The Second Canadian Conference on Education: A Report 9781487580254

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THE SECOND

LA DEUXIÈME

CANADIAN

CONFÉRENCE

CONFERENCE ON

CANADIENNE

EDUCATION

SUR L'ÉDUCATION

THE SECOND CANADIAN CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION: A REPORT

Edited by FRED W. PRICE M.A. (McGill) / Conference Director

March 4-8, 1962, in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal

PUBLISHED BY UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS

RAPPORT DE LA DEUXIÈME CONFÉRENCE CANADIENNE SUR L'ÉDUCATION

Rédigé par FRED W. PRICE M.A. (McGill) / Directeur de la Conférence

Du 4 au 8 mars, 1962, à l'hôtel Reine Elizabeth, Montréal

PUBLIÉ PAR LES PRESSES DE L'UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL

@ UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS 1962

Printed in Canada

Reprinted in 2018 ISBN 978-1-4875-8122-0 (paper)

LE TIMBRE SUR

L'INSTRUCTION

Plus les Canadiens chercheront à s'instruire, plus le Canada sera fort. D'où le but de notre prochain timbre : appeler l'attention de tous sur l'importance de l'instruction. Au centre de la vignette, un jeune couple envisage l'avenir. De chaque côté, à l'arrière-plan, des symboles des multiples branches du savoir : TEMPLE GREC-l'histoire et l'apport du passé MARTEAU ET ARMOIRIES-la loi et le gouvernement ROUE DENTÉE-le génie et l'industrie E=Mc2-la théorie de la relativité d'Einstein, et la science atomique MACHINE À ÉCRIRE-la gestion de l'entreprise EQUERRE-l'architecture VIOLON-la musique SOLEll., PLANTE, TERRE ET EAU-la matière et la vie LUNE ET ÉTOILE-l'univers GLOBE TERRESTRE-la géographie politique et sociale Fll. À PLOMB ET PINCES-les métiers LIVRE (ALPHA ET OMÉGA)-la littérature et les langues BALLON-la chimie SIGNES ARIIBMÉ.TIQUEs-les mathématiques et l'économie MICROSCOPE-la recherche scientifique HOMME-l'homme, aux points de vue physique, mental et spirituel CISEAU, CRAYON ET PINCEAU-les arts visuels et le dessin CROIX-le sacerdoce CASQUETTE D'OFFICIER-les armes Tous les ministres provinciaux de l'éducation se sont ralliés à l'idée d'un timbre sur l'instruction. De plus, plusieurs organismes nationaux et provinciaux, des associations de formation professionnelle, des universités et des collèges, des musées et des bibliothèques, ont donné leur appui.

SPECIAL EDUCATION STAMP This postage stamp design is intended to stimulate public awareness of the importance of education to ail Canadians. The more Canadians become interested in the quest for higher education, the greater will be the strength of the nation. The stamp depicts, as the main element, a young adult couple gazing into the future. On either side of the figures, in the background, are symbolic designs representing the various fields of education. These symbols are: GREEK TEMPLE-respect for the achievement of past history GAVEL AND COAT-0F-ARMS-law and government GEAR WHEELs-engineering and industry E=MC2-a symbol to express Einstein's Theory of Relativity and the resulting atomic age TYPEWRITER-business management SET SQUARE-architecture and other forms of structural planning VIOLIN-music SUN WITII PLANT, EARIB AND WATER-the study of life and matter MOON AND STAR-the study of outer space and the universe THE GLOBE-international forces, political, social, and geographic CARPENTER'S PLUMB AND PLIERS-the skilled trades BOOK WllH ALPHA AND OMEGA-literature and the written language FLASK-chemistry and allied sciences PLUS, MINUS, MULTIPLICATION, AND DIVISION SIGNS-mathematics, economics, and banking MICROSCOPE-scientific research MAN-the physical, mental and spiritual study of man SCULPTOR'S TOOL, PENCll., AND BRUSH-the visual arts and designing CROSS-the Church as a vocation OFFICER's CAP-a career in the armed services Ail the Provincial Ministers of Education concurred in the issue of a special postage stamp featuring "Education". In addition, many national and provincial organizations devoted to the promotion of education added their support. These organizations include museums, libraries, vocational training groups, universities and colleges.

