Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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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

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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 that government departments of education recognize the great need and provide adequately for it. The folk high school movement in Denmark revitalized a decadent economy and in little more than a generation pro- duced a sane, co-operative and highly cultured people. A programme of adult education, intelligently conceived and suited to our own needs might, similarly, improve our own Canadian life! Status and Training of Teachers We must develop a new respect for the place and importance of the teacher. In 1939 the Canadian Teachers, Federation made a survey and reported that Hmore than half of the teachers of Canada were living on the lowest possible level of self-supporting penurious existence? A more recent report indicates that in 1942, 32 per cent of all Canadian teachers received salaries of less than six hundred dollars a year. This is not good enough! How can such a profession attract persons with the ability, the training and the personality that the importance of the task demands? No fee is too high for engineers who develop power or run our factories. No fee is too large if we can save the life of one sick child. But we expect those who train their minds and souls to work for less than a pittance. At the same time I believe that we must improve our teacher-training institutions throughout the whole country. Their courses must be modern- ized and extended in terms of the new needs and demands of the new age. It must be frankly admitted that, to-day, the qualifications of many of our teachers are far from adequate if we are to demand of them the vision, the intelligence, and the training that are necessary. The Cost I Such a programme as l have outlined will take money-a lot of it! Considering our ability to finance a war l do not believe that any longer will the excuse of lack of money be satisfactory to the Canadian people. The costs of educational reform have been carefully estimated in the recent C.N.E.A. report. We know that Canada can afford it, she can not afford DOI tO. uWhat shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul . What shall it profit a nation to win a war and lose the peace by paltry, hesitating and inadequate provision for the nurture of its most precious asset-its children, in which any hope for the future rests! STAFF NOTES . . . To our Tutorial Staff which, in September, was the largest in the School's history, and gradually was whittled down by the armed forces until only one was left, many, many thanks for all the variety of tasks they did so well. To Dan., Ghent, Jimmy, Doug., and Des., we wish best of luck and a speedy return! '18