In the book Schooling in Transition edited by Sara Z. Burke and Patrice Milewski, containing the article, “Egerton Ryerson and the School as an Agent of Political Socialization”, Ryerson’s main argument is that public education should be implemented in order to guide the minds of youth in a way that he states will benefit the country. He argues that children must have any previous unethical practices, learned by family or peers, wiped by a common and universal teaching, that will in turn, influence the children and make them loyal to their government and nation. This will make them able to both abide to, and spread, their countries beliefs, values, and morals, which are subsequently put forth by the government. Ultimately, he wanted a population of people willing to sacrifice whatever they had to for the bettering of their nation as a whole. Ryerson suggests that it is the lack of education, and thus ignorance, that makes one unloyal to their government, and more willing to act out against its best wishes. Ryerson drives a compelling argument in this, becoming quite passionate in his push for public education. He drives his argument in a number of different ways. One reason he has is that in Europe the monarch-type leaderships present, which control public education, have been quite successful in maintaining the people’s loyalty and good nature, as well as being able to play a more personal role in people’s lives; whereas, America allows its public to control the schools, something Ryerson saw as foolish and ineffective. So, he argued the government must take charge of public education, in order to steer it in the right direction. Ryerson also used his own work as an example of how influential teaching could be, by stating that simply his writings have been enough to influence the public, and so children could be influenced in similar ways. However, Ryerson was an idealist and arrogant to believe that all people could be convinced to sacrifice themselves for a common good, or that children could be so widely and identically influenced to do so, as well as to uphold all of the other characteristics Ryerson believed a person loyal to their homes should possess. Despite Ryerson’s extreme views, this article still articulated a growing desire for public education that would provide uniformity, and could help to socialize children starting from a young age. This gives us a better understanding of the fears, desires, virtues and other pushing factors, from both the public and the government, that lead Canada to implement its public education system.

          In another article, “Reform, Literacy, and Lease: The Prince Edward Island Free Education Act of 1852” written by Ian Ross Robertson, the author explores how Prince Edward Island became the first place in Canada to provide free public schooling, and the reasons this small island had to do so. Robertson argued there may be a number of factors that pushed the island community to do this, from wanting a more stable job and pay for teachers, a greater literacy in the population, mainly so citizens would not be trapped into leases and property claims they could not understand, to being able to control the new waves of immigrants the island was seeing and ensuring they did not take up residence anywhere they were not supposed to. Robertson brings in these examples, backing them up with details about what life was like at the time to create a reasonable and strong argument. Robertson also suggests that uniform teachings and the implementation of certain ideals into young people’s minds was another possible cause for this. This being the main argument for public schooling in the previous article, it is entirely possible the community of Prince Edward Island, and their government, put into place public education to direct their youth. Since, previously the children who lived there had very little direction, and schools varied widely in what they taught, as well as having schools opening and closing frequently with a generally low amount of registered students attending, public education would be an efficient tool to establish loyalty and values into these children, on top of increasing their knowledge and giving them an extra hand up in life. This links to Ryerson’s arguments in the last article that one main cause for the push to public education was to guide the country’s youth to the ideals seen fit by the government. The Public Education Act was successful on the island, as the number of students doubled and teachers found a stable position, making this a great example for the fight for public education in Canada. It is seen that this did sway the rest of the maritimes, as they were the next provinces to follow and provide public education. This article provides insight into how and why public education first came to be in Canada, and how its success eventually led to public access education across the country.

          In the final article analyzed , “Hidden Workers: Child Labour and the Family Economy in Late Nineteenth-Century Urban Ontario” by John Bullen the role of children in the home during the late nineteenth century is explored. The author draws off the many experiences of both the children and their families at the time to suggest that the day to day life of children in the city did not differ much from rural lives of children, as many people thought. He uses documents, testimonies, and photos from the time to discuss the many ways children helped their families, and chose to focus not so much on those who worked in factories but, on the other “hidden” ways they worked. These included helping in the upkeep of the home, babysitting, doing favours for neighbours, running errands, sweat shop work and take home work. Bullen makes a compelling argument that much of lower and middle class families children did not do their learning in school, but in the home, where their role in the survival of the family and necessity to help provide, kept them from school. Bullen’s main argument is that, like rural families, city families still relied heavily on contributions from every household member to live in the new industrial age, and that this need precedent over everything else, such as gender stereotypes, working restrictions for children, and the government requiring children to be in school. In fact, it becomes the government’s push to keep children in school that brings to light how many families keep their children at home for work instead. The fluctuating and low attendance at schools called this to attention. In an effort to influence childhood education the government stresses the social control given by schools is needed. This relates to the previous two articles analyzed, and strengthens the idea that government implemented social control was a key player in the journey to public education in Canada. These influences at a young age were something that both the government and its people saw as a necessity for the country. Eventually, the government instead promoted the learning of certain skills and thus bettering of children’s lives and futures as the main reason the canadian youth should be attending school. This emphasis on education as a tool to better one’s self subsequently becomes a driving factor in the fight for public education, and is a major reason public access to education was eventually created in Canada.

Bibliography

Bullen, John, “Hidden Workers: Child Labour and the Family Economy in Late Nineteenth-Century Urban Ontario.” Labour/Le Travail 18 (Fall 1986): 163-87.

McDonald, Neil, “Egerton Ryerson and the School as an Agent of Political Socialization,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 39-56.

Robertson, Ian Ross. “Reform, Literacy, and the Lease: The Prince Edward Island Free Education Act of 1852.” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 56-71

Image: Yellow Columbine, taken by Katryna Barone