THE HISTORY OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN THE PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK

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•AS
Anderson, Amos McIntyre.
The history of elementary education
in the province of N ew Brunswick...
Ne w York, 1940.
4p.l. ,163, d 3 = typewritten leaves,
fold, map, tables,diagrs. 29cm.
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THE HISTORY OP ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
IN THE PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK
AMOS M. ANDERSON
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy in the S.chool of Education of
New York University
19*10
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PREFACE
Almost all the facts and figures on which this study is
"based were secured from original documents and the various year
"books mentioned in the bibliography.
I wish to thank all per­
sons who have given me assistance and expecially to express my
obligation to My. P. C. Robinson, Librarian, Legislative Build­
ings, Fredericton,
N. B.; and Miss Estelle Vaughn, Public Li­
brary, Saint John, N. B . , and Mrs. Brown Maxwell, Fredericton,
N. 3. for assistance in finding and interpreting many of the
original documents.
A.M.A.
A60 1 53
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SONTENTS.
Chapter
Page.
Introduction ........................................
I
Political, Social and Economic History
Political History
People
Social Conditions
Economic Conditions
II
Educational Efforts of Early French
Early Missionaries
Schools of Northern New Brunswick
III
1
5 '
12 -
Early English Schools ...............................
Teachers
Aid from the American States
Licenses for Teachers
Soldiers as Teachers
Fredericton Academy
........
17
27
IV
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
Early Efforts
Teachers of the Society
Schools Established
V
Indian Schools ......................................
New England Company
Commissioners
Schools Established
Sussex Academy
Present Policy
33
VI
Parish Schools 1 7 3 ^ 1 ^ 2 ^ ............................
Church and School
Teachers
First Education Bill
Act of 1S02
Act of ISO5
Act of 1S16
Act of ISIS
Act of 1S23
Interest, of Officials
k-2
VII
Madras Schools ......................................
Madras System
National Society
Teaching Methods
Religious Instruction
Sources of Income
Schools Established
Remarkable Growth
Causes of Growth
Causes of Decline
5&
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II
Chapter
Page
VIII
Parish Schools 1821-1371 ............................
Act of 1829
Boarding Round
Act of 1837
Commission Appointed
Act of 184-7
Classification of Teachers
Buildings
Act of 1852
First School Report
Act of 1852
72
IX
Private, Church and Charity Schools ................
Private Schools
Schools for Adults
Church Schools
Wesleyan Schools
Irish Schools
Baptist Schools
Presbyterian Schools
Present Day Church Schools
Charity Schools
Sunday Schools
85
X
Struggle for Free Schools ...........................
Background of Movement
Public Opinion
Organized Opposition
Action of Dominion Parliament
Privy Council Decision
Education Conditions in Gloucester
Riot in Gloucester
97
XI
Free School S y s t e m ..................................
System Explained
Roman Catholic Opposition
Progress Noted
Improved Attendance
Bathurst School Case
Colsolidated Schools
110
XII
Curriculum
.......................................
Objectives
Practical Courses Introduced
Manual Training
Physical Education
Elementary Agriculture
Activity Program
120
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Ill
Chapter
Page
XIII
Licensing and Training of Teachers ...............
Early Licenses
Provincial Licenses
Training Schools Established
Period of Training
University Training Schools
Summer Schools
Teachers » Institutes
127
XIV
Inspection and Administration ....................
Local Inspection
Provincial Inspection
Administration
139
XV
Present Situation............ .
Comparisons
Grants
Sources of School Funds
Attendance
Cost of Education
Teachers’ Salaries
Current Tendencies in Education
l44
Conclusions .......................................
First Schools
Objectives of Elementary Education
Educators
Periods of Growth
General Conclusions
Problems Needing Investigation
155
t
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INTRODUCTION.
At the present time the Province of New Brunswick is making
a great effort to ’’modernize" its educational system.
This new
program is being welcomed by the citizens in general, but a few
are opposed to any change.
This desire, on the part of some per­
sons, to cling to the "old and tried" makes one wonder what would
be the condition of education in this Province had not progressive
policies been adopted and changes made from time to time.
In
this study I have tried to trace the various periods of educa­
tional growth and change and to discover and record the facts
that have a significance when the establishment, evolution, and
growth of education in New Brunswick are considered.
An answer has been sought for the following questions:
When and where were elementary schools first found in New
Brunswick?
What were the earliest influences on the formation of such
schools?
What were the immediate reasons for the establishing of
these elementary schools?
What educators are chiefly to be associated with the estab­
lishing of these elementary schools?
How extensive has been the expansion of the elementary school
in this area?
What have been the periods of greatest growth?
What influences have produced growth during these periods?
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2
The study is Justified on the following grounds:
(l) It
should lead to a better appreciation of the difficulties faced
by the early educators of the Province.
(2)
The present edu­
cational system and the proposed changes may be better under­
stood in the light of the past.
(3)
The legality and constitu­
tionality of certain disputed practices are proved.
(*!-) While
short articles have been written on the broad topic of Education
in New Brunswick there is not another study devoted entirely to
elementary education.
(5)
It may prove a source of inspiration
to persons interested in education and thus lead to further in­
vestigation and study.
(6)
It establishes temporal sequence
and suggests causal relationships.
To understand the study one must be aware of conditions in
this Province from its earliest days till the present time.
Many
of the early settlers in the Province came from the New England
colonies when the Revolutionary War closed in 17&3*
Because
these persons remained loyal to Britain they were called Loyalists.
Without the arrival of these persons the organization of the
Province as a political unit would have been long delayed.
The influence of the Loyalists upon education was felt
from the beginning.
The Chief Justice of New Brunswick, G-eorge
Ludlow, and the first Mayor of Saint John, Gabriel Ludlow, were
graduates of King's College (now Columbia).
The first rector
of St. Andrews, Rev. Samuel Andrews, was a graduate of Yale,
Edward Winslow, President of the House of Assembly, and Ward
Chipman, the first Solicitor-General, were both Harvard grad­
uates.
All the members of the corporation of the first grammar
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school, founded in Saint John (1302) were Loyalists and several
members were graduates of American Colleges.
In education, progress has been comparable with that found
in other fields of human endeavor.
Fine schools have been es­
tablished and well-trained teachers have been provided in many
centers, but rural education continues to lag on the road to
progress.
The elementary school of New Brunswick comprises grades
I-VIII, except in the eight centers where the 6-3-3 plan has been
adopted, in part, in connection with vocational schools.
Kinder­
gartens have not been established as nart of the school system.
In 1932 a Commission on Education was appointed to inves­
tigate the educational system of the Province and particularly
to consider the elementary school.
This survey shows that there
is great inequality in valuations caused by the more than 170
different assessment bodies.
It was recommended that the county
be established as a unit for taxation and administration and
that the Inspector be the county superintendent.
In 1937 > a survey was made of Kings County by W. A. Penderlelth of the Department of Education in British Columbia and the
students of the Summer School of Education and Fine Arts.
This
survey showed that the county was the logical unit for taxation
and administration.
A similar survey was made of Carleton County
by B. A. Fletcher of Dalhousie University, in 193^, and surveys
of the same type were made of Charlotte and Victoria Counties
by W. H. McKenzie during the summer of 1939.
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k
With the information, facilities, and leadership now avail­
able the road to progress can be travelled at the rate of speed
which the educators and the legislature may decide to be most ac­
ceptable.
"The green light in on and we must go forward."
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CHAPTER I.
POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC HISTORY
Political History.
In 153^i when Jacques Cartier first landed on the east
coast, of North America, the history of that land began, but
it was not until l60^ that the exlporation of New Brunswick
really started witb the discovery of the Saint John River by
Champlain and de Monts.
During the next forty years numerous expeditions came
to the area now called New Brunswick, among which were those
of Sir William Alexander, Claude and Charles La Tour, d ’Aulnay
de Charnlsay, Nicholas Denys, and Villebon.
The first grant
of land was given by James I to Sir William Alexander in 1621.
Throughout the seventeenth century contests for this
territory between the French and English were frequent until
in 1710 the latter were victorious and three years later ob­
tained Acadia by the Treaty of Utrecht.
In 1755 all the French
were expelled from this area because they refused to take the
oath of allegiance.
In 175& an expedition under General Moncton
cleared the Saint John River, and five years later the marshes
about Sackville which had been tilled by the French, were col­
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6
onized by English settlers from Connecticut and Massachusetts.
In 1762
the settlements of Maugerville, Sheffield, and Gage-
town were established, nearly all the newcomers being from New
England.
Settlements by Scotch and English along the eastern
coast were started about 176^ and in the following year the
territory became the county of Sunbury in the Province of Nova
Scotia and was accorded representation in the House of Assembly
at Halifax.
The total population of this area, which later became New
Brunswick, according to the census of 1767 2 was 1,196, of whom
1^7 were French.
The people of American birth, natives of New
England formed at least three-quarters of the population.
Shortly
afterwards, the American Revolution broke out during which the
settlers in this area were loyal to the Crown.
The province re­
mained a British colony and when in each of the United
States
edicts of banishment and laws of confiscation were passed agalnst the Loyalists, many of these came to Canada.
During the month of April 17&3 ^ about 3*000 persons sailed
from New York and later settled along the Saint John River.
The
great majority of the persons coming at this time were former
soldiers in the British Army and professional men.
In the month
of October 1,200 more persons arrived from the same place.
The
following year saw over 9 ,000 Loyalists arrive, and that portion
of Nova Scotia north of the Misslquash River became a new province
1.
2.
3.
Peter Fisher— First History of New Brunswick, p.2.
James Hannay— History of New Brunswick. Vol. 1. p.71.
Fisher— Op. Clt. p.10
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7
under the name of New Brunswick.
Thomas Carleton.
to Hannay \
The first Governor was Sir
At this time the total population, according
was 16,000 persons, of whom 12,000 were Loyalists
and of the remaining ^-,000 inhabitants, 1,500 were of French
origin.
The Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 with the United
States retarded progress in the Province.
several disastrous fires.
In 1825, there were
The worst was the one on the Mira-
michl, which destroyed large forest areas and caused the death
of 160 persons.
The progress of the Province in the next forty years,
1226-1866, was steady and permanent.
The principal questions
of general interest were concerning the boundary line between
New Brunswick and the State of Maine, responsible government,
and the reciprocity treaty with the United States.
The boundary
line was one of the questions not finally disposed of at the
Treaties of Versailles and Ghent, and as regards New Brunswick
and the State of Maine there were continuous disputes.
In 1839
there was probability of war between the disputants, and mili­
tary preparations were made by both sides, but negotiations
were renewed which resulted in the Ashburton Treaty of 18^7
and the establishment of the boundary as it is at present.
New Brunswick was one of the four original Provinces to
unite to form a confederation, known as the Dominion of Canada
in 1267.
Since that date the history of the Province has been
intimately connected with that of the Dominion.
1.
Hannay— Op. Clt. p. 14-3.
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People
When Cartier arrived, in 153^> he found only Indians, the
number of which could not be determined.
The immigration of
Europeans has continued through the years until now the population
of New Brunswick is slightly more than 400,000 of which more than
sixty per cent, live in rural areas.
In the early days of the
Province there were no towns or cities and the population was
scattered along the rivers and the coasts.
Since the influx of
the Loyalists (1 J & 3 ) the British have predominated but the French,
descendants of the original French colonists or Acadians, have
continued to increase until today they constitute about onethird of the population.
There are a few thousand Dutch, Ger­
man, Scandinavian, Hebrew, Indian and Negro residents but, when
U.w-
-i
considering education, these are comparatively^important
.
The
province does not have to contend with any problems of race assim­
ilation.
The French are found chiefly in the Counties of Gloucester,
2
. The English-
Westmorland, Kent,Restigouche, and Madawaska.
speaking population is composed of settlers from the British
Isles and largely of descendants of the Loyalists who came from
the United States during the American Revolution.
Accompanying
the Loyalists were many faithful negroes slaves, whose descen­
dants now number 1 ,000*
The Indians now total about 1,300.
Over a long period of
years this number has remained relatively constant.
1.
2.
L. 0. Thomas—
Loc. Cit.
Province of New Brunswick,
p.11.
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Social Conditions
When the first Europeans arrived In New Brunswick they
settled at the mouths of
the rivers and built forts to protect
themselves from the attacks of the Indians.
the Indians
As late as 17S6 ■*"
menaced the settlers and made it necessary for them
to live in stockades for protection.
The ill-feeling between the French and English caused by
the expulsion cf the Acadians in 1755 and the constant struggle
for the control of Canada retarded progress.
When the Loyalists arrived the people were so poor that
they had to depend on the government for their food.
capaole of making a living.
Few were
The Loyalists had been stripped of
all their property and many of their members belonged to the
learned professions and others were old soldiers or tradesmen.
These newcomers, unaccustomed to the rude life in the forest,
had it unusally hard.
The homes were crude.
The school buildings were very
primitive and found only in the principal settlements.
Chil­
dren had to learn at home during the long evening hours.
Their
parents assisted when they could.
Attendance at schools, after they were established, was
often more or less haphazard because children, of necessity,
were kept at home to help with the work, much of the time.
All
food and clothing had to be produced by the united efforts of
the family, the children did what they could to assist.
Fac­
tories were not established until late in the nineteenth cen­
tury.
1.
Hannay— Op. Clt. p.205.
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10
Communication and transportation were nearly Impossible
In summer.
Roads and bridges were not to be found.
In 1202,
Dugald Campbell 1 who made a survey of the -principal roads of
the Province, reported that ten miles of roads fit for any
kind of wheel carriage were not to be found in the Province.
In winter, travel was not so difficult because the rivers
and swamps were frozen.
on boats.
In summer all travel was by the rivers
The first railway, built from Saint John to Shediac,
was completed in 1S60.
This led to the development of the
southern part of the Province.
Progress has been made.
Today there are about 11,000
miles of highways of which about nine hundred are hard-surfaced,
thousands of bridges and ferries.
the corners of the Province.
Railways penetrate into all
The homes of the people compare
favorably with those found in other parts of Canada.
Manufac­
turing is carried on in all the urban centers but not on the
extensive scale found in Ontario and Quebec.
The leadership given by a large progressive university is
definitely lacking.
The five small institutions, the University
of New Brunswick, Mount Allison University, St. Joseph's uni­
versity, St. Thomas* College and the College of Sacre-Coeur are
handicapped by lack of funds and the small number of professors
and students.
Little research is done.
The problems of the
people cannot be solved by such institutions.
Economic Conditions.
At one time the Province was entirely covered with trees,
except the marsh areas near Sackville.
1.
Today about two-thirds
Ibid. p. 227
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11
of the Province is wooded.
Large areas in the north and central
sections are capable of supporting forest growth only.
In the
south and east the soils, for the most part, are well suited for
agriculture.
The industries in order of importance are:
Agriculture,
manufacturing, forestry, fisheries, mining and trapping.
While
agriculture is the chief industry, it is surprising to find the
farmers in the past were well satisfied with scrub cattle and
inferior horses and other animals.
"The attitude of the New Brunswick farmer of today is
changing, he now fully realizes the need for eliminating
his scrub cattle and taking advantage of the many govern­
mental policies which have been introduced for the purpose
of aiding him financially and otherwise in raising the*
grade of his stock." 1
According to the Dominion Bureau of Statistics ^ the cap­
ital wealth of New Brunswick was $730,297*000 in 1937 and the
wealth per capita $1,739.
six of the nine Provinces of Canada
have more wealth per capita than New Brunswick.
When it is remembered that the Loyalists were destitute
when they arrived in New Brunswick and that many of the European
Immigrants were forced to leave their native lands because of
famine and poverty it becomes evident that great economic pro­
gress has been made.
1.
2.
L. 0. Thomas— The Province of New Brunswick,
Canada Year Book, 1939. p.927.
p.39.
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CHAPTER II
EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS OF THE EARLY FRENCH
Early Missionaries
The Province of New Brunswick has an educational history
not unlike that of other political divisions of North America.
At first the struggle for existence in the wilderness left the
early settlers little time or opportunity to provide their chilfren with education except in those fundamentals which would
fit them to overcome the
difficulties of pioneer days.
There is every reason to "believe that the French hoped to
establish in Canada a stronghold where the Roman Catholic re­
ligion would be dominant.
From the earliest days of French occu­
pation there were Roman Catholic missionaries putting forth selfdenying efforts to educate and Christianize the Micmac and Mallseet Indians and to instruct the Acadians.
Early in the 17th
century the Recollet Fathers established schools for the Indian
children of New France.
Soon came missionaries of the Protes­
tant faith.
"Plus tard, sous le regime, vers 1760 les mlnlstres
anglicans chercheront a remplacer les missionaries
francais aupres des Indiens, mais d'ordinalre sans
succes." 1
The French missionaries appear to have attacked their pro­
blem with zeal and system.
Cathechlsm, grammars, and diction­
aries were produced by them in the various Indian dialects. The
1.
Omer LeG-resley— L ’Enseignement du Francais En Acadie. p.24-.
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13
government approved and aided the missionaries in their noble
work.
"Le premier pretre acadien qui travaillera parmi les siens,
L'abbe Bourg (1772-1797) acquerra une connaisance parfaite
de la langue Indienne. Le gouvernement du Nouveau Bruns­
wick' lui demandera de fonder des ecoles pour ces Indiens
offrant de lui verser pour la premiere annee la somme de
590 livres sterling*. L'abbe Bourg, qui portait a ces
desherites un armour special acceptera avec Joie l*offre
du gouvernement." 1
There can be no doubt that the work of these missionaries
on the Saint John and on the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence
deserves every commendation.
There were several different orders
of Roman Catholic missionaries because in various writings
mention has been made of the Jesuits, the Recollets and the
Capucins.
Very few definite records of their work can be found
but it has been said of the Recollets,
"These humble missionary laborers have had no historian to
relate their privations and tolls. It surely was not for
an earthly reward that they condemned themselves to spend
their days among squalid savages in the deep recesses of
the forest, exposed to all the vicissitudes of savage life,
discomfort, disease, hunger, and sometimes starvation." ^
The work of the Capucins is described as follows:
"De leur cote, ces hommes *aux pieds chausses de sandales*
ne menagerent pas leurs peines; malgre les dlfficultes
qu'ils avaient a surmonter pour^visiter les differents
groupes d*Indiens, ils ne limiterent pas leur sele a la
capitale de L'Acadle; leur activitie rayonna dans t-ut le
pays. Ils etabllrent des stations permanentes au Pert
Pentagoet (Castine. Maine) 1632-165^-; sau Fort Saint-Jean
(Nouveau Brunswick; 16^5-165^5 a La Heve, 1632-1652; a
Canseau et meme jusqu'au Nepisquit (Bathurst) 16^0-1655.
La aussi, ils s'occupaient probalement d'education." J
One is astonished to note the determination with which the
early missionaries undertook the task of providing religious and
1. Omer LeGreslev— L«Enselgnement du Francais Sn Acadle. p. 29
2. James Hapnay— History of Acadia, p. 133.
3 # LeGresley— L'Enseignement du Francais En Acadie. p # 39_i^
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secular education for the residents of the young colony.
In
their difficult task the missionaries were sustained by the
spiritual zeal and the financial aid of the religious orders
of the Roman Catholic Church.
"Dans sa longue tournee pastorale de 16S6 Mgr. de SaintVallier il ne se contenta pas d ’admirer le progres de
Po^rt Royal, visita d'autres missions Acadiennes, prosperes aussl, mais dont nous savons assez peu de chose;
Mlramichi, Restlgouche, et Cheda'ik. II no£e avec int&ret visible tout ce qui se rapporte a l'ecole ou au
couvent. D ’allleurs, il semble plus facile de remarquer
pendant une courte visite dans une mission, les progres
des enfants a l'ecole cpie le degre instruction que les
paroissiens recoivent a l'lglise." 1
During the period of French occupation, and indeed up to
the time of the Treaty of Paris in 17&3 > Acadia was so largely
a battleground for England and France that the element of per­
manency was lacking in every undertaking.
The French settlers
in New Brunswick were dependent upon their priests for teaching
both of a spiritual and intellectual character.
all surprising that
It is not at
amid the clashing of swords the education
of the people was somewhat neglected.
Schools of Northern New Brunswick
In 1755 ^ , nearly all the French settlers in southern
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were expelled by the English and
their homes destroyed.
Some were taken to the United States,
others escaped to Quebec, but those in the north were not mo­
lested.
"Les Acadiens du Madawaska, grace a leur eloignement des
1.
2.
LeOresley— Op. Olt. p.52.
Hannay— Op. Olt. Vol. 1. p.5^.
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15
centres anglais, jouirent d'une plus grande tranqullllte
que les autres groupes acadiens de la province. Aussi y
eut-il 'sans interruption, des pedagogues ambulantes tels
que Pierre Duperre, Thomas Oostln, Antoine Joilet, qui
enseignaient, a* tour de role, dans les dlverses localites
et qui^recevalent la pension et le couvert avec une indemnite de trois shillings par famille pour le terme
scholaire1. Au commencement du siecle dernier (1700),
le gouvernement de la province accordait gratuitement a
toutes les parolsses qui entretenaient ouverte une ecole
pendant six mois de l'annee, un terrain de cent cinquante
a deux cents acres. Sans vouloir diminuer aucunement les
genereuses initiatives du gouvernement il faut avouer que
quelques pieces d'argent eussent servl d'une manlere plus
efficace la cause de 1 'enseignement. Il (le maglster;
pouvait recommen^er indefiniment son cycle doctoral. Avec
la lecture et l'ecriture, il enseignait aussi le catechisme," 1
In 1S17, L'Ahbe Andrew Lagarde, then curate at St. Basil
opened a school. The residence 0? the priest was transformed in­
to a school and the elite of the youth gathered there.
Lagarde became the teacher.
Abbe
In 1S25, several regular schools
were found in Kadawaska County where French and a little Eng­
lish were taught.
The parents made contributions in proportion
to the number of pupils sent.
There was an evening school or­
ganized as early as 1775 at Neguac.
While the usual schools were attended by boys the education
of the girls was not neglected.
"C'est a Tracadie, que s'eleva le premier cjouvent de religieuses acadiennes. Nous le savons deja, cette paroisse
etalt favorisee au point de vue des ecoles; des l$i7 > le
curl Monceau en avait ouvert trois. Le^pere Vincent,
fondateur a Tracadie du monastere des peres Trapplstes,
desservalt les parolsses avoisinantes; pour 1 'aider dans
son travail il fonda en 1226, un couvent de Trappistines
a proximite du couvent des Trapplstes. E^les constaterent
vite que le meilleur moyen de propager 1 'etude du catechisme etait d'apprendre a lire aux enfants. C'est
alnsi, qu'indirectement- cette fondation rendlt de grands
services a la langue francaise." 2
1.
2.
Le&resley— Op. Clt. p.lOg
LeGresley— Op. Cit. pp.136-137.
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16
The French schools continued to increase in number until
1871 when the Free School Act made it necessary for them to re­
frain from teaching the tenets of the Roman Catholic religion
during school hours.
This Act led to the establishing of many
church schools in the Province.
The efforts of the French to establish educational instit­
utions must not be considered unimportant.
There is reason to
believe that many schools were established, but definite records
are lacking.
Conditions were difficult and all praise is due
the priests and members of the various religious orders for the
success attained in establishing the first elementary schools
in New Brunswick.
The success of the French missionaries
spurred the Protestant clergymen to exert more effort in the
field of education.
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CHAPTER III
EARLY ENGLISH SCHOOLS
Soon after the expulsion of the Acadians (1755) persis­
tent efforts were made by Governor Charles Lawrence to increase
the English speaking population of Nova Scotia.
The new town­
ships of Maugerville, Hopewell, Cumberland, and Sackville were
established.
The great majority of the new settlers were na­
tives of New England.
The settlers in their negotiations with the Nova Scotia
authorities as regards civil and religious government did not
overlook the importance of providing an education for the
rising generation.
Four lots in each township were reserved
for public purposes, one of which was for the maintenance of
a school. 1
In 1766 the Nova Scotia legislature passed an Act 2 which
imposed checks and restraints on the schoolmaster’s calling and
in certain cases required examination and licenses.
The schools
located in that part of Nova Scotia which became the Province of
New Brunswick (in 17£&) were established under this Act.
The
third section of the Act stated:
"His Majesty has been pleased to order that 4-00 acres of
land in each township shall be granted for the use of
schools.n
1. 6 George III. Cap. 7.
2. Ibid.
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lg
This explains the early custom of setting aside certain
lands in each township for the use of schools.
Teachers
In all the newly opened sections of the Province, schools
were, at first, held in the farm houses of the settlements.
U-
sually the largest, most central, or most commodious building
was selected for this purpose.
An itinerant master, usually
an old soldier with a smattering of the three R's, would keep
school for a few months each year at one of these houses; or a
woman of the district, better educated than her neighbors, would
keep school at her own house, receiving for her labor a few
pounds sterling from the parents of the children.
"The teachers were chiefly of an itinerant type. Many of
them discharged soldiers and not always of good moral
character. The meagre pittance they received as compen­
sation obliged them to depend in part upon other occu­
pations for a living."
Children were not entirely dependent upon the day school
for instruction.
Their parents had enjoyed fair educational
advantages in their youth and were thus enabled to supplement
the efforts of the schoolmaster by private instruction.
In a few years, however, schoolhouses were erected In all
the principal settlements.
These were plain and very primitive.
"The walls built of logs; the chinks well caulked with
moss and plastered clay; the windows small and with ex­
ceedingly small panes; the roof covered with spruce bark;
an Immense chimney at one end buiit of stone, not unfrequently of logs plastered on the inside with clay. Inside
the building there was no attempt at the ceiling or plas-
1.
G-. U. Hay—
Canada and Its Provinces, p. 5^5.
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19
tering; the floor was rough hewn; the desks and seats
of rude pattern and fashioned with no other implements
than the woodman's axe, the auger and the saw. School
hooks were' few and costly and were valued accordingly;
covered sometimes with stout paper, oftener with canvas
or cloth, and sometimes■with leather. It was not an un­
common thing for a Dllworth's spelling hook to pass
through the hands of a v/hole family, several of the chil­
dren learning from its pages at the same time." 1
In winter, a man had to be employed as teacher because of
the difficulty of maintaining discipline.
In summer, when the
larger hoys were working in the fields, a young woman might oc­
casionally essay the paramount task of keeping order.
Man or
woman, the teacher was kept alive by "boarding around" among
uhe parents, and by a meagre additional emolument in cash or
kind.
The pupils were instructed individually, not in classes,
and after four or five half-years of haphazard attendance, they
graduated without danger of becoming a challenge "to their
betters".
<3
With the coming of the Loyalists in 17$3 "the number of
English inhabitants was increased from about 1,500 to 13,000
with a more than corresponding increase of wealth and education.
Among the Loyalists were men of ability and culture.
Many of
these had received a liberal education and saw the importance
of providing schools and a college•in which their children
might enjoy similar advantages.
Many of those who filled leading positions in the govern­
ment of the country had enjoyed all the advantages of a colle­
giate education, and were sympathetic to matters dealing with
education.
1.
W.O.Raymond— N. B. Schools in Olden Times.
(Dec.lS92 ) Vol.6 No.7
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20
According to Webster
a number of the Loyalists brought
with them Negro slaves numbering more than four hundred.
Slav­
ery never developed in the Province and though slaves were oc­
casionally bought and sold the general sentiment of the people
was opposed to it.
Separate schools for the Negro children be­
came a necessity at Fredericton and Saint John.
Aid from the American States.
On the Sth of March, 17^3 > & meeting was held in New York
to consider the ways and means whereby the cause of religion and
education might best be promoted in the new colonies about to be
founded by the exiled Loyalists.
Dr, Charles Inglis, afterwards
first bishop of Nova Scotia, and Jonathan Odell, first Provincial
Secretary of New Brunswick, were among those present.
After due
deliberation a plan was drawn up for providing religious and
educational privileges for those emigrating from the old colonies
to Nova Scotia.
Among the suggestions it contained was that of
setting apart lands for the use and maintenance of schools.
In
connection with the subject of education occurs this paragraph:
"It will be highly beneficial and expedient both from the
present state and the immediate prospect of extensive
settlement of that province, that the youth be furnished
as soon as possible with such means, necessary education
and liberal instruction as may qualify them for public
utility— filling the civil offices of government with
credit and respectability— Inspire those principles of
virtue and public spirit, that liberality of sentiment
and' enlargement of mind which may attach them to the
constitution happiness and interests of their country.
