Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper CanadaPutman, J. Harold (John Harold)
History
Egerton Ryerson and Education in Upper Canada
Putman, J. Harold (John Harold)
Education -- Ontario; Ryerson, Egerton, 1803-1882
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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