Message from

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL

I regret that I cannot be with you at the opening session of the Second Canadian Conference on Education. There can be few subjects of more concem to ail Canadians than education, few discussions of that subject more fruitful than yours promise to be. The great advances of the twentieth century entai! a greater variety of skills and a more specialized knowledge than ever before. These require many hours to learn and many men to teach: needs that must be met if we are to answer the challenge of the future by providing young Canadians with the time and opportunities their individual capabilities require. Even then we must recognize the fact that the world changes so quickly now that the knowledge of yesterday often does not satisfy the needs of today, much less the requirements of tomorrow. The forces of change at work in society may oblige many of us to embrace more than one career during the course of a lifetime. For each of these we shall have to be trained. In studying these complex and important problems we might well remember that education is not merely the transmission of knowledge. lt is the understanding of knowledge in the light of experience. In this aspect the family is the first of educators, and laymen, as well as professionals, must carry the burden of educating our people. Fully executed, this partnership can do much to meet the problems of time and most certainly will provide the essential foundation for a transition to new careers. With a11 sectors of Canadian society from ail ten of Canada's Provinces represented, your Conference makes possible a wonderful opportunity for the intensive scrutiny of this relationship and these problems. I congratulate you-teachers and laymen alike-on your readiness to corne together in order to achieve the close sense of interdependence, the public awareness that are so vitally necessary. May your efforts meet with the wide response they deserve. March 1962

GEORGES

P. V ANIER

Message de SON EXCELLENCE LE GOUVERNEUR-GÉNÉRAL

Je suis au regret de ne pouvoir assister à la séance d'ouverture de la Deuxième Conférence canadienne sur !'Éducation. Peu de sujets suscitent plus d'intérêt chez les Canadiens que l'éducation, et je suis sûr que vos délibérations seront fructueuses et profitables. Les progrès effectués au cours du vingtième siècle nécessitent des aptitudes et des connaissances à la fois plus variées et plus spécialisées. L'enseignement qui découle de ce besoin exige de longues heures et de nombreux éducateurs. Il est donc essentiel qu'en répondant à cet appel nous puissions fournir aux jeunes Canadiens le temps et l'occasion de faire valoir leur aptitudes. Nous devons nous rendre compte que le monde évolue très rapidement et que les connaissances acquises hier ne répondent pas toujours aux besoins d'aujourd'hui. Que dire alors des besoins de demain? Les forces d'évolution constamment à l'œuvre dans la société obligeront plusieurs d'entre vous à embrasser peut-être plus d'une carrière. Pour chacune d'elles, il faudra la formation voulue. L'examen de ces problèmes complexes et importantes doit nous rappeler que l'enseignement ne se borne pas à la transmission des connaissances. L'éducation est la compréhension des connaissances à la lumière de l'expérience. Les parents sont les premiers éducateurs. Les profanes, tout comme les professionnels de l'enseignement, doivent participer à l'éducation du peuple. Cette collaboration pleinement réalisée facilitera la solution du problème et fournira le fondement nécessaire à la transition à de nouvelles carrières si celles-ci s'imposent. Etant donné que tous les secteurs de la société, des dix provinces du Canada, sont représentés à votre conférence, ces assises offrent une belle occasion d'étudier minutieusement cette collaboration et ces problèmes. Je félicite les éducateurs ainsi que tous ceux qui s'intéressent à l'éducation de s'être réunis dans un sentiment de solidarité et d'esprit civique, si nécessaires aujourd'hui.