1.
J. C. Webster— Historical Guide to New Brunswick,
p.Ill
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For this purpose a public seminary, academy or college
should, without delay, begin to be instituted at the
most centrical part of the province." 1
The circumstances in which the exiles found themselves
made it impossible for them to send their children abroad for
an education.
They had sacrificed their possessions, their
various positions and were now in a state of destitution.
The Loyalists speedily set to work to create new homes
and farms in what was then an almost unbroken wilderness.
The
rising generation soon felt the loss of the superior educational
advantages enjoyed by their fathers and mothers.
In the more thickly settled areas the means of securing
the fundamentals of an education were soon available, but in
the scattered areas the means of securing an education were for
many years lamentably deficient.
The first provision made by law for the education of youth
in the newly formed Province of New Brunswick is contained In
the insturctions to the first Governor, Thomas Carleton, issued
at the Court
of St. James, August IS, 17&4-, by bis Majesty
King George III:
"That a particular spot in or as near each township as
possible be set apart for the building of a church and
400 acres adjacent thereto be allotted for the maintenance
of a minister and 200 acres for a schoolmaster." 2
Apparently this grant of 200 acres was a personal one to
encourage the settlement of a schoolmaster in each township
rather than for the s\ipport of the school itself; since a later
section of the instructions states
1.
1.
W.O.Raymond— -Op. Clt. Vol. VI. No. S. p.1^9
Royal Instructions to Governor Carleton. Section 4-5
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22
"That a quantity of land not exceeding 500 acres be set
apart for the maintenance of a schoolmaster in each
township." 1
Licenses for Teachers.
The very close connection which existed between church
and state in the early days of this Province is illustrated by
that section of the instructions to Governor Carleton,which
states:
"And we do further direct that no schoolmaster who shall
arrive in our said province from this kingdom be hence­
forth permitted to keep school in that our said province
without the license of the Lord Bishop of London, and
that no person now there, or that shall come from other
parts, shall be admitted to keep school in New Brunswick
without your license first obtained." 2
The purposes
of such a section were, (a)
To provide for
the licensing of school teachers by competent authority.
only
The
provision for sending out schoolmasters from England at
the time was that provided by the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the work of which was largely
under the supervision of the Bishop of London.
Hence the cer­
tificate of that Bishop was the official guarantee of the com­
petency of the English schoolmaster,
(b)
To insure the teaching
of loyalty to the crown, because in Upper Canada in many in­
stances teachers from the United States were employed
"who introduce books from their own country, in which the
history and institutions of that republic are colored in
a manner dangerous to the principles formed in their
pupils; and the foundation of loyalty is thus sapped in
1.
2.
Royal Instructions to Governor Carleton.
Ibid.
Section 7 b ,
Section 4-9
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23
the rising population of the country." 1
The following extract from the King's Instructions to Gover­
nor Carleton shows that the subject of education was expected to
be among the first things to engage the attention of the House of
Assembly.
"It is our further will and pleasure that you will recommend
to the Assembly to enter upon proper methods for the erecting and maintenance of schools in order to the training
up to youth to reading and to a necessary knowledge of the
principles of religion." 2
Soldiers as Teachers.
The opening of this virgin land for civilization made nec­
essary the stationing of troops of soldiers to protect the new
settlers from the attacks of the Indians.
It is believed that
the soldiers had among their numbers men who taught the chil­
dren of the immigrants.
Proof of this seems to be given in the
following:
"There were many private schools in private homes, but
the public school, as well as every New Brunswick instit­
ution, was founded by soldiers. The first teacher of a
public school is credited to have been Bealing Stephen
Williams, who came from Cornwall, England, in 1790, and
who was clerk to Brigade Major of Fredericton, Harris M.
Hailes. In March 1797» Mathew Brannen, Major In the
militia and clerk in the office of the Provincial Sec­
retary opened a school with thirty white and eleven
colored children. For many years schools were conducted
under the direction of the British regiments stations
in Fredericton." 3
Since the Loyalists were originally of English stock, their
1. W. 0. Raymond— Op. Clt. Vol. VI. No. 2. p. 150
2. Royal Instructions to (governor Carleton. Section
3. L. B. Maxwell— History of Central Mew Brunswick,
73.
p.130
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2h
Ideas concerning education reflected the prevailing educational
philosophy of the English people at that time.
The English held the view that secondary education was
more important than elementary, since it is necessary to train
leaders.
It may have been this idea, which caused the Legislature
to consider establishing an academy or seminary before it gave
attention to elementary education.
Then too, a certain amount
of elementary education was provided in the home, while secon­
dary education in this manner was Impossible.
There were nearly 100 Harvard
chusetts emigration alone.
value of education.
graduates in the Massa­
These men were fully aware of the
In a memorial presented by Dr. Paine and
his Loyalist associates to Governor Carleton their attitude was
clearly portrayed.
"Your memorialists, whose names are hitherto subscribed,
beg leave to represent and state to your consideration
the necessity and expediency of an early attention to the
establishment, in this infant province, of an academy or
school in the Liberal arts and sciences." 2
Fredericton Academy
In the Journals of the Council for the year 17S2 are found
the names of the first trustees of the academy or free school
mantained and supported in the town of Fredericton for the edu­
cation of youth.
During the session of the Council in 1792 ^
a grant of $100 was made to the Provincial seminary.
This was
the first grant made by the Provincial Legislature for education.
l7
2.
3.
Lorenzo Sabine— Loyalists of the American Revolution.
J. W. Lawrence— Judges of New Brunswick, p. 265
Journal of the Council, 1792. p. 10^
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25
The academy was probably opened about 17S6 but no records
of the teachers or the general routine of the school has been
preserved.
It is evident that the work at first done here was
not of collegiate grade for in a letter from Governor Carleton
one finds:
"Under these circumstances the Trustees have hitherto con­
fined their exertions to a Grammar School in which they
have employed such teachers only as were to be found upon
the spot, but as they will now be encouraged to look up
to the^Throne and hope to participate with the College of
Nova Scotia in his Majesty'3 paternal regard and tbs bounty
of Parliament, they will prepare without delay and with
confidence of success, to enlarge their plan of Instruction
and complete their foundation of a liberal and learned
education." 1
In 1S00 the academy, or seminary, was incorporated as the
College of New Brunswick and later became the head of the system
of education for the Province.
For some years after the instit­
ution became a recognized college there was an elementary school
operated in conjunction with it.
This was known as the Collegiate
School 2 which later became part of the public school system of
the city of Fredericton.
The importance of having teachers examined and licensed
must not be underestimated because the political and educational
life of the young colony depended largely upon the loyalty and
qualifications of the teachers.
The tendency to stress the education of the leaders had
an important bearing upon the progress of the Province.
The
Loyalists realized that if the Province was to remain English
then schools must be established where the ideals common to the
1.
2.
Letter from Gov. Carleton to Rt. Honorable W.W.Grenville. Dated
Aug. 20th 1790. A 4-.m 403 D, Col. Cor. N.B, Vol. 2. p. 223.
Minutes of the Fredericton School Board. Dec. IS, 1S71.
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26
English people of this period might be taught, therefore grants
of money were generously provided.
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CHAPTER IV
SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL
Early Efforts.
As early as 177^ ^ upon the recommendation of the Lieuten­
ant-Governor and Corresponding Committee of the Society, James
Porter was appointed schoolmaster at Cumberland with the usual
salary of £10.
In 17S6 ^ the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
in Foreign Parts adopted a definite policy of supporting pri­
mary schools in New Brunswick.
The society had provided many
of the elementary teachers in the thirteen original colonies
and at the close of the War of Independence it turned its
attention towards the remaining British possessions.
St. Andrews,
Aug.15, 1727.
"The Rev. Samuel Andrews thanks the secretary of the
society for a box of books and asks that his son,may
be employed by the Society as a school master." *
Teachers of the Society
After the Declaration of American Independence (177&),
!•
2.
Report of Society for Propagation of the Gospel. 177^. p. 10
G, Herbert Lee— First Fifty Years of the Church of England
In New Brunswick, p. 3^
3. Report No. 2 Calendar of Church Manuscripts, Canada
Diocese of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,
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23
many of the missionaries of the society, with sturdy indepen­
dence of character and ardent feeling of loyalty to England, re­
fused to remain in the United States of America and came to New
Brunswick.
The Society refused to continue paying the salaries
of those missionaries remaining in the American States hut under­
took to provld.e for those who had left and settled in His Ma­
jesty's Colonies.
The schoolmasters employed by the Society received the
following instructions:
"That they well consider the end for which they are employed
by the Society; viz. the instruction and disposing children
to believe and live as Christians. They are therefore to
take especial care the manners of their scholars both in
schools, and out of them, warning them seriously of those
vices to which children are most liable; teaching them to
abhor lying and falsehood; to avoid all sorts of evil­
speaking; to love truth and honesty; to be modest, wellbehaved, just, affable and courteous; to teach the chil­
dren to read truly and distinctly, also to write a plain
legible hand in order to the fitting them for useful em­
ployments; with as much arithmetic as shall be necessary
for the same purpose."
The aim of instruction was mainly religious.
Although the
work done by these missionaries of the Church of England was of
the most rudimentary character, it was sufficient to keep alive
a taste for learning among the people and to give the advantages
of religious instruction to the youth in the infant colonjr.
The
teachers had to be members of that church and very frequently
the teacher was a man in holy orders who did the work of both
pastor and teacher.
Naturally the religious instruction given
was in accorance with the principles and practice of the Estab-
1.
W. 0. Raymond.
N. B. Schools of Olden Times. Educational Review
February, 1293. Vol. Vi. No. 9. p. 171
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29
lished Church of England.
The schoolmastere were charged
"That they be Industrious and give constant attendance at
proper school hours and that they use all kind and gentle
methods in the governing of their scholars, that they may
be loved as well as feared by them; and that when correction
is necesss,ry they make the children to understand that it is
given them out of kindness for their good."
The schoolmasters received from the Society the small annual
sum of £10 sterling, which in a very few instances was increased
to £15.
In the case of new settlements, assistance was sometimes
given the people to the extent of £10 for the erection of a school
house, with an occasional donation of books.
The people often made contributions of grain and wood and
we find that the people in one settlement,
"agreed to purchase a piece of land conveniently situated,
to build thereon a large school house snd a suitable house
for the master, to supply him with wood fpr firing, and to
give him a bushel of corn for each family, and to provide
from a hundred to a hundred and twenty pupils for in­
struction." ^
School teaching was not looked upon, in those days, as a
vocation for which women were peculiarly adapted.
was young and sparsely peopled.
The country
In the rural areas the exposure,
in the winter season, was such that the work of school teaching
was more suitable for men.
Discipline was such a difficult task
in those days, and such prejudices prevailed that many women re­
fused to teach.
In the report of the Society for the year I J
96
Is found,
"All the missionaries bear ample testimony to the good con-
1.
2.
Loc. Pit.
Raymond— Op. Clt. p.172.
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30
duct of the schoolma.sters in their respective districts.
The Society have had thoughts of employing^women to teach
the younger children of the poor, which the Bishop of Nova
Scotia much approved of, but have not yet been able to find
any properly qualified for the task."
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel limited its .
educational efforts to elementary schools, resembling in this
the schools of other religious bodies, namely the Presbyterian
schools of Scotland, the schools of the Dutch Reformed Church
of Holland, and the Lutheran schools of Germany and Sweden.
Schools Established
Previous to the year 1200 ^ schools were in operation in
many of the principal centers of the Province.
Location of School
Date Opened
Teachers.
Fort Cumberland
177^
Carleton (now Saint John West)
1734-
Benjamin Snow,
Timothy F. Wetmore
William Burton.
Porter
St. Andrews
1736
Samuel Berry,
James Berry.
Maugerville
1739
Walter Dibblee,
J. Beardsley,
William Simpson.
Campobello
1790
James Berry.
G-agetown
1790
A . Narraway,
S. R. Clark,
Anthony Tyrllle,
Samuel Morton.
1. Loc. Clt.
2. Report of Society of Propagation of the Gospel, 1200.
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31
Location of School
Date Opened
Teachers.
Sussex Vale
1792
S. Morton,
Jeremiah Regan,
Westmorland
1792
John Dunn,
James Watson,
Theodore Valleau.
Woodstock
1795
James Yorke.
Norton
1795
Ozias Ansley.
Kingston
1797
Jesse Hoyt,
Edmund Finn,
Burton
1792
Simeon Lugrin.
Fredericton (African School)
1792
Matthew Brannen,
Springfield
1792
William Hayes.
These schools proved of great Influence In the improvement
of the moral and religious character of the people.
The merits
of the system became generally admitted by Roman Catholics and
Dissenters alike.
After acquiring the method, they removed to
schools set up under their own management,
Carleton, St, John,
June 1^, 1788.
"Timothy F. Wetmore reports that two wealthy Dissenters
have been the means of starting a rival school," 1
Later, in the schools of the Society, the Madras or Lan­
castrian system of teaching was used, i.e., the older pupils
taught the younger children, what they had been taught by the
1,
Report No, 17.
Calendar of Church Manuscripts; Canada,
Diocese of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,
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32
teacher.
The establishment of the Madras system of schools in 1220
and its rapid development under the fostering care of LieutenantGovernors G. Stracey Smythe and Sir Howard Douglas, in a measure
rendered the aid given by the Society, no longer necessary, and
it was accordingly withdrawn about the year 1236.
Many pages might be written about the educational efforts
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New Bruns­
wick.
Through the years this organization has worked for the
spiritual improvement of mankind in many areas.
All the work
in New Brunswick is tinged with the narrow religious views held
by the teachers provided.
The desire to make the Province a
stronghold for the Established Church of England is the most
noticeable characteristic.
When it became evident that this
church was not to enjoy special privileges the interest and
financial aid gradually diminished.
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CHAPTER V
INDIAN SCHOOLS
New England Company
There is record that Recollet Fathers had schools for In­
dian children in New France as early as l6l6
hut it was in
New Brunswick that the first Protestant attempt in the Maritime
Provinces was made to "propagate and advance the Christian re­
ligion" among the Indians.
In the year 16^9 an ordinance was passed by the "Long
Parliament" for
"the promoting and propagating of the gospel of Jesus
Christ in New England by the erection of a corporation to
be called the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
in New England, to receive and dispose of moneys for that
purpose."
^
Later, the sphere of its operatlonsAextended and the name
changed to "The Society for the Propagation of Gospel in New
England and the parts adjacent in America", generally known as
the New Englang Company.
This Society was in no way connected
with the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts" to which reference has been made.
1.
2.
(pp.27-30)
Annual Report of Department of Indians year ended March 31* 193&.
p. IS.
W. 0. Raymond, N. B. Schools of Olden Times, Educational Review
Vol. VI. No. 10 (March, 1393) p. 192.
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3*
The annual revenue at the Society's disposal amounted to
£600 sterling and this was used to hire teachers and missionaries,
from
twelve to sixteen in number. Yearly salaries of
to £30 were
from £10
paid to these English and Indian workers.
"They also erected schools and supplied them with books,
including many hundreds of Eliot's translation of the
Bible. As a result of these and similar efforts, many of
the Indian tribes of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Martha's
Vineyard, and Nantucket were Christianized." After
the Revolutionary War,
the New England
Companytrans­
ferred its labors to New Brunswick, probably on the recommendation
of members of the former local Board of Commissioners who had
come to this Province with the Loyalists in 1783.
Commissioners
In June, 1786 2 , the Company appointed as its agents or
commissioners in New Brunswick, His Excellency Governor Thomas
Carleton; the Honorable Chief Justice George Duncan Ludlow; the
Honorable Isaac Allen, Judge of the Supreme Court; Jonathan 0dell Provincial Secretary; Jonathan Bliss, Esq.; William Paine,
Doctor of Physick; and John Coffin, Esq.; empowering them or
any three of them to engage and pay suitable teachers.
"For civilizing, teaching and instructing the heathen
natives and their children, not only in the principles
of the English tongue and in other Liberal Arts and
Sciences, but for the educating and placing of them and
their children in some trade, mystery, or lawful calling."
The Commissioners were also
"to treat, contract, and agree with any person or persons
1.
2.
3.
Loc. Clt.
James Hannay— History of New Brunswick.
Raymond— Op. Clt. p. 192
Vol. 1. p.206
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35
for cloaths, books, tools and Implements and other nec• essaryes for the civilizing, employing, educating or placing
out any of the heathen natives or their children in Eng­
lish familyes and with and under English masters." 1
Schools Established
Schools for the Indians were established at Fredericton,
in 17^7 and a few years later at Sheffield, Woodstock, Miramichi, Sussex, and Westfield.
The New England company seem to have made a careful se­
lection of the instructors for these schools.
Oliver Arnold
who taught at Sussex was a graduate of Yale College; Frederick
Dibblee at Woodstock graduated from King’s (now Columbia) Col­
lege; James Fraser of Miramichi was a Presbyterian Minister and
Gervas Say at Sheffield, a pre-Loyalist settler on the Saint
John River, was a magistrate.
Apparently there was a patriotic as well as a Christian
ideal embodied in these schools for one finds
"The public Academies and private schools were established
in the province with a view of civilizing the Indian na­
tives and thereby making them useful inhabitants, as well
also for keeping their own youth from going into the
neighboring States of America for their educationpand im­
bibing the disloyal principles of that country."
These Indian schools were open to the sons of the new set­
tlers at very reasonable rates.
A rather strange course of
study was followed when one considers the pupils were, for the
most part, Indians.
The Prospectus of the school at Sussex taught by Mr. Arnold
1.
2.
Loc. Clt.
W. 0. Raymond— Winslow Papers, p. 35^.
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36
printed in a newspaper dated March 16, 1793> states;
"The accommodations will be in readiness on the first day
of Kay next for the reception of young gentlemen who may
be sent to the said school where he will be taught reading
and writing, English Grammar, mathematics, and natural
philosophy; surveying, navigation and geography; also the
Latin and Greek languages. Good accommodation will be
provided in decent houses and the whole expense for the
English scholars, including, boarding, lodging, washing
and tuition will amount only to £18 currency per annum," 1
Unfortunate it was, for the New England Company, that the
Indians were much more Interested in their supplies of provisions
and clothing than they were in the benefits of an education.
From the report of Mr. Davis, who taught at Westfield one gathers
the impression that the Indians were not eager to have an edu­
cation thrust upon them:
"I have this day obtained the consent of an Indian family
who have submitted themselves to be instructed, and pro­
fess great willingness to give up their children to be
educated in the English manner,
"The father and mother being old and by no means would
part from their children, I have taken home with me to
maintain. I Intended waiting upon the honourable Board
myself but the situation and necessity of the Indians
were such that I was obliged to get horses and slays to
carry them immediately home. Their names were as follows:
Joseph, Maauctlc Governor, the Father, Mary Tobec, his
squa.
Scholars' Names
Age
Fransway Sal
Susan Sal (Squa)
Mary Demican
Mary Angelic
Joseph Murray
John Nicola
18
18
16
12
10
7
Remarks.
With papoose, one month old.
Westfield Parish,
26, January 1790^
Signed, Burrows Davis." *-
1.
2.
W. 0. Raymond— Op. Cit. p.*K)3
W. 0. Raymond— New Brunswick Schools of Olden Times,
Educational Review, (March, 1893) Vol. VI. No. 10. p. 19^-
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31
Mr. Davis evidently had great difficulty in organizing his
school because a year had elapsed from the time of his appoint­
ment before he secured pupils.
There is evidence to show that
these Indians came from Sheffield, far up the river Saint John,
and were probably influenced by Mr Say, the teacher there.
school remained open for one year only.
The
The other Indian schools
continued till the- year 179^ when the Indian Academy, having been
completed, the Commissioners decided to centralize their operations
and to close the schools established in other parts of the Prov-
SuBsex Academy
It would seem that the Indians were at this time very much
discouraged and not satisfied with the treatment they had re­
ceived from the hands of the new settlers.
The governor hoped
to gain their favor by providing a school;
"The erecting of a convenient building at Sussex Vale, as
an academy exclusively for them, the employment of a pre­
ceptor to teach them the first rudiments of education and
arrangements which were made for their accommodation and
comfort all contributed to soothe them in their state of
distress; and although the Indians did not embrace the
Christian religion with that alacrity which the pious
Testator might have anticipated they, nevertheless, con­
sidered this place as an asylum where the aged and infirm
could rest from the fatigues which are incident to savage
life, and where the young of both sexes were fed, cloathed,
and instructed as far as they inclined to be."
The Commissioners thougt better results would be achieved
if all the Indians, who desired an education, were collected in
one place so that they might be taught farming as well as the
1.
W. 0. Raymond— Winslow Papers,
pp. 5H-512.
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32
ordinary subjects of the elementary school.
The Board of Commissioners apprenticed young Indians to
the different settlers, who were to have their services as ser­
vants on condition that they sent them to school for instruction
at certain times.
"Sussex Vale, as the Indian rendezvous for starting and
returning from the chase was selected as the place for
the institution, the management of which, with ample
funds, was entrusted to a Board chosen from the leading
men of the Province. Years of effort, however, only
ended in discouragement.
In spite of the expenditure,
the Indians returned to their migratory habits and again
became subject to the influence of the Roman Catholic
priests. The Society then sought to effect its purpose
by apprenticing the Indian youth to farmers, who were
to train them in agriculture pursuits, while their edu­
cation was to be attended to at the Academy. But this
scheme proved equally abortive. The Indians disliked
it and it proved injurious to their morals." 1
The Society requested Mr. John West, an Episcopal minister,
who had been sent to Hudson Bay,to visit the Indians in Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick and to look into the state of affairs
at Sussex Vale.
Upon receipt of his report the directors re-
solved to discontinue the school.
The school closed in 1&33
2
and the grants to the Indians were steadily withdrawn as the
Indentures attained their maturity.
"The funds notA wisely spent and the Indians complained
of the system because very few were able to send their
children to Sussex. It ended in failure both as a
means of spreading Protestantism among them and of en­
couraging them to take up agriculture." 3
Raymond
1. T.
2. J.
J.
4. W.
4
considers that the efforts of the teachers to
Watson Smith— History of the Methodist Church. Vol. II. p.?6g.
Hannay— Op. Clt. p. 207.
C. Webster— Historical G-ulde to New Brunswick, p. 6^.
0. Raymond— Winslow Papers. Vol. IV.
p. 119.
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39
advance the moral and spiritual welfare of Indians were produc­
tive of good in many instances, yet the permanent results were
small.
The whole experiment was a costly one, since the expendi­
ture of the period of years amounted to #140,000 1 , of which
sum more than 30 per cent, was paid to officials who had little
or no direct connection with the work of instruction.
The failure of the enterprise was evident, for several
reasons,
(a).
Extravagance. In a return Issued by Mr. Dibblee,
the teacher at Woodstock,
"covering a period of six months the cost of the neces­
saries for the native Indians at the school at Woodstock
is given as £106 12s. If of which sum twelve shillings
were expended in .the purchase of eight spelling books at
Is. 6d. each and four shillings and six pence were spent
for three quires of writing paper," ^
(b).
Lack of common sense.
Prayer-books provided were in the
Iroquois dialect, which was unintelligible to the Maliseets along the Saint John River,
(c).
The Indians could not be col­
lected from such distances into one central school,
(d).
The
men in charge of the work, Judge Chipman, the treasurer who re­
ceived £50 a year, and General Coffin, the superintendent, who
was paid £125 per year, were too busy with other affairs, and
seldom visited the schools.
Present Policy.
For a number of years little attention was paid to the edu­
cation of the Indians, but after Confederation (12567) the Indians
1.
2.
J. Hannay— Loc. Clt.
W. 0. Raymondi— New Brunswick Schools of Olden Times.
Educational Review (June, 1{$93) Vol. VII. No. 1. p .7
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4o
were placed under the control of the Department of Indian Af­
fairs and Interest was renewed.
provided by that Department.
Schools were huilt and teachers
Since 1920 education has been com­
pulsory for Indians and the dominion government
aids promising
students to attend High Schools and Colleges.
The following Indian schools ^ were in operation in 1922,
with an enrollment of 26^ pupils:
Big Cove, Burnt Church, Dor­
chester, Eelground, Eel River, Red Bank, Oromocto, St. Mary’s,
Y/oodstock, Edmundston, and Tobique.
These schools continue to serve our Indian population and
the enrollment has increased until in 1936 2 it was 33°•
In New Brunswick nearly all the Indians live on the"reservations" provided by the dominion government, therefore separate
day schools have been established.
"All the Indian schools are inspected frequently by Depart­
ment officials. In addition, public and separate school
inspectors visit all classrooms, except in the provinces
of New Brunswick and British Columbia, where there are
special Indian School Inspectors. More thorough in­
spection has resulted in a higher standard of instruction.
Classroom activity in Indian schools is now comparable
to the work in white schools of the same localities. In­
dian schools follow the provincial curricula but place
special emphasis on language, reading, domestic science,
manual training and agriculture.
In the junior grades,
there is a departure from the provincial courses, which
were found not altogether suitable, in either scope or
content, for Indian children."
New Brunswick was the testing ground upon which the New
England Company experimented with the school as an instrument
by means of which the Protestant religion might be promoted.
1.
2.
3.
Dominion Of Canada, Sessional Papers. No. 27, 1922.
Canada Year Book 1938. P. 9 ^
Annual Report of Department of Indians. Year ended March 31. 1936
p. 21.
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hi
The aim of the Society was to overcome the influence of the Roman
Catholic teaching of the early French schools.
The agents were
zealous churchmen, hut it would appear that they did not hesitate
to accept money for services which they did not adequately pro­
vide.
The quality of the teachers provided proved that the
Society was sincere in its efforts and the influence of these
teachers must have tended to raise the educational and spiritual
level of the natives.
In spite of all the early efforts of the Society for the
Propogation of the Gospel, and the New England Company to make
the Indians. Protestant in religion, and farmers hy trade, they
continue to be Roman Catholics and wanderers of the wild or unthirfty settlers living on the "reservations" provided.
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CHAPTER VI
PARISH SCHOOLS 178^1824It has already been pointed out that the first provisions
made by law for the education of youth in the Province were con­
tained in the Royal Instructions to Governor Thomas Carleton
(p.20).
Even before the first meeting of the General Assembly
at Saint John, Feb. 3> 1786, attention had been directed to the
matter.
Dr. William Paine, a Loyalist, who was a member for
Charlotte County and first Clerk of the House of Assembly, and
others in Dec. 1785 presented a memorial to the Governor-inCouncil.
The memorial pleads:
"The situation in
themselves, many
time of life and
tention to their
which the Loyalist adventurers here find
of whom on removing here had sons whose
former hopes., call for an immediate at­
education." '
Sabine 2 shows that many of the Loyalists who came to New
Brunswick were graduates of American colleges.
W. 0. Raymond
draws attention to an article which appeared in the Atlantic
Monthly in which an American writer when speaking of the effects
of the Loyalist emigration upon the State of Massachusetts
writes:
"Among the exiles were nearly one hundred graduates of
I..
2.
W. 0. Ravmond-New Brunswick Schools of Olden Times, Educational
Review September, 1893. Vol. VII. No. 3. p.4-g.
Lorenzo Sablne-Loyallste of the American Revolution.
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^3
Harvard College and they must have been no small loss to
the infant state. They and their sons filled for more
than half a century the chief offices in Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick Judiciary and they must have contributed to
a degree not easily estimated to the elevation and progress
of these provinces. Cambridge lost by the American Revo­
lution nearly all her men of mark and high standing,.ex­
cept those immediately connected with the college."
Church and School
In the early years of the Province the same intimate re­
lationship which exists in England between church and state pre­
vailed throughout the colonies of the empire.
The great majority
of the founders of the Province were members of the Church of
England.
The Executive Council and all the government offices .
were filled by its adherents.
The representatives of the various
counties in the House of Assembly, the Judges of the Supreme
Court, sheriffs, magistrates, lawyers, doctors, and schoolmasters
were all, with very few exceptions, members cf the "Established
Church".
It therefore can be easily understood that in matters con­
nected with religion or education the English precedent was fol­
lowed.
