connection +with the Education Department. He +visited Europe and some American cities and +made very advantageous arrangements for +securing in large quantities books, maps, +globes, and other school appliances. These +were supplied to School Boards at 50 cents +on the dollar. The Depository was continued +in operation until 1881 and handled in all +$1,000,000 worth of supplies. In 1853 Ryerson +spent three months in attending County Conventions +and addressed thirty meetings. During +this tour he visited his native county of +Norfolk, and at Simcoe was presented with +an address by the School Board. On his return +to Toronto he was presented with an +address and a silver tea service by the officials<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +of the Education Department and the teachers +of the Normal School.</p> + +<p>In 1853, Ryerson took advantage of an +annual grant made by the Legislature in 1850 +to establish public libraries throughout the +Province. Before the end of 1855 no less than +117,000 volumes were distributed. In 1854 +Ryerson was one of the Commissioners to prepare +a report on a system of education for +New Brunswick. In June, 1855, being in poor +health, he got leave of absence to travel in +Europe and to purchase objects of art for +an educational museum. He was appointed +Honorary Commissioner to the Paris Exposition +by the Government. During his tour he +visited London, spent several weeks in Paris, +and made brief visits to Antwerp, Brussels, +Munich, Florence, and Rome.</p> + +<p>In 1857, a new system of audit was adopted +by the Government. Previous to this time the +total money voted for schools for Upper +Canada had been paid over to Ryerson. He +gave bondsmen as security for the money and +deposited it in the Toronto banks. Interest +allowed on unexpended balances was credited +to his personal account. This system seems to +have been universal among officers in charge of +public money at that time. But in 1857 the +new auditor called in question Ryerson's right +to this interest. After much wrangling, Ryerson +paid over to the Government £1,375, being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +the amount he had received for interest. He +then put in a claim of about the same amount +for his expenses to Europe in 1844, and for +amounts paid a deputy during his absence. +The Government paid his claim, thus showing +that they believed him morally entitled to the +interest which he had repaid.</p> + +<p>In 1860, Ryerson made a three months' educational +tour, addressing County Conventions. +In all, he attended thirty-five meetings, giving +addresses on the subjects of "Vagrant Children," +"Free Schools," and "Public Grammar +Schools." He was given a public dinner +by the teachers of Northumberland and Durham +on the occasion of his official visit to +Cobourg. In 1866 he made a similar tour, +addressing forty meetings in seven weeks. His +chief object was to create public opinion in +favor of legislation on compulsory attendance, +public libraries and township Boards of Trustees. +Later in the same year he again got +permission to visit Europe for the purpose of +adding to the museum and collecting information +on schools for the deaf, dumb, and blind. +He visited New York, London, Paris, Rome, +Venice, and Geneva, returning in 1867. On his +return he presented to the Legislature an +elaborate report on education in Great Britain +and European countries. In December, 1868, +Ryerson tendered his resignation, suggesting +that a responsible Minister of Education should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +be appointed and proposing that he himself +should be superannuated. The resignation was +not accepted.</p> + +<p>In 1869 he held another series of County +Conventions. In the same year he wrote a +letter to the Provincial Secretary, Hon. M. C. +Cameron, reflecting on the action of Treasurer +E. B. Wood in regard to a proposed change in +the financial management of the Education +Department. Ryerson's letter was indiscreet +and would have led to his dismissal had he not +withdrawn it. In 1872 the long-smouldering +dissatisfaction of the Reform party with Ryerson's +administration came to a head. The +Honourable Edward Blake was Premier, and +his Government disallowed some of Ryerson's +regulations, questioned the authority of the +Council of Public Instruction, and sought in +many ways to curtail the Superintendent's +power. Ryerson showed very little desire for +conciliation and wished to refer the dispute to +the Courts. He had so long and so successfully +wielded an arbitrary power that he could +not acquiesce in the system which made his +Department subordinate to a responsible +Cabinet. In 1873, Oliver Mowat became +Attorney-General, and he, too, found Ryerson +obdurate. Finally, as a result of this agitation, +the Council of Public Instruction came to be +composed partly of members elected by various +bodies of teachers and partly by members appointed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +by the Cabinet. These latter were not +recommended by the Superintendent, as had +formerly been the custom. Friction over the +Council continued during 1874 and 1875.</p> + +<p>In 1876, Ryerson was retired on his full +salary of $4,000 a year. The following May +he went to England to consult documents in the +library of the British Museum bearing on his +work, "The Loyalists of America." He enjoyed +fairly good health until within a few +months of his death, which occurred on February +19th, 1882. The Government recognized +his valuable services by a grant of $10,000 to +his widow. On the 24th of May, 1889, a statue +to his memory was unveiled on the grounds of +the Education Department, the scene of his +labours for nearly forty years.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3><i>EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA FROM +1783 TO 1844.</i></h3> + + +<p>Immediately after the signing of the +Treaty of Versailles in 1783, United Empire +Loyalists began to make homes in Upper +Canada. The Great Lakes and larger rivers +were the natural highways. It happened, therefore, +that the earliest settlements were along +the St. Lawrence, the Niagara, and Lakes Erie +and Ontario.</p> + +<p>For a few years these settlers were too busy +to think very much about schools. Man's first +wants are food, clothing, and shelter. But just +as soon as rude homes were built and a patch +of forest cleared upon which to grow grain +and vegetables, these Upper Canadian Loyalists +began to think of schools. It was natural +that they should do so. They were descendants +of an intelligent stock, people who had good +schools in New England and of a people whose +forefathers had enjoyed liberal educational advantages +in the old world.</p> + +<p>Governor Simcoe reached Upper Canada in +1792, and almost immediately took steps to +establish schools. He was an aristocrat who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +firmly believed in such a constitution of +society as then existed in the old world. He +naturally wished to see a reproduction of that +society in the new world. Hence we are not +surprised to find that his educational schemes +were intended for the classes rather than for +the masses. In a letter<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> written by Simcoe, +April 28th, 1792, to the British Secretary of +State, he urges grants of £100 each for schools +at Niagara and Kingston. He also proposed a +university with English Church professors.</p> + +<p>In 1797, the House of Assembly and Legislative +Council adopted an address to the King +praying him to set apart waste lands of the +Crown for the establishment of a respectable +grammar school in each District, and also for a +college or university. In answer to this petition, +the Duke of Portland wrote saying that +His Majesty proposed to comply with the request +and wished further advice as to the best +means of carrying it out.</p> + +<p>The Executive Council, the Judges and law +officers of the Crown met in consultation in +1798 and recommended that 500,000 acres of +waste Crown lands be set apart to build a provincial +university, and a free grammar school +in each of the four Districts. Grammar schools +were to be built at once at Kingston and at +Niagara, and, as soon as circumstances would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +permit, at Cornwall and at Sandwich. The +university was to be at York. It was estimated +that each grammar school would cost £3,000 +to build and £180 a year to maintain. The +schools were to accommodate one hundred boys +each, and have a residence for the master, with +some rooms for boarders.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> No steps were +taken to carry out these plans until after 1807.</p> + +<p>Several private schools were opened prior +to 1800. The chief of these were at Newark, +York, Ancaster, Cornwall, Kingston, Adolphustown, +St. Catharines, and Belleville. Some +were evening schools. All were supported by +fees. Many were taught by clergymen. The +principal subjects were reading, writing, and +arithmetic.</p> + +<p>On December 17th, 1802, Dr. Baldwin, of +York, the father of Hon. Robt. Baldwin, +issued the following notice;—<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<blockquote><p>"Understanding that some of the Gentlemen +of this Town have expressed much anxiety for +the establishment of a Classical School, Dr. +Baldwin begs leave to inform them and the +Public that he intends, on Monday, the third +day of January next, to open a school, in which +he will instruct twelve boys in Reading, Writing, +the Classics, and Arithmetic.</p> + +<p>"The terms are for each boy, Eight Guineas +per annum, to be paid quarterly. One guinea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +entrance and one cord of wood to be supplied +by each boy."</p></blockquote> + +<p>John Strachan, afterwards Bishop Strachan, +opened a private school at Kingston in 1799. +Later he opened one at Cornwall, and still later +one at York. Attempts to open a public school +in each District were defeated in the Legislature +in 1804 and 1805. In 1806 the sum of +£400<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> was appropriated to purchase scientific +apparatus.</p> + +<p>In 1807, the Legislature took steps to carry +out the plan proposed in 1797. There were by +this time eight Districts in Upper Canada—Eastern, +Johnstown, Midland, Newcastle, +Home, Niagara, London, and Western. The +sum of £800 was fixed as an annual appropriation +to support "a Public School in each and +every District in the Province." This meant +£100 for each school or teacher. The Legislature +also fixed the places where the schools +were to be held. The Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council +was to appoint not less than five +trustees<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> for each District school. These trustees +were given almost absolute control over +the management of the schools.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> +<p>It must not be supposed that these schools +were public schools in the sense we now +attach to that term. Their founders had +in mind the great English public school, +whose curriculum was largely classical +and whose benefits were confined to the +wealthy. These schools were not in any sense +popular schools. It would seem that Governor +Simcoe's proposal in 1798 was to have "Free +Grammar Schools."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> But those established +by the Act of 1807 levied considerable sums in +fees. They were designed to educate the sons +of gentlemen. They were to prepare for professional +life. They were essentially for the +benefit of the ruling classes. They were largely +controlled by Anglicans,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> and in many cases +the teachers were Anglican clergymen.</p> + +<p>If these schools were not public schools as +we now use the term "public school," neither +were they high schools as we now use that term. +The curricula had no uniformity. Each school +was a law unto itself and depended almost +wholly upon the teacher. If he were scholarly +and earnest the school would accomplish much. +Often very young boys who could scarcely read +were admitted. In some schools a fine training<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +in classics was given; in others even the elements +of a common education were neglected.</p> + +<p>But although these schools were not for the +mass of the people, their establishment was +none the less an event of far-reaching importance. +It was a decided advantage to the mass +of the people that their rulers should have some +educational advantages. No one can read the +lists of names of men educated in these schools +and afterwards prominent in Canadian public +life without recognizing that their establishment +was a blessing to the whole of Canada. They +were caste schools, but they kept alive the torch +of learning and civilization. Being founded out +of public funds, there was created an interest +in their welfare among the members of the +Legislative Assembly. As years went on and +the members of the Assembly came to really +represent the people of Upper Canada, they +were led to extend to all of the people such educational +advantages as had been granted to a +section of the people in 1807.</p> + +<p>Several efforts were made to repeal the Act +of 1807 and substitute for it one of a more +popular nature. These efforts were baffled +either by the Legislative Council or through +the influence of that body in the Assembly itself. +A petition<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> presented by sixty-five residents +of the Midland District to the Legislature<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +of 1812 will give a fair idea of the state of +feeling throughout Upper Canada in regard to +education: "Your petitioners ... feel themselves +in duty bound to state that 'An Act to +establish Public Schools in each and every District +of this Province' is found by experience +not to answer the end for which it was designed. +Its object, it is presumed, was to promote +the education of our youth in general, +but a little acquaintance with the facts must +convince every unbiased mind that it has contributed +little or nothing to the promotion of +so laudable a design. By reason of the place +of instruction being established at one end of +the District, and the sum demanded for tuition, +in addition to the annual compensation received +from the public, most of the people are unable +to avail themselves of the advantages contemplated +by the institution. A few wealthy +inhabitants, and those of the Town of Kingston, +reap exclusively the benefit of it in this +District. The institution, instead of aiding the +middling and poorer class of His Majesty's +subjects, casts money into the lap of the rich, +who are sufficiently able, without public assistance, +to support a school in every respect equal +to the one established by law.... Wherefore, +your petitioners pray, that so much of the Act +first mentioned may be repealed, and such provisions +made in the premises as may be conducive +to public utility."</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> +<p>A repeal bill of the Act of 1807 was passed +by the Legislative Assembly of 1812, but +thrown out by the Legislative Council. The +Act of 1807 limited the schools to one for each +District. This was unsatisfactory even to that +class for whom the schools were especially +designed. As the country made progress and +became more thickly populated, eight schools +were a wholly inadequate provision for the +education of those requiring it. But the Legislative +Assembly steadily resisted any attempt +to enlarge the scope of these class schools. Perhaps +it was owing to their resistance that in +1816 they secured the consent of the Legislative +Council to a really forward movement +in elementary education.</p> + +<p>But it would be a serious mistake to infer +that the educational machinery of Upper Canada +previous to 1816 was limited to these eight +District Grammar Schools. What the Government +failed to provide, private enterprise secured. +More than two hundred schools were +certainly in operation in 1816. These schools +were maintained partly by subscriptions from +well-to-do people and partly by fees collected +from the pupils. In many cases they were +private ventures, conducted by teachers who +depended wholly upon fees. In some cases these +schools were of a high order, perhaps superior +to the District Grammar Schools; in other +cases, probably in the large majority of cases,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +they were very inefficient. The average fees +paid by pupils in the elementary schools were +about twelve shillings per quarter.</p> + +<p>William Crooks, of Grimsby, writing to +Gourlay, in January, 1818, says:<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> "The state +of education is also at a very low ebb, not only +in this township but generally throughout the +District; although the liberality of the Legislature +has been great in support of the District +Grammar Schools (giving to the teachers of +each £100 per annum) yet they have been +productive of little or no good hitherto, for +this obvious cause, they are looked upon as +seminaries exclusively instituted for the education +of the children of the more wealthy classes +of society, and to which the poor man's child +is considered as unfit to be admitted. From +such causes, instead of their being a benefit +to the Province, they are sunk into obscurity, +and the heads of most of them are at this +moment enjoying their situations as comfortable +sinecures. Another class of schools has +within a short time been likewise founded upon +the liberality of the Legislative purse denominated +as Common or Parish Schools, but like +the preceding, the anxiety of the teacher employed +seems more alive to his stipend than +the advancement of the education of those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +placed under his care; from the pecuniary advantages +thus held out we have been inundated +with the worthless scum, under the character +of schoolmasters, not only of this but of every +other country where the knowledge has been +promulgated of the easy means our laws afford +of getting a living here, by obtaining a parish +school."</p> + +<p>The Common or Parish Schools referred to +in this letter were the result of the legislation +of 1816, a red-letter year in school affairs because +it saw the first attempts in Upper Canada +to give schools under public control to the common +people. The sum of $24,000 a year was +appropriated for four years to establish Common +Schools. The law provided that the +people of any village, town or township might +meet together and arrange to establish one or +more schools, at each of which the attendance +must be not less than twenty. Three suitable +trustees were to be chosen to conduct the school, +appoint teachers, and select textbooks from a +list prescribed by a District Board of Education. +The Legislature authorized payments +to each of these schools of a sum not exceeding +£100. The balance needed to maintain the +school had to be made up by subscriptions.</p> + +<p>In 1819 the Grammar School Act of 1807 +received some slight amendments. The grant +of £100 per school was reduced to £50 for new +schools, except where the number of pupils<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +exceeded ten. A new school was authorized +for the new Gore District, at Hamilton. Trustee +Boards were required to present annual reports +to the Lieutenant-Governor and to conduct +an annual public examination. But the +most important change was provision for the +free education of ten poor children at each +District Public School. These children were +chosen by lot from names submitted by Trustee +Boards of Common Schools.</p> + +<p>In 1822 the Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, +on his own responsibility, had established +in Toronto a school known as the Upper Canada +Central School, formed on the plan of the +British National Schools, which had been established +in Britain by Rev. Dr. Bell. These +schools were decidedly Anglican in tone, and +that established in Toronto was at the instigation +of Rev. Dr. Strachan.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> In a despatch to +Earl Bathurst, Colonial Secretary in 1822, +Governor Maitland said:<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> "It is proposed to +establish one introductory school on the national +plan in each town of a certain size. It +is supposed that a salary of £100 per annum +to the master of each such school would be +sufficient. The number of these schools may +be increased as the circumstances of the Province +may require and the means allow."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p><p>In answer, the Earl of Bathurst, under date +of October 12th, 1823, says:<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> "I am happy to +have it in my power to convey to you His +Majesty's consent that you appropriate a portion +of the Reserves set apart for the establishment +of a University for the support of +schools on the National [Church of England] +plan of education." This action established +one school, and had in contemplation the establishment +of others under the direct control of +the Governor and his Council. The Legislative +Assembly naturally resented the action, and for +two reasons. They objected to the disposal +of any Crown property other than upon their +authority. They objected to anything being +done that would lessen the resources of the +proposed University.</p> + +<p>A side-light upon education in Upper Canada +is furnished by Mr. E. A. Talbot, who published +a series of letters upon Upper Canada in +London, 1824. I quote from Letter XXX: "The +great mass of the [Canadian] people are at +present completely ignorant even of the rudiments +of the most common learning. Very few +can either read or write; and parents who are +ignorant themselves, possess so slight a relish +for literature and are so little acquainted with +its advantages, that they feel scarcely any anxiety +to have the minds of their children cultivated.... +They will not believe that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +'knowledge is power,' and being convinced +that it is not in the nature of 'book-learned +skill' to improve the earnestness of their sons +in hewing wood or the readiness of their +daughters in spinning flax, they consider it a +misapplication of money to spend any sum in +obtaining instruction for their offspring. Nothing +can afford a stronger proof of their indifference +in this respect than the circumstance of +their electing men to represent them in the +Provincial Parliament, whose attainments in +learning are in many instances exceedingly +small, and sometimes do not pass beyond the +horn-book. I have myself been present in the +Honourable the House of Assembly when +some of the members, on being called to be +Chairmen of Committees, were under the disagreeable +and humiliating necessity of requesting +other members to read the bills before the +Committee, and then, as the different clauses +were rejected or adopted, to request these, +their proxies, to signify the same in the common +mode of writing."</p> + +<p>In 1823 there was established a General +Board of Education, consisting of: The Hon. +and Rev. John Strachan, D.D., Chairman; +Hon. Jos. Wells, M.L.C.; Hon. G. H. Markland, +M.L.C.; Rev. Robert Addison; John +Beverley Robinson, Esq., Attorney-General; +Thomas Ridout, Esq., Surveyor-General. The +same session of the Legislature set apart £150<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +as an annual grant for purchasing books and +tracts designed to afford moral and religious +instruction.</p> + +<p>By the creation of a General Board of Education, +Rev. Dr. Strachan became very prominently +identified with education in Upper +Canada. No man was better qualified through +zeal, practical knowledge, and a genuine interest +in higher education. He had been made +an honorary member of the Executive Council +in 1815, and an active member in 1817. In +1820 he was appointed a member of the Legislative +Council. Being a prominent Churchman, +an experienced and successful teacher, and residing +at York, he was naturally consulted by +successive Governors on educational matters. +Strachan was an uncompromising Churchman +with ritualistic tendencies, and in politics a +Tory of the George III. school. He had +neither faith in, nor sympathy for, a democracy. +He accepted things as he found them, and +wished to preserve them so. He could conceive +of no more perfect state of society for +the new world than that which he left behind +him in the old. He firmly believed in education +of the most noble kind for gentlemen, but it +is doubtful if he recognized the right of every +man to the highest possible cultivation of his +intellectual powers. He would have looked +upon such a plan as subversive of the existing +orders of society. At any rate he never evinced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +any passion for popular education except that +moral and religious education given under the +ægis of an Established Church. On the other +hand, no man in Canada had a more sincere +desire to foster higher institutions of learning, +and it had from the very first been Strachan's +plan that the District Grammar Schools should +be feeders for a Provincial University, and +now, in 1824, when he became virtually head +of educational affairs in Upper Canada, he +determined to carry his scheme to a successful +issue.</p> + +<p>There were serious difficulties. An endowment +had been provided for a university by +the Crown grant in 1797, but it was at this time +almost worthless. It consisted of blocks of +land, containing several townships, in remote +parts of the Province. The lands were good, +but so long as the Government had free lands +to give incoming settlers, the school lands were +not in demand. Besides these school or university +lands, there were other lands in possession +of the Crown. The original surveyor +reserved two-sevenths of all land. One-seventh +was the reserve for a "Protestant Clergy," +which eventually caused so much strife and +ill-feeling. The other seventh was known as +the Crown Reserve. In many cases this Crown +Reserve was becoming valuable, even in 1824, +because of the labour of settlers who owned +adjoining farms. Much of the Crown Reserve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +was under lease and giving a more or less +certain revenue. Strachan conceived a bold +and successful plan. He suggested to Sir +Peregrine Maitland that for grants to new +settlers the school lands were worth as much +to the Government as the Crown Reserves. +Why not exchange school lands for an equal +area of Crown Reserve land? The matter was +put before the Home Government, and in 1827 +a favourable reply was given. The result was +that the University got 225,944 acres of land, +distributed throughout every District in Upper +Canada, but having more than one-half its +total area in the Home, Gore, and London Districts, +the wealthiest and most populous parts +of Upper Canada. The Commissioners, appointed +in 1848 by Lord Elgin to enquire into +the affairs of King's College, state (pages 16 +and 17): "The Crown Reserves thus converted +into the University Endowment, consisted of +lands in various parts of Upper Canada in actual +or nominal occupation under lease, at rate +of rental fixed by a certain scale established by +the Provincial Government, and a large proportion +of the lots were in an improved or cultivated +state."</p> + +<p>In March, 1826, Rev. Dr. Strachan submitted +to the Lieutenant-Governor a very able and +comprehensive report<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> showing why a university +ought at once to be established. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +report gives an interesting and authentic summary +of the state of education in Upper Canada +at that time. "The present state of +Education in this Province consists of Common +Schools throughout the Townships, established +under several Acts of the Provincial Legislature, +and which are now, by the exertions of +Your Excellency, placed on an excellent footing, +requiring no other improvements than the +means of multiplying their number, which, no +doubt, will be granted as the finances of the +Province become more productive. In about +three hundred and forty Common Schools +established in the different Districts of the +Colony, from seven to eight thousand children +are taught reading and writing, the elements +of arithmetic, and the first principles of religion; +and when it is considered that the parents +commonly send their children in rotation—the +younger in summer when the roads are good, +and the older in winter—it is not too much to +say that nearly double this number, or from +twelve to fourteen thousand children, profit +annually by the Common Schools. The consequence +is that the people, scattered as they are +over a vast wilderness, are becoming alive to +the great advantage of educating their children, +and are, in many places, seconding, with laudable +zeal, the exertions of the Legislature, and +establishing schools at their own expense.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> +<p>"Provision is made by law for the translation +of some of the more promising scholars +from the Common to the District Schools, +where the classics and practical mathematics +are taught. In these schools, eleven in number, +there are at present upwards of 300 youth +acquiring an education to qualify them for the +different professions; and, although they can +seldom support more than one master, several +of the young gentlemen who have been brought +up in them are now eminent in their professions, +and would, by their talents and high +principles, do credit to seminaries of greater +name. But the period has arrived when the +District Schools [Grammar Schools] will become +still more useful by confining themselves +to the intention of their first establishment, +namely, nurseries for a University—an institution +now called for by the increased population +and circumstances of the Colony, and most +earnestly desired by the more respectable inhabitants.</p> + +<p>"There is not in either Province any English +Seminary above the rank of a good school, at +which a liberal education can be obtained. +Thus the youth of nearly 300,000 Englishmen +have no opportunity of receiving instruction +within the Canadas in Law, Medicine, or +Divinity. The consequence is that many young +men coming forward to the learned professions +are obliged to look beyond the Province<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +for the last two years of their education—undoubtedly +the most important and critical of +their lives. Very few are able on account of +the great expense to go to England or Scotland; +and the distance is so great and the difficulties +so many that parental anxiety reluctantly +trusts children from its observation and +control. The youths are, therefore, in some +degree, compelled to look forward to the +United States, where the means of education, +though of a description far inferior to those +of Great Britain, are yet superior to those +within the Province, and a growing necessity +is arising of sending them to finish their education +in that country. Now, in the United +States, a system prevails unknown to, or unpractised +by, any other nation. In all other +countries morals and religion are made the +basis of future instruction, and the first book +put into the hands of children teaches them +the domestic, social, and religious virtues; but +in the United States politics pervade the whole +system of instruction. The school books from +the very first elements are stuffed with praises +of their own institutions and breathe hatred to +everything English. To such a country our +youth may go, strongly attached to their native +land and all its establishments, but by hearing +them continually depreciated and those of +America praised, these attachments will, in +many, be gradually weakened, and some may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +become fascinated with that liberty which has +degenerated into licentiousness and imbibe, +perhaps unconsciously, sentiments unfriendly to +things of which Englishmen are proud....</p> + +<p>"The establishment of a University at the seat +of Government will complete a regular system +of education in Upper Canada from the letters +of the alphabet to the most profound investigations +of science.... In regard to +the profession of medicine it is melancholy to +think that more than three-fourths of the +present practitioners have been educated or +attended lectures in the United States.... +There are, as yet, only twenty-two clergymen +in Upper Canada, the greater number from +England. It is essential that young men coming +forward to the Church should be educated +entirely within the Province, but for this there +is no provision.... But the wants of the +Province are becoming great, and however +much disposed the elder clergy may be to bring +forward young men to the sacred profession, +they have neither time nor means of doing it +with sufficient effect. There can be nothing of +that zeal, of that union and mutual attachment, +of that deep theological and literary enquiry +and anxiety to excel, which would be found +among men collected at the University, and +here it is not irrelevant to observe that it is of +the greatest importance that the education of +the Colony should be conducted by the clergy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nothing can be more manifest than that this +Colony has not yet felt the advantage of a +religious establishment. What can twenty-two +clergymen do, scattered over a country +of nearly six hundred miles in length? Can +we be surprised that, under such circumstances, +the religious benefits of the ecclesiastical establishment +are unknown, and sectaries of all +descriptions have increased on every side? +And when it is further considered that the +religious teachers of all other Protestant denominations, +a very few respectable ministers +of the Church of Scotland excepted, come +almost universally from the Republican States +of America, where they gather their knowledge +and form their sentiments, it is evident that +if the Imperial Government does not step forward +with efficient help, the mass of the population +will be nurtured and instructed in +hostility to all our institutions, both civil and +religious.... From all which it +appears highly expedient to establish a university +at the seat of Government, to complete the +system of education in the Colony at which all +the branches requisite for qualifying young +men for the learned professions may be taught.... +The principal and professors, except +those of Medicine and Law, should be +clergymen of the Established Church; and no +tutor, teacher, or officer who is not a member<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +of that Church should ever be employed in the +institution."</p> + +<p>I have given this long quotation from Rev. +Dr. Strachan's report for several reasons. It +shows very clearly the point of view of a remarkable +man who had much to do with educational +affairs in Upper Canada for a period of +nearly seventy years. It shows his zeal for +higher education, his belief in the efficacy of a +religious establishment, his narrow bigotry and +intolerance of all outside of an establishment, +his old-world belief that the clergy should control +education, his loyal attachment to British +institutions, and above all, to those who read +between the lines, his lack of real interest in +elementary education. He is perfectly satisfied +with the state of the Common Schools, although +they were then accommodating less than one +in twenty of the total population. The schools +of which he says, "which are now, by the +exertions of Your Excellency, placed on an +excellent footing, requiring no other improvements +than the means of multiplying their +number," were conducted in rude buildings, +without any apparatus, with a motley assortment +of textbooks, and taught in many cases +by ignorant itinerant schoolmasters who were +of no use at any other occupation, and who +received from $80 to $200 a year! Little can +ever be expected in the way of improvement +from those who are wholly satisfied with present<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +conditions, and it is safe to say that any +improvements that took place in the Common +Schools of Canada under the <i>régime</i> of the +Rev. Dr. Strachan were owing to other causes +than the efforts put forth by that gentleman. +The Common Schools of Upper Canada had to +wait for a new birth—until Ryerson breathed +life into them.</p> + +<p>Rev. Dr. Strachan's Report is interesting for +another reason—it deals with the proposed +King's College and its relations with what Dr. +Strachan calls the "religious establishment" +in Canada. This "religious establishment" +was to have as its basis the one-seventh of all +lands in Upper Canada as provided for by the +Constitutional Act of 1791. Now these two +things, the Clergy Reserves and King's College, +caused more trouble to the Canadian Legislature +and engendered more bitter feeling among +the people of Upper Canada than any other +two questions that ever were debated in the +Parliament of Upper Canada, or in the Parliament +of the united Canadas. In the Parliamentary +struggle over both these questions the +Rev. Dr. Strachan was an active and valiant +leader of the party of privilege, and among +those who led the opposing forces to a final +victory none was more courageous or more +successful than Dr. Ryerson.</p> + +<p>Dr. Strachan went to England in 1826 to +use his personal influence towards securing a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +Royal Charter for a University. He there +issued an appeal to the English people for aid +on the ground that the proposed College would +be largely occupied in educating clergymen for +the Anglican Church.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> A Royal Charter, making +the proposed university a close corporation +under the control of Anglican clergymen, was +obtained. Besides granting the charter the +British Government made a grant toward +buildings of £1,000 a year for sixteen years.</p> + +<p>When the Legislative Assembly met in 1828 +several members presented numerously signed +petitions praying for definite information about +the newly granted charter of King's College. +The Governor sent down a copy of the charter +which was referred to a select committee. The +committee protested against the nature of the +charter in that the university was to become +an Anglican institution, supported out of public +funds. This they thought unjust, inasmuch +as only a small proportion of the settlers +of Upper Canada were Anglicans.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> The +committee also drafted an address to His +Majesty the King. This address was adopted +by the Assembly, and immediately despatched +to His Majesty by the Governor. The address +was courteous and loyal in tone, but the exact<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +condition of affairs in Canada was made clear. +The King was petitioned to cancel the charter +to King's College, and grant one that would +make possible a university for all classes. This +address to His Majesty and the protest of the +Assembly of Upper Canada attracted the attention +of a select committee of the Imperial +Parliament. This committee<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> reported against +that part of the Charter which required +religious tests. George Ryerson, of Canada, +gave valuable evidence before this committee +relative to Canadian affairs. It seems doubtful +whether His Majesty's advisers, when the +King's College charter was given, were really +made aware of the conditions of society in +Canada. Those Canadians who had the ears +of His Majesty's advisers were, for the most +part, interested in forming and strengthening +an Anglican Establishment.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3><i>EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA FROM +1783 TO 1844—(Continued).</i></h3> + + +<p>Late in the year 1828, Sir Peregrine Maitland +was replaced as Lieutenant-Governor of +Upper Canada by Sir John Colborne. About +the same time Sir George Murray, who had +acted as Administrator of the Government of +Upper Canada in 1815, and who consequently +knew something of Canadian affairs, became +Colonial Secretary in the Imperial Parliament. +In acknowledging receipt of the petition to His +Majesty of the Assembly of Upper Canada +protesting against the King's College charter, +Sir George Murray, in a communication to Sir +John Colborne, said:<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> "It would be deservedly +a subject of regret to His Majesty's Government, +if the University, recently established +at York, should prove to have been founded +upon principles which cannot be made to accord +with the general feelings and opinions +of those for whose advantage it was intended.... +I have observed that your predecessor +(Sir Peregrine Maitland) in the Government +of Upper Canada differs from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +House of Assembly as to the general prevalence +of objections to the University founded upon +the degree of exclusive connection which it has +with the Church of England. It seems reasonable +to conclude, however, that on such a subject +as this an address adopted by a full House +of Assembly, with scarcely any dissentient +voices,<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> must be considered to express the prevailing +opinion in the Province upon this +subject.</p> + +<p>"In the event, therefore, of its appearing to +you to be proper to invite the Legislative Council +and House of Assembly to resume the consideration +of this question, you will apprise +them that their representations on the existing +charter of the University have attracted the +serious attention of His Majesty's Government +and that the opinion which may be expressed +by the Legislative Council and House of Assembly +on that subject will not fail to receive +the most prompt and serious attention."</p> + +<p>Shortly after the receipt of this communication +Sir John Colborne, as Chancellor of King's +College, convened the College Council and declared +that no immediate steps were to be taken +toward active University work, and that not +one stone should be put upon another until +certain alterations had been made in the +charter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + +<p>In 1829 the Chairman of the General Board +of Education, Rev. Dr. Strachan, presented to +the Legislative Assembly his first annual report. +It is an able and very suggestive document. It +showed 372 pupils<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> in the eleven Grammar +Schools, and 401 Common Schools with 10,712 +pupils. Dr. Strachan had personally visited +each Grammar School during 1828, and had +incidentally learned something of the Common +Schools. Referring to Grammar Schools he +says:<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> "It will be seen that in some places +girls are admitted.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> This happens from the +want of good female schools, and perhaps from +the more rapid progress which children are +supposed to make under experienced and able +schoolmasters. It is to be wished, however, +that separate schools for the sexes were established, +as the admission of female children +interferes with the government which is required +in classical seminaries; it is, nevertheless, +an inconvenience of a temporary nature, +which will gradually pass away as the population +increases in wealth and numbers." This +"inconvenience of a temporary nature" persisted +until 1868, when girls were formally admitted +as pupils in Grammar Schools.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p><p>Dr. Strachan pointed out very clearly in this +Report that the Common Schools could never +improve very much until the teachers were +better paid. He also made an excellent practical +suggestion.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> "The Provincial Board, +therefore, would submit with all deference, that +in addition to the public allowance, even if +increased beyond its present amount, a power +should be given to the Townships to assess +themselves for this special purpose."</p> + +<p>Here we have laid down the correct principle +of support for public schools, and one +cannot but feel that had Dr. Strachan followed +up this suggestion by pressing it upon the +Legislature, and by discussing it with school-managers +and the general public, he might have +secured its early adoption.</p> + +<p>When the Legislature convened in 1829, Sir +John Colborne in the Speech from the +Throne<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> made direct reference to education as +follows: "The Public [Grammar] Schools are +generally increasing, but their organization +appears susceptible of improvement. Measures +will be adopted, I hope, to reform the Royal +Grammar School [the District School at York] +and to incorporate it with the University recently +endowed by His Majesty, and to introduce +a system in that Seminary which will open<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +to the youth of the Province the means of +receiving a liberal and extensive course of +instruction. Unceasing exertions should be +made to attract able masters to this country, +where the population bears no proportion to +the number of offices and employments that +must necessarily be held by men of education +and acquirements, for the support of the laws +and of your free institutions."</p> + +<p>This message from the Governor may require +some explanation. In the first place let +us note that Sir John Colborne was an able +and enlightened man, sincerely desirous of giving +to Upper Canada a government that would +be acceptable to the mass of the people. He +seems to have realized clearly that the Assembly +was a fairly accurate reflection of public opinion, +and that no policy could ultimately prevail +unless it was in harmony with its wishes. His +action in arresting the working of King's College +was one proof of this, although his subsequent +action in founding Upper Canada College +solely on his own responsibility showed his +belief in the power of the Crown to take independent +action. He saw that the District +Grammar Schools were very inefficient and +were touching the lives of an insignificant +proportion of the people of Upper Canada. He +foresaw that for some years the revenue to be +derived from the endowment of King's College +would not support a very pretentious institution,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +and that for such an institution, even if +it were in operation, there would be very few +students prepared by previous study to profit +from its courses. In his opinion the immediate +wants of the country would be better served +by a high-class school than by a university. +Hence his proposal to reform the Royal Grammar +School at York and incorporate it with +King's College.</p> + +<p>The Assembly of 1829 contained many +eminent men, of whom it is sufficient to mention +Marshall Bidwell (the Speaker), William +Lyon Mackenzie, W. W. Baldwin (father of +Hon. Robert Baldwin), and John Rolph, the +latter a graduate of the University of Cambridge. +The Assembly appointed a select committee +on Education. This committee made an +extensive report<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> upon both District Grammar +and Common Schools. In regard to the former +they were pronounced in their condemnation +and recommended their abolition. The report +claimed that the District or Grammar School +Trustees, appointed by the Crown, were chosen +to promote the interests of the Anglican +Church; that in many cases the schools themselves +were merely stepping-stones for the +clergy of the Anglican Church; that they were +under no efficient inspection; that they were +quite as expensive to those parents who did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +not live immediately beside them as much +better schools in the United States; and finally +that as only 108 pupils in the whole Province +were studying languages in these schools, that +their work could be done equally well by really +good Common Schools. The report lamented +the low salaries of teachers in Common Schools +and suggested that no Government grants +should be given unless the managers of schools +themselves raised by subscription equal +amounts. The report also protested against +the payment out of public funds of £300 a year +to Rev. Dr. Strachan, as Chairman of the +General Board,<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> and against his assumption +that reports of District Schools should be made +to him instead of to the Lieutenant-Governor. +The report expressed a hope that something +might be done to encourage the publication of +textbooks in Canada, and concluded with expressing +approval of the Governor's plan to +found a seminary of a high class, which should +be free from sectarian influences and afford +advanced instruction to the youth of Canada.</p> + +<p>Later in the session of 1829 this select committee +on Education prepared a series of resolutions +which were adopted by the Assembly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +The following are the chief points in the resolutions:—<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>1. That the Governor, or Lieutenant-Governor +of the Province, not being amenable for +his conduct to any tribunal, ought not to be +Chancellor of King's College.</p> + +<p>2. That it ought not to be required that the +President of King's College be a clergyman of +the Anglican Church, and that he ought to be +elected or appointed for a stated term.</p> + +<p>3. That the Archdeacon of York ought not +by virtue of his clerical office to become President +of King's College.</p> + +<p>4. That the President and Professors of +King's College ought not to be required to +subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles.</p> + +<p>5. That the Degree of Doctor of Divinity +ought to be conferred by King's College upon +any professing Christian who passed the required +examinations in Classical, Biblical, and +other subjects of learning.</p> + +<p>6. That wherever the charter of King's College +is in any way sectarian it should be +amended.</p> + +<p>The Governor asked the Legislative Council +to consider in what way the charter of King's +College could be amended to make it more +acceptable to the people of Upper Canada. The +Council in reply recommended that instead of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +the Archdeacon of York any Anglican clergyman +should be eligible for President. They +also recommended that tests for the Council be +dispensed with.</p> + +<p>Having the sanction of the Home Government, +and feeling sure of the active support +of the Assembly, Sir John Colborne immediately +put in execution his plan of forming a +high-class school to replace the Royal Grammar +School at York. He caused advertisements +to be inserted in the British papers for +masters. The head master was to have a house, +£600 per annum, and the privilege of taking +boarders. The classical and mathematical masters +were to receive £300 a year and similar +privileges. The Assembly had suggested that +the new school should be known as Colborne +College, but the name adopted was Upper +Canada College. The school opened in 1830 +with a staff of seven specialists, nearly all +chosen in England. The work was carried on +in the buildings of the old Grammar School +until handsome and elaborate buildings were +erected on Russell Square, north of King +Street. An endowment of some 60,000 acres +from the School lands was given the new institution. +It was generally felt that the new +school would, for the present, supply the want +of a university, and also make it unnecessary +for Canadian youths to complete their education +in the United States.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> + +<p>Before Upper Canada College had been +working a year a very numerously-signed petition +was presented by some York patrons of +the school praying for some modification of the +exclusively classical nature of the programme +for those boys destined for commerce and +mechanical pursuits. The Governor's attempt +to give Canadians a high-class collegiate school +seemed only partially successful. The error +was in attempting to adapt to a new country +a form of school that suited the requirements +of a select class in an old and highly civilized +country. Latin and Greek must be crammed +into boys whether or not they had any natural +aptitude for language study, and quite irrespective +of their future occupations in life.</p> + +<p>The founding and liberal equipment of Upper +Canada College had one effect that might easily +have been foretold. Petitions came from almost +every Grammar School District praying +for endowed and well-equipped schools similar +to Upper Canada College. The petitioners resented +the concentration at York of two important +institutions, Upper Canada College and +King's College, deriving support from an endowment +originally set aside to give educational +facilities to the whole of Upper Canada.</p> + +<p>The Assembly of 1833, through a select +committee, made a minute examination into +the affairs of Upper Canada College, and +passed a resolution recommending that it be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +incorporated with King's College. I give here +quotations from two writers on Upper Canada +College, showing how differently things +appear when viewed through different eyes. +The first is from a letter written in 1833 by +Rev. Thomas Radcliffe.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> "Future generations +will bless the memory of Sir +John Colborne, who, to the many advantages +derived from the equity and wisdom of +his government, has added that of a magnificent +foundation [in Upper Canada College] +for the purposes of literary instruction. The +lowest salary of any of the professors of this +institution is £300 per annum, with the accommodation +of a noble brick house and the privilege +of taking boarders at £50 per annum."</p> + +<p>The next is from "Sketches," published by +William Lyon Mackenzie, London, 1833. +"Splendid incomes are given to the masters of +the new [Upper Canada] College, culled at Oxford +by the Vice-Chancellor, and dwellings furnished +to the professors (we may say) by the +sweat of the brow of the Canadian +labourer. All these advantages and others +not now necessary to be mentioned, are +insufficient to gratify the rapacious appetite +of the 'Established Church' managers, +who, in order to accumulate wealth +and live in opulence, charge the children of His +Majesty's subjects ten times as high fees as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +are required by the less amply endowed Seminary +at Quebec. They have another reason for +so doing. The College (already a monopoly) +becomes almost an exclusive school for the +families of the Government officers, and the +few who, through their means, have, in York, +already attained a pecuniary independence out +of the public treasury. The College never was +intended for the people, nor did the Executive +endow it thus amply that all classes might apply +to the fountain of knowledge."<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p>As time passed the College founded by Sir +John Colborne did good work as a secondary +school for people of wealth, but all attempts +to make it popular with the mass of the people +proved ineffective. The Legislature gave it an +annual grant somewhat unwillingly.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> The +buildings were erected, and part of the annual +expenses paid from advances made by the +King's College Council.</p> + +<p>By an Act passed in 1839<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> there was an +attempt made to raise the College to the dignity +of a temporary university. This action displeased +the Council of King's College because +it tended to delay the opening of lectures in +that institution. In 1849, when the Baldwin +University Bill made an independent corporation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +of Upper Canada College, that institution +was indebted to the University for nearly +$40,000, which was never repaid.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>In 1831 the Methodists began to build at +Cobourg the Upper Canada Academy, which +was to be open to all religious denominations. +They felt that although Upper Canada College +was non-sectarian in a legal sense, yet, +inasmuch as the principal and professors were +Anglican clergymen, the institution was essentially +an Anglican College.</p> + +<p>At this time the Rev. Egerton Ryerson was +editor of <i>The Christian Guardian</i> newspaper, +the official organ of the Methodist Conference. +In an editorial, April, 1831, he thus refers to +the proposed Upper Canada Academy: "It +is the first literary institution which has been +commenced by any body of ministers in accordance +with the frequently expressed wishes +of the people of Upper Canada. The Methodist +Conference have not sought endowments of +public lands for the establishment of an institution, +contrary to the voice of the people as +expressed by their representatives.... +Desirous of promoting more extensively the +interests of the rising generation and of the +country generally, we have resolved upon the +establishment of a Seminary of Learning—we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +have done so upon liberal principles—we have +not reserved any peculiar privileges to ourselves +for the education of our children; we +have published the constitution for your examination; +and now we appeal to your liberality +for assistance.... On the characteristics +of the system of education which it is +contemplated to pursue in the proposed Seminary, +we may observe that it will be such as to +produce habits of intellectual labour and activity; +a diligent and profitable improvement of +time; bodily health and vigour, a fitness and +relish for agricultural and mechanical, +as well as for other pursuits; virtuous +principles and Christian morals. On the +importance of education generally we may +remark, it is as necessary as the light—it +should be as common as water, +and as free as air.... Education +among the people is the best security of a good +government and constitutional liberty; it yields +a steady, unbending support to the former, and +effectually protects the latter. An educated +people are always a loyal people to good government; +and the first object of a wise government +should be the education of the people. An +educated people are always enterprising in all +kinds of general and local improvements. An +ignorant population are equally fit for, and are +liable to be, slaves of despots and the dupes of +demagogues; sometimes, like the unsettled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +ocean, they can be thrown into incontrollable +agitation by every wind that blows; at other +times, like the uncomplaining ass, they tamely +submit to the most unreasonable burdens.... +Sound learning is of great worth even in religion; +the wisest and best instructed Christians +are the most steady, and may be the most useful. +If a man be a child in knowledge he is +likely to be tossed to and fro, and carried about +with every wind of doctrine, and often lies +at the mercy of interested, designing men; the +more knowledge he has the safer is his state. +If our circumstances be such that we have few +means of improvement, we should turn them +to the best account. Partial knowledge is better +than total ignorance; and he who cannot +get all he may wish, must take heed to acquire +all that he can. If total ignorance be a bad and +dangerous thing, every degree of knowledge +lessens both the evil and the danger."<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>Ryerson wrote this when he was only twenty-eight +years of age, but it foreshadows the +fundamental principles upon which he later attempted +to base a national system of education.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to note that in this same +year the United Presbytery of Upper Canada +were discussing the establishment of a Literary +and Theological Seminary at Pleasant Bay, in +Prince Edward County. This seminary never +was established, but the agitation for it led to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +the founding of Queen's University, at Kingston.</p> + +<p>While Methodist and Presbyterian clergy +were forming plans for academies, the members +of the Legislative Assembly were debating +a series of resolutions on the School Reserves +and the failure of the people of Upper +Canada to secure the free Grammar Schools +for which the Crown Lands were appropriated +in 1798. Several things are made plain in +these resolutions regarding the attitude of the +popularly elected branch of the Legislature. +The following stand out prominently:—</p> + +<p>1. That the existing Grammar Schools were +wholly inadequate to perform the work for +which they were created.</p> + +<p>2. That the real intentions of the Crown +in setting apart the immense School Reserves +in 1798 had never been carried out.</p> + +<p>3. That the successive Canadian Administrations +had been largely concerned in appropriating +the lion's share of these Reserves for +University education.</p> + +<p>4. That the School Reserves of 1798, with +proper management, would be now (1831) +sufficiently productive to give great assistance +to education if applied in accord with the real +wishes of the people.</p> + +<p>5. That the money received from these +School lands from time to time ought to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +paid in to the Receiver-General and disposed +of only by vote of the Legislature.</p> + +<p>Further protests were made against the +exclusive nature of King's College charter, and +the Assembly was assured by Sir John Colborne +that some changes would be made. As a +matter of fact, on the 2nd of November, 1831, +Lord Goderich, the British Colonial Secretary, +in a lengthy communication to Governor Colborne, +showed that His Majesty's Government +was fully seized of the situation in regard to +the charter of King's College. Lord Goderich +said,<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> "I am to convey through you to the +Members of the Corporation of King's College, +at the earnest recommendation and advice of +His Majesty's Government, that they do forthwith +surrender<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> to His Majesty the charter of +King's College of Upper Canada, with any +lands that may have been granted them." Lord +Goderich then proceeds to intimate that a new +charter will be granted by the Legislature of +Upper Canada. Lord Goderich further proceeds +to give some very sound advice concerning +the necessity of mutual forbearance among +a people of diverse religious creeds.</p> + +<p>In the Assembly there was shown an intelligent +grasp of the educational needs of the +country and a determination to secure better +schools. Had the Executive Council and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +Legislative Council been equally zealous in the +cause of education, the fathers and mothers of +the generation which profited from Ryerson's +reforms might themselves have had the advantage +of good schools.</p> + +<p>The following extracts from an address to +His Excellency, Sir John Colborne, will show +the temper and wishes of the Assembly: "We, +His Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the +Commons of Upper Canada in Provincial +Parliament assembled, most respectfully beg +leave to represent that there is in this Province +a very general want of education; that the insufficiency +of the Common School fund [the +total Government grant for schools in 1831 +was $11,200] to support competent, respectable, +and well-educated teachers, has degraded +Common School teaching from a regular business +to a mere matter of convenience to transient +persons, or common idlers, who often +teach the school one season and leave it vacant +until it accommodates some other like person +to take it in hand, whereby the minds of our +youth are left without cultivation, or, what is +still worse, frequently with vulgar, low-bred, +vicious, or intemperate examples before them +in the capacity of monitors."<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> The address +proceeded to state that there was urgent need +of a Government fund to secure larger grants +for teachers' salaries, and asked His Excellency<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +to lay before the Colonial Secretary a plan to +set aside one million acres of waste land in +Upper Canada for the support of Common +Schools.</p> + +<p>In this Address the Assembly virtually said +to the Crown, "Give us some fixed capital as a +source of revenue and we will speedily reorganize +our schools." The Assembly knew +what was needed and knew how to remedy +the existing conditions, but was powerless +because the Crown revenue was subject only to +the control of the Executive Council.</p> + +<p>The session of 1832-33<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> was very active +from an educational point of view. The +Assembly was informed by His Excellency +that the Crown had consented to give over +to the Legislature, for the support of Grammar +Schools, control of the 258,330 acres of School +lands, being the balance of the original grant +of half a million acres made in 1798, and from +which had already been made extensive grants +to endow King's College and Upper Canada +College. Much of the remainder of this land, +which was now vested in the Legislature, was +not of a superior quality. It had also been +selected in township blocks and naturally had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +very little value until settlements were made +in surrounding townships.</p> + +<p>The Assembly prepared an Address to His +Majesty praying for a grant of one million +acres of Crown lands for the establishment and +support of Township Common Schools. As a +measure of immediate relief for these schools, +a bill was passed by the two branches of the +Legislature, and assented to by His Excellency, +providing for two years an additional grant of +$22,000. This sum was allotted to the several +Districts, approximately in proportion to population, +but no Board of Trustees was to receive +any of this grant unless they secured for their +teacher a sum equal at least to twice the +Government grant.</p> + +<p>The most significant feature of the session, +however, was a Common School Bill, introduced +into the Assembly by Mr. Mahlon Burwell, +and read a first time. The bill proposed +to repeal all previous Common School legislation; +to establish a General Board and also +District Boards of Education; to grant £10,000 +to Common Schools as a Legislative grant and +to assess a further £10,000 on the rateable property +of the Districts.</p> + +<p>This bill, had it become law, would have +anticipated Ryerson's legislation by nearly +twenty years, and it is interesting to note the +comments made upon it by that gentleman, who +was at this time editor of the <i>Christian Guardian</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +The <i>Guardian</i> of January 15th, 1834, +expressed a general approval of the plan of +taxation but was totally opposed to the <i>appointment</i> +of Boards of Education. After showing +that the principle of local taxation was borrowed +from the New England States, where it +was working satisfactorily, Ryerson says: +"The next leading feature of the bill is the +appointment of a General Board of Education +and also District Boards of Education. This +is proposed to be left to the Governor, or person +administering the Government, a proposition, +in our opinion, radically objectionable. It +makes the system of education, in theory, a +mere engine of the Executive, a system which +is liable to all the abuse, suspicion, jealousy +and opposition caused by despotism; and it +withholds from the system of Common School +education, in its first and prominent feature, +that character of common interest and harmonious +co-operation which, as we humbly conceive, +are essential to its success, and even to +its acceptance with the Province. Education is +an object in which the Government, as an +individual portion of the Province, and the +people at large possess, in some respects, a common +interest, consequently they should exercise +a joint or common control.... And in an +equitable and patriotic administration of +Government, the more its agents and the +people's agents are associated together in promoting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +the common weal, the more strongly +will mutual respect and confidence and co-operation +between the people and the Government +be established, the less room there will be +for Executive negligence, or partiality, or +popular or local abuse; and the less opportunity +there will be for either despotic oppression or +demagogue misrepresentation."</p> + +<p>In 1834 there was a General Election, which +resulted in the return to the Assembly of a +large majority in favour of reform principles, +and wholly opposed to the arbitrary and aristocratic +ideas of the Legislative Council. Bidwell, +Rolph, and William Lyon Mackenzie +were three leading spirits in the new House.</p> + +<p>When the Assembly opened the Governor +laid before the members a despatch from the +Colonial Office, stating His Majesty's readiness +to transfer 240,000 acres in the settled +townships in return for the School lands which +were in township blocks and not then saleable.</p> + +<p>A bill was passed by the Legislature renewing +for two years, 1835 and 1836, the increased +grant of £5,650 for Common Schools.</p> + +<p>A grant of £200 was also made to +Mechanics' Institutes at York and a grant of +£100 to one at Kingston.</p> + +<p>Considerable time was spent in the Assembly +upon two bills which were rejected by the +Executive Council. One was a bill to regulate +Common Schools which would have given them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +a thorough organization and made them subject +to popular control by elected Boards and +Superintendents. The Executive Council had +no faith in control by the people. They +doubted whether "the respectable yeomanry of +the country" were capable of choosing suitable +Superintendents. The other was a bill to +amend the charter of King's College. These +amendments were designed to remove all religious +tests and to have the College governed +by a Council, half of whom were to be appointed +by the Assembly and half by the Legislative +Council. The only reasons given by the +Council for rejecting these amendments were +that they knew of no university so governed +and that a university must have as a basis +some established form of religion. In the +meantime, while the hide-bound worshippers +of European traditions who made up the +Council were delaying the active work of +King's College, the youth of Upper Canada, +preparing for the learned professions, were +compelled to seek university advantages in +the United States or Great Britain. More than +this, owing to the lack of advantages in their +own country, many who could otherwise have +afforded it were wholly deprived of the higher +education and training necessary for the professions +they had in view.</p> + +<p>The Legislative Council at this time, and +for many years afterwards, made boasts of +their loyalty to the Crown, and upon some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +occasions arrogated to themselves and their +friends a monopoly of all loyal spirit in +Upper Canada, and yet they firmly refused to +surrender the charter and endowment of +King's College when requested and even urged +to do so by His Majesty's Colonial Secretary<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>. +From 1831 to 1835, the Council refused to +accept any substantial amendments made in +that charter suggested by the Assembly, +although Lord Goderich had, in 1831, made it +quite clear that His Majesty's Government +wished the question of the charter to be settled +by the Upper Canada Legislature.</p> + +<p>When, upon the 6th of May, 1835, Sir John +Colborne sent to the Colonial Secretary the +King's College Charter Amendment Bill passed +by the Assembly, he urged the immediate opening +of King's College, although he had declared +to the College Council that "not one +stone should be placed upon another" until the +charter was amended. It may also be gathered +from this despatch to Lord Glenelg<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> that Sir +John Colborne accompanied it with a draft of +amendments which he thought would be acceptable +to both branches of the Legislature of +Upper Canada. His Lordship was too astute a +politician and too thoroughly informed concerning +Canadian public opinion to be easily +misled. Sir John Colborne, as a concession to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +the Assembly, proposed that five out of seven +of the governing body should be permanently +of the faith of the Church of England. The +other two members were to be the Lieutenant-Governor +and the Archdeacon of York! Lord +Glenelg, in reply, says: "I cannot hesitate to +express my opinion that this plan claims for +the Established Church of England privileges +which those who best understand and most +deeply prize her real interests would not think +it prudent to assert for her in any British +Province on the North American Continent.... +I would respectfully and earnestly impress +upon the Members of both these Bodies +[Assembly and Council] the expediency of endeavouring, +by mutual concessions, to meet on +some common ground. Especially would I beg +the Legislative Councillors to remember that, +if there be any one subject on which, more +than others, it is vain and dangerous to oppose +the deliberate wishes of the great mass of +the people, the system of national instruction +to be pursued in the moral and religious education +of youth is emphatically that subject."<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> +Lord Glenelg concludes by referring the question +of amending the charter back to the Legislature +of Upper Canada and states that His +Majesty will act as mediator only if the two +branches of the Legislature fail to agree and +then only upon their presenting a joint Address.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3><i>EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA FROM +1783 TO 1844—(Continued).</i></h3> + + +<p>During the Legislative session of 1836, Sir +John Colborne was replaced by Sir Francis +Bond Head as Lieutenant-Governor. It would +seem that the difference of opinion between Sir +John Colborne and Lord Glenelg of the +Colonial Office was responsible for the former's +asking to be recalled. His last official act as +Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and +one intimately connected with educational controversy +at a later date, was to sign patents for +the endowment of forty-three Anglican +rectories out of the Clergy Reserve lands.</p> + +<p>In the Legislature no real progress was made +in education, although a lengthy report<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> and a +draft School Bill were presented by a member +of the Assembly, Doctor Charles Duncomb. +This report was based on a visit paid by Doctor +Duncomb to the Eastern, Middle and Western +United States. It is interesting and emphasizes +the importance of a suitable education for +women.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> +<p>The most important event of the year in its +after effects upon education in Upper Canada +was the formal opening of Upper Canada +Academy<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> at Cobourg, under a Royal Charter +secured by Egerton Ryerson.</p> + +<p>In resigning his position as editor of <i>The +Guardian</i>, the official organ of Methodism, +Ryerson referred to the condition of education +in Upper Canada, emphasizing the supreme +importance of elementary instruction for every +child in the country. It is also interesting to +note that at this date, when he had probably +never dreamed of having any official connection +with elementary education, he should have +touched the very root of the problem by pointing +out the utter impossibility of making any +real progress without a body of educated and +trained teachers.</p> + +<p>The Legislature of 1837 set at rest for a few +years the vexed question of an amendment to +King's College charter. The majority of the +Legislative Council were stoutly opposed to +any modifications that would lessen the control +of the Anglican Church, but they saw that public +opinion was strong enough to prevent the +opening of the college until amendments were +made. They also saw that they were running +a risk of having the charter cancelled and a +new one granted by the Crown. They accordingly +accepted certain amendments proposed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +by the Legislative Assembly. These amendments<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> +gave <i>ex-officio</i> seats on the College +Council to the Speaker of the two branches of +the Legislature and to the Attorney-General +and the Solicitor-General of Upper Canada; +they removed from members of the +Council and from professors every semblance +of a religious test except the +following declaration: "I do solemnly +and sincerely declare that I believe in the +authenticity and Divine Inspiration of the Old +and New Testaments and in the Doctrine of +the Holy Trinity"; they removed absolutely +from religious tests all students and candidates +for degrees; they made the Judges of His +Majesty's Court of King's Bench visitors +instead of the Lord Bishop of Quebec, and +vested the appointment of future presidents in +His Majesty instead of conferring that office +<i>ex-officio</i> upon the Archdeacon of York.</p> + +<p>Steps were taken at once to place the college +in a position to begin work. A very able and +comprehensive scheme<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> of studies and courses +was drawn up by the President, Dr. Strachan, +and everything promised favourably, when the +Rebellion broke out and all operations were +suspended.</p> + +<p>The following sketch of the Common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +Schools of this period, written by Mr. Malcolm +Campbell, an old teacher of Middlesex, is +inserted because it is believed to be typical of +Upper Canada conditions. Mr. Campbell +began to teach in 1835:—</p> + +<p>"The School Houses, during the time I +taught, were built of round logs about 14 × 16 +ft., with clapboard roofs and open fireplaces. +A window sash on three sides for light, a board +being placed beneath them, on which to keep +copies and slates. There were long hewn +benches without backs for seats. There were +no blackboards or maps on the chinked walls. +There was a miscellaneous assortment of +books, which made it very difficult to form +classes. Cobb's and Webster's Spelling-books +afterwards gave place to Mavor's. The Testament +was used as a Textbook, a supply of +which was furnished by Rev. Benjamin +Cronyn, afterwards Bishop of Huron. The +English Reader, and Hume and Smollett's +History of England were used by the more advanced +classes. Lennie's Grammar, and Dilworth's +and Hutton's Arithmetics, and the History +of Cortez' Conquest of Mexico were used, +also a Geography and Atlas, and a variety of +books. Goose-quills were used for pens, which +the teacher made and mended at least twice +a day. The hours of teaching were somewhat +longer than at present, and there was no recess. +The number of scholars varied from 15 to 30,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +and school was kept open eight to ten months +in the year with a Saturday vacation every two +weeks. Teachers, after having taught school +for some months, underwent a pretty thorough +oral examination by the District Board of Education, +and were granted First, Second, or +Third Class certificates according to their +merits, real or supposed. They had the +Government grant apportioned to them according +to their standing. Mr. Donald Currie, in +the section west of me, drew annually $120 on +the ground of his high qualifications as well as +his teaching Latin. My share of the grant was +$80. Mr. Benson east of me drew $50.... +The Government grant was what the teacher +mainly depended on for cash. The rest of his +pay, which varied from $10 to $16 a month, +Government grant included, was mostly paid +in "kind," and very hard to collect at that.</p> + +<p>"The Trustees in these early days assumed +duties beyond what they now possess. In +engaging a teacher, they examined him as to +his qualifications in the three R's and as much +farther as any of themselves knew. They +fixed the rate bill which each scholar should +pay, usually at a dollar and fifty cents a +quarter; and any family sending more than +three scholars should go free, as well as the +children of widows.... The teacher was expected +to 'board round' at that rate of pay. +He usually boarded in one or two houses near<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +the school, doing chores morning and evening. +The Trustees assessed each scholar with half +a cord of wood during winter, which was +scantily supplied; sometimes the teacher and +bigger boys went with an axe to the woods to +make up the deficiency. The trustees were to +examine the school quarterly, and sign the +Quarterly Reports so that the teacher might +draw the Government grant."<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>The following "Rules for the Government +of Common Schools" prescribed by the Board +of Education for the Niagara District is taken +from Gourley's "Statistical Account of Upper +Canada, 1817-1822," Vol. II.; Appendix, pp. +116-119:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"1. The Master to commence the labours of +the day by a short prayer.</p> + +<p>"2. School to commence each day at 9 +o'clock and five hours at least to be given to +teaching during the day, except on Saturdays.</p> + +<p>"3. Diligence and Emulation to be cherished +and encouraged among the pupils by rewards +judiciously distributed, to consist of little pictures +and books, according to the age of the +scholar.</p> + +<p>"4. Cleanliness and Good Order to be indispensable; +and corporal punishment seldom +necessary, except for bad habits learned at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +home—lying, disobedience, obstinacy and perverseness—these +sometimes require chastisement; +but gentleness even in these cases would +do better with most children.</p> + +<p>"5. All other offences, arising chiefly from +liveliness and inattention, are better corrected +by shame, such as gaudy caps, placing the culprits +by themselves, not permitting anyone to +play with them for a day or days, detaining +after school hours, or during a play afternoon, +or by ridicule.</p> + +<p>"6. The Master must keep a regular catalogue +of his scholars and mark every day they +are absent.</p> + +<p>"7. The forenoons of Wednesday and Saturday +to be set apart for Religious Instruction; +to render it agreeable the school should be +furnished with at least ten copies of Barrows' +'Questions on the New Testament,' and the +Teacher to have one copy of the key to these +questions for his own use; the teacher should +likewise have a copy of Murray's 'Power of +Religion on the Mind,' Watkin's 'Scripture +Biography,' and Blair's 'Class Book,' the +Saturday Lessons of which are well-calculated +to impress religious feeling.