RYERSON MEMORIAL VOLUME:

PREPARED ON THE OCCASION
OF THE
UNVEILING OF THE RYERSON STATUE
IN THE GROUNDS OF THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
ON THE
QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY, 1889.

BY J. GEORGE HODGINS, M.A., LL.D.,
BARRISTER-AT-LAW, AND DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION.

TORONTO:
PRINTED BY WARWICK & SONS 68 AND 70 FRONT STREET WEST.
1889.

PREFATORY NOTE.

I have two reasons to give for the part which I have taken in the preparation of the latter part of this Memorial Volume. The first is mentioned in the following paragraph from the brief resumé of the historical and personal facts given in the volume, and which I read on the day of the unveiling of the statue, as follows:—

"It devolves upon me, as Chairman of the (Ryerson Memorial Statue) Committee, and at the kind request of my colleagues—no less than as the life-long friend and fellow-labourer of him whose deeds and memory we honour to-day—to trace back to their source the origin and underlying principles of our system of education, and to show that these underlying principles and other vital forces were so combined by a master-hand as to form the groundwork, as they have, in their combination, become the charter of our educational system of to-day."

The second reason is contained in the following paragraphs—containing a brief record of Dr. Ryerson's thirty-two years in the Public Service, taken from The Story of My Life, page 351.

"During my connection with the Education Department—from 1844 to 1876—I made five educational tours of inspection and enquiry to educating countries in Europe and the United States. I made an official tour through each county in Upper Canada, once in every five years, to hold a County Convention of municipal councillors, clergy, school trustees, teachers and local superintendents, and thus developed the School system as the result of repeated inquiries in foreign countries, and the freest consultation with my fellow-citizens of all classes, in the several County Conventions, as well as on many other occasions.

"During the nearly thirty-two years of my administration of the Education Department, I met with strong opposition at first from individuals—some on personal, others on religious and political grounds; but that opposition was, for most part, partial and evanescent. During these years I had the support of each successive administration of Government, whether of one party or the other, and, at length, the co-operation of all religious persuasions; so that in 1876 I was allowed to retire, with the good-will of all political parties and religious denominations, and without diminution of my public means of subsistence.

"I leave to Dr. J. George Hodgins, my devoted friend of over forty years, and my able colleague for over thirty of these years, the duty of filling up the details of our united labours in founding a system of education for my native Province which is spoken of in terms of strong commendation, not only within, but by people outside of the Dominion."[1]

My own estimate of Dr. Ryerson's educational life and labours is contained in the following paragraphs, which were written by me in 1883:—

Dr. Ryerson's fame in the future will mainly rest upon the fact that he was a distinguished Canadian Educationist, and the Founder of a great system of Public Education for Upper Canada. What makes this distinguishing excellence in his case the more marked, was the fact that the soil on which he had to labour was unprepared, and the social condition of the country was unpropitious. English ideas of schools for the poor, supported by subscriptions and voluntary offerings, prevailed in Upper Canada; free schools were unknown; the very principle on which they rest—that is, that the ratable property of the country is responsible for the education of the youth of the land—was denounced as communistic and an invasion of the rights of property; while "compulsory education"—the proper and necessary complement of free schools—was equally denounced as of the essence of "Prussian despotism," and an impertinent and unjustifiable interference with "the rights of British subjects."

It was a reasonable boast at the time that only systems of popular education, based upon the principle of free schools, were possible in the republican American States, where the wide diffusion of education was regarded as a prime necessity for the stability and success of republican institutions, and, therefore, was fostered with unceasing care. It was the theme on which the popular orator loved to dilate to a people on whose sympathies with the subject he could always confidently reckon. The practical mind of Dr. Ryerson, however, at once saw that the American idea of free schools was the true one. He moreover perceived that by giving his countrymen facilities for freely discussing the question among the ratepayers once a year, they would educate themselves into the idea, without any interference from the State. These facilities were provided in 1850; and for twenty-one years the question of free schools versus rate-bill schools (fees, etc.) was discussed every January in from 3,000 to 5,000 school sections, until free schools became voluntarily the rule, and rate-bill schools the exception. In 1871, by common consent, the free school principle was incorporated into our school system by the Legislature, and has ever since been the universal practice. In the adoption of this principle, and in the successful administration of the Education Department, Dr. Ryerson at length demonstrated that a popular (or, as it had been held in the United States, the democratic) system of public schools was admirably adapted to our monarchical institutions. In point of fact, leading American educationists have often pointed out that the Canadian system of public education was more efficient in all of its details, most practically successful in its results, than was the ordinary American school system in any one of the States of the Union. Thus it is that the fame of Dr. Ryerson as a successful founder of our educational system, rests upon a solid basis. What has been done by him will not be undone; and the ground gone over by him will not require to be traversed again. But I forbear, as I hope to devote a volume to the private and personal history of our educational system.

The first part of this volume contains an interesting account from the leading daily papers of Toronto of the ceremony of unveiling the great statue to a distinguished native of Ontario and a truly representative man—representative of her enterprize, energy and progress. As such, many of the leading men of the Province assembled on the Queen's Birthday to do honour to his memory. It also contains the addresses in full of those gentlemen who were appointed by their respective institutions, etc., to that duty, and who kindly consented to take part in the ceremonies and proceedings of the day.

The second part of the volume contains a statement of the origin, with illustrations, of the underlying principles of our system of education—primary, secondary and university.

There has also been added at the end some historical and personal sketches—some of them of a humorous cast—but all illustrative of the early days of education in this Province, and its vicissitudes of light and shade. They