This intimate relationship of church and state is illus­
trated. by the following clause taken from the Royal Instructions
issued to Governor Carleton:
"You shall take especial care that God Almighty be devoutly
and duly served throughout your government; the Book of
Common Prayer, as by law established, read each Sunday
and holy day, and the blessed sacrament administered ac­
cording to the rites of the Church of England."
Immigration, chiefly from the south of Ireland, added a
L„
2.
Raymond— Op. Cit. p. J+S
Royal Instructions to Governor Carleton, 17*&.
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Milarge Roman Catholic element to the population and the adherents
of Presbyterian, Wesleyan, and Baptist denominations increased
until the Church of England was no longer the church of the ma­
jority and the exclusive privileges granted to it as the Estab­
lished Church were one by one removed.
The schools supported by the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel were suitable for the Anglicans but the other re­
ligious groups were unwilling to send their children to such
schools.
Non-sectarian parish schools became a necessity.
Teachers.
The qualifications of the old schoolmaster, as a rule, were
not of a very high order, and he was generally equal to the duty
expected of him, since outside the towns little was desired by
pupil or parent beyond the rudiments of education.
The teacher's
salary was very small, andhis position by no means a desirable
one for a man of refined taste and feelings.
To illustrate the
point:
"In the winter of 177S-9» David Burpee taught a school in
that part of the township of Maugerville, now known as
Sheffield. His scholars were to pay him three shillings,
eleven pence half penny per month. From his accounts it
appears that only seven scholars paid tuition, although it
is likely a good many more attended school. The tuition
was paid in a variety of produce, work, grain, leather,
musquash-skins, rum, hauling hay and making shoes. He
handled but ten shillings cash for his entire winter's work." 1
The manner of engaging teachers was singular and often the
position was precarious.
1.
The terms were called "quarters".
A
W. 0. Raymond— New Brunswick Schools of Olden Times.
Educational Review, (January 1895). Vol. VIII. No. 2. p. 1^2.
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^5
man considering himself a pedagogue would come into a settlement
and announce his intention of "keeping a school".
the homes and solicited pupils.
He visited
Alternate Saturdays the school
was closed; holidays extended from Christmas to New Years.
The
teacher boarded at the homes of his pupils— a week at each place.
At first, efforts were made to get teachers from the British
Isles, because the political views of Americans were objectionable
to most of the settlers.
In time it became necessary to hire
teachers from the United States for the grammar schools, where
at first both elementary and secondary subjects were taught.
High qualifications were demanded, as may be seen from the fol­
lowing:
Boston, 20th December lgl^.
"My dear Sir:
Give me leave to introduce to you Mr. John M,
Wainwright, son of a respectable gentleman of this Town,
highly recommended to me by the persons to whom I was to
apply, and some other gentlemen of respectability, for
the situation of preceptor for the grammar school at St.
John, he is an Englishman by birth, educated at Harvard
College, at which he is now a Procter, which situation he
is willing to leave for the one offered, with its emolu­
ment, which I was authorized to state would be $560— ealapy
and 20 scholars a.t $30 each per year— he is recommended as
an excellent classical scholar as well as a mathematician—
from all I can learn of him, have no doubt but that he will
meet with the full approbation of the gentlemen at St.John.
I am dear Sir
Yours most truly
Chas. Hazen."
Hon
1.
Judge Chipman.
Original letter in New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, N. B,
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14-6
First Education Bill
No legislative provision regarding elementary education
was passed during the early years.
An attempt was made by the
House of Assembly in 1723 to include an educational item in the
Appropriation Bill of that year.
In the "Bill for Appropriating
and Disposing of Public Monies" is found the clause:
"To the Justices of the sessions in each county for the
purpose of aiding and assisting the education of youth
in each Parish, in the Province under the direction of
the General sessions of the Peace £10 to each Parish."
The Council rejected this item after several conferences
giving as their reason that
"appropriating money for the education of children in the
different parishes of this province is a new institution
and necessarily requires particular regulations." 2
No further measures in behalf of Elementary Education were
attempted till the year 1202.
Act of 1202.
An Act for Aiding and Encouraging Parish Schools was passed
March 5 th 1202
Its form v/as simple, the plan of organization
crude, the aid to each parish meagre.
Yet as the earliest edu­
cational enactment of the Province the act is worthy of consider­
ation.
"It was the first act passed in New Brunswick for the es­
tablishment of common schools, and although crude and im­
perfect, it marked exchange in the feelings of the people
towards education." -
1.
2.
3.
*4.
Journal of the Assembly 1793. P. 313.
Journal of the Assembly 1793. P. 333.
*42 George III Cap. VI.
Hannay's History of New Brunswick. Vol. 1. p. 222.
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^7
The text of the Act is here given.
"An Act for Aiding and Encouraging Parish Schools."
"Whereas, the education of children is of the utmost im­
portance to their usefulness in society; and whereas, the
situation of many parents in the different Parishes of
this Province renders them unable to procure for their
children the benefit of insturction in reading and writing
without aid of the Legislature:
(I) Be it therefore enacted by the Lieutenant-C-overnor,
Council and Assembly, that the sum of four hundred and
twenty pounds (being ten pounds to each parish) be granted
to the Justices of the General Sessions of the Peace in
the different Counties of this Province, to be paid by
warrant of His Excellency, the Lieutenant-Governor out of
the public treasury, in trust, for the purpose of en­
couraging and assisting the establishment of schools in
the different parishes of their respective Counties.
(II) And be it further enacted, that the sum of ten pounds
to each parish hereby granted in trust to the said Justices
of the General Sessions of the Peace in each County, shall
be by them, with discretion, apportioned and allotted to
each parish in such a manner as shall best assist in main­
taining such schools as may be already established or shall
induce the establishment of other schools where they may
judge the same necessary.
(III) And be it further enacted, that the said Justices
shall make report to the Lieutenant-Governor, Council and
Assembly at the next meeting of the General Assembly, how
the monies granted have been laid out, and how far the
purposes, hereby contemplated, have been used.
I assent to this Bill, enacting the same, and order it to
be enrolled. Signed
Thomas Carleton." #
The three principles of educational policy which appeared
in this Act, namely (a) provincial aid to education, (b) an ap­
pointed board of local control, and (c) the necessity of reporting
to the legislature regarding the use of school money have been
continued through the years.
Proof that the grants offered by the Act of 1&02 were made
# The Original Act (te George III Cap. VI). thought lost was
found in the Provincial Archives, Fredericton.
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use of is given in the "Report of the Appropriations of Parish
School Money"
which shows that Kings County received during
the first year the Act was in force, grants to the extent of £70.
At least thirteen schools were in operation in that county during
that year.
The same grant (£10) was given to a parish regardless
of the number of schools.
This meant that the fewer the schools
in a parish the larger was the grant received by each teacher.
It is presumable that several other counties had a similar in­
terest in education and that a comparable number of schools was
established within their borders.
The total amount voted by the
legislature was £4-20.
The House of Assembly was desirous at this time to promote
2
, it was ordered
common school legislation and on March 11, 1203
that Archibald McLean, member for York, and Robert Pagan, member
for Charlotte, be a committee to prepare a bill for the estab­
lishment of common schools throughout the Province.
This bill
failed to pass, but from it one gathers that the Assembly real­
ized that the Law of 1202 was inadequate because it was super­
seded in 1205 by a more elaborate enactment entitled, "An Act
for Encouraging and Extending Literature in this Province." 3
Act of 1205.
The first eight sections of the Act were concerned with
the establishment of a grammar school in the City of Saint John.
1.
2.
3.
Report received March 5> IS03. Taken from an extract of minutes
of the General Sessions found among the original papers of the
House ofi Assembly, Fredericton, N. B..
Journal of House of Assembly, 1203.
^5 &eorge III Cap. XII.
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^9
The remaining five sections (9-13) dealt with the establishment
"in each and every county of this province of two schools,
for the instructing of youth of both sexes in English
language, writing and arithmetic, which schools shall be
under the direction, regulation and control and manage,
ment of the Justices of the Peace for the said Counties."
Five duties of the Justices administering these parish
schools were stipulated by this law,
(a)
time
"To appoint the masters for the said schools frog
to time and to displace them attheir pleasure"
(b) "To direct and appoint the places where such schools
are to be kept or holden, from time to time, so that only
one of the said schools shall be kept or holden in any one
parish at one and the same time for one continued year,
and no longer, and then shall be removed to another parish
and shall have received the benefit of having such a school
before the same school shall return to the parish where it
was once holden"
(c) "To pay each master of such English school the sum of
£25 received from the Provincial Fund of £375 laid aside
for that purpose." ^
(d)
"To appoint
twice a year." ?
a committee to visit and examine the
schools
(e) "To admit any number, not exceeding four, to be free
scholars without charge for their tuition." °
Although the Act of 1205 reduced the appropriation to
£375
it is one of the most interesting documents
in our educational
history.
to six years but the
The sections IX-XIII were limited
Act was continued ^ until March 5> l£>l6, when it expired.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The
45 George III Cap. XII. Sect. 9
Ibid. Sect. 9
Ibid. Sect. 10
TbicT. Sect. 11
Ibid. Sect. 12
Ibid. Sect. 13
50 George III Cap. XXXIII. Acts of General Assembly of'His
Majesty's Province of New Brunswick, 1210,
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50
rector or missionary of the Church of England of the parish was
to he a member of the visiting and examiniing committee, who were
to report to the justices regarding the conditions of the school.
The central authority, the Lieutenant-Governor-ln-Council, had
a check upon the schools through the Justices of the Peace.
The
free pupils were supported in part by the tuition fees of the
other pupils.
The great weaknesses of the Act were (a) the de­
creasing of the provincial grant and the limiting of it to two
schools in each parish, and (b) the provision for a moving school,
which was to pass from parish to parish.
Since there were six parishes in each county at that time
and two English schools were to be established in each county
the Act provided for the possibility of an English school in each
parish once in three years.
The Act did not interfere with the
schools already in existence but aimed to provide each parish
with a good school some of the time.
Although this moving char­
acteristic recalls the moving school of Massachusetts ^ which
developed during the last quarter of the seventeenth century and
was superseded by the district school under the law of 17&9 , still
it lacked many of the evils of the latter.
Its length of tenure
in each parish was set by law "one continued year"; its succession
was decided by an impartial board; and its teacher was assured
a good salary by the government.
Speaking of the Act, Hannay says, "This Act is a long step
1.
Harlan Updegraff— The Origin of the Moving School in Massachusetts.
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51
in advance of any former enactments with regard to schools in
this Province and was a recognition of the fact that the youth
of the counties were entitled to the benefits of education." 1
Act of lgl6 .
In 1S16, "An Act to Encourage the Establishment of Schools
in this Province" ^ was passed.
It shows several marks of ad­
vancement in the educational ideals of the legislators.
It pro­
vided for a local board of two or more trustees for each parish, .
to be appointed yearly by the Justices of the Peace for the
County, at the same time as the appointment of other town officers.
The duties of immediate administration were, by this Act, vested
in these local trustees.
They were to procure a schoolhouse,
hire a teacher, visit and inspect the schools 3 and make an
annual report to the Justices of their respective counties. ^
The duties of the Justices were supervisory in character.
They were to distribute provincial grants to each parish
call
an annual meeting to discuss school matters at the request of
five freeholders ^ and have general supervision and control of
the trustees by means of by-laws and regulations which they were
empowered to draw up. 3
The trustees were also allowed by this Act to use £1 for
prizes to be awarded to the pupils who quitted themselves best
1..
2.
3.
4.
5.
o*
7.
Jas. Hannay— History of New Brunswick. Vol. 1. p. pOO
56 C-eorge III Cap. XXIII
Ibid. Sect. £
Ibid. Sect. 12
Ibid. Sect. 12
Ibid. Sect. K
Ibid. Sect. 2 .
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52
at the examinations for each year.
These prizes were to he a-
warded only to those who were able to repeat by heart "the Creed,
the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments".1
A change in the method of distributing grants appeared in
the Act of lgl6.2
It was enacted that each parish must raise
£30 f o r the use of schools before the government grant of £20
would be made available to the parishes,
A parish which raised
mor than £30 was entitled to a larger grant.
The maximum grant
to any parish was £60.
In this Act one finds alternate provision for raising money
for school purposes.
The trustees were authorized to call a
meeting of the freeholders of the district
"having a yearly income in real or personal estate to the
amount of forty shillings for the purpose of subscribing
or voting for the raising of money by assessment,"3
If, however, the school money were raised by subscription
the trustees were charged
"to take care that the benefit of such schools should be
confined to the, youth of such persons as contributed to
their support."^
Several sections were concerned with school support by
assessment.
Money necessary for school purposes might be raised
by assessment.^
The rate was to be levied as were the poor
taxes and limited to persons living within three miles of the
school house,^
Pupils were to be taught free from all expenses
"other than their own books and stationery and individual
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Ibid. Sect. 6
Ibid. Sect. 9
56 George III Cap. XXIII Sect. 2.
Ibid. Sect. 3
Ibid. Sect. 11
Ibid. Sect. 6
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53
portion of fuel" 1
in assessment-supported schools.
Trustees were also authorized to expel any pupil being of
wicked and abandoned habits.
Act of 1212.
The Act of 1216 was to continue in force for four years,
but when the legislature met in 1212, it made haste to annul that
portion of the Act which authorized town or parish assessment for
school purposes because
"it ha.d been found by experience, to be inexpedient to allow
the inhabitants of the severa.1 towns and parishes, the
power of raising money by assessment for the establishment
and support of schools; it is therefore now decreed by
the Lieutenant-Governor, Council and Assembly tha.t the
power granted the inhabitants of the several towns and
parishes in the province to raise money for school purposes,
in any other way than by voluntary subscription be taken
away and altogether discontinued." 2
One might consider this an act of retrogression, but it
was, without a doubt, in accordance with the public sentiment
of the day.
The principle of raising money for school purposes
by a voluntary assessment of the ratepayers of any school dis­
trict
was re-introduced some thirty-five years later, but was
not generally acted upon, and more than half a century was
destined to pass before the principle of free schools and com­
pulsory assessment of the ratepayers for school purposes be­
came the law of the land, and then only as the result of one
of the hardest fought political battles in the history of the
1.
2.
Ibid. Sect. 5
52 G-eorge III.Cap. XVI. Sect. 1
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province.
The Act of ISIS was not entirely reprehensible since it in­
creased the maximum provincial grant from £60 to £100 for each
parish, giving as the reason
"that it has been found necessary to increase the number
of schools in some of the larger towns and parishes." 1
The sum cf £20 was again made the largest grant available
to any one school.
These Acts did not seem to produce the desired educational
results, but just how effective they were cannot be definitely
stated because no report of the school attendance was made available to the legislature.
However, it is felt that
"education was in a very unsatisfactory condition in the
Province of Netv Brunswick in the year IQlg and it con­
tinued in that condition for many years afterwards." 2
Act of 18S25.
The Act to Encourage the Establishment of Schools remained
in force until 1S23 when it was replaced by the Act entitled
"An Act for the Encouragement of Parish Schools in this Province.
The following is a synopsis of the several sections of
the Act:
Section I provides for the appointment of trustees of
schools in each town or parish, but specifies the number as three
Section II.
Trustees may agree from time to time with
proper persons, being duly licensed, as directed by His Majesties
1.
2.
3.
Ibid. Sect. i & 2
Hannay— Life and Times of Sir Leonard Tilley. t». 19
4- George IV. Cap. XXV.
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• 55
Royal Instructions, to keep school and to fix the salary of the
schoolmaster.
The trustees are further required to use their
best endeavors to cause the youth of their respective towns and
parished regularly to attend school, and themselves to visit
and inspect the school twice in each year and to enquire into
the discipline and regulations thereof, and of the proficiency
of the scholars.
Section III.
Justices of the Sessions in each county are
to certify in writing to the Lieutenant-Governor the number of
schoolhouses built or provided in the several parishes, the names
of the masters employed to teach, and the sum of money subscribed
by the people for the support of each school, upon the receipt
of which certificate the sum of £20 per annum shall be sallowed
each school, the money to be drawn from the provincial treasury
by warrant from His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor in favor
of the trustees in the several parishes.
No one school is to
receive more than £ 20, and that on condition that the people
have raised and paid a like sum in further support of the school.
No town or parish is to receive a larger sum than £100 in one
year.
Section IV.
Trustees may retain out of the school money
(local and government) a sum not exceeding twenty shillings for
each scholar, to be expended in the purchase of stationery,
books, and other suitable rewards to be by them distributed to
scholars who shall excel in orthography, in reading, in writing,
and in arithmetic at the school examinations.
No reward shall
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56
be distributed to any scholar who cannot repeat by heart "the
Greed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments".
Section V.
The trustees annually to report to the Sessions
of the Peace all moneys received and disbursed.
All the school legislation of this period was experi­
mental, and therefore this Act was to remain in force for only
four years, but was extended till it was repealed in 1833. 1
Interest of Officials.
One is impressed by the interest in education shown by the
leading officials in the colony.
Their efforts were always ex­
erted to secure improved educational conditions.
The passage of
the Act in 1S16 was in large measure due to the influence of
Major General Smythe, who at that time administered the govern­
ment under the title of President and Commander-In-Chief.
Major C-eneral Smythe
was largely responsible for
ofthe Madras School
System into New Brunswick.
Later
the introduction
Rev. James Somerville, Principal of the College at Freder­
icton upon the death of Major General Smythe, said,
"The unwearied exertions which he made for the education
of the youth of the country, particularly those of the
lower orders, are known throughout the whole extent of
the Province.
Through his means, aided by the bounty of
the Legislature, it is now within the power of the poorest
and meanest in the country to give their offspring a
religious education." 2
Few officials did more for schools than did Ward Chipman,
Solicitor-General.
1.
2.
In a letter written May 15, 1223, to the
3 William IV. Cap. 31.
Unpublished Manuscripts found in the Vault of the Cathedral
at Fredericton.
(Sermon preached by Jas, Somerville)
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57
Right Honorable Lord Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Co­
ilonial Department, he states:
"The general mediocrity of the circumstances of the Inhabi­
tants of the Province has rendered it extremely inconven­
ient to them to send their children abroad for education,
the want of which as new generations arise, will be most
severely felt, unless a foundation is effectually laid,
without further delay, for the enjoyment of these advan­
tages within the Province. The General Assembly of the
Province have from time to time in aid of the efforts of
the Inhabitants provided the requisite means of elemen­
tary insturction in the Parish Schools throughout the
Province from the Public Treasury." 1
The tendency to rely upon the state schools rather than
upon church schools is evident from the beginning of our exis­
tence as a Province.
While the worship of God was stressed in
the schools during early days, it was clear that after the in­
flux of settlers of various religious beliefs the school system
had to be non-sectarian.
This fact accounts for the rise of
parish schools when great efforts were being made to establish
church schools.
The school legislation of this period was experimental or
was copied to a large extent from the laws of the neighboring
American states.
Nearly all the legislation concerning schools
was introduced for a short period of years.
At times the legis­
lators were too visionary and introduced legislation not in
keeping with public sentiment but such legislation usually re­
mained in force for a short time.
The cost of parish schools
and the dissatisfaction caused by the manner in which they were
operated led to the introduction of the Madras school system.
1.
Public Archives, Ottawa, Col. Cor. N. B. Vol. 27. p. 109.
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CHAPTER VII
MADRAS SCHOOLS.
Madras System.
In the preceding chapters an attempt has been made to trace
the development of legislation as affecting educational facili­
ties during the first forty years of New Brunswick history.
While
government-aided parish schools were developed in many areas
during this period the schools provided by the Society for the
Propogation of the Gospel (Chapter IV) were still an important
factor in the educational life of the Province.
"Lieutenant-Governor Smythe, who took office at the be­
ginning of the War of 1212, was a strong advocate of the
Madras system of education as suitable in a Province
where a large proportion of the people had but little
money. After the close of the war with the United States,
steps were taken to introduce this system into New Bruns­
wick and on 23rd of August,1219, a Royal Charter was
granted to the Corporation." 1
This system of education has been variously termed the
Madras, the National, the Bell, or the Lancaster System.
The
originator of the system, however, appears to have been Dr.
Andrew Bell (1753-1^32) ^ who was born in St. Andrews, Scotland.
He was graduated from the famous university of his native town
and afterwards spent several years in America.
Later he was or­
dained, as a Church of England Minister, and went to India about
1.
2.
R. P. Gorham— Educational Developments in Loyalist Kingston, p.
E. P. Cubberley— Brief History of Education, p. 338.
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59
17&9 and became the minister of St. Mary's Church in the City of •
Madras.
He became interested in the education of the orphan chil-
fren at the Military Asylum.
Because of the scarcity of teachers
he was obliged to introduce the system of mutual instruction among the pupils--the older pupils teaching the younger children,
so that they became alternately pupils and teachers.
Dr. Bell felt that this system worked so well, that it had
universal applicability and in a pamphlet published in 1797 he
elaborated his ideas, concerning this method of instruction.
Joseph Lancaster, (177^-1^32) ", born in Southward, London,
had ideas similar to those held by Bell and in 1201 he estab­
lished a large school in London.
The school,comprising a thousand
boys, was divided into small classes, each under the cars of a
monitor.
A group of these classes was superintended by a head
monitor, and the quasi-military system of discipline caused the
whole school to assume an orderly appearance.
National Society.
The remarkable success achieved by the schools, organized
by Bell and Lancaster, led to the foundation, in the year, 1211,
of what is known as the "National Society for the education of
the poor in the principles of the Established Church". 2
Through
the instrumentality of this Society a training school for teachers
was established in London.
Here masters and mistresses were
trained in the theory and practice of the Madras System and were
1.
2.
E. P. Cubberley— Brief History of Education, p. 339.
Ontario Teachers' Manual. History of Education, p. 126.
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6o
sent out to take charge of schools, when qualified.
The National
Society received many benefactions and legacies in addition to
State Aid, and, in consequence, was enabled to contribute towards
the erection of schoolhouses both in England and in the British
Colonies.
In conjunction with the Society for Promoting Chris­
tian Knowledge, ^ founded in l699> elementary school books were
in many cases furnished by the National Society free of cost.
"The primary step in the introduction of the Madras Sys­
tem in the Maritime Provinces was the sending out of a
box of 500 sets of books, to Halifax in the year iSl^,
for gratuitous distribution amongst the schools of Nova
Scotia." 2
The first Madras schools in New Brunswick were not estab­
lished in the principal towns, but in the two comparatively
small villages of Kouchibouguac e.nd Buctouche, in what is now
Kent County.
Both of these schools were opened in 1S17. ^
In 1&L£> the National, or Madras, School was established in
Saint John by Mr. West, who formerly taught at Halifax.
The following appeared in the "City Gazette", Aug.23, ISIS:
"Cn the successful opening of the Male National School in
this City, the public are congratulated on the fair pros­
pect now afforded, of extending the benefits of Education
to all classes of the community. Perhaps in this City
there never was an establishment which promised more gen­
eral and lasting utility. The loose manners and profane
language of the boys, with whom our streets have hitherto
been thronged, proceeding from a lamentable ignorance and
total want of discipline, have been the theme of animad­
version from the pulpit, and an object too shocking to the
feelings of all well disposed persons. To remove the evil
we have but to remove the cause;— and lost and unhappy in­
deed must that Parent be who will not embrace the oppor­
tunity now offered under Providence, of instilling into
the minds of his offspring the blessings of religion and
of knowledge. The principle of teaching in the School,
is in itself a novelty, in this Province, It is one of
1.
2.
E. P. Cubberley— A Brief History of Education, p. 2^0.
W. 0. Raymond— N.B".Schools of olden Times. Vol.‘VII. No. 12
3.
Loc. Clt.
(May, 139*0. p. 222.
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61
those wonderful discoveries, which apparently accidental,
had been a source of the greatest blessings to mankind.
In the year I2l6, and within a very few years after its
introduction into Great Britain, (whither it was brought
from Madras by the Reverend Doctor Bell, the author of
the discovery), in England and Wales alone, no less than
one hundred thousand children were officially reported to
be receiving instruction at Schools, in union with the
National Society. It has already extended over the con­
tinent of Europe, even into Russia, where it is now es­
tablished; and at this day it may enumerate millions who
are receiving the advantages of the System. The boys
teach each other, whereby a great saving of labor and of
expense is obtained.
Corporeal punishments are almost un­
known in the School, emulation among the boys being the
exciting principle. Whilst the discipline of the rod
breaks down the generous spirit of youth, and by repetition
loses its force, the principle of emulation is a never
ceasing motive to exertion. The school is open to all
sects and denominations of Christians, who are at liberty
to attend their own places of worship, and pursue their
own forms. With these advantages,aand in this populous
City, it is not doubted but the establishment wili flourish.
The beauty of the System is such that it is only to be seen
to be admired.
Very liberal subscriptions were granted at the commence­
ment of the undertaking still the funds are inadequate to
carry it on with effect; and those who have not yet sub­
scribed are now called upon to add their names to this
work of charity under the highest patronage in the Province,
and protected by the Parent Society in G-reat Britain, whose
liberality has already furnished them with books and sta­
tionery suitable to commence with, and granted a small
annual stipend. With all these advantages, it is hoped
that what has been so well begun, may not be impeded through
want of pecuniary assistance.
It is in contemplation also to open a Female National School,
as soon as the funds may be sufficient;— which may be per­
haps of more real importance to the community at large,
than that already established, inasmuch as the morals of
the female sex have a greater influence on society in gen­
eral.11 1
The list of those.who, up to this time, had contributed
funds for the schools appeared in the same issue of the City
Gazette.
£273 was the total sum contributed of which £50 came
from the generous hand of the Lieutenant-Governor, Major General
Smythe.
1.
Saint John City Gazette— Aug. 2g, ISIS.
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62
This was a boy's school and a' school for girls was opened
about a year later.
By the Charter of 1219 ^ the Madras School
System was established on a substantial foundation.
The province
gave a grant of £250 for the erection of a suitable school in
Saint John and the National Society in England contributed to
its support.
This charter was confirmed by an Act passed in
12S20. ^
The Saint John school was regarded as the central school
and the training school for teachers.
It was the design of the
Charter that the benefits of the system should be extended to
other parts of the Province, and this was accordingly done.
"The Madras schools received liberal appropriations of
money and large grants of land, and they continued to
exist until the introduction of the free school system." 3
In many instances the Madras system could not be carried
out in its entirety, because the schoolmasters and mistresses
were not themselves sufficiently trained in the system.
The
popular demand for the establishment of these schools came from
nearly every parish,, and it was not possible for all the teachers
to undergo a course of training when there was only a limited
opportunity of acquiring adequate knowledge concerning the sys­
tem.
This made it impossible to establish any uniform standard
of excellence.
The condition of the Madras schools located
throughout the Province is described by one writer as follows;
"Having personally visited the greater number of the socalled Madras schools, I am forced to the conclusion that
many a.re such merely in name."
1.
2.
3.
b.
Statutes of New Brunswick. 17£>6-1236-Appendlx IV.
60 George III. Cap. 6.
James Hannay— Life and Times of Sir Leonard Tilley, p. 2 b ,
Saint John City Gazette. Dec. J>0, 1222.
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63
Teaching Methods.
The following description of the Madras System is based upon
the oral report of H. H. Hagerman, Principal of the Normal School,
who taught in the Madras school at Shediac in 1SS9.
"At one end of the room was a platform. The desks were ar­
ranged around the sides of the room facing the walls, with
benches of corresponding length behind them. The benches
were without backs. The apparatus employed for illustrating
lessons, although an improvement upon that in use in other
schools, was still rather meagre. There was the sand desk
at which the smaller scholars were accustomed to write, a
flat ruler being used to smooth over the sand and prepare
it for fresh use after the little ones had filled it with
letters and figures. School books, pens etc., were provided
gratuitously, and the instruction was free to all. There
were generally some two hundred boys in attendance who were
taught by about a dozen teachers chosen from their own ranks
by the master as being the most promising and intelligent
pupils. Over the teachers an usher was placed, also ap­
pointed by the master, whose duties were analogous to those
of a sergeant-major in the army— namely, to; exercise general
supervision under direction of his superior. Everything
connected with the school moved like clock work and in strict
accord with the rules of the Madras system.