</p> + +<p>"Note.—These books are confined to no +religious denomination, and do not prevent the +Masters from teaching such Catechism as the +parents of the children may adopt.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"8. Every day to close with reading publicly +a few verses from the New Testament, proceeding +regularly through the Gospels.</p> + +<p>"9. The afternoons of Wednesday and +Saturday to be allowed for play.</p> + +<p>"10. A copy of these Rules to be affixed up +in some conspicuous place in the School-room, +and to be read publicly to the Scholars every +Monday morning by the Teacher."</p></blockquote> + +<p>No doubt much good teaching was done in +schools nominally governed by similar codes +of instruction. The teacher is always the real +force in a school and good teachers are never +slaves to mechanical rules.</p> + +<p>These "rules," however, suggest a form of +punishment that was largely used in those days +even by good teachers and has not yet been +wholly banished from the schoolroom—ridicule. +Here we see it offered as an improvement +upon corporal punishment. It may have +had its advantages over the brutal punishments +sometimes inflicted in the old days, but I think +Dr. Johnson was right in saying that a reasonably +severe corporal punishment was better for +both teacher and pupil than either "nagging" +or ridicule. No doubt the systems of Bell and +Lancaster were responsible for the use recommended +of ridicule in the Niagara District in +1820.</p> + +<p>One important Bill, "An Act to Provide<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +for the Advancement of Education,"<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> became +law during the session of 1839. This Bill set +apart 250,000 acres of waste lands for the +support of District Grammar Schools, made +provision for additional schools in districts +where they were needed, and provided for the +erection of new buildings and assistant masters. +The Bill also placed the revenue and management +of these schools under the Council of +King's College. In this way King's College, +Upper Canada College, and the District Grammar +Schools—all the machinery of higher education—were +brought under central authority.</p> + +<p>From a careful reading of a despatch<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> sent +by Sir George Arthur to the Colonial Office, +in connection with the Act referred to above, it +seems quite clear that the land grant of 250,000 +acres now set apart for District Grammar +Schools was the balance of the original 549,217 +acres granted by the Crown in 1798 for +the endowment of Free Grammar Schools and +a University. Thus, after forty years, the +intentions of the Crown regarding Grammar +Schools were to be realized. But only in part, +because the Act of 1839 did not make the +Grammar Schools free.</p> + +<p>It was confidently hoped by many of the +King's College Council, and especially by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +President, Rev. Dr. Strachan, that when the +college charter was amended in 1837 nothing +would interfere with the immediate execution +of plans for building and opening King's College. +Elaborate plans and models of a building +were prepared and sent out from England, +an architect was employed, advertisements for +tenders for a building were inserted in various +newspapers, and the contract was about to be +awarded, when Sir George Arthur hurriedly +convened the Council and ordered an investigation +into the finances of the College.</p> + +<p>His suspicions had evidently been awakened +by some returns on College affairs presented in +response to an Address by the Assembly. The +report of the special audit committee<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> appointed +by the Council revealed a startling condition +of affairs and incidentally a strong argument +against allowing any body or corporation +to handle public funds without an annual audit +by someone responsible to Parliament.</p> + +<p>The Bursar, the Hon. Joseph Wells, a prominent +member of the Legislative Council, had +diverted to his own use and that of his needy +friends some £6,374, and the sum of £4,312 +had been loaned to the President, Dr. Strachan. +There was in use a very primitive system<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> of +book-keeping, and on the whole just such management<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +as might have been expected from the +close corporation which had, up to 1837, made +up the King's College Council. There was also +much mismanagement of the financial affairs +of Upper Canada College. These revelations +delayed building operations until 1842.</p> + +<p>On December 3rd, 1839, the last session of the +Legislature of Upper Canada was opened by +Charles Poulett Thompson, afterwards Lord +Sydenham. A Bill was passed granting a +charter to the "University of Kingston." +When the Bill was introduced into the Assembly, +the name was to be the "University of +Queen's College."<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> Why the change was made +does not seem very clear, but perhaps it was +because the promoters of the Bill were not certain +that Her Majesty had given her consent to +the use of her name in the Act. The Act +placed the College largely under the control +of the Presbyterian Church and wholly under +control of Presbyterians, but no religious tests +were to be exacted from students or graduates +except in Divinity. The 15th section of the +charter authorized the representative of Her +Majesty in Canada to pay from the revenues +of King's College a sum sufficient to establish +a Chair in Divinity. This arrangement doubtless +was the result of a despatch from the +Colonial Office some years previous to the +effect that any modification of King's College<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +charter should provide for a Divinity Professor +of the Church of Scotland. Some +readers of the present day may ask, Why not +also for other religious denominations—Methodists, +Baptists, and Congregationalists? +The answer is simple. The Churches of England +and Scotland were national churches in +Great Britain and Ireland. The Anglican +Church in Canada in 1840 claimed to be an +Established Church, and as the Clergy Reserve +controversy was then unsettled, her claim had +reasonable expectation of realization. Had +her claim been allowed, it would have +strengthened any claim the Presbyterian +Church might have made also to rank as an +Established Church.</p> + +<p>This Canadian charter to the "University of +Kingston" was cancelled by the Crown with +the consent of the Presbyterian Church in +Canada, and a Royal Charter issued to the +"University of Queen's College." By this +Royal Charter, Queen's lost the Divinity Professorship +which, by the Canadian charter, was +to be established out of King's College foundation. +The Crown had power to grant a charter +but no power to interfere with the funds of +King's College, which were subject to the +Canadian Legislature.</p> + +<p>The Commission<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> appointed by the Legislature<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +in 1839 to prepare a report<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> on education +gave a comprehensive account of the condition +of schools, but without throwing much +new light upon them. The total number of +pupils in the District Grammar Schools was +still about 300, but the number in the Common +Schools was estimated at 24,000, or about one +in eighteen of the total population. As to the +nature of the schools attended by these 24,000, +there is abundant evidence to prove that they +were very inefficient. The Rev. Robt. McGill, +of Niagara, says: "I know the qualifications +of nearly all the Common School teachers in +this district, and I do not hesitate to say that +there is not more than one in ten fully qualified +to instruct the young in the humblest department." +The London District Board for 1839 +says: "The Masters chosen by the Common +School Trustees are often ignorant men, barely +acquainted with the rudiments of education +and, consequently, jealous of any school +superior to their own."<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p>The Grammar Schools had been gradually +improving since their establishment, but were +still very far from supplying the real needs of +the people. They had no uniformity in course +of study or textbooks, and were under no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +inspection. In fact, lack of supervision was +the weakest spot in the whole school system.</p> + +<p>Lord Durham, in his famous Report,<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> refers +to education in Upper Canada thus: "A very +considerable portion of the Province has +neither roads, post offices, mills, schools, nor +churches. The people may raise enough for +their own subsistence and may even have a +rude and comfortless plenty, but they can seldom +acquire wealth; nor can even wealthy +landowners prevent their children from growing +up ignorant and boorish, and from occupying +a far lower mental, moral and social position +than they themselves fill.... Even in the +most thickly peopled districts there are but few +schools, and those of a very inferior character; +while the more remote settlements are almost +entirely without any."</p> + +<p>The Committee recommended better salaries, +normal schools for training teachers, British +textbooks, an Inspector-General of Education, +and a Provincial Board of School Commissioners. +Looking at the matter three-quarters +of a century later, we can see that really good +schools were not then immediately possible. +Schools, like everything else, cannot be created +at command. They are the result of evolution. +Upper Canada College illustrates this. Expensive +buildings were erected and capable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +masters secured in England, and yet the school +was not really efficient for many years. The +country was largely a wilderness. The people +were comparatively poor and their first care +was to provide the necessities of life. The sad +side to the picture is that there was among the +mass of the people so little real interest in +education and so little appreciation of its +worth. People will never struggle to acquire +that of which they feel no need. It seems quite +clear, too, that the struggle for civil and religious +freedom and equality hindered the development +of a good school system. The latter +could scarcely be possible before the former +had triumphed. The natural leaders of the +people and those who by superior attainments +and education were fitted for leadership were +straining every nerve and mustering every +known resource to overthrow a corrupt oligarchy. +Even among the spiritual leaders of +the people there was no unity of purpose. Instead +of working shoulder to shoulder with one +another for the moral and intellectual growth +of their people, they were in many cases +sapping their strength through acrimonious +and recriminating discussions of state church, +sectarianism, Clergy Reserves, endowment and +grants. When once it was finally settled that +Upper Canada was to have responsible government +and that all races and all creeds were to +enjoy equal civil, religious and political rights,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +it was much easier to lay a solid foundation for +the development of efficient schools.</p> + +<p>To this nothing contributed more than the +Municipal Act of 1841. It supplied the necessary +local machinery, working in harmony and +in close connection with a central government. +It seemed to leave almost everything to local +initiative and local control, thus appealing to +local patriotism. In reality it gave a central +authority power to direct by laying down broad +general principles, and it stirred up a maximum +of local self-effort by distributing Provincial +grants.</p> + +<p>Sydenham's first Speech from the Throne to +the Legislature of the United Canadas in +1841 referred to the necessity of a better system +of Common Schools. During the session +the Legislature passed an elaborate Act for +this purpose, and although it proved not to be +of a practical nature it showed an earnest +desire on the part of the Legislature to improve +the Common Schools. The Act appropriated +£50,000 per year to be distributed +among the Common Schools in proportion to +the number of pupils between 5 and 16 years of +age in each district. It provided a Superintendent +of Education for the United Canadas +and prescribed his duties. It established popularly-elected +Township Boards and passed +certain rates to be assessed on the ratepayers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>The most significant feature of the Bill was +that it contained the germ which later developed +into our elaborate system of Separate +Schools. Early in the session, forty petitions +were presented asking that the Bible be used in +the schools. There was also a petition from +Rev. Dr. Strachan and the Anglican clergy +asking that Anglican children be educated by +their own pastors and that they receive a share +of public funds for support of their schools. +The Roman Catholics also petitioned against +some principles of the Common School Bill +then before the House.</p> + +<p>These things will probably explain why the +Bill as passed contained a clause allowing any +number of dissentients (not necessarily Roman +Catholics) in Township Schools to withdraw +and form a school of their own, and also a +clause which created for cities and incorporated +towns a School Board, half of whom were +Protestant and half of whom were Roman +Catholic. The Catholics and Protestants might +work together and maintain schools in common, +or they might constitute themselves into +separate committees, each committee virtually +controlling its own schools.</p> + +<p>Thus we see that while the Assembly were +fighting to break down a system of sectarianism +in university education, they were introducing +into the Common Schools a policy that +led to divisions on account of religion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> + +<p>During the session of 1841, the Upper +Canada Academy at Cobourg secured incorporation +as Victoria College with university +powers, and also a grant of £500, which later +was made annual. Here, too, the Legislature +was granting public money to a sectarian +institution, although it should be noted that no +religious tests were to be exacted of any students, +and that five public officers, the President +of the Executive Council, the Speakers of +the two branches of the Legislature, and the +Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General for +Canada West were to be <i>ex-officio</i> visitors and +members of the Victoria College Senate.</p> + +<p>Early in 1842, Queen's University was +opened for the reception of students. Later in +the same year the corner-stone of King's College +was laid with imposing ceremony by Sir +Charles Bagot, the Governor-General. In 1843 +the King's College professors began lectures. +This gave three colleges with university powers +in active operation in Upper Canada in 1843.</p> + +<p>In May, 1842, the Governor-General appointed +the Hon. Robert Jameson, Vice-Chancellor +of Upper Canada, to be Chief +Superintendent of Education, and the Rev. +Robert Murray, of Oakville, to be Assistant +Superintendent for Upper Canada. Mr. Murray +was a scholarly gentleman, but possessed +no special qualifications for so important an +office. It seems probable that as early as 1841<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +Sydenham had some thought of giving the +position to Ryerson. It also seems probable +that Sir Charles Bagot knew of this and had +some communication with Ryerson in respect +to it. It is more than likely that Ryerson had +been too active, both in opposing the arbitrary +acts of the Legislative Council and in promoting +the interests of his own Church, to be +readily acceptable to His Excellency's Council, +nearly all of whom were Churchmen.</p> + +<p>It was soon discovered that the Common +School Act of 1841 could never be put into +operation. It had only a single merit—good +intentions. In 1843 it was decided to amend +it and enact a separate Bill for Upper and +Lower Canada. That for Upper Canada was +introduced by Hon. Francis Hincks. Speaking +of the Bill<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> he says: "The principle adopted +in the School Bill of 1843 is this: The Government +pays a certain amount to each Township—the +property in that Township pays an +equal amount; or if the Councillors elected by +the people choose it, double the amount. This +forms the School Fund, which is divided +among the school districts, the Trustees of +which raise the balance of the teacher's salary +by a Rate Bill on the parents of the children. +The system is as simple as it is just.... +In framing this system, gentlemen, you will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +observe that, as in all other instances, the late +Ministry have divested the grant of all local +patronage. Everything has been left to the +people themselves; and I feel perfectly convinced +that they will prove themselves capable +of managing their own affairs in a more satisfactory +manner than any Government Boards +of Education or visiting Superintendents could +do for them.</p> + +<p>"The new School Act provides also for the +establishment in each Township of a Model +School—the teacher of which is to receive a +larger share than others of the School Fund, +provided he gives gratuitous instruction to the +other teachers in the Township, under such +regulations as may be established.</p> + +<p>"There is also provision for a Model School +in each county, on a similar plan, but, of +course, of a higher grade. It is left to the +people themselves or their representatives in +the several municipalities, to establish these +Model Schools or not, as they deem expedient. +But it is provided that as soon as a Provincial +Normal School shall be in operation (and the +system will never be complete without one) the +teachers of the Model Schools must have certificates +of qualification from the professors of +the Normal School."</p> + +<p>This Act of 1843 is much more elaborate +in its provisions than any preceding legislation +affecting Common Schools in Upper Canada.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +It provided for county superintendents appointed +by wardens and for township, town or +city superintendents appointed by the municipal +council. It would seem that in many points +the duties of these two classes of superintendents +would conflict, as both were allowed to +examine and appoint teachers, and both were +to visit schools. Every section was to have a +Board of Trustees elected by ratepayers, and +to these trustees was given charge of school +property and the regulation of course of study, +including choice of textbooks. It would seem +that full local control was given except in the +matter of certificating teachers and regulating +the government grant.</p> + +<p>Either Protestants or Roman Catholics might +petition for a Separate School on the application +of ten or more resident freeholders, but +such schools when established were maintained +and controlled by the same machinery as other +schools. Model Schools were to receive a +larger grant from the Legislature. A county +superintendent could issue unlimited or limited +certificates, but all certificates issued by a township, +town, or city superintendent were limited +to the division in which they were issued and +were valid for one year only.</p> + +<p>The marked weaknesses of the Act may be +summed up as follows:—</p> + +<p>1. Possible conflict of authority between +county and local superintendents.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<p>2. No uniformity of course of study or textbooks.</p> + +<p>3. No accepted standard of qualification for +teachers.</p> + +<p>4. No method provided for training of +teachers, as a Normal School was merely suggested, +and Model Schools were optional.</p> + +<p>5. No provision made to secure competent +local superintendents. Any man might be appointed.</p> + +<p>But with all its deficiencies the School Bill +of 1843 was a proof that the Legislature earnestly +desired to promote elementary education. +It was, no doubt, felt by many public men, and +especially by the Governor, that no man was +so well qualified as Ryerson to direct that system +at headquarters. To pave the way for +Ryerson's appointment, Rev. Robert Murray +was made Professor of Mathematics in King's +College, and in September, 1844, Ryerson became +Assistant Superintendent of Education +for Upper Canada. He was to have leave of +absence for travel and for investigation into +the school systems of Europe.</p> + +<p>As events proved, Ryerson's appointment as +Superintendent of Education soon bore fruit +in a more efficient system of Common Schools. +But university affairs were still in a state of +chaos.</p> + +<p>The amendments to the charter of King's +College made in 1837 were disappointingly unfruitful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +of any practical changes. The College +remained in charge of Anglicans, and was in +reality, if not in a legal sense, a Church of +England institution. The question may naturally +be asked, why did the legislation of 1837 +not effect greater changes? The answer is +simple. In 1837 the seat of government was +at Toronto, and the five <i>ex-officio</i> Government +officers could easily attend meetings of King's +College Council. But after the Act of Union +in 1841 the seat of government was moved +first to Kingston and later to Montreal. It +then became wholly impossible for the five lay +members of King's College to attend regular +meetings in Toronto. The result was that the +affairs of King's College remained practically +in the hands of the president and professors, +who made no real efforts to adapt the College +to the needs of the people of Upper Canada. +Bishop Strachan, the President, could not forget +his original plans in securing the charter, +and was still trying to realize them as far as +possible. In a petition which he presented to +Parliament in 1845 against the Draper University +Bill, he makes his real object very clear. +He says: "Above all things, I claim from the +endowment the means of educating my clergy. +This was my chief object in obtaining the +Royal Charter and the Endowment of King's +College; ... and was indeed the most +valuable result to be anticipated by the institution....<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +This is a point which never can +be given up, and to which I believe the faith +of Government is unreservedly pledged."<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> As +time went on and the history of the Royal +grant of 1798 came to be more fully discussed +and understood, the determination of the people +grew more and more fixed to secure such modifications +in the King's College Charter as would +make it a national instead of a sectarian institution.</p> + +<p>The proposal of Baldwin, introduced in +1843, was statesmanlike, and although it failed +to pass owing to the early resignation of his +Ministry, it is interesting because it outlined +in part the principles upon which the University +question was finally settled. The Bill +proposed to create a University of Toronto, +and leave King's College as a theological seminary +without power to confer degrees. Queen's, +Victoria, and Regiopolis<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> were to become +affiliated in connection with Toronto University, +and were to surrender their powers to +confer degrees. In return they were to receive +certain grants from the King's College endowment. +Toronto University was to become the +only degree-conferring power in Upper Canada. +Baldwin had the Governor's consent to bring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +in this Bill, and had his Ministry remained in +power it would doubtless have passed. The +Bill had the active support of Queen's and +Victoria, and the bitter opposition of Dr. +Strachan.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>Dr. Ryerson summed up the whole situation +in a reply to an eloquent and very able argument +of Hon. W. H. Draper, who appeared at +the Bar of the House of Assembly as Counsel +of King's College Council, in opposition to the +Bill. Dr. Ryerson concludes as follows: "The +lands by which King's College has been so +munificently endowed, were set apart nearly +fifty years ago (in compliance with an application +in 1797 of the Provincial Legislature) for +the promotion of Education in Upper Canada. +This was the object of the original appropriation +of those lands—a noble grant, not to the +Church of England, but to the people of Upper +Canada. In 1827 Doctor Strachan, by statements +and representations against which the +House of Assembly of Upper Canada protested +again and again, got 225,944 acres of these +lands applied to the endowment of the Church +of England College. Against such a partial +application and perversion of the original Provincial +objects of that Royal grant the people +of Upper Canada protested; the Charter of +King's College was amended to carry out the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +original object of the Grant; the general objects +of the amended Charter have been defeated by +the manner in which it has been administered, +and the University Bill is introduced to secure +their accomplishment; and the Council of +King's College employ an advocate to perpetuate +their monopoly. The reader can, therefore, +easily judge who is the faithful advocate and +who is the selfish perverter of the most splendid +educational endowment that was ever made for +any new country.... I argue for no +particular University Bill; but I contend upon +the grounds of right and humanity, that Presbyterians, +Methodists and all others ought to +participate equally with the Episcopalians in +the educational advantages and endowments +that have been derived from the sale of lands, +which, pursuant to an application from the +Provincial Legislature, were set apart in 1797 +by the Crown for the support of Education in +Upper Canada."<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<p>In looking back upon the situation from our +vantage-ground, covering a lapse of nearly +three-quarters of a century, we may marvel +that all parties were not ready to compromise +upon the basis of a purely secular and national +university. But secular, state-owned colleges +are a very modern growth, and few men among +our grandfathers had the courage to champion +such institutions. An educational institution<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +without some religious basis had uncanny associations. +Therefore, it is not a matter for surprise +that many good men were prepared to +mutilate the University Endowment of Upper +Canada, and dissipate it among sectarian colleges. +Such, to a large degree, would have +been the result had the Draper Bill of 1845 +become law.</p> + +<p>The Draper Government made a further +attempt to settle the vexed question in 1846. +John A. Macdonald (afterwards Sir John A. +Macdonald) made another unsuccessful attempt +in 1847. The Hon. Robert Baldwin then +became Premier, and after securing the Report +of a Commission on University Affairs, he +introduced and passed a University Bill in +1849. This Act has been many times amended, +but the final result has been to preserve for the +people of Upper Canada the University Endowment, +and to remove from the management +every semblance of sectarian control. The +University has become the property and the +pride of all classes, irrespective of race, politics, +or religion.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3><i>RYERSON'S FIRST REPORT ON A SYSTEM +OF ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION.</i></h3> + + +<p>"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."—<i>M. +Cousin.</i></p> + +<p>This quotation from the eminent Frenchman +admirably illustrates the spirit of Ryerson's +first Report<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>methods</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Ryerson's remarks on teaching Biography +and Civil Government seem almost like an echo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 £10 to £20 a year for their +services, which sum was as good as wasted. +The Act of 1841, and that of 1843, had made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>His report on the control that should be +exercised directly by the Government I shall +quote entire.</p> + +<p>"(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.</p> + +<p>"(2) To see that the general principles of +the law as well as the objects of its appropriations +are in no instance contravened.</p> + +<p>"(3) To prepare the regulations which relate +to the general character and management<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"(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.</p> + +<p>"(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.</p> + +<p>"(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.</p> + +<p>"(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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3><i>RYERSON'S SCHOOL BILL OF 1846.</i></h3> + + +<p>The year 1846 will ever be memorable in the +annals of school legislation in Upper Canada, +because it established the main principles upon +which all subsequent school legislation was +founded. As already pointed out, the Act of +1843 was largely a failure because it did not +provide adequate machinery for the enforcement +of its provisions. No important school +legislation was undertaken during 1845 in +anticipation of Ryerson's report. After +making his report, Ryerson drafted a Bill +which, with a few trifling emendations, became +the Common School Act of 1846. It will assist +us to an intelligent grasp of future legislation +if we examine this Act with some care.</p> + +<p>It first defined the duties of the Superintendent +of Schools. He became the chief +executive officer of the Government in all +school matters. He was to apportion among +the various District Councils (there were +twenty at this time) in proportion to the school +population, the money voted by the Legislature +for the support of common schools (the total +Legislative grant for 1846 was £20,962 to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +2,736 schools) and see that it was expended +according to the Act; he was to supply school +officers with all necessary forms for making +school returns and keep them posted as to +school regulations; he was to discourage unsuitable +books as texts and for school libraries +and to recommend the use of uniform and approved +texts; he was to assume a general direction +of the Normal School when it became +established; he was to prepare and recommend +plans for school-houses, with proper furniture; +he was to encourage school libraries, and finally +he was to diffuse information generally on +education and submit an annual report to the +Governor-General.</p> + +<p>The Act established the first General Board +of Education.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> It was to consist of the Superintendent +of Education and six other members +appointed by the Governor-General. This +Board was to manage the Normal School, to +authorize texts for schools and to aid the +Superintendent with advice upon any subject +which he should submit to it.</p> + +<p>The Act provided for a Normal and Model +School. It required each Municipal District +Council to appoint a Superintendent of Schools. +No qualification was fixed for the District +Superintendent. It would have been useless to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +do so, because there were no men technically +qualified for such positions. The only thing +to do was trust to the District Council to choose +the best man available. The District Municipal +Council was also instructed to levy upon the +rateable property of the District a sum for +support of schools at least equal to the Legislative +grant. They were to divide each township, +town or city into numbered school sections. +They were also given power by by-law +to levy rates upon any school section for the +purchase of school sites, erection of school +buildings or teachers' residences in that section.</p> + +<p>The District Superintendents became very +important officers, and upon their learning, +zeal, integrity and tact must have depended +much of the success or failure of the schools of +this period. They were required to apportion +the District School Fund, consisting of the +Legislative grant and Municipal levy, among +the various school sections in proportion to the +number of children between five and sixteen +years of age resident in the section, and pay +these sums to the teacher on the proper order +being presented; to visit all schools in their +Districts<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> at least once a year and report on +their progress and general condition; to advise +trustees and teachers in regard to school management;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +to examine candidates for teachers' +certificates, and grant licenses, either temporary +or permanent, to those who were proficient; to +revoke licenses held by incompetent or unsuitable +teachers; to prevent the use of unauthorized +textbooks; and finally, to make an annual +report of the schools in their districts to the +Chief Superintendent.</p> + +<p>The Act declared that all Clergymen, Judges +of the District Court, Wardens, Councillors +and Justices of the Peace were to be school +visitors, with the right to visit any school or +schools in their districts except Separate +Schools. They were given authority to question +pupils, conduct examinations and advise +the teachers, or make reports to the District +Superintendent. They were especially charged +with the duty of encouraging school libraries. +One remarkable power was conferred upon +them. Any two school visitors of a district +were allowed to examine a candidate for a +teacher's license and grant such license if they +saw fit for a term not exceeding one year in a +specified school.</p> + +<p>There are two simple explanations<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> of this +clause in Ryerson's School Act. He may have +wished to interest school visitors in the schools<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +by giving them some power. He may have +wished to create a local power to act in an +emergency if a school became vacant through +any cause during a school term. In many cases +the Superintendent lived fifty to seventy-five +miles from the remote corners of his District, +and with the primitive means of communication +in use at that time, it was an advantage to have +some local body with authority to license +teachers.</p> + +<p>It is a matter for regret that at the present +time the various officials mentioned here as +school visitors, as well as parents generally, are +so seldom seen inside the public schools. True, +we now have trained teachers, and teaching has +so far become a profession that few school +visitors would care to question pupils, but the +very presence in the school-room from time to +time of educated men and women, and especially +those occupying public positions, has a +beneficial effect upon both teachers and pupils. +Pupils feel that the work of the school must +be important if it is worthy of the attention of +busy and successful men. Teachers are encouraged +to make a good showing and are +often hungry for the few words of sympathy +and encouragement that would naturally accompany +such visits. The school can never +fully realize its function as a social institution +unless the best citizens take an active interest +in it. This was uppermost in Ryerson's mind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +when he penned that part of his report relating +to individual efforts in promoting the welfare +of the school.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p> + +<p>The Act of 1846 defined in detail how school +trustees were to be elected. In all previous +Acts the whole Trustee Board was elected +annually. This gave to the Board no continuity +of corporate life. One Trustee Board +might have certain plans and make a certain +bargain with a teacher. The new Board might +have different plans and repudiate the contracts +of its predecessor. Ryerson's Bill solved +the difficulty by having trustees elected for +three years, one to retire annually. Trustees' +duties were not materially different from those +of trustees to-day except in one or two particulars. +They had to raise by a rate bill upon +parents of pupils attending school such sums as +were required over and above the two school +grants for payment of the teacher's salary and +the incidental expenses of the school; they were +required to make provision by which the children +of indigent parents were exempted, +wholly or in part, from school rates; and they +were required to select school books from a list +sanctioned by the Department of Education. +In Ryerson's draft bill he proposed that the +rate bill should be levied upon the property of +the section. This would virtually have given +free schools. The Legislature of 1846<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +amended this clause and made the rate bill +assessable only upon parents of children in +actual attendance. Ryerson says of these rate +bills:<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> "The evils of the present system of +school rate bills have been brought under my +notice from the most populous townships and +by the most experienced educationists in +Canada. When it is apprehended that the rate +bill in a school section will be high, many will +not send their children to the school at all—then +there is no school; or else a few give +enough to pay the teacher for three months, including +the Government grant; or even after +the school has commenced, if it be found that +the school is not so large as had been anticipated, +and that those who send will consequently +be required to pay more than they had +expected, parents will begin to take their children +from school in order to escape the rate +bill as persons would flee from a falling house! +The consequence is that the school is either +broken up, or the whole burthen of paying the +teacher falls upon the trustees, and often as a +consequence a quarrel ensues between them and +the teacher. I have been assured by the most +experienced and judicious men, with whom I +have conversed on the subject, that it is impossible +to have good schools under the present +rate bill system. I think the substitute I proposed +will remedy the evil. I know of none<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +who will object to it but the rich and the childless +and the selfish. Education is a public +good; ignorance is a public evil. What affects +the public ought to be binding upon each individual +composing it. In every good government +and in every good system the interests of +the whole society are obligatory upon each +member of it."</p> + +<p>This rate bill, as authorized in 1846, was, +however, an improvement on the old one which +was levied upon parents according to the actual +time of the child's attendance, whereas the +Bill of 1846 levied a tax upon the parents of +children in actual attendance for at least two-thirds +of the whole school term, whether the +children attended regularly or irregularly.</p> + +<p>Teachers' duties were defined by the Act +much as they are to-day. District Model +Schools were authorized on the same condition +as in the Act of 1843. The clauses in the Act +of 1843 relating to the formation of Separate +Roman Catholic or Protestant schools were +also embodied in the Act of 1846.</p> + +<p>Now, what are the distinguishing features +of this School Act that reflect credit upon its +author? It would be idle to pretend that there +were not in Upper Canada many able men +who saw the weaknesses of the school system +as clearly as Dr. Ryerson. Ryerson's claim to +distinction rests upon the fact that he organized +a system that <i>worked</i>. He not only co-ordinated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +the several parts of the system, but put +life into it. This was no easy task. The +people were very jealous of their power of +local control, and yet unless this local control +could be subjected to some central control, improvement +was hopeless. It was here that +Ryerson did what no other man had done. He +lessened local, and strengthened central, control, +and did it so gradually, so wisely, and so +tactfully, that local prejudices were soothed +and in many cases the people scarcely recognized +what was being done until the thing was +accomplished. We must not suppose that all +this was completed by the legislation of 1846. +It began then, but its complete evolution was +the work of a quarter-century.</p> + +<p>If we ask through what agency Ryerson was +enabled to secure this gradual executive +strength that makes our educational machinery +so effective the answer must be—the Legislative +grant. The Legislature placed the grant +at the disposal of the Superintendent for him +to apportion among the Districts. Here was a +lever of wonderful power, and Ryerson was +quick to perceive its possibilities. If Districts +wished a grant they must conform to certain +requirements. If school sections wished a grant +from the District Superintendent, they, too, +must satisfy certain requirements as to textbooks, +qualified teachers, building and equipment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> + +<p>No doubt the Prussian system gave Ryerson +many hints on this subject, but he knew that +the Canadian spirit was very different from the +docile German spirit fostered by generations +of benevolent paternalism. I think, too, there +can be no reasonable doubt that he received +many practical hints on this point from the +workings of Her Majesty's Committee on +Education formed by the Imperial Parliament. +The history of the world presents no more +significant illustration of how an outside body +may come to exercise an effective control over +various kinds of schools than is presented by +the history of the schools of Great Britain and +Ireland and their control by Her Majesty's +Government through parliamentary grants.</p> + +<p>That the leaders of Canadian public opinion +in the years following 1846 saw all that was +involved in Ryerson's gradual strengthening of +central control of educational affairs is made +abundantly clear by the leading editorials in +the press of that period. The Toronto <i>Globe</i>, +which had been established in 1844 by the +Browns, was already in 1846 the leading exponent +of advanced liberal ideas in Upper +Canada. As the <i>Globe</i> had been bitterly opposed +to Lord Metcalfe, and had resented +Ryerson's defence of him, it was not to be +expected that Ryerson's appointment as +Superintendent of Education would be satisfactory +to that journal, or that his educational<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +plans would be leniently criticised. Indeed, +the <i>Globe</i> editor's first objection to Ryerson's +Bill of 1846 was to the great powers conferred +upon the Superintendent and to the irresponsible +nature of his Commission. The following +is from a <i>Globe</i> editorial of April 14th, 1846;<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> +"We have read a draft of the new School Bill +for Upper Canada brought in by Mr. Draper. +We have not been able to go over all its claims, +but it contains one objectionable principle, viz.: +the appointment and dismissal of the Superintendent +is vested in the Governor-General personally +and not in the Governor-General with +the advice of his Council, as it ought to be. +The whole funds from which the school system +is to derive support are raised by the people of +Canada, and the disposal of them should be +subjected to the control of the House through +the Executive Council.... The powers of the +Superintendent are very great and embrace +many points such as the selection of proper +books, etc. A Board of seven Commissioners +to assist the Superintendent is named, but the +Governor may appoint them, or not, and the +Superintendent may take their advice, or not, +and he has also power to prevent interference +at any time, for he is only to receive advice on +all measures which he may 'submit to them.' +The whole of this extensive institution, if the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +Bill passes, will be lodged in the Governor-General +personally and in the Superintendent, +and they may work it for any purpose that +suits their views." On July 14th, 1846, the +editor of the <i>Globe</i> again criticises the School +Bill, because the Superintendent reports to the +Governor and not to the Governor-General-in-Council.</p> + +<p>These articles are interesting and important. +Why was Ryerson's appointment vested in the +Governor and not in the Executive Council? +The answer not only throws valuable light +upon the way that Ryerson himself viewed his +office and its relation to the public, but it +incidentally shows how imperfectly responsible +government was established in Upper Canada +in 1846. We should gasp with astonishment in +Canada to-day if it were proposed to vest the +appointment of any public officers in the +Governor-General personally. We allow our +Governors no personal freedom in the conduct +of public affairs. But in 1846 that idea was +not wholly accepted. There still lingered a +feeling that the Crown had certain vaguely-defined +prerogatives, which might be exercised +without let or hindrance from Councillors. +And many who recognized that the British +Crown had little individual freedom of action +in public affairs in Britain could not see that +the same status ought to be established for the +Crown's representative in a colony. Or, to put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +it in another way, the people did not see how a +colony could be self-governing without being +wholly independent.</p> + +<p>Ryerson wished his appointment to be vested +in the Governor, rather than in the Executive +Council, because he thought that by such an +arrangement he was a servant of the country +and not of any political party. He thought +that a Superintendent of Education ought, like +a judge, to be placed beyond the accidents and +turmoil of politics. No doubt that was an +illogical position. Indeed, time showed it to +be so, and that full recognition of the principle +of responsible government required a Minister +of Education responsible directly to the Legislature. +We can only speculate as to what +would have been the effect upon our schools +had Ryerson's position been looked upon as +political and had he been forced to vacate his +office with every change of government. It +seems doubtful whether our schools would +have improved as rapidly as they did under +the conservative, but truly progressive, policy +of Ryerson.</p> + +<p>There is abundant evidence that there were +many in Upper Canada who wished to see the +position of Superintendent closely connected +with politics. A <i>Globe</i> editorial, Jan. 6th, +1847, commenting on Ryerson's report, says: +"We expected that when our new Superintendent +stepped into his ill-gotten office he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +would immediately take measures to make himself +acquainted with the replies to such questions +as the following: First, the situation, +condition and number of schools and school-houses +of all kinds in the Province. Second, +the manner in which school trustees, town, +county and district Superintendents had discharged +their several duties. Third, the desire +manifested by parents generally for the education +of their children. Fourth, the competency +and efficiency of the teachers, their salaries, +etc. Fifth, the kind of school books used, the +school libraries and other apparatus for teaching. +Had such questions been proposed and +answered, the Superintendent would have had +something to base a report upon. It was but +natural to suppose that an officer whose sole +prospects of success are in the confidence and +co-operation of the people would have taken +some steps to gain that confidence and co-operation, +that he would have been desirous by +direct communication with superintendents, +trustees, experienced teachers and influential +persons in the Province of ascertaining their +views and of obtaining their suggestions as to +the best means of promoting the interests of the +noble department over which he had been called +to preside. But no, it is true he was devising +a system of education for Canada, but what +had the wants or wishes of the people to do +with it? The serfs must receive anything I,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +their lord and master, may import from the +cringing subjects of despotic monarchies. We +are more and more convinced from the examination +of this report that Mr. Ryerson is +not competent for the situation which he +occupies."</p> + +<p>This is manifestly unfair. Ryerson knew +from previous experience and without any +further special investigation, the answer to +every one of the five questions propounded +above. In 1848, just after the Baldwin-Lafontaine +administration was formed, and +before the newly-formed ministry had met +Parliament, there was more or less discussion +about dismissing Ryerson from his position as +Superintendent of Education. The <i>Globe</i> of +April 29th, 1848, says: "Will any man, except +a few of his own clique, say that Egerton Ryerson +should be Superintendent of Education +under a Liberal Government? We apprehend +none. He has done nothing wrong since his +appointment, it is said. We say he has. He +spent many months on the Continent of Europe +and in Britain in amusement or recreation, +professing to get information about things +which every person knew already.... We have +had hints of the Prussian system being applicable +to Canada and we feel convinced that he, +who sold himself to the late Administration, +would have readily brought all the youth of +Canada to the same market and placed them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +under the domination of an arbitrary and +coercive power. He had sold their fathers +for pelf, why not sell the sons also? Was he +not in league with that party which would retain +the Province in vassalage to the old Compact +which he had so heartily denounced in former +times? Is he not a member of that Methodist +Committee which bargained away to a worthless +Ministry the Methodist votes for £1,500 +to Victoria College? These are most memorable +events in the annals of political corruption.... But +we care not if there had been no +ground for complaint since 1844. We know +that Egerton Ryerson sold himself body and +spirit to Lord Metcalfe and that he broached +doctrines of the most unconstitutional kind, +threatening those who were but asking the +common rights of British subjects with the +vengeance of the whole Empire. The man +who holds such views is unfit to be at the head +of the country's education. He would convert +the children of the Province into the most +pliable tools of an arbitrary system."</p> + +<p>These articles show clearly that the party +press was not disposed to judge Ryerson by +his work as Superintendent of Education. +They claimed that because he championed Lord +Metcalfe in 1844 he was a partizan, and if a +partizan in 1844 he must still be one in 1848.</p> + +<p>Besides a certain amount of political prejudice, +Ryerson had to overcome the many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +points of friction caused by an attempt to work +the Bill of 1846, and when we consider the +ignorance and incompetence among those upon +whom the administration of the Act rested, and +the prejudices against the Act by many who +were supremely selfish, we have to admit that +a less courageous man would have utterly +failed. Many trustees could neither read nor +write. In some cases the District Municipal +Councillors who were parties to school administration +were equally ignorant. District +Superintendents of schools were not always +fitted for such a responsibility. Perhaps half +the whole body of teachers made up a motley +assortment of impecunious tramps. The +Superintendent's report for 1847 shows that +out of 2,572 schoolhouses only 133 were of +brick or stone, and that 1,399 were made of +logs; 1,378 had no playground, and only 163 +were provided with water-closets. With many +superintendents, trustees, and teachers miserably +incompetent, with buildings and equipment +woefully inadequate, it required a stout +heart to undertake a reformation.</p> + +<p>Ryerson had two temperamental qualities +that stood him in good stead; he had an idealist's +faith in humanity, believing that men +would choose the higher if it could once be +shown them; he had besides an infinite +capacity for hard work and for taking pains. +This is fully shown by the way he met the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +many objections to his Bill of 1846. The +bitterest opposition came from the Council of +the Gore District, now the County of Wentworth, +a District from which more progressive +ideas might have been expected. On the 10th +November, 1846, this Council<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> petitioned the +Legislative Assembly against Ryerson's Bill. +They objected to a Provincial Board of Education +and to a Chief Superintendent. They +wished to have re-enacted the School Bills of +1816 and 1820. Among other things the petition +says: "With respect to the necessity of +establishing a Normal, with elementary Model +Schools in this Province, your 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 service in almost every vocation will +scarcely yield the common necessaries of life, +they are altogether unsuited to a country like +Upper Canada, where a young man of such +excellent character as a candidate is required +to be to enter a Normal School and having the +advantage of a good education besides, need +only turn to the right hand or to the left to +make his service much more agreeable and +profitable to himself, than in the drudgery of +a common school, at an average of £29 per +annum [the average in Upper Canada for +1845]; nor do your memorialists hope to provide<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +qualified teachers by any other means in +the present circumstances of the country than +by 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 energy, or by employing +such of the newly-arrived immigrants 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 abilities are known +and turned to better account for themselves."</p> + +<p>This petition was sent to every District +Council in Upper Canada. Some districts +agreed with it, some were indifferent and some +wholly opposed its spirit. Colborne District +Council took a very different attitude. They +praised the Chief Superintendent, warmly approved +of a Normal School, and found much +to admire in the legislation of 1846. The following +from their report will serve as an illustration:<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> +"As the Normal and Model Schools +begin to yield their legitimate fruits, and as the +blighting effects of employing men as school +teachers who are neither in manners nor in +intellectual endowments much above the lowest +menials, shall press less and less heavily upon +the mental and moral habitudes of the rising +generation, the great benefits to be derived +from the present Common School Act, and its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +immense superiority over all former school +laws of Upper Canada, will become more and +more confessed and appreciated. Already that +public apathy which is the deadliest enemy to +improvement is slowly yielding to the necessity +imposed by the present school law upon the +trustees and others of acquiring extended information, +of entering with a deeper interest +into all matters connected with Common +Schools and of joining with school visitors, +superintendents and municipal councillors in a +more active and vigilant oversight of them."</p> + +<p>Ryerson saw that public opinion must be +educated. The problem was a wider one than +the education of the rising generation in the +schoolhouses. The fathers and mothers and +all who made public opinion must be awakened. +This work Ryerson did in a characteristic +manner. He had been a missionary preacher +of the Gospel; he now became an educational +missionary. He sent carefully-prepared circulars +to Municipal Councils, to District Superintendents, +to school trustees and to teachers. +He established at his own financial risk, and +without accepting a penny of the profits for +his labour, an educational journal as a means +of communication with the general public. In +the autumn of 1847 he spent ten weeks in visits +to the twenty-one Districts into which Upper +Canada was at that time divided. He called +District Educational Conventions, lasting each<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +two days. To these were invited teachers, +District Superintendents, School Visitors, +Municipal Councillors and the general public. +The Warden was generally secured as chairman. +During the day, Ryerson discussed the +School Act and its operation. He found that +often the people had been misled and that +trustees who had never made any attempt to +enforce the Act had laid the blame for their +poor school upon the Act of 1846. In almost +every case a frank discussion face to face with +the parties concerned removed unreasonable +prejudices and made friends for the new +Superintendent. In the evening, Ryerson gave +a public lecture. His subject in 1847 was +"The Advantage of Education to an Agricultural +People." No subject could have been +more appropriate to secure the sympathy of +the mass of the people and to give the lecturer +an opportunity to show what he hoped to do +for Upper Canada.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3><i>THE RYERSON BILL OF 1850.</i></h3> + + +<p>The Act of 1846 provided that the Municipal +Councils of Toronto and Kingston were to +have the same powers in school matters as the +District Councils. Toronto had at this time +twelve school sections, each with its own +Trustee Board, and each fixing its own textbooks +and course of study. Such a system was +cumbersome, wasteful, and inefficient, and the +practical mind of Ryerson devised a remedy. +In 1847, the Cities and Towns Act was passed. +This Act required the Municipal Councils of +cities and towns to appoint a School Board of +six members. These six, together with the +Mayor of the Corporation, had full control of +all schools and school property. They could +determine the number and kind of schools and +the texts to be used, but they had no power +either to levy an assessment upon property or +to collect rate bills from parents. Any funds +needed by the School Board in addition to the +Legislative and Municipal grants were to be +levied upon the taxable property of the city or +town by the Municipal Council. But the Act +did not say that the Municipal Council must +grant the sums asked for by the Board of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +Trustees. In Toronto the Council of 1848 +refused to levy the necessary assessment, and +the School Trustees were compelled to close +the schools from July to December.</p> + +<p>The Toronto <i>Globe</i><a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> declared that Ryerson +was introducing a Prussian despotism into +Canada. Ryerson said that he desired nothing +Prussian in the Canadian schools except the +method of schoolroom instruction, and claimed +that his new School Bill was almost a literal +transcript of that in force in the State of New +York. Ryerson then set forth the chief advantage +of the new Bill, viz.: that it gave to the +poor man the <i>right</i> to have his children, however +numerous, educated, whereas the rate bill +system compelled him in many cases to claim +free schooling only on the ground of his +poverty. The new School Act was to enable +a poor man to educate his children and still +maintain his self-respect. The school tax was +to be levied not upon the children of the section, +but upon the real property. Ryerson concluded +as follows: "Wealthy selfishness and +hatred of the education of the poor and labouring +classes may exclaim against this provision +of the law, but enlightened Christian philanthropy +and true patriotism will rejoice at its +application."</p> + +<p>Commenting on Ryerson's letter, the following +issue of the <i>Globe</i> said: "The Doctor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +makes a great fuss about the cruel position +of a man who cannot 'brook to say he was a +pauper' under the old system and the delightful +and 'enlightened Christian philanthropy' +of his new system which 'places the poor man +and his children upon equal footing with the +rich man and his children.' All bunkum, Dr. +Ryerson. If it is hard to have ten or fifty or +one hundred scholars as paupers at present, will +it improve the matter to make the children of +the common schools all paupers? If one class +keep their children away now because the +schools are above their means, and pride won't +let them submit to state the fact to a trustee, +will there not hereafter be a much larger class +whose pride will prevent them sending their +children to what even Dr. Ryerson admits will +be pauper schools?... Is it not melancholy +that so crooked, so visionary a man as this +should be at the head of the literary institutions +of the country?"</p> + +<p>But Ryerson was fighting for free schools. +He knew that thousands of children were +growing up ignorant, especially in the large +towns. He was able to show that in the city of +Toronto, out of 4,450 children of school age in +1846, only 1,221 were on the common school +registers and that the average attendance was +scarcely one thousand. Even if it were granted +that another thousand were in attendance at +private and church schools, the fact remained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +that not more than half the children in Toronto +were being educated.</p> + +<p>In October, 1848, Ryerson submitted to the +Government a draft School Bill, designed to +remedy the defects in the legislation of 1846-1848. +In a report<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> which he submitted with +his draft Bill he says: "No law which contemplates +the removal of grovelling or selfish +ignorance and the elevation of society by means +of efficient regulations and general taxation for +schools ever has been, or ever will be, popular +with the purely selfish or the listlessly ignorant. +All such laws must be sustained for a time at +least by the joint influence of the Government +and the intelligent and enterprising portion of +the community."</p> + +<p>The outcry against free schools and taxation +of property to educate the children of the +poor showed clearly that the time had not yet +come for the realization of his plans, and +Ryerson in his draft Bill restored to towns and +cities the right to impose rate bills upon +parents, at the same time declaring his faith in +the ultimate triumph of free schools.</p> + +<p>In February, 1849, Ryerson submitted additions +to his draft Bill of the previous October. +Among other changes he recommended additional +Superintendents for Districts of more +than 150 schools; District Boards of Examiners +who would replace the District Superintendent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +and school visitors<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> in issuing teachers' +certificates; Teachers' Institutes for lectures +and professional training of teachers; provision +for separate schools for coloured children; +school libraries for each section, and also township +libraries; township School Boards; a +School of Art and Design, connected with the +Normal School; provincial certificates for +Normal School graduates; making trustees +personally responsible for a teacher's salary; +the distribution of school funds on a basis of +actual attendance, rather than on the number of +children in the section; better provision for +fixing school sites; more equitable division of +the $200,000 legislative grant between Upper +and Lower Canada, and provision for the admission +into the common schools of pupils +from sixteen to twenty-one years of age.</p> + +<p>The Baldwin Government entrusted the +handling in the Legislature of the School Bill +of 1849 to the Honourable Malcolm Cameron. +It should be borne in mind that the Legislature +met in Montreal and that the Education +Office for Upper Canada was in Toronto. +Dr. Ryerson was, therefore, not in direct communication +with the Government, nor was he +officially informed from day to day as to the +progress of the Bill. It should further be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +borne in mind that during this session the +Parliament Buildings were burned, the +Governor-General mobbed, and party feeling +strongly aroused, thus creating conditions +favourable for hasty and careless legislation. +It seems to have been taken for granted by the +Legislature that the Bill as brought in was prepared +by Ryerson. As a matter of fact, Ryerson's +Bill had, with Cameron's assent, been so +mutilated by an enemy of the Superintendent +that its essential provisions were destroyed. As +soon as Ryerson learned its real nature, he +protested on several grounds, but especially +because it aimed to destroy the usefulness of +the Chief Superintendent; excluded clergymen +from being school visitors; destroyed the provincial +nature of the school system; injured the +prospects of a Normal School; would subject +teachers to serious loss in collecting their +salaries; re-established school sections in towns +and cities; made no provision for uniform +textbooks, and because it was cumbersome +and unworkable. After an elaborate analysis +of the Bill, Ryerson intimated that he would +not attempt to administer the law as passed and +that sooner than do so he would resign. The +Government soon ascertained that the Bill +was unsatisfactory to everybody and intimated +to Ryerson that it would not be brought into +operation. This course was followed, and in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +the meantime Ryerson perfected his plans for +a new Bill to go before the Legislature in 1850.</p> + +<p>As the Cameron Act of 1849 was never +given effect, it has no interest for us, except +in so far as it shows the evolution of the Act of +1850. During the Parliamentary recess, 1849-50, +the Government issued circular letters to +School Superintendents, ministers and other +official persons, to secure suggestions as to +school legislation. The replies were handed to +Dr. Ryerson by the Hon. Francis Hincks, who +had charge of the School legislation for 1850.</p> + +<p>Ryerson's draft of the Bill of 1850 is a +tribute to his practical common sense and is +sometimes called the Charter of the Ontario +School System. Ryerson knew the people of +Upper Canada as few knew them, and he was +quick to see the dividing line between that +which seemed highly desirable and that which +was possible. He moved steadily toward a +distant goal, but was ever educating public +opinion to move with him and seldom showed +impatience over the slow pace of travel, so long +as there was actual progress. He wished to +see free schools, but in this Act contented himself +with securing permissive legislation, which +he believed would soon lead to the adoption +of a free system.</p> + +<p>The outstanding feature of the Act was the +strengthening of Trustee Boards by recognizing +them as corporate bodies with full<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +power to manage schools under Government +regulations and full power to levy taxes or +rates upon the District which they represented. +In case the Municipal Council collected school +money, they did it only as a matter of convenience. +Provision was made for securing +school sites, erecting and furnishing new buildings, +electing trustees, holding board meetings, +keeping schools accounts, appointing collectors +for school moneys, providing books and apparatus, +educating indigent children and forming +school libraries. Teachers' duties and responsibilities +were not materially altered. They were, +however, effectually secured against loss of the +full amount of salary promised them by trustee +boards. Adequate provision was made for +school sections composed of adjoining parts of +two or more townships. Provision was made +for Township Boards of Trustees on the request +of a majority of the school supporters, +to manage all the schools of a township. +County Boards of Public Instruction were +formed, consisting of the County Superintendent +and the Trustees of the District Grammar +School. These boards were to meet four times +a year, to hold examinations and license teachers. +They were to use their influence to establish +school libraries and promote the cause of +education. District superintendents were limited +to one hundred schools each, and were to +receive one pound per annum for each school,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +besides necessary travelling expenses. The +Superintendent was no longer the custodian of +school money, but gave orders to the Township +Treasurer to pay to teachers their proper allowances. +The Superintendent was to visit every +school in his District once each quarter, and to +deliver a public lecture in every school section +once each year. Thus the way was open for the +District Superintendent to become an expert, +giving a minimum of time to clerical work +and a maximum to the encouragement of pupils +and teachers. He was to become a link between +the Department of Education on the one +hand and the District Council and Trustee +Boards on the other. He was a local officer, +but his duties were definitely prescribed by a +central authority. Through him the Chief +Superintendent and the Council of Public Instruction +were able to keep in touch with +pupils, teachers, school visitors, trustee boards, +county boards, and district councils. School +visitors were given the same privileges as by +the Act of 1846, except the right to grant +licenses to teachers. The General Board of +Education was merged into the Council of +Public Instruction, with duties substantially the +same as those assigned the former body in +1846.</p> + +<p>Incorporated towns and cities were no longer +to have school sections, but instead a Board of +Trustees to manage school affairs. Town and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +City School Boards were allowed three ways +of securing the money necessary, in addition to +the school fund, for common school purposes. +The Board might ask the Municipal Council +to levy an assessment for the required sum, in +which case the said Council were bound to +comply with its wishes; the Board might levy +a rate bill upon the parents of pupils attending +school; or they might raise the required funds +partly by a rate bill and partly by an assessment +levied by the Municipal Council.</p> + +<p>The only real difference between the methods +of raising money in towns and cities on the one +hand and rural sections on the other, lay in +the plan of deciding how the money was to be +raised. In rural sections the ratepayers assembled +at the annual meeting, made the decision, +and the trustees carried out their wishes; in +towns and cities the trustees had full power to +decide upon the method of taxation without +consulting the ratepayers. School trustees in +incorporated villages were governed by the +same rules as trustees of towns and cities, except +in the manner of the annual election.</p> + +<p>One very important feature of the new Act +was the setting apart of £3,000 a year for the +establishment and support of school libraries, +and £25 a year for each District Teachers' Institute. +A sum was also set apart for procuring +plans and publications for the improvement of +school architecture. The Chief Superintendent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +was authorized to issue provincial certificates +to Normal School graduates.</p> + +<p>The Act of 1850 also made some important +changes relating to Separate Schools, which +will be noted in another chapter.</p> + +<p>Dr. Ryerson always felt that he owed much +to the Governor-General, Lord Elgin, for helping +him to form a public opinion which made +possible the legislation of 1850. That distinguished +nobleman was a graduate of Oxford, +and he never lost an opportunity of helping +forward any movement designed to raise the +intellectual status of the people. But it was +largely Ryerson's unaided efforts that gave +Upper Canada in 1850 such a splendid educational +machinery. It was no factory-made plan, +but a system developed step by step out of +partial failures into something better. It was, +like all English law, the result of applying a +common-sense remedy to a clearly proved +weakness.</p> + +<p>During the passage through the Legislature +of the Bill of 1850, a debate arose about Ryerson's +salary, and the value of his services to +the country. The following condensed account +of a speech delivered in Parliament in July, by +Hon. Francis Hincks, makes clear the attitude +finally adopted by the Liberal Government toward +Ryerson, and for that reason has some +historical interest:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"The member for Toronto, Mr. Boulton, +had charged the Administration with buying +the support of the Superintendent of Education +with an increased salary. He had desired, in +bringing forward this question, to make it as +little a political question as possible. He +thought that the great question of education +might be treated without reference to party +differences. He thought it his duty, considering +the position which the Reverend Superintendent +of Education occupied towards the +party with whom he acted, to state his whole +course of conduct towards that gentleman since +he had taken office. It was well known to the +House that the reverend gentleman was engaged, +before accepting the office which he now +held, in very keen controversy with the members +of the present ministry; he had taken a +course decidedly hostile to them. As writer +for the public press at that time, he had himself +engaged in that contest, though without +personal feeling, as he trusted he had engaged +in every contest of the kind. But there was +undoubtedly on his own part, and on that of +his colleagues, a strong political feeling of +dislike to the reverend gentleman, on account +of the formidable opposition with which they +were met by him. He was appointed to the +office of Superintendent by the late Government, +and he did not blame that Government +for so appointing him; for, if anyone ever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +established strong claims upon a party, it was +the reverend gentleman by his defence of that +administration. The present ministry again +assumed the duties of the Government, and +undoubtedly there was a general feeling among +their supporters that one of the first measures +expected of them was to get rid of the reverend +gentleman in some way or other, and in that +feeling most certainly he sympathized. He had +found, however, bye-the-bye, that those who +were most eager to recommend the Government +to dismiss officials, when they were put into +similar situations, into the municipal councils +for instance, that they did not carry out those +views, that they did not turn out their opponents +without a reason for it. There were two +or three ways of removing the Chief Superintendent; +one was to make the office a political +one; but after the best consideration being +given to the question, it was not considered +advisable to do that, and the proposition to +abolish the office altogether, he was satisfied +would have had the worst possible consequences +on the educational interests of the country, +after observing the benefits of active superintendents +in New York, and our own Province. +The only other mode then, if these two were +resisted, was to remove the incumbent altogether, +and then the question came, whether +he had acted in such a manner as to justify his +dismissal. He had often asked this question of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +the persons who urged his dismissal, and they +had never given one good reason to support +the affirmative. He was not one of those who +thought that because a person supported one +Government that he was therefore incapable +of serving faithfully those who succeeded them, +whom he had formerly opposed, always supposing, +of course, that his office was not a +political one. He could not find that the reverend +gentleman had entered in the slightest +degree into the field of politics, and as he had +discharged his duties with great zeal and ability, +they had no reason to interfere with him. +Then the point was, how they were to act +towards him in his position, and his (Mr. H.'s) +determination was to give him the most cordial +support; as a member of the Government he +considered it his duty to do so. He felt it his +duty to give the same support to officers who +came oftener into contact with him, the officials +of the Custom House, and he defied anyone to +say that any political opponent of his had +received less cordial support in the discharge +of the duties of his office than his friends had; +the efficiency of the service absolutely required +that he should do so. He put himself in communication +with the reverend gentleman in +reference to this Bill, and as he (Mr. H.) believed +that Doctor Ryerson possessed a more +complete knowledge of the school system than +any other person, he thought that any Government<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +would have done very wrong not to have +availed themselves of that knowledge. He +deeply regretted the course which some gentlemen +with whom he generally acted had taken +on this matter.</p> + +<p>"He would only say now, that he considered +he should be paid the highest salary given to +any officer, for the duties of none were more +onerous or more important. He might remark +that he had not found lawyers in the House +very anxious to reduce the salaries of the +judges, but when it came to civilians, to superintendents +of schools, then five hundred pounds +a year was far too much. Now he considered +the duties of that office as quite equal in importance, +and requiring equal talents to those +of a Collector of Customs, and thought that +he should not be placed in an inferior position +to them."<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> +</blockquote> + + +<p>The Toronto <i>Globe</i>, of July 16th, 1850, +speaking on the debate in the Assembly, said:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The debate on Egerton Ryerson's salary +was, we think, just another instance of pandering +to the cry of the moment. His salary was +sought to be made the same as the Lower Canada +Superintendent's. Well, the Lower Canada +Superintendent's salary is five hundred pounds, +but it would not do to name that sum for Upper +Canada until the retrenchment committee had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +operated upon Lower Canada. Now, why not +say at once that five hundred pounds is the +proper salary for the Superintendent of Education +of nearly a million people, and stick to it? +We are no admirers of Egerton Ryerson, and +we have always thought, and we think still, that +the present ministry should have turned him +out neck and crop the moment they got into +power; but we are free to admit that he is a +man of very great talent, who, at any mercantile +or professional business he might engage +in, would readily make five hundred pounds a +year, and we do think that this sum is as little +as could be assigned to an office of such high +public importance."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This article clearly shows that the <i>Globe</i> +recognized Ryerson's talents and his professional +ability, while objecting to him on political +grounds. Mr. George Brown, the <i>Globe</i> Editor, +was too shrewd a man, and had too strong an +interest in popular education, not to see that +Ryerson was working a reformation in school +affairs. The following from a <i>Globe</i> editorial +of September 14th, 1850, is really a tribute +grudgingly paid to Ryerson's efforts:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"While other professions, the clergy, the +lawyers, the physicians, have long gained a certain +position and influence in society, and have +assumed the management of their own affairs, +teachers, as a class, have, until lately, stood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +alone, disregarded by the community, and in +many instances treated as beneath the notice +of men infinitely their inferiors in mental +acquirements, and engaged in pursuits certainly +not more important to the well-being of the +community. While others were improving +their circumstances and acquiring wealth and +power, the schoolmaster alone appeared stationary, +doomed to drag on a life of poverty +and contempt, and looked upon by parents as +a sort of nurse for their naughty children, who +received their wages for their services, and not +to meddle with the affairs of the world. We +but repeat what we wrote some years ago, prior +to any of Egerton Ryerson's schemes, when +we say that it is a reproach to the Christian +world, that those who prepare the rising generation +for entry into business life, should have +been left so long to poverty, and to have occupied +so low a place in society. Only conceive +a schoolmaster—profoundly versed in the vast +variety of knowledge which the human mind +can master, a man who can solve the most +difficult problem in mathematics, and take the +highest flights in astronomy—rarely reaching +beyond the mark of a person to be patronized. +To such a man, the constant toil and drudgery +of a school, the annoyance of unruly children +and unreasonable parents, and above all the +pinching poverty to which he is too often subject, +present a life of hardship which it is difficult<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +to conceive. The smith, or the carpenter +of the village, may by industry realize something +for the wants of a surviving family, and +the shopkeeper, or the baker, may perhaps +become wealthy; but the idea of a schoolmaster +having any other position than poverty, would +be thought the height of absurdity."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Ryerson believed that if school trustees were +given the option of free schools and power to +enforce taxation for their support, they would +soon abolish rate-bills upon parents. Public +sentiment was rapidly changing. This was +fairly shown by the city of Toronto, where +there were many wealthy men who objected +to free schools, and where private and denominational +schools were more popular than in +any other part of Upper Canada. In March, +1851, a committee of the Toronto Board submitted +to the Chairman a special report showing +that 3,403 children who should be in the +schools of that city were roaming the streets +and growing up without educational advantages +of any kind. The report ascribed this +condition of affairs mainly to two causes, rate-bills +and lack of school accommodation, and +concluded by making a strong stand for free +schools.