Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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The Voyageur ending in a new orgy of carnage and destruction. What are some of the practical steps necessary for the improvement of Canadian education? W Canadian Unity and Education Perhaps our greatest weakness in this country is our lack of any sense of national unity. Thinking Canadians are appalled by our unhappy di- visions, our provincialisms and our sectionalisms. To overcome these divisions and prejudices we must plan an all-Canadian educational structure. As a first step, I recommend a Federal bureau or oflice of education, not to destroy or eliminate provincial administration, but to act as a clearing-house for educational ideas, to set minimum standards of curricula, to co-ordinate the certification and exchange of teachers from province to province and to equalize educational opportunity. This last matter is a vital one. Equalizing Opportunity No child should be denied his rightful educational opportunity because he happens to be born in the country rather than in the city or in one province rather than another. The principle of federal grants-in-aid for education has already been established, viz.:-for technical and vocational education and for soldiers' civil re-establishment. An extension of this principle would do much to equalize opportunity across the country. The Larger Administratirve Unit In our day the one-room rural school is as outmoded as a buggy whip on a trans-Canada plane. One of the next important steps in Canadian education is the establishment of a larger administrative unit-at least, town- ship administration. Larger units should combine not only rural schools but the schools in urban communities with those in contiguous rural areas, helping a little to overcome the traditional antagonism between town and country. The development of the consolidated school would follow as a logical next step, in the meantime this Hrst step would materially improve the status of the teachers and the quality of instruction. T Educational Guidance There must be compulsory education for all Canadian children. fThe present move in Quebec is long overduell. And education must be suited to the capacities of the child. This means a tremendous extension of uguid- ance in the schools and the utilization of the results of modern educational research. The armed services have discovered the value of a personnel at On the day this address was delivered in Montreal, the Canada-Newfoundland Education Association published its recommendations to the James Committee. This document charts a course for Canadian education for many years and is worthy of serious study by all Canadians. +A beginning has already been made in the Province of Ontario. Of 6,300 school sections, 863 have been wiped out and replaced by township boards. 16

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The Voyageur cracy has been more or less achieved but we are far from achieving an economic democracy. Post-War government must eliminate economic chaos and misery. There was an old doctrine,-that government is best which governs least. It is surely evident that, in our modern, complex, highly interdependent world, such a doctrine is no longer valid. ln varying ways, Nazism, Fascism, Com- munism, the 6'New Dealw, the Marsh Report and the Beveridge Report are all manifestations of the fact that in a modern community the welfare of each is the responsibility of all. We cannot tolerate any recurrence of de- pression conditions when 400,000 young Canadians went begging for work and when one-third of the population of the United States was living below a minimum subsistence level. Furthermore, organization to eliminate economic chaos must be more than national in its scope. It has become fashionable in some quarters to be cynical about the League of Nations, but it was not an idle dream, it was an expression of man's deep yearning for a better world. Surely we have learned that no nation can any longer consider itself isolated, independent, self-sufficient, sovereign and responsible only to itself. Surely we know now that no nation or race can be considered inferior because of the colour of its people or the stage of its cultural development. The only possibility of human progress depends on a universal recognition of the fact that men everywhere must co-operate or die. ln our Western democracies we had developed a ugimmei' theory of democracy with all the emphasis on rights and privileges and few on duties and responsibilities. There must be a recognition by all men of their com- mon obligation to each other and, therefore, to the community. This truth was long ago expressed by a great teacher,-aHe that would save his life shall lose itg he that will lose his life, the same shall find it.', Or as H. C. Wells has said, 4'There is no peace-no security--no righteous leadership or kingship unless men lose themselves in something greater than themselvesf' Our leaders say that changes of this nature mean a revolution in our way of life, it is only if our anew order , when it is formed, is based upon such principles of Christian democracy that the present struggle can be justified. Implications for Education Changes of such a nature must affect our attitude to education. Our schools have two main tasks. The first is to transmit to each successive new generation the acquired cultural heritage of the race or of the com- munity in which the individual lives. The second is to enable the individual, not merely to adjust to his society, but to analyze, to crticize and to improve it-to help direct the course of its changing development. Any educational process that thinks only in terms of the past-its glories and its traditions- is, at any time, inadequate, but never more so than at the present time. An educational programme fo-r to-day and to-morrow must be bold, visionary and courageous. The post-war period must see a great new forward step in the onward march of man, otherwise it will be 1919-39 all over again, 15

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The Voyageur selection programme using educational methods. Ultimately such a pro- gramme must be incorporated in all our schools. In many parts of the country we have established special schools and curricula for the dull and backward child. This is good,-and necessary- but there is an equal, or greater, necessity for special training for those children who are above the average in ability. One of the greatest faults of our democratic societies has been the tendency to H level downi' to a dull standard of mediocrity. ln spite of all the criticism levelled against the old English Hpublic school , land much of it has been amply justifiedj, they have nevertheless provided in these schools a fine concept of public service. We should select from our schools the ablest students and provide for them a special training for leadership in all areas of our life,-not only for business and the professions but, above all, for politics and public service. Education for Public Life Many of our best citizens scorn public life. There is, perhaps, some justification for the use of the term upoliticianl' as a term of reproach. While we may admit that there have been self-seekers in our political life we have been fortunate in Canada that so many of our public men have been sincere and public-spirited. But, if we wish to maintain and improve the quality of our public life we must present to our children the opportunities therein as most desirable vocations and adequately prepare them for their tasks. The responsibilities of government are now too great to be left to the manipulations of the illiterate or untrained. Scholarships and Bursaries The privileges of higher education are at present denied to many children because of economic inability. We have woefully inadequate systems of scholarships and bursaries. To provide the special training I have sug- gested We must greatly increase the number of such awards. The Federal Government has alrady promised to finance education for returned soldiers. There is no reason why this precedent should not be continued for the normal needs of peace-time. Ontario is, this year, inaugurating a series of provincial scholarships. A large Canadian mercantile firm has recently made a substantial donation to the University of Toronto for scholarships in a certain field. And it would be a good idea if many of such awards provided for the exchange of students between the provinces and ultimately between countries to develop sympathetic understanding and to promote sound national and international attitudes. Adult Education Education must no longer stop at a certain point in adolescence. Our world is changing so rapidly that provision must be made for adults to keep abreast of the changes in the world in which they are living. Much adult education is now being done by private agencies, but we must demand 17