In his conduct
towards his pupils he was prompt and impartial in all his
decisions, giving due credit for merit, a.t the same time
fairly severe in the punishment awarded for any breach of
discipline. The duties of the pupils were always clearly
defined. The boys themselves swept and dusted the room, be­
ing named for that duty in regular order by the master.
The school hours were from 9 to 12 in the morning, and from
1 to } in the afternoon. Promptly at the hour for opening,
the usher mounted the platform. In the absence of the more
modern school bell a stamp.of his foot commanded silence
and the attention of the school. A moment later his hand
was raised as the signal for prayers; the boys knelt with
hands folded whilst the usher repeated sentence by sentence
the words of the Lord' Prayer, the boys repeating each sen­
tence after he had pronounced it. School having been opened,
there followed next the reciting of the Church catechism.
The catechising being ended the morning session proceeded
with reading, spelling, and writing.
The afternoon was de­
voted principally to arithmetic or "cyphering" as it was
called then. The classes a.lways stood to recite. Chalk
lines were drawn on the floor by the boys appointed to
keep the school room in order and the pupils were made to
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6K
"toe the mark" with all the steadiness of military disci­
pline. The arrangement of the class when reciting will he
seen in the following plan:
C
a
o
C-Chest with teaching aids
M-Medal stand.
H-Head of Class.
F-Foot of Claes.
T-Teacher.
A-Asslstant Teacher.
"On the medal stand were a number of medals, some of bright
tin, others painted black. If in the course of the lesson
a mistake was made, the next boy in the class was called
upon to make the correction, and in case of his failure to
do so, the question passed down the class until the proper
answer was given, the boy making it moving up above those
that had failed. If the question sometimes should pass around the class, the head boy was called upon for the cor­
rect answer.
If successful, he went to the medal stand
and took therefrom a bright tin medal marked with the
figure."1 ", the boys that failed received a black medal
similarly marked. For every bright medal the scholar re­
ceived an additional mark, for every black medal he suf­
fered the loss of a mark.
When the boys were marched to the desks to write, it was
invariably done with the greatest precision.
If in taking
their seats
every right leg along the line of boys did not
go over thebench at precisely the same instant,
the usher
would insist upon the repetition of the movement. The boys
who were good writers acted as instructors to the others,
moving to and fro among them, giving directions, pointingout faults, etc. The pens used were of course quill pens.
So thoroughly was the system of discipline inculcated, that
it was not an uncommon thing for the master to be absent
from the room for half an hour at a time on business "down
town" during which time the school went on in as orderly
and quiet a manner as if he were present.
There was no recess during either the morning or afternoon
session of the school, the drill and exercises being con­
sidered sufficient to relieve the monotony of study. In
leaving the school room the boys were accustomed to salute
the master in military fashion. Children were admitted into
the school at the age of four or five years, and passed
thence to the grammar school. The annual examination was
quite an event and was carefully prepared for. The boys
who excelled at this examination were exempt from tuition
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65
fees if they attended the grammar school, and received
medals and other rewards in abundance. The boys whose gen­
eral standing at the close of the year was highest received
a handsome silver medal from the Madras board.
The course of instruction pursued at the Madras school in
addition to primary work, included such subjects as the
history of England, Rome, and Greece, the use of the globes,
and geography." 1
Religious Instruction.
The Madras school in its origin, as well as in the charac­
ter of the religious instruction imparted, was always a distinct­
ly Church of England institution; but the merits of the system
were so superior to the primitive methods hitherto in vogue and
the education afforded so inexpensive that the natural desire
was speedily manifested by the people at large to share in the
benefits irrespective of religious denomination.
This led to
some slight modification in the rule of church attendance where­
by Presbyterians, Weslevans, and Baptists were allowed to attend
their own place of worship.
The Roman Catholics after acquiring
the method, in some instances removed their children to schools
set up under the control of that church.
However, all these
modifications and extensions did not materially affect the prin­
cipal object of the National System, namely, gratuitous education
for the poorer classes.
Proof of these statements is found in the following re­
ports written by Rev. Ca.non Frederick Coster.
"Even Dissenters, take advantage of the cheap education, al­
though disliking the National system. I refused to recom­
mend a certain master for appointment on the ground of con-
1.
H. H. Hagerman— Oral Report Concerning Madras Schools.
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tinued non-attendance at Church.".
"The Master of the Blissfie^d school cannot he recommended
because he is a Baptist." 2
"I hope to eliminate the Dissenting schoolmasters. There
is little difficulty with the Roman Catholic!*, as the clergy
are not disposed to patronize them, but the Protestants
will be more difficult." 3
Sources of Income.
The income of the Madras Board was derived from several
sources, including appropriations from the Society for the Pro­
pagation of the Gospel for schoolmasters* stipends; contributions
from the National Society in England; individual donations and
bequests; and an annual grant from the Province.
The first grant
made by the Assembly was on March 11th, 1220:
"The sum of £750 to' the Governor and Trustees of the Madras
school toward the support of that institution throughout
the province. " ^
A like sum was voted at the next session; then for a time
the annual grant
was £ 500, but in 1225 it was increased to £700
and continued, atthat figure for some years.
Schools Sste.blished.
Outside the
City of Saint John the first schools receiving
aid from the Madras Board were
established at Fredericton, King­
ston, Gagetown, Sussex Yale, Norton, Sackville, and Hampton.
By
the close of the year 1222 the new system was extending with un­
1.
2.
3.
4.
Report No. ^20— Oct. 1, 1229— Calendar of Church Manuscripts.
Report No.
3— April 27, 1231— Calendar of Church Manuscripts.
Report No.
7— Aug. 23, 1231— Calendar of Church Manuscripts.
Minutes House of Assembly 1220.
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67
exampled rapidity In all pa.rts of the country, and at the open­
ing of the legislature in February following, Lieutenant-Gover­
nor Smythe had the satisfaction of being assured by the House of
Assembly that his solicitude in .extending the blessings of edu­
cation to all classes of the community 11demands the warmest
thanks of the present and will be highly and justly appreciated
by succeeding generations11.
The rules and regulations adopted by the Madras Board, un­
der which these schools have always been conducted, provid.ed that
the schools, with their local funds, should be under the immediate
management of the minister and church wardens of each parish, who
were required to make an annual report to the Central Board.
The remarkable development of the Madras system in Mew
Brunswick will be evident from the following table:
THE MADRAS SCHOOL IK NSW BRUNSWICK.
Place
Saint John....
Carleton......
Kingston......
Springfield....
Hampton..... ..
Norton.........
Sussex Vale....
Petitcodiac....
Shediac.......
Westcock......
Sackville.....
Fort Cumberland
Pointe de Bute
1.
2.
Scholars
Enrolled
1S20 1
Scholars
Enrolled
1324-
600
1222
lH-3
113
SI
75
60
11450
53
112
4o
105
62
*5^
*20
32
63
.. .
60
2
Saint John Gazette. July 19th & 26th, 1320.
IPeter Fisher— First History of New Brunswick. PP. 76-77
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THE MADRAS SCHOOL IN NEW BRUNSWICK.
Scholars
Enrolled
1820
Scholars
Enrolled
1824-
Jolicure......
Chatham. .....
Newcastle.....
North Esk.....
St. George....
St. Andrews....
Grand Manan-Grand Harbour
North Head
Gageto vm......
Maugerville....
"
Middle District
Fredericton
"
College School
Douglas.......
Queensbury....
Woodstock-Lower District
"
Middle District
11
Upper District
Northampton....
Scotch Settlement
Wakefield-Lower District
11
Middle District
Military Settlements-No. 1
No. 2
No. p
No. 4
Total
50
51
166
66
156
89
76
117
52
39
79
4|
36
135
76
t
131
159
116
^,736
992
Remarkable Growth
An examination of these returns shows that in four years
the number of pupils enrolled had increased from 992 to 4-,736.
The increase certainly was a notable one.
Nevertheless, the
establishment of Madras schools called forth considerable op­
position in certain quarters on denominational graounds.
Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists
Roman
were all
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69
anxious their children should receive the benefit of secular
education, but not equally desirous that they should be taught
the catechism of the Established Church, or be placed under the
religious instruction of the rectors of the parishes.
In spite,
however, of the prejudices thus created, Madras schools continued
to multiply with surprising rapidity, and there can be no doubt
whatever that for more than a decade the system over-shadowed
all other methods of elementary education in New Brunswick, and
was upon the whole, a very great boon to the people.
Speaking of the state of education in the Province at this
time, Peter Fisher 1 says that most of the parish schools were
conducted on the Madras system.
He adds:
"The state of learning in this province is very flourishing
compared to what it was a few years ago. When the country
was first settled the opportunities of obtaining a liberal
education were small and confined to a few. From this
cause many persons who fill important stations in the sev­
eral counties are found very deficient in learning, but
this, from the many provisions lately made, will cease in
a few years, and men will always be found to fill all pub­
lic offices with learning sufficient to enable them to
discharge their several duties with credit to themselves
and advantage to the public."
In spite of the rapid increase in Madras schools it v/as
found in the year l£>2^-
only about one-third of the children
of school age in the Province were in attendance at school, and
of these only one-third were present daily on an average.
In 1S27 there were J>1 Madras schools in operation, attended
by 12^6 pupils of whom ^22 were attending the school in Saint
John.
There waa for a number of years a school in Saint John
and another in Fredericton for Negro children.
1.
2.
Peter Fisher— Sketches of New Brunswick.
0 . U. Hay— Article in Canada and Its Provinces. Vol. XIV, p. h?2
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70
Most of the rural schools were finally abandoned and in
1370, the year before the Common School Act was passed, there
were only eleven Madras schools in the Province, of which three
were in Saint John and one in Fredericton.
The enrollment for
the Madras schools in these cities was 201 and 254- pupils re­
spectively, a total of 1,135.
The total number of pupils at­
tending all the Madras school in the Province in 1070 was only
1,4-24-, so they had grown very little in half a century.
Causes of C-rowth.
The growth and development of the Madras system were due
to several causes.
(a) It had the distinguished patronage of
the Lleutenant-C-overnor and his advisers,
port of the Clergy
(b)
It had the sup­
of the Church of England, who had hitherto
been the leaders in educational matters,
(c)
The citizens
were favorably impressed by the discipline and the quasi-mili­
tary characteristics.
(d)
It filled one of the great needs
of the young colony, namely, elementary education for the chil­
dren of all classes of the people at a small cost,
(e)
The
Press was favorable:
"The Madras system is the result of an experiment made
at Madras to render easy, pleasant, expeditious and eco­
nomical the acquisition of the rudiments of education and
to combine in harmonious union the progress and amusement
of the scholar, the ease and satisfaction of the master
and the interest of the parent." 1
(f)
Valuable grants of land and large bequests were re­
ceived.
Saint John Courier, Jan. 1 7 , 1010.
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71
Causes of Decline.
The decline of the Madras system may be explained by the
following facts:
(a)
It was not applicable to rural New Bruns­
wick because of the scattered population,
(b)
The introduction
of free schools (1S72) provided education at little cost,
(c)
The withdrawal of the provincial grants made it impossible to
continue.
"Still they continued to exist under the old charter, with­
out any responsibility to the Province by which they had
been founded and endowed, until 1900 when an arrangement
was made by which upwards of $10,000 of the securities
held by them were transferred to the University of New
Brunswick for the support of that institution, and the
balance of their property handed over to the Diocesan
Synod of Fredericton for the maintenance of schools to
be under their control. This arrangement was ratified
by legislative enactment and thus the remaining Madras
schools became Church of England Schools by authority
of law." I"
The co-operation of the three organizations, the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Society for the Promoting
of Christian Knowledge, and the National Society, in the task
of providing educational facilities for the Province is one of
the most interesting developments in the history of New Bruns­
wick.
It must be remembered that all three societies were
closely associated with the Established Church of England and
all educational efforts were dominated by religious motives.
At this period many new immigrants were arriving and many of
these were not members or adherents of the Established Church.
The desire to stem the tide of immigrating DissenterE pro­
bably accounts for the closer co-operation and renewed efforts
of the societies.
1.
James Hannay— History of New Brunswick. Vol. 1. pp.357-35S
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CHAPTER VIII
PARISH SCHOOLS 1325-1871
The Act of 1823 evidently produced fairly satisfactory re­
sults because In 1828 a committee appointed by the House of As­
sembly reported as follows:
"The committee have had under their consideration the oper­
ation of the Act for the Encouragement of Parish Schools,
and have much pleasure in stating that from information re­
ceived from every part of this province, it appears that
very great and lasting benefits have been derived from
operations of the said Act." 1
Parish schools were located at Sackvllle, G-agetown, Maugerville, Chatham, Kingston, St. Andrews, and Fredericton.
The re­
port contained in the Colonial Papers 2 shows that in 1828 there
were 238 male and only 11 female students in attendance at these
schools.
A note states:
"There was also a number of other parish schools throughout
the province to each of which there was a grant of £20 when
the inhabitants subscribed £30 towards the support of each
master. No returns were received from these schools." 3
Act of 1829.
The Act of 1823 was amended by an Act passed in 1829, which
empowered the trustees
1.
2.
3.
Journal of House of Assembly, 1829. p. 89.
Report of Colony of New Brunswick, 1828. p. $ 6 ,
Loc. Clt.
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73
"to admit any number of free scholars, being the children
of indigent parents." 1
The Justices
"are hereby authorized if they think proper, to appoint a
committee of tv/o or more persons to inspect parish schools,
in their respective and If necessary report the state of
the same to the Lieutenant-Governor." 2
At this time difficulties arose from the fact that school
houses were private property and it was now enacted
"that the Justices of the Peace and the
endeavor to cause the school houses to
public land of any county, and that no
be removed from one part of the parish
without the order of the Justices." 3
trustees shall
be built on the
school house shall
to another part
In 1229, ‘the number of schools had so increased that it be­
came necessary to increase the maximum grant allowed to any one
parish to £l4o, with the added protection
"that no county in the Province shall be entitled to re­
ceive a larger sum from the provincial treasury in any
one year than will arise from an average of £100 for each
and every parish in the said' county." ”
In 1233 ^ the largest possible grant to be apportioned to
any one parish was increased to £160 with the average for the
county set at £120.
Boarding
Round.
Female teachers were first mentioned by the Act of 1233 ^
which provided for a difference not only in the salary received
from the parish, but also in the provincial grant to male a.nd
female teachers.
A male teacher was to receive from the legis­
lature £20 for twelve months, while a female was to receive £10
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
10 George IV. Cap. XXIII.Sect. 3
10 George IV. Cap. XXII. Sect. 6 .
Ibid. Sect.4
Ibid. Sect. 2
3 William IV. Cap. XXI. Sect.5
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7^
for this same period.
Equal sums were to be contributed by the
inhabitants of each parish for the support of the teacher.
Pro­
vision was also made by this Act whereby the inhabitants of the
parish might provide "boa.rd, washing, and lodging" in lieu of a
share of the salary to be paid by the parish.
This pernicious clause persisted in the legislation until
free schools were provided in 1$71
It would seem that such an arrangement as "boarding round"
would reduce the cost of education to the level within the reach
of all, but evidently such was not the case.
"Unless the means of obtaining an education can be made less
expensive the youth of our Province must remain undeucated,
or otherwise be sent from home, perhaps to the United States,
(which is certainly objectionable) where education can be
obtained at a more moderate rate." ^
The rate of remuneration to teachers was not well calculated
to attract competent persons and the result was very unsatisfac­
tory.
Yost of the teachers employed were old men who had a mere
smattering of learning and who were very Incompetent Instructors.
They usually boarded around among the parents of the pupils,
living at each house in proportion to the number of scholars sent.
"This system, which raised them but one degree above the
condition of paupers, was not conducive to their comforts
or self-respect. As there was no uniformity in the books
prescribed and not sufficient educational texts the results
of such teaching were not likely to be satisfactory.
Sometimes the teacher was a woman who eked out a scanty
subsistence by communicating her small learning to a few
scholars whom she taught in her kitchen. Generally the
school building was a log hut without any of those ap­
pliances now regarded as essential to the proper in­
struction of Youth." 2
1.
2.
Saint John Courier, April 11, 18>35.
James Hannay— Life and Times of Sir Leonard Tilley, p. 21.
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75
Act of 1837.
By the Act of 1237 “ t^ie trustees were authorized to divide
the parish into such school districts "as may he found convenient",
hut the parish remained the unit of administration.
The number
of female teachers was limited to three in each parish.
The most
important innovation in this Act was the appointment of a Board
of Education for each county by the Lieutenant-Governor~in-Counp
oil.
With this board was vested the duty of licensing teachers
for
"it is expedient that the applicants for parish school li­
censes shall undergo an examination as to moral character,
literary attainments and loyal principles, before obtaining
legal authority to.undertake the highly important and re­
sponsible duty of teaching." 5
In 1237 ^ the largest possible grant to any one parish
was increased to £120 and the average for the county set at £l60.
The largest number of free scholars allowed in any school was
set at five by the Act of 1237.
Educational progress was certain to be slow because New
Brunswick at an early period incurred the reproach of being some­
what illiterate a character which applied even to the individuals
holding positions in the government.
In the legislature of 1237-33 ^ a heated discussion arose
concerning the appropriation for grammar schools.
One member,
during the discussion, remarked that "the parish school grants
were almost always unanimously made and those for grammar schools
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7 William IV. Cap. VIII.
Ibid. Sect. 10
Ibid. Sect. 10
Ibid. Sect. 6 .
Hugh Murray— History of BritishAmerica. Vcl.
II. p. 255.
Debates of the House of Assembly,IS37-3S. p.27.
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION!
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76
were passed with much difficulty".
He gave as the reason that
"the former had given almost universal satisfaction and the lat­
ter had not".
Commission Appointed.
During the session of the legislature in 18^4, the matter
of parish schools was discussed and a commission was appointed
"consisting of James Brown, M.P., John Gregory, and S.Z.
Earle, K.D., to make a careful inspection of all parish
schools and other institutions receiving provincial aid
for educational purposes." 1
From the report submitted to the assembly by these gen­
tlemen, it appears that in Ig^^l— ^4-5 2 there we re some 500 schools
in the Province having an enrolled attendance of 15,924- pupils.
The increase in the number of parish schools and in the enroll­
ment between the years 1828 (p. 72) and 1845 is remarkable and
one might conclude that educationally all was well in the Prov­
ince if it were not for the words of L. A. Wilmot, Chairman of
the Educational Committee of the House of Assembly in 1845,
"The Committee hope that the Legislature will be prepared
at the next session to adopt such improvements in the
present system as will carry with them the approbation
and support of the country, and at the same time, to en­
sure those educational advantages which are in great
measure denied by the present defective system." 3
Act .of 1847.
For some reason the legislature did not Introduce the de­
sired legislation until 1847 ^ when "An Act to Provide for the
1.
2.
3.
4.
Journal of the House of Assembly, 1844. p. 16
Educational Circular. October 1577> No. 6. p. 51
Journal of the House of Assembly 1845. p. 342.
10 Victoria Cap. LVI.
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77
Support and Improvement of Parish Schools" was passed.
Not only does this Act recapitulate the hest enactments
of the period, hut it includes certain new measures which are
a forecast of the subsequent legislation which provided for an
improved system of schools throughout the Province.
This Act
provided that Kis Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor and the
members of the Executive Council were to constitute a Board of
Education
having power to establish Provincial Training and
Model Schools,^ to appoint two school inspectors for the Prov­
ince and to establish agencies in different parts of the Prov­
ince for the sale of school boohs.
Two training schools were
established, one in Fredericton, of which Marshal D'Avary was
appointed master, and one in Saint John under the control of
Edmund H. Duval.
The Board of Education was empowered "to make,
sanction, require and enforce the system of instruction" also
to "select and determine the set of boohs and apparatus to
be used" in the schools of the Province.
The teachers were al­
so required to use prescribed forms for registering and re­
porting the general routine of their schools.
The prescribed
boohs and apparatus were to be provided by a large sum set a part for that purpose in the respective counties
within the
Province, and sold for the use of such schools at prices fixed
by the Board of Education. 3
These book-sellers were required
to report annually concerning the boohs received and sold by
them.
1.
2.
5.
10 Victoria. Cap. 56 Sect. 111.
Journal of the House of Assembly, Ig^F. P. 25
10'Victoria. Cap. 56 Sect. 16
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The largest possible parish grant to schools was now set
at £260, with a county average of £130.
Hannay, speaking 0? this Act, says,
"The object was to introduce a uniform system of teaching
throughout the province, and to have teachers classified
according to their ability. This law placed the schools
on quite a new footing and although it was far from being
perfect it was a great improvement on former school laws." 1
This Act was the basis of a system of education which con­
tinued until the Free Schools Act of 1372.
Classification of Teachers.
Trained teachers were classified according to their attain­
ments.
"Teachers of the lowest class shall be qualified to teach
reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic of whole num­
bers, including simple interest and the combination of
rules called ‘Practice'. Teachers of the Second Class
shall be qualified to teach spelling, writing, arith­
metic, reading, English Grammar, geography and book­
keeping; teachers of the highest class shall be quali­
fied to teach spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic,
English grammar, book-keeping, natural philosophy, al­
gebra, geometry, trigonometry, mensuration, land survey
and navigation." Male teachers of these classes were to receive provincial
aid varying with their class of license, at the rate of £13 for
a third class teacher for one year, £22 for a second class teacher
and £30 for a first class teacher.
The grant to a licensed un­
trained teacher was to continue to be £20 for one year.
Un­
trained teachers were to be allowed to continue in service for
a limited period only.
1.
2,
In order to Induce the licensed but un­
James Hannav— Historv of New Brunswick.
10 Victoria Cap. 56. Sect. 11.
Vol.II p. Ill
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79
trained teachers of the Province to avail themselves of the ad­
vantages of a training school
the sum of 10s. a week for a
period not exceeding ten weeks was to be allowed and paid to every
licensed teacher to enable him to pay the necessary expenses of
board and lodging for attending the training school.
This amount
was to be granted by the Provincial Treasurer when the teacher
"produced a satisfactory certificate of competency and the time
of attendance, from the teacher of the Training School".
There were many defects in this early system.
A glaring
defect was the method of supporting school by the ancient means
of subscription and tuition.
Two early defects which were later
corrected were the method parish inspection and the parish li­
censing of teachers.
The Parish School Acts of this period
(122*4— 1271) v/ere experimental in character.
Internal evidence
of this is to be found in the time limiting clause of each act;
also the evidence of gradual development shown from the earliest
to the latest enactment.
Buildings.
The school buildings were not satisfactory, at this period,
and equipment was almost entirely lacking.
"Look at the miserable huts which in many parts of the coun­
try are made to answer the purpose of a school, many of them
in such a state that every wind of Heaven has free entrance,
sc small, so inconvenient that they would make indifferent
pig— styes, and yet in them the unfortunate children must
spend the day, in them the still more unfortunate teacher
must perform his laborious and important duties, he must
!.
Ibid. Sect. 2.
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teach reading and spelling without boohs, geography with­
out maps, and oftentimes writing ana cyphering without
paper or slates.” 1
The lack of equipment and comfortable buildings may account
in part for the difficulty in keeping order in the school.
Fenety 2 stated
"Whatever now may be the mode of teachers in the infliction
of corporal punishment the practice at an earlier date was
often excessive, cruel and barbarous. Children were flogged
for trifling faults, such as, not having their lessons per­
fect, slight inattention to duty, or childish pranks. The.
fear of the rod used to keep the child in continual dread
and interfered with its studies."
The number of parish schools increased slowly.
In l& k S ^
there were 5^7 such schools with an enrollment of 1 6 ,066.
Act of 1552.
In 1252 the legislature passed an Act ^ which provided for
the appointment by the G-overnor-in-Cour.cil of a Chief Superin­
tendent, who should be a member of the Board of Education and
its secretary; and for the appointment, by the same authority,
of an inspector for each county of the Province.
But one train­
ing and model school for the Province was to be maintained, and
female teachers were to receive less provincial aid, according
to the class of their license, than men.
The people of a school
district could assess themselves for the erection of a school
house or the support of the school, and the teacher in any school
supported by assessment should receive twenty-five per cent, in­
crease of provincial aid.
1.
2.
3.
4-.
This inducement to assess for school
S. W. Bailey— Our Schools. 1&4-7-1S5S.
Gr. Fenety— Political Notes and Observations. Vol. I. p. 163.
Report of the Colony of New Brunswick, lg46.
15 Victoria Can. 407
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21
purposes utterly failed in its object.
This Act authorized the Chief Superintendent, with the
sanction of the Board of Education, to select the text-books for
use in the schools.
"The school books sanctioned by the Board were the cheap
and admirable series published by the Irish Board of Com­
missioners of National Education, already extensively
used in the Provincial Parish schools." -*■
First School Report.
For the first time one is able to get a complete picture
of the parish schools.
Previously, complete reports were not
compiled or are entirely lost, but from the First Parish School
Report c comes the following valuable information:
Schools to
the number of 622 were operated having IS,591 pupils enrolled.
The schools were supported by various methods; the teacher,
public subscription, assessment, by the Madras Board.
Of the
700 school houses provided, 107 were made of logs; 3^0 of these
were without yard or toilet facilities of any kind; 5^0 were
owned by the districts.
Of the teachers, 445 were males and 237 were females; 170
were Anglicans, 1 ^ Roman Catholics, 115 Presbyterians, 30 Meth­
odists, 137 Baptists and 14- Congregationalists.
Private schools existed to the number of 36, having an en­
rollment of 362.
One is impressed by the large proportion of teachers
holding licenses of the lowest class.
1.
2.
Of the 623 teachers, 449
Report of Parish Schools for Year 1252. p . 6.
Ibid.
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were of the third or lowest class, ik G were of the second class
and only 37 of the first class, of this last number 31 were
The schools were not graded, but had pupils of all ages
and all levels of attainment in the one room.
Speaking of Saint
John schools, Inspector Dole suggests:
"Instead of dealing with the school population there on the
principle of dividing it perpendicularly, (according to
the expressive figure of Horace Mann) thus increasing the
number of schools comprising children of all ages and at­
tainments; why not divide the strata horizontally and
classifying the pupils and regularly grading the schools
in a manner incomparably more thorough and economical than
can possibly be the result of the extension of present
primitive and inefficient arrangements?" JIn 1352, for the second time, a distinction was made in
the grants to male and female teachers, as follows:
Males
First Class
Second Class
Third Class
£30
£20
£13
Females
These grants were in aid of the teacher.
First Class
Second Class
Third Class
£20
£13
£lU-
The upkeep of
the school and any further salary paid the teacher were met by
subscription.
The practice of "boarding round" seems to have prevented
many capable persons from entering the teaching profession.
"The system which prevails extensively, of the teacher
'boarding round1 is especially felt to be degrading, and
often creates a disgust that induces young men to relin­
quish the work. In some districts it may yet be necessary.
In many.places it has been discontinued; but it is still
maintained in many districts where the people are able
without any inconvenience to remunerate the teacher by
making money payments. The poor fare and indifferent
lodging which in many of the houses fall to their lot; the
difficulty of pursuing their necessary studies while sur­
rounded by a family of young and probably ill-trained chil­
1.
Report of Parish Schools, 1352. p. 23
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23
dren; the feeling of dependence created in some sensitive
minds; the too great, hut unavoidable familiarity, often
breeding contempt and impairing their authority in school;
the difficulty of pleasing families of different religious
persuasions; and the necessity of dwelling in turns with
families, from whom (with, or without reason) they feel a
shrinking; all conspire to create an aversion to the sys­
tem, and as a consequence, to the work." 1
Act of 1352.
In 1S5S, through the efforts of Hon. Charles Fisher, the
legislature passed an "Act Relating to Parish Schools'*. 2
By
it the Province was divided into four inspectorial districts, in­
stead of two, as under the Act of 12^7> ?? fourteen as under the
Act of 1352.
A superior school for each parish was encouraged
by a special grant and by a similar expedient school libraries
were established.
This Act also provided for the election of
school trustees by each parish or town, whereas previously they
had been appointed.
These trustees were to divide the parish in­
to school districts, to give a licensed teacher authority to open
a school in any district having a suitable school house.
Among the duties laid upon the teacher was that of incul­
cating Christian principles in the minds of the pupils.
The
Board of Education provided, by regulation, for the reading of
the Bible and specified that the Douay version might be read in
Roman Catholic
schools.
a claim by the
Roman Catholics that the Act of 1252 entitled them
These provisions were the foundation of
to teach their
own religion in parish schools.
