Ryerson Memorial Volume: Prepared on the occasion of the unveiling of the Ryerson statute in the grounds of the Education department on the Queen's birthday, 1889Hodgins, J. George (John George)
History
Ryerson Memorial Volume: Prepared on the occasion of the unveiling of the Ryerson statute in the grounds of the Education department on the Queen's birthday, 1889
Hodgins, J. George (John George)
Education -- Ontario; Ryerson, Egerton, 1803-1882
As to the actual state of education in Upper Canada at this time, we
get a brief glimpse from the travels of the Duc de la Rochefoucauld,
who visited Kingston in July, 1795. He says:--
"In this district there are some schools, but they are few in
number. The children are instructed in reading and writing, and
pay each a dollar a month. One of the masters taught Latin, but
he has left, without being succeeded by another instructor in
the same language."
As to the character of the private schools thus established, and the
facilities of education which they afforded, we learn incidentally
from letters and early books of travel, what they were. In a "_Tour
through Upper Canada, by a Citizen of the United States_," published
in 1799, we learn that the policy of the government of that day, was
to exclude "schoolmasters from the States, lest they should instil
Republicanism into the tender minds of the youth of the province."
FIRST OFFICIAL EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS IN UPPER CANADA, 1797, 1798.
As the result of the correspondence between the Governor and Bishop
Mountain, the question of a University and free grammar schools was
discussed. The Governor referred the matter to the Upper Canada
Legislature, which, in 1797 memorialized King George III, soliciting
a grant of land for the endowment of a grammar school in each
district, and a University for the whole Province. To this request
the King gave his assent, and, in 1798, the "chief civil officers"
in Upper Canada recommended that "500,000 acres of land be set apart
for the establishment of a grammar school in each district and a
central University for the whole Province." They also recommended
a grant for the erection of a "plain but solid and substantial
building for a grammar school in each district, containing a school
room capable of holding 100 boys without danger to their health
from too many being crowded together, and also a set of apartments
for the master, large enough for his family and from ten to twenty
boarders."
The salaries proposed to be given were: £100 for the head master,
£50 for the assistant master; and £30 for repairs, etc., Kingston
and Newark (Niagara) were recommended as eligible sites for schools;
after which, when the funds were sufficient, schools were to be
established at Cornwall and Sandwich. York (Toronto) was recommended
as entitled to the University, and for the establishment and support
of which a sum at least equal to that granted to the four schools
was named.
In 1799, an act was passed by the Upper Canada Legislature "to
provide for the education and support of orphan children."
It authorized the township wardens, with the consent of two
magistrates, to bind and apprentice, until they became of age,
children deserted by their parents. In the same year an orphan
school was opened near St. Catherines.
EDUCATIONAL PIONEERS IN UPPER CANADA.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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