History of Education in Canada

It is very interesting to look at the Development of Education in Canada over the years and what has influenced the development of our education systems. I learned a lot in the classroom discussion as I believe it is important to understand the history of Education in order to understand the education systems are today!
The French, English, American and Scottish  education systems were all very unique from each other. 

• The French focused on elementary education where the boys and girls were separated. The boys received a better education than the girls. The classes were taught by priests and funded by the Catholic Church.  The French schools focused on a religious curriculum plus needs based on education.  
• The English schools were separated by class structure.  There were public school available for the children who come from wealthy families. The children who were came from lower class homes were educated by the church or in "Dame School" which were ran by widows and housewives.  All of the English schools were ran by the Church of England.  
• The American tradition came about when the British Loyalists moved to Canada from the United States following the War of Independence because they wanted to live in the British Colony.  The lower class children received essential curriculum material needed to learn to read so that they could read the Bible.The upper class children received college preparation curriculum.   
• The Scottish tradition was very interesting to learn about. There was democratic tradition within the education system. The majority of Scottish children attended school. Interestingly, education did have a class structure.  The boys and girls were educated together in both elementary and secondary levels.  Science and art were included in the school curriculum.  The Scottish traditions were easy to implement in early Canada because they solved the problems of religious differences. 

It was interesting to discover that there were some current trends in education such as evaluation and assessment, students with special needs, ancillary services, technology, curriculum development and second language acquisition.  

While looking at the differences of education throughout the provinces, there were many different actions that occurred in the past that I was unaware of.   I now have a better understanding of how our education systems began and how they developed and changed significantly over the years. Today, many children of various cultures and religious backgrounds attend the same public schools.  Also, in many of the schools, the topic of religion is disregarded and individual differences are all accepted.   

Today, I think it is important to know that there are 4 alternate types of schools: independent schools, Montessori schools, home schooling, and virtual schools. 

Looking at the history of education, it makes me wonder what is going to happen in the next 20 years with the rapid population growth of immigrants into Canada and how the cultural differences will affect today's education systems.