A premium of ten per cent, additional provincial aid was
offered by this Act to every district that would support its
1. Report of Parish Schools,. 135^. p. 37
2. 21 Victoria Cap. IX
3. Ibid.. Sect. 6
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24schools by taxes assessed upon property.
This Act remained on
the Statue Book fourteen years, yet not a single county, munic­
ipality or parish had during all these years, supported its school
by assessment, as permitted by the law, and only here and there a
district had done so, as in some parts of York and Charlotte coun­
ties.
The experience of these districts was sufficient to deter
other districts and probably the parishes and counties from
making their territory the arena of conflicts, the results of which,
however fairly won, were liable to be wrested from them at any mo­
ment by the ceaseless machinations of the minority.
The inspec­
tors ana Chief Superintendent reported year by year in favor of
the adoption of assessment as a mode of support, but the legis­
lature did not seem to heed.
"In 1259 the terminal school attendance was 25,758 pupils;
in 1271, it had increased to only 33,981. In truth, for
years, prior to 1271, It was clearly seen by intelligent
men that unless New Brunswick established a system of free
education, supported by direct assessment, masses of her
population must grow up in ignorance, while few would're­
ceive that degree and quality of training necessary to
place them on something like an equal footing with those
reared in the sister Provinces and states, which had es­
tablished free systems."
Here was a genuine crisis in the history of New Brunswick
demanding the exercise of true statesmanship and the noblest
patriotism.
All honor to the statesmanship and enlightened
.patriotism of George S. King, through whose efforts a law was
passed, which declared education to be the birthright of all the
children and decreed that the property of the country should be
assessed, and all possible means used, in order that every child
should receive his birthright.
1. W. -S. Carter— History of School Legislation. Saint John Globe,
Dec. 13, 1911.
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CHAPTER IX
PRIVATE, CHURCH, AND CHARITY SCHOOLS.
Private Schools.
From the earliest days of settlement until the present
time New Brunswick has had a goodly number of private schools.
Among the Loyalists were well educated parents and the efforts
of the early schoolmasters were supplemented by private in­
struction in the home.
In an old manuscripts 1 written by
one of the early settlers who came to Gagetown in 17^3 is re­
lated the story of how the children learned to write during
the long winter evenings by means of "copy slips" provided by
their elders.
Reference is also made to a school kept in a
private house for three or four months.
Apparently, the establishment of schools among the Eng­
lish settlers was largely a matter of private enterprise, while
among the French the church and the monks took the initiative.
Considering the historical background of these two nations, this
attitude towards
education is just what is to be expected.
"Many of the first schools established were in private
houses and were conducted for only a few months each year.
1.
Bradley, Mary— "A Narrative of the Life and Christian Experience
Of Mrs. Mary Bradley.
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The teachers were chiefly of the itinerant type, many of
them discharged soldiers, and not always of good moral
character. The meagre pittance they received obliged them
to depend in part on other occupations for a living." #
No uniform plan or method of instruction was adopted, and
for a time each teacher was the law unto himself.
Rivalry a-
mong the teachers was keen because the success and reputation of
a teacher depended upon his ability to attract a large number of
pupils.
After the arrival of the Loyalists (17&3), many private
schools sprang up.
In Saint John the following public notice
appeared:
"John Sinnot begs leave to inform the public that he has
opened a school at Mo. 131 Charlotte Street (he having re­
ceived encouragement from several gentlemen for that pur­
pose), to teach youth reading, writing, arithmetic, book­
keeping, ganging, geometry, surveying, dialing, etc. at
the most reasonable terms. Said Sinnot assures such per­
sons who may send their children, that every possible at­
tention will be paid them, not only with respect to their
instruction in the above particulars, but in their morals
and behavior. Dated at Parr#, June JO, 172#." Nor was Saint John the only place where private schools
were found in early days, for we find a school organized at King­
ston.
An entry in the diary of Israel Hoyt 3 reads:
"Nov. 27, 17S7. Began to build a school."
at it eleven days."
Later, "Worked
Reference has already been made (p. 23) to the private
schools conducted in Fredericton by Sealing. Stephen Williams,
and Matthew Brannen.
# Now Saint John.
1.
2.
3.
G. U. Hay— Canada-Its Provinces. Vol. XIV. P. 5#5.
W. 0. Raymond— New Brunswick Schools of Olden Times. Vol. VIII.
May, 1895. No. 12. p. 22g.
R. P. Gorham— Early Educational Developments eg Loyalist
Kingston, p. 5.
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27
Schools for Adults.
The keen competition among those who sought to secure pat­
ronage for their schools, led to the establishment of night schools
and the following advertisement refers to one of these:
"Evening School— The Subscriber, ever grateful for past en­
couragement, proposes to commence an evening school on the
evening of the 6th day of November (1797) where pupils may
be taught Arithmetic, either vulgarly or decimally, Book­
keeping by double entry, Geography, Chronology, and the
Doctrines of the Globes
the elements of Geometry and Tri­
gonometry with their application in any of the following
branches of Mathematics, viz.: Mensuration (in lineal,
superficial, and solid measures), Gauging, Surveying,
Navigation, Dialing, Construction of Charts, etc. Terms
may be known by applying to the Public’s most obliged hum­
ble servant.
Saint John, October 20, 1797> Signed.........William Jennison." 3
It will be noticed that the subjects mentioned in the ad­
vertisements are those which appeal to men and the subjects usually were those not taught in parish schools.
Evidently, schools
were later provided for the teaching of the fine arts, which ap­
pealed to ladies.
At Saint John some time previous to 1S&1 there was a pri­
vate school for girls conducted by Mrs. Harriet Gale Hunt.
Of
this school we read:
"In that period of the world's history there were some
strange ideas respecting the education of women. Astron­
omy was entirely beyond the female intellect. Physiology
was improper. Some other studies, that are now1 considered
necessary, were tabooed for one reason or another. The
gray matter, with which Providence had endowed those young
ladies, was, of course quite inefficient to cope with the
intricacies of mathematics. To be sufficiently clever to
go as far as proportion, which w^as called the rule of three,
was looked upon as a marvel. At this time most attention
was paid to what was called the "Accomplishments" I.e.,
Music, Painting, French, Italian, Dancing and Department." 2
1.
2.
Raymond— Op. Pit, p. 22S.
Telegraph-Journal Oct. 1, 192S.
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gg
It would seem that many of the adults could not write for
we find the following advertisement:
"Penmanship: Mr. Homer, teacher of practical penmanship,
begs leave most respectfully to inform the Ladies and Gen­
tlemen of Chatham and its vieinty that he has opened a
class for instruction in the above elegant and useful art,
in the large room above Mr. J. Samuel's Store, where he will
be happy to impart to all persons of every age and capacity,
in twelve easy lessons of one hour each, a system of Pen­
manship, which is to Gentlemen suitable for the counting
house or General Business, being bold, free and mercantile,
and to Ladies delicate, graceful, fashionalbe and neat."-*Probably, one of the most unique advertisements for a school
ever written is the one which the Misses Mackintosh wrote on
March 11, lS4-3> f0^ the British Academy of Saint John.
According
to an account of the school given in a comparatively recent pa2
per, they proposed to teach English grammar, reading,ancient
and modern history.composition, rhetoric, philosophy, natural
and moral botany, geography, astronomy, algebra, arithmetic,
bookkeeping, French, Latin, drawing (six styles), artificaj,
rice, water, oil, oriental tinting, penciling (two modes)
transferring, writing (round and square), music, pianoforte,
guitar and accordion, needlework, plain, ornamental, colored,
netting, fancy knitting, velvet and crape embroidery, point
work, Italian, German, and French, fancy work, fly cages, let­
ter racks, match boxes, etc., water, rices and alum work, wax
fruit and flowers, bead, twist and braid work, dancing, Victoria
and Lowe's quadrilles, lancers, cotillions, and other fashion­
able dances.
Due regard was paid to the religious and scien­
tific improvement of youth.
1.
2.
Chatham Gleaner, Oct. 29, 1S39.
Saint John Globe, Oct. 23, 1909.
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39
According to G-esner,1 among the immigrants there were per­
sons of rank and some degree of eminence, who considered them­
selves a kind of aristocracy.
There was a constant struggle be­
tween the aristocratic principle and the spirit of freedom, char­
acteristic of the Americans.
These aristocrats probably sent
their children to the private schools after the custom of the
English noblemen.
Church Schools.
In Chapter II It was noted that the early schools for
French were founded by Roman Catholic missionaries.
The various
Protestant denominations made efforts to establish schools.
In
Chapter IV and VII attention has been paid to educational efforts
of the Established Church of England,
Wesleyan Schools.
The Wesleyans made two attempts to establish schools.
schools were located at Saint John and Sackville.
These
The former,
generally known as the "Varley School" became part of the Pro­
vincial school system after the passing of the Free Schools Act
1371.
The latter, known as Mount Allison Academy ^ was opened
13^2.
The United Church of Canada has operated this school
since 1925.
"The Varley Wesleyan day school of Saint John, N. B., opened
in 135^ in a large brick building designed for the purpose,
funds for its establishment having been provided by a be­
quest of Mark Varley, an Englishman, resident for many years
1.
2.
Abraham G-esner— New Brunswick v/lth Notes for Immigrants, p. 325*
A. G-. Stephen— Private Schools in Canada, p.
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90
in Saint John, to which a grant of £100 was added by the
Legislature of the Province." ^
Irish Schools.
Apparently, the Irish Roman Catholic clergy of the Province
early felt the urge to provide school privileges for their par­
ishioners.
The first mention of such a school is found in the
following news item:
"There is a Roman Catholic school in Saint John where poor
children to any number are received, free of all expenses.
The grant of £50 was rejected by the Legislative Council,
in aid to individual subscriptions, to support a Catholic
school in Saint John, where some hundreds of poor children
have no other means whatever of obtaining an education,
but who for want of suitable instruction are subjected to
vice and immorality of every description." 2
.With the aid of the Sessions and later a moderate grant
from the provincial government schools were established by the
Roman Catholic Church for the poorer children.
Reverend James
Dunphv was one of the energetic Roman Catholic priests, inter­
ested in education.
A copy of a report on his work dated July,
1S4-3, tells something of the work of this school.
"The committee appointed by the Sessions to examine into
the state of the Roman Catholic school in this city, and
to hand over to the Rev. James Dunphy the warrant for the
legislative grants for £50 and £15 0 , beg leave to report:
That in pursuance of the duties assigned to your committee,
they have in the first place visited the female department
of the school, which is under the immediate management of
Mrs. Holmes and her daughter, and feel great pleasure in
stating that the senior class exhibited specimens of their
penmanship highly deserving of praise; their reading was
correct, and their knowledge of arithmetic and grammar ex­
ceeded our expectations. The order, cleanliness, neatness
and propriety of conduct that prevaded all the classes ex­
cited our admiration and evidently entitled Mrs Holmes
1.
2.
T.V^atson Smith— History of Methodist Church.
Saint John Courier, April 11. 1835.
Vol. II. p.^90.
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91
and her daughter, to the praise and gratitude of the com­
munity. Your committee, therefore, have much pleasure in
bearing testimony to the efficient manner in which Mrs.
Holmes' departments have been conducted. The number of
girls present was 130, but it often exceeds 200, comprising
all ages from 5 t0 15 years old. Your committee next vis­
ited the boys' school which is at present under the super­
intendence of Mr. John Sullivan.
In this department, too,
your committee witnessed great improvement in point of sys­
tem and education. Some of the boys showed an aptness
towards the attainment of solid instruction, their reading
was pretty good, and they answered the questions proposed
on several subjects as well as could be expected consid­
ering their ages and opportunities. When it is recollected
that the school consists of the poorest members of society,
who cannot be induced to give constant, and regular attenance at their studies, and that those who attend constantly
fluctuate, we do not hesitate to say that their progress
fully realized our anticipations. Those who attend during
the summer months are chiefly under 15 years, end who, if
they were not at this school, would be passing their time
in idleness, and perhaps vice. The number of boys on the
day of examination was 132; the average number, however,
does not always come up to that in the summer months but
in the winter it frequently reaches 250, many of whom are
of mature age. Your committee regret that the limited size
of the school rooms and the contracted dimensions of the
grounds adjacent thereto, are such as to make it highly
necessary for the better and more effectual improvement of
the school,that increased accommodations should be afforded
which your committee hope and trust some means will be de­
vised to carry into effect. Your committee in conclusion
deem it proper to state that from the inability of the parents
of the children tc contribute towards the expense of sup­
porting the school, its maintenance has been a continued
annual expense to the Rev. Mr. Dunphy. His Reverence having
advanced since the last annual report the amount of £37 be-~
yond the grants made by the Legislature for its support.
Your committee have handed to the Rev. Mr. Dunphy, the
warrants of the Treasury above alluded to.
Respectfully submitted,
Saint John, July, 134-3•
James T. Hanford,
James C-allagher,
Committee." 1
Early schools were established and operated by the Roman
p
Catholic order of the Christian Brothers.w
1.
2.
One of their schools
Saint John Globe, Jan. 1 5 , 1910.
John A. Bowes— frew Brunswick Magazine, Karch 1905, Vol. V.
No. 2. p. 123.
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once occupied the site of the present St. Joseph's School in
^aint John.
In I86l ^ there were at least four Roman Catholic Schools
receiving grants from the Provincial Legislature.
Baptist Schools
In New Brunswide, the Baptists were not slow to realize
the importance of establishing a school to teach the tenets of
that denomination.
"On account of the Collegiate school in Fredericton being
essentially Church of England, another school was needed
and was proposed by the Rev. Frederick Miles.
The Bap­
tist Seminary was opened in 1835 under the Rev. Frederick
Miles with eighty male students while Mrs. Miles took
charge of the forty female students and the boarding of
the students. The building, a large wooden structure,
was in use until free schools were adopted in 1372." ^
This seminary was the cause of many debates in the Legis­
lature, and in d'ue time all provincial aid
was refused.
For
five successive years the House of Assembly voted a grant of
four or five hundred pounds in aid of the seminary, but their
purpose was as often defeated by the Legislative Council on the
ground that it was recognized principle that public money should
not be given in aid of religious or literary institutions for
the dissemination of the peculiar tenets of the denomination by
which they are established:
"This pretext must have been deemed most flimsy by men who
were aware that the sum of £ 2,200 was being bestowed an­
nually upon King's College, where the theological chair
and all religious teachings were Episcopalian in charac­
ter, and that a further sum of £Loo per year was being
1.
2.
K. H. Brownell— The English in America, p. ^78
L. B. Maxwell— History of Central New~Brunswick, p. 158
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93
given to the Madras Schools, in v/hich the regular teaching
of the 'Church1 catechism formed an important branch." ^
The Baptist Seminary was located in Saint John City but
later it was moved to St. Martin's where it remained until it
was finally closed because sufficient funds were not available.
Presbyterian Schools.
The Presbyterian church was responsible for the opening of
an Academy at Chatham in 1861, but it was not successful.
"A Presbyterian Academy is to open in Chatham. The Masters
William Crocket and George McNeil. English Reading $1.00 '
per term'; Ditto with writing and arithmetic $1.50; Ditto
with English Grammar, Composition, Geography, use of Globes,
History $2.00; Ditto with Mechanical Drawing, Mathematics,
Mechanics and Physical Science $2.50; Ditto^wlth Latin,
Greek, and French
^-e year will consist of four
terms." 2
In 1865 this institution was closed and no further edu­
cational efforts were made by the Presbyterians in this Province.
Present Day Church Schools.
Today the following church schools are doing elementary
school work:
School
Academy Assumption
Congrgation de Notre Dame
Convent of Jesus Mary
St. Mary's Academy
1.
2.
Campbellton
Caraquet.
Lameque
Newcastle
T. Watson Smith— History of Methodist Church.
Chatham Gleaner— Nov. 16, lS6l.
Vol. II. p. 33$.
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91!-
School
Location.
Netherwood
Rothesay Collegiate
Mount Allison Academy
Hotel Dieu of St. Joseph
Mount Carmel Academy
Convent of our Lady of the Sacred
Heart
Home of the Good Shepherd
St. Patrick's Industrial
Holy Family Academy
St. Gertrude's
Rothesay
Rothesay
Sackvilie
St. Basil
Saint John
Saint Joseph
Saint John
Silver Falls
Tracadie
Woodstock 1
Of these schools, Netherwood and Rothesay Collegiate
are
controlled by the Church of England, having received part of
the Madras school fund;
Mount Allison Academy by the United
Church of Canada and all the others by the Roman Catholic Church.
The larger number of Schools controlled by the Roman Catholics
is explained by the attitude of their clergy towards non-sec­
tarian schools.
Charity Schools.
Charity Schools were found in several of the larger centres.
Probably the best known was the "Ragged School" located in Saint
John.
The following account of this school gives a picture of
the work done there.
"RAC-GED SCHOOL. SAINT JOHN.
The Institution originated and so far has been almost
wholly sustained by the exertions of a few charitable la­
dies, who, finding in their visits among the poor, that
many children were kept at home by their parents because
they had not clothes to put them on an equality with
others of their schoolmates, procured a room in the early
1.
Annual Report, Department of Education, 1929. p. 209
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95
part of the summer and got together a few poor children
for the purpose of instruction. The School was soon well
filled and the ladies gave it every attention, each taking
day about in teaching the children, until at last a lady
volunteered to take charge of it altogether. The actual
number of names on the school books is j 6 .
The society of ladies, immediatel3r interested, have a
President, Secretary and Treasurer, and an account is kept
of every thing received and expended. The society meets
once a week to make up clothes for the children, the ma­
terials having been furnished in some degree by a few of
the Dry Goods Stores. As the Ragged School is conducted
upon a broad Christian principle free from any sectarian
bias, it warmly recommends itself to the charity of all
classes, and donations either in clothes or money will be
thankfully received by the Teacher at the School Room. 11 ^
This school continued for some years and in 1S66 c there
were 136 children, of both sexes, enrolled with an average daily
attendance of about 100.
Two teachers were employed.
The Charity Schools were supported by public subscriptions,
fees or fines collected by a C-rand or Special Jury, concerts,
and bazaars, and the allowance from the governement for a free
school.
Sunday Schools.
The establishment of the first Sunday School, so far as
can be ascertained, in this Province is referred to in the fol­
lowing advertisement:
"As the profanation of the Sabbath has of late years be­
come truly alarming, so as to threaten the utter sub­
version of religion and subordination: in order, if
possible, to stop so growing an evil, Sunday Schools have
been established in many places, particularly in England,
the happy effects of 'which have exceeded the utmost ex­
pectations. A similar institution is now begun in this
1.
2.
The Morning News. Jan. 6 , i860.
The Evening Globe. Feb. 1, 1866.
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96
city, "but as a considerable expense in boobs, fuel, etc.,
will be necessary to support it (though the teachers gra­
tuitously attend them), the well-known liberality of the
public is therefore thus appealed to, and subscriptions
will be received by John Garrison, Esq., and Mr. John
Ferguson.
Dated Saint John, 23rd October, 1309.” 1
The establishment of Free Schools in 18>72
not force
the private and church schools to close their doors, but it
did make charity schools unnecessary.
Private and church schools supplied the educational needs
of a select group but were not found in sufficient numbers to
provide educational facilities for the increasing population.
Public-minded citizens began to make an effort to secure schools
financed by taxation and that would be available to the children
of all citizens regardless of the financial standing of their
parents.
1.
Saint John Times, Oct. 23rd, IgOQ.
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CHAPTER X.
STRUGGLE FOR FREE SCHOOLS.
Background of Movement.
The religious idea was obviously in the mind of Jacques
Cartier, the discoverer of Canada, when he planted a cross at
G-aspe, upon his arrival in 153^«
Besides the glory of holding
vast dominions, the great incentive that caused the French crown
to maintain a hold upon these provinces was the supposed field
for the propagation of the Roman Catholic faith.
Canada was pre-eminently a Roman Catholic province, not
only under the French regime, but after its conquest by the
British in 1760.
By the Treaty of Paris (1763) the French in
Canada were left to the fullest freedom of worship in the Roman
Catholic religion as well as the use of their own language in
all public proceedings.
These privileges were reaffirmed by
the British North America Act of 1267. 1
The idea of free schools was considered in Quebec as early
as 1737 when a committee of council proposed schools supported
by local taxes, but it was invariably opposed by religious and
racial groups.
1.
In New Brunswick, an optional law permitting
British North America Act.
Art. 133
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93
local taxation was in force "between I3l6 ana 1313, "but violent
resentment secured its withdrawal.
Generally, opposition to free schools came from propertied
men, who considered it unfair that they should be taxed to support
other men's children.
Religious and private interests feared a
loss of privilege, but the indifference of the masses was no
less an obstacle to the educational reformer.
At first legis­
lation was usually permissive, allowing the localities to tax
themselves, or to continue the rate bills, or fix a rate or the
parents of children in attendance.
In Ontario, after a law pro­
viding for free schools was passed in 1350, the benefits of lo­
cal taxation were so apparent that in 1371 an obligatory tax
and Free School Law affected only a few districts.
In New Bruns­
wick, however, with similar legislation at an earlier date (p. 3*1-),
a mere handful of districts made the voluntary change.
In Nova
Scotia, the government that established free schools in 136*1suffered annihilation at the next election.
In Prince Edward
Island, local opposition was avoided by the government assuming
a large proportion of the cost of education (1352).
The question of free schools for New Brunswick was forcibly
drawn to the attention of the public in 1352 by L. A. Wilmot,
later Lieutenant-Governor, who said:
"It is unpardonable that any child should grow up in our
country without the benefit of at least a common school
education.
It is the right of the child. It Is the duty
not only of the parent but of the people. The property
of the country should educate the country. Though God has
given me no child of my own to educate, I feel concerned
for the education of the children of those who do possess
them. I want to have the tax collector for schools calling
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at my door. I want the children of the poor in the re­
mote settlements to receive the advantages now almost
confined to their more fortunate brethren and sisters of
the towns." 1
When the provinces entered a scheme of confederation which
was approved by the "British North America Act" passed by the Im­
perial Parliament in 1367, certain specified powers were entrusted
to the "Federal" and the "Provincial" legislatures.
To the lat­
ter bodies was especially reserved the exclusive right to make
lav/s relating to education, with a. general reservation 2 that
nothing in such laws should prejudicially affect the right that
any class of persons might have by law in'the provinces at the
time of Confederation with respect to denominational schools.
The New Brunswick legislature had always given much atten­
tion to the subject of education, and had liberally provided
means to promote it, but with only partially good results.
In
conjunction with legislative aid, direct taxation'on the pro­
perty of the country had long been advocated as the efficient
motive power that would infuse life and vigor into the common
school system.
Before 1367 "the other British provinces had a-
dopted the principle of direct taxation for education.
The following extract gives a clear picture of the state
of education previous to the Free Schools Act.
"The school system of the Province at this time, although
it cost a great deal of money, was very unsatisfactory.
Under its operation not more than one-half as many schools
were kept open as were necessary for the proper education
of the youth of the country, and the attendance was ir­
regular. The teachers depended very largely for their
1.
2.
G. U. Hay— Canada and Its Provinces.
British North America A ct . Art. 93*
Vol. XIV. p. 4-19
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100
incomes on their government allowance. The Provincial ex­
penditure for the year 1870, the last year under the old
school system was upwards of $83,000, while the local con­
tributions for sa.laries were estimated at about $115,000
a considerable part of which was paid, not in money,but in
beard. The system of boarding around the teacher, still
existed in many rural districts. The number of trained
teachers in the Province,at this time, was about 100,
while some 225 untrained teachers were employed. In some
of the counties the schools were extremely deficient, and
all over the Province not more than two-thirds of the
children,who should have been attending school, were re­
ceiving an education.11 ^
Public O p i n i o n .
Attorney-General King was the champion under whose leader­
ship the struggle for free schools was conducted.
In view of
the fact that up to this time public opinion in New Brunswick
had been adverse to free schools, it is remarkable hew little
opposition the measure encountered in the legislature.
The most
important idvlsion in the assembly was that taken when a new
section was added to the bill providing that all schools con­
ducted under its provisions should be non-sectarian.
carried by a vote of twenty-five to ten.
volved in working out the system were great.
the Province were, from selfish motives,
This was
The difficulties in­
Many persons in
strongly opposed to
free schools and contended that the education of the children
was the sole responsibility of the parents.
Many held that,
since free schools were not provided in England,“ New Brunswick
did not need them.
Others argued that the idea was republican
#
The Elementary Education Act of 1870 in E n g l a n d .provided for
the establishment of schools controlled by local school boards
and for the levying of local taxes for the support of schools to
supplement the government grants and pupils' fees. -In 1830 ele­
mentary education was made fully compulsory and in 1891 largely free.
Ontario Teachers' Manual— History of Education, p. 187.
1.
Jsmes Hannay-— History of New B runswick. Vol. II. pp. 295- 296 .
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101
and revolutionary since Massachusetts had been the first com­
munity on this continent to adopt free schools, and also was the
first to rebel against the k i n g ’s authority.
In the motherland,
the schools were at this time largely under the control of the
Church of England, and many persons in New Brunswick were in
favor of schools controlled by that denomination.
The Roman
Catholics, led by their clergy, were hostile to non-sectarian
schools and a large number in the Anglican Church were opposed
to the exclusion^religious instruction from the school curriculum.
With the Presbyterians, Wesleyans, and Baptists non-sec­
tarian schools were popular,
These sects were willing to depend
upon their homes and their Sunday schools for religious in­
struction.
While the bill was being discussed, numerous petitions
were received asking that,
in any school bill which might be
passed, provision be made for denominational schools,
for Roman Catholic Schools.
especially
The largest number of signatures,
about 2,000, was on a petition from Saint John, but one from
C-loucester had about 1,000 names subscribed.
Most of these
petitions were headed by the parish priest, while two of them
were signed by the Roman Catholic bishops of Saint John and
Chatham.
In 1871 ~ a Common Schools Act was passed, repealing all
then existing school acts, making assessment compulsory, and en­
acting ths.t all schools to be entitled to legislative aid under
its provision must be non-sectarian.
1.
The Act did not interfere
pM Victoria Cap. 21
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102
with the right of any class of persons of any denomination to
maintain, outside the common school system,
schools in which
distinctive religious doctrines might he taught; nor could it
take away the right of the legislature to grant public money
in aid of their support.
However, the legislature did with­
draw grants from denominational institutions.
"One of the immediate effects,of the new school law was
to abolish all the special grants which had been given
to denominational schools and academies.
These had amounted during the last year they were given to about
$5,000.
The largest institutions,which were effected
by this change, were Wesleyan Academy (Mount Allison)
at Sackville, which received $1,200 a year; the Madras
Schools, which received $500; the Roman Catholic Schools
at Fredericton, Saint John and other places in the Prov­
ince, which received in the aggregate $2,400; and the
Baptist Seminary at Fredericton which received $600." 1
Organlzed O p position.
The clergy and laity of the Roman Catholic minority felt
aggrieved.
155S
They claimed that under the Parish Schools Act of
(which had been repealed)
they possessed the privilege of
maintaining schools of a denominational character,
legislative aid was granted,
to which
and that their rights were pro­
tected by the exceptions of the 93rd clause of the British
North America Act, 1567.
Meetings were held in many places, objecting to the new
Act.
"The members of the Roman Catholic denomination of this
city were present in large numbers at the mass held in
the Cathedral on Sunday morning, it being understood
that the Bishop would address the congregation in refer­
1.
James Hannay— History of New Brunswick. Vol. II. P. 300
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103
ence to the School Lav/ and the action of the Catholic
body towards it.
The address in the commencement re­
ferred particularly to what had been done for edu­
cation by the Catholics of the City and Province in years
past.
He reminded them that the amount expended by them
for school purposes in Saint John was in the neighbor­
hood of one hundred thousand dollars, this including the
School of the Christian Brothers and other educational
departments.
He next referred to the School Laws in
force in other parts of the Dominion and in the several
American States and instanced the case of Quebec where
the Catholic body being the ruling one had in their a.doption and carrying out of a law conceded to the Prot­
estants the rights which they claimed they had ashed for
they had asked for schools of their own, to be managed
by the teachers they chose and this privilege had been
allowed the Catholics in Ontario where the Protestants
were in power.
