This week, our weekly readings covered the topic of progressive education in Canada, focusing primarily on the first half of the 20th century. In the assigned readings, we are introduced to the experiences of students in both British Columbia and Ontario public schools, offering a more thorough representation of the education system nationwide. Although curriculum is managed on a provincial level, the experiences of the students bear striking resemblance. In addition to similarities between provinces during the same era, we also notice similarities between the past and the present education system, indicating that our current system is deeply rooted in both traditionalism and progressivism.
As Robert M. Stamp cites in his article as he refers to the progressive changes made to the Ontario curriculum in 1937, “Growing Up Progressive? Part I: Going to Elementary School in 1940s Ontario, “According to a senior departmental spokesperson, the “‘focus of attention is shifted from content to child, and from the child in general to the individual child… The factory system of mass production is replaced by something approaching the care and study of the craftsman and artist.’” [1] As a result of these developments, “educators saw visions of classrooms ‘that were bright and cheerful, where children could work together around a table, with maybe a rocking chair here and there.’ The classroom would be “a place where children could live socially, where it was a joy to go, and where their interests and activities could be fully developed.” [2] However, Stamp repeatedly questions the progressiveness of the education system of the time in the article, making reference to experiences such as, “In addition to reading, Miss Jackson teaches us how to print our names and do our sums, work quietly at tables, sit in a large circle on the carpeted floor, put up our hands when we need to go to the bathroom,” [3] experiences which prepared the then Kindergarten students for the standardized classroom setting as they “marched from a progressive, activity-oriented playground into a traditional desks-in-straight-rows, sit-down-and-be-quiet 1940s Ontario elementary school.” [4]
Similar to the experiences of children in Ontario, students in British Columbia experienced an education system that was geared towards teaching “groups of children rather than individual youngsters.” [5] According to Neil Sutherland, author of “The Triumph of ‘Formalism’: Elementary Schooling in Vancouver from the 1920s to the 1960s,” “Although the tone varied a great deal from room to room, the methods of teaching the whole class were remarkably consistent from teacher to teacher and subject to subject.” [6] As we see in Sutherland’s descriptions of the the education experience, there was a heavy stress on formalism in the classroom. Routines were implemented and courses were mandated according to the students grade level, which is a practice that continues today. These practices extended to the high school environment, where “the provincial curriculum includes English, social studies, health, mathematics, science or agriculture, French, home economics or general shop, music or art, and business practice.” [7] This structure continues in many educational settings today, where students continue to learn according to curriculum similar to that which dates back to the mid-1900s. Although changes are currently being made, specifically in British Columbia, to bring the focus onto the individual learning experience rather than the masses, much of the practices of modern day education are rooted in the progressivism and traditionalism implemented over 50 years ago.
[1] Robert M. Stamp, “Growing Up Progressive? Part I: Going to Elementary School in 1940s Ontario.” Historical Studies in Education vol. 17, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 188.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid., 189.
[4] Ibid., 198.
[5] Neil Sutherland, “The Triumph of ‘Formalism’: Elementary Schooling in Vancouver from the 1920s to the 1960s,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 380.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Robert M. Stamp, “Growing Up Progressive? Part II : Going to High School in 1950s Ontario.” Historical Studies in Education vol. 17, no. 2 (Fall 2005): 321.