Chapter IV: Education in Ontario--Past and Present (7)

So long as our system of schools was in its infancy, and might be fairly regarded as yet an experiment, so long as we confine our efforts to mere elementary organization and be content with very moderate results. Experience has shown, however, that without great care and constant effort the tendency of all systems of education, and ours among the rest, is to a state of equilibrium, or to a uniform dead level of passable respectability. This is the stage in its history, as elsewhere, at which our system has arrived, and at which, as we have explained, many of its friends are disposed to leave it. But those who have carefully studied the subject in all its bearings, and have looked more closely into the educational history, the progress and failures of other countries, know full well that our school system would fall behind that of other countries and become stationary, unless it embodies within itself from time to time the true elements of progress, and provides fully and on a sufficient scale for the educational wants of the youth of the country.

Since 1850 it was left to the ratepayers in each school division to decide annually whether the schools should be free or partly supported by rate-bill on pupils attending the school. The principle, that a Public School education is the right of every child in the land, and that every man should contribute, according to his property, to the education of every child in the community, by whose influence and labors such property is protected and rendered valuable, had greatly obtained, so that Free Schools had increased from one hundred to five hundred per annum, until upwards of four thousand of the four thousand four hundred Public Schools were made free by actual experiments, and by the annual discussions and votes in these primary meetings of the people. The demand was very general for several years, that all the Public Schools should now be made free by law, and all local disputes on the subject be thus terminated. This has now been happily accomplished by the new law.

It is not necessary to go farther into detail in this retrospect, as the foregoing extracts indicate the scope and spirit of the improved Act of 1871.

HON. ADAM CROOKS ON THE SCHOOL INSPECTION LEGISLATION OF 1871.

In his speech before the Legislative Assembly on the 18th of February, 1877, the first Minister of Education for Ontario, in referring to the improved system of school inspection introduced by the Act of 1871, and the more certain tenure of office secured to County Inspectors under that Act, said:

"I have also been ready to say that most valuable results were
secured by the change in the law in 1871, under which the
present mode of school inspection took the place of the old
plan of local superintendence. Inspectors now must possess high
qualifications, both as teachers and in scholarship, while
the emoluments of the office make it an object of ambition to
every school teacher; and we have many teachers in the Province
who posses qualifications of the high standard prescribed for
Public School Inspectors. The tenure of the office of County
Inspector is such as should secure their impartiality. So long
as an Inspector discharges his duties efficiently, he can be
removed only by a two-thirds majority of the County Council. It
is unlikely that such two-thirds majority would be found unless
the Inspector had given reasonable cause for his dismissal. It
would not be wise therefore to alter the tenure by which County
Inspectors hold office."

EFFECT OF THE SCHOOL ACT OF 1871 IN THE COUNTY OF HALDIMAND.

The following valuable testimony as to the great improvement in our schools which was wrought through the agency of the School Act of 1871, is highly suggestive and practical in its character. What is true of Haldimand, as here expressed, is also true of other parts of the Province.

In an address to the teachers of Haldimand in 1873, Mr. Inspector Harcourt, M.P.P., said:--

"No one, whose attention has been called to the matter, could imagine the miserable condition of the majority of the school-houses of 1871. At that time there were not ten properly furnished buildings in Haldimand. Many of them with low ceilings, broken floors and damaged windows, had for seats nothing better than the antiquated bench facing the wall. Too cold or too hot by turns in winter, and suffocating in summer. With nothing to attract and everything to discourage scholars, we wonder that an intelligent public has so long tolerated their existence.... In the main, however, I am especially gratified at the improvements effected. In two years sixteen brick buildings have been erected; all of them substantial and well furnished--some of them models of neatness and finish. In a dozen sections preparations are being made for replacing the old houses, so that we have good reason to hope that in a year or two, at furthest, our country will no longer be noticeable for the miserable style of its school-houses."

"Connected with the question of progress in certain branches of study, in relation of which I might say of cause and effect, are the two items of Examination of Teachers and School Accommodation. The provisions now in force for the examination of teachers are such that, if wisely carried out, the standard of the profession must be raised, and along with it the status of our schools.... The fact that somehow or another teachers received first and second class certificates, three or four years ago, who could not now obtain a third; that while it was exceptional for an applicant to fail then, those who succeed now are but thirty per cent. of the whole is known to all of us....

"To summarize the foregoing statements we HAVE progressed since 1871, swiftly in one particular, slowly and steadily in several others."--_Address, pages 5-7._

EFFECT OF THE SCHOOL LAW OF 1871 IN THE COUNTY OF SIMCOE (SOUTH.)

At the inauguration of the new school-house in Barrie in 1872, the Rev. Wm. McKee, B.A., Inspector of Schools in South Simcoe, stated what had been the salutary effect of the School Law of 1871 in his county. He said:--

During my visits to the schools I found many of the school-houses of a very inferior description--being rude log buildings, old and dilapidated, with seats and desks of a corresponding character, often situated on the edge of the road, and without wells, offices, playgrounds or fencing of any kind; so that it is quite certain and plain the requirements of the new School Law have not come into force at all too soon, so far as the interests and advancement of education in this part of Ontario are concerned. Indeed truth obliges me to state that in the Riding which forms my field of labour--and I believe the remark will hold true with still greater force in regard to North Simcoe--the school-houses which are sufficiently large, well ventilated, fully furnished, and provided with an adequate supply of requisites are very few--perhaps less than half-a-dozen all told. It is true, however, that since the New School Law and Regulations came into operation there are indications of a change for the better in regard to the matters to which I have alluded. I could mention not less than twelve or fourteen school sections in which steps have _already_ been, or are being taken for the erection of new school-houses which are designed to replace the old buildings, and which, in regard to adequate school accommodation, are also intended to meet the requirements of the New School Law, and to be in every way suitable for school purposes. And it is to be distinctly noticed that in all the cases to which I have referred, the _initiative_ has been taken by the people or the trustees themselves; and I, for my part, feel that I cannot but regard this as a very significant fact--a very hopeful and encouraging symptom. I look upon it as an omen for good, and as an important and gratifying evidence of the favourable and successful working of the New School Law and Regulations. For being intimately acquainted with the southern part of the county for the last fifteen years, I have no hesitation in maintaining that the effects spoken of, or the action taken by school trustees or the people, can be fairly traced to no other cause than to the working and influence of the New School Law and Regulations. I can testify that latterly--I mean particularly since the passing of the New School Act--I have marked among the people of these townships a deepening sense of the importance of a sound education, and likewise an increasing desire to encourage and promote it. I have noticed, also, I think, both among trustees and parents, a growing conviction that not only the efficiency of the teacher, but, also the discipline and spirit of a school, the progress of children in their studies, their proper training, and their successful education, are far more intimately connected than it was one time imagined, with the style and character of the schoolroom in which the work of instruction is carried on, and with the kind of school accommodations provided for and enjoyed by pupils.[57]

[57] These two extracts are given simply as illustrative examples,
and as they were public utterances of the Inspectors named. Similar
testimony was received by the Department from other Inspectors, but,
from the nature of the case, and their non-publication in the local
newspapers, they were not subject to the same criticism as were the
statements publicly made and published in the localities concerned.