The Bishop further said that education
and religion were to be joined together and that where
it was not so confusion must reign, and crimes prevail.
To be good members of a community a Christian education
was indispensable.
In regard to the Catholic schools
of United States he stated they were recognized and al­
lowed to exist with their peculiar books and their own
teachers.
There the Christian Brothers had over sixty
thousand pupils under their care.
He thought that if the
Protestants were fair and reasonable such rights should
be allowed the Catholics in this Province and their wish
to educate their children with their own money acceded
to. He was willing that both parties should contribute
and schools should be general In cases where the Cath­
olics existed in numbers too few to maintain educational
institutions of their own, but did not in such event
wish the Bible read in their sessions.
The impression
he had formerly entertained regarding the effect of the
law upon the Christian Brothers was that it would not
prevent their teaching, and this idea he had formed from
the action and representations of the members of the Gov­
ernment.
He concluded by remarking that although the
Catholics had me.de every demand of a reasonable nature
the things they had asked had been refused, and now
nothing remained for them pending the amendment of the
existing law, but to raise money for support of schools
of their own.”
As the Common Schools Act was not to come into operation
until Jan. 1st, 1£>72, and as the constitution gave the GovernorGeneral authority to disallow acts of the provincial legislature
1.
Saint John Daily News., January JO, 18J2.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
within a year after their passing, the Roman Catholics immedi­
ately petitioned the Privy Council of Canada to advise the Gov­
ernor-General to exercise his prerogative.
Sir John A. Macdonald, Minister of Justice, replied to
the petitions reporting that the legislature of New Brunswick
had acted entirely within its jurisdiction in passing the Common
Schools Act, 1S71;
that it had the sole power to redress any
grievance under it, and to give or withhold public money in sup­
port of schools;
that no separate or dissentient schools, coming
under the protecting clause of the British North America Act,
were sanctioned by any law of the legislature of New Brunswick;
and that, therefore, the Governor-General had no right to inter­
fere, and the Act must go into operation.
Action of Dominion Parliament.
Unfortunately the opposition to the Common Schools Act
was not confined by provincial boundaries for in April 1372 Mr.
Costigan, the representative for Victoria County in the House of
Commons, attacked the law on the grounds that it was unfair and
contrary to the 93rd- clause of the British North America Act.
He moved that an humble address be presented to His Excellency
the Governor-General to disallow the New Brunswick Schools Act.
He justified this motion on the grounds that the sections of
the lav/
"forbidding the imparting of any religious instruction to
the pupils was opposed to the sentiments of the entire
population of the Dominion in general, and to the re­
ligious convictions of the Roman Catholic population,
in particular.
That the Roman Catholics of Mew Bruns-
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105
wide cannot without acting unconsclentiously send their
children to schools established under the lav; in question,
and yet are compelled, like the remainder of the popu­
lation, to pay taxes to be devoted to the maintenance of
these schools.
That the law is unjust, and causes much
uneasiness among the Roman Oatholic population, in general,
disseminated throughout the whole Dominion of Canada and
that the state of affairs nay prove the cause of disas­
trous results to all the Confederated Provinces." 1
This motion failed to pass the House of Commons, being
voted down 126 to
During the autumn and winter of 1672, Sari Dufferin, Governor-C-eneral of Canada,
transmitted to Sari Kimberley,
Colonial
Secretary, documents of the School-Law case, and the arguments
of the government of Mew Brunswick, and of the counsel of the
Catholic Bishop of Saint John,
thereon.
These were submitted
to the Law Officers of the Crown, whose opinion sustained the
earlier decision of Sir John A. Macdonald.
Early in the spring
of 1673, this opinion was corroborated by the judgement of the
Supreme Court ^ in the case of parties who contested the legal­
ity of an a.ssessment on the ground that it included a sum for
the support of schools levied under the authority of the Com­
mon Schools Act, which they held was unconstitutional.
Thus by the highest legal authorities the constitutional
rights of the New Brunswick legislature to pass the Common
Schools Act was vindicated.
The aggrieved parties felt that
the matter should be taken before the Privy Council, the supreme
authority of the Empire, and a sum of §5»000 was voted by the
Dominion Government to enable arty party to appeal to Her Maj­
esty-in-Council on the subject of the Nev.- Brunswick Schools
1.
2.
James Hannay— History of New Brunswick. Vol. II. P. 303*
Renaude et al7 -Judgement of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick,
upon the question of the Constitutionality of Common Schools
Act. 1671,
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io6
Acts.
Privy Council Decision.
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Saint John took steps to bring
the matter before the Privy Council.
On July 17, 1S7^, the ques­
tion was argued before the Judicial Lords of the Privy Council in
the case of an appeal from an adverse judgement of the Supreme
Court of Hew Brunswick (p.105) "by a ratepayer of Saint John who
objected to the assessment for school purposes made on the city,
on the ground that the Schools Act, under authority of which it
had been ordered, was void.
The counsel of the appellant was kept strictly to the short
point at issue, ’whether the general exception to the 93I’<3- clause
of the British North America Act protecting m y
rights or privi­
leges with respect to denominational schools which any class of
persons might have had by law in the province applied to schools
conducted under the Parish School Act of 1B5&, which was re­
pealed by the Act of 1S71.
The arguments advanced by the coun­
sel of the appellant were deemed so conclusive against his case
that the counsel of the New Brunswick government was not called
on to argue in defence.
Their Lordships ruled
"there is nothing in the ground taken on which to found
a claim with respect to denominational schools, nor any­
thing unconstitutional in the Schools Act," 1
and dismissed the appeal with costs.
The minority was thus
driven from its last refuge.
The leaders of the minority could not demand another
1.
Maher vs. Town Council of Portland. Argument before the
Privy Council of Great Britain 1S7^»
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107
judicial hearing.
case,
The door of appeal was closed against their
still from the pulpit and the press their spiritual and
political leaders kept the question alive.
"At the general elections held in June, 127^-, the only is­
sue was the Schools Act, and in many of the constituencies
it was fiercely abated.
The endeavours of the Roman Cath­
olics to uphold the principle of separate schools had the
effect of driving the Protestant electors into the opposite
camp, and the question became, for the most,one of religion.
The result of the election was that out of a house of
forty-one members, only five candidates were returned who
favored separate schools.
These represented the Acadian
counties of Gloucester, Kent and Madawaska."-
Sducational Conditions in Gloucester.
The Common Schools Act was resisted in all the counties in
which the Roman Catholics were in a majority but it was in the
county of Gloucester where this resistance became most acute.
The people of Gloucester,
the majority of whom are French, were
greatly influenced by” newspapers which circulated widely in the
county and which did much to excite a feeling of active hostility.
The census showed that in 1271 2 Gloucester County had
12,210 inhabitants of whom more than ninety per cent, were Ro­
man Catholics.
This would seem a.n ideal area in which to carry
on a denominational school system, yet more than one-half of the
adult population was unable to write.
In that county during the
last term previous to the Common Schools Act there were only 22
schools with 222 pupils enrolled and an average attendance of
!!-39.
In the parish of Saumarez with 2,lo2 inhabitants there was
only one school with an average daily attendance of sixteen.
1.
2.
G. U. Hav— Canada and Its Provinces. Vol. XIV. p. 4-22.
James Hannay— History of New Brunswick. Vol. II. p. 306.
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log
In the parish of Caraquet, with 3 > H 1
inhabitants, there
were only three schools with the total enrollment of 73 and an
average attendance of 36 •
ously neglected.
Apparently,
education had been seri­
In the sixty-seven years, 1371 to 1938,^ the
number of schools in this county has increased from 23 to 204ana the average daily attendance increased more than eightfold
while the total population for the county has increased twofold.
A corresponding increase is noted in the school attendance
for the counties of Kent and Madawaska.
The facts show that
where the opposition to the introduction of free schools was
greatest,
the greatest benefits were derived from the system.
Riot in Gloucester.
In the county of Gloucester the hostility to the Common
Schools Act was most intense.
In January, 1375>
serious riot
occurred at Caraquet involving loss of life and making it nec­
essary to send a military force to that place to protect life
and property.
This riot cost the Province $20,000 in military
and legal expenses.
"Some ratepayers of the district of Caraquet met in a school
house to vote money for school purposes.
A party of French­
men from the surrotmding country broke up the meeting in a
violent manner, and took possession of the building.
They
afterwards behaved themselves riotously in the settlement,
compelling certain persons to sign a document pledging
themselves not to vote for assessment; they breathed out
fire and slaughter generally against prominent supporters
of the lav/, and besieged a member of the local government
in his house, drawing off quickly, however, when they found
that they were threatened with a hot reception.
A party
of militia from the neighboring county of Northumberland
was brought by the Sheriff to quell the riot.
On forcing
1.
Report of Parish Schools 1 3 7 1 .and Annual Report of Depart­
ment of Education, School Year Ended June 3 0 > 1 9 3 8 .
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
a way into a house where some of the rioters were lodged,
one of the militia men was shot dead, and a Frenchman
shared the same fate." ^
Some persons stress the religious as well as the political
aspect of the contest over the Schools Act and point out that it
was synchronous with the great conflict in the German Empire be­
tween the State and the Papacy, but those who are more tolerant
attach little significance to this fact.
1.
Macmillan1s Magazine— Wo. 1°5 (January, IS76) p. 225.
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
CHAPTER XI
FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM
System Explained.
The Free or Common Schools Act,-*- which came into effect
on the first of January 1S72 , was patterned after a similar act
passed seven years earlier in Nova Scotia.
Under this Act the
support of elementary schools was derived from three sources:
Provincial aid to teachers,
assessment.
the county school fund, district
The parish as an administrative unit (p. 75) was
abandoned and the much smaller school district adopted in its
place.
The adoption of such a small unit was an error, because
sufficient resources are often not a.vailable to provide by
taxation funds to operate a satisfactory school.
now- 1+37 ^ such districts for which "Poor Aid"
There are
is provided by
the government.
The object of the Free School Law was the establishment
throughout the'entire Province of a well-equipped system of schools
in which the instruction given should be open to the children of
all,
the poor and rich alihe;
the quality of instruction good e-
nough for all; and the general character of the instruction non-
1.
3^ Victo r i a .
2.
Annual Reoort of Department of Education. 1939* PP*17^-177
Cap. 21.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
Ill
sectarian and national like, the legislature establishing the
system, and the government administering it.
The provincial grant in aid of teachers was continued from
the previous acts, while a county assessment was imposed at a
fixed rate, and district assessment according to the needs of
each district to provide salaries for teachers.
Lands and
schoolhouses and all other district requirements were to be
provided by district assessment;
the trustees were authorized
to raise money for school houses by debentures.
The classifi­
cation of the children of cities, towns and other large dis­
tricts into grades, according to the attainments of the children,
was required;
the school district was made the unit of school
operation, affiliated on the one hand with the county in the
matter of
assessment fund, and
in the matter of teachers'
administration.
on the other with the Province
grants and general supervision and
The trustees of each district were to be elected
by the people except in cities and incorporated towns.
In these
latter districts the G-overnor-in-Council was to appoint three
trustees, one of whom would be the chairman, and the city or
town council, four.'
An inspector for each county was to be
appointed by the Board of Education.
The Board itself was en­
larged by
making the President
of the University a member, as
were also
its powers and those
of the Chief Superintendent.
A
Normal School for the Province was to be maintained by the Board,
to whom was committed full authority to make arrangements respect­
ing the training and licensing of teachers, and the subjects,
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112
texts, and course of instruction for all schools.
Theodore H. Rand was appointed Chief Superintendent of Edu­
cation when the new lav/ went into force.
He had held the same
position in Nova Scotia during the first years of the free school
lew in that province.
Dr. Rand was an excellent organizer, and
his activity and experience proved very effective
in fostering
the system of free schools.
The Free Schools Act had one 'unpopular feature— taxes.
Where
there were children of school age in the family the new act was
popular; but where there were no children and property owners had
to contribute to educate all the children in the district,
there
was much murmuring.
Roman Catholic Opposition.
The question of non-sectarian schools continued to be a
burning question until l£75>^ when the King administration came
to a.n agreement with the leading Roman Catholic members of the
House of Assembly that smoothed the difficulty for a time.
Under
this arrangement members of religious orders were considered eli­
gible for licenses as school teachers after passing the prescribed
examination; buildings,
the property of such orders or of the
Roman Catholic Church, might be rented for school purposes by
civic school boards and religious instruction might be given to
Roman Catholic children after school hours.
The attitude of the French is given in the following:
"Le gouvernement s'apercut-il du danger qu'il v avait a
jeter, sans raison, le pays dans de tels desordres?
Toujours est-il qu'un compromis, survenu en 12>7^> ramena la
1.
Minutes, Board of Education.
August 6, 12>75«
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113
paix trop longtemps troublee.
Dans toutes les ecoles, on
p^rmettait 1 'enseignement religieux en dehors des heures
regleraentaires des classes; le p o r t }/de 1 'habit religieux
etait tolere et, par un privilege special, les membres des
Communautes religieuses tout en restant astreints a passer
leu.r examen pour obtenlr le brevet d 'enseignement, etaitent
dispenses du sejour reglementaire
a l ’ecole normale.
Dans
les ecoles frequentees pour les Acadiens, I 1usage de la
langue francaise etait autorise comrne langue de communi­
cation, et meme 1'ltude de francais ius^u'au sixieme degre.
D'ailleurs, les commissaires de^chaque ecole conservaient
le droit de choisir 1 1instituteur qui,apres les heures de
classe, enseignerait le catechisme aux enfants.
A peu
pres satisfaits au point de vue religieux les Acadiens cnt
tire tout le profit possible du nouveau svsteme scolaire
obligatoire depuis 1 S 71 .” ^
Soon the opposition to Free Schools w a s 'negligible and the
following exerpts from inspectorial reports are taken as proof
of the wide acceptance of the n e w system.
The Inspector for
County of Madawaska w rites:
"I find the people, as they begin to understand the Law, to
be, as a general thing, very much in favor of it, and were
it not for the very determined opposition of the Clergy, I
think that in a short time the people of this County would
enjoy the benefits of education in nearly every district in
the County." 2
The same approved is expressed in the inspector's report
from Gloucester County:
"The nature of the School Law is much better understood than
it was at first, and consequently the unreasonable and vio­
lent opposition to it which prevailed so long is rapidly
subsiding.
Many ratepayers, finding they must contribute
to the support of Free Schools, have wisely conclud„ed to
secure for their own children a share of the benefits which
these schools afford. "
At the formal opening of the Normal School building Aug. 1^4-,
1$77> Or. Rand,
Chief Superintendent of Education,
in his address
said:
"When I inform you that about eighty-five per cent, of all
1.
2.
3.
Omer LeGresley— L'Enseignement du Frangais En Ac a d i e .
Annual Reoort of Schools, 1375. P. 11.
------ ---T b i a ." p.
pp.151-152.
R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
the school property owned by the school trustees through­
out the Province has been secured by the operation of the
present law, I have given you a fact of tremendous educa­
tional import.
Neither Ontario nor any of the other prov­
inces surpasses Nova Scotia in respect of school atten­
dance.
Today, New Brunswick stands fairly abreast Nova
Scotia in the proportion of her school attendance, and it
is rapidly outstripping her in many of the essentials of
a healthy and efficient school system, notwithstanding
that the Free School banner was unfurled in Nova Scotia
seven years earlier than in this Province." 1
The period following 1S 7 2 was featured by the inauguration
of an improved teacher-training program;
proved inspection;
a building program;
im­
the prescribing of uniform texts of superior
quality; better paid teachers and a system of grading.
No uniform curriculum had ever been pursued in the Parish
Schools and it was not until 1S7S that one was prepared for the
Common Schools.
The Act of 1S71 provided that, after five years from its
inception, the provincial aid to teachers should be apportioned.,
in par^, according to the results of an examination conducted
by the inspectors.
This scheme, called the "Ranking System"
was postponed until 1S7&,
since it could not be enforced until
a uniform course was adopted.
Improved Attendance.
The progress of education in New Brunswick may be judged
p
from the increase in attendance.
In 1&52 the proportion of
the school population to the whole population was 1 : 10.4-2.
With the introduction of free schools (IS 72 ) the proportion
1.
2.
Educational C ircular, Vol. I. No. c.
Based on Annual Report of Schools.
(October 1877)* p. 56,
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115
became 1 : 7.19.
The proportion in 1932 was 1 : ^.89.
Early attempts to stimulate attendance relied upon prizes
which were bought by trustees out of school funds.
was not a marked success.
The plan
The absence of a compulsory clause
in the Free Schools Act (1&72 ) was one of its greatest defects.
It was not sufficient to make the compulsory clause oermissive
as had been done in this -Province; but binding as in Massachusetts.
The first Attendance Act was passed in 15SS7.
"The recent Act (l$$7) passed by the Legislature permitting
Boards of Trustees the option of enforced attendance at
the schools, or not, has not been taken advantage of in
any instance in New Brunswick." 1
Another compulsory attendance act was passed in 1906 ^
but it too was ineffective due to its oermissive character.
The question of school attendance has been,- and still is,
a serious matter.
The average school attendance for the Prov­
ince during school year 1So5 was 53.35 P©*1 cent.
figures show that in 193°
Comparable 3
was 77.1 per cent.
It is interesting to note that in 1SS6 the "New England
Journal of Education" described the New Brunswick educational
„
system as "theoretically the best in America."
*
However good the system may have been considered by others
there was considerable difficulty in working out the provisions
of the Free Schools Act.
Bathurst School Case.
In IS93 so much friction developed in the system that the
1.
?.
3.
b.
New Brunswick Journal of Education. Vol.I, No. 11, March 12>2>7>
p. Si
6 Edward VII. Cap. 13
Educational Review. (November 1939) Vol. LIV. No. 3
New Brunswick Journal of Education. (May 1 & & J ) , Vol. I. No. 13
p. 97
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
Supreme Court was called upon to adjudicate the difficulties.
The complaint concerning the schools was made on the following
grounds:^-
(a)
That Reverend James Rogers, Roman Catholic Bis­
hop of the Diocese of Chatham, with the view to having the com­
mon schools in District No. 2, in the town of Bathurst, under
the control of religious teachers of the Roman Catholic Church,
did enter into an agreement with and come to an understanding
with certain members of the Roman Catholic Church of that dis­
trict to bring in members of certain religious teaching orders
of the Roman Catholic Church with a view to having the children
of Protestant parents taught within such conventual schools.
(b)
The Sisters of Charity who were employed as teachers by
the trustees of the town and village schools were contrary
to law licensed to teach in such districts,
were examined under special arrangements
inasmuch as they
involving special
privileges, which were refused to other teachers.
(c)
That
the Roman Catholic priests exercising their religious offices
in the school district had interfered with the schools.
(d)
That by reason of the influence of the Roman Catholic author­
ities in the school district, Roman Catholic holy days, not
being school holidays, have been observed in the public schools
there,
(e)
That the grading of the schools in the district
had not been conducted according to law.
(f)
That inferior
and incompetent teachers have been employed in the district.
The citizens of the town became very much alarmed by
the violent demonstrations and two Protestant clergymen sent
1.
The Hon. John J. Fraser— Report of the Legislative Commission
Relating to the Bathurst Schools.
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
H7
the following telegram to the Attorney-General:
Bathurst Station, March 22th, 1293.
"Hon. A. G. Blair, M. P. P.
Fredericton, N. B..*
On verge riot this morning— door private school— barricaded
number Roman Catholics in vicinty when Protestants arrived—
our liberties and rights threatened— call upon government
for protection.
J. Seller,
A.F.Thomson."
However,
it is generally believed that the Protestant
citizens of the town were not in danger.
On November 23rd, 1293 > Jas. Fraser, Judge of the Supreme
Court gave the following ruling: 1
(a)
That no Conventual Schools have been established in Bathurst
Town in the direction indicated in the complaint.
(b)
That the evidence does not establish that there have been
any Coman Catholic priestly
clerical interference with the
schools in the town.
(c)
That the trustees in the Town have not discharged their
duties as trustees as efficiently as they might have done in re ­
gard to having a satisfactory grading of the schools of the
Town.
(d)
That it is not a violation of the Common Schools Act to
employ as teachers sisters of religious order of the Roman
Catholic Church and to permit them while, teaching to wear the
garb of their order.
(e)
1.
That the holding, before or after school hours, of religious
Fraser.
Op. C i t .
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llg
exercises,
for the benefit of Roman Catholic scholars by a
teacher who is a sister of one of the religious orders of the
Roman Catholic Church does not render a school sectarian.
General illwill was the result.
The Roman Catholics were
annoyed by the complaints and the Protestants were disappointed
in the ruling of the court.
Consolidated Schools.
With a view of correcting the error of establishing the
small school district as the unit of administration an Act 1
was passed in 1902 whereby three or more districts might unite
to establish a consolidated school and provide courses in Man­
ual Training and Domestic Science.
In 1903; 3r. James W. Robertson, acting for Sir William
Macdonald established a consolidated school at Kingston and
maintained it for three years.
"The school was the first consolidated school in the Do­
minion, established by Sir William Macdonald of Montreal,
a native of Prince Edward Island.
Sir William, a noted
philanthropist,who was greatly interested in rural edu­
cation, working in connection with Dr. James W. Robertson,
eminent educationist, and an energetic committee, chose
Kingston as a suitable site on account of its location,
far from the railroad, where children find it difficult
to benefit by the advantages afforded city pupils.
The
Macdonald fund furnished the $ 60,000 necessary for
building and equipment and also all the money for all
the expenses for three years.
It was one of the first
schools in Canada to include domestic science and manual
training in its curriculum."
At the end of the three years from the opening of the
school, the d i s tricts,united in the consolidation, decided to
1.
2.
2 Edward V II. Cap.
Telegraph-Journal, Aug.
23rd, 1939.
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119
continue to operate the school, and it continues till this day.
Children living at a distance were conveyed to the school in
vans, half the cost being borne by the government.
Liberal grants ^ have been made by the government for the
continuation of the school at Kingston and for the other consoli­
dated schools that have since been established at Florenceville,
Riverside, Rothesay, Hampton, Bay du Vin and Deer Island.
The
grants now amount to $ 10,000 annually.
These consolidated schools seem to be the logical solution
to the problem of rural education, but the ratepayers seem to
fear the increased cost of such schools.
At the close of the Boer War, 1901, Britain was eager to
establish in South Africa a ■satisfactory school system.
After
examining the schools in the various parts of the empire it was
decided to adopt the New Brunswick system, probably because of
the bilingual situation found in both of these areas.
Eldon
Mullln, Principal of the Normal School, and several other teachers
went to South Africa, to help establish the school system there.
In a land such as this, with democratic ideals it is hard
to believe that a- free school system would meet with any organized opposition, but the attitude in certain areas, where the
Roman Catholics predominate,
is not conducive to the growth of
such a system.
It is believed that with each succeeding generation the
free school system becomes more firmly entenched as one of our
democratic institutions.
1.
Manual of School Law of New Brunswick, p.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
.
CHAPTER XII.
CURRICULUM.
The educational efforts of the French missionaries
(p.12)
and the early English schools, founded Ly the various religious
organizations and private individuals, v/ere directed chiefly
towards the teaching of the principles of the Christian re­
ligions
(p. 22),
At no period in our history has religious in­
struction been missing from the school curriculum.
Objectives.
From the bginning stress has been laid on the "three R's"
The curriculum for the Pa.rish Schools, as given in the Act of
1S05 ^ (p. ^S) consisted of English language, writing and arith
In 1S16 ~ the curriculum had been extended; orthography
metic.
reading, writing, and. arithmetic were the required subjects.
The teachers employed, by the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel v/ere charged
"to
to
of
as
1.
2.
3.
teach the scholars to read truly and distinctly, also
write a plain legible hand, in order to the fitting
them for useful employments; with as much arithmetic
shall be necessary for the same purpose." >
4-5 George III. Cap. XII.
56 George III. Cap. XXI.
W. 0. Raymond— New Brunswick Schools of Olden T i m e s .
(February 18?3) Vol. VI. No". 9 . p. 171 .
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121
The Madras system had as its constant aim to impart to
the children religious instruction (p. 65 ) and to provide a
useful education, adapted to circumstances in which they were
likely to he placed.
It was not the aim of the society to fur­
nish instruction in the "dead 11 languages hut to give that type
of education which today would he called practical.
"The instruction given In the Madras schools in 1S^5> em­
braced reading, writing, spelling, slate and mental arith­
metic, geography, grammar, English history, natural his­
tory, lineal and. model drawing, and singing."
The object of the course of study was to induce the chil­
dren to think and make use of judgement rather than to burden
the memory with facts.
In the Parish Schools of this period - the curriculum con­
sisted of the usual subjects
(p. 73), Spelling, Reading, Writing,
Arithmetic, English Grammar, Geography, History, and Geometry
together with the following subjects:
Bookkeeping, Mensuration,
Lana Surveying, Navigation, and Needle-work, which show a
leaning toward vocational education at this early date.
Navigation is readily understood as a school subject when
one considers there were no railways and transportation was car­
ried on by boat.
Ship-building was a leading industry.
The
importance of lumber industry at this time accounts for the
mensuration and land-surveying.
An examination of samples of elementary school work pre­
pared by the pupils of schools in 1S53 astonishes one.
Pupils
solved Intricate problems in foreigh exchange, which was an im­
1.
2.
Saint John Globe. August 6 , 1910.
G. V/. Bailey— Our Schools. 134-7 to 185S. p. 10
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122
portant subject due to the extensive lumber trade of the colony
with European nations.
These subjects made up the curriculum for some years.
A-
bout 1276 Drawing, Music, Health and Temperance, and Natural
Science v/ere added.
Pressure from the high schools forced Algebra
and Latin into the last grades of the elementary school about
1900.
Practical Courses Introduced.
A more modern and practical turn was given to education by
the establishment of consolidated schools and the introduction
of manual training, domestic science and school gardening into
the u p p e r grades of the elementary school.
The great interest
in these subjects was aroused and the schools made possible by
the generosity of Sir William Macdonald of Montreal.
Through
•
the funds provided by him a manual training department was es­
tablished in the Provincial Normal School in Fredericton in 1900.
Provision.having been made for the training of the student
teachers, manual training, domestic science and school gardening
were introduced into all the consolidated and many urban schools
(p. U S ) .
Manual Training.
In 1902 ^ an Act was passed to encourage manual training
(which included Domestic Science for girls).
1.
2 Edward VII.
The chief pro-
Cap. 3g
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123
visions of the Act were:
"(a)
'J?o provide any Board of School Trustees, whether in
a city, town or rural district, which shall provide suit­
able accommodation in connection with the schools under
its jurisdiction, for instruction in manual training, there
shall be granted a sum not less than one-half of the total
amount expended for the necessary benches, tools, material
and other equipment.
(b)
To any licensed teacher who shall obtain from any
Manual Training School approved by the Board of Education
a certificate of fitness to teach the system, and who shall
in addition to the other regular work of the school under
his charge, give instruction in manual training in accor­
dance with the regulations to be made by the Board of Edu­
cation, there shall be granted in addition to the provin­
cial gra.nt provided for by the said Act, the sum of fifty
dollars per annum." ^
t The Provincial Normal School gave, and continues to give,
a special course to prepare teachers to qualify as manual training
instructors.
The larger centers soon established manual training depart­
During the school year 1903-^ ^ there were was a total
ments.
of 990 pupils enrolled in departments at Fredericton,
Woodstock, Florenceville, Kingston,
Jones' Forks.
St. Stephen,
Inches Ridge, Kascarene and
The last three places had one-room rural schools.
Closely associated with the manual training work, so gener­
ously sponsored by Sir William Macdonald, was the management of
school gardens and courses
ernment,
in nature study.
The provincial gov­
eager to cooperate in the promotion of an intelligent
love for farm life and agricultural pursuits, provided instructors
to assist trustees and teachers in establishing school gardens.
Part of the expenses was borne by the Macdonald Fund.
1.
2.
Annual Report of Schools 1901-2 p. LX.
Annual Report of Schools 1903 -^ p. XLVI.