</p> + +<p>The Toronto <i>Globe</i> had scoffed at free +schools in 1848. The rapid change that took +place in the views of this journal is a fair index<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +of the change that was taking place among the +people of Upper Canada in regard to free +schools. I shall, therefore, quote from the +<i>Globe</i> to show the trend of public opinion +on free schools during the early fifties. As +early as January 30th, 1851, the <i>Globe</i> said +editorially:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"We are glad to observe that the plan of +free common schools has been adopted at the +recent annual meetings in very many school +sections throughout Upper Canada. The best +gift the people of Canada can confer on their +children is education, sound, practical education +available to all. Public money employed in +educating the masses is a most profitable investment, +and we hope the day will soon be +when a good education is open to every child +in the country."</p></blockquote> + +<p>On January 5th, 1852, the <i>Globe</i> expressed +itself as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The most important change proposed in +our present system of common schools, is the +abolition of all direct charges against the parents +of the children attending, and the support +of these institutes by direct tax on the whole +body of the people. We trust the day is not +far distant when the Reserve and Rectory lands +will be devoted to the support of the common +schools of Upper Canada, the school tax<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +abolished, and the unspeakable advantages of a +sound education placed without any charge +within the reach of every child in the Province. +Every effort should be put forth to effect this, +but meantime let us seek to obtain the best +system which our position admits of, and that, +we believe, is an entirely free system supported +by a direct tax. There are many reasons urged +against this proposed change by sincere friends +of education, which are not without weight. +It is said to be unjust and tyrannical to make +people who are childless pay for those who are +blessed with a numerous progeny; it is urged +that parents will value the blessing of education +more, when they are compelled to pay for +it; it is alleged to be a weakening of the parental +tie, to take the expense of the education +of the child from the shoulders of the parent. +These arguments will have more or less influence +according to the position and character of +the individual who considers them, but we +assert without fear of contradiction that all the +evils which our warmest opponents anticipate +from the introduction of free schools sink into +insignificance beside the frightful consequences +of our children growing up in the blindness of +ignorance, the result which a free system is +designed to avert. No reasonable disinterested +man would place the one class of evils in comparison +with the other....<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Many opponents of free schools, however, +are willing that the children of the poor should +be educated without charge, as they are at +present. Most parents, however, would be, and +are, prevented by their pride from taking advantage +of this favour, and we think it highly +desirable that the idea of begging education, or +anything else, should be set as far as possible +from the mind of every Canadian. The children +of the poor should look to the common +schools as a place to which they have a right +to go, having paid a quota of the expense in +proportion to their means, in the same way that +they claim the right to walk the pavement, and +on the same grounds. It is indeed a noble +thought to place the education of the people +in the same position as the protection of the +people and the government of the people, to +make it one of the necessaries of the existence +of a state in peace and security, and to provide +it at the expense of all, for the benefit of all. +With a Government formed as ours is by the +people, and entirely under its control, our only +safeguard against anarchy and confusion is the +intelligence and right of the people. A +thorough system of common school education +is the only means which can ensure these high +advantages. Education ought to be universal, +and to be so, it must be entirely free from all +expense; there must be inducements held out +to the short-sighted, unwilling parent."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> + +<p>As I have already shown, free schools had +stronger opposition in Toronto than at any +other point, yet at a large public meeting held +in January, 1852, in St. Lawrence Hall,<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> there +were only twelve people who opposed a motion +for free schools. Later in the same month +Doctor Ryerson himself attended a public meeting +in Toronto and discussed the free school +issue. I shall quote from his speech<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> to show +how skilfully he could use a concrete illustration +to influence public opinion. "Speaking of +free schools he said he well remembered how +he went to visit one of the public schools of +Boston, the High School, where boys were +prepared for College, yet as free of expense +to all classes as the lowest, and the Mayor of +the city, who accompanied him, wishing to +give a lesson in aristocracy, probably, pointed +out two lads who occupied the same seat. He +told him that one of these was the son of +Abbot Lawrence, the great manufacturer, and +now American minister in England, and the +other was the son of the doorkeeper of the +City Hall, which they had just left. They were +enjoying the same advantages, the son of the +millionaire and the son of the doorkeeper; that +was what he wished to see in Canada, the sons +of our poor have the same opportunity of educational +advancement as those of the rich. Did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +it appear from this that the rich did not attend +the common schools of Massachusetts? The +Governor of that State, in a speech which he +made lately at Newbury Port, said that if he +had as many sons as old Priam, and was as rich +as Astor, that he would send them to the free +school. There were rich and proud men in +Massachusetts, undoubtedly, who would not +send their children among the poor, and rich +stingy men who objected to be taxed for other +people's children, but they were the exceptions +to the rule. There was one fact that he wished +to mention in connection with the free schools +of Massachusetts. A body of European clergy +belonging to the Catholic Church had gone to +their Bishop in Boston to request him to use +his influence against the free school system. +He returned for answer that he knew the character +of the schools, having been educated in +them, and having owed to them his position in +the Church and the world, and would do nothing +to impair their usefulness."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It would be a mistake to suppose that there +were not valiant champions against the free +school principle, and it would be a worse mistake +to suppose that all the sound arguments +were on the side of free schools. The following +letters from the Reverend John Roaf, a +Toronto clergyman (Congregationalist), will +give a fair idea of the stand taken by those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +who favoured rate bills upon parents. The +first letter, published in the <i>Globe</i>, January 31st, +1852, is as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I am happy to inform you that school section +No. 1, Township of York, including the +village of Yorkville, have this day negatived +a proposal to have a free school, preferring to +give the teacher £60 from the Public funds, +and a right to charge 1s. 3d. per month for +every child attending the school. The mechanics +and labourers here have thus discharged +the power, for there cannot be any such right, +so wrongfully given them by the School Act, +to educate their own children at the expense of +their more wealthy neighbours. All praise to +their honesty. Thus they will escape from the +pauperizing tendencies of the free school system. +They encourage their schoolmaster with +the hope of being rewarded for making a good +school. They suffer the proprietors of private +schools to maintain a useful competition with +the common school teacher; they keep up valuable +select schools, and yet in return for the +public fund, they will get free education for the +children whose parents need exemption from +the school fees.</p> + +<p>"May we not hope that the city of Toronto +will next year follow this honourable example, +and spurn the unrighteous counsel which is +introducing communism in education to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +undermining of property and society? The +French people and the Normans ought to serve +as warnings of the abyss to which this plausible +socialism is enticing us."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The second letter was published in the Toronto +<i>Globe</i>, February 5th, 1852:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The idea of the outlay for education being +profitable for the holders of property, and thus +justifying the impost, is much like a joke; for +surely no one thinks it necessary to force upon +men of property so great a gain, as they seldom +need be convinced by their poor neighbours +where their true interests lie. Gain indeed; +why, probably three-fourths of the children +now in the Toronto common schools will carry +their education away to the West, and here be +succeeded by others who will similarly want to +use our property for their own benefit. Besides +we might give free education to those who +otherwise would be destitute of it, but make +those purchase it who have the means.</p> + +<p>"While I thus dwell on the injustice of the +arrangement, I do so because what is unjust +cannot be wise, and not because the futility of +the system is not otherwise apparent. The free +system divests the teacher of all proprietary +and personal interest in his school, and will +speedily render him sycophantic and servile to +his trustees, but haughty and negligent towards +his pupils and friends. It will throw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +education into the hands of an electioneering +party, and what kind of party that will be in +such places as Toronto, need not be said. It +will destroy all the confidence and love felt +towards the teacher as the employee and friend +of the child's parents, and substitute for them +a cold respect due to the public official. It will +render school attendance desultory and variable, +because unpaid for, and always to be had +for asking. Instead of the soft, familiar, and +refined circle in which wise parents like to +place their children, it will drive gentle youths +and sensitive girls into the large herds of children +with all the regimental strictness and coldness +and coarseness by which such bodies must +be marked, and thus, while the child asks bread +you will give him a stone."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The opposition to free schools did not all +come from wealthy property-owners who objected +to educating the children of the poor. +Voluntary schools, wholly independent of Government +control and closely allied with some +church, were already in operation in populous +centres in Upper Canada. The managers of +these schools had to depend wholly upon subscriptions +and fees. So long as all schools +were supported mainly from rate bills upon +parents the purely voluntary schools were not +at a serious disadvantage. But if free common +schools were established, then all patrons of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +voluntary schools must submit to be taxed +twice for the education of their children. The +following from a <i>Globe</i> editorial of February +14th, 1852, shows that the effects of free +schools upon voluntary schools were fully +appreciated:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The <i>Patriot</i> of Tuesday gives us the real +reason for his opposition to free schools. Formerly +he talked of pauperizing the whole people, +of socializing them, of a number of other direful +evils to be dreaded as consequences of all +free schools. In his last article, however, he +admits that his main objection is, that denominational +schools can never be supported beside +those entirely free. We commend this fact to +our friends who are sincerely opposed to sectarian +education, and yet are not prepared to +accept the principles of entire freedom. It is +undoubtedly true what the <i>Patriot</i> says, denominational +schools cannot exist beside free +schools. So long as we continue to exact payment +from parents, so long will efforts be made +by the sects to obtain aid from the public funds +and private support in order to weaken the +common schools, draw away scholars from +them, and destroy their efficiency. When the +schools are supported entirely by taxation, no +such attempts can be met with success. No +sectarian school only partially supported by the +State can compete with the free institution,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +and no one would be foolish enough to propose +to endow more than one entirely free +school. The people would not stand the taxation. +The free principle is a deathblow to the +attempts of the priests to get the education of +the people into their own hands, to train up +the children in classes and denominations, to +shut them out from free knowledge, and to give +them just what pleases their prejudiced views. +The <i>Patriot</i> thinks it would be tyrannical to +prevent the establishment of sectarian schools +by means of a free system. We cannot see it +in that light. The denominational plan has +been tried in England, but it has failed. The +schools were never established in sufficient +numbers to educate the people. It is not +reasonable to expect that sects managed by +cliques of clergymen in the large towns should +be able to manage a complete system of education +for the people. The very idea is absurd. +Are we then to give up our efforts for the +education of the people, because these efforts +would interfere with the small, ineffectual endeavours +these denominations might make +to secure proselytes to their churches +through secular schools? Certainly not; +the greatest friend to sectarian education +could not admit that; and we who oppose that +system rejoice that free schools, which are +spreading so fast, will effectually put down the +endeavours of the sects after educational influence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +which has produced both in Ireland and +England such a scarcity of knowledge, and +which have not been without their ill-effects in +Canada."</p></blockquote> + +<p>These quotations will for us serve two purposes. +They give a fair picture of the free +school movement, and they sum up the arguments +for and against State education. No +thoughtful person in this age can observe the +apathy of thousands of people in regard to +the education of their children without at times +feeling that these people would appreciate +schools much more if they had to make some +personal sacrifice to secure their advantages. +But further thought is almost certain to convince +us that free schools are the natural support +of a democratic government, and that +without their socializing influence a self-governing +people would always be more or less at +the mercy of demagogues.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3><i>RYERSON AND SEPARATE SCHOOLS.</i></h3> + + +<p>The purpose of this chapter is to set forth +as briefly as possible the origin and development +of Separate Schools in Upper Canada, +showing incidentally the part taken in that +development by Doctor Ryerson.</p> + +<p>If we seek to discover the primary cause of +our Separate School system we undoubtedly +find it in the almost unanimous desire of the +pioneer settlers to have the Common Schools +established upon a basis of Christianity, and to +secure for their children some positive instruction +in the Holy Scriptures. From their standpoint +secular schools were of necessity godless +schools. We need also to remember that sectarian +prejudices were more bitter seventy +years ago than they are to-day. Dogma and +religion were thought to be inseparable. To-day +the various bodies of Christians throughout +the world make much of what they hold +in common; seventy years ago their grandfathers +could not forget the petty differences +of doctrine that held them apart. If the schools +were to give religious instruction, and if the +adoption of some form of instruction acceptable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +to all was impossible, then separate schools +were the logical outcome. And as separate +schools for each one of the many sects into +which the scattered population of Upper Canada +was divided were clearly impossible it naturally +followed that such schools were established +for Roman Catholics who were comparatively +few in number, and who differed in +doctrine from Protestants more radically than +the various Protestant bodies differed amongst +themselves. No one of the Protestant bodies +could object to the reading of the Protestant +Bible in the schools, but the Roman Catholics +naturally objected to their children taking any +part in such an exercise.</p> + +<p>As pointed out in Chapter IV., the Common +School Act of 1841 laid the foundation of +Separate Schools. The provisions of that Act +applied to the United Canadas. In any township +or parish any number of dissentients might +elect a trustee board and establish a school, +receiving for its support public money in proportion +to their numbers. It is clear that in +practice under this clause a dissentient school +could be established only where the dissentients +were sufficiently numerous to furnish at least +fifteen children of school age, and contribute +a considerable sum for school purposes. Another +clause in the Act of 1841 required the +Governor to appoint, in towns and cities, school +boards made up of an equal number of Protestants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +and Roman Catholics, the Protestants +to manage schools attended by Protestant children +and the Catholics to manage schools attended +by Catholic children. But this clause +made no provision for Roman Catholics from +two or more city school sections combining to +form one school for their children, and as +Catholics in a single city section were seldom +if ever numerous enough to form a school the +Act was practically inoperative in securing +separate Roman Catholic schools.</p> + +<p>The Bill of 1841, as introduced into the +Assembly, contained none of the above provisions +for Separate Schools, and the question +naturally arises, why were they inserted? Several +petitions were presented from Boards of +Education, and some from Synods of the Presbyterian +Church, praying that the Bible be +made a textbook in the schools. Bishop +Strachan and the clergy of his diocese petitioned +"that the education of the children of +their own Church may be entrusted to their +own pastors, and that an annual grant from the +assessments may be awarded for their instruction."<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> +The Roman Catholic Bishop of +Kingston also petitioned against the Bill as +brought in, but did not expressly ask for Separate +Schools. It seems natural then to infer +(and the Journals of the Assembly for 1841<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +bear out this inference), that the amendments +granting Separate Schools were a compromise.</p> + +<p>Another amendment authorized Christian +Brothers to teach even if they were not naturalized +British subjects. In 1843 the Act of 1841 +was repealed in so far as it related to Upper +Canada. The new Act made it unlawful in any +common school to compel the child to read +from any religious book or join in any religious +exercise to which his parents or guardians +objected. It also provided that if the teacher +of a school were a Roman Catholic, then any +ten householders or freeholders might petition +for a Separate School with a Protestant teacher +or, in the same way, Roman Catholics might +form a Separate School if the teacher were a +Protestant.</p> + +<p>The grants to these Separate Schools were +to be that proportion of the total school fund +in any Municipal District that the children in +actual attendance at the Separate School bore +to the total number of children of school age +in the district, and they were subject to the +same rules and regulations regarding courses +of study and inspection as the Common +Schools.</p> + +<p>In 1847 an amendment to the Common +School Act was passed known as the Towns +and Cities Act. This Act gave the Trustee +Boards of towns and cities full power to +determine the number of, and regulate, denominational<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +schools. An extract from Ryerson's +Annual Report for 1847 as presented to the +Provincial Secretary will make clear the nature +of the Act and the Chief Superintendent's +views of it. Speaking of the provision for +Separate Schools in the Act of 1843 he says:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have never seen the necessity for such a +provision in connection with any section of the +Common School Law, which provides that no +child shall be compelled to read any religious +book or attend any religious exercise contrary +to the wishes of his parents and guardians; and +besides the apparent inexpediency of this provision +of the law it has been seriously objected +to as inequitable, permitting the Roman Catholics +to have a denominational school, but not +granting a similar right or privilege to any +one Protestant denomination ... nor does the +Act of 1847 permit the election of any sectarian +school trustees nor the appointment of a +teacher of any religious persuasion as such +even for a denominational school. Every +teacher of such school must be approved by +the town or city school authorities. There are, +therefore, guards and restrictions connected +with the establishment of a denominational +school in cities and towns under the new Act +which did not previously exist; it, in fact, +leaves the applications or pretensions of each +religious persuasion to the judgment of those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +who provide the greater part of the local +school fund and relieves the Government and +Legislature from the influence of any such +sectarian pressure. The effect of this Act has +already been to lessen rather than to increase +denominational schools, while it places all +religious persuasions on the same legal footing, +and leaves none of them any possible ground to +attack the school law or oppose the school +system. My Report on a system of Public +Elementary Instruction for Upper Canada, as +well as various decisions and opinions which +I have given, amply show that I am far from +advocating the establishment of denominational +schools; but I was not prepared to condemn +what had been unanimously sanctioned by two +successive Parliaments."<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>During the Legislative Session of 1850, and +while the School Bill was under discussion, a +petition was presented by prominent Roman +Catholic authorities praying for some modifications +of the provisions for Separate Schools in +the Bill then before the House. The result +was that the 19th clause of the Act of 1850 +made it compulsory upon the Municipal +Council of any township or the School Board +of any city or town or incorporated village, +upon the written request of twelve or more +resident heads of families, to establish one or +more Separate Schools for either Protestants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +or Roman Catholics. At this time only fifty-one +Separate Schools were in operation in +the whole of Upper Canada,<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> of which nearly +one-half were Protestant.</p> + +<p>According to a letter written by Ryerson to +Hon. George Brown<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> there was a movement +among certain Anglicans to secure Separate +Schools for their children. Had Roman +Catholics and Anglicans<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> both secured Separate +Schools, it would have wrecked the Common +School system, and these two denominations +acting in concert were strong enough to +defeat the Baldwin-Lafontaine Government. +Acting on Ryerson's suggestion, the Government +conceded in the main the Roman Catholic +claim and secured their support to the Bill. +This Bill gave Separate Schools one distinct +advantage over the Act of 1843. It made their +share of the Separate School fund that part of +the total fund which the Separate School +attendance bore to the total school attendance. +But Separate School supporters were still far +from having their schools recognized as a right +and placed on an equality with Common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +Schools. Separate Schools were granted as a +privilege or concession, but not as a right. Let +me quote from Ryerson's circular to town +reeves on the Act of 1850: "But, notwithstanding +the existence of this provision of the +law since 1843, there were last year but 51 +Separate Schools in all Upper Canada, nearly +as many of them being Protestant as Roman +Catholic; so that this provision of the law is of +little consequence for good or for evil.... It +is also to be observed that a Separate School +is entitled to no aid beyond a certain portion +of the School Fund for the salary of the +teacher. The schoolhouse must be provided, +furnished, warmed, books procured, etc., by +the persons petitioning for the Separate School. +Nor are the patrons or supporters of a Separate +School exempted from any of the local +assessments or rates for common school purposes."<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<p>This makes it clear that Separate School +supporters were liable to be taxed by the +municipality for the support of Common +Schools; they might be called upon to pay an +assessment to build, repair or furnish a Common +School, or to pay a part of the teacher's +salary. On the other hand, the only aid they +received in support of their own school was a +share of the legislative and municipal grants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +which together made up the school fund.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> It +will at once be seen that every step toward +free Common Schools placed the Separate +School supporters at an increased disadvantage +because it made them contribute more and +more toward the Common School.</p> + +<p>The Act of 1850 caused some friction in +Toronto, where the Roman Catholics asked +for a second Separate School. The Trustee +Board refused on the ground that they were +not legally compelled to establish more than +one Separate School in the city and the Court +of Queen's Bench upheld their decision. By +the old Act, under which cities were divided +into school sections, there was no legal bar +to the establishment of a Separate School in +every city school section. Ryerson thought +the Roman Catholics had a grievance and consented +to recommend the Bill giving a Separate +School in each city ward or a Separate School +for two or more wards united for such purpose. +This amendment was passed in 1851 and +caused considerable discussion. A large party +in Upper Canada were opposed to Separate +Schools on principle and objected to any legislation +that would multiply them, make them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +more efficient and popular, or grant them more +favourable financial support.</p> + +<p>The attitude of the out-and-out opponents to +Separate Schools was very well expressed by +the following Bill,<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> introduced in 1851 by +William Lyon Mackenzie:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Whereas the establishment of sectarian or +Separate Schools, upheld by periodical grants +of money from a provincial treasury and +placed under the control of the Executive +Government through its Superintendents of +Education and other civil officers, is a dangerous +interference with the Common School system +of Upper Canada, and if allowed to +Protestants and Roman Catholics cannot +reasonably be refused to Episcopalians, Presbyterians, +Quakers, Tunkers, Baptists, Independents +and other religious denominations; +and whereas if it is just that any number of +religious sects should have Separate Public +Schools it is not less reasonable that they should +have separate Grammar Schools, Colleges and +professorships in the Universities; and whereas +it is unjust for the State to tax Protestants in +order to provide for the instruction of children +in Roman Catholic doctrines or to tax Roman +Catholics for religious instruction of youth in +principles adverse to those of the Church of +Rome; and as the early separation of children<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +at school on account of the creeds of their +parents or guardians would rear nurseries of +strife and dissension and cause thousands to +grow up in comparative ignorance who might +under our Common School system obtain the +advantages of a moral, intellectual and scientific +education, be it enacted therefore that the +nineteenth section of the Act of 1850 be +repealed."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mackenzie's Bill was defeated by 26 to 5. +It lays down broad general principles that are +not easy to overthrow, and no doubt several +who voted against it would have been glad to +see all young Canadians educated together. +But if the right to have Separate Schools be +granted, and it had been granted by successive +School Acts for Upper Canada, then it seems +naturally to follow that the Legislature was +bound to place no obstacles in the way of their +formation and to make them efficient.</p> + +<p>Separate Schools were at first grudgingly +granted as a privilege, but not as a right. +Naturally, every extension of the privilege was +used by the supporters of these schools as a +vantage-ground from which to secure further +privileges and gradually convert these into +rights. At first the parties seceding from the +Public Schools shared only in the school fund +made up of the legislative grant and an equal +sum levied by the district, town or city council—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +whole being available only for the payment +of teachers' salaries. Supporters of +Separate Schools were liable to be taxed for +the building and equipment of Public Schools +in addition to the support of their own. They +claimed a <i>pro rata</i> share of all moneys levied +by taxation, and in some cases the law was invoked +in an attempt to secure such share.</p> + +<p>In 1853, a radical amendment was adopted +by which Separate School supporters received a +<i>pro rata</i> share of the legislative grant only, and +upon subscribing for school purposes a sum +equivalent to the grant secured were relieved +of all taxation for Common School purposes. +The Act of 1853 also gave the Separate School +trustees power to issue certificates to the +teachers employed by them, and the same power +of levying rates upon the supporters of their +schools as that exercised by trustees of Common +Schools.</p> + +<p>While the Separate School Bill of 1853 was +before the Legislature, there was an attempt +to introduce a clause establishing a general +Board of Trustees for Separate or sectarian +Schools in towns and cities. Ryerson went to +Quebec to confer with the Attorney-General and +vigorously opposed the Bill. His correspondence +shows that he had no wish to place Separate +Schools on an equality with Public Schools. +In fact he wished to do nothing that would +encourage or make easy their formation. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +law as it stood allowed Separate Schools only +when the teacher was of a different religious +faith from those wishing the Separate School. +A general Board of Separate School Trustees +for every town or city would have greatly +increased the number of Separate Schools. +Ryerson says: "This is placing Sectarian +Schools upon a totally different foundation +from that on which they have always stood; +it is the introduction of a system of sectarian +schools without restriction and almost without +conditions.... If there are city and town +Boards of Sectarian School Trustees they will +claim the right of appointing their own local +superintendents, and thus their schools will +be shut up against all inspection except that +they themselves may please to require or permit.... +Thus such a Board in Toronto might +recognize and claim public aid for every child +taught in convents and by other private +teachers of the same religious persuasion.... +If provision be made in each city and town to +incorporate into one Board one religious +persuasion, exempting it from the payment of +school rates and authorizing it to tax and +collect from its own members to any amount +for school purposes, the application of any +other religious persuasion in any such city or +town cannot be consistently or fairly resisted.... +The effect of all this would be to destroy +the system of Public Schools in cities and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +towns and ultimately perhaps in villages and +townships, and to leave all the poorer portion +of the population and that portion of it connected +with minor religious persuasions without +any adequate and certain means of education. +I think the safest and most defensible +ground to take is a firm refusal to sanction any +measure to provide by law increased facilities +for the multiplication and perpetuation of +sectarian schools."<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The attitude of the extreme opponents of +Separate Schools may be made clear from the +editorials of George Brown in the Toronto +<i>Globe</i>. On April 2nd, 1853, he says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"But under the new Bill the taxation of the +Roman Catholic parents and the whole charge +of the Separate Schools are to devolve on the +Popish authorities. The schools are to become +henceforth distinct, not only in their mode of +tuition, but in the machinery by which they are +to be conducted. They are to retain no vestige +of connection with the general educational system, +which is the pride and glory of the Canadian +people. Any Roman Catholic has only +to declare himself a supporter of a Separate +School and straightway he is relieved from +taxation for the maintenance of the general +system. As at present constituted, there is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +kind of guarantee that Roman Catholics are +educated, that they are not left entirely in +ignorance, but under Mr. Richards' Bill there +would be none.... The plain and obvious intention +of the Bill is the still further development +of the sectarian element in our Common +Schools. The Roman Catholics were not satisfied +with what they had already gained. They +wished to obtain their share of the annual +Parliamentary grant, paid out of the revenue, +which is made up almost exclusively from +Protestant money. They wished to have their +schools altogether free from the supervision of +the general trustees. Their bishops went down +to Quebec, the <i>Mirror</i> announcing their +departure, and hinting at the object of their +journey, and straightway we have the Bill from +Mr. W. B. Richards, granting to them all they +had demanded. If they had asked much more +it would have been granted to them by the +present Government. If this Bill passes into +law, the sectarian system will be fully and +thoroughly introduced, and must be carried out +to its utmost extent. The Roman Catholics +say that they are not satisfied to send their +children to the Common Schools, and they are +free from taxation. The Episcopalians are +ready to say the same, and we ask whether in +fairness we can refuse to one what we grant to +the other? And then the Methodists will demand +separate schools, and the Presbyterians,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +and all hopes of the education of the people +may be abandoned. Yet this Bill has been +introduced by a Government raised to power +upon the principle that our school system +should be free from clerical control. 'No +sectarian schools' was the watchword at the +last election among Reformers, yet one of the +first measures introduced by the Reform +Government is to establish sectarian schools +more thoroughly than before. We look to +them to abolish, and behold! they ratify and +confirm the evils of their predecessors. Where +is this to stop? When is the measure of the +iniquity of this Government to be filled up?... +Let our school system, the source of light +and intelligence, be destroyed, and what remains +to us of hope for the country? They, as +it were, would go gradually back to the darkness +of ignorance and superstition. We shall +consider no institution safe from priestly encroachments +if this Bill is carried. There is +no point upon which the people of Upper +Canada can be more severely wounded than +their common schools. Every true patriot has +fondly looked to them as the safeguards against +the despotism of priestcraft, and against violence +of an ignorant and, therefore, vicious +populace. If they are sacrificed, if their noble +endowment is scattered among the sects, +frittered away on a dozen different school systems, +if the priests are to take possession of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +the avenues of knowledge, what will be the fate +of this Province? Will it rise in the scale of +nations, ever to be distinguished for the intelligence +of its people, for its prosperity and +advancement?"<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>The following from the Toronto <i>Examiner</i>, +reprinted in the <i>Globe</i> of April 7th, 1853, +shows that the <i>Globe</i> was not alone in its +opinions:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"We are reluctantly forced to the conviction +that the rupture, complete and final, of the +Common School system of Canada is only a +question of time. We were among those who +looked anxiously to the Government for a +liberal and decided policy on this momentous +question. An examination of the supplementary +School Bill which we give in other +columns will bear us out but too fully, we fear, +in pronouncing its liberality exceedingly questionable.... +How different in Canada. Reformers +have been bidding for Roman Catholic +votes until they are likely to bid away every +distinctive principle which they hold, and when +this is done will it satisfy the ends of men +whose mission is to establish in the place of +free institutions the domination of priestcraft?"</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + +<p>The following from the Roman Catholic +<i>Mirror</i>, quoted in the <i>Globe</i>, April 9th, 1853, +shows that the Roman Catholics were well +pleased with the Bill:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"We freely admit that we had certain misgivings +respecting the amount of relief which +might be expected from the measure proposed, +which from the haughty and dictatorial +tone assumed by the Chief Superintendent of +Schools for Upper Canada, in his late perambulations, +we were prepared at least to regard +with suspicion. The terms on which justice +has been hitherto meted out in stinted and +niggard instalments, under the existing law, +and the many instances in which it has been +withheld or contemptuously refused, may have +rendered us over-sensitive; but we must acknowledge +that when we observe Dr. Ryerson +publicly promulgate the conditions on which he +would concede to Catholics the privilege of +directing the education of their own children, +we were prepared to expect a reiterated legislative +insult and a gross injustice, not a measure +restrictive, partial and oppressive. We +have been most agreeably disappointed; the +Bill of the 'Honourable Attorney-General +West,' with some slight modifications which +can be readily introduced in committee, will +form the basis of an educational system of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +sound principle, particularly calculated to do +justice to all classes of the community."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following resolutions of the Synod of +the United Presbyterian Church, printed in the +<i>Globe</i>, June 30th, 1853, shows the opinion of +that body on the Common School question:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Resolved. I. That this Synod approve of a +national system of education, placing all the +members of the community upon a level, and +encouraging, as that now in force in this +Province does, the use of the Scriptures under +certain reasonable regulations, as are also +prescribed therein.</p> + +<p>"II. Holding these views, we deeply regret +to perceive the principle of sectarian schools, +so distinctly recognized in the latest amendments +of the Provincial School Act, and do +strongly testify against such a principle +as impolitic and mischievous, recognizing +as it does the right of the Government +to take the moneys of the public and +appropriate them for the purpose of sustaining +and extending religious distractions, +and thereby continuing to stimulate the elements +of discord throughout the community +and mar greatly social interests.</p> + +<p>"III. That this Synod recommend to those +under their care the use of every proper and +constitutional means to secure the repeal of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +such statutes as recognize the principle of +sectarian schools."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The movement for extended Separate +School privileges was being championed by +Bishop de Charbonnel, of Toronto. During +1852 he had a long controversy with Ryerson +on the school question.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> Ryerson's letters +during this controversy make it quite clear that +he thought Separate Schools a huge blunder, +and that while he had honestly attempted to +give Roman Catholics all the law allowed them +he hoped and expected to see their schools die +a natural death.</p> + +<p>In his Report for 1852, the Superintendent +points with pride to the fact that Separate +Schools are not increasing. Indeed, he congratulates +himself that the provision in the +law allowing them is really a good thing, since +it is not very effective in practice but yet acts +as a safety valve to prevent violent opposition +to the school system. He believed that the +Roman Catholics themselves would ultimately +see that a policy of isolation of their children +would have the effect of cutting them off from +many of their natural privileges as Canadian +citizens. And had the Separate School Act of +1853 remained unaltered, events would likely +have shown Ryerson to be correct in his views.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +He believed the Act of 1853 was final, and +that without any municipal machinery for +collecting their taxes Separate Schools would +never become numerous.</p> + +<p>In this he was greatly mistaken, as events +proved. In 1854, the Roman Catholic Bishops +of Toronto, Kingston and Bytown, drew up a +Separate School Bill which they wished should +become law. This Bill would have forced all +Roman Catholics to support Catholic Separate +Schools wherever such were established. It +also had other provisions which Ryerson +thought objectionable. In 1855 a Separate +School Bill, known as the "Taché Bill," was +introduced into the Legislative Council, and +after some amendments adopted by both +branches of Parliament. This Act differed +from all previous Acts in that its provisions +were exclusively for Roman Catholic Separate +Schools. It repealed all previous legislation +for Separate Schools in so far as Roman +Catholics were concerned. It made possible +the establishment of a Roman Catholic Separate +School in any school section or any ward +of a town or city on petition of ten Roman +Catholic ratepayers and gave them a Separate +School Board with their own Superintendent +in towns and cities. Such Roman Catholic +ratepayers were relieved from all municipal +rates for Common School purposes, and +received for their own school a <i>pro rata</i> share<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +of the Legislative grant if they had an average +attendance of 15 pupils. The Act also made +possible general Boards of Separate School +Trustees in towns and cities and gave all +Separate School Boards power to license their +own teachers and levy rates for Separate +School purposes upon the supporters of those +schools. The Act was in principle a distinct +gain for the champions of Separate Schools, +but it led to no rapid increase in the number +of such schools. In 1858, only 94 Separate +Schools were in existence with an enrolment of +less than 10,000 children, as compared with an +enrolment of 284,000 in the Public Schools. +The Act of 1855 was really forced upon Upper +Canada by the votes of members from Lower +Canada, there being a majority of Upper +Canada members against the Bill.</p> + +<p>It would seem that the Roman Catholics did +not gain by the Taché Bill as much as they +expected. The following letter written to Dr. +Ryerson from Quebec, on June 8th, 1855, by +John (afterwards Sir John) A. Macdonald, +Attorney-General for Upper Canada, who had +charge of the Bill in the Assembly, shows that +political exigencies played no small part in +school legislation: "Our Separate School Bill, +which, as you know, is now quite harmless, +passed with the approbation of our friend, +Bishop Charbonnel, who, before leaving here, +formally thanked the administration for doing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +justice to his Church. He has got a new light +since his return to Toronto, and he now says +the Bill won't do. I need not point out to your +suggestive mind that in any article written by +you on the subject it is politic to press two +points on the public attention: 1st, That the Bill +will not, as you say, injuriously affect the Common +School system. This for the people at +large. 2nd, That the Bill is a substantial boon to +the Roman Catholics. This to keep them in good +humour. You see that if the Bishop makes +the Roman Catholics believe that the Bill is +no use to them there will be a renewal of an +unwholesome agitation which I thought we +had allayed."<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> + +<p>That Sir John A Macdonald was largely in +agreement with Dr. Ryerson on the Separate +School question is the opinion of Sir Joseph +Pope, his biographer, who says on page 138 +of his Memoirs: "Mr. Macdonald said that he +was as desirous as anyone of seeing all children +going together to the Common School, +and if he could have his own way there would +be no Separate School. But we should respect +the opinions of others who differed from us, +and they had a right to refuse such schools as +they could not conscientiously approve of."</p> + +<p>From 1855 to 1863, no important changes +took place in the law governing Separate +Schools. These schools were increasing very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +slowly, not so fast as the natural growth of +the Roman Catholic population. In 1860, +there were only 115 Separate Schools with an +enrolment of 14,708 as compared with some +325,000 in the Public Schools. In 1860, Mr. +(afterwards Honourable) R. W. Scott introduced +a Bill planned to give Separate Schools +additional privileges. Substantially the same +Bill was introduced annually by Mr. Scott +until 1863, when it passed with amendments, +some of which were suggested by Dr. Ryerson. +As a matter of fact, the Taché Act of 1855, +which was suggested partly by the status of +Protestant dissentient schools in Lower +Canada, had imposed some useless but vexatious +restrictions upon Separate School supporters. +In 1862, Ryerson proposed to satisfy +what he called the reasonable demands of +Roman Catholics by making four changes, as +follows:—<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> + +<p>1st. To allow the formation of Separate +Schools in incorporated villages and in towns +(the Taché Act allowed a Separate School only +in the ward of a town and not a school for the +town as a whole); 2nd. To allow a union of +two or more Separate Schools; 3rd. To make +it unnecessary for a Separate School supporter +annually to declare himself such; and 4th. +To exempt Separate School trustees from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +making oath as to the correctness of their +school returns.</p> + +<p>The Scott Bill of 1863<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> as finally adopted +by the Legislature, embodied all these provisions +and some others of importance. Separate +School teachers were to submit to the same +examinations and receive the same certificates +of qualification as Public School teachers, but +all teachers qualified by law in Lower Canada +were to be qualified teachers for Separate +Schools in Upper Canada. This provision was +to allow the teachers of religious orders<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> +recognized by law as qualified in Lower Canada +to teach in Separate Schools in Upper Canada. +The Act also made taxpayers who withdrew +their support from Separate Schools liable for +their share of debts incurred while Separate +School supporters in building or equipping +Separate Schools. On the whole, the Scott +Bill, while in its unamended form it aroused +great opposition in Upper Canada, as finally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +adopted, tended to bring the Separate Schools +into closer harmony with the principles governing +Public Schools. The feature of the Bill +that aroused most opposition was its being +forced upon Upper Canada by votes of Lower +Canadian members—there being a majority<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> +of ten Upper Canada members against the third +reading of the Bill in the Assembly. Such +well-known men as John A. Macdonald, John +Sandfield Macdonald and Wm. Macdougall +supported the Bill, while George Brown, +Alexander Mackenzie and Oliver Mowat opposed +it.</p> + +<p>Ryerson claimed<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> that he agreed to the +amended Scott Bill only on the distinct understanding +that it was to be a finality in Separate +School legislation. He also claimed that the +Roman Catholic Bishops of Quebec, Kingston +and Toronto accepted the Bill as a final settlement. +But nothing is final in legislation, and +Dr. Ryerson ought to have known this. Legislation +is as much the result of a process of +evolution as any other institution of human +society, and no three or four men, whether +priests or laymen, could speak authoritatively +and finally for the thousands of Roman +Catholics in Upper Canada.</p> + +<p>Separate Schools increased slowly. In 1863 +they numbered 115, with 15,000 pupils, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +Public Schools having during the same year +45,000 Roman Catholic pupils. In 1864, +Separate Schools had increased to 147 with +17,365 pupils. In 1871, the number was 160, +with 21,000 pupils.</p> + +<p>Almost immediately after the Scott legislation +of 1863, an agitation began for further +amendments to the Separate School Act. Ryerson +made strong objections partly on the +ground of the alleged compact of 1863, and +partly on the ground that no legislation could +possibly make Separate Schools really popular +and efficient outside of large towns and cities.</p> + +<p>In 1865, the school administration was +attacked by James O'Reilly, of Kingston, and, +in a memorandum prepared as a reply to these +attacks, Ryerson goes into some detail to +justify his Separate School policy and reiterates +his firm belief that sectarian schools must +ever be relatively inefficient. He concludes as +follows: "The fact is that the tendency of the +public mind and of the institutions of Upper +Canada is to confederation and not isolation, +to united effort and not divisions. The efforts +to establish and extend Separate Schools, +although often energetic and made at great +sacrifice, are a struggle against the instincts +of Canadian society, against the necessities of +a sparsely populated country, against the social +and political interest of the parents and youth +separated from their fellow-citizens. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +not the Separate School law that renders such +efforts fitful, feeble and little successful; their +paralysis is caused by a higher than human law, +the law of circumstances—the law of nature, +and the law of interest.</p> + +<p>"If, therefore, the present Separate School +law is not to be maintained as a final settlement +of the question and if the Legislature finds it +necessary to legislate on the Separate School +question again, I pray that it will abolish the +Separate School law altogether; and to this +recommendation I am forced after having long +used my best efforts to maintain and give the +fullest effect and most liberal application to +successive Separate School acts—and after +twenty years' experience and superintendence +of our Common School system."<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p> + +<p>When the Confederation resolutions adopted +at Quebec in 1864 were being discussed in the +Canadian Assembly in 1865, an extended +debate arose over the clause which secured for +the minorities in Upper and Lower Canada +the privilege of Separate Schools. Men like +George Brown and Alexander Mackenzie, who +had opposed the Scott Bill of 1863, defended +the minority clause on the ground that it would +place Upper Canada in no worse position than +she already was in regard to sectarian schools, +and that privileges given ought not to be withdrawn.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +The Assembly were almost unanimous +in supporting the Separate School clause which +was incorporated into the British North +America Act.</p> + +<p>No changes in Separate School legislation +were made after Confederation until 1886, and +the only events of passing importance in +Separate School affairs were the objections +raised in Kingston in 1865 and in Toronto in +1871 to visits of inspection by the Grammar +School Inspector, who had been appointed to +make these visits by the Council of Public +Instruction. When Dr. Ryerson pointed out +that these visits were authorized by the Scott +Bill of 1863, the Bishops very gracefully +waived their objections and the principle of +Separate School inspection by Government +officers was established. In 1874, the three +High School Inspectors made a general inspection +of Separate Schools. In their report to +the Government they say: "The inspection of +the Separate Schools derives an additional +interest and importance from the peculiar +position they occupy in our educational system. +Among them we have found both well-equipped +and ill-equipped, both well-taught and +ill-taught schools. On the whole we regret +that in the majority of cases the buildings, the +equipment, and the teaching are alike inferior. +There are but few Separate School teachers +whose school surroundings are such as to make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +their positions enviable, and accordingly a large +measure of approbation is due to those who +have succeeded in doing good work. We have +pleasure in stating that in many places the +Separate School Boards are beginning to see +that they must either make the schools under +their charge more efficient or close them +altogether. There are many things connected +with the operation of the Separate School Act +which invite comment; but we think it best to +postpone the expression of our views until they +are matured by the experience of another +year."</p> + +<p>Some years after this, in 1882, the Education +Department adopted the plan of appointing +special Roman Catholic Inspectors of Separate +Schools. No doubt regular inspection of these +schools has done much to increase their efficiency, +but it is to be regretted that the plan +of inspection adopted tends to widen still further +the breach between them and the schools +of the mass of the people.</p> + +<p>Four years after Ryerson's death, the Act +relating to Separate Schools was revised and +amended. No new principles were introduced, +but every amendment made tended to place +Separate School supporters on an equality with +supporters of Public Schools. The number of +schools has gradually increased owing to the +rapid increase in our urban population. In +1884 there were 207 Separate Schools, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +27,463 pupils; in 1894, 328 schools with 39,762 +pupils; and in 1906, 443 schools with +50,000 pupils.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most important event connected +with the history of Separate Schools since +1886 was the decision of the Judicial Committee +of the Privy Council in November, 1906. +This decision made it clear that the clause +declaring persons qualified as teachers in Quebec +at the time of Confederation to be qualified +teachers of Separate Schools in Ontario applied +only to individuals and not to religious +corporations as such. The result will be that +the Separate Schools ought soon to have a body +of teachers with the same academic standing +and the same normal training as the Public +Schools.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3><i>RYERSON AND GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.</i></h3> + + +<p>As already shown in the chapters on the early +history of schools in Upper Canada, Grammar +Schools were provided for before any provision +was made for Common Schools. In fact +the chief nominal purpose of the large grant of +public land in 1799 was to endow Grammar +Schools, and in 1807 schools were opened in +each of the eight Districts into which Upper +Canada was then divided. These schools were +supposed to be classical schools, fashioned upon +the model of the great English Public Schools. +As a matter of fact they had no uniform +standard of equipment, staff, course of study +or graduation. A few schools, such as Cornwall, +Kingston, York, and Niagara, were +famous and turned out many able men. Some +of the schools received pupils who could not +read, and were in no sense secondary schools. +As the population increased, new schools were +opened. Although originally intended to be +free schools, they all charged fees. The public +grant, which was paid direct to the principal, +was one hundred pounds for each school. As +the population increased, new schools were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +opened, and by 1844, when Ryerson became +Superintendent of Education, twenty-five +Grammar Schools and Academies were in +operation.</p> + +<p>These schools were managed by trustees appointed +by the Crown, but were under no +proper Government control. They were never +really inspected. Each school was a law unto +itself. All were supposed to teach Latin and +Greek, but in many of them there was not a +single pupil studying either of these languages. +They were handicapped in many ways. For +years there were no good elementary schools +from which they could draw pupils with a +foundation for a secondary education. During +the same long period there were in Upper +Canada no colleges to which graduates of +Grammar Schools might go for professional +training. This gave these schools a wide scope +and great opportunities, but few seized the +opportunities. The poverty of the people and +the natural apathy of many in regard to education +also prevented the development of good +schools.</p> + +<p>Good schools are possible only with good +teachers, and good teachers in Upper Canada +were not easily secured. The professions of +law and medicine then, as now, were much +more attractive than teaching for men of ability +and education. Mercantile life also offered +great opportunities. The result was that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +Grammar Schools were often in charge of +incompetent teachers.</p> + +<p>Ryerson's commission gave him no control +over Grammar Schools. But his first Report in +1846 recommended a graded, unified system of +schools from the Common School to the University. +He also pointed out that these Grammar +Schools which were intended for a special +work were teaching everything taught in a +Common School. In his Report for 1849 he +recommended a commission of inquiry into the +state of Grammar Schools and showed that the +whole thirty or forty schools had matriculated +only eight students into the University during +that year. He suggested a fixed course of +studies, a minimum qualification for entrance, +and Government inspection. "Surely," he +says, "it never could have been intended that +the Grammar Schools should occupy the same +ground as Common Schools, should compete +with them, thus lowering the character and +efficiency of both.... I am far from intimating +an opinion that there are no efficient Grammar +Schools in the Province, even under the present +system or rather absence of all system. There +are several instances in which separate apartments +for different classes of pupils are provided +and assistance employed to teach the +English branches, but such examples are rather +exceptions to the general rule than the rule +itself. The general rule is whether there be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +an assistant or not to admit pupils of both +sexes and all ages and attainments for A B C +and upwards into schools which ought to +occupy a position distinct from and superior to +that of the Common Schools. Equally far be +it from me to intimate that there is any deficiency +of qualifications on the part of masters +of Grammar Schools. But I doubt not that +they will be the first to feel how much the efficiency +and pleasures of their duties will be +advanced by the introduction of a proper and +uniform system as they will be the first to +confess, '<i>non omnia possumus omnes</i>.'"<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p> + +<p>After the Common Schools had been brought +under the rule of law it was inevitable that the +Grammar Schools should be reorganized. In +1850, Francis Hincks introduced a Grammar +School Bill prepared by Doctor Ryerson. This +Bill aimed at bringing the schools under popular +control and administering them on lines +similar to those governing Common Schools. +Trustees were to be appointed by County +Councils; Trustee Boards were to have power +to levy rates for buildings, equipment and apparatus; +the Legislative grant was to be distributed +to the several Districts on the basis of +population, but only when local contributions +made up a sum equal to the grant exclusive of +pupils' fees; the programme of studies was to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +be broad enough to prepare for matriculation; +the Council of Public Instruction was to fix +Grammar School programmes, prescribe texts +and appoint inspectors. A meteorological +station was to be established in connection with +one Grammar School in each District. This +Bill was withdrawn, but a similar one<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> became +law on January 1st, 1854. The new Act, as +amended in 1855, also provided for uniting +Grammar Schools with Common Schools and +provided that a Grammar School master, unless +a university graduate, must secure a certificate +from a Board of Examiners appointed by +the Council of Public Instruction. This Act +also authorized an annual appropriation of +£1,000 to establish a Model Grammar School +in connection with the Normal School, authorized +the Council of Public Instruction to appoint +Grammar School inspectors, and made up +a liberal grant to secure libraries and apparatus. +After this legislation, the Council of Public +Instruction drew up regulations governing the +curriculum of Grammar Schools and took steps +to bring about the use of uniform texts. From +the first there were two courses of study, a +general English course and a classical course +leading to matriculation. The head master of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +each Grammar School was required to conduct +an examination of candidates for admission, +the requirements being intelligible reading +from any common reading book, spelling, +writing, elementary arithmetic, and the elements +of English grammar, with definitions of +geography.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1855, the Grammar +Schools were inspected, those in the east by +Thomas Jaffray Robertson and those in the +west by William Ormiston. Their reports +show that many of these schools were indifferent +and a few hopeless. Perhaps half of +them were doing fairly well. The attendance +averaged about thirty, of whom nearly one-half +were studying Latin. Half of the schools +admitted female pupils. The highest salary +paid a head master was $1,200, while the average +for head masters was $700. Few of the +schools had two masters. Half the total number +of head masters were graduates of British +or Canadian universities. In some cases the +teachers were paid a fixed salary, and in some +cases they got the Government grant and the +school fees. These fees averaged about three +dollars per quarter. In a few cases the head +master had a dwelling in connection with the +school.</p> + +<p>The inspectors criticised the buildings, equipment +and grounds severely, as the following +extracts will show:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Of the Grammar School houses seventeen +were originally built for school purposes and +several of them, which were spacious and substantial +buildings, may be classed as good; +ten were somewhat inferior; and one, a very +old wooden building, could scarcely be considered +habitable. Nine schools were carried +on in premises rented for the purpose and were +in most instances totally unfit. In many cases +the grounds attached to the schoolhouses were +partially or entirely unfenced, and the sheds or +outhouses were in a shameful state of neglect. +Even in the neatest premises I saw no +attempt at ornament; not a tree, shrub +or flower to awaken or cultivate a taste +so simple and natural in itself and so +easily gratified as it could be in rural districts.... +Very many of these houses are +inferior to the Common Schools. In most +cases the premises present a dull, unthrifty +and unattractive appearance, destitute alike of +ornament and convenience, without fence, shed, +well, tree, shrub or flower, while within an +entire lack of maps, charts and apparatus is +with too few exceptions the general rule."<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>Two years later the same inspectors made +another general report on Grammar Schools. +They found some improvements but many +weak schools doing the most elementary Common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +School work. They deprecated the practice, +then becoming somewhat common, of +establishing new Grammar Schools in small +villages.</p> + +<p>It is abundantly clear from Ryerson's Reports, +1856-58, that he was dissatisfied with +the progress being made in Grammar Schools +and eager to attempt their improvement by +means of further legislation. The most +serious problem was that of providing an +adequate and certain financial support for these +schools. The schools were managed by trustee +boards appointed by County Councils, but were +attended largely by pupils of towns and cities. +The people using them and contributing largely +to their support were not given the power to +manage them.</p> + +<p>Ryerson was also very doubtful about the +result of the experiment authorized in 1854, of +uniting Common and Grammar Schools. The +union gave trustee boards increased freedom +of management, but in many cases the union +school became, for all practical purposes, a +common school, having, perhaps, three or four +senior pupils studying Latin and Greek. Such +schools brought all Grammar Schools into contempt.</p> + +<p>The report of the Grammar School inspector +on the schools of Eastern Ontario, for 1860, +shows that things were far from satisfactory:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>"With the exception of two or three really +good schools our Grammar Schools in the extreme +East are in a very low state. Some of +them I can only designate as infant schools. +Nor do I see anything from the localities in +which they are placed or the present state of +the Grammar School law which gives me any +hope of amelioration. Advancing civilization +and the material growth of the country in time +may act upon them, but immediate remedies +and those of a stringent nature are imperatively +needed.... The want of a class of +specially trained Grammar School masters who +have taken this as a permanent profession for +life is a great drawback to the efficiency of our +schools. The supposed inferior social status +of the Grammar School master and the larger +rewards held out for superior mental activity +in the other professions turn aside most of +those who are most eminently qualified for the +scholastic office. Of the twenty-two schools +mentioned in my report six were in the hands +of persons who avowedly were making teaching +the stepping-stone to the attainment of +other professions, as law, medicine, or the +church. Several were evidently conducted by +persons who had taken to teaching after having +failed in other walks of life. Comparatively +few were held by those who were fitted +for their office by previous training, or were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +devoting themselves entirely to their work as +the main business of their lives."<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>There seems also to have been a disposition +to unduly multiply Grammar Schools because +they were supported so largely by the Legislative +grant. The Rev. Dr. Paxton Young, Inspector +of Grammar Schools, in his report for +1864, says: "The too free and inconsiderate +exercise by County Councils of the large power +thus entrusted to them has led to a heedless +and most unfortunate multiplication of the +Grammar Schools, and the evil instead of +showing any symptoms of abatement appears +to be growing worse from year to year. In +1858 the number of the schools was seventy-five; +in 1860 it was eighty-eight; in 1863 it had +risen to ninety-five; and the number of recognized +schools is now as high as one hundred +and eight. Not a few of the schools thus +hastily established are Grammar Schools in +name rather than in reality, the work done in +them being almost altogether Common School +work, which, as a rule, would be much better +performed in a well-appointed Common School. +I believe that County Councils are often led +to establish Grammar Schools in localities +where they are not needed under the idea that +if the schools should be productive of no good +at any rate they can do no harm. There could +not be a greater mistake. Men ought to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +wise enough by this time to understand that +all public institutions, especially if forming +parts of a great plan, must, where unnecessary, +be positively bad. Needless and contemptible +Grammar Schools are a blot upon the whole +school system, the sight of which is fitted to +shake the confidence of the country in the +administrative wisdom or firmness of those to +whom the direction of educational matters is +committed. When it is considered that the +apportionment from the Grammar School fund +to a particular county is divided according to +certain fixed principles between the different +schools in that county, it will be seen that the +disposition manifested by some councils to +secure the largest number of schools for their +county, is practically a disposition to secure +quantity for quality, for as the number of +schools is augmented the salaries of the masters +are diminished, the tendency of which is, of +course, to throw the schools into the hands of +a lower grade of teachers.... About +three out of every five Grammar Schools in +Upper Canada have Common Schools united +with them, and, in not a few instances, where +unions have not yet been formed, I found a +strong disposition existing to enter into such +an arrangement. I made it my business to +inquire particularly into the benefits supposed +to result from the union of the Common with +the Grammar Schools. The chief advantage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +was in almost every case admitted to be a +pecuniary one. By the existing law Grammar +School trustees have of themselves no power +to raise money for Grammar School purposes, +but in case of the Common and Grammar +Schools becoming united the joint boards may +levy money for the support of the united +schools. This being so, it is easy to comprehend +how strongly the trustees of a Grammar School +who feel their hands tied up from doing anything +to put the school in an efficient state may +be tempted to make with the Common School +Board a league which will give them a voice in +the important matter of taxation.... But +of nothing am I more convinced than that as +a rule such a union is undesirable. In a large +number of instances it throws upon the Grammar +School master the necessity of receiving +into his room, and personally instructing, Common +School pupils, as well as those whom it is +his more particular duty to attend to. A consequence +of this is that he cannot afford the +Grammar School pupils the time that is necessary +for drilling them in the subjects that they +are studying."<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>But Doctor Young saw much promise in the +schools, as the following from the same Report +will show: "Leaving out of view schools of +this sort, I do not hesitate to say that the Grammar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +Schools of Upper Canada are, as a class, +not only in the promise of what they may become, +but in what they actually are at the +present moment, an honour to the country. We +must not look for too much. It would be preposterous +to expect at this early period in the +history of our Province, that its Grammar +Schools generally should be able to bear comparison +with the better classical and mathematical +schools of Great Britain and Ireland. +To this Canada does not pretend, but she has +begun well, and appears to be steadily, if not +rapidly, progressing."</p> + +<p>In June, 1865, Ryerson went to Quebec to +press upon the Government the necessity of a +new Grammar School bill. As the Confederation +scheme was approaching maturity he +found the Government unwilling to embark +upon any legislation that might prevent an +early prorogation. Mr. John A. Macdonald +suggested that the difficulty might be met by a +regulation issued under the authority of the +Council of Public Instruction. This was accordingly +done, and the Council immediately +framed regulations as follows: First, the Legislative +grant was to be apportioned on the +basis of the attendance of those learning Greek +and Latin, as certified by the Grammar School +Inspector. Second, no school was to receive +any portion of the Legislative grant unless +suitable accommodations were provided, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +unless there were an average of at least ten +pupils learning Latin and Greek, nor were any +pupils to be admitted or continued in a Grammar +School unless they were learning Latin +and Greek.</p> + +<p>This absurd regulation never went into +effect, as the Legislature passed a Grammar +School Bill in the latter part of 1865. The +new Bill made each city a county for Grammar +School purposes; it allowed County Councils +to appoint half the Grammar School trustees, +the other half being appointed by the village or +town council where the school was situated. +This latter provision was planned to give +increased local control and thus create a +stronger interest in the management of the +schools. The distinction which had so long existed +between senior and junior county Grammar +Schools<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> was abolished and the Legislative +grant was apportioned solely on the basis +of attendance, but no school was to share the +grant unless there was raised from local +sources, exclusive of pupils' fees, a sum equal +to half the grant. It was made more difficult +to establish new schools. Only graduates of +universities in British dominions were to be +eligible for head masters' positions. On the +suggestion of the Hon. William Macdougall,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +a clause was inserted providing for a grant of +fifty dollars a year to those Grammar Schools +giving a course of elementary military instruction.</p> + +<p>The Report of Rev. Geo. Paxton Young on +the Grammar Schools in 1865 is of great +interest, read in the light of nearly half a +century's progress in the higher education of +women. I shall quote his exact words:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have frequently been asked whether I +considered it desirable that girls should study +Latin in the Grammar Schools. It is, in my +opinion, most undesirable; and I am at a loss +to comprehend how any intelligent person +acquainted with the state of things in our +Grammar Schools can come to a different conclusion.... +Since I became Inspector, I have +not met with half a dozen girls in the Grammar +Schools of Canada by whom the study of Latin +has been pursued far enough for the taste to be +in the least degree influenced by what has been +read. Aesthetically, the benefits of Grammar +Schools to girls are <i>nil</i>.... It may perhaps be +said that although they have for the most part +made but little progress in Latin up to the +present time, a fair proportion of them may be +expected to pursue the study to a point where +its advantages can be reaped. I do not believe +that three out of a hundred will. As a class, +they have dipped the soles of their feet in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +water, with no intention or likelihood of wading +deeper into it. They are not studying Latin +with any definite object. They have taken it +up under pressure at the solicitation of the +teachers or trustees to enable the schools to +maintain the requisite average attendance of +ten classical pupils or to increase that part of +the income of the schools which is derived from +public sources. In a short time they will leave +school to enter on the practical work of life +without having either desired or obtained more +than the merest smattering of Latin, and their +places will be taken by another band of girls +who will go through the same routine. It may +perhaps be urged that these remarks are as +applicable to as large a number of the Grammar +School boys as they are to the girls. I admit +that they are; and I draw the conclusion that +such boys, equally with the girls in the Grammar +Schools, are wasting their time in keeping +up the appearance of learning Latin. It would +be unspeakably better to commit them to first-class +Common School teachers, under whose +guidance they might have their reflective and +aesthetic faculties cultivated through the study +of English and of those branches which are +associated with English in good Common +Schools. This would, of course, diminish the +number of the Grammar Schools in the Province; +but it might not be a very grievous +calamity, especially if it led to the establishment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +of first-class Common Schools in localities +where inferior teachers are now employed."<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>It was a part of a Grammar School inspector's +duty to examine the pupils who had been +admitted by the Grammar School masters and +reject any who were too immature or were +insufficiently prepared. Dr. Young complains +strongly in his Report of 1865 of the poor +teaching of English grammar. In some cases +he had to reject more than half those admitted. +He found pupils wholly unable to parse such +easy sentences as: "The mother loved her +daughter dearly," "John ran to school very +quickly," "She knew her lesson remarkably +well."</p> + +<p>It is doubtful whether the Grammar School +Bill of 1865 made any real improvement in the +schools. Without denying that some of them +were doing a good work, and that as a force +in the national life they were fostering some +love for higher education, it is safe to assert +that they were not very closely related to the +real needs of the people. Their aim was +narrow. Their very name shows this. There +was a crying need in the country for schools +that would give an advanced English and +scientific education with classic and modern +languages to those who wished to pursue +university studies. But the most of the Grammar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +Schools aimed only at a study of Latin +and Greek, and indeed the Grammar School +legislation and the regulations of the Council +of Public Instruction had made a certain +number of Latin pupils one of the conditions +upon which a Grammar School might receive +a public grant.</p> + +<p>The Act of 1865 soon showed some disastrous +tendencies. It did not check the desire +to form unions between Grammar Schools and +Common Schools, as such unions made it easier +to levy a rate in support of the union schools, +and thus comply with the conditions upon +which Grammar Schools received grants. The +clause in the new Act making average attendance +the basis of attendance, together with a +regulation of the Council of Public Instruction +which counted only Latin pupils in making the +grant, led the head masters of union schools to +draft every available pupil into the Grammar +School departments<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> and put them all, boys and +girls, into Latin. Often they were not prepared +for such work and got no real benefit +from it. They wasted their time and lost the +benefits of a sound English education which a +good Common School would have given them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +Hundreds of boys and girls who had no foundation +for a classical education, and who had no +prospect of ever advancing far enough to +receive any solid knowledge of Latin, were +making a pretence of studying it in order that +the school might draw a Government grant. +Ignorant parents raised no objections, thinking +perhaps that Latin possessed some charm +which would be an "open sesame" for the +future advancement of the boys and girls.