Puissent vos efforts conduire à des résultats bienfaisants et fructueux.

mars 1962

GEORGES

P. VANIER

Foreword The 1962 Conference on Education climaxed six years of determined and untiring effort by representatives of a number of voluntary organizations concerned directly or indirectly with education. It was a logical and necessary sequel to the 1958 Conference, and grew out of the same conviction: " ... that wider public understanding of Canada's educational needs and problems would be a major step toward their solution." The words are those of the late George Croskery, in his preface to the Addresses and Proceedings, in which he recalled the hopes that imbued him and his colleagues of the Canadian Teachers' Federation when they met with delegates of eighteen other bodies in 1956 and embarked on plans for a national conference. The spirit and achievements of that event have a firm place in the history of Canadian education. They provided inspiration and guidance to all engaged in planning the Second Conference. This Report cannot attempt to give the reader a picture of the many "satellite" meetings that were held to take advantage of this unique gathering, the coming together of old and new friends from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island,'from the Northwest Territories to points on (and south of) the United States border. Nor can it portray the excitement "inside" the Conference, the clash of strongly held views-teacher vs. trustee, traditional vs. experimental, English vs. French-and their joyous realization of agreement on important points. In compiling this record of addresses, discussions and recommendations of the Conference, I wish to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of my associate, Miss Caroline Robins, and the members of the Editorial Committee-Dr. Robert Gauthier, Mr. Kim Mcllroy, Mr. George Roberts. A special word of thanks also to Miss Francess Halpenny, Editor of the University of Toronto Press, for her patience and wise counsel. Ottawa, May 1962

FRED

W. PRICE

Avant-propos La Conférence sur l'éducation, de 1962, a couronné six années d'efforts résolus et inlassables de la part des représentants de plusieurs associations bénévoles qui s'intéressent, directement ou indirectement, à l'éducation. Elle a constitué un enchaînement logique et nécessaire de la Conférence de 1958, et est née de cette même conviction que « ••• s'il existait parmi le public une meilleure compréhension des besoins et des problèmes de l'éducation au Canada, ce serait déjà un pas important vers la solution de ces questions. » Ces paroles sont celles du regretté George Croskery, dans sa préface au Rapport de la Conférence, dans laquelle il évoquait l'espoir qui animait ses collègues de la Canadian Teachers' Federation et lui-même, lorsqu'ils se réunirent avec les délégués de dix-huit autres organismes, en 1956, et se lancèrent dans l'élaboration de plans pour la tenue d'une conférence nationale. L'esprit et les réalisations qui ont accompagné l'événement se sont gravés dans l'histoire de l'éducation au Canada. Ils ont servi d'inspiration et de guide à toutes les personnes qui ont travaillé à la préparation de la Deuxième conférence. Le présent rapport ne saurait donner au lecteur une idée des nombreuses réunions « satellites » qui ont été tenues en vue de mettre à profit cette assemblée unique en son genre, non plus que des rencontres entre anciens ou nouveaux amis venus les uns de Terre-Neuve ou de l'ile Vancouver, des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, ou d'endroits situés à la frontière des EtatsUnis et même plus au sud. Il ne peut, non plus, dépeindre l'animation qui a régné « au sein même » de la conférence, ces chocs d'opinions très ancrées entre ... instituteurs et commissaires d'école, partisans du traditionnel et tenants de l'expérimental, Anglais et Français ... et leur joie en constatant qu'ils s'entendaient sur des points importants. En préparant ce compte rendu des allocutions, discussions et recommandations de la Conférence, je tiens à remercier mon associée, Mlle Caroline Robins, pour son aide précieuse, ainsi que les membres du Comité de rédaction, M . Robert Gauthier, M. Kim Mcllroy, M. George Roberts. J'adresse aussi un merci tout spécial à Mlle Francess Halpenny, directrice des publications de la University of Toronto Press, pour sa patience et ses sages conseils. Ottawa, mai 1962

FRED

W.