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124A special grant was provided qualified teachers by an
order-in-council passed in August, I 903 :
"Duly licensed teachers who shall have qualified for giving
instruction in Nature Lessons in connection with school
gardens, by completing a prescribed course at the Macdon­
ald Institute at Guelph, or at any other Institution ap­
proved by the Board of Education, and who shall there­
after give instruction in said subjects at any public school
having a school garden attached, shall receive from the
provincial revenues at the rate of thirty dollars per an­
num in addition to the ordinary provincial grant." 1
For a time school gardens flourished especially in rural
sections but today there is not a single school garden to be
found.
Physical Education.
In 1Q12 ^ the Board of Education authorized the intro­
duction of a system of physical education for all schools.
In­
struction in the teaching of this subject was given to studentteachers at the normal school and for teachers at various cen­
ters in the Province.
To aid this movement, which has for its
object the moral and physical betterment of the future citizens
of the dominion, Lord Strathcona, the Dominion High Commissioner
in London,
contributed $ 5 0 0 ,000 to form "The Strathcona Trust
Fund" to aid in the formation and training of cadet companies
and to encourage physical education in the schools. Prizes from
this fund are given annually to schools that excel in this work.
Unfortunately, this work was developed and supervised by
the Commanding Officer of Kilits.ry District No.
1.
2.
7 and the physi-
Annual Report of Schools 1903-^. page X L V L
2 George V. Cap. 3^
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125
cal education degenerated to a modified form of military drill
and formal calisthenics.
Realizing the need of a change in the physical education
program, in l$Ho 1 the Board of Education again assumed control.
Elementary Agriculture.
In 1913 alarmed by the increasing urbanization of the pop­
ulation, the Board of Education, in order to arouse in the chil­
dren of the rural areas an appreciation of their environment
and a more intelligent interest in agriculture, provided a course
in Elementary
Agriculture and Nature Study.
Activity Program.
During the next twenty-five years the curriculum changed
little.
The prescribed boohs might change but the subjects
and methods remained the same.
In 1939 "the curriculum committee
prepared a Program of Studies very different from the one for­
merly followed.
The "activity" approach was attempted for the
first time in the Province.
"There must be provision for the child to do things. There
will be provision for first-hand experience with both
people ana things.---------- In the past the activities of
pupils have been very much restricted being largely con­
fined to the more passive type of reading, making notes,
memorizing and reciting: but with the organization of
work around comprehensive projects of the class, or of
groups of pupils, more active and social experience may
be enjoyed by the children." 3
1.
2.
3.
Minutes of the Board of Education, February 15, 19^0.
3 C-eorge V. Cap. 19
Programme of Studies for Mew Brunswick Schools, pp.5-6
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126
The usual elementary subjects are still taught hut v/ere
regrouped.;
Social Studies took the place of History and Ge­
ography, and Art now includes Drawing, Modelling,
Carving, and
Pointing.
The committee in charge of curriculum revision in 193^
had as members several of the persons who had studies at American universities in recent years.
rnerican educators
The influence of A-
is evident, but throughout the Teachers*
Manual there is reference to such British studies as the
"Hadow Report, 1931" an(l the "Report on Books in the Public
Elementary Schools, 1928".
It is hoped that this new curriculum contains the best
ideas of both British and American educators.
There is con­
siderable evidence to show that this program of studies is
almost ideally suited to the well equipped urban schools.
In
the rural areas, where there is little equipment, and some­
times as many as ten grades are taught by one teacher,
of the new course is not so evident.
However,
the success
sufficient time
has not elapsed since its introduction to a.llow a proper eval­
uation.
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CHAPTER XIII
LICENSING- AND TRAINING- OP TEACHERS.
Sarly_LloenBes,
While it is evident that the first schools were private
ventures, it is clear that an effort was made to keep the stan­
dards for teachers as high as possible, and for this reason
one finds in the Royal Instructions to Governor Carleton:
11We do further direct that no schoolmaster who shall ar­
rive in the said Province from this kingdom be hence
forward permitted to keep school without the license of
the Lord Bishop of London, and that no person now there
nor that shall come from other parts, shall be permitted
to keep school in New Brunswick without your license
first obtained." 1
The early teachers were often old soldiers, or women of
limited means, without any professional training and with low
academic standards when measured by present day standards.
In 1537 County Boards of Education 2 were established and
among other duties assigned them was the examination of persons
desiring to teach.
In 1542 5 all school licenses previously issued were can­
celled and only those persons whose competency should be certified
I:
3-
vm?Ti%” ST1**0"-
Report of Colony of New Brunswick, 1542. p. l44
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12$
by the county examiners, after examination, were licensed to
teach.
This cancelling 1 of licenses may, possibly, have caused a
scarcity of teachers, but the salaries paid were too low to in­
duce any capable or energetic person to enter the profession.
In the debate in the legislature in l&kG the matter of teachereducation was discussed at length.
The statement was made by
a legislative member, Mr. Payne,* to the effect that the amount
received from the Province was so small, and the people so un­
willing to contribute to the support of schoolmasters that they
v/ere often obliged to pick u.p just such teachers as they could
find.
"Applications came frequently to Saint John for teachers
for different schools in the country and he could assure
the members that in some cases they had been obliged to
wait in the market place when an emigrant vessel arrived,
and ask if there was anyone qualified and willing to take
charge of a school in the country." LOne of the members for Queens County, Mr. Gilbert, very
aptly described the teaching profession as almost the last
calling in which anyone would engage.
"It was only those who were ruined, both in body and es­
tate, who would continue in that employment; the halt,
the lame and the maimed— those who were good for nothing
else— might continue to be parish^schoolrnasters in the
country, for no one else would." 2
Cne might expect that under conditions such as these the
bill introduced by Mr. Brown of Charlotte, in 1 8 ^ ,
providing
for a normal or proper training school would, receive consider­
1. G. S. Fenety— Political Notes & Observations. Vol. 1, 1&4-2. p. 1642. Minutes of Legislative Ass e m b l y , Scrapbook No. 23 . p. 1$9
New Brunswick Museum.
3.. Minutes of Legislative Assem b l y , Scrapbook. No. 23 . p. 19$
New Brunswick Museum.
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129
able support; but as a matter of fact the apathy of the people
towards education also extended to many of the members of the
assembly.
Until I?11? the highest school authority was the court of
general sessions of the peace in each county composed of jus­
tices,
some of whom were illiterate men.
The courts met twice
a year, had a good deal to do, and generally devoted little
time to school matters.
There was no uniformity as to quali­
fications of teachers and the examinations demanded for li­
censing of teachers must have been superficial and inadequate.
Provincial L i c enses.
By the Act of lt-^1-7 (p. ? 6 ) the licensing of teachers be­
came the right of the Provincial Board of Education.
Licenses v/ere, at first, valid only in the -parish for which
they v/ere issued, but after 13^4-g licenses could be transferred
from one parish to another provided the teachers stated the
reasons for leaving a parish, and produced a certificate of
satisfactory management of their schools signed by the trustees
and a certificate from the school trustees in the parishes to
which the teachers proposed to move, that there were positions
for them.
These rules probably were designed to prevent teachers
from moving about too readily and to provide a chech upon the
number employed.
Three classes of licenses were provided and the Provincial
grants to the teachers were paid according to the license held.
Third Class licenses were issued for a stated parish while Sec-
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130
ond and First Class licenses were valid only in the county for
which they were issued but were transferable
if signed by the
inspector and the chief superintendent.
The large number of French schools made it necessary to
provide special training for teachers to be employed in thos e
schools.
As early as 1852 the Board of Education grappled with
the problem and upon the recommendation of the superintendent
of education for Canada east, the work called "Guide de I 1In­
struct eur” was used by the training schools.
All licenses issued by the Board of Education v/ere per­
manent.
Often persons who proved incapable of teaching in a
satisfactory manner held these licenses and could not be de­
barred from the profession.
Recently steps have been taken
to correct this situation.
"Beginning with the calendar year lp^-1 no permanent li­
censes will be issued to Normal school or college gradu­
ates until they have demonstrated their ability as
teachers by1 experience and taken additional professional
training." J-
Training Schools Established.
The Act of 18^7 2 marked the establishment of a central
authority.
Henceforth the parish schools were governed not
only by law but also by the Regulations of the Board of Edu­
cation.
This board consisted of the Lieutenant-Governor and
the Executive Council.
It had a secretary but no superintendent
until 1852 when Rev. James Porter was appointed.
1.
2.
The same Act
Minutes of Board of Education. June 6, I 9 H0 ,
10 Victoria Cap. XVI.
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131
empowered this hoard to establish a training school for teachers
with a model school attached.
"Ordered that His Excellency the Lieutenent-Governor should
make application to the proper authorities in England to
procure a teacher for the Model and Training School to be
established under the late act for the improvement of Parish
Schools.
That the salary of such a teacher should be fixed
at £l b 6 that the sum of £50 should be drawn from the treas­
ury to nay the outfit and passage of the teacher."^
The first training school was opened at Fredericton in lS^-7
and J, Marshall D'Avray of England was appointed Master of the
Training and Model School.
Towards the close of 1 gU-S a training and model school was
established in Saint John.
Edmund K. Duval,
the principal of
the British (National) School there became principal after being
in attendance at the Fredericton training school several weeks,
to learn the system there.
In 1&67 a training school was opened at Chatham with Dr.
William Crocket as principal.
at Saint John,
This school, along with the one
closed in 18J0 and a central institution called
the Normal School was opened in Fredericton.
It would appear that, at first,
in the matter of training,
preference was given to those persons already employed as teach­
ers, rather than to persons without experience.
"Ordered that a circular letter be written to the clerks
of the peace to convene the Board of Education to request
that they furnish the Lieutenant-Governor after due in­
quiry, with the names of two or more competent teachers
in each of the respective counties, who would be prepared
to attend the training school at Fredericton." 2
1.
2.
Minutes of the Board of Education.
Minutes of the Board of Education.
June 11,
.
Nov. 11, 1 ^ 7 .
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
132.
Apparently some difficulty was experienced in organizing
the school at Fredericton because licenses were granted by the
school committees to untrained teachers after 1 S& 7 •
"Until the principal Training School in Fredericton and some
of the contemplated county Training Schools are in operation
it is ordered that school committees grant teachers a li­
censes on the production of :
(1 ) Certificate of the candidate's ability to teach spell­
ing, reading, writing, arithmetic of whole numbers, in­
cluding simple interest.
(2) A recommendation from the trustees of the school pro­
posed to be more established, who are also to certify their
confidence in the moral character and disposition of the
candidate, the sufficiency of the school premises, and the
number of children likely to attend the school.
(3) A certificate of religious and moral character from
the clergyman or master of the communion to which the ma­
jority of the children in the contemplated school belongs." A board of examiners was appointed for each of these schools
and licenses v/ere granted by the Board of Education upon
the
recommendation of the board of examiners and the principal of a
training school.
This practice was continued until recently.
Both male and female students made application for ad­
mittance to these training schools but males were given oreference.
This may have been because male teachers were more
capable of manag_ing the schools, since discipline was usually
a serious problem.
"Secretary submitted lists of male and female teachers
and candidates who desire admission to the Training and
Model School.
Ordered:
That admission be given to eighteen male teach­
ers and candidates." 2
There seems to have been insufficient accomodation pro­
vided at the training school because it became necessary to in-
1.
2.
Minutes of the Board of Education. J an. 21, IS^S.
Minutes of the Board of Education. Mar. 1, 1S4-S.
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133
sert notices in the provincial newspapers requesting candidates
not to proceed to Fredericton in expectation of admission to the
training school until they had made application for admission
and “been informed that they could be accommodated.
Ferlod of T r a ining.
At first the period of training given teachers was six
weeks, soon this was extended to ten weeks, and it appears that
the student-teachers might enter at any time because the work of
the training schools was not organized in terms as at present,
"Considered Mr. D'Avray's proposition for the establishment
of regular terms for the Training Schools.
Read also his
letter announcing his Intention not to admit any candidate
except at the regular intervals of ten weeks." Soon afterwards the period of training was extended to
twelve weeks and female students v/ere admitted, but with some
hesitation.
"Read letter of Mr. Duval, relative to admission of female
teachers to the Training School.
Ordered:
That he may admit as many as can be received
without inconvenience in the present establishment, but
it will be requisite to enforce perfect propriety." 2
During the years 1871-1377 the period of training was
limited to six month, since 1873 the period has been one full
school year of nine months.
University Training S c hools.
Besides the teacher-training provided by the Provincial
Normal School,
1.
2.
the universities (p. 10) within the Province
Ibi d . March 5 , 1S4-9.
Minutes of the Board of Education. Oct. 26, 1850.
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
13>+
have small departments of education where teachers seeking to
obtain licenses for the schools of the Province are trained
while working for a degree.
The various universities of the United States have played
an important part in the preparation of the teachers of New
Brunswick.
"D. W. Hamilton and John Brittain have completed courses
at University of Chicago and at Cornell University and
are now finishing their courses at Teachers' College of
the University of Columbia." 1
This marks the first attempt
ment
on the part of the Depart­
of Education to send teachers abroad for special training.
This practice has been spasmodically followed since that time.
p
the expenses and tuition of twenty
During the summer of 1939
teachers who attended American universities were paid in part
by the Department of Education.
Trueman 3 when speaking of Canadian education says:
"It would be provincial of us to claim that we do not wish
to imitate the United States. The two countries are simi­
larly situated, and naturally would look for similar so­
lution of most of their problems."
An effort has also been made to keep in touch with English
educational practices.
held in London.
In 1907 ^ an Educational Conference was
Among the delegates was J. R. Inch, Chief Super­
intendent of Education.
In 1936, the Chief Superintendent spent
some time in England studying the educational system there with
a view of adopting the most desirable features in New Brunswick.
1.
Annual Report of Schools 1901-2. p. LXIV.
2. Public Accounts of the Province of New Brunswick. 1939. 0.
A.
4.
95
G-. J. True man-School Funds in the Province of Q uebec,pc, 142-1^9,
Educational Review, (October. 1907) Vol. XXI. Ho. 5. p. 10.
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135
Summer Schools.
In 1323 "*■ the New Brunswick Natural History Society held
its first camp at Bocabec in Charlotte County, the second was
held in 1335 at Frye's Island near St. G-eorge.
were attended by many teachers.
These camps
After the introduction of ele­
mentary agriculture into the school curriculum in 1913 these
camps were discontinued and instead an Agricultural School was
held each summer at Sussex.
In 1937 the New Brunswick Summer School of Education and
Fine Arts was opened with an enrollment of about J>00.
courses lasted for five weeks.
employed as instructors.
These
Several American educators were
In 193$ the attendance was over 600.
This great increase in attendance can be accounted for by (a)
increased interest in education which was aroused by the edu­
cation survey of Kings County in 1937;
(t>) the introduction of
a new course of study for the elementary grades;
(c) the pro­
posed reorganization of the schools on the 6- 3-3 system;
(d)
the high quality of the work done at the first session of the
school.
While it has been repeatedly recommended by the various
officials in the Department of Education that the Normal School
provide a two-year teacher-training program, the Board of Edu­
cation has not been eager to introduce such a program because
of the additional expense place upon the student-teacherg.
1.
Educational R e v i e w , (September 1387).
Vol. I. No. 1. p. 4-.
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136
Until the Normal School provides training comparable with
that given by the best t eachers1 colleges in the United States,
the
Summer School of Education
essary,
if the teachers of New
and Fine Arts will be very nec­
Brunswick are to even approach
the standards of training demanded by other provinces and in
the United States.
Webster describes the situation as follows:
"Teachers must be manufactured in the cheapest possible
manner, and they must be paid the lowest possible sal­
aries.
Hence the employment of so many young women
whose services can be obtained at a lower rate than in
the case of men.
For a long time most teachers have
been accustomed to regard positions merely as temporary
jobs and consequently have not been ambitious to make
a reputation. Most of the young women who enter the
profession are immature,
inexperienced and poorly equipped for the work of instructing the young, a task
which demands wisdom, sympathv and enthusiasm if good
results are to be obtained." 1
Rural teachers in New Brunswick ? received as an average
yearly salary $652 in 1932 and
|5°9 in 1936.
This remuneration
is inadequate for decent, vigorous, self-respecting livelihood
to say nothing of professional improvement.
Teachers 1 Institutes.
When Dr. Rand, Chief Superintendent of Education,
in his
address at the opening of the Normal School Building in 1S77
stated:
"There should be a permanent Educational Institute for the
whole Province, which shall furnish suitable opportunity
for all those officially engaged in the work of public
education to meet for the discussion of educational sub­
jects and the promotion in all ways open to them of the
organized means of culture for the people.
I am happy
1.
2.
J. C. Webster— The Distressed Marltlmes. p. 17
Brief submitted to Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial
Relations by Canadian Teachers1 Federation, p. 6.
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137
to state that the Board of Education has recently author­
ized the formation of such a system of institutes in con­
nection with the department," he was following the example set by many of the other provinces
and the neighboring states.
In July 1S8S ^ the teachers of the Maritime Provinces met
at Saint John.
Among the speakers at that institute were (a)
J. G. Schurman, who later became President of Cornell University;
(b)
Professor Greene Kuhling, Secretary of the American Institute
of Instruction, New Bedford, Massachusetts;
London, England;
(c) D. J. G. Fitch of
(a) Colonel Francis U. Parker of Cook County Nor­
mal School, Illinois;
(e) Mrs. F. W. Parker;
(f) Hariett Magee
of the. State Normal School, Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Such a number of outstanding American educators must cer­
tainly have h&d an influence upon the educational leaders of our
P r o vince.
In 1S97 one of these institutes met at St. Stephen and was
international in character, being attended by teachers from Maine
and the Province cf New Brunswick.
were on the program.
Speakers from both countries
This emphasizes the tendency of New Bruns­
wick in recent years to follow the lead of the United States,
whereas -in the early years of our provincial history English in­
stitutions were the models thought worthy of imitation.
Provincial educational institutes have been held biennially
during the last forty years.
County institutes are held annually.
The influence of such meetings is difficult to estimate.
Teachers usually begin their professional career in remote
1.
2.
Educational Circular. Vol. 1. No. 6. 1877• P« 63
Educational Review, September 1SSS, Vol. II. No. 1. p. 19
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138
rural areas, where there is inadequate supervision.
The low
salaries paid, the lack of cooperation on the part of the citi­
zens and the feeling of insecurity soon cause the teachers to
seek other employment.
A well-trained, fairly permanent staff of elementary school
teachers and a better organization of secondary school facili­
ties would do much for the people as a whole.
There is too lit­
tle appreciation on the part of the Province of its obligation
to fit each individual to perform well the duties of an intelli­
gent citizen.
This obligation can be properly discharged only
by the Province itself in its public and official capacities.
The burden of it consists in the adequate maintenance of a staff
of competent teachers sufficient to supply every school— a neces­
sity that must be frankly faced if a decent and progressive
standard of living is to be maintained.
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CHAPTER XIV
INSPECTION AND ADMINISTRATION
Local Inspection.
In the early days of the schools received only occasional
and haphazard visits from clergymen and other-interested parties,
The schools established by the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel were supervised by the Anglican clergy.
By the Act of 1802 ^ the justices were assigned the duty
of appointing a committee to visit and examine the schools twice
a year.
This marks the beginning of inspection in the Province.
The duties of the Parish School Committee were more care­
fully determined by the Act of 1 8 0 5 ,2 thus giving the central
authority,
the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council, a means of check­
ing up their administration.
This Act provided for inspection
by a committee from the parish.
The Act of 1816 3 provided for a local board of school
trustees for each parish to be appointed yearly by the Justices
of the Peace for the county.
The duties of immediate adminis­
tration v/ere by this Act vested in the local trustees, who v/ere
to procure a school house, hire the teacher, visit and inspect
1.
2.
;>•
^2 George III.
^5 George III.
5b ueorme III.
Cap. VI.
C ap. XII.
Cap. XXII
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i4o
the schools, end make annual report to the justices of their res­
pective counties.
This practice was followed until the Act of
1337 1 authorized the trustees to divide the parish into dis­
tricts and required then to visit and inspect the schools once
in three months.
In 134-5 ^ a commission was appointed consisting of James
Brown, M. P., John Gregory, and S. Z. Earle, M. D. to make a
careful inspection of all parish schools and other institutions
receiving provincial aid for educational purposes.
This commission
recommended the establishment of a training and model school.
Provincial Inspection.
The Act of 134-7 ' provided for the appointment of two full­
time inspectors for the schools of the Province.
This was a
great improvement in the matter of school inspection.
The earlier
system by the justices provided neither competent inspection nor
uniform standards.
This Act introduced the idea of a uniform
provincial system cf schools and marks the tendency to centralize
contol of education.
7/ith the formation in 134-7 ^ of a Provincial Board of Edu­
cation consisting of the Lieutenant-Governor and the members of
the Executive Council, school inspectors came under the direct
control of that Board.
In 1352 an inspector was appointed for each county.
1.
2.
3.
4-.
This
7 William I V . Cap. VIII.
Journal of the House of Assembly, 134-4-. p. 16 .
10 Victoria Cap. XXVI.
Ibid.
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1^1
apparently was not very satisfactory because In the Act of 185$
an inspector was secured for each quarter of the Province and
this arrangement was followed until the Free Schools Act of
1S71 provided an inspector for each county.
In 1834- the number'
of inspectors was limited to six for the province and in 1900
the number was increased to eight.
The number has been gradu­
ally increased until today there are twelve inspectors, who
devote their energies largely to the improvement of elementary
education.
"Inspectors have been relieved of routine work in districts
having
ten or more teachers yet each inspector has about
160 teachers to supervise.
Experience has shown that a
supervisor cannot effectively serve more than 123 rural
teachers.
Either more inspectors should be appointed or
each should be provided with an assistant who should be
a specialist in Primary Education." 1
Administration.
3v the Act of 1802 (p. 4-6) the parish schools were admin­
istered by the justices.
The Act of 1816 (p. 51) provided for
a local school boe.rd of two or more trustees for each parish to
be appointed by the justices.
administration.
The parish was then the unit of
In 1837 (p. 75) an Act was passed providing for
county boards of education which supervised the administration
of the schools.
was provided for.
In 184-7 (p. 7^) a Provincial Board of Education
With the introduction of the Free Schools
Act the unit of administration became the school district (p. 110).
1.
Annual Report of the Department of Education. 1937- 38 . p. 1 7 .
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
The Provincial Board of Education directed all educational
activities until 1910 - when physical education was placed un­
der the local committee of the Strathcona Trust by an agreement
entered into between the Board of Education and Militia Depart­
ment of Canada.
When elementary agriculture was introduced into the schools
in 1913 2 a Director of Elementary Agriculture Education was ap­
pointed who was under the Department of Agriculture and respon­
sible to the Minister of that department.
With the introduction of Vocational Education in 191S ^
an additional department was established under the Vocational
Education Board with a Provincial Director responsible to this
board.
One notes the general centralisation of control from the
beginning in 1 B02 till 1910 , but since that time control has be ­
come more decentralized until the educational system consisted
of four units, separate and distinct, under four different
bodies directed by four executive heads independent of one an­
other; Academic, under the Chief Superintendent of Education;
Vocational, under the Director of Vocational Education; Agri­
cultural, under the Director of Elementary Agricultural Edu­
cation; and Physical Education under the direction of the Dis­
trict Cadet Officer.
With the view of centralizing control, a Minister of Edu­
cation was appointed in 1936 an<3- s. Director of Education Ser­
1.
2.
3.
Report of Commission on Education. 1932.
Report of Commission on Education. 1932 *
Loc. C l t .
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
iH-3
vices in 1937.
In accordance with this policy of centralization
in 1939 1 an Act was passed to establish the Kings County School
District.
This Act provided for the abolition of the 133 school
districts and the 51^ school trustees now holding office and pro­
vides for one Board of School Trustees for the county.
To date
(19^) the provisions of the Act have not been carried out, but
some preliminary work concerning the reorganization of the Coun­
ty has been done.
1.
3 George VI.
Cap. 59
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CHAPTER XV
PRESENT SITUATION
Comparisons.
New Brunswick cannot be expected to provide educational
facilities comparable with those of the more populous and weal­
thy provinces and states.
The area of New Brunswick is 27,9S5
square miles and the population, in 1931, was 4og,21Q.^
means approximately fifteen persons per square mile.
terior is largely undeveloped land.
This
The in­
There are few large centers
in which to develop complete, modern, school systems.
As in
the early days only the areas along the coast and the river val­
leys are settled.
creased slowly.
(See Appendix p. 1).
The population has in­
During the decade 1921 to 1931 the population
increased 5 .2m- per cent.
When the wealth per capita, at $1,739 (see p. 11),
is con­
sidered, New Brunswick ranks seventh among the Canadian province
Only Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have less wealth per
capita.
"New Brunswick has 3*96 per cent, of the d ominion’s popu­
lation but only 2.56 per cent, of its tax-paying ability."
# The figures given were obtained from the Canada Year Book, 19
These are based on the last Dominion Census, 1931.
1. Educational Review. (April, 19^0). Vol. LIV. No. 8. p. 20
R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
1*5
More than one-third of the citizens have French as their
mother-tongue.
This bilingual situation has increased the dif­
ficulties of the educators.
Although other provinces have introduced the County Unit
the unit of school administration for elementary schools in New
Brunswick remains the small, obsolete school district intro­
duced in 1&37 (see p. 75) except in urban communities where the
unit is the town, city or municipality.
The small unit remains
in spite of extreme and unfair inequalities of opportunity, in­
adequate high school facilities for rural children, and great
variations in cost.
The citizens are becoming more and more aware of the ob­
solete educational practices.
"There is an increasing demand, especially in the rural dis­
tricts for improved educational facilities. At present,
facilities are being furnished on an uneconomical basis in
many school districts; one teacher in a rural school often
has only a few pupils when she could as well teach twentyfive or thirty. Attention has been turned to the possi­
bility of consolidating the schools so that one large dis­
trict would replace a number of present small districts."
Grants.
Provincial grants for education have been provided since
1792
(p. 2'4).
Little change has been made in the manner of dis­
tributing these grants since
the introduction of the Common
Schools Act in IS72.
Provincial grants provided in 1931 seventeen per cent,^ of
the cost of education which is the least percentage of cost borne
1.
2.
St. Croix Courier. July 2 7 , 1939.
Kings Co~unty Educational Survey, p. 5.
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1^6
"by the government of any of the three maritime provinces.
Appendix p. II. Table I).
(See
In 1935 the provincial contribution
was 1^.7 per cent. 1
Apart from Canada, the tendency in British countries has
been to regard education as a national or state service ana the
governments*
contributions vary from approximately 50 per cent,
in England and Scotland to the full amount of 100 per cent, in
Australia and New Zealand." The Canadian prvoinces have followed
American rather
than British practice.
ward Island all
the Canadian provinces carry a small part of
the educational burden.
Except for Prince Ed­
No doubt the example of the neighboring
American States and the fact that organized public education be­
gan earlier in Canada than in England account for the following
of the American practices in school finance.
(See Appendix p.
11, Table II).
The grants of land set aside for schools, when the Province
•was young, have,
in most cases, been sold long ago.
"In Nev.r Brunswich, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island,
there are
no permanent funds and no lands held by the
provincial governments for the support of schools," 5
In very rare cases school districts continue to own lands
which provide a source of revenue.
"The trustees of St. Martins School District No. 2 announced
at the annual meeting that they h ad obtained the cooperation
of the Dominion Forest Service to survey and cruise the
school's woodland, comprising about 50 acres, as a prelim­
inary step to manage this land after the ftest modern silvacultural methods.".
1.
2.
3.
4-.
Annual Report of Schools. 1939. P. 13
Dominion Bureau of Statistics. 1935.
G. J. Trueman— School Funds in the Province of Quebec, p.
Telegraph-Journal. July 1^, 1959.
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1 *7
Sources of School Fun d s .
There are three sources of money for the support of schools
(a) provincial grants,
(b) county funds,
(c) district funds.
The money from the Provincial Treasury for the support of
elementary schools is largely distributed in the following man­
ner :
(a) G-rants to Teachers
CLASS OF LICENSE
First class
Second Class
Third Class
1-2
§135.
108.
Si.
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
2-7
Over 7
$150.
§175.
120.
l4o.
90 .
100.
These grants amounted to more than $4-02,000 for the school
year 1938- 39.1
(b) Regular Poor Aid from the Provincial Treasury.
VALUATION OF DISTRICT
_
...................to § 8 ,000 .
§ 8 ,000 .
tO §1 2 ,000 .