</p> + +<p>Dr. Ryerson was not the man to diagnose +the case. But the hour brought forth the man, +and that man was George Paxton Young, one +of the Inspectors of Grammar Schools. In +two very able Reports<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> presented in 1867 and +1868, he sets forth clearly and convincingly +the defects of the system then in operation +and suggests the direction that reforms should +take to make the Grammar Schools serve a +useful purpose. He wished to see their character +wholly changed. He did not undervalue +classics, but he believed that a smattering +of classics was of no benefit, and that it +caused a waste of time that might be given to +subjects of real value. He wished to see High +Schools that would give an advanced English +training, together with natural science, mathematics, +and history. He did not believe in +forcing all to study Latin, nor did he believe in +apportioning grants to High Schools on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +basis of the number of pupils studying Latin. +He wished to see better Common Schools and +objected to the plan of union which robbed +the Common School of its older pupils and +degraded its function. Speaking of this, he +says: "The number of union schools is increasing +and is likely to increase. In many of the +schools of this class all the Common School +pupils, boys and girls alike, who have obtained +a smattering of English grammar are systematically +drafted into the Grammar School. +The consequence is that in localities where +such a system is followed there is no mere +Common School education (observe I say mere +Common School education) given to any +pupils, boys or girls, which is not of the most +elementary description; and not only have the +Grammar Schools thus become to a great +extent girls' schools as well as boys' schools, +but—what is especially noteworthy—the girls +admitted to these schools are in a majority of +instances put into Latin as a matter of course; +in other words, the study of Latin is made +practically a condition of their admission into +the Grammar School. Will any man say that +this state of things is satisfactory, a state of +things in which the Common Schools are +degraded by being suspended from the exercise +of all their higher functions? Unless I +misunderstand the object of the Common +School law, the Common Schools are designed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +to furnish a good English and general education +to those desiring it. But how can this +end be accomplished where the Common +Schools are subject to arrangements under +which the highest stage of advancement ever +reached by the pupils is to be able to parse an +easy English sentence? ... Children under +thirteen years of age who do not mean to take +a classical course of study have no educational +wants which the Common Schools, properly +conducted, are not fitted to supply. For children +of thirteen and upwards who have already +obtained such an education as may be got in +good Common Schools, it would, I think, be +well to establish English High Schools—a +designation which I borrow from the United +States although, unfortunately, I have only a +very vague idea of what the High Schools in +the United States are."</p> + +<p>Dr. Young strongly urged a more rigid +inspection of Grammar Schools and the apportioning +of the Legislative grant upon the basis +of Inspectors' reports. As so many girls had +been drafted into Grammar Schools and put +in grammar classes apparently to increase the +school grant, it was proposed during 1868 to +allow only fifty per cent. of girls' attendance +to count in apportioning the grant and even to +make no allowance whatever for attendance of +female pupils in future years. This opened +up the whole question of co-education of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +sexes in Grammar Schools and caused lively +debates in the Legislature and in Teachers' +Institutes. The general opinion seemed to prevail +that girls should have equal rights with +boys but that the law should be so amended +as to remove all pressure upon girls to study +Latin.</p> + +<p>After one or two abortive attempts, a Bill +reorganizing Grammar Schools was passed in +1871. This Bill abolished the term "Grammar +School," and substituted that of "High +School." Adequate provision was to be made +in each High School for an advanced English +education, including natural sciences and commercial +subjects. The study of Latin, Greek +and modern languages was to be at the option +of the pupils' parents or guardians. Provision +was made for a superior class of High School, +to be known as Collegiate Institutes. These +schools were required to have at least four +masters and an average of not less than sixty +boys studying Latin or Greek, and were to +receive a special grant of $750 a year. County +Councils were empowered to form High +School districts and provision was made by +which the High School Board could levy an +assessment upon the district. High School +vacations were extended from July 1st to +August 15th. A very important feature of the +new Bill was the provision for the admission of +pupils. The county, city or town Inspector<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +of Schools, the Chairman of the High School +Board and the head master of the High School +were constituted a Board with power to conduct +a written examination and admit pupils +according to regulations prescribed by the +Council of Public Instruction.</p> + +<p>At first the local examining Board set the +entrance papers, but this plan was soon superseded +by one requiring uniform papers set by +the High School Inspectors. This aroused a +storm of opposition, and the resolution of the +Council of Public Instruction requiring uniform +papers was set aside by an Order-in-Council. +But the plan of uniform papers was +so sensible, and so much chaos resulted from +the other plan, that by 1874 the Government +authorized a uniform entrance examination +which shut out immature pupils and those +insufficiently prepared. It raised the status of +High Schools, enabling them to begin advanced +work, and indirectly increased the efficiency of +the Public Schools by fixing a standard of +attainment. The Legislature also made further +provision for High Schools by appropriating +an additional $20,000 a year, exclusive of the +grants to be given to Collegiate Institutes.</p> + +<p>The Act of 1871 provided for a minimum +Legislative grant<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> for each High School, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +made the maximum grant depend upon average +attendance. The Rev. George Paxton Young +had, in his last Report as Grammar School +Inspector, strongly recommended the adoption +in a modified form of the English system of +payment by results. He wished to see the High +Schools graded by the Inspectors according to +their general efficiency and the grant based +upon this grading. In 1872 the High School +Inspectors, Messrs. McKenzie and McLellan, +urged the adoption of a similar plan and +showed how it would serve as a stimulus to +better work in all the schools. They also +pointed out how such a plan would encourage +Boards to employ good teachers, since they +would have a pecuniary interest in keeping up +a good school.</p> + +<p>The Act of 1871 gave the Council of Public +Instruction a large measure of control over +textbooks to be used in High Schools. The +Council issued lists of those authorized, and +this did much to bring about uniformity in +courses of study. Previous to 1871, many +High Schools had only one teacher, but the +new legislation required at least two for High +Schools and four for Collegiate Institutes. +To secure this required much firmness on the +part of Dr. Ryerson. Even two teachers were +wholly unable to do efficient work in large +High Schools, and there was no easy way to +force School Boards to employ more. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +Superintendent had steadily to oppose a tendency +to form weak High Schools, and in some +cases Grammar Schools which had been able +to exist in a sickly state under the old law +were wholly unable to meet the requirements +of the Act of 1871, which threw some of the +burden of support upon the local municipality.</p> + +<p>The Inspectors' Reports for 1874 emphasize +the need of additional teachers, the poor quality +of work done in English literature, and the +necessity of increased provision for natural +science. Referring to the latter, the Inspectors' +joint Report speaks as follows: "In regard to +the direct utility of the knowledge imparted, +the physical sciences are equalled by few subjects +of study. We regret to report that the +teaching of science is not making progress in +the schools. For this there are many reasons, +of which perhaps the most important are the +lack of apparatus and the impracticable character +of the prescribed programme of studies. +All places might advantageously follow the +example of Whitby and fit up a science room, +that is, a room to be devoted to the teaching of +science and furnished with the necessary appliances +and apparatus. It cannot too often be +inculcated that there can be no effective teaching +of chemistry without experiments. Effective +teaching implies first of all a qualified +teacher, and few of our masters consider themselves +well qualified to teach any of the physical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +sciences. Yet the number of masters qualified +to teach in this Department is increasing every +year and it is much to be regretted that where +the master is qualified he is often compelled, +if he wishes to teach chemistry, to provide the +apparatus at his own expense. The public indifference +to the claims of physical science is +greater than the indifference of the masters. +Besides, three-fourths of High School Boards +either are so poor, or believe themselves to be +so poor, that they will grumble if asked to +spend $10.00 annually for chemical purposes."<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a></p> + +<p>Progress on the whole was rapid. Several +weak schools were closed,<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> but they were +schools which should never have been opened. +Fees were either abolished or lowered.<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> The +standard for pupils' admission was gradually +raised and the old "Grammar Schools" were +truly doing the work for which they were +established in 1807.</p> + +<p>Much was yet to be desired in the qualifications +of High School masters. In 1874, one +hundred out of one hundred and six head +masters were university graduates, but forty-five +assistants held only Second Class Normal +School Certificates, or County Certificates, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +twenty-three schools had to employ teachers +for a whole or a part of the year without any +legal qualifications. The average salary of +head masters was $930.00, of male assistants +$664.00, and of female assistants $416.00. +The following extract from the Inspector's +Report is interesting in the light of what has +since been accomplished: "In the absence of +any special training college or chair of pedagogy +in the University, we would suggest that +as so many men are pursuing a collegiate +course, with a view to becoming High School +masters, it would be well for the Government +to establish a lectureship in Education. It +would not, we think, be difficult if proper encouragement +were given to secure the services +of several experienced and skilled educationists, +one of whom might deliver a short course +of lectures on the above subjects during each +college session."</p> + +<p>Perhaps no part of our school system has +developed more since Ryerson retired in 1876 +than our High Schools. But this development +has been almost wholly a natural growth. +True, there has been much legislation and many +changes in departmental regulations, but +nothing of a revolutionary character. The +opening of the doors of the universities to +women and their increased employment as +teachers has led to their being placed on an +absolute equality with men in the High Schools<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +and in all graduating examinations. The +number of schools has almost doubled and the +teaching of every department has been improved; +incompetent teachers have given place +to those having high academic and professional +training; natural science has been greatly +strengthened and the teaching of languages +much improved; good laboratories have been +built; spacious buildings with fine grounds +have become the rule; the number of students +preparing for university matriculation has +multiplied many times; the average salaries of +teachers have more than doubled, and finally +the High Schools are so adapting themselves +to the social needs of the people that they are +becoming as much the schools of the people +as are the Public Schools.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3><i>RYERSON AND THE TRAINING OF +TEACHERS.</i></h3> + + +<p>Normal Schools were mooted in Upper +Canada before Ryerson became Superintendent. +As early as 1843, Sir Francis Hincks +said that the school system would never be +complete without them.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> In his Report on a +System of Education made in 1846, Ryerson +made it clear that any system of education must +have as its basis trained teachers, and to secure +trained teachers was almost impossible without +Normal Schools. His report gives details of +the Normal School systems of Great Britain +and Ireland, France, Holland, Germany, and +the United States. One or two schools had +just been established in Massachusetts and one +in Albany. Ryerson visited these, but was +most favourably impressed with the Dublin +Normal and Model Schools, as managed by +the Commissioners of the Irish National Board +of Education, and our first Normal School was +modelled largely after the Dublin type.</p> + +<p>The legislation of 1846 appropriated £1,500 +for fitting up a Normal School building and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +made an additional appropriation of £1,500 per +annum for maintenance. The School Bill of +1846 created a Council of Public Instruction +to work with the Chief Superintendent, and +placed the proposed Normal School under its +management. The Council of Public Instruction +lost no time in beginning work. As early +as May, 1846, they were planning an early +opening of the Normal School, and were in +communication with John Rintoul, of the +Dublin Normal School, about accepting the +head mastership of the proposed Normal School +at Toronto. It was proposed to give Mr. Rintoul +£350, Halifax currency, and £100 for +moving expenses. Mr. Rintoul accepted the +appointment, resigned his position in Dublin, +and was about to leave for Canada when, +owing to some domestic affliction, he had to +abandon his plans. The Commissioners of the +Irish National Board then selected Thomas +Jaffray Robertson to take Rintoul's place and +the Council of Public Instruction chose as his +assistant Mr. Henry Hind, of Thorne Hill. +Robertson sailed from Ireland in July, 1847, +and in November of the same year the Normal +School was opened.</p> + +<p>It was a part of Ryerson's plan that the +several District Councils of Upper Canada +should choose two or three promising young +men and send them to the Normal School, +paying at least part of their expenses. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +following extract from the Regulations issued +by the Council of Public Instruction in 1847 +will illustrate the requirements for admission +to the first Normal School in Upper Canada: +"1st. That the Provincial Normal School shall +be open about the 1st of July next, and the +first session shall continue until the middle of +October, 1847. 2nd. That every candidate +for admission into the Normal School, in order +to his being received, must comply with the +following conditions: He must be at least sixteen +years of age; produce a certificate of good +moral character signed by a clergyman; be +able to read and write intelligibly and be +acquainted with the simple rules of arithmetic; +must declare in writing that he intends to +devote himself to teaching (other students not +candidates for school teaching to be admitted +only on paying fees and dues to be prescribed). +3rd. Upon the foregoing conditions candidates +for school teaching shall be admitted to all the +advantages of the Normal School without any +charge either for tuition or for books. 4th. +Candidates shall lodge and board in the city +under such regulations as shall from time to +time be approved by this Board."<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p> + +<p>The school was formally opened by Dr. +Ryerson, November 1st, in the presence of a +distinguished company. The Model School +was opened the following February.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Normal School pupils were, many of +them, poorly equipped for a course of training. +They had received no adequate secondary education. +In fact, many of them were direct +from the Common Schools. A few were +mature men who had a considerable teaching +experience.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p> + +<p>It was necessary to give a broad academic +course and judiciously interweave some professional +training. Grammar and mathematics +received much greater attention than their importance +merited. Physical science and natural +philosophy, together with some agricultural +chemistry, received a prominent place on the +programme. Geography was also made much +of, but it was largely mathematical and political +and elaborately illustrated with globes +and maps. Literature and history were taught, +but not in a way to arouse much enthusiasm. +Pupils were supposed not to learn by heart +what they did not understand, but there was in +practice much memory work and repetition of +rules.</p> + +<p>On the whole, the Normal School was approved +by all classes of people, and the teachers +trained there were in great demand. But there +was some criticism, especially of the provision +by which four shillings a week was granted +to students to aid them in paying their board.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +Inasmuch as this money was deducted from the +school grant, it was argued that the teachers +in service were actually educating in the +Normal School others who would displace them. +Exception was also taken to granting aid to +students who had no intention of making +teaching their life work. To meet this difficulty, +students accepting public money towards +their expenses were required to give assurance +that they would teach a stated time, and others, +called private pupils, were charged fees for +tuition.</p> + +<p>In 1849 the experiment was made of a nine +months' session, but the country was not yet +ready for this step and the attendance was so +reduced that the plan was abandoned.</p> + +<p>In 1850, the Council of Public Instruction +attempted to widen the influence of the Normal +School by sending the Normal School masters +to attend Teachers' Institutes throughout the +Province. In this way many earnest teachers +who had received no training were given suggestions +that bore much fruit.</p> + +<p>When the Normal School was established, +it was held in the old Legislative Buildings of +Upper Canada. After the riots in Montreal, +in 1849, Toronto again became the seat of +Government and the Normal School had to +move. Temporary quarters were obtained +while the Council of Public Instruction took +steps to secure a permanent home, not only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +for the Normal School, but for the Education +Department. The present site was secured and +Parliament made an appropriation of £15,000 +to provide for it and for a building. In July, +1851, Lord Elgin laid the corner-stone.<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a></p> + +<p>The address of Dr. Ryerson, in introducing +the Governor, shows that he had no thought of +divorcing the Common Schools from agriculture, +the backbone industry of the people. He +says: "The land on which these buildings are +in course of erection is an entire square, consisting +of nearly eight acres, two of which are +to be devoted to a botanical garden, three to +agricultural experiments, and the remainder to +the buildings of the institution. It is thus +intended that the valuable course of lectures +given in the Normal School in vegetable physiology +and agricultural chemistry shall be practically +illustrated on the adjoining grounds, in +the culture of which the students will take part +during a portion of their hours of recreation.... +There are four circumstances which encourage +the most sanguine anticipations in +every patriotic heart in regard to our educational +future. The first is the avowed and +entire absence of all party spirit in the school +affairs of our country from the Provincial +Legislature down to the smallest municipality. +The second is the precedence which our Legislature +has taken of all others on the western<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +side of the Atlantic in providing for Normal +School instruction, in aiding teachers to avail +themselves of its advantages. The third is +that the people of Upper Canada have during +the last year voluntarily taxed themselves for +the salaries of teachers in a larger sum in proportion +to their numbers and have kept open +their schools on an average more months than +the neighbouring citizens of the old and great +State of New York. The fourth is that the +essential requisite of a series of suitable and +excellent textbooks has been introduced into +our schools and adopted almost by general +acclamation, and that the facilities of furnishing +all our schools with the necessary books, +maps, and apparatus will soon be in advance of +those of any other country."<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> In November, +1852, when the buildings<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> were formally +opened, the Honourable John Beverley Robinson, +Chief Justice of Upper Canada, said: +"Without such a general preparatory system +as we see here in operation, the instruction of +the great mass of our population would be left +in a measure to chance. The teachers might +be, many of them, ignorant pretenders without +experience, without method, and in some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +respects very improper persons to be entrusted +with the education of youth. There could be +little or no security for what they might teach, +or what they might attempt to teach, nor any +certainty that the good which might be +acquired from their precepts would not be +more than counterbalanced by the ill effects of +their example. Indeed the footing which our +Common School teachers were formerly upon +in regard to income gave no adequate +remuneration to intelligent and industrious +men to devote their time to the service. But +this disadvantage is largely removed, as well as +other obstacles which were inseparable from +the conditions of a thinly-peopled and uncleared +country traversed only by miserable +roads, and henceforth, as soon at least as the +benefits of this institution can be fully felt, +the Common Schools will be dispensing +throughout the whole of Upper Canada, by +means of properly-trained teachers and under +vigilant superintendents, a system of education +which has been carefully considered and arranged, +and which has been for some time practically +exemplified. An observation of some +years has enabled most of us to form an opinion +of its sufficiency. Speaking only for myself, +I have much pleasure in saying that the +degree of proficiency which has been actually +attained goes far, very far, beyond what I had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +imagined it would have been attempted to +aim at."<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p> + +<p>The following from Honourable Francis +Hincks leaves us in no doubt as to Ryerson's +part in securing the building. He says: "With +regard to this institution, so far it has been +most successfully conducted, and I feel bound +to say that we must attribute all the merit of +that success to the reverend gentleman who has +been at the head of our Common School system. +It is only due to him that I should take +this public opportunity of saying that since I +have been a member of the Government I have +never met an individual who has displayed +more zeal or more devotion to the duties he +has been called upon to discharge than Dr. +Ryerson. A great deal of opposition has been +manifested both in and out of Parliament to +this institution, and a good deal of jealousy +exists with regard to its having been established +in the city of Toronto. I can speak from my +own experience as to the difficulties experienced +in obtaining the co-operation of Parliament +to have the necessary funds provided for +the purpose of erecting this building. I will +say, however, that there never was an institution +in which the people have more confidence +that the funds were well applied than in this +institution. There is but one feeling that pervades +the minds of all those who have seen the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +manner in which this scheme has been worked +out. In regard to the Normal School itself, +the site has been well chosen, the buildings +have been erected in a most permanent manner, +and without anything like extravagance, and I +have no doubt there will be no difficulty in +obtaining additional Parliamentary aid to +finish them."<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a></p> + +<p>In his report for 1853, Ryerson suggests +Normal training for Grammar School teachers. +I shall give his own words: "The Provincial +Normal and Model Schools have contributed, +and are contributing, much to the improvement +of our Common Schools by furnishing a proper +standard of judgment and comparison as to +what such schools ought to be and how +they should be taught and governed, and by +furnishing teachers duly qualified for that important +task. There is equal need of a Provincial +Model Grammar School, in which the +best modes of teaching the elements of Greek +and Latin, French and German, the elementary +mathematics and the elements of natural +science, may be exemplified, and where teachers +and candidates for masterships of Grammar +Schools may have an opportunity for practical +observation and training during a shorter or +longer period. Such a school would complete +the educational establishments of our school +system and contribute powerfully to advance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +Upper Canada to the proud position which she +is approaching in regard to institutions and +agencies for the mental culture of her youthful +population."<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a></p> + +<p>The Legislature voted £1,000 for a Model +Grammar School, and in 1855 plans for a +building were prepared under direction of the +Council of Public Instruction. The estimate +exceeded the means at the disposal of the +Council and nothing was done until 1856, when +Ryerson wrote the Executive Council as follows: +"There is no branch of our system of +Public Instruction so defective as our Grammar +Schools, and the 'Model' for them as to +both structure and furniture, discipline, modes +of classification and teaching is of the utmost +importance.... I am persuaded that a saving +of one-half of the time and expense usually +incurred in the Grammar School education of +youth may be saved by improved methods in +teaching and directing their studies, a result +which will greatly increase the number of those +who will aspire to a higher literary education +apart from other advantages and intellectual +habits and discipline. It is proposed to erect +the Model Grammar School in the rear of the +present Model School.... The proposed mode +of admitting pupils will prevent the Model +Grammar School from interfering with or +being the rival of any other Grammar School.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +It is also intended to afford every possible +facility and assistance to masters and teachers +of Grammar Schools throughout the Province +to come and spend some weeks in the Model +Grammar School."<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a></p> + +<p>The Government now authorized the Council +of Public Instruction to proceed with the +erection of a building to accommodate one +hundred Grammar School pupils. The school +was opened in 1858. It was the intention to +give a preference to the two or three pupils +from each county and city in Upper Canada +who were recommended by the respective +Municipal Councils. Ryerson's circular to +these Councils will throw some light on the +subject: "The object of the Model Grammar +School is to exemplify the best methods of +teaching the branches required by law to be +taught in the Grammar Schools, especially the +elementary classics and mathematics, as a +model for the Grammar Schools of the country. +It is also intended that the Model Grammar +School shall, as far as possible, secure the +advantages of a Normal Classical School to +candidates for masterships in the Grammar +School; but effect cannot be given to this object +of the Model Grammar School during the first +few months of its operation."<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> In 1859, in a +report to the Government, Ryerson speaks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +further and says: "In regard to the Model +Grammar Schools the buildings are completed +and the school has been in operation several +months and with the most gratifying success. +Upwards of thirty masters of Grammar +Schools have in the course of a few weeks +visited and spent a longer or shorter time in +the Model Grammar School with a view to improving +their own methods of school organization, +discipline, and teaching; and I have +reason to believe that it has already exerted a +salutary influence in improving the several +Grammar Schools—an influence that will be +greatly increased when we are enabled to form +a special class consisting of candidates for +Grammar School masterships."<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> + +<p>In 1861, Mr. G. R. Cockburn, Rector of the +Model Grammar School, resigned to become +principal of Upper Canada College. Ryerson +wished to transfer the functions of the Model +Grammar School to Upper Canada College. +This was not agreed to, but the same year provision +was made for admitting candidates for +Grammar School masterships to a course in +training in the Model Grammar School. Up +to this time the School had been of professional +service as a school of observation, the +holidays being so arranged that its classes were +in session while Grammar School masters were +on holiday.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> + +<p>In July, 1863, the Model Grammar School +was finally closed. The following from a letter +sent by Ryerson to the Provincial Secretary +makes clear the reasons for this action: "When +the Model Grammar School was established it +was expected that nearly every county in Upper +Canada would be represented in it and provision +was made for that purpose. That important +object has not been realized; and +although the attendance at the school has been +larger during the last year than during any +previous year, reaching even to 100, the attendance +as in former years has been chiefly from +Toronto and its neighbourhood. I do not think +it just to the General Fund to maintain an +additional Toronto Grammar School. During +the past year a training class for Grammar +School masterships, consisting to a considerable +extent of students in the University, has +been successfully established. But it has been +found that the instruction in all subjects, except +Greek, Latin, and French, can be given in +the Normal School to better advantage than in +the Model Grammar School."<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p> + +<p>Trained teachers for the Grammar Schools +were much to be desired, and Ryerson deserves +credit for his progressive ideas. But just at +that stage in their evolution, although they contained +many scholarly men, the Grammar +Schools as a whole were more in need of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +teachers with sound scholarship than of +teachers with a little professional training.</p> + +<p>There continued to be complaints that +teachers trained in the Normal Schools did not +continue to teach. In his Report for 1856, +Ryerson makes clear that in his opinion these +defections from the teaching ranks were no +condemnation of Normal Schools. He says: +"The only objection yet made to the training +of teachers, as far as I know, is that many of +them do not pursue that profession but leave +it for other employments. Were this true to +the full extent imagined, the conclusion would +still be in favour of the Normal School, since +its advantages are not confined to schools or +neighbourhoods in which its teachers are employed, +but are extended over other neighbourhoods +and municipalities.... In all professions +and pursuits there are changes from +one to another. I do not think it wise, just, or +expedient to deny to the Normal School teacher +the liberty, if opportunity presents itself, to +improve his position or increase his usefulness.... +In whatever position or relation of life a +Normal School teacher may be placed, his +training at the Normal School cannot fail to +contribute to his usefulness."<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a></p> + +<p>Nor was all the criticism of Normal School +affairs directed towards the teachers who left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +the profession; those who remained in it were +emissaries of evil. Then, as now, there were +croakers who thought that a boy born on a +farm naturally belonged there, and that any +enlightenment which tended to make him dissatisfied +with his surroundings was an evil. +One, signing himself Angus Dallas of Toronto, +wrote several pamphlets attacking the school +system. Speaking of the Normal School, he +said: "The young men who have attended six +months at that institution and leave it with +certificates to teach, go forth into the country +with the most mistaken estimate of their own +importance. They open schools wherever +accident places them, and by teaching and +familiar intercourse, combined with the example +of nomadic habits, for they seldom +remain longer than twelve months in one place, +they soon contaminate the minds of the older +pupils and also of young men who may reside +in the neighbourhood, by their doctrines of +enlightened citizenship; and thus these pupils +soon learn to disdain honest labour."<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a></p> + +<p>In 1855, the Legislature had authorized a +museum and library in connection with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +Department of Education. These were formally +opened in 1857 and the library contributed +much to increase the efficiency of the +Normal School by widening the scope of the +students' reading.</p> + +<p>In the following year the Council of Public +Instruction revised the Normal School Regulations. +Qualifications necessary for admission +were accurately set forth and the course of +study defined for both second and first-class +certificates. There continued to be two sessions +a year, but students who entered to +qualify for a second-class certificate spent two +or more sessions before reaching a standard +entitling them to a first-class certificate.</p> + +<p>An interesting sidelight is thrown upon the +nature of the instruction given in the Toronto +Normal School by the Report for 1868 of +George Paxton Young, Inspector of Grammar +Schools. Young was trying to raise the +standard of the Grammar Schools, and shows +how their improvement would affect the +Normal Schools. He says: "I suppose there +can be no doubt that if High Schools like those +which I have described were established, it +would be necessary to modify the work of the +Normal School considerably. Teachers who +would have to perform different duties from +what have hitherto been expected at their hands +would need a different training from what has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +hitherto been given. The instructions in +English in the Normal School would require +to be raised to a far higher level than is now +aimed at. Much of the elementary drilling +which Normal School students at present +receive might be dispensed with. Our institution +for the training of teachers ought not +to be a school for teaching English grammar. +In the same way I would lighten the ship of +such subjects as the bare facts of geography +and history; not rejecting of course prelections +on the proper method of teaching geography +and history. The English master in +the Normal School might thus be enabled to +devote a portion of his time to lessons in the +English language and literature of a superior +cast—lessons which he would have a pride in +giving and on which the students would feel it +a privilege to wait. Such lessons would be +immensely useful even to those young men and +women who might only desire to qualify themselves +for becoming Common School teachers. +In the department of physical science, it is plain +that if the views which I have expressed in +regard to the way in which science should be +taught in the High Schools be just, the object +of the prelections in the Normal School should +not be to cram the students with a mass of +facts but to develop in them a philosophic habit +of mind and to make them practically understand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +how classes in science ought to be conducted +in the schools."<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a></p> + +<p>No man in Canada was better qualified to +estimate the real work of any educational +establishment than Young, and although he +was not closely connected with the Normal +School, we may assume that his analysis was +essentially correct and that the study of formal +grammar and the acquisition of scientific facts +bulked large in the Normal School programme. +In his report for 1867,<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> in speaking of the Normal +and Model Schools, Ryerson says: "They +are not constituted as are most of the Normal +Schools in both Europe and America to impart +the preliminary education requisite for teaching. +That preparatory education is supposed +to have been attained in the ordinary public +or private schools. The entrance examination +to the Normal School requires this. The object +of the Normal and Model Schools is, therefore, +to do for the teacher what an apprenticeship +does for the mechanic, the artist, the physician, +the lawyer—to teach him theoretically and +practically how to do the work of his profession."</p> + +<p>A little consideration will show us that a +school trying to realize such an aim and attempting +to teach only the rudiments of the +science of education, upon which the theory of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +teaching is based, must become empirical and +rule-of-thumb in its methods. The real difficulty +lay in the inadequate preparation with +which the teachers in training entered upon +their work. The Normal School could not improve +until an improvement should be effected +in the Grammar Schools.</p> + +<p>During the first nine sessions of the Normal +School no certificates were granted which entitled +the holder to teach. The Normal School +graduates simply received certificates of attendance +and had to submit to examination by a +County Board before securing a license. It +almost invariably happened that Normal School +graduates were able to take a high standing at +these examinations, and hence Ryerson met +with no serious opposition from County Boards +when in 1853 he proposed to issue Provincial +certificates to Normal School graduates upon +the recommendation of the Normal School +masters. From 1853 to 1871 a dual system of +granting certificates was in operation. Normal +School graduates received Provincial certificates +of various grades, and County Boards +issued certificates valid only in the county +where issued. In 1871 a radical change was +made, by which County Boards were allowed +to issue only third-class certificates valid for +three years in the county where given, and +renewable on the recommendation of the +County Inspector. Second and first-class certificates<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +were granted only by the Department +of Education and valid during good behaviour, +and in any part of the Province. A first-class +certificate of the highest grade (Grade "A") +was made the qualification for County Inspectors. +It should also be noted that the third-class +certificates referred to above were granted +after 1871 only upon the passing of a written +examination upon papers prepared by a central +committee chosen by the Council of Public +Instruction. This was a radical change from +the old method, which allowed each County +Board to fix its own standard, a plan which +necessarily led to many certificates being +granted to wholly incompetent persons.</p> + +<p>The change of 1871, which virtually established +a Provincial system of licensing teachers, +brought upon Ryerson's head much abuse from +incompetent teachers and their friends. The +Superintendent stood firmly by his guns, knowing +well that his act was in the best interests +of the Province. A few words from his reply +to those who objected that old teachers were +being set aside because of failure to pass the +Provincial examination is worth mentioning. +He says: "I answer, as government exists not +for office-holders but for the people, so the +school exists not for the teachers but for the +youth and future generations of the land; and +if teachers have been too slothful not to keep +pace with the progressive wants and demands<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +of the country, they must, as should all incompetent +and indolent public officers, and all lazy +and unenterprising citizens, give place to the +more industrious, intelligent, progressive, and +enterprising. The sound education of a generation +of children is not to be sacrificed for the +sake of an incompetent although antiquated +teacher."<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> + +<p>Having secured the adoption of a system by +which all licensing of teachers was under Departmental +control, Ryerson next turned his +attention to an extension of facilities for training +teachers. His plans were comprehensive +and had to wait thirty-five years for complete +realization. In 1872<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> he reported to the Provincial +Treasurer as follows: "I desire to state +in reply that last year I thought and suggested +to the Government that two additional Normal +Schools were required, one in the eastern and +the other in the western section of the Province, +but I am now inclined to think that three additional +Normal Schools will be required to +extend the advantages of a Normal School +training to all parts of the Province—one at +London, one at Kingston, and one at Ottawa. +If provision be not made to establish them all +at once, I think the first established should be +at Ottawa—the centre of a large region of +country where the schools are in a comparatively<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +backward state, and where the influence +of the Normal School training for teachers has +yet been scarcely felt except in a few towns, +and which is almost entirely separated from +Toronto in all branches of business and commerce, +and therefore, to a great extent, in social +relations and sympathies.... As the +whole Province east of Belleville is less advanced +and less progressive in schools than the +western parts, I think a second Normal School +should be established at Kingston. The whole +region of country from Belleville, on the west, +to Brockville, on the east, has very little more +business or commercial connection with Toronto +than the more eastern parts of the Province. +Although London is not so remote +from Toronto as Ottawa or Kingston, yet it +is the centre of a populous and prosperous part +of the Province from which an ample number +of student teachers would be collected to fill +any Normal School.... With the establishment +of these three Normal Schools I am +persuaded there would still be as large a number +of student teachers attending the Toronto +School as can advantageously be trained in one +institution.... I think all the Normal +Schools should be subject to the oversight of +the Education Department and under the same +regulations formally sanctioned by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council. +This I think necessary +on the grounds of both economy and uniformity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +of standard and system of instruction. +As to the extent of accommodation in each +Normal School, I think that provision should +be made for training 150 teachers in each +school."</p> + +<p>In the meantime, while negotiations for more +Normal School accommodation were in progress, +an attempt was made to give some +professional training through teachers' institutes. +As far back as 1850 the Legislature had +made a grant for such meetings, and they had +been conducted by the Normal School masters. +In 1872 the plan was revised and some very +successful institutes held. The movement is +important because out of it grew County Model +Schools, and the adoption of a principle which +meant some professional training for every +teacher.</p> + +<p>In 1875, a Normal School was opened at +Ottawa, but the plan of having schools at Kingston +and London was abandoned largely because +of the apathy of the Legislature in regard +to the expense. In fact it is doubtful if any +Government could have forced through the +Legislature a vote for such a purpose.</p> + +<p>Ryerson found the schools in 1844 taught +by teachers without certificates and without +professional training; he left them in 1876 with +teachers, all of whom were certificated under +Government examinations, and many of whom +were Normal-trained. More important still,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +he had, by his lectures at County Conventions +and by his writings in the <i>Journal of Education</i>, +created a sentiment throughout the Province +in favour of trained teachers. He thus +made easy the pathway of his successors in +securing increased efficiency; but it may be +doubted whether any of his immediate successors +achieved results in keeping with the material +advance of the Province.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3><i>RYERSON SCHOOL BILL OF 1871.</i></h3> + + +<p>From 1850 to 1871 no wholly new principles +relating to the Common Schools were adopted +by the Legislature, although some changes were +necessarily made. The legislation of 1850 had, +from time to time, to be supplemented by +amendments in order that the spirit of the previous +legislation should be made applicable to +the needs of a rapidly growing community.</p> + +<p>An Act passed in 1853<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> provided further +machinery for the working of Trustee Boards; +gave a liberal annual grant for an educational +museum; set apart £500 a year toward teachers' +pensions, and increased by £1,000 a year the +grant to Normal Schools.</p> + +<p>An Act passed in 1860<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> more clearly defined +the powers of trustees, the manner of conducting +elections, and auditing school accounts. +The same Act made Saturday a school holiday.</p> + +<p>The Act of 1871<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> was the last important<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +school legislation prepared by Ryerson.<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> The +important features of the Act may be summed +up under four headings, viz., compulsory and +free education, efficient inspection, teachers' +pensions, and the licensing of teachers under +Government direction.<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a></p> + +<p>The free school was the natural complement +of the Act of 1850. The permissive legislation +then enacted allowing trustee boards and ratepayers +to establish free schools had been so +generally acted upon<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> that by 1871 the abolition +of all rate bills upon parents seemed to +come as a matter of course. The logical corollary +of free schools is compulsory attendance, +and the Act of 1871 fixed penalties to be imposed +upon parents and guardians who neglected +the education of their children. It may +be doubted whether this compulsory clause has +ever been of any real advantage to the cause +of education. The real forces that move human +beings are always moral forces. Many a man +has unwillingly sent his children to school because +of public opinion, but few because of +fear of the law.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span></p> +<p>The Act provided for county inspectors who +should be experts and devote their whole time +to the work of inspection. Ryerson's first Report +had foreshadowed such action, and the +fact that he had to wait a quarter-century to +realize his plan shows how impossible it is to +legislate much in advance of public opinion.</p> + +<p>The County Inspector, together with two or +more qualified teachers, were to form a County +Board, with power to license second and third-class +teachers upon examinations prescribed by +the Council of Public Instruction. In this way +the Superintendent had at last secured a uniform +standard of qualification for teachers +throughout the whole Province.</p> + +<p>The small annual grant made for teachers' +pensions in 1853, and increased a few years +later to $4,000 per annum, had enabled the +Superintendent to dole out pittances<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> to a few +score of worn-out teachers whose need was +most pressing. Ryerson wished to establish a +system such as was in operation in Germany—a +system of compulsory payments by teachers +in service sufficient to give a substantial pension +for old age. He hoped by this means to secure +a body of teachers with a professional spirit, +and to enable them to spend their declining +years in independence.</p> + +<p>The Act of 1871 required compulsory payments +from male teachers of four dollars per<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +year.<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> At a later date County Inspectors and +all first-class teachers were required to pay six +dollars a year. This payment guaranteed an +annual pension upon retirement of four or six +dollars for every year's contribution. Female +teachers were allowed, but not forced, to support +the Pension Fund. The compulsory payments +aroused much opposition from some +teachers, especially those who were making +temporary use of the teachers' calling as a stepping-stone +to some other profession.<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> Ryerson +thought that this class might very properly +be taxed a trifle for the general cause of education.</p> + +<p>Minor provisions of the Act of 1871 gave +trustee boards power to build teachers' residences +and to secure land for school sites by +arbitration. The Act also authorized the creation +of Township Boards of Trustees, where +public opinion favoured them.</p> + +<p>During its passage through the Legislature +the Bill of 1871 was severely criticized by Hon. +George Brown, in the Toronto <i>Globe</i>, and by +Edward Blake, on the floor of the Assembly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +Perhaps neither of these gentlemen had any +love for Ryerson, but they represented a new +spirit which Ryerson scarcely understood, and +with which he certainly had no sympathy.</p> + +<p>Mr. Blake opposed the Bill upon several +grounds, but especially upon the abolition of +rate bills and the irresponsible nature of the +Council of Public Instruction. As regards the +former he expressed himself heartily in favour +of free schools, but since they were gradually +becoming free without compulsion he wished +to let them alone. His objection to the Council +of Public Instruction<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> is worthy of note because +it brings out in a strong light the real +bone of contention between Ryerson and the +Ontario Liberals, and enables us to understand +why at a later date it was impossible for Ryerson +to work in harmony with a Liberal Executive +Council. The Council of Public Instruction +was an irresponsible body appointed by the +Crown and dominated by the Chief Superintendent. +It had extensive powers. It might +act arbitrarily, and yet there was no way by +which the members of the Legislature could +call it to account or insist upon explanations. +Mr. Blake and his colleagues argued that this +was not compatible with representative government. +Doctor Ryerson insisted that the Education +Department must be wholly removed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +from party politics. Conscious of purity of +purpose and personal integrity, he was ever +more desirous of giving the people what he +thought they needed than of giving them what +they wanted.</p> + +<p>Although Ryerson had taken a partisan's +part in politics before his appointment as +Superintendent, he wisely tried to administer +his Department upon a non-partisan basis. And +he met with a large measure of success because +all sensible men realized that education ought +not to be a topic for partisan bickerings. For +many years it was so arranged that the leader +of the Government introduced educational bills +and the leader of the Opposition seconded +them.</p> + +<p>Such a procedure was possible only so long +as both political parties had more confidence +in the wisdom of the Superintendent to deal +with education than they had in the educational +foresight of their own leaders. But such a +confidence could not be indefinitely retained by +any Superintendent, and certainly not by Ryerson, +who was very sensitive to criticism of his +administration, and always ready to challenge +any layman who had the temerity to express +an opinion upon education contrary to his. It +was inevitable that a clash should come, and it +was a great tribute to Ryerson's wisdom in +gauging public opinion that the clash was so +long delayed. It was also quite to be expected<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +that the Liberal leaders should be the ones to +precipitate the shock, seeing that Ryerson had +ridden into office upon a wave of Tory reaction.</p> + +<p>Mr. Blake and Hon. George Brown could, +however, make little headway against Ryerson +in connection with the School Bill of 1871. +Except in regard to the irresponsible nature of +the Council of Public Instruction, the Act was +progressive and truly liberal. Ryerson had discussed +every clause in the Bill at County Conventions, +and had behind him the support of +all actively engaged in the work of education +and in the other learned professions.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3><i>CONCLUSION.</i></h3> + + +<p>How are we to sum up the work of this man +who moulded the schools of Ontario during a +period as long as the life of a single generation? +Would the schools of 1876 have been +what they were had there been no Ryerson? +We think not.</p> + +<p>No doubt the people of Upper Canada would, +without Ryerson, have worked out a good +school system, because a school system must in +the end reflect the average intelligence and the +fixed ideals of a people. But in Ryerson, Upper +Canada had a man who, by his dogged determination +and his hold upon the affections of +the people, was able to secure legislation somewhat +in advance of a fixed public opinion. To +a considerable extent he created the public sentiment +which made his work possible. He knew +what the people needed and persuaded them +to accept it. This we conceive to be the work +of a statesman.</p> + +<p>Ryerson was neither a demagogue nor a +constitutionalist. He had none of the arts +of one who wins the populace by flattering its +vanity. He was too sincere and too deeply<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +religious to appeal to the lower springs of +human action. On the other hand he had no +real sympathy with popular government. He +would let people do as they wished, only so +long as they wished to do what he believed to +be right. He never could believe that he himself +might be wrong. Even had he wished to +do so, he never could have divested himself +wholly of the character of priest and pedagogue. +He was always either shouting from the pulpit +or thumping the desk of the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>His environment after 1844 strengthened +and developed his natural tendency to be autocratic. +He worked like a giant. He created +the Education Department, appointed his subordinates, +was his own finance minister, established +a Normal School and appointed its instructors, +nominated members of a Council of +Public Instruction who often did little more +than formally register his decrees, organized +a book and map depository and an educational +museum, edited an educational journal in which +he published his decrees, and prepared legislation +for successive Legislatures having comparatively +few members competent to criticize +school administration. He administered one of +the largest spending Departments of Government, +and ruled somewhat rigorously a score of +subordinates, and yet, for many years, was not +subject to any check except the nominal one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +of the Governor-General, and later of the Governor-General-in-Council.</p> + +<p>When he visited District or County Conventions +he came as a lawgiver, either to explain +existing regulations, promulgate new +ones, or obtain assent to those for which he +wished to secure legislation. Only after the +Grammar Schools had become efficient did +Ryerson meet at Teachers' Conventions men +who were intellectually his equals and who were +ready to criticize his policy, and, when necessary, +give him wholesome advice. Had Ryerson +been a responsible Minister with a seat in +the Legislature, either his nature would have +been modified or he would have failed, probably +the latter.</p> + +<p>This would seem to lead to the conclusion +that Ryerson after all was not a statesman, since +a statesman must, in our age, carry out his +measures and at the same time retain the confidence +of his colleagues and the electors. But +this is just what Ryerson did, although he did +not do it directly through the Legislature. He +appealed to a Court beyond the Legislature—the +whole body of intelligent men and women +of Upper Canada—and this Court sustained +him in his work for thirty-two years, during +which time it is doubtful if any single constituency +in the country would have elected him to +two successive Parliaments. If this be true +we may safely assume that it was a happy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +chance which gave us a non-political Education +Department during our formative period.</p> + +<p>Ryerson's greatest admirers can scarcely +claim that he was a scholar. This was his +misfortune and not his fault. He never failed +to embrace whatever opportunities for intellectual +improvement came in his way. His reading +of history was broad and discriminating. +He had little interest in anything that did not +bear somewhat directly upon the problem of +human virtue. Consequently his interests centred +largely in civil government and theology.</p> + +<p>Nor can we claim for Ryerson that he introduced +original legislation. Hardly anything +in our system of education was of his invention. +New England, New York, Germany, and +Ireland gave him his models, and his genius +was shown in the skill with which he adapted +these to suit the needs of Upper Canada. Even +in the details of his school legislation, especially +that relating to High Schools, Ryerson +adopted suggestions of men more competent +than himself to form a judgment. To say this +in no way detracts from the man's greatness. +Little after all in modern legislation is actually +new, and to say of a man that he is successful +in using other men's ideas is often to give him +the highest praise.</p> + +<p>In one department of work Ryerson stood +in a class by himself. He was without a peer +as an administrator. His intensely practical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +mind was quick to discover the shortest route +between end and means. His energy, his system +and attention to details, his broad personal +knowledge of actual conditions, his capacity +for long periods of effort, his thrift, his courteous +treatment of subordinates, and even his +sensitiveness to criticism were factors which +enabled him to administer the most difficult +Department of the Government with ease and +smoothness.</p> + +<p>The history of Upper Canada during a +period of nearly sixty years is as much bound +up with the labours of Egerton Ryerson as +with the work of any other public man. He +gave us lofty ideals of the meaning and purpose +of life, and he had an abiding faith in the +power of popular education to aid in a realization +of these ideals; he fought for free schools +in Upper Canada when they needed a valiant +champion. Let the present generation of men +and women honour the memory of the man +who wrought so faithfully for their fathers +and grandfathers.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p> +<h2>BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2> + + +<blockquote><p class="hanging">Documentary History of Education in Upper Canada. +28 vols. Dr. J. Geo. Hodgins.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Story of My Life. Egerton Ryerson. Edited by Dr. +J. Geo. Hodgins.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Egerton Ryerson. Chancellor Burwash.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Loyalists of America. 2 vols. Egerton Ryerson.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson Memorial Volume. Edited by Dr. J. Geo. +Hodgins.</p> + +<p class="hanging">History of Upper Canada College. Principal Dickson.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Journals of Assembly of Upper Canada, Legislative +Library, Toronto.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Journal of Education, 1848-1876. 29 vols. Library of +Parliament, Ottawa.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson's Special Reports on European Schools. Library +of Parliament, Ottawa.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson's Annual School Reports, 1845-1876. Library +of Parliament, Ottawa.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Gourlay's Statistical Account of Upper Canada. 3 vols. +Published by Simpkins and Marshall, London, Eng., +1822.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Sketches of Canada and the United States. William +Lyon Mackenzie. Published by Effingham & Wilson, +London, Eng., 1833.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Reminiscences of His Public Life. Sir Francis Hincks.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson's Controversy with Rev. J. M. Bruyère on Free +Schools. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 50. Library of +Parliament, Ottawa.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span></p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson's Letters to Doctor Strachan, on Education. +Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 83.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson's New Canadian Dominion. Canadian Pamphlets, +vol. 418.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson's Defence Against Attacks of Hon. George +Brown. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 418.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson on the Separate School Law of Upper Canada. +Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 416.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson on a Liberal Education in Upper Canada. +Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 416.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson on the School Book Question. Canadian +Pamphlets, vol. 416.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson, a Review and a Study. J. A. Allen. Canadian +Pamphlets, vol. 667.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Bishop Strachan, a Review and a Study. Rev. Doctor +Scadding. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 169.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Report on Grievances in Upper Canada. William Lyon +Mackenzie. Library of Parliament, Ottawa.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Bound Volumes of Toronto <i>Globe</i>, 1844-1876, in Legislative +Library, Toronto.</p> + +<p class="hanging"><i>British Colonist.</i> Published by H. Scobie, 1838-1854. +Library of Parliament, Ottawa.</p> + +<p class="hanging"><i>Kingston Chronicle and Gazette</i>, 1840-1842. Library of +Parliament, Ottawa.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Courier of Upper Canada, 1836-1837. Library of Parliament, Ottawa.</p> + +<p class="hanging"><i>Weekly Colonist</i>, 1852-1855. Library of Parliament, +Ottawa.</p> + +<p class="hanging">Ryerson's Correspondence with Provincial Secretaries, +1844-1876. Canadian Archives, Ottawa.</p></blockquote> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> See "Story of My Life," by Ryerson, edited by +Hodgins, page 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> See "Story of My Life," by Egerton Ryerson, edited +by Hodgins, page 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See "Story of My Life," page 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Died in 1832. In 1833, Ryerson married Mary Armstrong, +of Toronto.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Rev. Jas. Evans, of Niagara District. See part of letter +in "Story of My Life," page 131.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Later, in 1837, Ryerson secured this money only after +a petition to the Legislature.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See copy of letter in "Story of My Life," page 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> See Chapter V.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> See bound volumes of <i>Globe</i> in Legislative Library, +Toronto.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> See D. H. E. ("Documentary History of Education," +by Dr. Hodgins), Vol. I., p. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> This £400 worth of apparatus was promptly handed +over to Mr. Strachan by the Lieutenant-Governor. Mr. +Strachan at this time had a private school at Cornwall. It +seems quite evident that the apparatus was purchased purposely +for his school and at his suggestion. See D. H. E., +Vol. I., p. 155.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> In 1830, when the United Presbytery of Upper Canada +petitioned the Legislature against appointing so many +Anglicans as trustees of grammar schools, the only reply +was that Anglicans had not always been appointed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> See Journals of Legislature of Upper Canada for 1812.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> See Gourlay's "Statistical Account of Upper Canada." +Pages 433-434 of Vol. I. Published by Simpkin & Marshall, +London, Eng., 1822.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 176.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> See copy of despatch in D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 179.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> See copy of despatch in D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 179.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> See copy in D. H. E., Vol. I., pp. 211-213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> See "An Appeal to the Friends of Religion and Literature +in behalf of the University of Upper Canada." By +John Strachan, Archdeacon of York, Upper Canada, 1826.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> See Journals of House of Assembly for Upper Canada, +1828.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> See Report made 22nd July, 1828, by Select Committee +of House of Commons, appointed to inquire into +the State of Civil Government in Canada.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> See copy of Sir George Murray's letter in D. H. E., +Vol. I., pp. 257 and 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> The vote stood 21 for and 9 against.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> In 1827 there were 329 pupils, of whom 8 in the +Cornwall School were girls.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. I., pp. 266 and 267.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> The Report for 1828 showed 25 girls in the eleven +District Schools.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> See original Report in Appendix to Journals of +Assembly, U. C., pp. 16 and 17 of Appendix on Education.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> See Journals of Assembly for U. C. for 1829, p. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> See Report in Appendix to Journals of Assembly for +1829, p. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> The General Board of Education had been organized +by Sir Peregrine Maitland wholly on his own authority and +that of the Home Government. The Assembly naturally +refused to acknowledge any obligation to support it with +public funds.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> See Appendix to Journals of Assembly of U.C. for 1829, +pp. 72 and 73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. II., pp. 120 and 121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> See volume in Library of Parliament, Ottawa, pp. 190 +and 191.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. III., p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 170 and 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> For the later history of Upper Canada College see +"History of Upper Canada College," by Principal George +Dickson.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. II., pp. 7 and 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> See copy of despatch in D. H. E., Vol. II., p. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> This the College Council positively refused to do.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> See Journals of Assembly, U. C., 1831, p. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> The previous session, William Lyon Mackenzie had +been expelled from the Assembly because of his criticism of +the Governor, in his newspaper, the <i>Colonial Advocate</i>. It +is interesting to note that Mackenzie's criticisms of the Governor +were largely based on His Excellency's actions in +regard to education.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> See letter of Lord Goderich of Nov. 2nd, 1831, to Sir +John Colborne.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. II., p. 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. II., pp. 213 and 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> See Appendix to Journals of Assembly of U.C., 1836. +See also Assembly Journals for 1836, pp. 213 and 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> See Chapter I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> See Journals of Assembly of Upper Canada for 1837, +Legislative Library, Toronto.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 93-98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 131, 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> See Journals of Legislature of Upper Canada for 1839. +Legislative Library, Toronto. See also copy of bill in +D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 170, 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Reprinted in D. H. E. See Vol. III., pp. 173-183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> See proceedings of King's College Council, 1837-1840.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> See Report of T. C. Patrick, Vol. II., manuscript +Minutes King's College Council, pp. 68-73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. III., Chap. XVI., pp. 284-299.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> The members were: Rev. John McCaul, Rev. Henry +Grasett and Secretary Harrison.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 243-283. Also Appendix to +Journals of Assembly for 1840.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. III., p. 266.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> See Lord Durham's Report, p. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> See "Reminiscences of His Public Life," by Sir Francis +Hincks, pp. 175-177. Library of Parliament, Canada.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. V., p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Regiopolis, a Roman Catholic college incorporated by +the Legislature in 1837, had not, at this time, degree-conferring +powers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> See his petition presented to House of Assembly, 1843, +against Bill.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. V., pp. 49-59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> See "Report on a System of Public Elementary +Instruction for Upper Canada," by Egerton Ryerson, published +1847, consisting of 191 pages. +</p><p> +<i>Note.</i>—Unless otherwise specified, all quotations in this +Chapter are from the above report.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> The one in existence from 1823 to 1833 was not +established by Parliament but by the Lieutenant-Governor +by the authority of the Imperial Government.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Five Districts had, in 1846, more than 200 schools each, +the average for the Province being 155 schools for each +District.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Ryerson also gives as a reason his desire to make a +gradual transition from the old system of license by +Township Boards to the new plan of granting licenses only +by the District Superintendent. See D. H. E., Vol. VII., +P. 155.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> See Report in D. H. E., Vol. VI., p. 208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. VI., p. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> See bound volume of <i>Globe</i> in Legislative Library, Toronto.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> See copy of petition in D. H. E., Vol. VII., pp. 114-116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> See copy of memorial in D. H. E., Vol. VII., p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> See editorial, Toronto <i>Globe</i> of May 8th, 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> See copy in D. H. E., Vol. VIII., p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> The report of the Bathurst District Superintendent for +1848 showed 82 teachers certificated by School Visitors +and 42 by the District Superintendent. See Report of +Chief Superintendent for 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> See issue of Toronto <i>Globe</i>, July 11th, 1850, p. 331.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> See report in <i>Globe</i> of January 10th, 1852.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> See report in <i>Globe</i> of January 13th, 1852.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> See copy in D. H. E., Vol. IV., p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> See copy in D. H. E., Vol. VII., p. 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> See circular, issued by Ryerson, of April 12th, 1850, to +Municipal Councils on Act of 1850.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. IX., p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> It is not meant to suggest that even a majority of the +Anglicans would have done anything to wreck the Common +School System. As a matter of fact, only a few of the +Anglican laity sympathized with the extreme views of +Bishop Strachan, either in Common School or University +affairs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. IX., p. 208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> It was long a favourite argument of those opposed to +Separate Schools that inasmuch as the bulk of the property +was owned by Protestants, the Roman Catholics were not +entitled to a share of the school fund reckoned on the +basis of the pupils' attendance.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> See Journals of Canadian Assembly for 1851.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 172 and 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> See bound volumes of <i>Globe</i> in Legislative Library, +Toronto.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> See appendices to Journals of House of Assembly, +1852-1853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. XII., p. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. XVII., pp. 192 and 193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> The Scott Bill, as originally introduced, made any +Roman Catholic priest an ex-officio trustee of a Separate +School in his parish; made all the property of a Separate +School supporter exempt from taxation for Public School +purposes, even though some of the property was outside +a Separate School district; gave Separate School trustees +unlimited power to form union sections; created a separate +County Board of Examiners to license Separate School +teachers, and gave the Superintendent of Education little +or no power to control textbooks, holidays or inspection +of Separate Schools.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> The Report of the Chief Superintendent for 1871 shows +70 teachers in Separate Schools belonging to religious +orders out of a total of 249.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> See Journals of Canadian Assembly for 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. XVII., p. 219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> See copy of Memorandum, D. H. E., Vol. XVIII., pp. +304-316.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> See extract from Report of 1849, published in D.H.E., +Vol. VIII., p. 291.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> This Act did not give trustees power to levy assessments, +but they might ask municipal councils to do so. The +distribution of the Legislative grant did not, as in the Bill +of 1850, depend upon the raising of any fixed amount by +the local Board.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XII., p. 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. XVI., pp. 148, 149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XVIII., pp. 199-205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> This senior Grammar School, being the one first established +in each county, had drawn a larger Legislative grant +than the others.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XIX., pp. 96, 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> It should be remembered that while a Public School +pupil drew less than one dollar per year Legislative grant, +the moment this pupil was enrolled in a Grammar School +he drew from $20 to $35 yearly. In 1872, the average +Legislative grant to a Public School pupil was 40 cents, and +to a Grammar School pupil $20. See D. H. E., Vol. XXIV., +p. 302.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XX., pp. 98-128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> The minimum grant per school was $400. The High +Schools of the Province had, in 1872, from Legislative +grant and County Councils, $105,000. This was more than +$1,000 per school and about $30 per pupil. Many of the +High Schools charged no fees.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XXV., pp. 244-245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> About fifteen in all.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Out of 106 schools in operation in 1875, no less than +81 were absolutely free. Fees in the others varied from +75 cents to $6.00 per quarter, the average being $2.70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> See extract from his speech, Chap. IV., pp. 101, 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> See Report of Superintendent of Education for 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Women were not admitted until the opening of the +second term in 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 5-14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. X., p. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> These included what is now the main Departmental +building and the Model School to the north. The present +Normal School building was erected later.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 278-283.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 282-284.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> See Superintendent's Report for 1853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. XII., p. 321.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> See copy of Circular in D. H. E., Vol. XIV., p. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> See Report of Superintendent for 1859.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> See Ryerson's letter in D. H. E., Vol. XVIII, p. 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> See Report of Chief Superintendent for 1856. See +copy in D. H. E., Vol. XIII., p. 51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> The Toronto schools were at this time very expensively +managed as compared with schools in other cities of Upper +Canada. This could not be attributed to the expense of +Normal-trained teachers. In 1858, ten years after the +Normal School was established, no Common School in +Toronto was in charge of a Normal-trained teacher, and +only two or three such teachers had ever been employed +there. See D. H. E., Vol. XIII., p. 299.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. XX., p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. XX., p. 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XIII., p. 131.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. XXIV., p. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> See copy of Act reprinted in D. H. E., Vol. X., p. 133.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> See copy of Act reprinted in D. H. E., Vol. XV., pp. +45-49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> See copy of Act reprinted in D. H. E., Vol. XXII., pp. +213-222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> The Act of 1874, in as far as it contained new principles, +was forced upon Ryerson by the Government of +Sir Oliver Mowat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> For changes made in Grammar Schools by Act of 1871, +see Chapter IX.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Only some 400 schools out of 4,000 were levying rate +bills in 1870. These 400 were chiefly in towns and cities. +The total rate bill levy for 1870 was about $24,000. See +Superintendent's Report for 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. XX., p. 143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> No doubt this seems a ridiculously small contribution, +but we must remember that teachers received very small +salaries. The Pension Fund clause was repealed in 1885 +on request of the teachers of Ontario, and since that date +no names have been added to the list. The payments +by teachers provided only a small proportion of the annual +charge upon the Pension Fund. The present annual charge +(1910) upon the Fund is $55,926.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> See D. H. E., Vol. XXIII., pp. 253-256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> See Pamphlet in Parliamentary Library, Ottawa, addressed +by Edward Blake to the electors of South Bruce.