PRICE

THE AIMS OF THE CANADIAN CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION 1. To improve communication among the segments of Canadian society interested in education by bringing them together so as to assure an exchange of ideas and information between the public and those responsible for the direction and encouragement of education at ail levels in Canada. 2. To help create wide public understanding and support among Canadians for the educational development which is essential to meet the needs of our growing nation. 3. To encourage appropriate efforts designed to solve the problems created by these needs, such as the provision of adequate school and university facilities. 4. To keep informed about emerging needs of education in Canada, and, in co-operation with the authorities concemed, to tabulate these needs so that actual achievement can be measured. 5. To offer, as appropriate, to co-operate in the promotion of activities designed to arouse public interest in education. LES BUTS DE LA CONFÉRENCE CANADIENNE SUR L'ÉDUCATION 1. Améliorer les relations entre les différents éléments de la population canadienne qui s'intéresse à l'éducation en les réunissant en vue d'établir un échange d'idées et de renseignements entre le public et les personnes chargées de la direction de l'éducation au Canada à tous les paliers. 2. Contribuer à créer un vaste mouvement de compréhension et d'assistance de la part de la population du Canada à l'égard de l'expansion des facilités d'éducation qui sont devenues nécessaires pour répondre aux besoins d'une nation en pleine croissance. 3. Encourager les efforts tentés en vue de la solution des problèmes créés par ces besoins, comme, par exemple, les programmes destinés à fournir à la population canadienne les écoles et les universités qu'il lui faut. 4. Se tenir au courant des besoins de l'éducation au Canada et, en collaboration avec les autorités compétentes, tenir un compte exact de ces besoins afin d'être en mesure d'évaluer les progrès accomplis. 5. Collaborer, au besoin, à la réalisation d'entreprises destinées à intéresser le public aux questions d'éducation.

Contents Message from HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL Foreword, by FRED W. PRICE

vi viii

The Aims of the Canadian Conference on Education

X

PART I: INTRODUCTION

3

PART II: OPENING SESSION Opening Prayer and message HIS EMINENCE PAUL-ÉMILE CARDINAL LÉGER Message REV. DR. ]UDSON LEVY Address of welcome from the Province of Quebec HON. PAUL GÉRIN-LAJOIE Education, The Great Universal DR. CLAUDE BISSELL

19 22 23

29

PART III: PLENARY SESSION ON THE A/MS OF EDUCATION The Primary Ends of Education VERY REv. HENRI LÉGARÉ The Aims of Education in a Free Society NEVILLE V. SCARFE Panelists (Monday morning) H. H. HANNAM BEATRICE HAYES ROGER PROVOST LINDSAY H. PLACE Panelists (Monday afternoon) KENNETH M. AITCHISON CORA E. BAILEY PAUL-ÉMILE GIN GRAS LORRAINE LEBLANC JoHN A. McDoNALD

96 99 102 105 107 110 113

PART IV: PUBLIC MEETING ON EDUCATION IN THE LIFEOF A NATION India M. S. MEHTA Africa HON. IBRAHIMA BA South America HIS EXCELLENCY DR. GERMAN ARCINIBGAS

119 130 139

PART V: BANQUET Alliance, Education, and a National Forum

WILDER PENFIELD

147

PART IV: PLENARY SESSION, THURSDAY AFTERNOON Report of the National Committee z. S. PHIMISTBR ]. F. LEDDY Education for Canada Closing remarks KURT R. SWINTON

165 169 186

41 65 91

94

Contents

x.ü PART

VII: FORUMS

A. The Professional Status of Teachers The Vital Components of Professional Status HoN. MR. JUSTICE ANDRÉ MoNTPETIT Forum report

198 203

B. The Development of Student Potential Commentary on the Study report JEANNE D'ARc LEMAY-WARREN W. B. DocKRELL Response LEWIS S. BEATTIE EDWARD F. SHEFFIELD Forum report

206 213 218 225 226

C. New Developments in Society Panel: The New Social Horizons Facing Education GÉRARD PELLETIER Press lndustry W. H . EVANS Labour JEAN-PAUL LEFEBVRE Family Mas. H. T. CREIGHTON ADELIN BOUCHARD Radio, television, films Forum report

238 241 243 247 250 251

D. Financing Education Opening statement Symposium What level of education can the Canadian economy support? Which taxes can best extract the money required for education? What is the community's responsibility for education? Forum report

E. Continuing Education The National Conference on Adult Education, October 1961 Forum report

F. The Citizen in Education lntroductory remarks by the Chairman Co-chairman Forum report

WILLIAM J. McCORDIC

256

J. HARVEY PERRY

263

ROLAND PARENTEAU

267

H. P. MOFFATT

274 280

MADELEINE JoUBERT FRANK PEERS

284 289 292

P. H. T. THORLAKSON PAUL DESROCHERS

301 303 306

G. Education and Employment Symposium: How can we help education to meet employment needs? H . L. SHEPHERD Management Labour JEAN MARCHAND Government ROBERT E. BYRON Special project C . R. FoRD Forum report

