WIGGERS, Dr. J. OTTO AUGUST, died March 6, at Rostock, aged 90. Professor of philology at Rostock. Author of many books. WOLLNY, EWALD, died January 9, at Munich, aged 31. Professor at technological university at Munich. Author of numerous contributions to physical science. ZAPP, Dr. AUGUST, died May 13, in Meran, Austria, aged 86. ZEHFUSS, JOH. GEORG, died May 5, in Darmstadt, aged 69. berg. Noted writer. Historian. Professor in Heidel ZOLLING, Dr. THEOPHIL, died March 22, in Berlin, aged 52. Editor of Gegenwart, a literary journal of influence. ZORN, BERNHARD, died June 26 in Kyritz. Teacher in normal school and best known as composer and musical director. CHAPTER VIII. EDUCATION IN CANADA. Dominion of Canada, comprising seven Provinces, with an extent of 3,653,946 square miles and a population estimated at 5,371,051 in 1901. PREVIOUS ARTICLES ON EDUCATION IN CANADA IN THE COMMISSIONER'S REPORTS. "Education in Ontario," Report 1892-93, Vol. 1, Chapter VI: "Notes on education at the Columbian Exposition," ibid., Chapter X, pages 1213–1215; “Manitoba school question," Report 1894-95, Vol. 1, Chapter VII. "Current and historical survey of the systems of education in the several Provinces," Report 1897-98, Vol. 1, Chapter IV. Education in Canada: Outline of the public systems of education with current statistics: Industrial and technical education; Historic foundations of the Ontario system," Report 1898-99, Vol. 2, Chapter XXIX. TOPICAL OUTLINE. Education in the Canadian Dominion: Salient characteristics of the systems of public instruction; Summarized statistics for 1900-1901; Educational systems of the separate Provinces; Conspectuses of the individual systems; Statistics, current and retrospective. Citations from current reports: Ontario, growth of high schools (p. 432), industrial and technical education (pp. 433–5), schools for special classes (pp. 436-7); Nova Scotia, development of the normal school by equipments for science teaching and manual training (pp. 449-50); New Brunswick, scarcity of trained teachers (pp. 452-3). Table of higher educational institutions. [The following statements have been compiled chiefly from the reports of the chief officers of education, the revised school laws, and the Canadian Yearbook for 1901. Other sources of information consulted were: The School System of Ontario, Hon. George W. Ross, former Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario, International Education Series, Vol. XXXVIII; Educational System of the Province of Ontario, John Millar, B. A., Deputy Minister of Education; Proceedings of the Fourth Convention of the Dominion Educational Association, Ottawa, 1901; Documentary History of Education in Ontario, Dr. J. G. Hodgins, Librarian and Historiographer of the Education Department; Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Board of Education, England, Vol. IV; The Manitoba School Question, Ewart; The History of the Manitoba School System, and the Issues of the Recent Controversy, Mr. R. L. Morant; Special Reports, Board of Education, England, Vol. I.] By the British North American act of 1867 the right to legislate on matters respecting education was left to the governments of the four Provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick), which were then united under the general name of Dominion of Canada. The same right has been assured also to the Provinces that have since entered the confederation (Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, British Columbia, Northwest Territories). Prior, however, to the federation of the Provinces, education had become a matter of general interest. Ontario, the core of the confederation," had at the time of its adoption a well-organized system of public schools. Quebec had brought its parochial schools under public supervision and the smaller maritime Provinces had proved their interest in the cause both by legislation and by grants for schools from public funds. From the beginning two forces were at work directing the educational activities of the people. Both the English and French settlers had brought with them traditional respect for parochial schools and for ecclesiastical control of education; but the English settlers were also deeply imbued with those ideas that were making for the supremacy of civil authorities in all secular affairs, and the conditions of the new country favored the growth of this tendency. The first system of public education organized in the Provinces, that of Ontario, was distinctively a system under public or government control, and as such has been the model followed more or less closely by all the other Provinces excepting Quebec. The Ontario school law of 1843, the basis of the system, embodied features drawn from the school systems of New England and New York, but it differed from these especially by the larger provision for centralized control. The minister of public instruction in Ontario is more than the executive head of the system, as will be seen by the detailed statement of his powers (p. 428). As a member of the legislature he initiates and largely directs school legislation, while his judicial functions and powers of appointment give great weight to the policies he advocates. No other Province has reposed equal authority in the chief officer of education, but all have sought to secure uniformity of school provision and educational standards by means of centralized government control. In Quebec the schools are sectarian; that is, they are distinctively either Roman Catholic or Protestant schools. The former are under ecclesiastical control, which for this purpose is organized in accordance with the provisions of the school laws; the Protestant schools are