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="tn"><h3>Transcriber's Note:</h3>Inconsistencies + in spelling and hyphenation (e.g., school-houses/schoolhouses) have been resolved in all + cases where it was possible to divine the author's intent with a reasonable degree of certainty. +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper +Canada, by J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper Canada + +Author: J. Harold Putman + +Release Date: October 12, 2011 [EBook #37739] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EGERTON RYERSON, EDUCATION--UPPER CANADA *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Julia +Neufeld and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive) + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +For this text version passages in italics are indicated by +_underscores_. Small caps have been replaced by ALL CAPS. + + + + + EGERTON RYERSON + + AND + + Education in Upper Canada + + + BY + + J. HAROLD PUTMAN, B.A., D.Paed., + + Inspector of Public Schools, Ottawa, Ont. + + (Formerly in charge of the Departments in Psychology and + English, Ottawa Normal School) + + + TORONTO + WILLIAM BRIGGS + 1912 + + + + + Copyright, Canada, 1912, by + WILLIAM BRIGGS + + + + +PREFACE + + +The object of this volume is to give a succinct idea of the nature and +history of our Ontario School Legislation. This legislation is so bound +up with the name of Egerton Ryerson that to give its history is to +relate the work of his life. + +It would be useless to attempt to show how our school legislation +developed under Responsible Government without some understanding of its +history previous to the time of Ryerson. I have, therefore, devoted +three chapters to a brief account of education in Upper Canada previous +to 1844. + +No attempt has been made to give the history of our schools since +Ryerson's retirement, partly because no radical changes have been made, +and partly because it would involve criticism of statesmen and teachers +who are still actively engaged in work. Nor has any attempt been made to +trace the history of University education after 1845. To do so would +require a complete volume. But, as University education prior to 1844 +was so closely connected with Common and Grammar Schools, it seemed +necessary, up to a certain point, to trace the course of all three +together. + +The introductory chapter on the biography of Ryerson is only indirectly +connected with the other chapters, and may be omitted by the reader who +has no interest in the man himself. + +It is hoped that this volume may encourage teachers in service and +teachers in training to acquire a fuller knowledge of their own +educational institutions. + + THE AUTHOR. + +OTTAWA, July 1st, 1912. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Biographical 7 + + II. Education in Upper Canada from 1783 to 1844 33 + + III. Education in Upper Canada from 1783 to 1844-- + (_Continued_) 58 + + IV. Education in Upper Canada from 1783 to 1844-- + (_Continued_) 83 + + V. Ryerson's First Report on a System of Elementary + Instruction 110 + + VI. Ryerson's School Bill of 1846 123 + + VII. The Ryerson Bill of 1850 144 + + VIII. Ryerson and Separate Schools 173 + + IX. Ryerson and Grammar Schools 204 + + X. Ryerson and the Training of Teachers 232 + + XI. Ryerson School Bill of 1871 257 + + XII. Conclusion 264 + + Bibliography 269 + + + + +Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper Canada + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +_BIOGRAPHICAL._ + + +Egerton Ryerson was born in 1803, in the township of Charlotteville, now +a part of the county of Norfolk. His father was a United Empire Loyalist +who had held some command in a volunteer regiment of New Jersey. After +the Revolution the elder Ryerson settled first in New Brunswick, coming +later to Upper Canada, where he took up land and became a pioneer +farmer. The young Ryersons, of whom there were several, took their full +share in the laborious farm work, and Egerton seems to have prided +himself upon his physical strength and his skill in all farm operations. + +He received such an education as was afforded by the indifferent Grammar +School of the London District, supplemented by the reading of whatever +books he could secure. + +At an early age he was strongly drawn toward that militant Christianity +preached by the early Methodist Circuit Riders, and at the age of +eighteen joined the Methodist Society. This step created an estrangement +between Ryerson and his father, who already had two sons in the +Methodist ministry. Ryerson left home and became usher in the London +District Grammar School, where he remained two years, when his father +sent for him to come home. After some further farming experience, the +young man went to Hamilton to attend the Gore District Grammar School. +He was already thinking of becoming a Methodist preacher, and wished to +prepare himself by a further course of study. During his stay in +Hamilton under the instruction of John Law, he worked so eagerly at +Latin and Greek that he fell ill of a fever which nearly ended his +career. + +When barely twenty-two years of age he decided to travel as a Methodist +missionary. + +In a letter written about this time to his brother, the Rev. George +Ryerson, we get a glimpse of the young preacher's ideas upon the +preparation of sermons. "On my leisure days I read from ten to twenty +verses of Greek a day besides reading history, the Scriptures, and the +best works on practical divinity, among which Chalmers has decidedly the +preference in my mind both for piety and depth of thought. These two +last studies employ the greatest part of my time. My preaching is +altogether original. I endeavour to collect as many ideas from every +source as I can; but I do not copy the expression of anyone, for I do +detest seeing blooming flowers in dead men's hands. I think it my duty +and I try to get a general knowledge and view of any subject that I +discuss beforehand; but not unfrequently I have tried to preach with +only a few minutes' previous reflection."[1] + +[1] See "Story of My Life," by Ryerson, edited by Hodgins, page 42. + + +After being received into the Methodist connection as a probationer, +Ryerson was assigned a charge on Yonge St., which embraced the town of +York and several adjacent townships. It took four weeks on horseback and +on foot over almost impassable roads to complete the circuit. During +this time the probationer was expected to conduct from twenty-five to +thirty-five services. The accommodation furnished by the pioneers was of +the rudest kind, but the people gave the travelling preacher a hearty +welcome. Young Ryerson was acquainting himself with conditions in Upper +Canada at first hand by living among the people. At a later time, when +the opportunity came, he made use of his intimate knowledge to secure +for these people the advantages of better schools. + +During this first year of his missionary ministry, Ryerson was drawn +into the Clergy Reserves controversy. The Methodist Society in Upper +Canada was an offshoot of that body in the United States. This +connection had come about in a very natural way. Upper Canada was +largely settled by United Empire Loyalists. The Methodist circuit-riders +naturally followed their people into the wilds of Upper Canada. In many +districts no religious services of any kind were held except those of +the Methodists. + +In May, 1826, a pamphlet was published, being a sermon preached by +Archdeacon Strachan, of York, on the occasion of the death of the Bishop +of Quebec. This pamphlet contained an historical sketch of the rise and +progress of the Anglican Church in Canada. The claim was made that the +Anglican Church was by law the Established Church of Upper Canada. The +Methodists were singled out and held up to ridicule. They were +represented as American and disloyal. Their preachers were declared to +be ignorant and spreaders of sedition, and the Imperial Parliament was +petitioned to grant L300,000 a year to the Anglican Church in Canada to +enable it to maintain the loyalty of Upper Canada to Britain. + +To Ryerson, the son of a Loyalist, this was more than could be borne, +and he immediately crossed swords with the Anglican prelate by writing a +defence of Methodism and calling into question the exclusive demands +made by Strachan on behalf of the Anglicans. The contest waxed warm and +then hot. The whole country was convulsed. Within four years the +Legislature of Upper Canada passed Acts allowing the various religious +denominations to hold lands for churches, parsonages, and +burying-grounds, and also allowing their ministers to solemnize +marriages. Besides these concessions, the Legislative Assembly was +forced by public opinion to petition the Imperial Parliament against the +claims of the Anglican Church to be an Established Church in Canada and +to a monopoly of the Clergy Reserves. + +During his second year in the ministry, Ryerson spent part of his time +on a mission to the Chippewa Indians on the Credit River. While there, +he showed himself to be very practical. He encouraged the Indians to +build better houses and to clear and cultivate the land.[2] "After +having collected the means necessary to build the house of worship and +schoolhouse, I showed the Indians how to enclose and make gates for +their gardens. Between daylight and sunrise I called out four of the +Indians in succession and showed them how, and worked with them, to +clear and fence in, and plow and plant their first wheat and corn +fields. In the afternoon I called out the schoolboys to go with me and +cut and pile and burn the underbrush in and around the village. The +little fellows worked with great glee as long as I worked with them, but +soon began to play when I left them." + +[2] See "Story of My Life," by Egerton Ryerson, edited by Hodgins, page +60. + + +A letter written by Rev. William Ryerson to his brother, the Rev. George +Ryerson, on March 8th, 1827, after a visit to the Indian Mission, shows +Egerton Ryerson's practical nature and incidentally gives us his method +of instruction. "I visited Egerton at the Credit last week.... They have +about forty pupils on the list, but there were only thirty present. The +rest were absent making sugar.... Their progress in spelling, reading, +and writing, is astonishing, but especially in writing, which certainly +exceeds anything I ever saw. When I was there they were fencing the lots +in the village in a very neat, substantial manner. On my arrival at the +Mission I found Egerton, about half a mile from the village, stripped to +the shirt and pantaloons, clearing land with between twelve and twenty +of the little Indian boys, who were all engaged in chopping and picking +up the brush."[3] + +[3] See "Story of My Life," page 69. + + +At the Methodist Conference of 1827, Ryerson was sent to the Cobourg +Circuit. During his term there he was again drawn into a controversy +with Dr. Strachan, who sent to the Imperial Parliament an Ecclesiastical +Chart, purporting to give an account of religion in Upper Canada. +Ryerson claimed that this chart contained many false statements and +that it was peculiarly unfair to the Methodists. The real point at issue +was whether the Anglican Church was to become the Established Church of +Upper Canada. + +In 1828, Ryerson was appointed to the Hamilton and Ancaster Circuit, +which reached from within five miles of Brantford to Stoney Creek. On +September 10th, 1828, he married Hannah Aikman, of Hamilton.[4] + +[4] Died in 1832. In 1833, Ryerson married Mary Armstrong, of Toronto. + + +The Methodist Conference of 1829 determined to establish an official +newspaper to be known as _The Christian Guardian_. Ryerson was elected +as the first editor and was sent to New York to procure the plant. The +paper started with a circulation of 500, which in three years was +increased to some 3,000. Besides defending Methodist principles and +institutions, the paper made a strong stand for civil liberty, +temperance, education, and missionary work. It soon came to be looked +upon as one of the leading journals of Upper Canada. Ryerson gave up the +position of editor in 1832, and the following year made a trip to +England to negotiate a union between the Canadian Methodist Conference +and the Wesleyan Conference of England. The union was consummated. +Ryerson returned to Canada and was re-elected editor of the _Guardian_. + +While in England, he had interviews with Earl Ripon, Lord Stanley and +other public men, to whom he gave valuable information concerning +Canadian affairs, especially those connected with the vexed question of +the status of the Anglican Church. + +On his return to Canada, in 1833, Ryerson published in the _Guardian_ +"Impressions Made by My Late Visit to England." In this article he gave +his estimate of Tories, Whigs, and Radicals. He saw much to admire in +the moderate Tories, little to praise in the Whigs, and much to condemn +in the Radicals. His strictures on the latter called down upon him the +wrath and invective of William Lyon Mackenzie. To some extent Ryerson's +articles led the constitutional reformers in Upper Canada to separate +themselves from those reformers who were prepared to establish a +republican form of government in order to secure equal political and +civil rights. To many of his old friends it seemed that Ryerson had +given up championing liberty and had become a Tory. Many were ready to +accuse him of self-seeking in his desire to conciliate the party of +privilege. One reverend brother,[5] writing to him, says: "I can only +account for your strange and un-Ryersonian conduct and advice on one +principle--that there is something ahead which you, through your +superior political spy-glass, have discovered and thus shape your +course, while we landlubbers, short-sighted as we are, have not even +heard of it." Hundreds of subscribers gave up the _Guardian_ as a +protest against the views of its editor, but as the crisis approached +which culminated in the Rebellion of '37 and '38, the tide of public +opinion turned in Ryerson's favour. + +[5] Rev. Jas. Evans, of Niagara District. See part of letter in "Story +of My Life," page 131. + + +In 1835, Ryerson gave up the _Guardian_ and took a church at Kingston. +Scarcely was he settled when he undertook a second visit to England. The +Methodists had, in 1832, laid the corner-stone of the Upper Canada +Academy at Cobourg. They had no charter, although an unsuccessful +attempt had been made to have the Trustee Board incorporated by the +Legislature of Upper Canada. Extensive buildings were under way and the +trustees were in financial difficulties. Ryerson was sent to England to +beg subscriptions and also to attempt to secure a Royal Charter. The +work was distasteful to him, but he persevered, and after more than a +year and six months spent in England he accomplished three ends. He +secured enough money in subscriptions to relieve the most pressing +immediate needs of the Trustee Board. He secured an order from the +Colonial Secretary directed to the Governor of Upper Canada, authorizing +him to pay to the Upper Canada Academy, from the unappropriated +revenues of the Crown, the sum of L4,000.[6] Last, and most important, +he secured a Royal Charter, although up to that time no such charter had +ever been issued to any religious body except the Established Church. To +Ryerson, the visit to England was of prime importance. It gave him a +broadened view of British institutions and English public men. It gave +him a political experience that was of great value to him in later +years. It gave him an opportunity to appeal to his fellow men upon the +subject of education and educational institutions. + +[6] Later, in 1837, Ryerson secured this money only after a petition to +the Legislature. + + +While in England, Ryerson contributed a series of letters to the London +_Times_ on Canadian affairs. There was a prevalent feeling in England +that a very large part of the Upper Canadian people was determined upon +a republican form of government. Ryerson's letters did something to +remove this impression. + +After the Rebellion of 1837 was crushed, the constitutional reform party +was apparently without any influence. It seemed that the Family Compact +oligarchy would have everything in their own hands. Prospects for +equality of civil and religious liberty were not bright, and it is +significant of the Methodists' appreciation of Ryerson's ability that +they immediately planned to make him again editor of the _Guardian_. +His brother John, writing to him in March, 1838, said: "It is a great +blessing that Mackenzie and radicalism are down, but we are in imminent +danger of being brought under the domination of a military and +high-church oligarchy which would be equally bad, if not infinitely +worse. Under the blessing of Providence, there is one remedy and only +one: that is for you to take the editorship of the _Guardian_ again."[7] + +[7] See copy of letter in "Story of My Life," page 200. + + +Ryerson did take the position, and in his first editorial in the +_Guardian_ of the 11th July, 1838, says: "Notwithstanding the almost +incredible calumny which has in past years been heaped upon me by +antipodes-party-presses, I still adhere to the principles and views upon +which I set out in 1826. I believe the endowment of the priesthood of +any Church in the Province to be an evil to that church.... I believe +that the appropriation of the proceeds of the Clergy Reserves to general +educational purposes will be the most satisfactory and advantageous +disposal of them that can be made. In nothing is this Province so +defective as in the requisite available provisions for an efficient +system of general education. Let the distinctive character of that +system be the union of public and private effort.... To Government +influence will be spontaneously added the various and combined +religious influences of the country in the noble, statesmanlike and +divine work of raising up an elevated, intelligent, and moral +population." + +Dr. Ryerson clearly saw that religion, politics, and education could not +at this period be separated, and for the next two years he did his +utmost, through the _Guardian_, to prevent the Anglican Church from +securing undivided possession of the Clergy Reserves. The difficulties +of his task were increased by the fact that there were in Canada several +British Wesleyan missionaries who were not unwilling to see an Anglican +Establishment. They were cleverly used by some of the Anglicans and +their friends to cause ferment and sow discord among the Methodists in +Canada. From 1838 until 1840, when he finally gave up the editorship of +the _Guardian_, Ryerson fought strongly for equal religious privileges +for all the people of Upper Canada. Nor were Ryerson's efforts in this +direction confined to the columns of the _Guardian_. He addressed +several communications to the new Colonial Secretary, Lord Normanby. + +Lord Durham and his successor, Lord Sydenham, received the cordial +support of Ryerson in their efforts to give a constitutional government +to Canada. Largely through Ryerson's suggestion there was issued at +Toronto, in 1841, the _Monthly Review_, which was to be a medium for +disseminating the liberal views of Sydenham. Ryerson wrote the +prospectus and contributed some articles. Probably as a recognition for +this work, Sydenham sent him a draft for L100, which he promptly +returned. + +In May, 1840, Ryerson paid a fraternal visit to the American General +Conference at Baltimore. At this time he fully purposed to take a church +in New York City for one or two years. He even thought it quite possible +that he might make the United States his permanent home. On his return +to Canada from the Baltimore visit he was elected Secretary of the +Conference. Charges were made against him by a British Wesleyan which +determined him to visit England. This visit led to a rupture between the +Canadian and British Methodist Conferences. When Ryerson and his brother +returned to Canada, a special meeting of the Canada Conference was +convened to consider the break with British Methodism. The result was a +rupture in the Canadian Wesleyan Conference itself. Many blamed the +Ryersons for the quarrel with the English Conference, and Egerton again +thought seriously of going to the United States or of withdrawing from +ministerial work. The truth seems to be that Ryerson was more than a +preacher. He lived in stirring times, when the nascent elements of +constitutional government were in process of crystallization. He +unconsciously felt that he must have a part in directing the destinies +of his native country. He saw clearly that the Canadian Methodist Church +must ultimately be independent and that its ministers ought not to adopt +a policy dictated to them by the English Conference, many members of +which were wholly ignorant of Canadian conditions. + +During the next two years, 1841 and 1842, Ryerson was in charge of the +Adelaide Street Church, Toronto. He seems to have given himself up +wholly to his pastoral work and to have taken little active part in +passing events. + +On the 27th of August, 1841, Lord Sydenham signed a bill which made +Upper Canada Academy a college, with university powers. The name was +changed to Victoria College. In October of the same year, Ryerson was +appointed the first principal of the new college. He did not give up his +church work until June, 1842. On the 21st of that month he was formally +installed in his new position. On the 3rd of August the Wesleyan +University of Middletown, Conn., conferred upon him the degree of Doctor +of Divinity. + +Lord Sydenham died in 1841. It seems that shortly before his death he +had some communication with Ryerson regarding the latter's appointment +as Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada. Ryerson claimed that +the Governor actually promised him the appointment but that there had +never been any official written record. Sydenham was succeeded by Sir +Charles Bagot, who in May, 1842, made the Rev. Mr. Murray Superintendent +of Education. Sir Charles Bagot died in May, 1843, and was succeeded by +Sir Charles Metcalfe. It was a critical period in the history of Canada. +The people were supposed to be in possession of the enjoyment of +responsible government. But as a matter of fact, very few had any +definite ideas as to what was meant by responsible government. Lord +Metcalfe refused to accept the advice of his Council regarding an +appointment. Instead of resigning at once as a protest they attempted to +secure from him a promise that he would in future accept their +recommendations. He refused. Later the leading members of the Council +resigned. Party feeling ran high, and the Governor had few friends. + +Ryerson had been upon familiar terms with Lord Durham, Lord Sydenham, +and Sir Charles Bagot. He now had several communications and one or more +interviews with Lord Metcalfe. He made direct and positive offers of his +services to the Governor. He then wrote a series of nine letters in +vindication of the Governor's course. These letters caused much +excitement and won for Ryerson the lasting enmity of the advanced +Reform party, who openly accused him of toadyism and of selling his +support to Lord Metcalfe in return for the promise of office. Whatever +may have been the effect of Ryerson's letters, Lord Metcalfe's party won +a temporary victory and Ryerson himself was appointed Superintendent of +Education for Upper Canada in October, 1844. + +To show how the political opponents of Lord Metcalfe viewed Ryerson's +appointment, the circumstances connected with it and his fitness for the +position of Superintendent, I quote from the Toronto _Globe_, the editor +of which was an out-and-out opponent of Ryerson and an unsparing critic +of his early educational legislation. In the _Globe_ of May 28th, 1844, +there appeared a letter signed "Junius," protesting against Ryerson's +appointment. The writer insinuates that Ryerson was won over by +receiving some notice from Lord Metcalfe, and that the Governor hoped by +winning over Ryerson to win a united support from the Methodists. He +calls Ryerson a violent political partisan and taunts him with having +only a superficial education. He says: "Nor is it flattering to the many +learned men of the country that one represented to be of slender +attainments in a few common branches of English education, and totally +ignorant of mathematics and classics, should be entrusted with the +education of the country, many of whose youthful scholars have attained +higher knowledge than their chief." + +In a _Globe_ editorial of June 4th, 1844, in commenting upon Ryerson's +first letter in defence of Lord Metcalfe, the writer says: "If the Rev. +Mr. Ryerson's appearance in the political field is indecorous and +uncalled for, the manner in which he has begun his work is in perfect +keeping with that appearance. A more presumptuous and egotistical +exhibition from a man of talents and education has never been brought +under the public eye. The first column alone of his Address [preface to +letters in defence of Lord Metcalfe] contains fifty repetitions of the +little insignificant word _I_, to say nothing of _me_ and _my_.... We +may be permitted to express our utter astonishment, however, to find a +minister of the Gospel embarking with so much eagerness in the sea of +politics." + +That Ryerson had a very good understanding with Lord Metcalfe as to the +position of Superintendent of Education before writing the famous +letters is apparent to anyone who reads the correspondence. That there +was anything discreditable to either party in that understanding has +never been shown. On the contrary, it seems quite certain that Ryerson +honestly believed the Governor was right. It is certain he made out a +strong case and likely won many supporters for the Metcalfe party. This +was especially galling to the party who called themselves _Reformers_, +because they had looked upon Ryerson as one of their champions. But +Ryerson never had been, and never became, a mere party man. He fought +for great principles, and if up to 1844 he had generally found himself +with the Reformers, it was because they were championing what Ryerson +believed to be the right. + +To taunt him with being half-educated was the mark of a small mind. +Every man must be judged according to the way he makes use of his +opportunities, and by such a standard no man in Canadian public life has +ever measured higher than Egerton Ryerson. He may have known "little +Latin and less Greek," he may have been wholly ignorant of the binomial +theorem, and he may not have been able to write as smooth and graceful +English as the classical scholars of Oxford, but he knew that thousands +of boys and girls in the backwoods of Upper Canada were growing up in +ignorance; he knew that the secondary schools of Upper Canada were +scarcely more efficient than they had been thirty years before, and he +knew that the country had ample resources to give reasonable educational +advantages to all. More than this, he must have felt that, given +reasonable freedom and support, he could in a short time change the +whole system of education. + +Dr. Ryerson, in accepting appointment, stipulated that he should be +allowed to make a tour of Europe before taking up the active duties of +his office. He left Canada for Europe in November, 1844, and returned in +December, 1845. He made an elaborate report[8] based on personal +investigation into the schools of Great Britain and Ireland, France, +Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and other European countries, besides New +York and the New England States. Perhaps the systems of Ireland, +Germany, and Massachusetts gave Ryerson more practical suggestions than +those of any other countries. In Prussia he saw the advantages of +trained teachers and a strong central bureau of administration; in +Ireland he saw a simple solution of religious difficulties and a fine +system of national textbooks; in Massachusetts he saw an efficient +system managed by popularly elected boards of trustees. + +[8] See Chapter V. + + +During his absence Ryerson was again attacked and held up to ridicule by +the _Globe_. In an editorial of April 29th, 1845,[9] we find the +following: "The vanity of the Deputy Superintendent of Education demands +fresh incense at every turn. He has doffed the politician for the moment +and now comes out a ruling pedagogue of Canada. What a pity that he was +not a cardinal or at least a stage representative of one! At what a rate +would he strut upon the boards as Wolsey and rant for the benefit of his +hearers and for his own benefit more especially! He beats all the +presumptuous meddling priests of the day.... Doubtless the Rev. Mr. +Ryerson is preparing to astonish the world by his educational researches +in Europe and the United States. It will be a subject of no small +amusement to watch his pranks. We shall no doubt hear of his visiting +all the most celebrated Continental schools and are astonished he did +not call at Oxford and Cambridge. He could no doubt have given them some +excellent hints!" + +[9] See bound volumes of _Globe_ in Legislative Library, Toronto. + + +In a _Globe_ editorial of December 16th, 1845, when the Draper +University Bill of that year was yet a topic of public discussion, we +find this reference to Ryerson: "It is now more than twelve months since +the Province was insulted by the appointment of Dr. Ryerson to the +responsible situation of Superintendent of Public Instruction. To hide +the gross iniquity of the transaction, Ryerson was sent out of the +country on pretence of inquiring into the different systems of +education. After being several months in England this public officer, +paid by the people of Canada, has for the last eight months been on the +Continent on a tour of pleasure.... Let the people of Canada rejoice +and every Methodist willing to be sold throw up his cap. Ryerson is here +ready to dispose of them to the highest bidder, the purchase money to be +applied to his own benefit with a modicum for Victoria College." + +Ryerson's report of 1846 was favourably received, and the Government +asked him to draft a school bill based on his report. This he did, and +the Bill of 1846 became the basis of our Common School system. After +Lord Metcalfe's departure from Canada and the election of a Reform +administration, there was a clamour from strong party men that Ryerson +should be removed. The Toronto _Globe_ led in the attacks against him. +It is a tribute to his ability and to the system of education which he +proposed, that these attacks all failed and that Dr. Ryerson came by +degrees to command the confidence of both political parties. + +As soon as possible after his return from Europe in 1845, Ryerson moved +from Cobourg to Toronto. When appointed in 1844, his rank was that of +Deputy or Assistant Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, the +nominal head of the Department being the Provincial Secretary. The +School Bill of 1846 made a change, and on June 17th of that year Ryerson +received his commission as Superintendent of Education. One of his first +acts was a proposal to found a journal of education, which should be a +semi-official means of communication between the Superintendent on the +one hand and District Superintendents, Trustees, Municipal Councillors, +and teachers on the other. The "Journal" was established in 1848 and +regularly issued until Ryerson gave up office in 1876. + +In the autumn of 1847, Ryerson spent nearly three months visiting County +School Conventions, where he explained the new School Act and delivered +a lecture upon "The Importance of Education to an Agricultural People." +In 1850, Ryerson began a struggle for free schools which lasted until +1871. About the same time he obtained permission from the Legislature to +establish an Educational Depository in connection with the Education +Department. He visited Europe and some American cities and made very +advantageous arrangements for securing in large quantities books, maps, +globes, and other school appliances. These were supplied to School +Boards at 50 cents on the dollar. The Depository was continued in +operation until 1881 and handled in all $1,000,000 worth of supplies. In +1853 Ryerson spent three months in attending County Conventions and +addressed thirty meetings. During this tour he visited his native county +of Norfolk, and at Simcoe was presented with an address by the School +Board. On his return to Toronto he was presented with an address and a +silver tea service by the officials of the Education Department and the +teachers of the Normal School. + +In 1853, Ryerson took advantage of an annual grant made by the +Legislature in 1850 to establish public libraries throughout the +Province. Before the end of 1855 no less than 117,000 volumes were +distributed. In 1854 Ryerson was one of the Commissioners to prepare a +report on a system of education for New Brunswick. In June, 1855, being +in poor health, he got leave of absence to travel in Europe and to +purchase objects of art for an educational museum. He was appointed +Honorary Commissioner to the Paris Exposition by the Government. During +his tour he visited London, spent several weeks in Paris, and made brief +visits to Antwerp, Brussels, Munich, Florence, and Rome. + +In 1857, a new system of audit was adopted by the Government. Previous +to this time the total money voted for schools for Upper Canada had been +paid over to Ryerson. He gave bondsmen as security for the money and +deposited it in the Toronto banks. Interest allowed on unexpended +balances was credited to his personal account. This system seems to have +been universal among officers in charge of public money at that time. +But in 1857 the new auditor called in question Ryerson's right to this +interest. After much wrangling, Ryerson paid over to the Government +L1,375, being the amount he had received for interest. He then put in a +claim of about the same amount for his expenses to Europe in 1844, and +for amounts paid a deputy during his absence. The Government paid his +claim, thus showing that they believed him morally entitled to the +interest which he had repaid. + +In 1860, Ryerson made a three months' educational tour, addressing +County Conventions. In all, he attended thirty-five meetings, giving +addresses on the subjects of "Vagrant Children," "Free Schools," and +"Public Grammar Schools." He was given a public dinner by the teachers +of Northumberland and Durham on the occasion of his official visit to +Cobourg. In 1866 he made a similar tour, addressing forty meetings in +seven weeks. His chief object was to create public opinion in favor of +legislation on compulsory attendance, public libraries and township +Boards of Trustees. Later in the same year he again got permission to +visit Europe for the purpose of adding to the museum and collecting +information on schools for the deaf, dumb, and blind. He visited New +York, London, Paris, Rome, Venice, and Geneva, returning in 1867. On his +return he presented to the Legislature an elaborate report on education +in Great Britain and European countries. In December, 1868, Ryerson +tendered his resignation, suggesting that a responsible Minister of +Education should be appointed and proposing that he himself should be +superannuated. The resignation was not accepted. + +In 1869 he held another series of County Conventions. In the same year +he wrote a letter to the Provincial Secretary, Hon. M. C. Cameron, +reflecting on the action of Treasurer E. B. Wood in regard to a proposed +change in the financial management of the Education Department. +Ryerson's letter was indiscreet and would have led to his dismissal had +he not withdrawn it. In 1872 the long-smouldering dissatisfaction of the +Reform party with Ryerson's administration came to a head. The +Honourable Edward Blake was Premier, and his Government disallowed some +of Ryerson's regulations, questioned the authority of the Council of +Public Instruction, and sought in many ways to curtail the +Superintendent's power. Ryerson showed very little desire for +conciliation and wished to refer the dispute to the Courts. He had so +long and so successfully wielded an arbitrary power that he could not +acquiesce in the system which made his Department subordinate to a +responsible Cabinet. In 1873, Oliver Mowat became Attorney-General, and +he, too, found Ryerson obdurate. Finally, as a result of this agitation, +the Council of Public Instruction came to be composed partly of members +elected by various bodies of teachers and partly by members appointed +by the Cabinet. These latter were not recommended by the Superintendent, +as had formerly been the custom. Friction over the Council continued +during 1874 and 1875. + +In 1876, Ryerson was retired on his full salary of $4,000 a year. The +following May he went to England to consult documents in the library of +the British Museum bearing on his work, "The Loyalists of America." He +enjoyed fairly good health until within a few months of his death, which +occurred on February 19th, 1882. The Government recognized his valuable +services by a grant of $10,000 to his widow. On the 24th of May, 1889, a +statue to his memory was unveiled on the grounds of the Education +Department, the scene of his labours for nearly forty years. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +_EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA FROM 1783 TO 1844._ + + +Immediately after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1783, +United Empire Loyalists began to make homes in Upper Canada. The Great +Lakes and larger rivers were the natural highways. It happened, +therefore, that the earliest settlements were along the St. Lawrence, +the Niagara, and Lakes Erie and Ontario. + +For a few years these settlers were too busy to think very much about +schools. Man's first wants are food, clothing, and shelter. But just as +soon as rude homes were built and a patch of forest cleared upon which +to grow grain and vegetables, these Upper Canadian Loyalists began to +think of schools. It was natural that they should do so. They were +descendants of an intelligent stock, people who had good schools in New +England and of a people whose forefathers had enjoyed liberal +educational advantages in the old world. + +Governor Simcoe reached Upper Canada in 1792, and almost immediately +took steps to establish schools. He was an aristocrat who firmly +believed in such a constitution of society as then existed in the old +world. He naturally wished to see a reproduction of that society in the +new world. Hence we are not surprised to find that his educational +schemes were intended for the classes rather than for the masses. In a +letter[10] written by Simcoe, April 28th, 1792, to the British Secretary +of State, he urges grants of L100 each for schools at Niagara and +Kingston. He also proposed a university with English Church professors. + +[10] See D. H. E. ("Documentary History of Education," by Dr. Hodgins), +Vol. I., p. 11. + + +In 1797, the House of Assembly and Legislative Council adopted an +address to the King praying him to set apart waste lands of the Crown +for the establishment of a respectable grammar school in each District, +and also for a college or university. In answer to this petition, the +Duke of Portland wrote saying that His Majesty proposed to comply with +the request and wished further advice as to the best means of carrying +it out. + +The Executive Council, the Judges and law officers of the Crown met in +consultation in 1798 and recommended that 500,000 acres of waste Crown +lands be set apart to build a provincial university, and a free grammar +school in each of the four Districts. Grammar schools were to be built +at once at Kingston and at Niagara, and, as soon as circumstances would +permit, at Cornwall and at Sandwich. The university was to be at York. +It was estimated that each grammar school would cost L3,000 to build and +L180 a year to maintain. The schools were to accommodate one hundred +boys each, and have a residence for the master, with some rooms for +boarders.[11] No steps were taken to carry out these plans until after +1807. + +[11] See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 21. + + +Several private schools were opened prior to 1800. The chief of these +were at Newark, York, Ancaster, Cornwall, Kingston, Adolphustown, St. +Catharines, and Belleville. Some were evening schools. All were +supported by fees. Many were taught by clergymen. The principal subjects +were reading, writing, and arithmetic. + +On December 17th, 1802, Dr. Baldwin, of York, the father of Hon. Robt. +Baldwin, issued the following notice;--[12] + + "Understanding that some of the Gentlemen of this Town have + expressed much anxiety for the establishment of a Classical School, + Dr. Baldwin begs leave to inform them and the Public that he + intends, on Monday, the third day of January next, to open a school, + in which he will instruct twelve boys in Reading, Writing, the + Classics, and Arithmetic. + + "The terms are for each boy, Eight Guineas per annum, to be paid + quarterly. One guinea entrance and one cord of wood to be supplied + by each boy." + +[12] See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 33. + + +John Strachan, afterwards Bishop Strachan, opened a private school at +Kingston in 1799. Later he opened one at Cornwall, and still later one +at York. Attempts to open a public school in each District were defeated +in the Legislature in 1804 and 1805. In 1806 the sum of L400[13] was +appropriated to purchase scientific apparatus. + +[13] This L400 worth of apparatus was promptly handed over to Mr. +Strachan by the Lieutenant-Governor. Mr. Strachan at this time had a +private school at Cornwall. It seems quite evident that the apparatus +was purchased purposely for his school and at his suggestion. See D. H. +E., Vol. I., p. 155. + + +In 1807, the Legislature took steps to carry out the plan proposed in +1797. There were by this time eight Districts in Upper Canada--Eastern, +Johnstown, Midland, Newcastle, Home, Niagara, London, and Western. The +sum of L800 was fixed as an annual appropriation to support "a Public +School in each and every District in the Province." This meant L100 for +each school or teacher. The Legislature also fixed the places where the +schools were to be held. The Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council was to +appoint not less than five trustees[14] for each District school. These +trustees were given almost absolute control over the management of the +schools. + +[14] See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 61. + + +It must not be supposed that these schools were public schools in the +sense we now attach to that term. Their founders had in mind the great +English public school, whose curriculum was largely classical and whose +benefits were confined to the wealthy. These schools were not in any +sense popular schools. It would seem that Governor Simcoe's proposal in +1798 was to have "Free Grammar Schools."[15] But those established by +the Act of 1807 levied considerable sums in fees. They were designed to +educate the sons of gentlemen. They were to prepare for professional +life. They were essentially for the benefit of the ruling classes. They +were largely controlled by Anglicans,[16] and in many cases the teachers +were Anglican clergymen. + +[15] See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 20. + +[16] In 1830, when the United Presbytery of Upper Canada petitioned the +Legislature against appointing so many Anglicans as trustees of grammar +schools, the only reply was that Anglicans had not always been +appointed. + + +If these schools were not public schools as we now use the term "public +school," neither were they high schools as we now use that term. The +curricula had no uniformity. Each school was a law unto itself and +depended almost wholly upon the teacher. If he were scholarly and +earnest the school would accomplish much. Often very young boys who +could scarcely read were admitted. In some schools a fine training in +classics was given; in others even the elements of a common education +were neglected. + +But although these schools were not for the mass of the people, their +establishment was none the less an event of far-reaching importance. It +was a decided advantage to the mass of the people that their rulers +should have some educational advantages. No one can read the lists of +names of men educated in these schools and afterwards prominent in +Canadian public life without recognizing that their establishment was a +blessing to the whole of Canada. They were caste schools, but they kept +alive the torch of learning and civilization. Being founded out of +public funds, there was created an interest in their welfare among the +members of the Legislative Assembly. As years went on and the members of +the Assembly came to really represent the people of Upper Canada, they +were led to extend to all of the people such educational advantages as +had been granted to a section of the people in 1807. + +Several efforts were made to repeal the Act of 1807 and substitute for +it one of a more popular nature. These efforts were baffled either by +the Legislative Council or through the influence of that body in the +Assembly itself. A petition[17] presented by sixty-five residents of the +Midland District to the Legislature of 1812 will give a fair idea of +the state of feeling throughout Upper Canada in regard to education: +"Your petitioners ... feel themselves in duty bound to state that 'An +Act to establish Public Schools in each and every District of this +Province' is found by experience not to answer the end for which it was +designed. Its object, it is presumed, was to promote the education of +our youth in general, but a little acquaintance with the facts must +convince every unbiased mind that it has contributed little or nothing +to the promotion of so laudable a design. By reason of the place of +instruction being established at one end of the District, and the sum +demanded for tuition, in addition to the annual compensation received +from the public, most of the people are unable to avail themselves of +the advantages contemplated by the institution. A few wealthy +inhabitants, and those of the Town of Kingston, reap exclusively the +benefit of it in this District. The institution, instead of aiding the +middling and poorer class of His Majesty's subjects, casts money into +the lap of the rich, who are sufficiently able, without public +assistance, to support a school in every respect equal to the one +established by law.... Wherefore, your petitioners pray, that so much of +the Act first mentioned may be repealed, and such provisions made in the +premises as may be conducive to public utility." + +[17] See Journals of Legislature of Upper Canada for 1812. + + +A repeal bill of the Act of 1807 was passed by the Legislative Assembly +of 1812, but thrown out by the Legislative Council. The Act of 1807 +limited the schools to one for each District. This was unsatisfactory +even to that class for whom the schools were especially designed. As the +country made progress and became more thickly populated, eight schools +were a wholly inadequate provision for the education of those requiring +it. But the Legislative Assembly steadily resisted any attempt to +enlarge the scope of these class schools. Perhaps it was owing to their +resistance that in 1816 they secured the consent of the Legislative +Council to a really forward movement in elementary education. + +But it would be a serious mistake to infer that the educational +machinery of Upper Canada previous to 1816 was limited to these eight +District Grammar Schools. What the Government failed to provide, private +enterprise secured. More than two hundred schools were certainly in +operation in 1816. These schools were maintained partly by subscriptions +from well-to-do people and partly by fees collected from the pupils. In +many cases they were private ventures, conducted by teachers who +depended wholly upon fees. In some cases these schools were of a high +order, perhaps superior to the District Grammar Schools; in other cases, +probably in the large majority of cases, they were very inefficient. +The average fees paid by pupils in the elementary schools were about +twelve shillings per quarter. + +William Crooks, of Grimsby, writing to Gourlay, in January, 1818, +says:[18] "The state of education is also at a very low ebb, not only in +this township but generally throughout the District; although the +liberality of the Legislature has been great in support of the District +Grammar Schools (giving to the teachers of each L100 per annum) yet they +have been productive of little or no good hitherto, for this obvious +cause, they are looked upon as seminaries exclusively instituted for the +education of the children of the more wealthy classes of society, and to +which the poor man's child is considered as unfit to be admitted. From +such causes, instead of their being a benefit to the Province, they are +sunk into obscurity, and the heads of most of them are at this moment +enjoying their situations as comfortable sinecures. Another class of +schools has within a short time been likewise founded upon the +liberality of the Legislative purse denominated as Common or Parish +Schools, but like the preceding, the anxiety of the teacher employed +seems more alive to his stipend than the advancement of the education of +those placed under his care; from the pecuniary advantages thus held +out we have been inundated with the worthless scum, under the character +of schoolmasters, not only of this but of every other country where the +knowledge has been promulgated of the easy means our laws afford of +getting a living here, by obtaining a parish school." + +[18] See Gourlay's "Statistical Account of Upper Canada." Pages 433-434 +of Vol. I. Published by Simpkin & Marshall, London, Eng., 1822. + + +The Common or Parish Schools referred to in this letter were the result +of the legislation of 1816, a red-letter year in school affairs because +it saw the first attempts in Upper Canada to give schools under public +control to the common people. The sum of $24,000 a year was appropriated +for four years to establish Common Schools. The law provided that the +people of any village, town or township might meet together and arrange +to establish one or more schools, at each of which the attendance must +be not less than twenty. Three suitable trustees were to be chosen to +conduct the school, appoint teachers, and select textbooks from a list +prescribed by a District Board of Education. The Legislature authorized +payments to each of these schools of a sum not exceeding L100. The +balance needed to maintain the school had to be made up by +subscriptions. + +In 1819 the Grammar School Act of 1807 received some slight amendments. +The grant of L100 per school was reduced to L50 for new schools, except +where the number of pupils exceeded ten. A new school was authorized +for the new Gore District, at Hamilton. Trustee Boards were required to +present annual reports to the Lieutenant-Governor and to conduct an +annual public examination. But the most important change was provision +for the free education of ten poor children at each District Public +School. These children were chosen by lot from names submitted by +Trustee Boards of Common Schools. + +In 1822 the Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, on his own responsibility, +had established in Toronto a school known as the Upper Canada Central +School, formed on the plan of the British National Schools, which had +been established in Britain by Rev. Dr. Bell. These schools were +decidedly Anglican in tone, and that established in Toronto was at the +instigation of Rev. Dr. Strachan.[19] In a despatch to Earl Bathurst, +Colonial Secretary in 1822, Governor Maitland said:[20] "It is proposed +to establish one introductory school on the national plan in each town +of a certain size. It is supposed that a salary of L100 per annum to the +master of each such school would be sufficient. The number of these +schools may be increased as the circumstances of the Province may +require and the means allow." + +[19] See D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 176. + +[20] See copy of despatch in D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 179. + + +In answer, the Earl of Bathurst, under date of October 12th, 1823, +says:[21] "I am happy to have it in my power to convey to you His +Majesty's consent that you appropriate a portion of the Reserves set +apart for the establishment of a University for the support of schools +on the National [Church of England] plan of education." This action +established one school, and had in contemplation the establishment of +others under the direct control of the Governor and his Council. The +Legislative Assembly naturally resented the action, and for two reasons. +They objected to the disposal of any Crown property other than upon +their authority. They objected to anything being done that would lessen +the resources of the proposed University. + +[21] See copy of despatch in D. H. E., Vol. I., p. 179. + + +A side-light upon education in Upper Canada is furnished by Mr. E. A. +Talbot, who published a series of letters upon Upper Canada in London, +1824. I quote from Letter XXX: "The great mass of the [Canadian] people +are at present completely ignorant even of the rudiments of the most +common learning. Very few can either read or write; and parents who are +ignorant themselves, possess so slight a relish for literature and are +so little acquainted with its advantages, that they feel scarcely any +anxiety to have the minds of their children cultivated.... They will not +believe that 'knowledge is power,' and being convinced that it is not +in the nature of 'book-learned skill' to improve the earnestness of +their sons in hewing wood or the readiness of their daughters in +spinning flax, they consider it a misapplication of money to spend any +sum in obtaining instruction for their offspring. Nothing can afford a +stronger proof of their indifference in this respect than the +circumstance of their electing men to represent them in the Provincial +Parliament, whose attainments in learning are in many instances +exceedingly small, and sometimes do not pass beyond the horn-book. I +have myself been present in the Honourable the House of Assembly when +some of the members, on being called to be Chairmen of Committees, were +under the disagreeable and humiliating necessity of requesting other +members to read the bills before the Committee, and then, as the +different clauses were rejected or adopted, to request these, their +proxies, to signify the same in the common mode of writing." + +In 1823 there was established a General Board of Education, consisting +of: The Hon. and Rev. John Strachan, D.D., Chairman; Hon. Jos. Wells, +M.L.C.; Hon. G. H. Markland, M.L.C.; Rev. Robert Addison; John Beverley +Robinson, Esq., Attorney-General; Thomas Ridout, Esq., Surveyor-General. +The same session of the Legislature set apart L150 as an annual grant +for purchasing books and tracts designed to afford moral and religious +instruction. + +By the creation of a General Board of Education, Rev. Dr. Strachan +became very prominently identified with education in Upper Canada. No +man was better qualified through zeal, practical knowledge, and a +genuine interest in higher education. He had been made an honorary +member of the Executive Council in 1815, and an active member in 1817. +In 1820 he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council. Being a +prominent Churchman, an experienced and successful teacher, and residing +at York, he was naturally consulted by successive Governors on +educational matters. Strachan was an uncompromising Churchman with +ritualistic tendencies, and in politics a Tory of the George III. +school. He had neither faith in, nor sympathy for, a democracy. He +accepted things as he found them, and wished to preserve them so. He +could conceive of no more perfect state of society for the new world +than that which he left behind him in the old. He firmly believed in +education of the most noble kind for gentlemen, but it is doubtful if he +recognized the right of every man to the highest possible cultivation of +his intellectual powers. He would have looked upon such a plan as +subversive of the existing orders of society. At any rate he never +evinced any passion for popular education except that moral and +religious education given under the aegis of an Established Church. On +the other hand, no man in Canada had a more sincere desire to foster +higher institutions of learning, and it had from the very first been +Strachan's plan that the District Grammar Schools should be feeders for +a Provincial University, and now, in 1824, when he became virtually head +of educational affairs in Upper Canada, he determined to carry his +scheme to a successful issue. + +There were serious difficulties. An endowment had been provided for a +university by the Crown grant in 1797, but it was at this time almost +worthless. It consisted of blocks of land, containing several townships, +in remote parts of the Province. The lands were good, but so long as the +Government had free lands to give incoming settlers, the school lands +were not in demand. Besides these school or university lands, there were +other lands in possession of the Crown. The original surveyor reserved +two-sevenths of all land. One-seventh was the reserve for a "Protestant +Clergy," which eventually caused so much strife and ill-feeling. The +other seventh was known as the Crown Reserve. In many cases this Crown +Reserve was becoming valuable, even in 1824, because of the labour of +settlers who owned adjoining farms. Much of the Crown Reserve was under +lease and giving a more or less certain revenue. Strachan conceived a +bold and successful plan. He suggested to Sir Peregrine Maitland that +for grants to new settlers the school lands were worth as much to the +Government as the Crown Reserves. Why not exchange school lands for an +equal area of Crown Reserve land? The matter was put before the Home +Government, and in 1827 a favourable reply was given. The result was +that the University got 225,944 acres of land, distributed throughout +every District in Upper Canada, but having more than one-half its total +area in the Home, Gore, and London Districts, the wealthiest and most +populous parts of Upper Canada. The Commissioners, appointed in 1848 by +Lord Elgin to enquire into the affairs of King's College, state (pages +16 and 17): "The Crown Reserves thus converted into the University +Endowment, consisted of lands in various parts of Upper Canada in actual +or nominal occupation under lease, at rate of rental fixed by a certain +scale established by the Provincial Government, and a large proportion +of the lots were in an improved or cultivated state." + +In March, 1826, Rev. Dr. Strachan submitted to the Lieutenant-Governor a +very able and comprehensive report[22] showing why a university ought at +once to be established. The report gives an interesting and authentic +summary of the state of education in Upper Canada at that time. "The +present state of Education in this Province consists of Common Schools +throughout the Townships, established under several Acts of the +Provincial Legislature, and which are now, by the exertions of Your +Excellency, placed on an excellent footing, requiring no other +improvements than the means of multiplying their number, which, no +doubt, will be granted as the finances of the Province become more +productive. In about three hundred and forty Common Schools established +in the different Districts of the Colony, from seven to eight thousand +children are taught reading and writing, the elements of arithmetic, and +the first principles of religion; and when it is considered that the +parents commonly send their children in rotation--the younger in summer +when the roads are good, and the older in winter--it is not too much to +say that nearly double this number, or from twelve to fourteen thousand +children, profit annually by the Common Schools. The consequence is that +the people, scattered as they are over a vast wilderness, are becoming +alive to the great advantage of educating their children, and are, in +many places, seconding, with laudable zeal, the exertions of the +Legislature, and establishing schools at their own expense. + +[22] See copy in D. H. E., Vol. I., pp. 211-213. + + +"Provision is made by law for the translation of some of the more +promising scholars from the Common to the District Schools, where the +classics and practical mathematics are taught. In these schools, eleven +in number, there are at present upwards of 300 youth acquiring an +education to qualify them for the different professions; and, although +they can seldom support more than one master, several of the young +gentlemen who have been brought up in them are now eminent in their +professions, and would, by their talents and high principles, do credit +to seminaries of greater name. But the period has arrived when the +District Schools [Grammar Schools] will become still more useful by +confining themselves to the intention of their first establishment, +namely, nurseries for a University--an institution now called for by the +increased population and circumstances of the Colony, and most earnestly +desired by the more respectable inhabitants. + +"There is not in either Province any English Seminary above the rank of +a good school, at which a liberal education can be obtained. Thus the +youth of nearly 300,000 Englishmen have no opportunity of receiving +instruction within the Canadas in Law, Medicine, or Divinity. The +consequence is that many young men coming forward to the learned +professions are obliged to look beyond the Province for the last two +years of their education--undoubtedly the most important and critical of +their lives. Very few are able on account of the great expense to go to +England or Scotland; and the distance is so great and the difficulties +so many that parental anxiety reluctantly trusts children from its +observation and control. The youths are, therefore, in some degree, +compelled to look forward to the United States, where the means of +education, though of a description far inferior to those of Great +Britain, are yet superior to those within the Province, and a growing +necessity is arising of sending them to finish their education in that +country. Now, in the United States, a system prevails unknown to, or +unpractised by, any other nation. In all other countries morals and +religion are made the basis of future instruction, and the first book +put into the hands of children teaches them the domestic, social, and +religious virtues; but in the United States politics pervade the whole +system of instruction. The school books from the very first elements are +stuffed with praises of their own institutions and breathe hatred to +everything English. To such a country our youth may go, strongly +attached to their native land and all its establishments, but by hearing +them continually depreciated and those of America praised, these +attachments will, in many, be gradually weakened, and some may become +fascinated with that liberty which has degenerated into licentiousness +and imbibe, perhaps unconsciously, sentiments unfriendly to things of +which Englishmen are proud.... + +"The establishment of a University at the seat of Government will +complete a regular system of education in Upper Canada from the letters +of the alphabet to the most profound investigations of science.... In +regard to the profession of medicine it is melancholy to think that more +than three-fourths of the present practitioners have been educated or +attended lectures in the United States.... There are, as yet, only +twenty-two clergymen in Upper Canada, the greater number from England. +It is essential that young men coming forward to the Church should be +educated entirely within the Province, but for this there is no +provision.... But the wants of the Province are becoming great, and +however much disposed the elder clergy may be to bring forward young men +to the sacred profession, they have neither time nor means of doing it +with sufficient effect. There can be nothing of that zeal, of that union +and mutual attachment, of that deep theological and literary enquiry and +anxiety to excel, which would be found among men collected at the +University, and here it is not irrelevant to observe that it is of the +greatest importance that the education of the Colony should be conducted +by the clergy. + +"Nothing can be more manifest than that this Colony has not yet felt the +advantage of a religious establishment. What can twenty-two clergymen +do, scattered over a country of nearly six hundred miles in length? Can +we be surprised that, under such circumstances, the religious benefits +of the ecclesiastical establishment are unknown, and sectaries of all +descriptions have increased on every side? And when it is further +considered that the religious teachers of all other Protestant +denominations, a very few respectable ministers of the Church of +Scotland excepted, come almost universally from the Republican States of +America, where they gather their knowledge and form their sentiments, it +is evident that if the Imperial Government does not step forward with +efficient help, the mass of the population will be nurtured and +instructed in hostility to all our institutions, both civil and +religious.... From all which it appears highly expedient to establish a +university at the seat of Government, to complete the system of +education in the Colony at which all the branches requisite for +qualifying young men for the learned professions may be taught.... The +principal and professors, except those of Medicine and Law, should be +clergymen of the Established Church; and no tutor, teacher, or officer +who is not a member of that Church should ever be employed in the +institution." + +I have given this long quotation from Rev. Dr. Strachan's report for +several reasons. It shows very clearly the point of view of a remarkable +man who had much to do with educational affairs in Upper Canada for a +period of nearly seventy years. It shows his zeal for higher education, +his belief in the efficacy of a religious establishment, his narrow +bigotry and intolerance of all outside of an establishment, his +old-world belief that the clergy should control education, his loyal +attachment to British institutions, and above all, to those who read +between the lines, his lack of real interest in elementary education. He +is perfectly satisfied with the state of the Common Schools, although +they were then accommodating less than one in twenty of the total +population. The schools of which he says, "which are now, by the +exertions of Your Excellency, placed on an excellent footing, requiring +no other improvements than the means of multiplying their number," were +conducted in rude buildings, without any apparatus, with a motley +assortment of textbooks, and taught in many cases by ignorant itinerant +schoolmasters who were of no use at any other occupation, and who +received from $80 to $200 a year! Little can ever be expected in the way +of improvement from those who are wholly satisfied with present +conditions, and it is safe to say that any improvements that took place +in the Common Schools of Canada under the _regime_ of the Rev. Dr. +Strachan were owing to other causes than the efforts put forth by that +gentleman. The Common Schools of Upper Canada had to wait for a new +birth--until Ryerson breathed life into them. + +Rev. Dr. Strachan's Report is interesting for another reason--it deals +with the proposed King's College and its relations with what Dr. +Strachan calls the "religious establishment" in Canada. This "religious +establishment" was to have as its basis the one-seventh of all lands in +Upper Canada as provided for by the Constitutional Act of 1791. Now +these two things, the Clergy Reserves and King's College, caused more +trouble to the Canadian Legislature and engendered more bitter feeling +among the people of Upper Canada than any other two questions that ever +were debated in the Parliament of Upper Canada, or in the Parliament of +the united Canadas. In the Parliamentary struggle over both these +questions the Rev. Dr. Strachan was an active and valiant leader of the +party of privilege, and among those who led the opposing forces to a +final victory none was more courageous or more successful than Dr. +Ryerson. + +Dr. Strachan went to England in 1826 to use his personal influence +towards securing a Royal Charter for a University. He there issued an +appeal to the English people for aid on the ground that the proposed +College would be largely occupied in educating clergymen for the +Anglican Church.[23] A Royal Charter, making the proposed university a +close corporation under the control of Anglican clergymen, was obtained. +Besides granting the charter the British Government made a grant toward +buildings of L1,000 a year for sixteen years. + +[23] See "An Appeal to the Friends of Religion and Literature in behalf +of the University of Upper Canada." By John Strachan, Archdeacon of +York, Upper Canada, 1826. + + +When the Legislative Assembly met in 1828 several members presented +numerously signed petitions praying for definite information about the +newly granted charter of King's College. The Governor sent down a copy +of the charter which was referred to a select committee. The committee +protested against the nature of the charter in that the university was +to become an Anglican institution, supported out of public funds. This +they thought unjust, inasmuch as only a small proportion of the settlers +of Upper Canada were Anglicans.[24] The committee also drafted an +address to His Majesty the King. This address was adopted by the +Assembly, and immediately despatched to His Majesty by the Governor. The +address was courteous and loyal in tone, but the exact condition of +affairs in Canada was made clear. The King was petitioned to cancel the +charter to King's College, and grant one that would make possible a +university for all classes. This address to His Majesty and the protest +of the Assembly of Upper Canada attracted the attention of a select +committee of the Imperial Parliament. This committee[25] reported +against that part of the Charter which required religious tests. George +Ryerson, of Canada, gave valuable evidence before this committee +relative to Canadian affairs. It seems doubtful whether His Majesty's +advisers, when the King's College charter was given, were really made +aware of the conditions of society in Canada. Those Canadians who had +the ears of His Majesty's advisers were, for the most part, interested +in forming and strengthening an Anglican Establishment. + +[24] See Journals of House of Assembly for Upper Canada, 1828. + +[25] See Report made 22nd July, 1828, by Select Committee of House of +Commons, appointed to inquire into the State of Civil Government in +Canada. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +_EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA FROM 1783 TO 1844--(Continued)._ + + +Late in the year 1828, Sir Peregrine Maitland was replaced as +Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada by Sir John Colborne. About the same +time Sir George Murray, who had acted as Administrator of the Government +of Upper Canada in 1815, and who consequently knew something of Canadian +affairs, became Colonial Secretary in the Imperial Parliament. In +acknowledging receipt of the petition to His Majesty of the Assembly of +Upper Canada protesting against the King's College charter, Sir George +Murray, in a communication to Sir John Colborne, said:[26] "It would be +deservedly a subject of regret to His Majesty's Government, if the +University, recently established at York, should prove to have been +founded upon principles which cannot be made to accord with the general +feelings and opinions of those for whose advantage it was intended.... I +have observed that your predecessor (Sir Peregrine Maitland) in the +Government of Upper Canada differs from the House of Assembly as to the +general prevalence of objections to the University founded upon the +degree of exclusive connection which it has with the Church of England. +It seems reasonable to conclude, however, that on such a subject as this +an address adopted by a full House of Assembly, with scarcely any +dissentient voices,[27] must be considered to express the prevailing +opinion in the Province upon this subject. + +[26] See copy of Sir George Murray's letter in D. H. E., Vol. I., pp. +257 and 258. + +[27] The vote stood 21 for and 9 against. + + +"In the event, therefore, of its appearing to you to be proper to invite +the Legislative Council and House of Assembly to resume the +consideration of this question, you will apprise them that their +representations on the existing charter of the University have attracted +the serious attention of His Majesty's Government and that the opinion +which may be expressed by the Legislative Council and House of Assembly +on that subject will not fail to receive the most prompt and serious +attention." + +Shortly after the receipt of this communication Sir John Colborne, as +Chancellor of King's College, convened the College Council and declared +that no immediate steps were to be taken toward active University work, +and that not one stone should be put upon another until certain +alterations had been made in the charter. + +In 1829 the Chairman of the General Board of Education, Rev. Dr. +Strachan, presented to the Legislative Assembly his first annual report. +It is an able and very suggestive document. It showed 372 pupils[28] in +the eleven Grammar Schools, and 401 Common Schools with 10,712 pupils. +Dr. Strachan had personally visited each Grammar School during 1828, and +had incidentally learned something of the Common Schools. Referring to +Grammar Schools he says:[29] "It will be seen that in some places girls +are admitted.[30] This happens from the want of good female schools, and +perhaps from the more rapid progress which children are supposed to make +under experienced and able schoolmasters. It is to be wished, however, +that separate schools for the sexes were established, as the admission +of female children interferes with the government which is required in +classical seminaries; it is, nevertheless, an inconvenience of a +temporary nature, which will gradually pass away as the population +increases in wealth and numbers." This "inconvenience of a temporary +nature" persisted until 1868, when girls were formally admitted as +pupils in Grammar Schools. + +[28] In 1827 there were 329 pupils, of whom 8 in the Cornwall School +were girls. + +[29] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. I., pp. 266 and 267. + +[30] The Report for 1828 showed 25 girls in the eleven District +Schools. + + +Dr. Strachan pointed out very clearly in this Report that the Common +Schools could never improve very much until the teachers were better +paid. He also made an excellent practical suggestion.[31] "The +Provincial Board, therefore, would submit with all deference, that in +addition to the public allowance, even if increased beyond its present +amount, a power should be given to the Townships to assess themselves +for this special purpose." + +[31] See original Report in Appendix to Journals of Assembly, U. C., pp. +16 and 17 of Appendix on Education. + + +Here we have laid down the correct principle of support for public +schools, and one cannot but feel that had Dr. Strachan followed up this +suggestion by pressing it upon the Legislature, and by discussing it +with school-managers and the general public, he might have secured its +early adoption. + +When the Legislature convened in 1829, Sir John Colborne in the Speech +from the Throne[32] made direct reference to education as follows: "The +Public [Grammar] Schools are generally increasing, but their +organization appears susceptible of improvement. Measures will be +adopted, I hope, to reform the Royal Grammar School [the District School +at York] and to incorporate it with the University recently endowed by +His Majesty, and to introduce a system in that Seminary which will open +to the youth of the Province the means of receiving a liberal and +extensive course of instruction. Unceasing exertions should be made to +attract able masters to this country, where the population bears no +proportion to the number of offices and employments that must +necessarily be held by men of education and acquirements, for the +support of the laws and of your free institutions." + +[32] See Journals of Assembly for U. C. for 1829, p. 5. + + +This message from the Governor may require some explanation. In the +first place let us note that Sir John Colborne was an able and +enlightened man, sincerely desirous of giving to Upper Canada a +government that would be acceptable to the mass of the people. He seems +to have realized clearly that the Assembly was a fairly accurate +reflection of public opinion, and that no policy could ultimately +prevail unless it was in harmony with its wishes. His action in +arresting the working of King's College was one proof of this, although +his subsequent action in founding Upper Canada College solely on his own +responsibility showed his belief in the power of the Crown to take +independent action. He saw that the District Grammar Schools were very +inefficient and were touching the lives of an insignificant proportion +of the people of Upper Canada. He foresaw that for some years the +revenue to be derived from the endowment of King's College would not +support a very pretentious institution, and that for such an +institution, even if it were in operation, there would be very few +students prepared by previous study to profit from its courses. In his +opinion the immediate wants of the country would be better served by a +high-class school than by a university. Hence his proposal to reform the +Royal Grammar School at York and incorporate it with King's College. + +The Assembly of 1829 contained many eminent men, of whom it is +sufficient to mention Marshall Bidwell (the Speaker), William Lyon +Mackenzie, W. W. Baldwin (father of Hon. Robert Baldwin), and John +Rolph, the latter a graduate of the University of Cambridge. The +Assembly appointed a select committee on Education. This committee made +an extensive report[33] upon both District Grammar and Common Schools. +In regard to the former they were pronounced in their condemnation and +recommended their abolition. The report claimed that the District or +Grammar School Trustees, appointed by the Crown, were chosen to promote +the interests of the Anglican Church; that in many cases the schools +themselves were merely stepping-stones for the clergy of the Anglican +Church; that they were under no efficient inspection; that they were +quite as expensive to those parents who did not live immediately beside +them as much better schools in the United States; and finally that as +only 108 pupils in the whole Province were studying languages in these +schools, that their work could be done equally well by really good +Common Schools. The report lamented the low salaries of teachers in +Common Schools and suggested that no Government grants should be given +unless the managers of schools themselves raised by subscription equal +amounts. The report also protested against the payment out of public +funds of L300 a year to Rev. Dr. Strachan, as Chairman of the General +Board,[34] and against his assumption that reports of District Schools +should be made to him instead of to the Lieutenant-Governor. The report +expressed a hope that something might be done to encourage the +publication of textbooks in Canada, and concluded with expressing +approval of the Governor's plan to found a seminary of a high class, +which should be free from sectarian influences and afford advanced +instruction to the youth of Canada. + +[33] See Report in Appendix to Journals of Assembly for 1829, p. 42. + +[34] The General Board of Education had been organized by Sir Peregrine +Maitland wholly on his own authority and that of the Home Government. +The Assembly naturally refused to acknowledge any obligation to support +it with public funds. + + +Later in the session of 1829 this select committee on Education prepared +a series of resolutions which were adopted by the Assembly. The +following are the chief points in the resolutions:--[35] + +1. That the Governor, or Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, not being +amenable for his conduct to any tribunal, ought not to be Chancellor of +King's College. + +2. That it ought not to be required that the President of King's College +be a clergyman of the Anglican Church, and that he ought to be elected +or appointed for a stated term. + +3. That the Archdeacon of York ought not by virtue of his clerical +office to become President of King's College. + +4. That the President and Professors of King's College ought not to be +required to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles. + +5. That the Degree of Doctor of Divinity ought to be conferred by King's +College upon any professing Christian who passed the required +examinations in Classical, Biblical, and other subjects of learning. + +6. That wherever the charter of King's College is in any way sectarian +it should be amended. + +[35] See Appendix to Journals of Assembly of U.C. for 1829, pp. 72 and +73. + + +The Governor asked the Legislative Council to consider in what way the +charter of King's College could be amended to make it more acceptable to +the people of Upper Canada. The Council in reply recommended that +instead of the Archdeacon of York any Anglican clergyman should be +eligible for President. They also recommended that tests for the Council +be dispensed with. + +Having the sanction of the Home Government, and feeling sure of the +active support of the Assembly, Sir John Colborne immediately put in +execution his plan of forming a high-class school to replace the Royal +Grammar School at York. He caused advertisements to be inserted in the +British papers for masters. The head master was to have a house, L600 +per annum, and the privilege of taking boarders. The classical and +mathematical masters were to receive L300 a year and similar privileges. +The Assembly had suggested that the new school should be known as +Colborne College, but the name adopted was Upper Canada College. The +school opened in 1830 with a staff of seven specialists, nearly all +chosen in England. The work was carried on in the buildings of the old +Grammar School until handsome and elaborate buildings were erected on +Russell Square, north of King Street. An endowment of some 60,000 acres +from the School lands was given the new institution. It was generally +felt that the new school would, for the present, supply the want of a +university, and also make it unnecessary for Canadian youths to complete +their education in the United States. + +Before Upper Canada College had been working a year a very +numerously-signed petition was presented by some York patrons of the +school praying for some modification of the exclusively classical nature +of the programme for those boys destined for commerce and mechanical +pursuits. The Governor's attempt to give Canadians a high-class +collegiate school seemed only partially successful. The error was in +attempting to adapt to a new country a form of school that suited the +requirements of a select class in an old and highly civilized country. +Latin and Greek must be crammed into boys whether or not they had any +natural aptitude for language study, and quite irrespective of their +future occupations in life. + +The founding and liberal equipment of Upper Canada College had one +effect that might easily have been foretold. Petitions came from almost +every Grammar School District praying for endowed and well-equipped +schools similar to Upper Canada College. The petitioners resented the +concentration at York of two important institutions, Upper Canada +College and King's College, deriving support from an endowment +originally set aside to give educational facilities to the whole of +Upper Canada. + +The Assembly of 1833, through a select committee, made a minute +examination into the affairs of Upper Canada College, and passed a +resolution recommending that it be incorporated with King's College. I +give here quotations from two writers on Upper Canada College, showing +how differently things appear when viewed through different eyes. The +first is from a letter written in 1833 by Rev. Thomas Radcliffe.