AMOUNT PER TEACHER.
l /3 of tea c h e r ’s g o v ’t, grant
not to exceed §4-6.00
f of teacher’s g o v ’t, grant
not to exceed § 35 .0 0 .
(c) There is also special poor aid granted from the Provincial
Treasury.
The aid to poor districts during the school year 1938-
39 ^ was §16,7*1.
The county fund is raised by the levy of taxes of 60 cents
for every inhabitant of the county.
This sum is assessed ac­
cording to what the county secretary deems to be the relative
valuation for taxable purposes of the real and personal property
and income of the several parishes,
1.
2.
cities, and towns.
Annual Report of the Department of Education, 1959. t>. 211.
I b i d . p. 211.
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
The grants are paid
VALUATION
$3 ,000.
5,000.
in the following manner:
COUNTY
FUND
to $3,000
to
5,000
to 2,000
REGULAR
POOR
$120.
120.
90.
SPECIAL
POOR
$^6 .
46.
46.
$150.
100.
—
TOTAL
$31§.
266.
136.
During the school year 1932-39 1 more than 2249,000 were
paid hy the county fund to trustees.
The original purpose of the county fund was to eqiiallze
the costs of education, but the great variations in assessment
nullify its effectiveness
"There is a definite tendency towards the multiplying of
'poor districts', either by depressing valuations or by
dividing existing districts and building more small, in­
adequate schools." 2
(c)
District funds are raised by taxation.
The range in school
taxes extended in 1932 ^ from .5 to 116.5 mills, the median was
25.So mills.
These figures mean little because of the lack of
system in the method of local assessment for school purposes.
(Bee Appendix p. Ill, Table 3 ).
Attendance.
In New Brunswick, during the school year 1938-39 ^
^-ere
were approximately £7>500 pupils in 2,721 departments,of these
1,36^ are ungraded one-room rural schools.
(See Appendix p. IV,
Graph I ).
The ungraded one-room schools wirh an enrolment sometimes
1.
2.
3.
4.
Annual
Annual
Report
Annual
Report, Department of Education, 1532-39* P* 210.
Report of Schools, 1939. p. 15
of the Commission of Education, 1932. p. 25.
Report of Department of Sdcuatlon. 1932-39* PP. 172123.
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1^9
as low as two oupils, account in part for the increasing cost
of education in New Brunswick.
(See Appendix p. V, Graph 2).
The reports of the inspectors show that many schools continue
to operate with an average attendance of less than six.
The
lav/ 1 provides for the closing of such a school and the con­
veyance of the pupils to the nearest school.
If the law were
enforced the cost per pupil would be reduced.
The decrease in attendance as the grades are ascended may
be accounted for by the fact that (a) economic conditions are
such that the early removal of children from school is necessary.
(b)
The population as a whole is not sufficiently cognizant of
the value of education, and there is not the body of public opinion which demands that educational advantages be extended.
The members of the legislative in their provision for school ex­
penditures reflect the indifference of the public.
"The proportion of educational expenditure compared with
total ordinary expenditures has fallen from 20.2 per cent,
in 1910 to S .6 per cent, in 1939." ^
(c)
The rural school situation in New Brunswick makes it im­
possible to provide satisfactory minimum high school facilities
and therefore many, who might otherwise desire secondary school
education, are forced to do without it.
"Approximately 1,100 young men made application for admission
to classes conducted under the Dominion-Provincial .Youth
Training Program during trie year ended August 31, 1939.
The average age of the applicants was twenty years and the
average educational standard was grade VI." 3
(d)
1.
2.
3.
The lack of a satisfactory compulsory attendance law.
The
The Schools A c t , 1929 , Section 121. p. 7S.
Annual Report of S c h o o l s , 1939. p. 19.
Annual Report of Vocational Education B o a r d , 1939.
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150
present law ^ must be accepted, by the majority of the ratepayers
of any school district at the annual meeting before it is effec­
tive in that district.
The fine provided for non-observance of
the law by a parent is only two dollars.
The compulsory atten­
dance law is applicable to children between the ages of seven
and twelve years inclusive.
"The compulsory attendance act should be changed by removing
the clause which makes its adoption optional with the rate­
payers.
It should be made obligatory and rural, districts
should have the right to employ truant officers." 2
A comparison of the total school population in 1932 (37,500)
with the total population of ages six to seventeen in the last
census (113, ^ 7 ) reveals that about 26,000 persons of school age
are not in school.
Parents now send their children to school more regularly
and for a longer period of years.
A marked improvement has taken
place in the past twenty years in the distribution of the school
population through the grades in New Brunswick.
"In 1913 almost one quarter ( 2 k . 2 & per cent.) were enrolled
in grade I, and only 3*3^ Per cent, were in high school.
At that time 35.^2 per cent, of all pupils were in the
first five grades, while in the year 1932 this figure had
dropped to 65.71 ?er cent, ana 10.76 per cent, of enrolled
pupils were in high school." 3
When regularity of school attendance is considered Mew
Brunswick holds an unenviable position with 77.1 per cent., being
surpassed by all the provinces exceot Frince Edward Island and
k
Saskatchewan.
The percentage for all of Canada is 25.9.
(See
Appendix p. VIII. C-raph 3).
1.
2.
3.
k Edward VII. Cap. XV.
Annual Report of Schools,
1936. p.l 6 ,
Annual Report of Schools. 1939. P* 6 .
Educational Review (November, 1939 ). Vol. LIV. No. 3 . p. 20
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
• 151.
Post of Seineat Ion.
In 1912 ^ "by the Public Health Act, provision was made for
the medical examination of the pupils of every school in the Prov­
ince.
So far as Canada in concerned New Brunswick was a pioneer
in this matter.
The attention paid to the health of the children
may account in part for the improved school attendance,
(See Ap­
pendix p. IX. Graph k ), and it also may account in part for the
increased cost of education.
(See Appendix p. X. Graph 5 ).
In spite of the increased cost as shown by the tables and
graphs in the appendix it should be noted that the cost per cap­
ita of education in the Province of New Brunswick
when compared with the other provinces.
Island is the cost less, per capita.
($7.2>0) is low
Only in Prince Edward
(See Appendix p. XI.
Table 6).
Teachers1 Salaries.
The salaries paid teachers of the elementary schools in New
Brunswick are about equal to those paid in the other provinces of
Canada.
(See Appendix p. VI. Table 4-).
The average annual sal­
aries paid common school teachers during the school year 193S -39
were, for male teachers of the first class, $1 ,016 ; second class
$^99>’ e-nd third class $39°; for female teachers of the first
class $g 03 ; second class $ 510; and third class $ 390 .
The data concerning incomes of other professional groups
are not available.
1.
2.
36
& George V . Cap.
,
Annual Report of Education, I93S-39. p. 191
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“
152
"In New Brunswick the Labour and Industrial Relations Act,
1S37, provides for the establishment of minimum rates of
wages and maximum hours for both male and female workers.
Orders have been issued for a number of individual es­
tablishments but none of general application in any trade,
industry or profession.11 3The expenditure for education in Canada dropped nearly 25
per
cent, between the years 1930 and 193^*
The rural schools
had
to bear a disproportionate share of the loss of school revenues.
The average salaries of rural teachers in the majority of the
provinces is approximately half of the urban salary, yet rural
teachers suffered most from the depression when salaries are con­
sidered.
(See Appendix p. VII. Table 5)•
"The economic corrmemsation given to school teachers, through­
out Canada is one of the anomalies of our civilization.
Though it is generally higher than it was before the war
when the increased cost of living is considered the position
of teachers is very little improved." ^
In 1910 the
legislature of the Province passed an Act 3 for
the pensioning of teachers.
This Act provides for those who have
taught thirty-five years a pension equal to half of their average
annual salary during the last five years,
ceed in any case §600. per annum.
during the school year 1932-39 ^
the pension not to ex­
The amount paid in versions
was $30,522.
Current Tendencies in Education.
With the appointment of a Minister of Education in 1936
came the break with traditional educational practices in this
Province.
1.
2.
3.
A.
There has been a shift to pupil activity with the in-
Canada Year B o o k , 1939* p. 2^6.
J.C.Webster— The Distressed M a r itimes. p. 17 .
1 C-eor^e V. Cap. 17 .
Annual Report of Schools, p. 212.
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153
troduction of the new curriculum (see p. 125).
Contemporary
problems of the province and the dominion are now being; studied.^
Less emphasis is being placed on home study. ^
Many communities
have changed their school records and home reports so that more
human information is available.
The school year is being ad­
justed to the seasonal occupations of certain areas.
has had all-year school.
Saint John
Great stress has been placed upon per­
petuating the ideals of democracy.
"It is the main objective of the New Course of Study to
build up in the young a lively appreciation of the great
importance and immeasurable value of our democratic in­
stitutions.
Under the new approach the school itself
becomes a democratic society in which^pupils and teachers
practice the democratic way of life."^
In Ijkc correspondence courses were provided for pupils
in remote areas.
Preliminary steps have been tahen to introduce the larger
unit of administration (p. 1^3) •
This will have a. tendency to
equalize the financial support of education and at the sane time
provide rural high schools which will give better educational
opportunities to rural children.
Permanent licenses for teachers have been discontinued
(p. 130 ) and greater emphasis is being placed upon in-service
preparation.
The Department of Education is becoming more aware of the
necessity of improved supervision(p. 1 ^ 2 ).
"One of the most effective means of securing the steady
1.
2.
3.
Programme of Studies, pp. lhi-iii-2.
ibid. p. 35 .
Annual Report of S c h o o l s , 1939. p. S.
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
progress of pupils through the schools is by creative
supervision for teachers." 1
In all the Canadian provinces, except Quebec, the chief
educational authority forms an integral part of the government;
in Nev.’ Brunswick the Executive Council, with the addition of the
Chief Superintendent, the Director of Education Services, and
the President of the University of New Brunswick, makes up the
Beard of Education.
It is not at all surprising that politics
play an important role under such an arangement.
"Educational policy is a political product; important ap­
pointees, such as district inspectors who should be purely
educational, are often semi-political officials and edu­
cational documents cannot escape more or less of the flavor
of political orientation." ~
This statement, together with the fact that Hew Brunswick
is listed by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics 3 (see Apoen&ix
p. XII Table 7)
having the greatest percentage (6.91) of il­
literacy of any of the provinces of Canada makes it plain that
all is not well in the field of education in Me”.' Erunswick.
A
definite attack on illiteracy is now being launched through im­
proved school supervision and adult education.
The new course
aims to eliminate illiteracy. ^
Though the road travelled has been a long and difficult
one our educational Utopia has not been reached.
It is not e-
nough to be content with what success thus far hau been achieved.
Further effort is needed if this Province is to keep pace with
the other parts of the dominion.
1.
2.
1.
4.
Loc. Cit.
W. Learned & K. Sills—
Education in the Maritime Provinces of
of Canada, p. ~U~.
Annual Report of Department of Education, 1939. rc. 3.
Canada Year Book, 1939. p. 102.
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CHAPTER XVI
CONCLUSIONS
First Schools..
The desire for religious dominance provided the motive for
establishing the first schools.
Both the Roman Catholic and the
Established Church of England had hoped to persuade the natives
and early settlers in Nev.’ Brunswick to accept their respective
religious beliefs.
Between these churches great rivalry ex­
isted which resulted in increased educational efforts.
The first schools were founded by missionaries of the Ro­
man Catholic Church (pp. 12-13).
These schools were located at
Saint John (16^5-165^) and at Bathurst (l6:+g-l655).
As early
as 1700 the French had schools in Northern New Brunswick.(p. 1^).
The first English school was opened at Cumberland in 177^
(p. 27) upon the recommendation of the Lieutenant-Governor.
The
teacher was provided by the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel.
In 1786 this society adopted a definite policy of sup­
porting elementary schools in the Province (p. 2S) and before
IgOO fourteen schools were established.
As early as 1787 schools were provided for the Indians by
the New England. Company (p. 35).
With the arrival of the Loya-
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156
lists (1753) private schools began to flourish.
One was es­
tablished at Saint John as early as 1721! (p. 27) and one at
Kingston in'1737 (p. 37).
The first school to be recognized as a parish school was
established by David Burpee at Maugerville in 1773 (p. W-).
The first provincial grant for education was made in 1792 (p.36).
During the year 1202 at least thirteen parish schools were in
operation in Kings County.
P.frJg.
etlves,,p f_ Elementary,Education.
The hope of making Canada a stronghold of the Roman Cath­
olic religion cs.used the Recollet Fathers to strive to estab­
lish in New France early in the 17th century (p. 33)'
^
this
time French missionaries were active in New Brunswick and about
1760 Protestant missionaries arrived to make efforts to convert
the Indians (p. 12).
The sources of the French missionaries induced the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel to provide schools where the
children might be taught to believe and live as Christians and
to read an write (p. 22) and to fit themselves for useful em­
ployments (p. 120).
The parish schools aimed to furnish the education necessary
to qualify for public a.nd civic offices (p. 20). but the impor­
tance of religion was not overlooked in these schools (p. 2^).
The importance of education to society was stressed (p. k-6).
These schools hoped to prepare the children for entrance into
the vocations (p.121).
The New England Company hoped to civilize the Indians
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157
and to teach them the English language, the liberal arts and sci­
ences, and some trade (p.3*0 .
-Me schools founded by this com­
pany hoped to teach loyalty to British principles (p.35).
The private schools taught the vocational subjects (p.27)
and the fine arts (p.2 7 ).
The schools of the present are stressing the perpetuation
of the ideals of democracy (p. 153) anc_i- ^he elimination of il­
literacy (p. 15^).
Educators.
The educators associated with the elementary education are
the French missionaries (p.13), who established the first Indian
schools; L ’Abbe Bourg,an Acadian priest, who taught the Indians
(p. 13); Bea.ling Stephen Williams and Matthew Brannen, soldiers,
who had private schools at Fredericton late in the eighteenth
century (pp. 23-2^); James Porter and the other teachers employed
by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel previous to
1200
(pp. 30-31); Oliver Arnold, who established the Sussex
Academy (p. 35)5 William Paine, member of the House of Assembly
for Charlotte County, whose interest and efforts resulted in
the introduction of the Parish School system in 1202 (p.U-2);
Major General Smythe who was largely responsible for the in­
troduction of Madras School system (p. 5S); Marshall D'Avray
and Edmund Duval who were masters of the first training schools
(p. 77); George E. King, Attorney-General under whose leadership
free schools were first provided (p.100); and Theodore H. Rand,
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152
who was the first Chief Superintendent of Education after the in­
troduction of the free school system (p.111).
The Period of Growth.
The expansion of the elementary school can he judged from
the fact that in 1792 a grant of §100. was made to the provincial
seminary (p.24-) in an effort to establish one provincially owned
school and in 1939 > r‘° section of the Province was without such
services.
The periods of most rapid growth, judged by attendance fig­
ures were those which saw the introduction of the Madras system
(p. 66) and the establishment of the Free Schools (pp. 114— 115).
These periods coincide respectively with the period of relative
prosperity which followed the War with the United States in 161214- and the period of industrial progress which came late in the
nineteenth century.
The importance of obtaining an education is
being more and more realized by the citizens of New Brunswick
(p. 150).
General Conclusions.
The changes which have taken place in elementary education
may nave come about partly as the result of changing educational
philosophies, but largely from following the example set by the
other provinces of Canada and the neighboring American states.
It has been noted that Nova Scotia had free schools several years
(p. 110) before the system was introduced into New Brunswick.
Other provinces have already established rural high schools
and adopted the county as the unit of administration.
During
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159
recent years almost the last Canadian province to undertake the
task of curriculum revision was New Brunswick.
This tendency to procrastinate may he the result of politi­
cal domination by a Board of Education composed chiefly of the
Provincial Cabinet or Executive, rather than the reluctance of
educators, to depart from the established educational practices.
The situation is well explained by the following statement;
"Education must 'keep its place'; an aggressive no1icy of
public taxation for education is thought to be out of the
question for a body that desires re-election; the depart­
ment of education is managed by whatever proposals■a cab­
inet will consider harmless.
In other words, there is no
temptation for the educational authority to resort to an
enlightened popular agitation and a direct appeal to the
people, because it is not in a position to array itself
against the government and force through vital legislation." Problems Needing Investigation.
It is believed that the matters which need the immediate
attention of educators and legislators are;
(a)
The reorganisation of teacher training and certification.
(b)
The establishment of the county as a unit of educational ad­
ministration with a system of rural high schools.
(c)
The provision of visual and auditory aids for rural schools.
(d)
A definite program of consolidation for rural school areas.
(e)
A satisfactory library service.
(f)
Suitable apprenticeship and compulsory attendance legislation.
(g)
The reduction of illiteracy.
1.
Learned & Sills— Op. Cit. p. 6 .
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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i6o
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Primary Sources.
Acts of the Assembly respecting Education 1793-1939.
Archives, Public, Ottawa.
British North America Act.
Governor Garleton to Rt. Honorable W. W. Grenville, August
a^.m ifOyD. Col. Cor. N.B. Vol. 2. p. 223
20,i790
Ward Chipman, letter Lord Bathurst hay 1 5 , 1323. Col. Cor. New Brunswick
Vol. 27. p. 109
Calendar of Church Manuscripts. Diocese of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
Headquarters of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, London,
England.
Canada.— Annual Report of the Department of Indians, Ottawa, Kind's
Printer 193o.
11
Year Book, Bureau of Statistics,
11
Sessional Papers.
Ottawa,King*sPrinter.
No. 27 , 1$22.
Colony of New Brunswick— Annual Reports to Colonial Secretary, lS2g-lg66.
Fenety, G. S., Political Notes and Observations.
S. R. Miller, 13677
Fredericton,
Fraser, non. John J., Report of the Legislative Commission upon charges
relating to the Bathurst Schools. 'Printed for the Legislature, 1S91*-.
Gesner, Abraham— New Brunswick, with Notes for Immigrants, London,
Simonas and Ward, 18^7.
Kngerman, K. H., Oral Report concerning Madras Schools.
Haher vs. Town Council of the Town of Portland, argument before the Privy
Council of Great Britain, 1374.
New Brunswick, Journals of the Assembly, 1793-lS^p.
Minutes of the Board of Education, IS52-I939.
manual 0f the School Law and Regulations of the Boa^d
of Education. IS7O-I929.
~
Revised Statutes, 1927.
Minutes of the House of Assembly, 1S20-1939.
Minutes of the General Sessions ISO3 .
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
l6l
New Brunswick, Statutes of New Brunswick, 1736-1939.
Debates in the House of Assembly, 1837-32.
A.nnual Report of Madras Schools,
Annual Report of Parish Schools ,
Annual Report
of
Schools, 1871-1936.
Annual Report
of
Department of Education,1937-39.
Annual Report
of
Vocational Education Board,1939.
Report of Commission on Education, 1932.
Public A.ccounts of the Province 1937 ^ncl 1932.
Frogram of Studies for the Schools. 1939Educational Circulars Nos. 1 to l4-.
Journal of Education, 1387.
Report
of Society for
thePropagation
of the Gospel, 177^.
for the Society for the Propagaiont of the G-ospel, London, England.
Renaude et al.— Judgment of the Supreme Court of Mew Brunswick uoon
the constitutionality of the Common Schools Act, 1371.
Royal Instructions to Governor' Carleton, 178^.
Secondary Sources.
Cubberlev, SIwood P.— Brief History of Education, Cambridge, Riverside
Press / 1922.
Fisher, Peter— First History of New Brunswick, privately printed, 1325,
reprinted Saint John, New Brunswick Historical Society, 1921.
Hannay, James— Life and Times of Sir Leonard Tilley, Saint John.
(no printer given) 1397*
Kay, G-. U.— Article on Canade and Its Provinces. Vol. 1^ Toronto
;SdinburgVJniversity Press, for Publishers' Association of Canada, 1913*
King, H. B.— School Finance in British Columbia, Victoria.
Printer, 1935.
Lawrence, J.
Judges of New Brunswick.
King's
(No printer or date given).
Learned, W. S. and Sills, K. C. II.— Education in the Maritime Provinces of
Canada, Bulletin No. 16. New York, Carnegie Foundation for the ad­
vancement of Teaching, 1922.
LeGreslev, Omer— L 'Enselgnement du Francais Sn Acadie. These de doctorat
de L'Universite de Paris. Hamers, C-abriel Enautl, 1925.
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
Head
162
Lee, G. Herbert.— First Fifty Years of the Church of England In the
Province of New Brunswick, Saint John, "Sun Publishing Co., 1880.
Maxwell, L. B.— History of Central New Brunswick, Sackville, Tribune
Press, 1937*
Ontario.— Teachers' Manual, History of Education, Toronto United Press
Limited, 1926.
Raymond, W. 0.-— New Brunswick Schools of Olden Times, Educational
Review, Saint John.
Raymond, W. 0.— Winslow Papers, A. D. 1776-1226, Saint John, Sun Printing
and Publishing Co., 1901.
Sabine, Lorenzo.— Loyalists of the American Revolution.
Little Brown & Co., 1864.
Boston,
Smith, T. Watson,— History of the Methodist Church, Halifax, Methodist
Book Room, 1277.
Stephen, A. G.— Private Schools in Canada, Toronto, Clarke Irwin & Co.
Ltd., 1932.
'
Thomas, L. 0.— The Province of New Brunswick, Ottawa, King's Printer, 1930.
Trueman, G. J.— School Funds in the Province of Quebec, Contributions to
Education. N0 .T0 6 , New York, Teachers' College, Columbia University,
1920.
Updegraff, Harlan.— The Origin of the Moving School in Massachusetts.
Contributions to Education. No. 1, New York, Teachers' College, New
York University, 1902.
Webster, J. C.— Historical Guide to New Brunswick, Fredericton, New
Brunswick Government Bureau of Information and Tourist Travel, 1932.
Unpublished Manuscripts.
Bailey, G. W.— Our Schools 12^7-1252.
Bradley, Mary .— Narrative of the Life and Christian Experience of Mrs.
Mary Bradley.
Gorham, R. P.— Educational Developments in Loyalist Kingston.
Fisher, Peter.— Sketches of New Brunswick.
Somerville, Jas.— Sermon preached in Cathedral at Fredericton.
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
163
Original Letters.
Original Documents.
L g .g a z ift.e s .
Sducational Rr.yiew« 1S92-1939? Saint John.
Macmillans Magazine, Macmillan & Co., London & Cambridge.
iiew Brunswick Historical Society Collections. Vol. 1-13.
New Brunswick Magazine Vol. 1-5".
Brunswick Historical Society.
Scrapbooks.
-----
Clipping from various sources, New Brunswick Museum
Saint John.
Newspapers printed in New Brunswick.
Saint John City Gazette, 1791-1222.
Saint John Courier, 1212-1235.
Saint John Times,' 1809-182^.
Chatham G-leaner, 1239-^-^63.
Saint John Evening Globe, 1356-1869.
Saint John Morning News, 185^— 1873.
Saint John Daily News, 1870-I89ii-.
Saint John C-lobe, I3CO-I917.
Telegraph-Journal, 152 5Salnt Croix Courier, 1395-
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
APPENDIX.
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1
O/BTP/BUT/0N OF POPUl FT/O/V
p£W
BFO/VStY/CK
vMoncfonm
Sf.flno'rer/sV
(I)
i.O.Tt’on/ast
Y/,e
c
'
e
3 0//
V
£
=
v
v
'
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
Appendix Page 11
Table 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
3.
9.
Percentage Paid by Provincial Governments in Canada
towards the Cost of Education.
Alberta
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
Saskatchewan
12.50
4-1.30
12.07
16.60
25.01
9.30
60.09
16.50
12.50
^Table 2
Percentage of the Cost of Fublic Education Paid by
the Government in various British Countries.
Per Cent.
England and Wales(not including University education)
5-0
Scotland
~
"
%.7
Northern Ireland
32.5
Nev; Zealand
100.6
The Australian States
100.0
South Africa
100.0
1.
H.B.King— School Finance in British Columbia,
-
63.
2 . Loj^Cit.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
Appendix Page 111
Table 3
PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK 1
SCHOOL TAX IN MILLS
MEDIAN
COUNTY
MEAN
Restigouche
33.96
31.75
6.5 to 53.5
Gloucester
^5.5
40.23
7.5 to 116.5
Northumberland
27.29
27.1
6.5 to 51.5
RANGE
Kent
31.75
29.5
9.5 to 97.5
Westmorland
21.13
21.1
4-.5 to 51.5
Albert
35.36
24-. 33
7.5 to 76.5
Saint John
20.2>3
20.16
6.5 to 4o.5
Charlotte
22.05
27.05
7.5 to 53.5
Kings
26.57
2^.3
6.5 to 66.5
Queens
30.76
22.0
11.5 to 21.5
Sunbury
31.67
24-.0
11.5 to 97.5
York
19.0
17.66
. 4-.5 to 59.5
Carleton
2^.72
21.0
2.5' to 22.5
Victoria
37.92
32.16
6.5 to 112.5
Madawaska
32.15
34-. 5
.5 to 21.5
Province of
New Brunswick
22.99
25.26
.5 to 116.5
1.
Report of the Commission on Education p. 25.
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IV
;>Ai6p
puf-zi
[
j
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
Graph 2
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
Table 4
Appendix Page VI.
_
Average Annual Salaries Received by Teachers 1 In Rural and Urban
Schools by Provinces.
1926
1935
1937
Prince Edward Island
Rural Schools
Urban Schools
5?3
7*14
420
775
459
Nova Scotia
Rural and Village Schools
Urban Schools
535
227
531
1046
535
1104
423
1122
Item
m
New Brunswick
Rurax Schools
Urban Schools
Quebec
Roman Catholic (lay teachers)
Protestant (lay teachers)
795
497
1166
463.1176
452
1144
Ontario
Rural Schools
Urban Schools
?37
1452
744
1502
735
1^73
1202
620
1252
612
1333
Saskatchewan
Rural Schools
Urban Schools
1017
1292
465
914
424
1113
Alberta
Rtiral Schools
Urban Schools
1034
1524
723
1369
752
1415
British Columbia
Rural
District Municipalities
Cities
1110
1419
1642
94o
1117
1577
957
1150
1690
Manitoba
Rural Schools
Urban Schools
#
#
T
Not Available
1. Canada Year Book, 1939- P» 1017*
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
Appendix. Page VII.
Table 5
Rural and Urban Teachers’ Post-Depression Salaries Expressed as
Percentages of Pre-Depression Salaries.
Province
Rural
Urban
P. c.
91.3
99.5 '
Nova Scotia
96.^
99.1
New Brunswick
79.5
96.S
Quebec
73.6
89.3
Ontario
72.3
92.8
Manitoba
63.2
82.7
Saskatchewan
IP
69A
Alberta
71.8
91.0
British Columbia
83.6
SS.4
1.
(Protestant)
CM
p. c.
Prince Edward Island
Canada Year B ooh, 1938 p. 981
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Graph 3
VIII
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
Graph 4
IX
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
Graph 5
X
1
t
■tSooAs'.
'J
1
£
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. F urther reproduction prohibited without permission.
Table 6
Appendix Page XI
Cost per Capita of Education ^ in the Canadian Provinces for the
Year 1930-31 (excluding universities)
Province
Cost
British Columbia
Alberta
16.56
Saskatchewan
15.39
Manitoba
16.73
Ontario
16.73
Quebec
New Brunswick
7.20
Nova Scotia
8.17
Prince Edward Island
5.20
1.
H. 3. King— School Finance in British Columbia, p. 70.
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Table 7
Appendix Page XII
Literacy of the Population of 10 Years of Age or Over by Provinces.1
Can Read
And Write
Province
Can Read
Only
Can Neither
Read nor Write
p. c.
Prince Edward Island
96.63
0.72
2.65
Nova Scotia
95.05
O .69
^.26
New Brunswick
92.0S
0.71
6.91
Quebec
9^.52
0.72
K i e
Ontario
97. W-
0.2 6
2.30
Manitoba
95.15
0.39
M 6
Saskatchewan
95.39
0.^9
K
Alberta
96.10
0.^7
3M
British Columbia
95.76
0 .2s
3.96
1.
13
Canada Year Booh, 1939 > P« 1Q8.
NEW YOR K U N IV E R S IT Y
SC HO O L OF E D U C A TIO N
o
L IB R A R Y
q
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