in like manner under Protestant control. In Ontario and the Northwest Territories provision is made for separate schools for Protestants and for Catholics where desired, and the supporters of these separate schools are exempt from the payment of local taxes for the support of the public schools. The separate schools are under government inspection and in general are under the same regulations as the public schools. The public elementary schools are free schools, excepting in Quebec, where fees are charged which may not exceed 50 cents a month nor be less than 5 cents a month. In the model schools and academies of this Province, which correspond to the grammar and high schools of our own States, the fees may be higher. In the high schools of Ontario fees are charged, but may be and often are remitted at the discretion of the school authorities. With these exceptions the public schools of the several Provinces are free, their support being derived from provincial grants and local (municipal) appropriations and school taxes. The mode of apportioning the legislative grant among the school districts differs in the different Provinces, but in all there is apparent the purpose to make the provincial appropriation a means of stimulating rather than of lessening local effort in behalf of the schools. In Ontario the legislative grant is apportioned to the schools on the basis of average attendance in each, respectively. In Quebec the legislative grant is apportioned to the several school municipalities (areas for local school administration) in proportion to their respective populations upon proof that they have complied with the law as to the maintenance of schools and the qualifications and remuneration of teachers. Special arrangements are made in the case of very poor municipalities. In Nova Scotia the legislative grant for public schools is a fixed sum ($190,000 annually), divided between the legally qualified teachers in conjoined proportion to the number of “authorized days taught” and to the class of license held by the teacher. In Manitoba each municipality is required to appropriate a specified amount ($20 for each teacher employed, for each month the school is kept open) in addition to a variable amount, depending upon the current expenditure for the schools. The need of some regulation proportioning the provincial grant to the amount raised locally is recognized in New Brunswick, where many districts seem content to a For purposes of civil administration a municipal organization is adopted in Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia. This organization comprises: "(a) The townships, being rural dis tricts of an area of 8 or 10 square miles; (b) villages with a population of over 750; (c) towns with a population of over 2,000. Such of these as are comprised within a large district, called a county, constitute (d) the county municipality. (e) Cities are established from the growth of towns when their population exceeds 15,000." (Canada Statistical Yearbook.) leave their schools to the meager provision from the legislative grant, although fully able to bear a part in their financial support. In all the Provinces the public school systems include secondary schools corresponding to the high schools of our own country. These high schools have generally an extended curriculum, and prepare students for matriculation in the universities. The history of higher education in the older Canadian Provinces antedates that of public provision for elementary schools. As early as 1798 an appropriation of 500,000 acres of land was made for the establishment of a university and grammar or preparatory schools in Toronto, but the charter for the university was not secured until 1827. Laval University was founded by the Seminary of Quebec (ecclesiastical organization) in 1852 and secured a royal charter the same year. The influence of these and of kindred institutions may be traced throughout the subsequent history of education in the Dominion. They have aided materially in maintaining a high standard of secondary education. The high schools of Ontario prepare students for the matriculation examination at the university, and the precedent thus set has been followed in the other Provinces. Everywhere the disposition is manifest to keep an open road from the public schools to the universities, and to do away entirely with class distinctions in education. The following tables present in summaries the principal statistics of the public schools in the several Provinces. The totals are brought into comparison with the similar particulars for the New England States, whose combined population is but little above that of the Canadian Dominion. For convenience of reference the educational statistics are preceded by a table of populations in which the population is classified as Roman Catholic and Protestant, a distinction of much importance on account of its bearing upon the provision for separate schools as already explained. This summarized view is followed by detailed particulars of the educational work in each Province, including a brief conspectus of the respective systems of public education. The constitution and scope of the central authorities in Ontario and Quebec have been presented with much fullness, as showing the most salient characteristics of these two systems and those in which they differ most from our own State systems: EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS. TABLE I.-Enrollment in public schools, elementary and high. a Not included in public school enrollment columns 3,4,5. d Not reported separately from total enrollment. Included also in column 5; there were also in private secondary schools 14,825 students. |