Nineteenth-century educational reformers were fond of an agricultural metaphor when it came to the provision of more and better schooling: even good land, they argued, had to be cultiated; othersie noxious weeds sprang up. In this study of education in Ontario from the establishment of Upper Canada to the end of Egerton Ryerson's career as chief superintendent of schools in 1876, Susan Houston and Alison Prentice explore the roots of the provincial public school system, set up to instill a work ethic and moral discipline appropriate to the new society, as well as the beginnings of separate schools. today the Ontario school system is once again the subject of intense and often bitter deabte. Many of the most contentious issues have deep and complex roots that go back to this era. Houston and Prentice tell the story of how Ontario came to have a universal school system of exceptional quality and shed valuable light on an area of current concern.

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

Changing Women, Changing History is a bibliographic guide to the scholarship, both English and French, on Canadian's women's history. Organized under broad subject headings, and accompanied by author and subject indices it is accessible and comprehensive.

Christian organizations have always played a large role in Canadian education. By 1949, five provinces had constitutionally protected denominational schools. The federal government’s responsibility for the education of Indigenous Peoples was effectively contracted out to the churches for more than a century, resulting in a history of abuse that has only recently come to light. From the 1950s to the 1970s, several initiatives in different provinces set the stage for significant reforms to education. Some of these tested the limits of denominational protections, but could not shake the underlying constitutional structures. Patriation of the Constitution and adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 codified fundamental changes in thinking about civil rights. The Charter allowed existing denominational rights to be challenged on many fronts. However, all such challenges were rebuffed by the courts on the grounds that the Charter cannot be used to override other parts of the Constitution. By the 1990s, it became apparent that another route to reform was available, through the amending formula. Constitutional amendments were used to end denominational control of schools in Newfoundland and Quebec in 1997 and 1998. The circumstances around those constitutional amendments are discussed in detail as possible precedents for similar outcomes in Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. This book contends that change will certainly come to these provinces and several paths to reform are explored. This reform aims to remove the discrimination inherent in denominational institutions while preserving some form of religious involvement in certain schools.

Stern discipline, so prevalent in Ontario classrooms during the first half of the twentieth century, remained intact not only because elementary and secondary teachers wanted to keep their jobs, but also as a result of control exerted by higher authorities. During their training, teachers encountered this control, particularly during practice teaching. As educators, their mandate to "keep order" extended well beyond the classroom. Ignorance and insensitivity when dealing with issues of ethnicity, religion, gender, colour, and mental and physical capabilities frequently resulted in discrimination. Beyond corporal punishment, the subtleties incorporated in rules, rituals, and curriculum reflected the societal conviction that a teacher was always in control-expectations that mirrored the previous century's school reformers' desire to instill a work ethic and moral discipline suitable for an emerging society. In Not Just the Strap, author Vera C. Pletsch offers an intriguing analysis of discipline during the formative period of Ontario's history, when locals and parents controlled education. Making extensive use of archival material and interviews with former education authorities, inspectors, trustees, school staff, and pupils (1900?1960), Pletsch depicts an era of hierarchical control in school discipline-a period when few initiatives for change in educational policy, or in curriculum, were introduced. By explaining the subsequent efforts to dismantle the old philosophy, she also sheds valuable light on an area of current concern.

Times change, lives change, and the terms we need to describe our literature or society or condition—what Raymond Williams calls “keywords”—change with them. Perhaps the most significant development in the quarter-century since Eli Mandel edited his anthology Contexts of Canadian Criticism has been the growing recognition that not only do different people need different terms, but the same terms have different meanings for different people and in different contexts. Nation, history, culture, art, identity—the positions we take discussing these and other issues can lead to conflict, but also hold the promise of a new sort of community. Speaking of First Nations people and their literature, Beth Brant observes that “Our connections … are like the threads of a weaving. … While the colour and beauty of each thread is unique and important, together they make a communal material of strength and durability.” New Contexts of Canadian Criticism is designed to be read, to work, in much the same manner.

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