Schooling and scholars in nineteenth-century Ontario : a project of the Ontario Historical Studies Series for the Government of Ontario

Nineteenth-century educational reformers were fond of an agricultural metaphor when it came to the provision of more and better schooling: even good land, they argued, had to be cultiated; othersie noxious weeds sprang up. In this study of education in Ontario from the establishment of Upper Canada to the end of Egerton Ryerson's career as chief superintendent of schools in 1876, Susan Houston and Alison Prentice explore the roots of the provincial public school system, set up to instill a work ethic and moral discipline appropriate to the new society, as well as the beginnings of separate schools. today the Ontario school system is once again the subject of intense and often bitter deabte. Many of the most contentious issues have deep and complex roots that go back to this era. Houston and Prentice tell the story of how Ontario came to have a universal school system of exceptional quality and shed valuable light on an area of current concern. Contents 5 Picture Credits 6 The Ontario Historical Studies Series 7 Preface 9 Part One: Interpreting Pioneer Schooling 22 1. Family and State in Upper Canadian Education 22 2. Creating Schools and Scholars 47 3. Schoolmistresses and Schoolmasters 75 Part Two: Mid-Nineteenth-Century School Reform 111 4. Towards a Government School System 111 5. The Battle for Control over Public Schools 138 6. Forging a Public School Teaching Force 171 Part Three: Behind the Schoolroom Door 213 7. Going to School 213 8. What One Might Teach and Another Learn 249 9. Exceptions to the Rule 287 10. 'Wish I Were Not Here at the Present Juncture' 324 Notes 359 Index 422