[36] +"Future generations will bless the memory of Sir John Colborne, who, to +the many advantages derived from the equity and wisdom of his +government, has added that of a magnificent foundation [in Upper Canada +College] for the purposes of literary instruction. The lowest salary of +any of the professors of this institution is L300 per annum, with the +accommodation of a noble brick house and the privilege of taking +boarders at L50 per annum." + +[36] See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. II., pp. 120 and 121. + + +The next is from "Sketches," published by William Lyon Mackenzie, +London, 1833. "Splendid incomes are given to the masters of the new +[Upper Canada] College, culled at Oxford by the Vice-Chancellor, and +dwellings furnished to the professors (we may say) by the sweat of the +brow of the Canadian labourer. All these advantages and others not now +necessary to be mentioned, are insufficient to gratify the rapacious +appetite of the 'Established Church' managers, who, in order to +accumulate wealth and live in opulence, charge the children of His +Majesty's subjects ten times as high fees as are required by the less +amply endowed Seminary at Quebec. They have another reason for so doing. +The College (already a monopoly) becomes almost an exclusive school for +the families of the Government officers, and the few who, through their +means, have, in York, already attained a pecuniary independence out of +the public treasury. The College never was intended for the people, nor +did the Executive endow it thus amply that all classes might apply to +the fountain of knowledge."[37] + +[37] See volume in Library of Parliament, Ottawa, pp. 190 and 191. + + +As time passed the College founded by Sir John Colborne did good work as +a secondary school for people of wealth, but all attempts to make it +popular with the mass of the people proved ineffective. The Legislature +gave it an annual grant somewhat unwillingly.[38] The buildings were +erected, and part of the annual expenses paid from advances made by the +King's College Council. + +[38] See D. H. E., Vol. III., p. 123. + + +By an Act passed in 1839[39] there was an attempt made to raise the +College to the dignity of a temporary university. This action displeased +the Council of King's College because it tended to delay the opening of +lectures in that institution. In 1849, when the Baldwin University Bill +made an independent corporation of Upper Canada College, that +institution was indebted to the University for nearly $40,000, which was +never repaid.[40] + +[39] See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 170 and 171. + +[40] For the later history of Upper Canada College see "History of Upper +Canada College," by Principal George Dickson. + + +In 1831 the Methodists began to build at Cobourg the Upper Canada +Academy, which was to be open to all religious denominations. They felt +that although Upper Canada College was non-sectarian in a legal sense, +yet, inasmuch as the principal and professors were Anglican clergymen, +the institution was essentially an Anglican College. + +At this time the Rev. Egerton Ryerson was editor of _The Christian +Guardian_ newspaper, the official organ of the Methodist Conference. In +an editorial, April, 1831, he thus refers to the proposed Upper Canada +Academy: "It is the first literary institution which has been commenced +by any body of ministers in accordance with the frequently expressed +wishes of the people of Upper Canada. The Methodist Conference have not +sought endowments of public lands for the establishment of an +institution, contrary to the voice of the people as expressed by their +representatives.... Desirous of promoting more extensively the interests +of the rising generation and of the country generally, we have resolved +upon the establishment of a Seminary of Learning--we have done so upon +liberal principles--we have not reserved any peculiar privileges to +ourselves for the education of our children; we have published the +constitution for your examination; and now we appeal to your liberality +for assistance.... On the characteristics of the system of education +which it is contemplated to pursue in the proposed Seminary, we may +observe that it will be such as to produce habits of intellectual labour +and activity; a diligent and profitable improvement of time; bodily +health and vigour, a fitness and relish for agricultural and mechanical, +as well as for other pursuits; virtuous principles and Christian morals. +On the importance of education generally we may remark, it is as +necessary as the light--it should be as common as water, and as free as +air.... Education among the people is the best security of a good +government and constitutional liberty; it yields a steady, unbending +support to the former, and effectually protects the latter. An educated +people are always a loyal people to good government; and the first +object of a wise government should be the education of the people. An +educated people are always enterprising in all kinds of general and +local improvements. An ignorant population are equally fit for, and are +liable to be, slaves of despots and the dupes of demagogues; sometimes, +like the unsettled ocean, they can be thrown into incontrollable +agitation by every wind that blows; at other times, like the +uncomplaining ass, they tamely submit to the most unreasonable +burdens.... Sound learning is of great worth even in religion; the +wisest and best instructed Christians are the most steady, and may be +the most useful. If a man be a child in knowledge he is likely to be +tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, and +often lies at the mercy of interested, designing men; the more knowledge +he has the safer is his state. If our circumstances be such that we have +few means of improvement, we should turn them to the best account. +Partial knowledge is better than total ignorance; and he who cannot get +all he may wish, must take heed to acquire all that he can. If total +ignorance be a bad and dangerous thing, every degree of knowledge +lessens both the evil and the danger."[41] + +[41] See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. II., pp. 7 and 8. + + +Ryerson wrote this when he was only twenty-eight years of age, but it +foreshadows the fundamental principles upon which he later attempted to +base a national system of education. + +It is interesting to note that in this same year the United Presbytery +of Upper Canada were discussing the establishment of a Literary and +Theological Seminary at Pleasant Bay, in Prince Edward County. This +seminary never was established, but the agitation for it led to the +founding of Queen's University, at Kingston. + +While Methodist and Presbyterian clergy were forming plans for +academies, the members of the Legislative Assembly were debating a +series of resolutions on the School Reserves and the failure of the +people of Upper Canada to secure the free Grammar Schools for which the +Crown Lands were appropriated in 1798. Several things are made plain in +these resolutions regarding the attitude of the popularly elected branch +of the Legislature. The following stand out prominently:-- + +1. That the existing Grammar Schools were wholly inadequate to perform +the work for which they were created. + +2. That the real intentions of the Crown in setting apart the immense +School Reserves in 1798 had never been carried out. + +3. That the successive Canadian Administrations had been largely +concerned in appropriating the lion's share of these Reserves for +University education. + +4. That the School Reserves of 1798, with proper management, would be +now (1831) sufficiently productive to give great assistance to education +if applied in accord with the real wishes of the people. + +5. That the money received from these School lands from time to time +ought to be paid in to the Receiver-General and disposed of only by +vote of the Legislature. + +Further protests were made against the exclusive nature of King's +College charter, and the Assembly was assured by Sir John Colborne that +some changes would be made. As a matter of fact, on the 2nd of November, +1831, Lord Goderich, the British Colonial Secretary, in a lengthy +communication to Governor Colborne, showed that His Majesty's Government +was fully seized of the situation in regard to the charter of King's +College. Lord Goderich said,[42] "I am to convey through you to the +Members of the Corporation of King's College, at the earnest +recommendation and advice of His Majesty's Government, that they do +forthwith surrender[43] to His Majesty the charter of King's College of +Upper Canada, with any lands that may have been granted them." Lord +Goderich then proceeds to intimate that a new charter will be granted by +the Legislature of Upper Canada. Lord Goderich further proceeds to give +some very sound advice concerning the necessity of mutual forbearance +among a people of diverse religious creeds. + +[42] See copy of despatch in D. H. E., Vol. II., p. 55. + +[43] This the College Council positively refused to do. + + +In the Assembly there was shown an intelligent grasp of the educational +needs of the country and a determination to secure better schools. Had +the Executive Council and Legislative Council been equally zealous in +the cause of education, the fathers and mothers of the generation which +profited from Ryerson's reforms might themselves have had the advantage +of good schools. + +The following extracts from an address to His Excellency, Sir John +Colborne, will show the temper and wishes of the Assembly: "We, His +Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Upper Canada in +Provincial Parliament assembled, most respectfully beg leave to +represent that there is in this Province a very general want of +education; that the insufficiency of the Common School fund [the total +Government grant for schools in 1831 was $11,200] to support competent, +respectable, and well-educated teachers, has degraded Common School +teaching from a regular business to a mere matter of convenience to +transient persons, or common idlers, who often teach the school one +season and leave it vacant until it accommodates some other like person +to take it in hand, whereby the minds of our youth are left without +cultivation, or, what is still worse, frequently with vulgar, low-bred, +vicious, or intemperate examples before them in the capacity of +monitors."[44] The address proceeded to state that there was urgent need +of a Government fund to secure larger grants for teachers' salaries, and +asked His Excellency to lay before the Colonial Secretary a plan to set +aside one million acres of waste land in Upper Canada for the support of +Common Schools. + +[44] See Journals of Assembly, U. C., 1831, p. 40. + + +In this Address the Assembly virtually said to the Crown, "Give us some +fixed capital as a source of revenue and we will speedily reorganize our +schools." The Assembly knew what was needed and knew how to remedy the +existing conditions, but was powerless because the Crown revenue was +subject only to the control of the Executive Council. + +The session of 1832-33[45] was very active from an educational point of +view. The Assembly was informed by His Excellency that the Crown had +consented to give over to the Legislature, for the support of Grammar +Schools, control of the 258,330 acres of School lands, being the balance +of the original grant of half a million acres made in 1798, and from +which had already been made extensive grants to endow King's College and +Upper Canada College. Much of the remainder of this land, which was now +vested in the Legislature, was not of a superior quality. It had also +been selected in township blocks and naturally had very little value +until settlements were made in surrounding townships. + +[45] The previous session, William Lyon Mackenzie had been expelled from +the Assembly because of his criticism of the Governor, in his newspaper, +the _Colonial Advocate_. It is interesting to note that Mackenzie's +criticisms of the Governor were largely based on His Excellency's +actions in regard to education. + + +The Assembly prepared an Address to His Majesty praying for a grant of +one million acres of Crown lands for the establishment and support of +Township Common Schools. As a measure of immediate relief for these +schools, a bill was passed by the two branches of the Legislature, and +assented to by His Excellency, providing for two years an additional +grant of $22,000. This sum was allotted to the several Districts, +approximately in proportion to population, but no Board of Trustees was +to receive any of this grant unless they secured for their teacher a sum +equal at least to twice the Government grant. + +The most significant feature of the session, however, was a Common +School Bill, introduced into the Assembly by Mr. Mahlon Burwell, and +read a first time. The bill proposed to repeal all previous Common +School legislation; to establish a General Board and also District +Boards of Education; to grant L10,000 to Common Schools as a Legislative +grant and to assess a further L10,000 on the rateable property of the +Districts. + +This bill, had it become law, would have anticipated Ryerson's +legislation by nearly twenty years, and it is interesting to note the +comments made upon it by that gentleman, who was at this time editor of +the _Christian Guardian_. The _Guardian_ of January 15th, 1834, +expressed a general approval of the plan of taxation but was totally +opposed to the _appointment_ of Boards of Education. After showing that +the principle of local taxation was borrowed from the New England +States, where it was working satisfactorily, Ryerson says: "The next +leading feature of the bill is the appointment of a General Board of +Education and also District Boards of Education. This is proposed to be +left to the Governor, or person administering the Government, a +proposition, in our opinion, radically objectionable. It makes the +system of education, in theory, a mere engine of the Executive, a system +which is liable to all the abuse, suspicion, jealousy and opposition +caused by despotism; and it withholds from the system of Common School +education, in its first and prominent feature, that character of common +interest and harmonious co-operation which, as we humbly conceive, are +essential to its success, and even to its acceptance with the Province. +Education is an object in which the Government, as an individual portion +of the Province, and the people at large possess, in some respects, a +common interest, consequently they should exercise a joint or common +control.... And in an equitable and patriotic administration of +Government, the more its agents and the people's agents are associated +together in promoting the common weal, the more strongly will mutual +respect and confidence and co-operation between the people and the +Government be established, the less room there will be for Executive +negligence, or partiality, or popular or local abuse; and the less +opportunity there will be for either despotic oppression or demagogue +misrepresentation." + +In 1834 there was a General Election, which resulted in the return to +the Assembly of a large majority in favour of reform principles, and +wholly opposed to the arbitrary and aristocratic ideas of the +Legislative Council. Bidwell, Rolph, and William Lyon Mackenzie were +three leading spirits in the new House. + +When the Assembly opened the Governor laid before the members a despatch +from the Colonial Office, stating His Majesty's readiness to transfer +240,000 acres in the settled townships in return for the School lands +which were in township blocks and not then saleable. + +A bill was passed by the Legislature renewing for two years, 1835 and +1836, the increased grant of L5,650 for Common Schools. + +A grant of L200 was also made to Mechanics' Institutes at York and a +grant of L100 to one at Kingston. + +Considerable time was spent in the Assembly upon two bills which were +rejected by the Executive Council. One was a bill to regulate Common +Schools which would have given them a thorough organization and made +them subject to popular control by elected Boards and Superintendents. +The Executive Council had no faith in control by the people. They +doubted whether "the respectable yeomanry of the country" were capable +of choosing suitable Superintendents. The other was a bill to amend the +charter of King's College. These amendments were designed to remove all +religious tests and to have the College governed by a Council, half of +whom were to be appointed by the Assembly and half by the Legislative +Council. The only reasons given by the Council for rejecting these +amendments were that they knew of no university so governed and that a +university must have as a basis some established form of religion. In +the meantime, while the hide-bound worshippers of European traditions +who made up the Council were delaying the active work of King's College, +the youth of Upper Canada, preparing for the learned professions, were +compelled to seek university advantages in the United States or Great +Britain. More than this, owing to the lack of advantages in their own +country, many who could otherwise have afforded it were wholly deprived +of the higher education and training necessary for the professions they +had in view. + +The Legislative Council at this time, and for many years afterwards, +made boasts of their loyalty to the Crown, and upon some occasions +arrogated to themselves and their friends a monopoly of all loyal spirit +in Upper Canada, and yet they firmly refused to surrender the charter +and endowment of King's College when requested and even urged to do so +by His Majesty's Colonial Secretary[46]. From 1831 to 1835, the Council +refused to accept any substantial amendments made in that charter +suggested by the Assembly, although Lord Goderich had, in 1831, made it +quite clear that His Majesty's Government wished the question of the +charter to be settled by the Upper Canada Legislature. + +[46] See letter of Lord Goderich of Nov. 2nd, 1831, to Sir John +Colborne. + + +When, upon the 6th of May, 1835, Sir John Colborne sent to the Colonial +Secretary the King's College Charter Amendment Bill passed by the +Assembly, he urged the immediate opening of King's College, although he +had declared to the College Council that "not one stone should be placed +upon another" until the charter was amended. It may also be gathered +from this despatch to Lord Glenelg[47] that Sir John Colborne +accompanied it with a draft of amendments which he thought would be +acceptable to both branches of the Legislature of Upper Canada. His +Lordship was too astute a politician and too thoroughly informed +concerning Canadian public opinion to be easily misled. Sir John +Colborne, as a concession to the Assembly, proposed that five out of +seven of the governing body should be permanently of the faith of the +Church of England. The other two members were to be the +Lieutenant-Governor and the Archdeacon of York! Lord Glenelg, in reply, +says: "I cannot hesitate to express my opinion that this plan claims for +the Established Church of England privileges which those who best +understand and most deeply prize her real interests would not think it +prudent to assert for her in any British Province on the North American +Continent.... I would respectfully and earnestly impress upon the +Members of both these Bodies [Assembly and Council] the expediency of +endeavouring, by mutual concessions, to meet on some common ground. +Especially would I beg the Legislative Councillors to remember that, if +there be any one subject on which, more than others, it is vain and +dangerous to oppose the deliberate wishes of the great mass of the +people, the system of national instruction to be pursued in the moral +and religious education of youth is emphatically that subject."[48] Lord +Glenelg concludes by referring the question of amending the charter back +to the Legislature of Upper Canada and states that His Majesty will act +as mediator only if the two branches of the Legislature fail to agree +and then only upon their presenting a joint Address. + +[47] See D. H. E., Vol. II., p. 214. + +[48] See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. II., pp. 213 and 214. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +_EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA FROM 1783 TO 1844--(Continued)._ + + +During the Legislative session of 1836, Sir John Colborne was replaced +by Sir Francis Bond Head as Lieutenant-Governor. It would seem that the +difference of opinion between Sir John Colborne and Lord Glenelg of the +Colonial Office was responsible for the former's asking to be recalled. +His last official act as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and one +intimately connected with educational controversy at a later date, was +to sign patents for the endowment of forty-three Anglican rectories out +of the Clergy Reserve lands. + +In the Legislature no real progress was made in education, although a +lengthy report[49] and a draft School Bill were presented by a member of +the Assembly, Doctor Charles Duncomb. This report was based on a visit +paid by Doctor Duncomb to the Eastern, Middle and Western United States. +It is interesting and emphasizes the importance of a suitable education +for women. + +[49] See Appendix to Journals of Assembly of U.C., 1836. See also +Assembly Journals for 1836, pp. 213 and 214. + +The most important event of the year in its after effects upon education +in Upper Canada was the formal opening of Upper Canada Academy[50] at +Cobourg, under a Royal Charter secured by Egerton Ryerson. + +[50] See Chapter I. + + +In resigning his position as editor of _The Guardian_, the official +organ of Methodism, Ryerson referred to the condition of education in +Upper Canada, emphasizing the supreme importance of elementary +instruction for every child in the country. It is also interesting to +note that at this date, when he had probably never dreamed of having any +official connection with elementary education, he should have touched +the very root of the problem by pointing out the utter impossibility of +making any real progress without a body of educated and trained +teachers. + +The Legislature of 1837 set at rest for a few years the vexed question +of an amendment to King's College charter. The majority of the +Legislative Council were stoutly opposed to any modifications that would +lessen the control of the Anglican Church, but they saw that public +opinion was strong enough to prevent the opening of the college until +amendments were made. They also saw that they were running a risk of +having the charter cancelled and a new one granted by the Crown. They +accordingly accepted certain amendments proposed by the Legislative +Assembly. These amendments[51] gave _ex-officio_ seats on the College +Council to the Speaker of the two branches of the Legislature and to the +Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General of Upper Canada; they removed +from members of the Council and from professors every semblance of a +religious test except the following declaration: "I do solemnly and +sincerely declare that I believe in the authenticity and Divine +Inspiration of the Old and New Testaments and in the Doctrine of the +Holy Trinity"; they removed absolutely from religious tests all students +and candidates for degrees; they made the Judges of His Majesty's Court +of King's Bench visitors instead of the Lord Bishop of Quebec, and +vested the appointment of future presidents in His Majesty instead of +conferring that office _ex-officio_ upon the Archdeacon of York. + +[51] See Journals of Assembly of Upper Canada for 1837, Legislative +Library, Toronto. + + +Steps were taken at once to place the college in a position to begin +work. A very able and comprehensive scheme[52] of studies and courses +was drawn up by the President, Dr. Strachan, and everything promised +favourably, when the Rebellion broke out and all operations were +suspended. + +[52] See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 93-98. + + +The following sketch of the Common Schools of this period, written by +Mr. Malcolm Campbell, an old teacher of Middlesex, is inserted because +it is believed to be typical of Upper Canada conditions. Mr. Campbell +began to teach in 1835:-- + +"The School Houses, during the time I taught, were built of round logs +about 14 x 16 ft., with clapboard roofs and open fireplaces. A window +sash on three sides for light, a board being placed beneath them, on +which to keep copies and slates. There were long hewn benches without +backs for seats. There were no blackboards or maps on the chinked walls. +There was a miscellaneous assortment of books, which made it very +difficult to form classes. Cobb's and Webster's Spelling-books +afterwards gave place to Mavor's. The Testament was used as a Textbook, +a supply of which was furnished by Rev. Benjamin Cronyn, afterwards +Bishop of Huron. The English Reader, and Hume and Smollett's History of +England were used by the more advanced classes. Lennie's Grammar, and +Dilworth's and Hutton's Arithmetics, and the History of Cortez' Conquest +of Mexico were used, also a Geography and Atlas, and a variety of books. +Goose-quills were used for pens, which the teacher made and mended at +least twice a day. The hours of teaching were somewhat longer than at +present, and there was no recess. The number of scholars varied from 15 +to 30, and school was kept open eight to ten months in the year with a +Saturday vacation every two weeks. Teachers, after having taught school +for some months, underwent a pretty thorough oral examination by the +District Board of Education, and were granted First, Second, or Third +Class certificates according to their merits, real or supposed. They had +the Government grant apportioned to them according to their standing. +Mr. Donald Currie, in the section west of me, drew annually $120 on the +ground of his high qualifications as well as his teaching Latin. My +share of the grant was $80. Mr. Benson east of me drew $50.... The +Government grant was what the teacher mainly depended on for cash. The +rest of his pay, which varied from $10 to $16 a month, Government grant +included, was mostly paid in "kind," and very hard to collect at that. + +"The Trustees in these early days assumed duties beyond what they now +possess. In engaging a teacher, they examined him as to his +qualifications in the three R's and as much farther as any of themselves +knew. They fixed the rate bill which each scholar should pay, usually at +a dollar and fifty cents a quarter; and any family sending more than +three scholars should go free, as well as the children of widows.... The +teacher was expected to 'board round' at that rate of pay. He usually +boarded in one or two houses near the school, doing chores morning and +evening. The Trustees assessed each scholar with half a cord of wood +during winter, which was scantily supplied; sometimes the teacher and +bigger boys went with an axe to the woods to make up the deficiency. The +trustees were to examine the school quarterly, and sign the Quarterly +Reports so that the teacher might draw the Government grant."[53] + +[53] See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 131, 132. + + +The following "Rules for the Government of Common Schools" prescribed by +the Board of Education for the Niagara District is taken from Gourley's +"Statistical Account of Upper Canada, 1817-1822," Vol. II.; Appendix, +pp. 116-119:-- + + "1. The Master to commence the labours of the day by a short prayer. + + "2. School to commence each day at 9 o'clock and five hours at least + to be given to teaching during the day, except on Saturdays. + + "3. Diligence and Emulation to be cherished and encouraged among the + pupils by rewards judiciously distributed, to consist of little + pictures and books, according to the age of the scholar. + + "4. Cleanliness and Good Order to be indispensable; and corporal + punishment seldom necessary, except for bad habits learned at + home--lying, disobedience, obstinacy and perverseness--these + sometimes require chastisement; but gentleness even in these cases + would do better with most children. + + "5. All other offences, arising chiefly from liveliness and + inattention, are better corrected by shame, such as gaudy caps, + placing the culprits by themselves, not permitting anyone to play + with them for a day or days, detaining after school hours, or during + a play afternoon, or by ridicule. + + "6. The Master must keep a regular catalogue of his scholars and + mark every day they are absent. + + "7. The forenoons of Wednesday and Saturday to be set apart for + Religious Instruction; to render it agreeable the school should be + furnished with at least ten copies of Barrows' 'Questions on the New + Testament,' and the Teacher to have one copy of the key to these + questions for his own use; the teacher should likewise have a copy + of Murray's 'Power of Religion on the Mind,' Watkin's 'Scripture + Biography,' and Blair's 'Class Book,' the Saturday Lessons of which + are well-calculated to impress religious feeling. + + "Note.--These books are confined to no religious denomination, and + do not prevent the Masters from teaching such Catechism as the + parents of the children may adopt. + + "8. Every day to close with reading publicly a few verses from the + New Testament, proceeding regularly through the Gospels. + + "9. The afternoons of Wednesday and Saturday to be allowed for play. + + "10. A copy of these Rules to be affixed up in some conspicuous + place in the School-room, and to be read publicly to the Scholars + every Monday morning by the Teacher." + +No doubt much good teaching was done in schools nominally governed by +similar codes of instruction. The teacher is always the real force in a +school and good teachers are never slaves to mechanical rules. + +These "rules," however, suggest a form of punishment that was largely +used in those days even by good teachers and has not yet been wholly +banished from the schoolroom--ridicule. Here we see it offered as an +improvement upon corporal punishment. It may have had its advantages +over the brutal punishments sometimes inflicted in the old days, but I +think Dr. Johnson was right in saying that a reasonably severe corporal +punishment was better for both teacher and pupil than either "nagging" +or ridicule. No doubt the systems of Bell and Lancaster were responsible +for the use recommended of ridicule in the Niagara District in 1820. + +One important Bill, "An Act to Provide for the Advancement of +Education,"[54] became law during the session of 1839. This Bill set +apart 250,000 acres of waste lands for the support of District Grammar +Schools, made provision for additional schools in districts where they +were needed, and provided for the erection of new buildings and +assistant masters. The Bill also placed the revenue and management of +these schools under the Council of King's College. In this way King's +College, Upper Canada College, and the District Grammar Schools--all the +machinery of higher education--were brought under central authority. + +[54] See Journals of Legislature of Upper Canada for 1839. Legislative +Library, Toronto. See also copy of bill in D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 170, +171. + + +From a careful reading of a despatch[55] sent by Sir George Arthur to +the Colonial Office, in connection with the Act referred to above, it +seems quite clear that the land grant of 250,000 acres now set apart for +District Grammar Schools was the balance of the original 549,217 acres +granted by the Crown in 1798 for the endowment of Free Grammar Schools +and a University. Thus, after forty years, the intentions of the Crown +regarding Grammar Schools were to be realized. But only in part, because +the Act of 1839 did not make the Grammar Schools free. + +[55] Reprinted in D. H. E. See Vol. III., pp. 173-183. + + +It was confidently hoped by many of the King's College Council, and +especially by the President, Rev. Dr. Strachan, that when the college +charter was amended in 1837 nothing would interfere with the immediate +execution of plans for building and opening King's College. Elaborate +plans and models of a building were prepared and sent out from England, +an architect was employed, advertisements for tenders for a building +were inserted in various newspapers, and the contract was about to be +awarded, when Sir George Arthur hurriedly convened the Council and +ordered an investigation into the finances of the College. + +His suspicions had evidently been awakened by some returns on College +affairs presented in response to an Address by the Assembly. The report +of the special audit committee[56] appointed by the Council revealed a +startling condition of affairs and incidentally a strong argument +against allowing any body or corporation to handle public funds without +an annual audit by someone responsible to Parliament. + +[56] See proceedings of King's College Council, 1837-1840. + + +The Bursar, the Hon. Joseph Wells, a prominent member of the Legislative +Council, had diverted to his own use and that of his needy friends some +L6,374, and the sum of L4,312 had been loaned to the President, Dr. +Strachan. There was in use a very primitive system[57] of book-keeping, +and on the whole just such management as might have been expected from +the close corporation which had, up to 1837, made up the King's College +Council. There was also much mismanagement of the financial affairs of +Upper Canada College. These revelations delayed building operations +until 1842. + +[57] See Report of T. C. Patrick, Vol. II., manuscript Minutes King's +College Council, pp. 68-73. + + +On December 3rd, 1839, the last session of the Legislature of Upper +Canada was opened by Charles Poulett Thompson, afterwards Lord Sydenham. +A Bill was passed granting a charter to the "University of Kingston." +When the Bill was introduced into the Assembly, the name was to be the +"University of Queen's College."[58] Why the change was made does not +seem very clear, but perhaps it was because the promoters of the Bill +were not certain that Her Majesty had given her consent to the use of +her name in the Act. The Act placed the College largely under the +control of the Presbyterian Church and wholly under control of +Presbyterians, but no religious tests were to be exacted from students +or graduates except in Divinity. The 15th section of the charter +authorized the representative of Her Majesty in Canada to pay from the +revenues of King's College a sum sufficient to establish a Chair in +Divinity. This arrangement doubtless was the result of a despatch from +the Colonial Office some years previous to the effect that any +modification of King's College charter should provide for a Divinity +Professor of the Church of Scotland. Some readers of the present day may +ask, Why not also for other religious denominations--Methodists, +Baptists, and Congregationalists? The answer is simple. The Churches of +England and Scotland were national churches in Great Britain and +Ireland. The Anglican Church in Canada in 1840 claimed to be an +Established Church, and as the Clergy Reserve controversy was then +unsettled, her claim had reasonable expectation of realization. Had her +claim been allowed, it would have strengthened any claim the +Presbyterian Church might have made also to rank as an Established +Church. + +[58] See D. H. E., Vol. III., Chap. XVI., pp. 284-299. + + +This Canadian charter to the "University of Kingston" was cancelled by +the Crown with the consent of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and a +Royal Charter issued to the "University of Queen's College." By this +Royal Charter, Queen's lost the Divinity Professorship which, by the +Canadian charter, was to be established out of King's College +foundation. The Crown had power to grant a charter but no power to +interfere with the funds of King's College, which were subject to the +Canadian Legislature. + +The Commission[59] appointed by the Legislature in 1839 to prepare a +report[60] on education gave a comprehensive account of the condition of +schools, but without throwing much new light upon them. The total number +of pupils in the District Grammar Schools was still about 300, but the +number in the Common Schools was estimated at 24,000, or about one in +eighteen of the total population. As to the nature of the schools +attended by these 24,000, there is abundant evidence to prove that they +were very inefficient. The Rev. Robt. McGill, of Niagara, says: "I know +the qualifications of nearly all the Common School teachers in this +district, and I do not hesitate to say that there is not more than one +in ten fully qualified to instruct the young in the humblest +department." The London District Board for 1839 says: "The Masters +chosen by the Common School Trustees are often ignorant men, barely +acquainted with the rudiments of education and, consequently, jealous of +any school superior to their own."[61] + +[59] The members were: Rev. John McCaul, Rev. Henry Grasett and +Secretary Harrison. + +[60] See D. H. E., Vol. III., pp. 243-283. Also Appendix to Journals of +Assembly for 1840. + +[61] See D. H. E., Vol. III., p. 266. + + +The Grammar Schools had been gradually improving since their +establishment, but were still very far from supplying the real needs of +the people. They had no uniformity in course of study or textbooks, and +were under no inspection. In fact, lack of supervision was the weakest +spot in the whole school system. + +Lord Durham, in his famous Report,[62] refers to education in Upper +Canada thus: "A very considerable portion of the Province has neither +roads, post offices, mills, schools, nor churches. The people may raise +enough for their own subsistence and may even have a rude and +comfortless plenty, but they can seldom acquire wealth; nor can even +wealthy landowners prevent their children from growing up ignorant and +boorish, and from occupying a far lower mental, moral and social +position than they themselves fill.... Even in the most thickly peopled +districts there are but few schools, and those of a very inferior +character; while the more remote settlements are almost entirely without +any." + +[62] See Lord Durham's Report, p. 66. + + +The Committee recommended better salaries, normal schools for training +teachers, British textbooks, an Inspector-General of Education, and a +Provincial Board of School Commissioners. Looking at the matter +three-quarters of a century later, we can see that really good schools +were not then immediately possible. Schools, like everything else, +cannot be created at command. They are the result of evolution. Upper +Canada College illustrates this. Expensive buildings were erected and +capable masters secured in England, and yet the school was not really +efficient for many years. The country was largely a wilderness. The +people were comparatively poor and their first care was to provide the +necessities of life. The sad side to the picture is that there was among +the mass of the people so little real interest in education and so +little appreciation of its worth. People will never struggle to acquire +that of which they feel no need. It seems quite clear, too, that the +struggle for civil and religious freedom and equality hindered the +development of a good school system. The latter could scarcely be +possible before the former had triumphed. The natural leaders of the +people and those who by superior attainments and education were fitted +for leadership were straining every nerve and mustering every known +resource to overthrow a corrupt oligarchy. Even among the spiritual +leaders of the people there was no unity of purpose. Instead of working +shoulder to shoulder with one another for the moral and intellectual +growth of their people, they were in many cases sapping their strength +through acrimonious and recriminating discussions of state church, +sectarianism, Clergy Reserves, endowment and grants. When once it was +finally settled that Upper Canada was to have responsible government and +that all races and all creeds were to enjoy equal civil, religious and +political rights, it was much easier to lay a solid foundation for the +development of efficient schools. + +To this nothing contributed more than the Municipal Act of 1841. It +supplied the necessary local machinery, working in harmony and in close +connection with a central government. It seemed to leave almost +everything to local initiative and local control, thus appealing to +local patriotism. In reality it gave a central authority power to direct +by laying down broad general principles, and it stirred up a maximum of +local self-effort by distributing Provincial grants. + +Sydenham's first Speech from the Throne to the Legislature of the United +Canadas in 1841 referred to the necessity of a better system of Common +Schools. During the session the Legislature passed an elaborate Act for +this purpose, and although it proved not to be of a practical nature it +showed an earnest desire on the part of the Legislature to improve the +Common Schools. The Act appropriated L50,000 per year to be distributed +among the Common Schools in proportion to the number of pupils between 5 +and 16 years of age in each district. It provided a Superintendent of +Education for the United Canadas and prescribed his duties. It +established popularly-elected Township Boards and passed certain rates +to be assessed on the ratepayers. + +The most significant feature of the Bill was that it contained the germ +which later developed into our elaborate system of Separate Schools. +Early in the session, forty petitions were presented asking that the +Bible be used in the schools. There was also a petition from Rev. Dr. +Strachan and the Anglican clergy asking that Anglican children be +educated by their own pastors and that they receive a share of public +funds for support of their schools. The Roman Catholics also petitioned +against some principles of the Common School Bill then before the House. + +These things will probably explain why the Bill as passed contained a +clause allowing any number of dissentients (not necessarily Roman +Catholics) in Township Schools to withdraw and form a school of their +own, and also a clause which created for cities and incorporated towns a +School Board, half of whom were Protestant and half of whom were Roman +Catholic. The Catholics and Protestants might work together and maintain +schools in common, or they might constitute themselves into separate +committees, each committee virtually controlling its own schools. + +Thus we see that while the Assembly were fighting to break down a system +of sectarianism in university education, they were introducing into the +Common Schools a policy that led to divisions on account of religion. + +During the session of 1841, the Upper Canada Academy at Cobourg secured +incorporation as Victoria College with university powers, and also a +grant of L500, which later was made annual. Here, too, the Legislature +was granting public money to a sectarian institution, although it should +be noted that no religious tests were to be exacted of any students, and +that five public officers, the President of the Executive Council, the +Speakers of the two branches of the Legislature, and the +Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General for Canada West were to be +_ex-officio_ visitors and members of the Victoria College Senate. + +Early in 1842, Queen's University was opened for the reception of +students. Later in the same year the corner-stone of King's College was +laid with imposing ceremony by Sir Charles Bagot, the Governor-General. +In 1843 the King's College professors began lectures. This gave three +colleges with university powers in active operation in Upper Canada in +1843. + +In May, 1842, the Governor-General appointed the Hon. Robert Jameson, +Vice-Chancellor of Upper Canada, to be Chief Superintendent of +Education, and the Rev. Robert Murray, of Oakville, to be Assistant +Superintendent for Upper Canada. Mr. Murray was a scholarly gentleman, +but possessed no special qualifications for so important an office. It +seems probable that as early as 1841 Sydenham had some thought of +giving the position to Ryerson. It also seems probable that Sir Charles +Bagot knew of this and had some communication with Ryerson in respect to +it. It is more than likely that Ryerson had been too active, both in +opposing the arbitrary acts of the Legislative Council and in promoting +the interests of his own Church, to be readily acceptable to His +Excellency's Council, nearly all of whom were Churchmen. + +It was soon discovered that the Common School Act of 1841 could never be +put into operation. It had only a single merit--good intentions. In 1843 +it was decided to amend it and enact a separate Bill for Upper and Lower +Canada. That for Upper Canada was introduced by Hon. Francis Hincks. +Speaking of the Bill[63] he says: "The principle adopted in the School +Bill of 1843 is this: The Government pays a certain amount to each +Township--the property in that Township pays an equal amount; or if the +Councillors elected by the people choose it, double the amount. This +forms the School Fund, which is divided among the school districts, the +Trustees of which raise the balance of the teacher's salary by a Rate +Bill on the parents of the children. The system is as simple as it is +just.... In framing this system, gentlemen, you will observe that, as +in all other instances, the late Ministry have divested the grant of all +local patronage. Everything has been left to the people themselves; and +I feel perfectly convinced that they will prove themselves capable of +managing their own affairs in a more satisfactory manner than any +Government Boards of Education or visiting Superintendents could do for +them. + +[63] See "Reminiscences of His Public Life," by Sir Francis Hincks, pp. +175-177. Library of Parliament, Canada. + + +"The new School Act provides also for the establishment in each Township +of a Model School--the teacher of which is to receive a larger share +than others of the School Fund, provided he gives gratuitous instruction +to the other teachers in the Township, under such regulations as may be +established. + +"There is also provision for a Model School in each county, on a similar +plan, but, of course, of a higher grade. It is left to the people +themselves or their representatives in the several municipalities, to +establish these Model Schools or not, as they deem expedient. But it is +provided that as soon as a Provincial Normal School shall be in +operation (and the system will never be complete without one) the +teachers of the Model Schools must have certificates of qualification +from the professors of the Normal School." + +This Act of 1843 is much more elaborate in its provisions than any +preceding legislation affecting Common Schools in Upper Canada. It +provided for county superintendents appointed by wardens and for +township, town or city superintendents appointed by the municipal +council. It would seem that in many points the duties of these two +classes of superintendents would conflict, as both were allowed to +examine and appoint teachers, and both were to visit schools. Every +section was to have a Board of Trustees elected by ratepayers, and to +these trustees was given charge of school property and the regulation of +course of study, including choice of textbooks. It would seem that full +local control was given except in the matter of certificating teachers +and regulating the government grant. + +Either Protestants or Roman Catholics might petition for a Separate +School on the application of ten or more resident freeholders, but such +schools when established were maintained and controlled by the same +machinery as other schools. Model Schools were to receive a larger grant +from the Legislature. A county superintendent could issue unlimited or +limited certificates, but all certificates issued by a township, town, +or city superintendent were limited to the division in which they were +issued and were valid for one year only. + +The marked weaknesses of the Act may be summed up as follows:-- + +1. Possible conflict of authority between county and local +superintendents. + +2. No uniformity of course of study or textbooks. + +3. No accepted standard of qualification for teachers. + +4. No method provided for training of teachers, as a Normal School was +merely suggested, and Model Schools were optional. + +5. No provision made to secure competent local superintendents. Any man +might be appointed. + +But with all its deficiencies the School Bill of 1843 was a proof that +the Legislature earnestly desired to promote elementary education. It +was, no doubt, felt by many public men, and especially by the Governor, +that no man was so well qualified as Ryerson to direct that system at +headquarters. To pave the way for Ryerson's appointment, Rev. Robert +Murray was made Professor of Mathematics in King's College, and in +September, 1844, Ryerson became Assistant Superintendent of Education +for Upper Canada. He was to have leave of absence for travel and for +investigation into the school systems of Europe. + +As events proved, Ryerson's appointment as Superintendent of Education +soon bore fruit in a more efficient system of Common Schools. But +university affairs were still in a state of chaos. + +The amendments to the charter of King's College made in 1837 were +disappointingly unfruitful of any practical changes. The College +remained in charge of Anglicans, and was in reality, if not in a legal +sense, a Church of England institution. The question may naturally be +asked, why did the legislation of 1837 not effect greater changes? The +answer is simple. In 1837 the seat of government was at Toronto, and the +five _ex-officio_ Government officers could easily attend meetings of +King's College Council. But after the Act of Union in 1841 the seat of +government was moved first to Kingston and later to Montreal. It then +became wholly impossible for the five lay members of King's College to +attend regular meetings in Toronto. The result was that the affairs of +King's College remained practically in the hands of the president and +professors, who made no real efforts to adapt the College to the needs +of the people of Upper Canada. Bishop Strachan, the President, could not +forget his original plans in securing the charter, and was still trying +to realize them as far as possible. In a petition which he presented to +Parliament in 1845 against the Draper University Bill, he makes his real +object very clear. He says: "Above all things, I claim from the +endowment the means of educating my clergy. This was my chief object in +obtaining the Royal Charter and the Endowment of King's College; ... and +was indeed the most valuable result to be anticipated by the +institution.... This is a point which never can be given up, and to +which I believe the faith of Government is unreservedly pledged."[64] As +time went on and the history of the Royal grant of 1798 came to be more +fully discussed and understood, the determination of the people grew +more and more fixed to secure such modifications in the King's College +Charter as would make it a national instead of a sectarian institution. + +[64] See D. H. E., Vol. V., p. 137. + + +The proposal of Baldwin, introduced in 1843, was statesmanlike, and +although it failed to pass owing to the early resignation of his +Ministry, it is interesting because it outlined in part the principles +upon which the University question was finally settled. The Bill +proposed to create a University of Toronto, and leave King's College as +a theological seminary without power to confer degrees. Queen's, +Victoria, and Regiopolis[65] were to become affiliated in connection +with Toronto University, and were to surrender their powers to confer +degrees. In return they were to receive certain grants from the King's +College endowment. Toronto University was to become the only +degree-conferring power in Upper Canada. Baldwin had the Governor's +consent to bring in this Bill, and had his Ministry remained in power +it would doubtless have passed. The Bill had the active support of +Queen's and Victoria, and the bitter opposition of Dr. Strachan.[66] + +[65] Regiopolis, a Roman Catholic college incorporated by the +Legislature in 1837, had not, at this time, degree-conferring powers. + +[66] See his petition presented to House of Assembly, 1843, against +Bill. + + +Dr. Ryerson summed up the whole situation in a reply to an eloquent and +very able argument of Hon. W. H. Draper, who appeared at the Bar of the +House of Assembly as Counsel of King's College Council, in opposition to +the Bill. Dr. Ryerson concludes as follows: "The lands by which King's +College has been so munificently endowed, were set apart nearly fifty +years ago (in compliance with an application in 1797 of the Provincial +Legislature) for the promotion of Education in Upper Canada. This was +the object of the original appropriation of those lands--a noble grant, +not to the Church of England, but to the people of Upper Canada. In 1827 +Doctor Strachan, by statements and representations against which the +House of Assembly of Upper Canada protested again and again, got 225,944 +acres of these lands applied to the endowment of the Church of England +College. Against such a partial application and perversion of the +original Provincial objects of that Royal grant the people of Upper +Canada protested; the Charter of King's College was amended to carry out +the original object of the Grant; the general objects of the amended +Charter have been defeated by the manner in which it has been +administered, and the University Bill is introduced to secure their +accomplishment; and the Council of King's College employ an advocate to +perpetuate their monopoly. The reader can, therefore, easily judge who +is the faithful advocate and who is the selfish perverter of the most +splendid educational endowment that was ever made for any new +country.... I argue for no particular University Bill; but I contend +upon the grounds of right and humanity, that Presbyterians, Methodists +and all others ought to participate equally with the Episcopalians in +the educational advantages and endowments that have been derived from +the sale of lands, which, pursuant to an application from the Provincial +Legislature, were set apart in 1797 by the Crown for the support of +Education in Upper Canada."[67] + +[67] See D. H. E., Vol. V., pp. 49-59. + + +In looking back upon the situation from our vantage-ground, covering a +lapse of nearly three-quarters of a century, we may marvel that all +parties were not ready to compromise upon the basis of a purely secular +and national university. But secular, state-owned colleges are a very +modern growth, and few men among our grandfathers had the courage to +champion such institutions. An educational institution without some +religious basis had uncanny associations. Therefore, it is not a matter +for surprise that many good men were prepared to mutilate the University +Endowment of Upper Canada, and dissipate it among sectarian colleges. +Such, to a large degree, would have been the result had the Draper Bill +of 1845 become law. + +The Draper Government made a further attempt to settle the vexed +question in 1846. John A. Macdonald (afterwards Sir John A. Macdonald) +made another unsuccessful attempt in 1847. The Hon. Robert Baldwin then +became Premier, and after securing the Report of a Commission on +University Affairs, he introduced and passed a University Bill in 1849. +This Act has been many times amended, but the final result has been to +preserve for the people of Upper Canada the University Endowment, and to +remove from the management every semblance of sectarian control. The +University has become the property and the pride of all classes, +irrespective of race, politics, or religion. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +_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. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +_RYERSON'S SCHOOL BILL OF 1846._ + + +The year 1846 will ever be memorable in the annals of school legislation +in Upper Canada, because it established the main principles upon which +all subsequent school legislation was founded. As already pointed out, +the Act of 1843 was largely a failure because it did not provide +adequate machinery for the enforcement of its provisions. No important +school legislation was undertaken during 1845 in anticipation of +Ryerson's report. After making his report, Ryerson drafted a Bill which, +with a few trifling emendations, became the Common School Act of 1846. +It will assist us to an intelligent grasp of future legislation if we +examine this Act with some care. + +It first defined the duties of the Superintendent of Schools. He became +the chief executive officer of the Government in all school matters. He +was to apportion among the various District Councils (there were twenty +at this time) in proportion to the school population, the money voted by +the Legislature for the support of common schools (the total Legislative +grant for 1846 was L20,962 to 2,736 schools) and see that it was +expended according to the Act; he was to supply school officers with all +necessary forms for making school returns and keep them posted as to +school regulations; he was to discourage unsuitable books as texts and +for school libraries and to recommend the use of uniform and approved +texts; he was to assume a general direction of the Normal School when it +became established; he was to prepare and recommend plans for +school-houses, with proper furniture; he was to encourage school +libraries, and finally he was to diffuse information generally on +education and submit an annual report to the Governor-General. + +The Act established the first General Board of Education.[70] It was to +consist of the Superintendent of Education and six other members +appointed by the Governor-General. This Board was to manage the Normal +School, to authorize texts for schools and to aid the Superintendent +with advice upon any subject which he should submit to it. + +[70] The one in existence from 1823 to 1833 was not established by +Parliament but by the Lieutenant-Governor by the authority of the +Imperial Government. + + +The Act provided for a Normal and Model School. It required each +Municipal District Council to appoint a Superintendent of Schools. No +qualification was fixed for the District Superintendent. It would have +been useless to do so, because there were no men technically qualified +for such positions. The only thing to do was trust to the District +Council to choose the best man available. The District Municipal Council +was also instructed to levy upon the rateable property of the District a +sum for support of schools at least equal to the Legislative grant. They +were to divide each township, town or city into numbered school +sections. They were also given power by by-law to levy rates upon any +school section for the purchase of school sites, erection of school +buildings or teachers' residences in that section. + +The District Superintendents became very important officers, and upon +their learning, zeal, integrity and tact must have depended much of the +success or failure of the schools of this period. They were required to +apportion the District School Fund, consisting of the Legislative grant +and Municipal levy, among the various school sections in proportion to +the number of children between five and sixteen years of age resident in +the section, and pay these sums to the teacher on the proper order being +presented; to visit all schools in their Districts[71] at least once a +year and report on their progress and general condition; to advise +trustees and teachers in regard to school management; to examine +candidates for teachers' certificates, and grant licenses, either +temporary or permanent, to those who were proficient; to revoke licenses +held by incompetent or unsuitable teachers; to prevent the use of +unauthorized textbooks; and finally, to make an annual report of the +schools in their districts to the Chief Superintendent. + +[71] Five Districts had, in 1846, more than 200 schools each, the +average for the Province being 155 schools for each District. + + +The Act declared that all Clergymen, Judges of the District Court, +Wardens, Councillors and Justices of the Peace were to be school +visitors, with the right to visit any school or schools in their +districts except Separate Schools. They were given authority to question +pupils, conduct examinations and advise the teachers, or make reports to +the District Superintendent. They were especially charged with the duty +of encouraging school libraries. One remarkable power was conferred upon +them. Any two school visitors of a district were allowed to examine a +candidate for a teacher's license and grant such license if they saw fit +for a term not exceeding one year in a specified school. + +There are two simple explanations[72] of this clause in Ryerson's School +Act. He may have wished to interest school visitors in the schools by +giving them some power. He may have wished to create a local power to +act in an emergency if a school became vacant through any cause during a +school term. In many cases the Superintendent lived fifty to +seventy-five miles from the remote corners of his District, and with the +primitive means of communication in use at that time, it was an +advantage to have some local body with authority to license teachers. + +[72] Ryerson also gives as a reason his desire to make a gradual +transition from the old system of license by Township Boards to the new +plan of granting licenses only by the District Superintendent. See D. H. +E., Vol. VII., P. 155. + + +It is a matter for regret that at the present time the various officials +mentioned here as school visitors, as well as parents generally, are so +seldom seen inside the public schools. True, we now have trained +teachers, and teaching has so far become a profession that few school +visitors would care to question pupils, but the very presence in the +school-room from time to time of educated men and women, and especially +those occupying public positions, has a beneficial effect upon both +teachers and pupils. Pupils feel that the work of the school must be +important if it is worthy of the attention of busy and successful men. +Teachers are encouraged to make a good showing and are often hungry for +the few words of sympathy and encouragement that would naturally +accompany such visits. The school can never fully realize its function +as a social institution unless the best citizens take an active interest +in it. This was uppermost in Ryerson's mind when he penned that part of +his report relating to individual efforts in promoting the welfare of +the school.[73] + +[73] See Report in D. H. E., Vol. VI., p. 208. + + +The Act of 1846 defined in detail how school trustees were to be +elected. In all previous Acts the whole Trustee Board was elected +annually. This gave to the Board no continuity of corporate life. One +Trustee Board might have certain plans and make a certain bargain with a +teacher. The new Board might have different plans and repudiate the +contracts of its predecessor. Ryerson's Bill solved the difficulty by +having trustees elected for three years, one to retire annually. +Trustees' duties were not materially different from those of trustees +to-day except in one or two particulars. They had to raise by a rate +bill upon parents of pupils attending school such sums as were required +over and above the two school grants for payment of the teacher's salary +and the incidental expenses of the school; they were required to make +provision by which the children of indigent parents were exempted, +wholly or in part, from school rates; and they were required to select +school books from a list sanctioned by the Department of Education. In +Ryerson's draft bill he proposed that the rate bill should be levied +upon the property of the section. This would virtually have given free +schools. The Legislature of 1846 amended this clause and made the rate +bill assessable only upon parents of children in actual attendance. +Ryerson says of these rate bills:[74] "The evils of the present system +of school rate bills have been brought under my notice from the most +populous townships and by the most experienced educationists in Canada. +When it is apprehended that the rate bill in a school section will be +high, many will not send their children to the school at all--then there +is no school; or else a few give enough to pay the teacher for three +months, including the Government grant; or even after the school has +commenced, if it be found that the school is not so large as had been +anticipated, and that those who send will consequently be required to +pay more than they had expected, parents will begin to take their +children from school in order to escape the rate bill as persons would +flee from a falling house! The consequence is that the school is either +broken up, or the whole burthen of paying the teacher falls upon the +trustees, and often as a consequence a quarrel ensues between them and +the teacher. I have been assured by the most experienced and judicious +men, with whom I have conversed on the subject, that it is impossible to +have good schools under the present rate bill system. I think the +substitute I proposed will remedy the evil. I know of none who will +object to it but the rich and the childless and the selfish. Education +is a public good; ignorance is a public evil. What affects the public +ought to be binding upon each individual composing it. In every good +government and in every good system the interests of the whole society +are obligatory upon each member of it." + +[74] See D. H. E., Vol. VI., p. 76. + + +This rate bill, as authorized in 1846, was, however, an improvement on +the old one which was levied upon parents according to the actual time +of the child's attendance, whereas the Bill of 1846 levied a tax upon +the parents of children in actual attendance for at least two-thirds of +the whole school term, whether the children attended regularly or +irregularly. + +Teachers' duties were defined by the Act much as they are to-day. +District Model Schools were authorized on the same condition as in the +Act of 1843. The clauses in the Act of 1843 relating to the formation of +Separate Roman Catholic or Protestant schools were also embodied in the +Act of 1846. + +Now, what are the distinguishing features of this School Act that +reflect credit upon its author? It would be idle to pretend that there +were not in Upper Canada many able men who saw the weaknesses of the +school system as clearly as Dr. Ryerson. Ryerson's claim to distinction +rests upon the fact that he organized a system that _worked_. He not +only co-ordinated the several parts of the system, but put life into +it. This was no easy task. The people were very jealous of their power +of local control, and yet unless this local control could be subjected +to some central control, improvement was hopeless. It was here that +Ryerson did what no other man had done. He lessened local, and +strengthened central, control, and did it so gradually, so wisely, and +so tactfully, that local prejudices were soothed and in many cases the +people scarcely recognized what was being done until the thing was +accomplished. We must not suppose that all this was completed by the +legislation of 1846. It began then, but its complete evolution was the +work of a quarter-century. + +If we ask through what agency Ryerson was enabled to secure this gradual +executive strength that makes our educational machinery so effective the +answer must be--the Legislative grant. The Legislature placed the grant +at the disposal of the Superintendent for him to apportion among the +Districts. Here was a lever of wonderful power, and Ryerson was quick to +perceive its possibilities. If Districts wished a grant they must +conform to certain requirements. If school sections wished a grant from +the District Superintendent, they, too, must satisfy certain +requirements as to textbooks, qualified teachers, building and +equipment. + +No doubt the Prussian system gave Ryerson many hints on this subject, +but he knew that the Canadian spirit was very different from the docile +German spirit fostered by generations of benevolent paternalism. I +think, too, there can be no reasonable doubt that he received many +practical hints on this point from the workings of Her Majesty's +Committee on Education formed by the Imperial Parliament. The history of +the world presents no more significant illustration of how an outside +body may come to exercise an effective control over various kinds of +schools than is presented by the history of the schools of Great Britain +and Ireland and their control by Her Majesty's Government through +parliamentary grants. + +That the leaders of Canadian public opinion in the years following 1846 +saw all that was involved in Ryerson's gradual strengthening of central +control of educational affairs is made abundantly clear by the leading +editorials in the press of that period. The Toronto _Globe_, which had +been established in 1844 by the Browns, was already in 1846 the leading +exponent of advanced liberal ideas in Upper Canada. As the _Globe_ had +been bitterly opposed to Lord Metcalfe, and had resented Ryerson's +defence of him, it was not to be expected that Ryerson's appointment as +Superintendent of Education would be satisfactory to that journal, or +that his educational plans would be leniently criticised. Indeed, the +_Globe_ editor's first objection to Ryerson's Bill of 1846 was to the +great powers conferred upon the Superintendent and to the irresponsible +nature of his Commission. The following is from a _Globe_ editorial of +April 14th, 1846;[75] "We have read a draft of the new School Bill for +Upper Canada brought in by Mr. Draper. We have not been able to go over +all its claims, but it contains one objectionable principle, viz.: the +appointment and dismissal of the Superintendent is vested in the +Governor-General personally and not in the Governor-General with the +advice of his Council, as it ought to be. The whole funds from which the +school system is to derive support are raised by the people of Canada, +and the disposal of them should be subjected to the control of the House +through the Executive Council.... The powers of the Superintendent are +very great and embrace many points such as the selection of proper +books, etc. A Board of seven Commissioners to assist the Superintendent +is named, but the Governor may appoint them, or not, and the +Superintendent may take their advice, or not, and he has also power to +prevent interference at any time, for he is only to receive advice on +all measures which he may 'submit to them.' The whole of this extensive +institution, if the Bill passes, will be lodged in the Governor-General +personally and in the Superintendent, and they may work it for any +purpose that suits their views." On July 14th, 1846, the editor of the +_Globe_ again criticises the School Bill, because the Superintendent +reports to the Governor and not to the Governor-General-in-Council. + +[75] See bound volume of _Globe_ in Legislative Library, Toronto. + + +These articles are interesting and important. Why was Ryerson's +appointment vested in the Governor and not in the Executive Council? The +answer not only throws valuable light upon the way that Ryerson himself +viewed his office and its relation to the public, but it incidentally +shows how imperfectly responsible government was established in Upper +Canada in 1846. We should gasp with astonishment in Canada to-day if it +were proposed to vest the appointment of any public officers in the +Governor-General personally. We allow our Governors no personal freedom +in the conduct of public affairs. But in 1846 that idea was not wholly +accepted. There still lingered a feeling that the Crown had certain +vaguely-defined prerogatives, which might be exercised without let or +hindrance from Councillors. And many who recognized that the British +Crown had little individual freedom of action in public affairs in +Britain could not see that the same status ought to be established for +the Crown's representative in a colony. Or, to put it in another way, +the people did not see how a colony could be self-governing without +being wholly independent. + +Ryerson wished his appointment to be vested in the Governor, rather than +in the Executive Council, because he thought that by such an arrangement +he was a servant of the country and not of any political party. He +thought that a Superintendent of Education ought, like a judge, to be +placed beyond the accidents and turmoil of politics. No doubt that was +an illogical position. Indeed, time showed it to be so, and that full +recognition of the principle of responsible government required a +Minister of Education responsible directly to the Legislature. We can +only speculate as to what would have been the effect upon our schools +had Ryerson's position been looked upon as political and had he been +forced to vacate his office with every change of government. It seems +doubtful whether our schools would have improved as rapidly as they did +under the conservative, but truly progressive, policy of Ryerson. + +There is abundant evidence that there were many in Upper Canada who +wished to see the position of Superintendent closely connected with +politics. A _Globe_ editorial, Jan. 6th, 1847, commenting on Ryerson's +report, says: "We expected that when our new Superintendent stepped into +his ill-gotten office he would immediately take measures to make +himself acquainted with the replies to such questions as the following: +First, the situation, condition and number of schools and school-houses +of all kinds in the Province. Second, the manner in which school +trustees, town, county and district Superintendents had discharged their +several duties. Third, the desire manifested by parents generally for +the education of their children. Fourth, the competency and efficiency +of the teachers, their salaries, etc. Fifth, the kind of school books +used, the school libraries and other apparatus for teaching. Had such +questions been proposed and answered, the Superintendent would have had +something to base a report upon. It was but natural to suppose that an +officer whose sole prospects of success are in the confidence and +co-operation of the people would have taken some steps to gain that +confidence and co-operation, that he would have been desirous by direct +communication with superintendents, trustees, experienced teachers and +influential persons in the Province of ascertaining their views and of +obtaining their suggestions as to the best means of promoting the +interests of the noble department over which he had been called to +preside. But no, it is true he was devising a system of education for +Canada, but what had the wants or wishes of the people to do with it? +The serfs must receive anything I, their lord and master, may import +from the cringing subjects of despotic monarchies. We are more and more +convinced from the examination of this report that Mr. Ryerson is not +competent for the situation which he occupies." + +This is manifestly unfair. Ryerson knew from previous experience and +without any further special investigation, the answer to every one of +the five questions propounded above. In 1848, just after the +Baldwin-Lafontaine administration was formed, and before the +newly-formed ministry had met Parliament, there was more or less +discussion about dismissing Ryerson from his position as Superintendent +of Education. The _Globe_ of April 29th, 1848, says: "Will any man, +except a few of his own clique, say that Egerton Ryerson should be +Superintendent of Education under a Liberal Government? We apprehend +none. He has done nothing wrong since his appointment, it is said. We +say he has. He spent many months on the Continent of Europe and in +Britain in amusement or recreation, professing to get information about +things which every person knew already.... We have had hints of the +Prussian system being applicable to Canada and we feel convinced that +he, who sold himself to the late Administration, would have readily +brought all the youth of Canada to the same market and placed them +under the domination of an arbitrary and coercive power. He had sold +their fathers for pelf, why not sell the sons also? Was he not in league +with that party which would retain the Province in vassalage to the old +Compact which he had so heartily denounced in former times? Is he not a +member of that Methodist Committee which bargained away to a worthless +Ministry the Methodist votes for L1,500 to Victoria College? These are +most memorable events in the annals of political corruption.... But we +care not if there had been no ground for complaint since 1844. We know +that Egerton Ryerson sold himself body and spirit to Lord Metcalfe and +that he broached doctrines of the most unconstitutional kind, +threatening those who were but asking the common rights of British +subjects with the vengeance of the whole Empire. The man who holds such +views is unfit to be at the head of the country's education. He would +convert the children of the Province into the most pliable tools of an +arbitrary system." + +These articles show clearly that the party press was not disposed to +judge Ryerson by his work as Superintendent of Education. They claimed +that because he championed Lord Metcalfe in 1844 he was a partizan, and +if a partizan in 1844 he must still be one in 1848. + +Besides a certain amount of political prejudice, Ryerson had to overcome +the many points of friction caused by an attempt to work the Bill of +1846, and when we consider the ignorance and incompetence among those +upon whom the administration of the Act rested, and the prejudices +against the Act by many who were supremely selfish, we have to admit +that a less courageous man would have utterly failed. Many trustees +could neither read nor write. In some cases the District Municipal +Councillors who were parties to school administration were equally +ignorant. District Superintendents of schools were not always fitted for +such a responsibility. Perhaps half the whole body of teachers made up a +motley assortment of impecunious tramps. The Superintendent's report for +1847 shows that out of 2,572 schoolhouses only 133 were of brick or +stone, and that 1,399 were made of logs; 1,378 had no playground, and +only 163 were provided with water-closets. With many superintendents, +trustees, and teachers miserably incompetent, with buildings and +equipment woefully inadequate, it required a stout heart to undertake a +reformation. + +Ryerson had two temperamental qualities that stood him in good stead; he +had an idealist's faith in humanity, believing that men would choose the +higher if it could once be shown them; he had besides an infinite +capacity for hard work and for taking pains. This is fully shown by the +way he met the many objections to his Bill of 1846. The bitterest +opposition came from the Council of the Gore District, now the County of +Wentworth, a District from which more progressive ideas might have been +expected. On the 10th November, 1846, this Council[76] petitioned the +Legislative Assembly against Ryerson's Bill. They objected to a +Provincial Board of Education and to a Chief Superintendent. They wished +to have re-enacted the School Bills of 1816 and 1820. Among other things +the petition says: "With respect to the necessity of establishing a +Normal, with elementary Model Schools in this Province, your +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 service in almost every vocation will +scarcely yield the common necessaries of life, they are altogether +unsuited to a country like Upper Canada, where a young man of such +excellent character as a candidate is required to be to enter a Normal +School and having the advantage of a good education besides, need only +turn to the right hand or to the left to make his service much more +agreeable and profitable to himself, than in the drudgery of a common +school, at an average of L29 per annum [the average in Upper Canada for +1845]; nor do your memorialists hope to provide qualified teachers by +any other means in the present circumstances of the country than by +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 energy, or by employing such of the newly-arrived +immigrants 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 abilities are known and turned to +better account for themselves." + +[76] See copy of petition in D. H. E., Vol. VII., pp. 114-116. + + +This petition was sent to every District Council in Upper Canada. Some +districts agreed with it, some were indifferent and some wholly opposed +its spirit. Colborne District Council took a very different attitude. +They praised the Chief Superintendent, warmly approved of a Normal +School, and found much to admire in the legislation of 1846. The +following from their report will serve as an illustration:[77] "As the +Normal and Model Schools begin to yield their legitimate fruits, and as +the blighting effects of employing men as school teachers who are +neither in manners nor in intellectual endowments much above the lowest +menials, shall press less and less heavily upon the mental and moral +habitudes of the rising generation, the great benefits to be derived +from the present Common School Act, and its immense superiority over +all former school laws of Upper Canada, will become more and more +confessed and appreciated. Already that public apathy which is the +deadliest enemy to improvement is slowly yielding to the necessity +imposed by the present school law upon the trustees and others of +acquiring extended information, of entering with a deeper interest into +all matters connected with Common Schools and of joining with school +visitors, superintendents and municipal councillors in a more active and +vigilant oversight of them." + +[77] See copy of memorial in D. H. E., Vol. VII., p. 117. + + +Ryerson saw that public opinion must be educated. The problem was a +wider one than the education of the rising generation in the +schoolhouses. The fathers and mothers and all who made public opinion +must be awakened. This work Ryerson did in a characteristic manner. He +had been a missionary preacher of the Gospel; he now became an +educational missionary. He sent carefully-prepared circulars to +Municipal Councils, to District Superintendents, to school trustees and +to teachers. He established at his own financial risk, and without +accepting a penny of the profits for his labour, an educational journal +as a means of communication with the general public. In the autumn of +1847 he spent ten weeks in visits to the twenty-one Districts into which +Upper Canada was at that time divided. He called District Educational +Conventions, lasting each two days. To these were invited teachers, +District Superintendents, School Visitors, Municipal Councillors and the +general public. The Warden was generally secured as chairman. During the +day, Ryerson discussed the School Act and its operation. He found that +often the people had been misled and that trustees who had never made +any attempt to enforce the Act had laid the blame for their poor school +upon the Act of 1846. In almost every case a frank discussion face to +face with the parties concerned removed unreasonable prejudices and made +friends for the new Superintendent. In the evening, Ryerson gave a +public lecture. His subject in 1847 was "The Advantage of Education to +an Agricultural People." No subject could have been more appropriate to +secure the sympathy of the mass of the people and to give the lecturer +an opportunity to show what he hoped to do for Upper Canada. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +_THE RYERSON BILL OF 1850._ + + +The Act of 1846 provided that the Municipal Councils of Toronto and +Kingston were to have the same powers in school matters as the District +Councils. Toronto had at this time twelve school sections, each with its +own Trustee Board, and each fixing its own textbooks and course of +study. Such a system was cumbersome, wasteful, and inefficient, and the +practical mind of Ryerson devised a remedy. In 1847, the Cities and +Towns Act was passed. This Act required the Municipal Councils of cities +and towns to appoint a School Board of six members. These six, together +with the Mayor of the Corporation, had full control of all schools and +school property. They could determine the number and kind of schools and +the texts to be used, but they had no power either to levy an assessment +upon property or to collect rate bills from parents. Any funds needed by +the School Board in addition to the Legislative and Municipal grants +were to be levied upon the taxable property of the city or town by the +Municipal Council. But the Act did not say that the Municipal Council +must grant the sums asked for by the Board of Trustees. In Toronto the +Council of 1848 refused to levy the necessary assessment, and the School +Trustees were compelled to close the schools from July to December. + +The Toronto _Globe_[78] declared that Ryerson was introducing a Prussian +despotism into Canada. Ryerson said that he desired nothing Prussian in +the Canadian schools except the method of schoolroom instruction, and +claimed that his new School Bill was almost a literal transcript of that +in force in the State of New York. Ryerson then set forth the chief +advantage of the new Bill, viz.: that it gave to the poor man the +_right_ to have his children, however numerous, educated, whereas the +rate bill system compelled him in many cases to claim free schooling +only on the ground of his poverty. The new School Act was to enable a +poor man to educate his children and still maintain his self-respect. +The school tax was to be levied not upon the children of the section, +but upon the real property. Ryerson concluded as follows: "Wealthy +selfishness and hatred of the education of the poor and labouring +classes may exclaim against this provision of the law, but enlightened +Christian philanthropy and true patriotism will rejoice at its +application." + +[78] See editorial, Toronto _Globe_ of May 8th, 1848. + + +Commenting on Ryerson's letter, the following issue of the _Globe_ said: +"The Doctor makes a great fuss about the cruel position of a man who +cannot 'brook to say he was a pauper' under the old system and the +delightful and 'enlightened Christian philanthropy' of his new system +which 'places the poor man and his children upon equal footing with the +rich man and his children.' All bunkum, Dr. Ryerson. If it is hard to +have ten or fifty or one hundred scholars as paupers at present, will it +improve the matter to make the children of the common schools all +paupers? If one class keep their children away now because the schools +are above their means, and pride won't let them submit to state the fact +to a trustee, will there not hereafter be a much larger class whose +pride will prevent them sending their children to what even Dr. Ryerson +admits will be pauper schools?... Is it not melancholy that so crooked, +so visionary a man as this should be at the head of the literary +institutions of the country?" + +But Ryerson was fighting for free schools. He knew that thousands of +children were growing up ignorant, especially in the large towns. He was +able to show that in the city of Toronto, out of 4,450 children of +school age in 1846, only 1,221 were on the common school registers and +that the average attendance was scarcely one thousand. Even if it were +granted that another thousand were in attendance at private and church +schools, the fact remained that not more than half the children in +Toronto were being educated. + +In October, 1848, Ryerson submitted to the Government a draft School +Bill, designed to remedy the defects in the legislation of 1846-1848. In +a report[79] which he submitted with his draft Bill he says: "No law +which contemplates the removal of grovelling or selfish ignorance and +the elevation of society by means of efficient regulations and general +taxation for schools ever has been, or ever will be, popular with the +purely selfish or the listlessly ignorant. All such laws must be +sustained for a time at least by the joint influence of the Government +and the intelligent and enterprising portion of the community." + +[79] See copy in D. H. E., Vol. VIII., p. 85. + + +The outcry against free schools and taxation of property to educate the +children of the poor showed clearly that the time had not yet come for +the realization of his plans, and Ryerson in his draft Bill restored to +towns and cities the right to impose rate bills upon parents, at the +same time declaring his faith in the ultimate triumph of free schools. + +In February, 1849, Ryerson submitted additions to his draft Bill of the +previous October. Among other changes he recommended additional +Superintendents for Districts of more than 150 schools; District Boards +of Examiners who would replace the District Superintendent and school +visitors[80] in issuing teachers' certificates; Teachers' Institutes for +lectures and professional training of teachers; provision for separate +schools for coloured children; school libraries for each section, and +also township libraries; township School Boards; a School of Art and +Design, connected with the Normal School; provincial certificates for +Normal School graduates; making trustees personally responsible for a +teacher's salary; the distribution of school funds on a basis of actual +attendance, rather than on the number of children in the section; better +provision for fixing school sites; more equitable division of the +$200,000 legislative grant between Upper and Lower Canada, and provision +for the admission into the common schools of pupils from sixteen to +twenty-one years of age. + +[80] The report of the Bathurst District Superintendent for 1848 showed +82 teachers certificated by School Visitors and 42 by the District +Superintendent. See Report of Chief Superintendent for 1848. + + +The Baldwin Government entrusted the handling in the Legislature of the +School Bill of 1849 to the Honourable Malcolm Cameron. It should be +borne in mind that the Legislature met in Montreal and that the +Education Office for Upper Canada was in Toronto. Dr. Ryerson was, +therefore, not in direct communication with the Government, nor was he +officially informed from day to day as to the progress of the Bill. It +should further be borne in mind that during this session the Parliament +Buildings were burned, the Governor-General mobbed, and party feeling +strongly aroused, thus creating conditions favourable for hasty and +careless legislation. It seems to have been taken for granted by the +Legislature that the Bill as brought in was prepared by Ryerson. As a +matter of fact, Ryerson's Bill had, with Cameron's assent, been so +mutilated by an enemy of the Superintendent that its essential +provisions were destroyed. As soon as Ryerson learned its real nature, +he protested on several grounds, but especially because it aimed to +destroy the usefulness of the Chief Superintendent; excluded clergymen +from being school visitors; destroyed the provincial nature of the +school system; injured the prospects of a Normal School; would subject +teachers to serious loss in collecting their salaries; re-established +school sections in towns and cities; made no provision for uniform +textbooks, and because it was cumbersome and unworkable. After an +elaborate analysis of the Bill, Ryerson intimated that he would not +attempt to administer the law as passed and that sooner than do so he +would resign. The Government soon ascertained that the Bill was +unsatisfactory to everybody and intimated to Ryerson that it would not +be brought into operation. This course was followed, and in the +meantime Ryerson perfected his plans for a new Bill to go before the +Legislature in 1850. + +As the Cameron Act of 1849 was never given effect, it has no interest +for us, except in so far as it shows the evolution of the Act of 1850. +During the Parliamentary recess, 1849-50, the Government issued circular +letters to School Superintendents, ministers and other official persons, +to secure suggestions as to school legislation. The replies were handed +to Dr. Ryerson by the Hon. Francis Hincks, who had charge of the School +legislation for 1850. + +Ryerson's draft of the Bill of 1850 is a tribute to his practical common +sense and is sometimes called the Charter of the Ontario School System. +Ryerson knew the people of Upper Canada as few knew them, and he was +quick to see the dividing line between that which seemed highly +desirable and that which was possible. He moved steadily toward a +distant goal, but was ever educating public opinion to move with him and +seldom showed impatience over the slow pace of travel, so long as there +was actual progress. He wished to see free schools, but in this Act +contented himself with securing permissive legislation, which he +believed would soon lead to the adoption of a free system. + +The outstanding feature of the Act was the strengthening of Trustee +Boards by recognizing them as corporate bodies with full power to +manage schools under Government regulations and full power to levy taxes +or rates upon the District which they represented. In case the Municipal +Council collected school money, they did it only as a matter of +convenience. Provision was made for securing school sites, erecting and +furnishing new buildings, electing trustees, holding board meetings, +keeping schools accounts, appointing collectors for school moneys, +providing books and apparatus, educating indigent children and forming +school libraries. Teachers' duties and responsibilities were not +materially altered. They were, however, effectually secured against loss +of the full amount of salary promised them by trustee boards. Adequate +provision was made for school sections composed of adjoining parts of +two or more townships. Provision was made for Township Boards of +Trustees on the request of a majority of the school supporters, to +manage all the schools of a township. County Boards of Public +Instruction were formed, consisting of the County Superintendent and the +Trustees of the District Grammar School. These boards were to meet four +times a year, to hold examinations and license teachers. They were to +use their influence to establish school libraries and promote the cause +of education. District superintendents were limited to one hundred +schools each, and were to receive one pound per annum for each school, +besides necessary travelling expenses. The Superintendent was no longer +the custodian of school money, but gave orders to the Township Treasurer +to pay to teachers their proper allowances. The Superintendent was to +visit every school in his District once each quarter, and to deliver a +public lecture in every school section once each year. Thus the way was +open for the District Superintendent to become an expert, giving a +minimum of time to clerical work and a maximum to the encouragement of +pupils and teachers. He was to become a link between the Department of +Education on the one hand and the District Council and Trustee Boards on +the other. He was a local officer, but his duties were definitely +prescribed by a central authority. Through him the Chief Superintendent +and the Council of Public Instruction were able to keep in touch with +pupils, teachers, school visitors, trustee boards, county boards, and +district councils. School visitors were given the same privileges as by +the Act of 1846, except the right to grant licenses to teachers. The +General Board of Education was merged into the Council of Public +Instruction, with duties substantially the same as those assigned the +former body in 1846. + +Incorporated towns and cities were no longer to have school sections, +but instead a Board of Trustees to manage school affairs. Town and City +School Boards were allowed three ways of securing the money necessary, +in addition to the school fund, for common school purposes. The Board +might ask the Municipal Council to levy an assessment for the required +sum, in which case the said Council were bound to comply with its +wishes; the Board might levy a rate bill upon the parents of pupils +attending school; or they might raise the required funds partly by a +rate bill and partly by an assessment levied by the Municipal Council. + +The only real difference between the methods of raising money in towns +and cities on the one hand and rural sections on the other, lay in the +plan of deciding how the money was to be raised. In rural sections the +ratepayers assembled at the annual meeting, made the decision, and the +trustees carried out their wishes; in towns and cities the trustees had +full power to decide upon the method of taxation without consulting the +ratepayers. School trustees in incorporated villages were governed by +the same rules as trustees of towns and cities, except in the manner of +the annual election. + +One very important feature of the new Act was the setting apart of +L3,000 a year for the establishment and support of school libraries, and +L25 a year for each District Teachers' Institute. A sum was also set +apart for procuring plans and publications for the improvement of school +architecture. The Chief Superintendent was authorized to issue +provincial certificates to Normal School graduates. + +The Act of 1850 also made some important changes relating to Separate +Schools, which will be noted in another chapter. + +Dr. Ryerson always felt that he owed much to the Governor-General, Lord +Elgin, for helping him to form a public opinion which made possible the +legislation of 1850. That distinguished nobleman was a graduate of +Oxford, and he never lost an opportunity of helping forward any movement +designed to raise the intellectual status of the people. But it was +largely Ryerson's unaided efforts that gave Upper Canada in 1850 such a +splendid educational machinery. It was no factory-made plan, but a +system developed step by step out of partial failures into something +better. It was, like all English law, the result of applying a +common-sense remedy to a clearly proved weakness. + +During the passage through the Legislature of the Bill of 1850, a debate +arose about Ryerson's salary, and the value of his services to the +country. The following condensed account of a speech delivered in +Parliament in July, by Hon. Francis Hincks, makes clear the attitude +finally adopted by the Liberal Government toward Ryerson, and for that +reason has some historical interest: + +"The member for Toronto, Mr. Boulton, had charged the Administration +with buying the support of the Superintendent of Education with an +increased salary. He had desired, in bringing forward this question, to +make it as little a political question as possible. He thought that the +great question of education might be treated without reference to party +differences. He thought it his duty, considering the position which the +Reverend Superintendent of Education occupied towards the party with +whom he acted, to state his whole course of conduct towards that +gentleman since he had taken office. It was well known to the House that +the reverend gentleman was engaged, before accepting the office which he +now held, in very keen controversy with the members of the present +ministry; he had taken a course decidedly hostile to them. As writer for +the public press at that time, he had himself engaged in that contest, +though without personal feeling, as he trusted he had engaged in every +contest of the kind. But there was undoubtedly on his own part, and on +that of his colleagues, a strong political feeling of dislike to the +reverend gentleman, on account of the formidable opposition with which +they were met by him. He was appointed to the office of Superintendent +by the late Government, and he did not blame that Government for so +appointing him; for, if anyone ever established strong claims upon a +party, it was the reverend gentleman by his defence of that +administration. The present ministry again assumed the duties of the +Government, and undoubtedly there was a general feeling among their +supporters that one of the first measures expected of them was to get +rid of the reverend gentleman in some way or other, and in that feeling +most certainly he sympathized. He had found, however, bye-the-bye, that +those who were most eager to recommend the Government to dismiss +officials, when they were put into similar situations, into the +municipal councils for instance, that they did not carry out those +views, that they did not turn out their opponents without a reason for +it. There were two or three ways of removing the Chief Superintendent; +one was to make the office a political one; but after the best +consideration being given to the question, it was not considered +advisable to do that, and the proposition to abolish the office +altogether, he was satisfied would have had the worst possible +consequences on the educational interests of the country, after +observing the benefits of active superintendents in New York, and our +own Province. The only other mode then, if these two were resisted, was +to remove the incumbent altogether, and then the question came, whether +he had acted in such a manner as to justify his dismissal. He had often +asked this question of the persons who urged his dismissal, and they +had never given one good reason to support the affirmative. He was not +one of those who thought that because a person supported one Government +that he was therefore incapable of serving faithfully those who +succeeded them, whom he had formerly opposed, always supposing, of +course, that his office was not a political one. He could not find that +the reverend gentleman had entered in the slightest degree into the +field of politics, and as he had discharged his duties with great zeal +and ability, they had no reason to interfere with him. Then the point +was, how they were to act towards him in his position, and his (Mr. +H.'s) determination was to give him the most cordial support; as a +member of the Government he considered it his duty to do so. He felt it +his duty to give the same support to officers who came oftener into +contact with him, the officials of the Custom House, and he defied +anyone to say that any political opponent of his had received less +cordial support in the discharge of the duties of his office than his +friends had; the efficiency of the service absolutely required that he +should do so. He put himself in communication with the reverend +gentleman in reference to this Bill, and as he (Mr. H.) believed that +Doctor Ryerson possessed a more complete knowledge of the school system +than any other person, he thought that any Government would have done +very wrong not to have availed themselves of that knowledge. He deeply +regretted the course which some gentlemen with whom he generally acted +had taken on this matter. + +"He would only say now, that he considered he should be paid the highest +salary given to any officer, for the duties of none were more onerous or +more important. He might remark that he had not found lawyers in the +House very anxious to reduce the salaries of the judges, but when it +came to civilians, to superintendents of schools, then five hundred +pounds a year was far too much. Now he considered the duties of that +office as quite equal in importance, and requiring equal talents to +those of a Collector of Customs, and thought that he should not be +placed in an inferior position to them."[81] + +[81] See issue of Toronto _Globe_, July 11th, 1850, p. 331. + + * * * * * + +The Toronto _Globe_, of July 16th, 1850, speaking on the debate in the +Assembly, said: + + "The debate on Egerton Ryerson's salary was, we think, just another + instance of pandering to the cry of the moment. His salary was + sought to be made the same as the Lower Canada Superintendent's. + Well, the Lower Canada Superintendent's salary is five hundred + pounds, but it would not do to name that sum for Upper Canada until + the retrenchment committee had operated upon Lower Canada. Now, why + not say at once that five hundred pounds is the proper salary for + the Superintendent of Education of nearly a million people, and + stick to it? We are no admirers of Egerton Ryerson, and we have + always thought, and we think still, that the present ministry should + have turned him out neck and crop the moment they got into power; + but we are free to admit that he is a man of very great talent, who, + at any mercantile or professional business he might engage in, would + readily make five hundred pounds a year, and we do think that this + sum is as little as could be assigned to an office of such high + public importance." + +This article clearly shows that the _Globe_ recognized Ryerson's talents +and his professional ability, while objecting to him on political +grounds. Mr. George Brown, the _Globe_ Editor, was too shrewd a man, and +had too strong an interest in popular education, not to see that Ryerson +was working a reformation in school affairs. The following from a +_Globe_ editorial of September 14th, 1850, is really a tribute +grudgingly paid to Ryerson's efforts:-- + + "While other professions, the clergy, the lawyers, the physicians, + have long gained a certain position and influence in society, and + have assumed the management of their own affairs, teachers, as a + class, have, until lately, stood alone, disregarded by the + community, and in many instances treated as beneath the notice of + men infinitely their inferiors in mental acquirements, and engaged + in pursuits certainly not more important to the well-being of the + community. While others were improving their circumstances and + acquiring wealth and power, the schoolmaster alone appeared + stationary, doomed to drag on a life of poverty and contempt, and + looked upon by parents as a sort of nurse for their naughty + children, who received their wages for their services, and not to + meddle with the affairs of the world. We but repeat what we wrote + some years ago, prior to any of Egerton Ryerson's schemes, when we + say that it is a reproach to the Christian world, that those who + prepare the rising generation for entry into business life, should + have been left so long to poverty, and to have occupied so low a + place in society. Only conceive a schoolmaster--profoundly versed in + the vast variety of knowledge which the human mind can master, a man + who can solve the most difficult problem in mathematics, and take + the highest flights in astronomy--rarely reaching beyond the mark of + a person to be patronized. To such a man, the constant toil and + drudgery of a school, the annoyance of unruly children and + unreasonable parents, and above all the pinching poverty to which he + is too often subject, present a life of hardship which it is + difficult to conceive. The smith, or the carpenter of the village, + may by industry realize something for the wants of a surviving + family, and the shopkeeper, or the baker, may perhaps become + wealthy; but the idea of a schoolmaster having any other position + than poverty, would be thought the height of absurdity." + +Ryerson believed that if school trustees were given the option of free +schools and power to enforce taxation for their support, they would soon +abolish rate-bills upon parents. Public sentiment was rapidly changing. +This was fairly shown by the city of Toronto, where there were many +wealthy men who objected to free schools, and where private and +denominational schools were more popular than in any other part of Upper +Canada. In March, 1851, a committee of the Toronto Board submitted to +the Chairman a special report showing that 3,403 children who should be +in the schools of that city were roaming the streets and growing up +without educational advantages of any kind. The report ascribed this +condition of affairs mainly to two causes, rate-bills and lack of school +accommodation, and concluded by making a strong stand for free schools. + +The Toronto _Globe_ had scoffed at free schools in 1848. The rapid +change that took place in the views of this journal is a fair index of +the change that was taking place among the people of Upper Canada in +regard to free schools. I shall, therefore, quote from the _Globe_ to +show the trend of public opinion on free schools during the early +fifties. As early as January 30th, 1851, the _Globe_ said editorially: + + "We are glad to observe that the plan of free common schools has + been adopted at the recent annual meetings in very many school + sections throughout Upper Canada. The best gift the people of Canada + can confer on their children is education, sound, practical + education available to all. Public money employed in educating the + masses is a most profitable investment, and we hope the day will + soon be when a good education is open to every child in the + country." + +On January 5th, 1852, the _Globe_ expressed itself as follows:-- + + "The most important change proposed in our present system of common + schools, is the abolition of all direct charges against the parents + of the children attending, and the support of these institutes by + direct tax on the whole body of the people. We trust the day is not + far distant when the Reserve and Rectory lands will be devoted to + the support of the common schools of Upper Canada, the school tax + abolished, and the unspeakable advantages of a sound education + placed without any charge within the reach of every child in the + Province. Every effort should be put forth to effect this, but + meantime let us seek to obtain the best system which our position + admits of, and that, we believe, is an entirely free system + supported by a direct tax. There are many reasons urged against this + proposed change by sincere friends of education, which are not + without weight. It is said to be unjust and tyrannical to make + people who are childless pay for those who are blessed with a + numerous progeny; it is urged that parents will value the blessing + of education more, when they are compelled to pay for it; it is + alleged to be a weakening of the parental tie, to take the expense + of the education of the child from the shoulders of the parent. + These arguments will have more or less influence according to the + position and character of the individual who considers them, but we + assert without fear of contradiction that all the evils which our + warmest opponents anticipate from the introduction of free schools + sink into insignificance beside the frightful consequences of our + children growing up in the blindness of ignorance, the result which + a free system is designed to avert. No reasonable disinterested man + would place the one class of evils in comparison with the other.... + + "Many opponents of free schools, however, are willing that the + children of the poor should be educated without charge, as they are + at present. Most parents, however, would be, and are, prevented by + their pride from taking advantage of this favour, and we think it + highly desirable that the idea of begging education, or anything + else, should be set as far as possible from the mind of every + Canadian. The children of the poor should look to the common schools + as a place to which they have a right to go, having paid a quota of + the expense in proportion to their means, in the same way that they + claim the right to walk the pavement, and on the same grounds. It is + indeed a noble thought to place the education of the people in the + same position as the protection of the people and the government of + the people, to make it one of the necessaries of the existence of a + state in peace and security, and to provide it at the expense of + all, for the benefit of all. With a Government formed as ours is by + the people, and entirely under its control, our only safeguard + against anarchy and confusion is the intelligence and right of the + people. A thorough system of common school education is the only + means which can ensure these high advantages. Education ought to be + universal, and to be so, it must be entirely free from all expense; + there must be inducements held out to the short-sighted, unwilling + parent." + +As I have already shown, free schools had stronger opposition in Toronto +than at any other point, yet at a large public meeting held in January, +1852, in St. Lawrence Hall,[82] there were only twelve people who +opposed a motion for free schools. Later in the same month Doctor +Ryerson himself attended a public meeting in Toronto and discussed the +free school issue. I shall quote from his speech[83] to show how +skilfully he could use a concrete illustration to influence public +opinion. "Speaking of free schools he said he well remembered how he +went to visit one of the public schools of Boston, the High School, +where boys were prepared for College, yet as free of expense to all +classes as the lowest, and the Mayor of the city, who accompanied him, +wishing to give a lesson in aristocracy, probably, pointed out two lads +who occupied the same seat. He told him that one of these was the son of +Abbot Lawrence, the great manufacturer, and now American minister in +England, and the other was the son of the doorkeeper of the City Hall, +which they had just left. They were enjoying the same advantages, the +son of the millionaire and the son of the doorkeeper; that was what he +wished to see in Canada, the sons of our poor have the same opportunity +of educational advancement as those of the rich. Did it appear from +this that the rich did not attend the common schools of Massachusetts? +The Governor of that State, in a speech which he made lately at Newbury +Port, said that if he had as many sons as old Priam, and was as rich as +Astor, that he would send them to the free school. There were rich and +proud men in Massachusetts, undoubtedly, who would not send their +children among the poor, and rich stingy men who objected to be taxed +for other people's children, but they were the exceptions to the rule. +There was one fact that he wished to mention in connection with the free +schools of Massachusetts. A body of European clergy belonging to the +Catholic Church had gone to their Bishop in Boston to request him to use +his influence against the free school system. He returned for answer +that he knew the character of the schools, having been educated in them, +and having owed to them his position in the Church and the world, and +would do nothing to impair their usefulness." + +[82] See report in _Globe_ of January 10th, 1852. + +[83] See report in _Globe_ of January 13th, 1852. + + * * * * * + +It would be a mistake to suppose that there were not valiant champions +against the free school principle, and it would be a worse mistake to +suppose that all the sound arguments were on the side of free schools. +The following letters from the Reverend John Roaf, a Toronto clergyman +(Congregationalist), will give a fair idea of the stand taken by those +who favoured rate bills upon parents. The first letter, published in the +_Globe_, January 31st, 1852, is as follows: + + "I am happy to inform you that school section No. 1, Township of + York, including the village of Yorkville, have this day negatived a + proposal to have a free school, preferring to give the teacher L60 + from the Public funds, and a right to charge 1s. 3d. per month for + every child attending the school. The mechanics and labourers here + have thus discharged the power, for there cannot be any such right, + so wrongfully given them by the School Act, to educate their own + children at the expense of their more wealthy neighbours. All praise + to their honesty. Thus they will escape from the pauperizing + tendencies of the free school system. They encourage their + schoolmaster with the hope of being rewarded for making a good + school. They suffer the proprietors of private schools to maintain a + useful competition with the common school teacher; they keep up + valuable select schools, and yet in return for the public fund, they + will get free education for the children whose parents need + exemption from the school fees. + + "May we not hope that the city of Toronto will next year follow this + honourable example, and spurn the unrighteous counsel which is + introducing communism in education to the undermining of property + and society? The French people and the Normans ought to serve as + warnings of the abyss to which this plausible socialism is enticing + us." + +The second letter was published in the Toronto _Globe_, February 5th, +1852: + + "The idea of the outlay for education being profitable for the + holders of property, and thus justifying the impost, is much like a + joke; for surely no one thinks it necessary to force upon men of + property so great a gain, as they seldom need be convinced by their + poor neighbours where their true interests lie. Gain indeed; why, + probably three-fourths of the children now in the Toronto common + schools will carry their education away to the West, and here be + succeeded by others who will similarly want to use our property for + their own benefit. Besides we might give free education to those who + otherwise would be destitute of it, but make those purchase it who + have the means. + + "While I thus dwell on the injustice of the arrangement, I do so + because what is unjust cannot be wise, and not because the futility + of the system is not otherwise apparent. The free system divests the + teacher of all proprietary and personal interest in his school, and + will speedily render him sycophantic and servile to his trustees, + but haughty and negligent towards his pupils and friends. It will + throw education into the hands of an electioneering party, and what + kind of party that will be in such places as Toronto, need not be + said. It will destroy all the confidence and love felt towards the + teacher as the employee and friend of the child's parents, and + substitute for them a cold respect due to the public official. It + will render school attendance desultory and variable, because unpaid + for, and always to be had for asking. Instead of the soft, familiar, + and refined circle in which wise parents like to place their + children, it will drive gentle youths and sensitive girls into the + large herds of children with all the regimental strictness and + coldness and coarseness by which such bodies must be marked, and + thus, while the child asks bread you will give him a stone." + +The opposition to free schools did not all come from wealthy +property-owners who objected to educating the children of the poor. +Voluntary schools, wholly independent of Government control and closely +allied with some church, were already in operation in populous centres +in Upper Canada. The managers of these schools had to depend wholly upon +subscriptions and fees. So long as all schools were supported mainly +from rate bills upon parents the purely voluntary schools were not at a +serious disadvantage. But if free common schools were established, then +all patrons of voluntary schools must submit to be taxed twice for the +education of their children. The following from a _Globe_ editorial of +February 14th, 1852, shows that the effects of free schools upon +voluntary schools were fully appreciated: + + "The _Patriot_ of Tuesday gives us the real reason for his + opposition to free schools. Formerly he talked of pauperizing the + whole people, of socializing them, of a number of other direful + evils to be dreaded as consequences of all free schools. In his last + article, however, he admits that his main objection is, that + denominational schools can never be supported beside those entirely + free. We commend this fact to our friends who are sincerely opposed + to sectarian education, and yet are not prepared to accept the + principles of entire freedom. It is undoubtedly true what the + _Patriot_ says, denominational schools cannot exist beside free + schools. So long as we continue to exact payment from parents, so + long will efforts be made by the sects to obtain aid from the public + funds and private support in order to weaken the common schools, + draw away scholars from them, and destroy their efficiency. When the + schools are supported entirely by taxation, no such attempts can be + met with success. No sectarian school only partially supported by + the State can compete with the free institution, and no one would + be foolish enough to propose to endow more than one entirely free + school. The people would not stand the taxation. The free principle + is a deathblow to the attempts of the priests to get the education + of the people into their own hands, to train up the children in + classes and denominations, to shut them out from free knowledge, and + to give them just what pleases their prejudiced views. The _Patriot_ + thinks it would be tyrannical to prevent the establishment of + sectarian schools by means of a free system. We cannot see it in + that light. The denominational plan has been tried in England, but + it has failed. The schools were never established in sufficient + numbers to educate the people. It is not reasonable to expect that + sects managed by cliques of clergymen in the large towns should be + able to manage a complete system of education for the people. The + very idea is absurd. Are we then to give up our efforts for the + education of the people, because these efforts would interfere with + the small, ineffectual endeavours these denominations might make to + secure proselytes to their churches through secular schools? + Certainly not; the greatest friend to sectarian education could not + admit that; and we who oppose that system rejoice that free schools, + which are spreading so fast, will effectually put down the + endeavours of the sects after educational influence which has + produced both in Ireland and England such a scarcity of knowledge, + and which have not been without their ill-effects in Canada." + +These quotations will for us serve two purposes. They give a fair +picture of the free school movement, and they sum up the arguments for +and against State education. No thoughtful person in this age can +observe the apathy of thousands of people in regard to the education of +their children without at times feeling that these people would +appreciate schools much more if they had to make some personal sacrifice +to secure their advantages. But further thought is almost certain to +convince us that free schools are the natural support of a democratic +government, and that without their socializing influence a +self-governing people would always be more or less at the mercy of +demagogues. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +_RYERSON AND SEPARATE SCHOOLS._ + + +The purpose of this chapter is to set forth as briefly as possible the +origin and development of Separate Schools in Upper Canada, showing +incidentally the part taken in that development by Doctor Ryerson. + +If we seek to discover the primary cause of our Separate School system +we undoubtedly find it in the almost unanimous desire of the pioneer +settlers to have the Common Schools established upon a basis of +Christianity, and to secure for their children some positive instruction +in the Holy Scriptures. From their standpoint secular schools were of +necessity godless schools. We need also to remember that sectarian +prejudices were more bitter seventy years ago than they are to-day. +Dogma and religion were thought to be inseparable. To-day the various +bodies of Christians throughout the world make much of what they hold in +common; seventy years ago their grandfathers could not forget the petty +differences of doctrine that held them apart. If the schools were to +give religious instruction, and if the adoption of some form of +instruction acceptable to all was impossible, then separate schools +were the logical outcome. And as separate schools for each one of the +many sects into which the scattered population of Upper Canada was +divided were clearly impossible it naturally followed that such schools +were established for Roman Catholics who were comparatively few in +number, and who differed in doctrine from Protestants more radically +than the various Protestant bodies differed amongst themselves. No one +of the Protestant bodies could object to the reading of the Protestant +Bible in the schools, but the Roman Catholics naturally objected to +their children taking any part in such an exercise. + +As pointed out in Chapter IV., the Common School Act of 1841 laid the +foundation of Separate Schools. The provisions of that Act applied to +the United Canadas. In any township or parish any number of dissentients +might elect a trustee board and establish a school, receiving for its +support public money in proportion to their numbers. It is clear that in +practice under this clause a dissentient school could be established +only where the dissentients were sufficiently numerous to furnish at +least fifteen children of school age, and contribute a considerable sum +for school purposes. Another clause in the Act of 1841 required the +Governor to appoint, in towns and cities, school boards made up of an +equal number of Protestants and Roman Catholics, the Protestants to +manage schools attended by Protestant children and the Catholics to +manage schools attended by Catholic children. But this clause made no +provision for Roman Catholics from two or more city school sections +combining to form one school for their children, and as Catholics in a +single city section were seldom if ever numerous enough to form a school +the Act was practically inoperative in securing separate Roman Catholic +schools. + +The Bill of 1841, as introduced into the Assembly, contained none of the +above provisions for Separate Schools, and the question naturally +arises, why were they inserted? Several petitions were presented from +Boards of Education, and some from Synods of the Presbyterian Church, +praying that the Bible be made a textbook in the schools. Bishop +Strachan and the clergy of his diocese petitioned "that the education of +the children of their own Church may be entrusted to their own pastors, +and that an annual grant from the assessments may be awarded for their +instruction."[84] The Roman Catholic Bishop of Kingston also petitioned +against the Bill as brought in, but did not expressly ask for Separate +Schools. It seems natural then to infer (and the Journals of the +Assembly for 1841 bear out this inference), that the amendments +granting Separate Schools were a compromise. + +[84] See copy in D. H. E., Vol. IV., p. 20. + + +Another amendment authorized Christian Brothers to teach even if they +were not naturalized British subjects. In 1843 the Act of 1841 was +repealed in so far as it related to Upper Canada. The new Act made it +unlawful in any common school to compel the child to read from any +religious book or join in any religious exercise to which his parents or +guardians objected. It also provided that if the teacher of a school +were a Roman Catholic, then any ten householders or freeholders might +petition for a Separate School with a Protestant teacher or, in the same +way, Roman Catholics might form a Separate School if the teacher were a +Protestant. + +The grants to these Separate Schools were to be that proportion of the +total school fund in any Municipal District that the children in actual +attendance at the Separate School bore to the total number of children +of school age in the district, and they were subject to the same rules +and regulations regarding courses of study and inspection as the Common +Schools. + +In 1847 an amendment to the Common School Act was passed known as the +Towns and Cities Act. This Act gave the Trustee Boards of towns and +cities full power to determine the number of, and regulate, +denominational schools. An extract from Ryerson's Annual Report for +1847 as presented to the Provincial Secretary will make clear the nature +of the Act and the Chief Superintendent's views of it. Speaking of the +provision for Separate Schools in the Act of 1843 he says: + + "I have never seen the necessity for such a provision in connection + with any section of the Common School Law, which provides that no + child shall be compelled to read any religious book or attend any + religious exercise contrary to the wishes of his parents and + guardians; and besides the apparent inexpediency of this provision + of the law it has been seriously objected to as inequitable, + permitting the Roman Catholics to have a denominational school, but + not granting a similar right or privilege to any one Protestant + denomination ... nor does the Act of 1847 permit the election of any + sectarian school trustees nor the appointment of a teacher of any + religious persuasion as such even for a denominational school. Every + teacher of such school must be approved by the town or city school + authorities. There are, therefore, guards and restrictions connected + with the establishment of a denominational school in cities and + towns under the new Act which did not previously exist; it, in fact, + leaves the applications or pretensions of each religious persuasion + to the judgment of those who provide the greater part of the local + school fund and relieves the Government and Legislature from the + influence of any such sectarian pressure. The effect of this Act has + already been to lessen rather than to increase denominational + schools, while it places all religious persuasions on the same legal + footing, and leaves none of them any possible ground to attack the + school law or oppose the school system. My Report on a system of + Public Elementary Instruction for Upper Canada, as well as various + decisions and opinions which I have given, amply show that I am far + from advocating the establishment of denominational schools; but I + was not prepared to condemn what had been unanimously sanctioned by + two successive Parliaments."[85] + +[85] See copy in D. H. E., Vol. VII., p. 178. + + +During the Legislative Session of 1850, and while the School Bill was +under discussion, a petition was presented by prominent Roman Catholic +authorities praying for some modifications of the provisions for +Separate Schools in the Bill then before the House. The result was that +the 19th clause of the Act of 1850 made it compulsory upon the Municipal +Council of any township or the School Board of any city or town or +incorporated village, upon the written request of twelve or more +resident heads of families, to establish one or more Separate Schools +for either Protestants or Roman Catholics. At this time only fifty-one +Separate Schools were in operation in the whole of Upper Canada,[86] of +which nearly one-half were Protestant. + +[86] See circular, issued by Ryerson, of April 12th, 1850, to Municipal +Councils on Act of 1850. + + +According to a letter written by Ryerson to Hon. George Brown[87] there +was a movement among certain Anglicans to secure Separate Schools for +their children. Had Roman Catholics and Anglicans[88] both secured +Separate Schools, it would have wrecked the Common School system, and +these two denominations acting in concert were strong enough to defeat +the Baldwin-Lafontaine Government. Acting on Ryerson's suggestion, the +Government conceded in the main the Roman Catholic claim and secured +their support to the Bill. This Bill gave Separate Schools one distinct +advantage over the Act of 1843. It made their share of the Separate +School fund that part of the total fund which the Separate School +attendance bore to the total school attendance. But Separate School +supporters were still far from having their schools recognized as a +right and placed on an equality with Common Schools. Separate Schools +were granted as a privilege or concession, but not as a right. Let me +quote from Ryerson's circular to town reeves on the Act of 1850: "But, +notwithstanding the existence of this provision of the law since 1843, +there were last year but 51 Separate Schools in all Upper Canada, nearly +as many of them being Protestant as Roman Catholic; so that this +provision of the law is of little consequence for good or for evil.... +It is also to be observed that a Separate School is entitled to no aid +beyond a certain portion of the School Fund for the salary of the +teacher. The schoolhouse must be provided, furnished, warmed, books +procured, etc., by the persons petitioning for the Separate School. Nor +are the patrons or supporters of a Separate School exempted from any of +the local assessments or rates for common school purposes."[89] + +[87] See D. H. E., Vol. IX., p. 25. + +[88] It is not meant to suggest that even a majority of the Anglicans +would have done anything to wreck the Common School System. As a matter +of fact, only a few of the Anglican laity sympathized with the extreme +views of Bishop Strachan, either in Common School or University affairs. + +[89] See D. H. E., Vol. IX., p. 208. + + +This makes it clear that Separate School supporters were liable to be +taxed by the municipality for the support of Common Schools; they might +be called upon to pay an assessment to build, repair or furnish a Common +School, or to pay a part of the teacher's salary. On the other hand, the +only aid they received in support of their own school was a share of the +legislative and municipal grants which together made up the school +fund.[90] It will at once be seen that every step toward free Common +Schools placed the Separate School supporters at an increased +disadvantage because it made them contribute more and more toward the +Common School. + +[90] It was long a favourite argument of those opposed to Separate +Schools that inasmuch as the bulk of the property was owned by +Protestants, the Roman Catholics were not entitled to a share of the +school fund reckoned on the basis of the pupils' attendance. + + +The Act of 1850 caused some friction in Toronto, where the Roman +Catholics asked for a second Separate School. The Trustee Board refused +on the ground that they were not legally compelled to establish more +than one Separate School in the city and the Court of Queen's Bench +upheld their decision. By the old Act, under which cities were divided +into school sections, there was no legal bar to the establishment of a +Separate School in every city school section. Ryerson thought the Roman +Catholics had a grievance and consented to recommend the Bill giving a +Separate School in each city ward or a Separate School for two or more +wards united for such purpose. This amendment was passed in 1851 and +caused considerable discussion. A large party in Upper Canada were +opposed to Separate Schools on principle and objected to any legislation +that would multiply them, make them more efficient and popular, or +grant them more favourable financial support. + +The attitude of the out-and-out opponents to Separate Schools was very +well expressed by the following Bill,[91] introduced in 1851 by William +Lyon Mackenzie:-- + + "Whereas the establishment of sectarian or Separate Schools, upheld + by periodical grants of money from a provincial treasury and placed + under the control of the Executive Government through its + Superintendents of Education and other civil officers, is a + dangerous interference with the Common School system of Upper + Canada, and if allowed to Protestants and Roman Catholics cannot + reasonably be refused to Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Quakers, + Tunkers, Baptists, Independents and other religious denominations; + and whereas if it is just that any number of religious sects should + have Separate Public Schools it is not less reasonable that they + should have separate Grammar Schools, Colleges and professorships in + the Universities; and whereas it is unjust for the State to tax + Protestants in order to provide for the instruction of children in + Roman Catholic doctrines or to tax Roman Catholics for religious + instruction of youth in principles adverse to those of the Church of + Rome; and as the early separation of children at school on account + of the creeds of their parents or guardians would rear nurseries of + strife and dissension and cause thousands to grow up in comparative + ignorance who might under our Common School system obtain the + advantages of a moral, intellectual and scientific education, be it + enacted therefore that the nineteenth section of the Act of 1850 be + repealed." + +[91] See Journals of Canadian Assembly for 1851. + + +Mackenzie's Bill was defeated by 26 to 5. It lays down broad general +principles that are not easy to overthrow, and no doubt several who +voted against it would have been glad to see all young Canadians +educated together. But if the right to have Separate Schools be granted, +and it had been granted by successive School Acts for Upper Canada, then +it seems naturally to follow that the Legislature was bound to place no +obstacles in the way of their formation and to make them efficient. + +Separate Schools were at first grudgingly granted as a privilege, but +not as a right. Naturally, every extension of the privilege was used by +the supporters of these schools as a vantage-ground from which to secure +further privileges and gradually convert these into rights. At first the +parties seceding from the Public Schools shared only in the school fund +made up of the legislative grant and an equal sum levied by the +district, town or city council--the whole being available only for the +payment of teachers' salaries. Supporters of Separate Schools were +liable to be taxed for the building and equipment of Public Schools in +addition to the support of their own. They claimed a _pro rata_ share of +all moneys levied by taxation, and in some cases the law was invoked in +an attempt to secure such share. + +In 1853, a radical amendment was adopted by which Separate School +supporters received a _pro rata_ share of the legislative grant only, +and upon subscribing for school purposes a sum equivalent to the grant +secured were relieved of all taxation for Common School purposes. The +Act of 1853 also gave the Separate School trustees power to issue +certificates to the teachers employed by them, and the same power of +levying rates upon the supporters of their schools as that exercised by +trustees of Common Schools. + +While the Separate School Bill of 1853 was before the Legislature, there +was an attempt to introduce a clause establishing a general Board of +Trustees for Separate or sectarian Schools in towns and cities. Ryerson +went to Quebec to confer with the Attorney-General and vigorously +opposed the Bill. His correspondence shows that he had no wish to place +Separate Schools on an equality with Public Schools. In fact he wished +to do nothing that would encourage or make easy their formation. The +law as it stood allowed Separate Schools only when the teacher was of a +different religious faith from those wishing the Separate School. A +general Board of Separate School Trustees for every town or city would +have greatly increased the number of Separate Schools. Ryerson says: +"This is placing Sectarian Schools upon a totally different foundation +from that on which they have always stood; it is the introduction of a +system of sectarian schools without restriction and almost without +conditions.... If there are city and town Boards of Sectarian School +Trustees they will claim the right of appointing their own local +superintendents, and thus their schools will be shut up against all +inspection except that they themselves may please to require or +permit.... Thus such a Board in Toronto might recognize and claim public +aid for every child taught in convents and by other private teachers of +the same religious persuasion.... If provision be made in each city and +town to incorporate into one Board one religious persuasion, exempting +it from the payment of school rates and authorizing it to tax and +collect from its own members to any amount for school purposes, the +application of any other religious persuasion in any such city or town +cannot be consistently or fairly resisted.... The effect of all this +would be to destroy the system of Public Schools in cities and towns +and ultimately perhaps in villages and townships, and to leave all the +poorer portion of the population and that portion of it connected with +minor religious persuasions without any adequate and certain means of +education. I think the safest and most defensible ground to take is a +firm refusal to sanction any measure to provide by law increased +facilities for the multiplication and perpetuation of sectarian +schools."[92] + +[92] See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 172 and 173. + + * * * * * + +The attitude of the extreme opponents of Separate Schools may be made +clear from the editorials of George Brown in the Toronto _Globe_. On +April 2nd, 1853, he says:-- + + "But under the new Bill the taxation of the Roman Catholic parents + and the whole charge of the Separate Schools are to devolve on the + Popish authorities. The schools are to become henceforth distinct, + not only in their mode of tuition, but in the machinery by which + they are to be conducted. They are to retain no vestige of + connection with the general educational system, which is the pride + and glory of the Canadian people. Any Roman Catholic has only to + declare himself a supporter of a Separate School and straightway he + is relieved from taxation for the maintenance of the general system. + As at present constituted, there is a kind of guarantee that Roman + Catholics are educated, that they are not left entirely in + ignorance, but under Mr. Richards' Bill there would be none.... The + plain and obvious intention of the Bill is the still further + development of the sectarian element in our Common Schools. The + Roman Catholics were not satisfied with what they had already + gained. They wished to obtain their share of the annual + Parliamentary grant, paid out of the revenue, which is made up + almost exclusively from Protestant money. They wished to have their + schools altogether free from the supervision of the general + trustees. Their bishops went down to Quebec, the _Mirror_ announcing + their departure, and hinting at the object of their journey, and + straightway we have the Bill from Mr. W. B. Richards, granting to + them all they had demanded. If they had asked much more it would + have been granted to them by the present Government. If this Bill + passes into law, the sectarian system will be fully and thoroughly + introduced, and must be carried out to its utmost extent. The Roman + Catholics say that they are not satisfied to send their children to + the Common Schools, and they are free from taxation. The + Episcopalians are ready to say the same, and we ask whether in + fairness we can refuse to one what we grant to the other? And then + the Methodists will demand separate schools, and the Presbyterians, + and all hopes of the education of the people may be abandoned. Yet + this Bill has been introduced by a Government raised to power upon + the principle that our school system should be free from clerical + control. 'No sectarian schools' was the watchword at the last + election among Reformers, yet one of the first measures introduced + by the Reform Government is to establish sectarian schools more + thoroughly than before. We look to them to abolish, and behold! they + ratify and confirm the evils of their predecessors. Where is this to + stop? When is the measure of the iniquity of this Government to be + filled up?... Let our school system, the source of light and + intelligence, be destroyed, and what remains to us of hope for the + country? They, as it were, would go gradually back to the darkness + of ignorance and superstition. We shall consider no institution safe + from priestly encroachments if this Bill is carried. There is no + point upon which the people of Upper Canada can be more severely + wounded than their common schools. Every true patriot has fondly + looked to them as the safeguards against the despotism of + priestcraft, and against violence of an ignorant and, therefore, + vicious populace. If they are sacrificed, if their noble endowment + is scattered among the sects, frittered away on a dozen different + school systems, if the priests are to take possession of all the + avenues of knowledge, what will be the fate of this Province? Will + it rise in the scale of nations, ever to be distinguished for the + intelligence of its people, for its prosperity and advancement?"[93] + +[93] See bound volumes of _Globe_ in Legislative Library, Toronto. + + +The following from the Toronto _Examiner_, reprinted in the _Globe_ of +April 7th, 1853, shows that the _Globe_ was not alone in its opinions:-- + + "We are reluctantly forced to the conviction that the rupture, + complete and final, of the Common School system of Canada is only a + question of time. We were among those who looked anxiously to the + Government for a liberal and decided policy on this momentous + question. An examination of the supplementary School Bill which we + give in other columns will bear us out but too fully, we fear, in + pronouncing its liberality exceedingly questionable.... How + different in Canada. Reformers have been bidding for Roman Catholic + votes until they are likely to bid away every distinctive principle + which they hold, and when this is done will it satisfy the ends of + men whose mission is to establish in the place of free institutions + the domination of priestcraft?" + +The following from the Roman Catholic _Mirror_, quoted in the _Globe_, +April 9th, 1853, shows that the Roman Catholics were well pleased with +the Bill: + + "We freely admit that we had certain misgivings respecting the + amount of relief which might be expected from the measure proposed, + which from the haughty and dictatorial tone assumed by the Chief + Superintendent of Schools for Upper Canada, in his late + perambulations, we were prepared at least to regard with suspicion. + The terms on which justice has been hitherto meted out in stinted + and niggard instalments, under the existing law, and the many + instances in which it has been withheld or contemptuously refused, + may have rendered us over-sensitive; but we must acknowledge that + when we observe Dr. Ryerson publicly promulgate the conditions on + which he would concede to Catholics the privilege of directing the + education of their own children, we were prepared to expect a + reiterated legislative insult and a gross injustice, not a measure + restrictive, partial and oppressive. We have been most agreeably + disappointed; the Bill of the 'Honourable Attorney-General West,' + with some slight modifications which can be readily introduced in + committee, will form the basis of an educational system of sound + principle, particularly calculated to do justice to all classes of + the community." + +The following resolutions of the Synod of the United Presbyterian +Church, printed in the _Globe_, June 30th, 1853, shows the opinion of +that body on the Common School question:-- + + "Resolved. I. That this Synod approve of a national system of + education, placing all the members of the community upon a level, + and encouraging, as that now in force in this Province does, the use + of the Scriptures under certain reasonable regulations, as are also + prescribed therein. + + "II. Holding these views, we deeply regret to perceive the principle + of sectarian schools, so distinctly recognized in the latest + amendments of the Provincial School Act, and do strongly testify + against such a principle as impolitic and mischievous, recognizing + as it does the right of the Government to take the moneys of the + public and appropriate them for the purpose of sustaining and + extending religious distractions, and thereby continuing to + stimulate the elements of discord throughout the community and mar + greatly social interests. + + "III. That this Synod recommend to those under their care the use of + every proper and constitutional means to secure the repeal of all + such statutes as recognize the principle of sectarian schools." + +The movement for extended Separate School privileges was being +championed by Bishop de Charbonnel, of Toronto. During 1852 he had a +long controversy with Ryerson on the school question.[94] Ryerson's +letters during this controversy make it quite clear that he thought +Separate Schools a huge blunder, and that while he had honestly +attempted to give Roman Catholics all the law allowed them he hoped and +expected to see their schools die a natural death. + +[94] See appendices to Journals of House of Assembly, 1852-1853. + + +In his Report for 1852, the Superintendent points with pride to the fact +that Separate Schools are not increasing. Indeed, he congratulates +himself that the provision in the law allowing them is really a good +thing, since it is not very effective in practice but yet acts as a +safety valve to prevent violent opposition to the school system. He +believed that the Roman Catholics themselves would ultimately see that a +policy of isolation of their children would have the effect of cutting +them off from many of their natural privileges as Canadian citizens. And +had the Separate School Act of 1853 remained unaltered, events would +likely have shown Ryerson to be correct in his views. He believed the +Act of 1853 was final, and that without any municipal machinery for +collecting their taxes Separate Schools would never become numerous. + +In this he was greatly mistaken, as events proved. In 1854, the Roman +Catholic Bishops of Toronto, Kingston and Bytown, drew up a Separate +School Bill which they wished should become law. This Bill would have +forced all Roman Catholics to support Catholic Separate Schools wherever +such were established. It also had other provisions which Ryerson +thought objectionable. In 1855 a Separate School Bill, known as the +"Tache Bill," was introduced into the Legislative Council, and after +some amendments adopted by both branches of Parliament. This Act +differed from all previous Acts in that its provisions were exclusively +for Roman Catholic Separate Schools. It repealed all previous +legislation for Separate Schools in so far as Roman Catholics were +concerned. It made possible the establishment of a Roman Catholic +Separate School in any school section or any ward of a town or city on +petition of ten Roman Catholic ratepayers and gave them a Separate +School Board with their own Superintendent in towns and cities. Such +Roman Catholic ratepayers were relieved from all municipal rates for +Common School purposes, and received for their own school a _pro rata_ +share of the Legislative grant if they had an average attendance of 15 +pupils. The Act also made possible general Boards of Separate School +Trustees in towns and cities and gave all Separate School Boards power +to license their own teachers and levy rates for Separate School +purposes upon the supporters of those schools. The Act was in principle +a distinct gain for the champions of Separate Schools, but it led to no +rapid increase in the number of such schools. In 1858, only 94 Separate +Schools were in existence with an enrolment of less than 10,000 +children, as compared with an enrolment of 284,000 in the Public +Schools. The Act of 1855 was really forced upon Upper Canada by the +votes of members from Lower Canada, there being a majority of Upper +Canada members against the Bill. + +It would seem that the Roman Catholics did not gain by the Tache Bill as +much as they expected. The following letter written to Dr. Ryerson from +Quebec, on June 8th, 1855, by John (afterwards Sir John) A. Macdonald, +Attorney-General for Upper Canada, who had charge of the Bill in the +Assembly, shows that political exigencies played no small part in school +legislation: "Our Separate School Bill, which, as you know, is now quite +harmless, passed with the approbation of our friend, Bishop Charbonnel, +who, before leaving here, formally thanked the administration for doing +justice to his Church. He has got a new light since his return to +Toronto, and he now says the Bill won't do. I need not point out to your +suggestive mind that in any article written by you on the subject it is +politic to press two points on the public attention: 1st, That the Bill +will not, as you say, injuriously affect the Common School system. This +for the people at large. 2nd, That the Bill is a substantial boon to the +Roman Catholics. This to keep them in good humour. You see that if the +Bishop makes the Roman Catholics believe that the Bill is no use to them +there will be a renewal of an unwholesome agitation which I thought we +had allayed."[95] + +[95] See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. XII., p. 40. + + +That Sir John A Macdonald was largely in agreement with Dr. Ryerson on +the Separate School question is the opinion of Sir Joseph Pope, his +biographer, who says on page 138 of his Memoirs: "Mr. Macdonald said +that he was as desirous as anyone of seeing all children going together +to the Common School, and if he could have his own way there would be no +Separate School. But we should respect the opinions of others who +differed from us, and they had a right to refuse such schools as they +could not conscientiously approve of." + +From 1855 to 1863, no important changes took place in the law governing +Separate Schools. These schools were increasing very slowly, not so +fast as the natural growth of the Roman Catholic population. In 1860, +there were only 115 Separate Schools with an enrolment of 14,708 as +compared with some 325,000 in the Public Schools. In 1860, Mr. +(afterwards Honourable) R. W. Scott introduced a Bill planned to give +Separate Schools additional privileges. Substantially the same Bill was +introduced annually by Mr. Scott until 1863, when it passed with +amendments, some of which were suggested by Dr. Ryerson. As a matter of +fact, the Tache Act of 1855, which was suggested partly by the status of +Protestant dissentient schools in Lower Canada, had imposed some useless +but vexatious restrictions upon Separate School supporters. In 1862, +Ryerson proposed to satisfy what he called the reasonable demands of +Roman Catholics by making four changes, as follows:--[96] + +1st. To allow the formation of Separate Schools in incorporated villages +and in towns (the Tache Act allowed a Separate School only in the ward +of a town and not a school for the town as a whole); 2nd. To allow a +union of two or more Separate Schools; 3rd. To make it unnecessary for a +Separate School supporter annually to declare himself such; and 4th. To +exempt Separate School trustees from making oath as to the correctness +of their school returns. + +[96] See D. H. E., Vol. XVII., pp. 192 and 193. + + +The Scott Bill of 1863[97] as finally adopted by the Legislature, +embodied all these provisions and some others of importance. Separate +School teachers were to submit to the same examinations and receive the +same certificates of qualification as Public School teachers, but all +teachers qualified by law in Lower Canada were to be qualified teachers +for Separate Schools in Upper Canada. This provision was to allow the +teachers of religious orders[98] recognized by law as qualified in Lower +Canada to teach in Separate Schools in Upper Canada. The Act also made +taxpayers who withdrew their support from Separate Schools liable for +their share of debts incurred while Separate School supporters in +building or equipping Separate Schools. On the whole, the Scott Bill, +while in its unamended form it aroused great opposition in Upper Canada, +as finally adopted, tended to bring the Separate Schools into closer +harmony with the principles governing Public Schools. The feature of the +Bill that aroused most opposition was its being forced upon Upper Canada +by votes of Lower Canadian members--there being a majority[99] of ten +Upper Canada members against the third reading of the Bill in the +Assembly. Such well-known men as John A. Macdonald, John Sandfield +Macdonald and Wm. Macdougall supported the Bill, while George Brown, +Alexander Mackenzie and Oliver Mowat opposed it. + +[97] The Scott Bill, as originally introduced, made any Roman Catholic +priest an ex-officio trustee of a Separate School in his parish; made +all the property of a Separate School supporter exempt from taxation for +Public School purposes, even though some of the property was outside a +Separate School district; gave Separate School trustees unlimited power +to form union sections; created a separate County Board of Examiners to +license Separate School teachers, and gave the Superintendent of +Education little or no power to control textbooks, holidays or +inspection of Separate Schools. + +[98] The Report of the Chief Superintendent for 1871 shows 70 teachers +in Separate Schools belonging to religious orders out of a total of 249. + +[99] See Journals of Canadian Assembly for 1863. + + +Ryerson claimed[100] that he agreed to the amended Scott Bill only on +the distinct understanding that it was to be a finality in Separate +School legislation. He also claimed that the Roman Catholic Bishops of +Quebec, Kingston and Toronto accepted the Bill as a final settlement. +But nothing is final in legislation, and Dr. Ryerson ought to have known +this. Legislation is as much the result of a process of evolution as any +other institution of human society, and no three or four men, whether +priests or laymen, could speak authoritatively and finally for the +thousands of Roman Catholics in Upper Canada. + +[100] See D. H. E., Vol. XVII., p. 219. + + +Separate Schools increased slowly. In 1863 they numbered 115, with +15,000 pupils, the Public Schools having during the same year 45,000 +Roman Catholic pupils. In 1864, Separate Schools had increased to 147 +with 17,365 pupils. In 1871, the number was 160, with 21,000 pupils. + +Almost immediately after the Scott legislation of 1863, an agitation +began for further amendments to the Separate School Act. Ryerson made +strong objections partly on the ground of the alleged compact of 1863, +and partly on the ground that no legislation could possibly make +Separate Schools really popular and efficient outside of large towns and +cities. + +In 1865, the school administration was attacked by James O'Reilly, of +Kingston, and, in a memorandum prepared as a reply to these attacks, +Ryerson goes into some detail to justify his Separate School policy and +reiterates his firm belief that sectarian schools must ever be +relatively inefficient. He concludes as follows: "The fact is that the +tendency of the public mind and of the institutions of Upper Canada is +to confederation and not isolation, to united effort and not divisions. +The efforts to establish and extend Separate Schools, although often +energetic and made at great sacrifice, are a struggle against the +instincts of Canadian society, against the necessities of a sparsely +populated country, against the social and political interest of the +parents and youth separated from their fellow-citizens. It is not the +Separate School law that renders such efforts fitful, feeble and little +successful; their paralysis is caused by a higher than human law, the +law of circumstances--the law of nature, and the law of interest. + +"If, therefore, the present Separate School law is not to be maintained +as a final settlement of the question and if the Legislature finds it +necessary to legislate on the Separate School question again, I pray +that it will abolish the Separate School law altogether; and to this +recommendation I am forced after having long used my best efforts to +maintain and give the fullest effect and most liberal application to +successive Separate School acts--and after twenty years' experience and +superintendence of our Common School system."[101] + +[101] See copy of Memorandum, D. H. E., Vol. XVIII., pp. 304-316. + + +When the Confederation resolutions adopted at Quebec in 1864 were being +discussed in the Canadian Assembly in 1865, an extended debate arose +over the clause which secured for the minorities in Upper and Lower +Canada the privilege of Separate Schools. Men like George Brown and +Alexander Mackenzie, who had opposed the Scott Bill of 1863, defended +the minority clause on the ground that it would place Upper Canada in no +worse position than she already was in regard to sectarian schools, and +that privileges given ought not to be withdrawn. The Assembly were +almost unanimous in supporting the Separate School clause which was +incorporated into the British North America Act. + +No changes in Separate School legislation were made after Confederation +until 1886, and the only events of passing importance in Separate School +affairs were the objections raised in Kingston in 1865 and in Toronto in +1871 to visits of inspection by the Grammar School Inspector, who had +been appointed to make these visits by the Council of Public +Instruction. When Dr. Ryerson pointed out that these visits were +authorized by the Scott Bill of 1863, the Bishops very gracefully waived +their objections and the principle of Separate School inspection by +Government officers was established. In 1874, the three High School +Inspectors made a general inspection of Separate Schools. In their +report to the Government they say: "The inspection of the Separate +Schools derives an additional interest and importance from the peculiar +position they occupy in our educational system. Among them we have found +both well-equipped and ill-equipped, both well-taught and ill-taught +schools. On the whole we regret that in the majority of cases the +buildings, the equipment, and the teaching are alike inferior. There are +but few Separate School teachers whose school surroundings are such as +to make their positions enviable, and accordingly a large measure of +approbation is due to those who have succeeded in doing good work. We +have pleasure in stating that in many places the Separate School Boards +are beginning to see that they must either make the schools under their +charge more efficient or close them altogether. There are many things +connected with the operation of the Separate School Act which invite +comment; but we think it best to postpone the expression of our views +until they are matured by the experience of another year." + +Some years after this, in 1882, the Education Department adopted the +plan of appointing special Roman Catholic Inspectors of Separate +Schools. No doubt regular inspection of these schools has done much to +increase their efficiency, but it is to be regretted that the plan of +inspection adopted tends to widen still further the breach between them +and the schools of the mass of the people. + +Four years after Ryerson's death, the Act relating to Separate Schools +was revised and amended. No new principles were introduced, but every +amendment made tended to place Separate School supporters on an equality +with supporters of Public Schools. The number of schools has gradually +increased owing to the rapid increase in our urban population. In 1884 +there were 207 Separate Schools, with 27,463 pupils; in 1894, 328 +schools with 39,762 pupils; and in 1906, 443 schools with 50,000 pupils. + +Perhaps the most important event connected with the history of Separate +Schools since 1886 was the decision of the Judicial Committee of the +Privy Council in November, 1906. This decision made it clear that the +clause declaring persons qualified as teachers in Quebec at the time of +Confederation to be qualified teachers of Separate Schools in Ontario +applied only to individuals and not to religious corporations as such. +The result will be that the Separate Schools ought soon to have a body +of teachers with the same academic standing and the same normal training +as the Public Schools. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +_RYERSON AND GRAMMAR SCHOOLS._ + + +As already shown in the chapters on the early history of schools in +Upper Canada, Grammar Schools were provided for before any provision was +made for Common Schools. In fact the chief nominal purpose of the large +grant of public land in 1799 was to endow Grammar Schools, and in 1807 +schools were opened in each of the eight Districts into which Upper +Canada was then divided. These schools were supposed to be classical +schools, fashioned upon the model of the great English Public Schools. +As a matter of fact they had no uniform standard of equipment, staff, +course of study or graduation. A few schools, such as Cornwall, +Kingston, York, and Niagara, were famous and turned out many able men. +Some of the schools received pupils who could not read, and were in no +sense secondary schools. As the population increased, new schools were +opened. Although originally intended to be free schools, they all +charged fees. The public grant, which was paid direct to the principal, +was one hundred pounds for each school. As the population increased, new +schools were opened, and by 1844, when Ryerson became Superintendent of +Education, twenty-five Grammar Schools and Academies were in operation. + +These schools were managed by trustees appointed by the Crown, but were +under no proper Government control. They were never really inspected. +Each school was a law unto itself. All were supposed to teach Latin and +Greek, but in many of them there was not a single pupil studying either +of these languages. They were handicapped in many ways. For years there +were no good elementary schools from which they could draw pupils with a +foundation for a secondary education. During the same long period there +were in Upper Canada no colleges to which graduates of Grammar Schools +might go for professional training. This gave these schools a wide scope +and great opportunities, but few seized the opportunities. The poverty +of the people and the natural apathy of many in regard to education also +prevented the development of good schools. + +Good schools are possible only with good teachers, and good teachers in +Upper Canada were not easily secured. The professions of law and +medicine then, as now, were much more attractive than teaching for men +of ability and education. Mercantile life also offered great +opportunities. The result was that the Grammar Schools were often in +charge of incompetent teachers. + +Ryerson's commission gave him no control over Grammar Schools. But his +first Report in 1846 recommended a graded, unified system of schools +from the Common School to the University. He also pointed out that these +Grammar Schools which were intended for a special work were teaching +everything taught in a Common School. In his Report for 1849 he +recommended a commission of inquiry into the state of Grammar Schools +and showed that the whole thirty or forty schools had matriculated only +eight students into the University during that year. He suggested a +fixed course of studies, a minimum qualification for entrance, and +Government inspection. "Surely," he says, "it never could have been +intended that the Grammar Schools should occupy the same ground as +Common Schools, should compete with them, thus lowering the character +and efficiency of both.... I am far from intimating an opinion that +there are no efficient Grammar Schools in the Province, even under the +present system or rather absence of all system. There are several +instances in which separate apartments for different classes of pupils +are provided and assistance employed to teach the English branches, but +such examples are rather exceptions to the general rule than the rule +itself. The general rule is whether there be an assistant or not to +admit pupils of both sexes and all ages and attainments for A B C and +upwards into schools which ought to occupy a position distinct from and +superior to that of the Common Schools. Equally far be it from me to +intimate that there is any deficiency of qualifications on the part of +masters of Grammar Schools. But I doubt not that they will be the first +to feel how much the efficiency and pleasures of their duties will be +advanced by the introduction of a proper and uniform system as they will +be the first to confess, '_non omnia possumus omnes_.'"