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.

Situating the evolution of Methodist education for women in Ontario within the larger social and cultural context, Methodists and Women's Education in Ontario describes the often unintended and unforeseen forces unleashed by women's education and the ambi

The City and Education in Four Nations is a response to a long-standing need for the placing of urban educational study in broader comparative contexts, both historical and international. This volume offers an account of the historical educational experiences of four major English-speaking countries, opening up new research agendas in a variety of fields. An international team of contributors has been assembled, combining historical and educational expertise, and the work should interest scholars in a number of disciplines, including urban history, urban and comparative education, social and public policy, social and cultural history and the history of education.

Public discussion about the relationship between religion and public life in Canada can be heated at times, and scholars have recently focused on the historical study of the many expressions of this relationship. The experience of Canada's smaller Protestant Christian groups, however, has remained largely unexplored. This is particularly true of Canada's Baptists. This volume, the first produced by the Canadian Baptist Historical Society, explores the connections between Baptist faith and Baptist activity in the public domain, and expands the focus of the existing scholarship to include a wide range of Canadian Baptist beliefs, attitudes, perspectives, and actions related to the relationship between Baptist faith and practice and public life.

An exploration of two centuries of formal education in Canada in which the accomodation of minority needs and local versus central control are recurring themes.

"In these two volumes, which replace the Reader's Guide to Canadian History, experts provide a select and critical guide to historical writing about pre- and post-Confederation Canada, with an emphasis on the most recent scholarship" -- Cover.

In The Idea of Popular Schooling in Upper Canada, Anthony Di Mascio analyzes debates about education in the burgeoning print culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In it, he finds that a widespread movement for popular schooling in Upper Canada began in earnest from the time of the colony's first Loyalist settlers. Reviving the voices of Upper Canada's earliest school advocates, Di Mascio reveals the lively public discussion about the need for a common system of schooling for all the colony's children. Despite different and often contentious opinions on the means and ends of schooling, there was widespread agreement about its need by the 1830s, when the debate was no longer about whether a popular system of schooling was desirable, but about what kinds of schools would be established. The making of educational legislation in Upper Canada was a process in which many inhabitants, both inside and outside of government, participated. The Idea of Popular Schooling in Upper Canada is the first full survey of schooling in Canada to focus on the pre-1840 period and how it framed policy debates that continue to the present day.

This book outlines the resources available for education from about 1785 to the early 20th century. Many historical resources are currently being digitized, and Ontario and education are no exception. These electronic repositories are examined here, along with traditional paper and archival sources.

This book situates teacher training, preparation and education in Canada within national and global histories. The authors lead the reader through an exploration of the objectives of schooling, the contextual role of teachers, and the political undercurrents sustaining various educational conceptions and policies.

The received view is that secondary education in Ontario is a result of Egerton Ryerson's Education Act of 1871. But R.D. Gidney and W.P.J. Millar show that Ryerson and the Provincial Education Office responded to rather than directed policy in higher education. In fact, the system in place today is evidence of Ryerson's failure to implement the programs he wanted.