[102] + +[102] See extract from Report of 1849, published in D.H.E., Vol. VIII., +p. 291. + + +After the Common Schools had been brought under the rule of law it was +inevitable that the Grammar Schools should be reorganized. In 1850, +Francis Hincks introduced a Grammar School Bill prepared by Doctor +Ryerson. This Bill aimed at bringing the schools under popular control +and administering them on lines similar to those governing Common +Schools. Trustees were to be appointed by County Councils; Trustee +Boards were to have power to levy rates for buildings, equipment and +apparatus; the Legislative grant was to be distributed to the several +Districts on the basis of population, but only when local contributions +made up a sum equal to the grant exclusive of pupils' fees; the +programme of studies was to be broad enough to prepare for +matriculation; the Council of Public Instruction was to fix Grammar +School programmes, prescribe texts and appoint inspectors. A +meteorological station was to be established in connection with one +Grammar School in each District. This Bill was withdrawn, but a similar +one[103] became law on January 1st, 1854. The new Act, as amended in +1855, also provided for uniting Grammar Schools with Common Schools and +provided that a Grammar School master, unless a university graduate, +must secure a certificate from a Board of Examiners appointed by the +Council of Public Instruction. This Act also authorized an annual +appropriation of L1,000 to establish a Model Grammar School in +connection with the Normal School, authorized the Council of Public +Instruction to appoint Grammar School inspectors, and made up a liberal +grant to secure libraries and apparatus. After this legislation, the +Council of Public Instruction drew up regulations governing the +curriculum of Grammar Schools and took steps to bring about the use of +uniform texts. From the first there were two courses of study, a general +English course and a classical course leading to matriculation. The head +master of each Grammar School was required to conduct an examination of +candidates for admission, the requirements being intelligible reading +from any common reading book, spelling, writing, elementary arithmetic, +and the elements of English grammar, with definitions of geography. + +[103] This Act did not give trustees power to levy assessments, but they +might ask municipal councils to do so. The distribution of the +Legislative grant did not, as in the Bill of 1850, depend upon the +raising of any fixed amount by the local Board. + + +In the autumn of 1855, the Grammar Schools were inspected, those in the +east by Thomas Jaffray Robertson and those in the west by William +Ormiston. Their reports show that many of these schools were indifferent +and a few hopeless. Perhaps half of them were doing fairly well. The +attendance averaged about thirty, of whom nearly one-half were studying +Latin. Half of the schools admitted female pupils. The highest salary +paid a head master was $1,200, while the average for head masters was +$700. Few of the schools had two masters. Half the total number of head +masters were graduates of British or Canadian universities. In some +cases the teachers were paid a fixed salary, and in some cases they got +the Government grant and the school fees. These fees averaged about +three dollars per quarter. In a few cases the head master had a dwelling +in connection with the school. + +The inspectors criticised the buildings, equipment and grounds severely, +as the following extracts will show:-- + + "Of the Grammar School houses seventeen were originally built for + school purposes and several of them, which were spacious and + substantial buildings, may be classed as good; ten were somewhat + inferior; and one, a very old wooden building, could scarcely be + considered habitable. Nine schools were carried on in premises + rented for the purpose and were in most instances totally unfit. In + many cases the grounds attached to the schoolhouses were partially + or entirely unfenced, and the sheds or outhouses were in a shameful + state of neglect. Even in the neatest premises I saw no attempt at + ornament; not a tree, shrub or flower to awaken or cultivate a taste + so simple and natural in itself and so easily gratified as it could + be in rural districts.... Very many of these houses are inferior to + the Common Schools. In most cases the premises present a dull, + unthrifty and unattractive appearance, destitute alike of ornament + and convenience, without fence, shed, well, tree, shrub or flower, + while within an entire lack of maps, charts and apparatus is with + too few exceptions the general rule."[104] + +[104] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XII., p. 81. + + +Two years later the same inspectors made another general report on +Grammar Schools. They found some improvements but many weak schools +doing the most elementary Common School work. They deprecated the +practice, then becoming somewhat common, of establishing new Grammar +Schools in small villages. + +It is abundantly clear from Ryerson's Reports, 1856-58, that he was +dissatisfied with the progress being made in Grammar Schools and eager +to attempt their improvement by means of further legislation. The most +serious problem was that of providing an adequate and certain financial +support for these schools. The schools were managed by trustee boards +appointed by County Councils, but were attended largely by pupils of +towns and cities. The people using them and contributing largely to +their support were not given the power to manage them. + +Ryerson was also very doubtful about the result of the experiment +authorized in 1854, of uniting Common and Grammar Schools. The union +gave trustee boards increased freedom of management, but in many cases +the union school became, for all practical purposes, a common school, +having, perhaps, three or four senior pupils studying Latin and Greek. +Such schools brought all Grammar Schools into contempt. + +The report of the Grammar School inspector on the schools of Eastern +Ontario, for 1860, shows that things were far from satisfactory: + + "With the exception of two or three really good schools our Grammar + Schools in the extreme East are in a very low state. Some of them I + can only designate as infant schools. Nor do I see anything from the + localities in which they are placed or the present state of the + Grammar School law which gives me any hope of amelioration. + Advancing civilization and the material growth of the country in + time may act upon them, but immediate remedies and those of a + stringent nature are imperatively needed.... The want of a class of + specially trained Grammar School masters who have taken this as a + permanent profession for life is a great drawback to the efficiency + of our schools. The supposed inferior social status of the Grammar + School master and the larger rewards held out for superior mental + activity in the other professions turn aside most of those who are + most eminently qualified for the scholastic office. Of the + twenty-two schools mentioned in my report six were in the hands of + persons who avowedly were making teaching the stepping-stone to the + attainment of other professions, as law, medicine, or the church. + Several were evidently conducted by persons who had taken to + teaching after having failed in other walks of life. Comparatively + few were held by those who were fitted for their office by previous + training, or were devoting themselves entirely to their work as the + main business of their lives."[105] + +[105] See D. H. E., Vol. XVI., pp. 148, 149. + + +There seems also to have been a disposition to unduly multiply Grammar +Schools because they were supported so largely by the Legislative grant. +The Rev. Dr. Paxton Young, Inspector of Grammar Schools, in his report +for 1864, says: "The too free and inconsiderate exercise by County +Councils of the large power thus entrusted to them has led to a heedless +and most unfortunate multiplication of the Grammar Schools, and the evil +instead of showing any symptoms of abatement appears to be growing worse +from year to year. In 1858 the number of the schools was seventy-five; +in 1860 it was eighty-eight; in 1863 it had risen to ninety-five; and +the number of recognized schools is now as high as one hundred and +eight. Not a few of the schools thus hastily established are Grammar +Schools in name rather than in reality, the work done in them being +almost altogether Common School work, which, as a rule, would be much +better performed in a well-appointed Common School. I believe that +County Councils are often led to establish Grammar Schools in localities +where they are not needed under the idea that if the schools should be +productive of no good at any rate they can do no harm. There could not +be a greater mistake. Men ought to be wise enough by this time to +understand that all public institutions, especially if forming parts of +a great plan, must, where unnecessary, be positively bad. Needless and +contemptible Grammar Schools are a blot upon the whole school system, +the sight of which is fitted to shake the confidence of the country in +the administrative wisdom or firmness of those to whom the direction of +educational matters is committed. When it is considered that the +apportionment from the Grammar School fund to a particular county is +divided according to certain fixed principles between the different +schools in that county, it will be seen that the disposition manifested +by some councils to secure the largest number of schools for their +county, is practically a disposition to secure quantity for quality, for +as the number of schools is augmented the salaries of the masters are +diminished, the tendency of which is, of course, to throw the schools +into the hands of a lower grade of teachers.... About three out of every +five Grammar Schools in Upper Canada have Common Schools united with +them, and, in not a few instances, where unions have not yet been +formed, I found a strong disposition existing to enter into such an +arrangement. I made it my business to inquire particularly into the +benefits supposed to result from the union of the Common with the +Grammar Schools. The chief advantage was in almost every case admitted +to be a pecuniary one. By the existing law Grammar School trustees have +of themselves no power to raise money for Grammar School purposes, but +in case of the Common and Grammar Schools becoming united the joint +boards may levy money for the support of the united schools. This being +so, it is easy to comprehend how strongly the trustees of a Grammar +School who feel their hands tied up from doing anything to put the +school in an efficient state may be tempted to make with the Common +School Board a league which will give them a voice in the important +matter of taxation.... But of nothing am I more convinced than that as a +rule such a union is undesirable. In a large number of instances it +throws upon the Grammar School master the necessity of receiving into +his room, and personally instructing, Common School pupils, as well as +those whom it is his more particular duty to attend to. A consequence of +this is that he cannot afford the Grammar School pupils the time that is +necessary for drilling them in the subjects that they are +studying."[106] + +[106] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XVIII., pp. 199-205. + + * * * * * + +But Doctor Young saw much promise in the schools, as the following from +the same Report will show: "Leaving out of view schools of this sort, I +do not hesitate to say that the Grammar Schools of Upper Canada are, as +a class, not only in the promise of what they may become, but in what +they actually are at the present moment, an honour to the country. We +must not look for too much. It would be preposterous to expect at this +early period in the history of our Province, that its Grammar Schools +generally should be able to bear comparison with the better classical +and mathematical schools of Great Britain and Ireland. To this Canada +does not pretend, but she has begun well, and appears to be steadily, if +not rapidly, progressing." + +In June, 1865, Ryerson went to Quebec to press upon the Government the +necessity of a new Grammar School bill. As the Confederation scheme was +approaching maturity he found the Government unwilling to embark upon +any legislation that might prevent an early prorogation. Mr. John A. +Macdonald suggested that the difficulty might be met by a regulation +issued under the authority of the Council of Public Instruction. This +was accordingly done, and the Council immediately framed regulations as +follows: First, the Legislative grant was to be apportioned on the basis +of the attendance of those learning Greek and Latin, as certified by the +Grammar School Inspector. Second, no school was to receive any portion +of the Legislative grant unless suitable accommodations were provided, +and unless there were an average of at least ten pupils learning Latin +and Greek, nor were any pupils to be admitted or continued in a Grammar +School unless they were learning Latin and Greek. + +This absurd regulation never went into effect, as the Legislature passed +a Grammar School Bill in the latter part of 1865. The new Bill made each +city a county for Grammar School purposes; it allowed County Councils to +appoint half the Grammar School trustees, the other half being appointed +by the village or town council where the school was situated. This +latter provision was planned to give increased local control and thus +create a stronger interest in the management of the schools. The +distinction which had so long existed between senior and junior county +Grammar Schools[107] was abolished and the Legislative grant was +apportioned solely on the basis of attendance, but no school was to +share the grant unless there was raised from local sources, exclusive of +pupils' fees, a sum equal to half the grant. It was made more difficult +to establish new schools. Only graduates of universities in British +dominions were to be eligible for head masters' positions. On the +suggestion of the Hon. William Macdougall, a clause was inserted +providing for a grant of fifty dollars a year to those Grammar Schools +giving a course of elementary military instruction. + +[107] This senior Grammar School, being the one first established in +each county, had drawn a larger Legislative grant than the others. + + +The Report of Rev. Geo. Paxton Young on the Grammar Schools in 1865 is +of great interest, read in the light of nearly half a century's progress +in the higher education of women. I shall quote his exact words: + + "I have frequently been asked whether I considered it desirable that + girls should study Latin in the Grammar Schools. It is, in my + opinion, most undesirable; and I am at a loss to comprehend how any + intelligent person acquainted with the state of things in our + Grammar Schools can come to a different conclusion.... Since I + became Inspector, I have not met with half a dozen girls in the + Grammar Schools of Canada by whom the study of Latin has been + pursued far enough for the taste to be in the least degree + influenced by what has been read. Aesthetically, the benefits of + Grammar Schools to girls are _nil_.... It may perhaps be said that + although they have for the most part made but little progress in + Latin up to the present time, a fair proportion of them may be + expected to pursue the study to a point where its advantages can be + reaped. I do not believe that three out of a hundred will. As a + class, they have dipped the soles of their feet in the water, with + no intention or likelihood of wading deeper into it. They are not + studying Latin with any definite object. They have taken it up under + pressure at the solicitation of the teachers or trustees to enable + the schools to maintain the requisite average attendance of ten + classical pupils or to increase that part of the income of the + schools which is derived from public sources. In a short time they + will leave school to enter on the practical work of life without + having either desired or obtained more than the merest smattering of + Latin, and their places will be taken by another band of girls who + will go through the same routine. It may perhaps be urged that these + remarks are as applicable to as large a number of the Grammar School + boys as they are to the girls. I admit that they are; and I draw the + conclusion that such boys, equally with the girls in the Grammar + Schools, are wasting their time in keeping up the appearance of + learning Latin. It would be unspeakably better to commit them to + first-class Common School teachers, under whose guidance they might + have their reflective and aesthetic faculties cultivated through the + study of English and of those branches which are associated with + English in good Common Schools. This would, of course, diminish the + number of the Grammar Schools in the Province; but it might not be a + very grievous calamity, especially if it led to the establishment + of first-class Common Schools in localities where inferior teachers + are now employed."[108] + +[108] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XIX., pp. 96, 97. + + +It was a part of a Grammar School inspector's duty to examine the pupils +who had been admitted by the Grammar School masters and reject any who +were too immature or were insufficiently prepared. Dr. Young complains +strongly in his Report of 1865 of the poor teaching of English grammar. +In some cases he had to reject more than half those admitted. He found +pupils wholly unable to parse such easy sentences as: "The mother loved +her daughter dearly," "John ran to school very quickly," "She knew her +lesson remarkably well." + +It is doubtful whether the Grammar School Bill of 1865 made any real +improvement in the schools. Without denying that some of them were doing +a good work, and that as a force in the national life they were +fostering some love for higher education, it is safe to assert that they +were not very closely related to the real needs of the people. Their aim +was narrow. Their very name shows this. There was a crying need in the +country for schools that would give an advanced English and scientific +education with classic and modern languages to those who wished to +pursue university studies. But the most of the Grammar Schools aimed +only at a study of Latin and Greek, and indeed the Grammar School +legislation and the regulations of the Council of Public Instruction had +made a certain number of Latin pupils one of the conditions upon which a +Grammar School might receive a public grant. + +The Act of 1865 soon showed some disastrous tendencies. It did not check +the desire to form unions between Grammar Schools and Common Schools, as +such unions made it easier to levy a rate in support of the union +schools, and thus comply with the conditions upon which Grammar Schools +received grants. The clause in the new Act making average attendance the +basis of attendance, together with a regulation of the Council of Public +Instruction which counted only Latin pupils in making the grant, led the +head masters of union schools to draft every available pupil into the +Grammar School departments[109] and put them all, boys and girls, into +Latin. Often they were not prepared for such work and got no real +benefit from it. They wasted their time and lost the benefits of a sound +English education which a good Common School would have given them. +Hundreds of boys and girls who had no foundation for a classical +education, and who had no prospect of ever advancing far enough to +receive any solid knowledge of Latin, were making a pretence of studying +it in order that the school might draw a Government grant. Ignorant +parents raised no objections, thinking perhaps that Latin possessed some +charm which would be an "open sesame" for the future advancement of the +boys and girls. + +[109] It should be remembered that while a Public School pupil drew less +than one dollar per year Legislative grant, the moment this pupil was +enrolled in a Grammar School he drew from $20 to $35 yearly. In 1872, +the average Legislative grant to a Public School pupil was 40 cents, and +to a Grammar School pupil $20. See D. H. E., Vol. XXIV., p. 302. + + +Dr. Ryerson was not the man to diagnose the case. But the hour brought +forth the man, and that man was George Paxton Young, one of the +Inspectors of Grammar Schools. In two very able Reports[110] presented +in 1867 and 1868, he sets forth clearly and convincingly the defects of +the system then in operation and suggests the direction that reforms +should take to make the Grammar Schools serve a useful purpose. He +wished to see their character wholly changed. He did not undervalue +classics, but he believed that a smattering of classics was of no +benefit, and that it caused a waste of time that might be given to +subjects of real value. He wished to see High Schools that would give an +advanced English training, together with natural science, mathematics, +and history. He did not believe in forcing all to study Latin, nor did +he believe in apportioning grants to High Schools on the basis of the +number of pupils studying Latin. He wished to see better Common Schools +and objected to the plan of union which robbed the Common School of its +older pupils and degraded its function. Speaking of this, he says: "The +number of union schools is increasing and is likely to increase. In many +of the schools of this class all the Common School pupils, boys and +girls alike, who have obtained a smattering of English grammar are +systematically drafted into the Grammar School. The consequence is that +in localities where such a system is followed there is no mere Common +School education (observe I say mere Common School education) given to +any pupils, boys or girls, which is not of the most elementary +description; and not only have the Grammar Schools thus become to a +great extent girls' schools as well as boys' schools, but--what is +especially noteworthy--the girls admitted to these schools are in a +majority of instances put into Latin as a matter of course; in other +words, the study of Latin is made practically a condition of their +admission into the Grammar School. Will any man say that this state of +things is satisfactory, a state of things in which the Common Schools +are degraded by being suspended from the exercise of all their higher +functions? Unless I misunderstand the object of the Common School law, +the Common Schools are designed to furnish a good English and general +education to those desiring it. But how can this end be accomplished +where the Common Schools are subject to arrangements under which the +highest stage of advancement ever reached by the pupils is to be able to +parse an easy English sentence? ... Children under thirteen years of age +who do not mean to take a classical course of study have no educational +wants which the Common Schools, properly conducted, are not fitted to +supply. For children of thirteen and upwards who have already obtained +such an education as may be got in good Common Schools, it would, I +think, be well to establish English High Schools--a designation which I +borrow from the United States although, unfortunately, I have only a +very vague idea of what the High Schools in the United States are." + +[110] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XX., pp. 98-128. + + +Dr. Young strongly urged a more rigid inspection of Grammar Schools and +the apportioning of the Legislative grant upon the basis of Inspectors' +reports. As so many girls had been drafted into Grammar Schools and put +in grammar classes apparently to increase the school grant, it was +proposed during 1868 to allow only fifty per cent. of girls' attendance +to count in apportioning the grant and even to make no allowance +whatever for attendance of female pupils in future years. This opened up +the whole question of co-education of the sexes in Grammar Schools and +caused lively debates in the Legislature and in Teachers' Institutes. +The general opinion seemed to prevail that girls should have equal +rights with boys but that the law should be so amended as to remove all +pressure upon girls to study Latin. + +After one or two abortive attempts, a Bill reorganizing Grammar Schools +was passed in 1871. This Bill abolished the term "Grammar School," and +substituted that of "High School." Adequate provision was to be made in +each High School for an advanced English education, including natural +sciences and commercial subjects. The study of Latin, Greek and modern +languages was to be at the option of the pupils' parents or guardians. +Provision was made for a superior class of High School, to be known as +Collegiate Institutes. These schools were required to have at least four +masters and an average of not less than sixty boys studying Latin or +Greek, and were to receive a special grant of $750 a year. County +Councils were empowered to form High School districts and provision was +made by which the High School Board could levy an assessment upon the +district. High School vacations were extended from July 1st to August +15th. A very important feature of the new Bill was the provision for the +admission of pupils. The county, city or town Inspector of Schools, the +Chairman of the High School Board and the head master of the High School +were constituted a Board with power to conduct a written examination and +admit pupils according to regulations prescribed by the Council of +Public Instruction. + +At first the local examining Board set the entrance papers, but this +plan was soon superseded by one requiring uniform papers set by the High +School Inspectors. This aroused a storm of opposition, and the +resolution of the Council of Public Instruction requiring uniform papers +was set aside by an Order-in-Council. But the plan of uniform papers was +so sensible, and so much chaos resulted from the other plan, that by +1874 the Government authorized a uniform entrance examination which shut +out immature pupils and those insufficiently prepared. It raised the +status of High Schools, enabling them to begin advanced work, and +indirectly increased the efficiency of the Public Schools by fixing a +standard of attainment. The Legislature also made further provision for +High Schools by appropriating an additional $20,000 a year, exclusive of +the grants to be given to Collegiate Institutes. + +The Act of 1871 provided for a minimum Legislative grant[111] for each +High School, and made the maximum grant depend upon average attendance. +The Rev. George Paxton Young had, in his last Report as Grammar School +Inspector, strongly recommended the adoption in a modified form of the +English system of payment by results. He wished to see the High Schools +graded by the Inspectors according to their general efficiency and the +grant based upon this grading. In 1872 the High School Inspectors, +Messrs. McKenzie and McLellan, urged the adoption of a similar plan and +showed how it would serve as a stimulus to better work in all the +schools. They also pointed out how such a plan would encourage Boards to +employ good teachers, since they would have a pecuniary interest in +keeping up a good school. + +[111] The minimum grant per school was $400. The High Schools of the +Province had, in 1872, from Legislative grant and County Councils, +$105,000. This was more than $1,000 per school and about $30 per pupil. +Many of the High Schools charged no fees. + + +The Act of 1871 gave the Council of Public Instruction a large measure +of control over textbooks to be used in High Schools. The Council issued +lists of those authorized, and this did much to bring about uniformity +in courses of study. Previous to 1871, many High Schools had only one +teacher, but the new legislation required at least two for High Schools +and four for Collegiate Institutes. To secure this required much +firmness on the part of Dr. Ryerson. Even two teachers were wholly +unable to do efficient work in large High Schools, and there was no easy +way to force School Boards to employ more. The Superintendent had +steadily to oppose a tendency to form weak High Schools, and in some +cases Grammar Schools which had been able to exist in a sickly state +under the old law were wholly unable to meet the requirements of the Act +of 1871, which threw some of the burden of support upon the local +municipality. + +The Inspectors' Reports for 1874 emphasize the need of additional +teachers, the poor quality of work done in English literature, and the +necessity of increased provision for natural science. Referring to the +latter, the Inspectors' joint Report speaks as follows: "In regard to +the direct utility of the knowledge imparted, the physical sciences are +equalled by few subjects of study. We regret to report that the teaching +of science is not making progress in the schools. For this there are +many reasons, of which perhaps the most important are the lack of +apparatus and the impracticable character of the prescribed programme of +studies. All places might advantageously follow the example of Whitby +and fit up a science room, that is, a room to be devoted to the teaching +of science and furnished with the necessary appliances and apparatus. It +cannot too often be inculcated that there can be no effective teaching +of chemistry without experiments. Effective teaching implies first of +all a qualified teacher, and few of our masters consider themselves well +qualified to teach any of the physical sciences. Yet the number of +masters qualified to teach in this Department is increasing every year +and it is much to be regretted that where the master is qualified he is +often compelled, if he wishes to teach chemistry, to provide the +apparatus at his own expense. The public indifference to the claims of +physical science is greater than the indifference of the masters. +Besides, three-fourths of High School Boards either are so poor, or +believe themselves to be so poor, that they will grumble if asked to +spend $10.00 annually for chemical purposes."[112] + +[112] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XXV., pp. 244-245. + +Progress on the whole was rapid. Several weak schools were closed,[113] +but they were schools which should never have been opened. Fees were +either abolished or lowered.[114] The standard for pupils' admission was +gradually raised and the old "Grammar Schools" were truly doing the work +for which they were established in 1807. + +[113] About fifteen in all. + +[114] Out of 106 schools in operation in 1875, no less than 81 were +absolutely free. Fees in the others varied from 75 cents to $6.00 per +quarter, the average being $2.70. + + +Much was yet to be desired in the qualifications of High School masters. +In 1874, one hundred out of one hundred and six head masters were +university graduates, but forty-five assistants held only Second Class +Normal School Certificates, or County Certificates, and twenty-three +schools had to employ teachers for a whole or a part of the year without +any legal qualifications. The average salary of head masters was +$930.00, of male assistants $664.00, and of female assistants $416.00. +The following extract from the Inspector's Report is interesting in the +light of what has since been accomplished: "In the absence of any +special training college or chair of pedagogy in the University, we +would suggest that as so many men are pursuing a collegiate course, with +a view to becoming High School masters, it would be well for the +Government to establish a lectureship in Education. It would not, we +think, be difficult if proper encouragement were given to secure the +services of several experienced and skilled educationists, one of whom +might deliver a short course of lectures on the above subjects during +each college session." + +Perhaps no part of our school system has developed more since Ryerson +retired in 1876 than our High Schools. But this development has been +almost wholly a natural growth. True, there has been much legislation +and many changes in departmental regulations, but nothing of a +revolutionary character. The opening of the doors of the universities to +women and their increased employment as teachers has led to their being +placed on an absolute equality with men in the High Schools and in all +graduating examinations. The number of schools has almost doubled and +the teaching of every department has been improved; incompetent teachers +have given place to those having high academic and professional +training; natural science has been greatly strengthened and the teaching +of languages much improved; good laboratories have been built; spacious +buildings with fine grounds have become the rule; the number of students +preparing for university matriculation has multiplied many times; the +average salaries of teachers have more than doubled, and finally the +High Schools are so adapting themselves to the social needs of the +people that they are becoming as much the schools of the people as are +the Public Schools. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +_RYERSON AND THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS._ + + +Normal Schools were mooted in Upper Canada before Ryerson became +Superintendent. As early as 1843, Sir Francis Hincks said that the +school system would never be complete without them.[115] In his Report +on a System of Education made in 1846, Ryerson made it clear that any +system of education must have as its basis trained teachers, and to +secure trained teachers was almost impossible without Normal Schools. +His report gives details of the Normal School systems of Great Britain +and Ireland, France, Holland, Germany, and the United States. One or two +schools had just been established in Massachusetts and one in Albany. +Ryerson visited these, but was most favourably impressed with the Dublin +Normal and Model Schools, as managed by the Commissioners of the Irish +National Board of Education, and our first Normal School was modelled +largely after the Dublin type. + +[115] See extract from his speech, Chap. IV., pp. 101, 102. + + +The legislation of 1846 appropriated L1,500 for fitting up a Normal +School building and made an additional appropriation of L1,500 per +annum for maintenance. The School Bill of 1846 created a Council of +Public Instruction to work with the Chief Superintendent, and placed the +proposed Normal School under its management. The Council of Public +Instruction lost no time in beginning work. As early as May, 1846, they +were planning an early opening of the Normal School, and were in +communication with John Rintoul, of the Dublin Normal School, about +accepting the head mastership of the proposed Normal School at Toronto. +It was proposed to give Mr. Rintoul L350, Halifax currency, and L100 for +moving expenses. Mr. Rintoul accepted the appointment, resigned his +position in Dublin, and was about to leave for Canada when, owing to +some domestic affliction, he had to abandon his plans. The Commissioners +of the Irish National Board then selected Thomas Jaffray Robertson to +take Rintoul's place and the Council of Public Instruction chose as his +assistant Mr. Henry Hind, of Thorne Hill. Robertson sailed from Ireland +in July, 1847, and in November of the same year the Normal School was +opened. + +It was a part of Ryerson's plan that the several District Councils of +Upper Canada should choose two or three promising young men and send +them to the Normal School, paying at least part of their expenses. The +following extract from the Regulations issued by the Council of Public +Instruction in 1847 will illustrate the requirements for admission to +the first Normal School in Upper Canada: "1st. That the Provincial +Normal School shall be open about the 1st of July next, and the first +session shall continue until the middle of October, 1847. 2nd. That +every candidate for admission into the Normal School, in order to his +being received, must comply with the following conditions: He must be at +least sixteen years of age; produce a certificate of good moral +character signed by a clergyman; be able to read and write intelligibly +and be acquainted with the simple rules of arithmetic; must declare in +writing that he intends to devote himself to teaching (other students +not candidates for school teaching to be admitted only on paying fees +and dues to be prescribed). 3rd. Upon the foregoing conditions +candidates for school teaching shall be admitted to all the advantages +of the Normal School without any charge either for tuition or for books. +4th. Candidates shall lodge and board in the city under such regulations +as shall from time to time be approved by this Board."[116] + +[116] See Report of Superintendent of Education for 1848. + + +The school was formally opened by Dr. Ryerson, November 1st, in the +presence of a distinguished company. The Model School was opened the +following February. + +The Normal School pupils were, many of them, poorly equipped for a +course of training. They had received no adequate secondary education. +In fact, many of them were direct from the Common Schools. A few were +mature men who had a considerable teaching experience.[117] + +[117] Women were not admitted until the opening of the second term in +1848. + + +It was necessary to give a broad academic course and judiciously +interweave some professional training. Grammar and mathematics received +much greater attention than their importance merited. Physical science +and natural philosophy, together with some agricultural chemistry, +received a prominent place on the programme. Geography was also made +much of, but it was largely mathematical and political and elaborately +illustrated with globes and maps. Literature and history were taught, +but not in a way to arouse much enthusiasm. Pupils were supposed not to +learn by heart what they did not understand, but there was in practice +much memory work and repetition of rules. + +On the whole, the Normal School was approved by all classes of people, +and the teachers trained there were in great demand. But there was some +criticism, especially of the provision by which four shillings a week +was granted to students to aid them in paying their board. Inasmuch as +this money was deducted from the school grant, it was argued that the +teachers in service were actually educating in the Normal School others +who would displace them. Exception was also taken to granting aid to +students who had no intention of making teaching their life work. To +meet this difficulty, students accepting public money towards their +expenses were required to give assurance that they would teach a stated +time, and others, called private pupils, were charged fees for tuition. + +In 1849 the experiment was made of a nine months' session, but the +country was not yet ready for this step and the attendance was so +reduced that the plan was abandoned. + +In 1850, the Council of Public Instruction attempted to widen the +influence of the Normal School by sending the Normal School masters to +attend Teachers' Institutes throughout the Province. In this way many +earnest teachers who had received no training were given suggestions +that bore much fruit. + +When the Normal School was established, it was held in the old +Legislative Buildings of Upper Canada. After the riots in Montreal, in +1849, Toronto again became the seat of Government and the Normal School +had to move. Temporary quarters were obtained while the Council of +Public Instruction took steps to secure a permanent home, not only for +the Normal School, but for the Education Department. The present site +was secured and Parliament made an appropriation of L15,000 to provide +for it and for a building. In July, 1851, Lord Elgin laid the +corner-stone.[118] + +[118] See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 5-14. + + +The address of Dr. Ryerson, in introducing the Governor, shows that he +had no thought of divorcing the Common Schools from agriculture, the +backbone industry of the people. He says: "The land on which these +buildings are in course of erection is an entire square, consisting of +nearly eight acres, two of which are to be devoted to a botanical +garden, three to agricultural experiments, and the remainder to the +buildings of the institution. It is thus intended that the valuable +course of lectures given in the Normal School in vegetable physiology +and agricultural chemistry shall be practically illustrated on the +adjoining grounds, in the culture of which the students will take part +during a portion of their hours of recreation.... There are four +circumstances which encourage the most sanguine anticipations in every +patriotic heart in regard to our educational future. The first is the +avowed and entire absence of all party spirit in the school affairs of +our country from the Provincial Legislature down to the smallest +municipality. The second is the precedence which our Legislature has +taken of all others on the western side of the Atlantic in providing +for Normal School instruction, in aiding teachers to avail themselves of +its advantages. The third is that the people of Upper Canada have during +the last year voluntarily taxed themselves for the salaries of teachers +in a larger sum in proportion to their numbers and have kept open their +schools on an average more months than the neighbouring citizens of the +old and great State of New York. The fourth is that the essential +requisite of a series of suitable and excellent textbooks has been +introduced into our schools and adopted almost by general acclamation, +and that the facilities of furnishing all our schools with the necessary +books, maps, and apparatus will soon be in advance of those of any other +country."[119] In November, 1852, when the buildings[120] were formally +opened, the Honourable John Beverley Robinson, Chief Justice of Upper +Canada, said: "Without such a general preparatory system as we see here +in operation, the instruction of the great mass of our population would +be left in a measure to chance. The teachers might be, many of them, +ignorant pretenders without experience, without method, and in some +respects very improper persons to be entrusted with the education of +youth. There could be little or no security for what they might teach, +or what they might attempt to teach, nor any certainty that the good +which might be acquired from their precepts would not be more than +counterbalanced by the ill effects of their example. Indeed the footing +which our Common School teachers were formerly upon in regard to income +gave no adequate remuneration to intelligent and industrious men to +devote their time to the service. But this disadvantage is largely +removed, as well as other obstacles which were inseparable from the +conditions of a thinly-peopled and uncleared country traversed only by +miserable roads, and henceforth, as soon at least as the benefits of +this institution can be fully felt, the Common Schools will be +dispensing throughout the whole of Upper Canada, by means of +properly-trained teachers and under vigilant superintendents, a system +of education which has been carefully considered and arranged, and which +has been for some time practically exemplified. An observation of some +years has enabled most of us to form an opinion of its sufficiency. +Speaking only for myself, I have much pleasure in saying that the degree +of proficiency which has been actually attained goes far, very far, +beyond what I had imagined it would have been attempted to aim +at."[121] + +[119] See D. H. E., Vol. X., p. 6. + +[120] These included what is now the main Departmental building and the +Model School to the north. The present Normal School building was +erected later. + +[121] See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 278-283. + + +The following from Honourable Francis Hincks leaves us in no doubt as to +Ryerson's part in securing the building. He says: "With regard to this +institution, so far it has been most successfully conducted, and I feel +bound to say that we must attribute all the merit of that success to the +reverend gentleman who has been at the head of our Common School system. +It is only due to him that I should take this public opportunity of +saying that since I have been a member of the Government I have never +met an individual who has displayed more zeal or more devotion to the +duties he has been called upon to discharge than Dr. Ryerson. A great +deal of opposition has been manifested both in and out of Parliament to +this institution, and a good deal of jealousy exists with regard to its +having been established in the city of Toronto. I can speak from my own +experience as to the difficulties experienced in obtaining the +co-operation of Parliament to have the necessary funds provided for the +purpose of erecting this building. I will say, however, that there never +was an institution in which the people have more confidence that the +funds were well applied than in this institution. There is but one +feeling that pervades the minds of all those who have seen the manner +in which this scheme has been worked out. In regard to the Normal School +itself, the site has been well chosen, the buildings have been erected +in a most permanent manner, and without anything like extravagance, and +I have no doubt there will be no difficulty in obtaining additional +Parliamentary aid to finish them."[122] + +[122] See D. H. E., Vol. X., pp. 282-284. + + +In his report for 1853, Ryerson suggests Normal training for Grammar +School teachers. I shall give his own words: "The Provincial Normal and +Model Schools have contributed, and are contributing, much to the +improvement of our Common Schools by furnishing a proper standard of +judgment and comparison as to what such schools ought to be and how they +should be taught and governed, and by furnishing teachers duly qualified +for that important task. There is equal need of a Provincial Model +Grammar School, in which the best modes of teaching the elements of +Greek and Latin, French and German, the elementary mathematics and the +elements of natural science, may be exemplified, and where teachers and +candidates for masterships of Grammar Schools may have an opportunity +for practical observation and training during a shorter or longer +period. Such a school would complete the educational establishments of +our school system and contribute powerfully to advance Upper Canada to +the proud position which she is approaching in regard to institutions +and agencies for the mental culture of her youthful population."[123] + +[123] See Superintendent's Report for 1853. + + +The Legislature voted L1,000 for a Model Grammar School, and in 1855 +plans for a building were prepared under direction of the Council of +Public Instruction. The estimate exceeded the means at the disposal of +the Council and nothing was done until 1856, when Ryerson wrote the +Executive Council as follows: "There is no branch of our system of +Public Instruction so defective as our Grammar Schools, and the 'Model' +for them as to both structure and furniture, discipline, modes of +classification and teaching is of the utmost importance.... I am +persuaded that a saving of one-half of the time and expense usually +incurred in the Grammar School education of youth may be saved by +improved methods in teaching and directing their studies, a result which +will greatly increase the number of those who will aspire to a higher +literary education apart from other advantages and intellectual habits +and discipline. It is proposed to erect the Model Grammar School in the +rear of the present Model School.... The proposed mode of admitting +pupils will prevent the Model Grammar School from interfering with or +being the rival of any other Grammar School. It is also intended to +afford every possible facility and assistance to masters and teachers of +Grammar Schools throughout the Province to come and spend some weeks in +the Model Grammar School."[124] + +[124] See copy of letter in D. H. E., Vol. XII., p. 321. + + +The Government now authorized the Council of Public Instruction to +proceed with the erection of a building to accommodate one hundred +Grammar School pupils. The school was opened in 1858. It was the +intention to give a preference to the two or three pupils from each +county and city in Upper Canada who were recommended by the respective +Municipal Councils. Ryerson's circular to these Councils will throw some +light on the subject: "The object of the Model Grammar School is to +exemplify the best methods of teaching the branches required by law to +be taught in the Grammar Schools, especially the elementary classics and +mathematics, as a model for the Grammar Schools of the country. It is +also intended that the Model Grammar School shall, as far as possible, +secure the advantages of a Normal Classical School to candidates for +masterships in the Grammar School; but effect cannot be given to this +object of the Model Grammar School during the first few months of its +operation."[125] In 1859, in a report to the Government, Ryerson speaks +further and says: "In regard to the Model Grammar Schools the buildings +are completed and the school has been in operation several months and +with the most gratifying success. Upwards of thirty masters of Grammar +Schools have in the course of a few weeks visited and spent a longer or +shorter time in the Model Grammar School with a view to improving their +own methods of school organization, discipline, and teaching; and I have +reason to believe that it has already exerted a salutary influence in +improving the several Grammar Schools--an influence that will be greatly +increased when we are enabled to form a special class consisting of +candidates for Grammar School masterships."[126] + +[125] See copy of Circular in D. H. E., Vol. XIV., p. 65. + +[126] See Report of Superintendent for 1859. + + +In 1861, Mr. G. R. Cockburn, Rector of the Model Grammar School, +resigned to become principal of Upper Canada College. Ryerson wished to +transfer the functions of the Model Grammar School to Upper Canada +College. This was not agreed to, but the same year provision was made +for admitting candidates for Grammar School masterships to a course in +training in the Model Grammar School. Up to this time the School had +been of professional service as a school of observation, the holidays +being so arranged that its classes were in session while Grammar School +masters were on holiday. + +In July, 1863, the Model Grammar School was finally closed. The +following from a letter sent by Ryerson to the Provincial Secretary +makes clear the reasons for this action: "When the Model Grammar School +was established it was expected that nearly every county in Upper Canada +would be represented in it and provision was made for that purpose. That +important object has not been realized; and although the attendance at +the school has been larger during the last year than during any previous +year, reaching even to 100, the attendance as in former years has been +chiefly from Toronto and its neighbourhood. I do not think it just to +the General Fund to maintain an additional Toronto Grammar School. +During the past year a training class for Grammar School masterships, +consisting to a considerable extent of students in the University, has +been successfully established. But it has been found that the +instruction in all subjects, except Greek, Latin, and French, can be +given in the Normal School to better advantage than in the Model Grammar +School."[127] + +[127] See Ryerson's letter in D. H. E., Vol. XVIII, p. 69. + + +Trained teachers for the Grammar Schools were much to be desired, and +Ryerson deserves credit for his progressive ideas. But just at that +stage in their evolution, although they contained many scholarly men, +the Grammar Schools as a whole were more in need of teachers with sound +scholarship than of teachers with a little professional training. + +There continued to be complaints that teachers trained in the Normal +Schools did not continue to teach. In his Report for 1856, Ryerson makes +clear that in his opinion these defections from the teaching ranks were +no condemnation of Normal Schools. He says: "The only objection yet made +to the training of teachers, as far as I know, is that many of them do +not pursue that profession but leave it for other employments. Were this +true to the full extent imagined, the conclusion would still be in +favour of the Normal School, since its advantages are not confined to +schools or neighbourhoods in which its teachers are employed, but are +extended over other neighbourhoods and municipalities.... In all +professions and pursuits there are changes from one to another. I do not +think it wise, just, or expedient to deny to the Normal School teacher +the liberty, if opportunity presents itself, to improve his position or +increase his usefulness.... In whatever position or relation of life a +Normal School teacher may be placed, his training at the Normal School +cannot fail to contribute to his usefulness."[128] + +[128] See Report of Chief Superintendent for 1856. See copy in D. H. E., +Vol. XIII., p. 51. + + +Nor was all the criticism of Normal School affairs directed towards the +teachers who left the profession; those who remained in it were +emissaries of evil. Then, as now, there were croakers who thought that a +boy born on a farm naturally belonged there, and that any enlightenment +which tended to make him dissatisfied with his surroundings was an evil. +One, signing himself Angus Dallas of Toronto, wrote several pamphlets +attacking the school system. Speaking of the Normal School, he said: +"The young men who have attended six months at that institution and +leave it with certificates to teach, go forth into the country with the +most mistaken estimate of their own importance. They open schools +wherever accident places them, and by teaching and familiar intercourse, +combined with the example of nomadic habits, for they seldom remain +longer than twelve months in one place, they soon contaminate the minds +of the older pupils and also of young men who may reside in the +neighbourhood, by their doctrines of enlightened citizenship; and thus +these pupils soon learn to disdain honest labour."[129] + +[129] The Toronto schools were at this time very expensively managed as +compared with schools in other cities of Upper Canada. This could not be +attributed to the expense of Normal-trained teachers. In 1858, ten years +after the Normal School was established, no Common School in Toronto was +in charge of a Normal-trained teacher, and only two or three such +teachers had ever been employed there. See D. H. E., Vol. XIII., p. 299. + + +In 1855, the Legislature had authorized a museum and library in +connection with the Department of Education. These were formally opened +in 1857 and the library contributed much to increase the efficiency of +the Normal School by widening the scope of the students' reading. + +In the following year the Council of Public Instruction revised the +Normal School Regulations. Qualifications necessary for admission were +accurately set forth and the course of study defined for both second and +first-class certificates. There continued to be two sessions a year, but +students who entered to qualify for a second-class certificate spent two +or more sessions before reaching a standard entitling them to a +first-class certificate. + +An interesting sidelight is thrown upon the nature of the instruction +given in the Toronto Normal School by the Report for 1868 of George +Paxton Young, Inspector of Grammar Schools. Young was trying to raise +the standard of the Grammar Schools, and shows how their improvement +would affect the Normal Schools. He says: "I suppose there can be no +doubt that if High Schools like those which I have described were +established, it would be necessary to modify the work of the Normal +School considerably. Teachers who would have to perform different duties +from what have hitherto been expected at their hands would need a +different training from what has hitherto been given. The instructions +in English in the Normal School would require to be raised to a far +higher level than is now aimed at. Much of the elementary drilling which +Normal School students at present receive might be dispensed with. Our +institution for the training of teachers ought not to be a school for +teaching English grammar. In the same way I would lighten the ship of +such subjects as the bare facts of geography and history; not rejecting +of course prelections on the proper method of teaching geography and +history. The English master in the Normal School might thus be enabled +to devote a portion of his time to lessons in the English language and +literature of a superior cast--lessons which he would have a pride in +giving and on which the students would feel it a privilege to wait. Such +lessons would be immensely useful even to those young men and women who +might only desire to qualify themselves for becoming Common School +teachers. In the department of physical science, it is plain that if the +views which I have expressed in regard to the way in which science +should be taught in the High Schools be just, the object of the +prelections in the Normal School should not be to cram the students with +a mass of facts but to develop in them a philosophic habit of mind and +to make them practically understand how classes in science ought to be +conducted in the schools."[130] + +[130] See D. H. E., Vol. XX., p. 127. + + +No man in Canada was better qualified to estimate the real work of any +educational establishment than Young, and although he was not closely +connected with the Normal School, we may assume that his analysis was +essentially correct and that the study of formal grammar and the +acquisition of scientific facts bulked large in the Normal School +programme. In his report for 1867,[131] in speaking of the Normal and +Model Schools, Ryerson says: "They are not constituted as are most of +the Normal Schools in both Europe and America to impart the preliminary +education requisite for teaching. That preparatory education is supposed +to have been attained in the ordinary public or private schools. The +entrance examination to the Normal School requires this. The object of +the Normal and Model Schools is, therefore, to do for the teacher what +an apprenticeship does for the mechanic, the artist, the physician, the +lawyer--to teach him theoretically and practically how to do the work of +his profession." + +[131] See D. H. E., Vol. XX., p. 139. + + +A little consideration will show us that a school trying to realize such +an aim and attempting to teach only the rudiments of the science of +education, upon which the theory of teaching is based, must become +empirical and rule-of-thumb in its methods. The real difficulty lay in +the inadequate preparation with which the teachers in training entered +upon their work. The Normal School could not improve until an +improvement should be effected in the Grammar Schools. + +During the first nine sessions of the Normal School no certificates were +granted which entitled the holder to teach. The Normal School graduates +simply received certificates of attendance and had to submit to +examination by a County Board before securing a license. It almost +invariably happened that Normal School graduates were able to take a +high standing at these examinations, and hence Ryerson met with no +serious opposition from County Boards when in 1853 he proposed to issue +Provincial certificates to Normal School graduates upon the +recommendation of the Normal School masters. From 1853 to 1871 a dual +system of granting certificates was in operation. Normal School +graduates received Provincial certificates of various grades, and County +Boards issued certificates valid only in the county where issued. In +1871 a radical change was made, by which County Boards were allowed to +issue only third-class certificates valid for three years in the county +where given, and renewable on the recommendation of the County +Inspector. Second and first-class certificates were granted only by the +Department of Education and valid during good behaviour, and in any part +of the Province. A first-class certificate of the highest grade (Grade +"A") was made the qualification for County Inspectors. It should also be +noted that the third-class certificates referred to above were granted +after 1871 only upon the passing of a written examination upon papers +prepared by a central committee chosen by the Council of Public +Instruction. This was a radical change from the old method, which +allowed each County Board to fix its own standard, a plan which +necessarily led to many certificates being granted to wholly incompetent +persons. + +The change of 1871, which virtually established a Provincial system of +licensing teachers, brought upon Ryerson's head much abuse from +incompetent teachers and their friends. The Superintendent stood firmly +by his guns, knowing well that his act was in the best interests of the +Province. A few words from his reply to those who objected that old +teachers were being set aside because of failure to pass the Provincial +examination is worth mentioning. He says: "I answer, as government +exists not for office-holders but for the people, so the school exists +not for the teachers but for the youth and future generations of the +land; and if teachers have been too slothful not to keep pace with the +progressive wants and demands of the country, they must, as should all +incompetent and indolent public officers, and all lazy and +unenterprising citizens, give place to the more industrious, +intelligent, progressive, and enterprising. The sound education of a +generation of children is not to be sacrificed for the sake of an +incompetent although antiquated teacher."[132] + +[132] See copy of Report in D. H. E., Vol. XIII., p. 131. + + +Having secured the adoption of a system by which all licensing of +teachers was under Departmental control, Ryerson next turned his +attention to an extension of facilities for training teachers. His plans +were comprehensive and had to wait thirty-five years for complete +realization. In 1872[133] he reported to the Provincial Treasurer as +follows: "I desire to state in reply that last year I thought and +suggested to the Government that two additional Normal Schools were +required, one in the eastern and the other in the western section of the +Province, but I am now inclined to think that three additional Normal +Schools will be required to extend the advantages of a Normal School +training to all parts of the Province--one at London, one at Kingston, +and one at Ottawa. If provision be not made to establish them all at +once, I think the first established should be at Ottawa--the centre of a +large region of country where the schools are in a comparatively +backward state, and where the influence of the Normal School training +for teachers has yet been scarcely felt except in a few towns, and which +is almost entirely separated from Toronto in all branches of business +and commerce, and therefore, to a great extent, in social relations and +sympathies.... As the whole Province east of Belleville is less advanced +and less progressive in schools than the western parts, I think a second +Normal School should be established at Kingston. The whole region of +country from Belleville, on the west, to Brockville, on the east, has +very little more business or commercial connection with Toronto than the +more eastern parts of the Province. Although London is not so remote +from Toronto as Ottawa or Kingston, yet it is the centre of a populous +and prosperous part of the Province from which an ample number of +student teachers would be collected to fill any Normal School.... With +the establishment of these three Normal Schools I am persuaded there +would still be as large a number of student teachers attending the +Toronto School as can advantageously be trained in one institution.... I +think all the Normal Schools should be subject to the oversight of the +Education Department and under the same regulations formally sanctioned +by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council. This I think necessary on the +grounds of both economy and uniformity of standard and system of +instruction. As to the extent of accommodation in each Normal School, I +think that provision should be made for training 150 teachers in each +school." + +[133] See D. H. E., Vol. XXIV., p. 22. + + +In the meantime, while negotiations for more Normal School accommodation +were in progress, an attempt was made to give some professional training +through teachers' institutes. As far back as 1850 the Legislature had +made a grant for such meetings, and they had been conducted by the +Normal School masters. In 1872 the plan was revised and some very +successful institutes held. The movement is important because out of it +grew County Model Schools, and the adoption of a principle which meant +some professional training for every teacher. + +In 1875, a Normal School was opened at Ottawa, but the plan of having +schools at Kingston and London was abandoned largely because of the +apathy of the Legislature in regard to the expense. In fact it is +doubtful if any Government could have forced through the Legislature a +vote for such a purpose. + +Ryerson found the schools in 1844 taught by teachers without +certificates and without professional training; he left them in 1876 +with teachers, all of whom were certificated under Government +examinations, and many of whom were Normal-trained. More important +still, he had, by his lectures at County Conventions and by his +writings in the _Journal of Education_, created a sentiment throughout +the Province in favour of trained teachers. He thus made easy the +pathway of his successors in securing increased efficiency; but it may +be doubted whether any of his immediate successors achieved results in +keeping with the material advance of the Province. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +_RYERSON SCHOOL BILL OF 1871._ + + +From 1850 to 1871 no wholly new principles relating to the Common +Schools were adopted by the Legislature, although some changes were +necessarily made. The legislation of 1850 had, from time to time, to be +supplemented by amendments in order that the spirit of the previous +legislation should be made applicable to the needs of a rapidly growing +community. + +An Act passed in 1853[134] provided further machinery for the working of +Trustee Boards; gave a liberal annual grant for an educational museum; +set apart L500 a year toward teachers' pensions, and increased by L1,000 +a year the grant to Normal Schools. + +[134] See copy of Act reprinted in D. H. E., Vol. X., p. 133. + + +An Act passed in 1860[135] more clearly defined the powers of trustees, +the manner of conducting elections, and auditing school accounts. The +same Act made Saturday a school holiday. + +[135] See copy of Act reprinted +in D. H. E., Vol. XV., pp. 45-49. + + +The Act of 1871[136] was the last important school legislation prepared +by Ryerson.[137] The important features of the Act may be summed up +under four headings, viz., compulsory and free education, efficient +inspection, teachers' pensions, and the licensing of teachers under +Government direction.[138] + +[136] See copy of Act reprinted in D. H. E., Vol. XXII., pp. 213-222. + +[137] The Act of 1874, in as far as it contained new principles, was +forced upon Ryerson by the Government of Sir Oliver Mowat. + +[138] For changes made in Grammar Schools by Act of 1871, see Chapter +IX. + + +The free school was the natural complement of the Act of 1850. The +permissive legislation then enacted allowing trustee boards and +ratepayers to establish free schools had been so generally acted +upon[139] that by 1871 the abolition of all rate bills upon parents +seemed to come as a matter of course. The logical corollary of free +schools is compulsory attendance, and the Act of 1871 fixed penalties to +be imposed upon parents and guardians who neglected the education of +their children. It may be doubted whether this compulsory clause has +ever been of any real advantage to the cause of education. The real +forces that move human beings are always moral forces. Many a man has +unwillingly sent his children to school because of public opinion, but +few because of fear of the law. + +[139] Only some 400 schools out of 4,000 were levying rate bills in +1870. These 400 were chiefly in towns and cities. The total rate bill +levy for 1870 was about $24,000. See Superintendent's Report for 1870. + + +The Act provided for county inspectors who should be experts and devote +their whole time to the work of inspection. Ryerson's first Report had +foreshadowed such action, and the fact that he had to wait a +quarter-century to realize his plan shows how impossible it is to +legislate much in advance of public opinion. + +The County Inspector, together with two or more qualified teachers, were +to form a County Board, with power to license second and third-class +teachers upon examinations prescribed by the Council of Public +Instruction. In this way the Superintendent had at last secured a +uniform standard of qualification for teachers throughout the whole +Province. + +The small annual grant made for teachers' pensions in 1853, and +increased a few years later to $4,000 per annum, had enabled the +Superintendent to dole out pittances[140] to a few score of worn-out +teachers whose need was most pressing. Ryerson wished to establish a +system such as was in operation in Germany--a system of compulsory +payments by teachers in service sufficient to give a substantial pension +for old age. He hoped by this means to secure a body of teachers with a +professional spirit, and to enable them to spend their declining years +in independence. + +[140] See D. H. E., Vol. XX., p. 143. + + +The Act of 1871 required compulsory payments from male teachers of four +dollars per year.[141] At a later date County Inspectors and all +first-class teachers were required to pay six dollars a year. This +payment guaranteed an annual pension upon retirement of four or six +dollars for every year's contribution. Female teachers were allowed, but +not forced, to support the Pension Fund. The compulsory payments aroused +much opposition from some teachers, especially those who were making +temporary use of the teachers' calling as a stepping-stone to some other +profession.[142] Ryerson thought that this class might very properly be +taxed a trifle for the general cause of education. + +[141] No doubt this seems a ridiculously small contribution, but we must +remember that teachers received very small salaries. The Pension Fund +clause was repealed in 1885 on request of the teachers of Ontario, and +since that date no names have been added to the list. The payments by +teachers provided only a small proportion of the annual charge upon the +Pension Fund. The present annual charge (1910) upon the Fund is $55,926. + +[142] See D. H. E., Vol. XXIII., pp. 253-256. + + +Minor provisions of the Act of 1871 gave trustee boards power to build +teachers' residences and to secure land for school sites by arbitration. +The Act also authorized the creation of Township Boards of Trustees, +where public opinion favoured them. + +During its passage through the Legislature the Bill of 1871 was severely +criticized by Hon. George Brown, in the Toronto _Globe_, and by Edward +Blake, on the floor of the Assembly. Perhaps neither of these gentlemen +had any love for Ryerson, but they represented a new spirit which +Ryerson scarcely understood, and with which he certainly had no +sympathy. + +Mr. Blake opposed the Bill upon several grounds, but especially upon the +abolition of rate bills and the irresponsible nature of the Council of +Public Instruction. As regards the former he expressed himself heartily +in favour of free schools, but since they were gradually becoming free +without compulsion he wished to let them alone. His objection to the +Council of Public Instruction[143] is worthy of note because it brings +out in a strong light the real bone of contention between Ryerson and +the Ontario Liberals, and enables us to understand why at a later date +it was impossible for Ryerson to work in harmony with a Liberal +Executive Council. The Council of Public Instruction was an +irresponsible body appointed by the Crown and dominated by the Chief +Superintendent. It had extensive powers. It might act arbitrarily, and +yet there was no way by which the members of the Legislature could call +it to account or insist upon explanations. Mr. Blake and his colleagues +argued that this was not compatible with representative government. +Doctor Ryerson insisted that the Education Department must be wholly +removed from party politics. Conscious of purity of purpose and +personal integrity, he was ever more desirous of giving the people what +he thought they needed than of giving them what they wanted. + +[143] See Pamphlet in Parliamentary Library, Ottawa, addressed by Edward +Blake to the electors of South Bruce. + + +Although Ryerson had taken a partisan's part in politics before his +appointment as Superintendent, he wisely tried to administer his +Department upon a non-partisan basis. And he met with a large measure of +success because all sensible men realized that education ought not to be +a topic for partisan bickerings. For many years it was so arranged that +the leader of the Government introduced educational bills and the leader +of the Opposition seconded them. + +Such a procedure was possible only so long as both political parties had +more confidence in the wisdom of the Superintendent to deal with +education than they had in the educational foresight of their own +leaders. But such a confidence could not be indefinitely retained by any +Superintendent, and certainly not by Ryerson, who was very sensitive to +criticism of his administration, and always ready to challenge any +layman who had the temerity to express an opinion upon education +contrary to his. It was inevitable that a clash should come, and it was +a great tribute to Ryerson's wisdom in gauging public opinion that the +clash was so long delayed. It was also quite to be expected that the +Liberal leaders should be the ones to precipitate the shock, seeing that +Ryerson had ridden into office upon a wave of Tory reaction. + +Mr. Blake and Hon. George Brown could, however, make little headway +against Ryerson in connection with the School Bill of 1871. Except in +regard to the irresponsible nature of the Council of Public Instruction, +the Act was progressive and truly liberal. Ryerson had discussed every +clause in the Bill at County Conventions, and had behind him the support +of all actively engaged in the work of education and in the other +learned professions. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +_CONCLUSION._ + + +How are we to sum up the work of this man who moulded the schools of +Ontario during a period as long as the life of a single generation? +Would the schools of 1876 have been what they were had there been no +Ryerson? We think not. + +No doubt the people of Upper Canada would, without Ryerson, have worked +out a good school system, because a school system must in the end +reflect the average intelligence and the fixed ideals of a people. But +in Ryerson, Upper Canada had a man who, by his dogged determination and +his hold upon the affections of the people, was able to secure +legislation somewhat in advance of a fixed public opinion. To a +considerable extent he created the public sentiment which made his work +possible. He knew what the people needed and persuaded them to accept +it. This we conceive to be the work of a statesman. + +Ryerson was neither a demagogue nor a constitutionalist. He had none of +the arts of one who wins the populace by flattering its vanity. He was +too sincere and too deeply religious to appeal to the lower springs of +human action. On the other hand he had no real sympathy with popular +government. He would let people do as they wished, only so long as they +wished to do what he believed to be right. He never could believe that +he himself might be wrong. Even had he wished to do so, he never could +have divested himself wholly of the character of priest and pedagogue. +He was always either shouting from the pulpit or thumping the desk of +the schoolmaster. + +His environment after 1844 strengthened and developed his natural +tendency to be autocratic. He worked like a giant. He created the +Education Department, appointed his subordinates, was his own finance +minister, established a Normal School and appointed its instructors, +nominated members of a Council of Public Instruction who often did +little more than formally register his decrees, organized a book and map +depository and an educational museum, edited an educational journal in +which he published his decrees, and prepared legislation for successive +Legislatures having comparatively few members competent to criticize +school administration. He administered one of the largest spending +Departments of Government, and ruled somewhat rigorously a score of +subordinates, and yet, for many years, was not subject to any check +except the nominal one of the Governor-General, and later of the +Governor-General-in-Council. + +When he visited District or County Conventions he came as a lawgiver, +either to explain existing regulations, promulgate new ones, or obtain +assent to those for which he wished to secure legislation. Only after +the Grammar Schools had become efficient did Ryerson meet at Teachers' +Conventions men who were intellectually his equals and who were ready to +criticize his policy, and, when necessary, give him wholesome advice. +Had Ryerson been a responsible Minister with a seat in the Legislature, +either his nature would have been modified or he would have failed, +probably the latter. + +This would seem to lead to the conclusion that Ryerson after all was not +a statesman, since a statesman must, in our age, carry out his measures +and at the same time retain the confidence of his colleagues and the +electors. But this is just what Ryerson did, although he did not do it +directly through the Legislature. He appealed to a Court beyond the +Legislature--the whole body of intelligent men and women of Upper +Canada--and this Court sustained him in his work for thirty-two years, +during which time it is doubtful if any single constituency in the +country would have elected him to two successive Parliaments. If this be +true we may safely assume that it was a happy chance which gave us a +non-political Education Department during our formative period. + +Ryerson's greatest admirers can scarcely claim that he was a scholar. +This was his misfortune and not his fault. He never failed to embrace +whatever opportunities for intellectual improvement came in his way. His +reading of history was broad and discriminating. He had little interest +in anything that did not bear somewhat directly upon the problem of +human virtue. Consequently his interests centred largely in civil +government and theology. + +Nor can we claim for Ryerson that he introduced original legislation. +Hardly anything in our system of education was of his invention. New +England, New York, Germany, and Ireland gave him his models, and his +genius was shown in the skill with which he adapted these to suit the +needs of Upper Canada. Even in the details of his school legislation, +especially that relating to High Schools, Ryerson adopted suggestions of +men more competent than himself to form a judgment. To say this in no +way detracts from the man's greatness. Little after all in modern +legislation is actually new, and to say of a man that he is successful +in using other men's ideas is often to give him the highest praise. + +In one department of work Ryerson stood in a class by himself. He was +without a peer as an administrator. His intensely practical mind was +quick to discover the shortest route between end and means. His energy, +his system and attention to details, his broad personal knowledge of +actual conditions, his capacity for long periods of effort, his thrift, +his courteous treatment of subordinates, and even his sensitiveness to +criticism were factors which enabled him to administer the most +difficult Department of the Government with ease and smoothness. + +The history of Upper Canada during a period of nearly sixty years is as +much bound up with the labours of Egerton Ryerson as with the work of +any other public man. He gave us lofty ideals of the meaning and purpose +of life, and he had an abiding faith in the power of popular education +to aid in a realization of these ideals; he fought for free schools in +Upper Canada when they needed a valiant champion. Let the present +generation of men and women honour the memory of the man who wrought so +faithfully for their fathers and grandfathers. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + Documentary History of Education in Upper Canada. 28 vols. Dr. J. + Geo. Hodgins. + + Story of My Life. Egerton Ryerson. Edited by Dr. J. Geo. Hodgins. + + Egerton Ryerson. Chancellor Burwash. + + Loyalists of America. 2 vols. Egerton Ryerson. + + Ryerson Memorial Volume. Edited by Dr. J. Geo. Hodgins. + + History of Upper Canada College. Principal Dickson. + + Journals of Assembly of Upper Canada, Legislative Library, Toronto. + + Journal of Education, 1848-1876. 29 vols. Library of Parliament, + Ottawa. + + Ryerson's Special Reports on European Schools. Library of + Parliament, Ottawa. + + Ryerson's Annual School Reports, 1845-1876. Library of Parliament, + Ottawa. + + Gourlay's Statistical Account of Upper Canada. 3 vols. Published by + Simpkins and Marshall, London, Eng., 1822. + + Sketches of Canada and the United States. William Lyon Mackenzie. + Published by Effingham & Wilson, London, Eng., 1833. + + Reminiscences of His Public Life. Sir Francis Hincks. + + Ryerson's Controversy with Rev. J. M. Bruyere on Free Schools. + Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 50. Library of Parliament, Ottawa. + + Ryerson's Letters to Doctor Strachan, on Education. Canadian + Pamphlets, vol. 83. + + Ryerson's New Canadian Dominion. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 418. + + Ryerson's Defence Against Attacks of Hon. George Brown. Canadian + Pamphlets, vol. 418. + + Ryerson on the Separate School Law of Upper Canada. Canadian + Pamphlets, vol. 416. + + Ryerson on a Liberal Education in Upper Canada. Canadian Pamphlets, + vol. 416. + + Ryerson on the School Book Question. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 416. + + Ryerson, a Review and a Study. J. A. Allen. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. + 667. + + Bishop Strachan, a Review and a Study. Rev. Doctor Scadding. + Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 169. + + Report on Grievances in Upper Canada. William Lyon Mackenzie. + Library of Parliament, Ottawa. + + Bound Volumes of Toronto _Globe_, 1844-1876, in Legislative Library, + Toronto. + + _British Colonist._ Published by H. Scobie, 1838-1854. Library of + Parliament, Ottawa. + + _Kingston Chronicle and Gazette_, 1840-1842. Library of Parliament, + Ottawa. + + Courier of Upper Canada, 1836-1837. Library of Parliament, Ottawa. + + _Weekly Colonist_, 1852-1855. Library of Parliament, Ottawa. + + Ryerson's Correspondence with Provincial Secretaries, 1844-1876. + Canadian Archives, Ottawa. + + +Transcriber's Note: Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation (e.g., +school-houses/schoolhouses) have been resolved in all cases where it was +possible to divine the author's intent with a reasonable degree of +certainty. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper +Canada, by J. 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