314 319 323 329 336

Contents PART VIII: ASSEMBLIES l Physical Fitness Panelists

xiii

G. E. DUFF-WILSON MARY SOUTHERN-HOLT LUCIEN PLANTE MAX HOWELL

345 346 348 351

LÉON LORTIE L.-P. BONNEAU A. J. COLEMAN L. M. SHEMILT A. A. SHEPPARD

354 356 357 360 363

2 Science and Mathematics in Secondary Schools

Chairman's remarks Panelists

3 Television as a Teaching Aid

Summary of remarks by Mrs. Alfred Paradis, 366-368 T. R. Conant, David Clee, H. M . Nason Maurice Gosselin 368 370 Alan Thomas 4 Programmed Learning SHERBURNE McCURDY 372 Chairman's remarks Panelists MILES WISENTHAL 373 E. N. McKEOWN 376 SIDNEY KATZ 377 FREDE. WHITWORTH 378 RONALD GROSS 380 5 Learning a Second Language HUGH MACLENNAN 381 Chairman's remarks Summary of film presentation and discussion 384 6 Why Research in Education? Chairman's remarks H. P. MOFFATT 386 D. B. BLACK 387 Panelists CECIL COLLINS 389 ARMAND GAUTHIER 391 FLOYD ROBINSON 394 1 Reports on Two Projects The Metric System DR. J. T. HENDERSON 398 DR. CHRISTOPHER DEAN 399 English Spelling Reform PART IX: APPENDIX Sponsoring organizations Officers National Committee Executive Committee Conference Committees Secretariat Acknowledgements Conference Studies; Other Publications Films Exhibits

403 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 413 413

Index of Contributors

414

Table des matières Message de SON EXCELLENCE LE GOUVERNEUR-GÉNÉRAL Avant-propos, par FRED W. PRICE

vii

ix

Les buts de la Conférence canadienne sur l'Éducation

X

PREMIÈRE PARTIE

INTRODUCTION

9

DEUXIÈME PARTIE

SÉANCE D'OUVERTURE

Prière et message SON ÉMINENCE LE CARDINAL PAUL-ÉMILE LÉGER Message LE RÉVÉREND JUDSON LEVY Bienvenue au nom de la province de Québec L'HON. PAUL GÉRIN-LAJOIE Le grand besoin de l'humanité M. CLAUDE BISSELL

19 22

23 29

TROISIÈME PARTIE SÉANCE PLÉNIÈRE SUR LES BUTS DE L'ÉDUCATION La fin première de l'éducation Le T.R.P. HENRI LÉGARÉ Les buts de l'éducation dans une société libre M. NEVILLE V. SCARFE Équipe (lundi matin) M. H. H. HANNAM MME BEATRICE HAYES M. ROGER PROVOST M. LINDSAY H. PLACE M. KENNETH M. AITCHISON Équipe (lundi après-midi) MLLE CORA E. BAILEY M. PAUL-ÉMILE GINGRAS MLLE LORRAINE LEBLANC M. JOHN A. McDoNALD

65 91 94 96 99 102 105 107 110 113

QUATRIÈME PARTIE RÉUNION PUBLIQUE SUR L'ÉDUCATION DANS LA VIE D'UNE NATION M. M. S. MEHTA Inde L'HON. IBRAHIMA BA Afrique SON EXCELLENCE GERMAN ARCINIEGAS Amérique du Sud

119 130 139

CINQUIÈME PARTIE BANQUET Pour un conseil permanent de l'éducation au Canada

WILDER PENFIELD

147

SIXIÈME PARTIE SÉANCE PLÉNIÈRE DE JEUDI APRÈS-MIDI M. z. S. PHIMISTER Rapport du Comité national M. J. F. LEDDY Discours de clôture M. KURT R. SWINTON Ajournement

165 177 186

41

Table des matières SEPTIÈME

PARTIE

XV

LES COMMISSIONS

A. Le statut professionnel des éducateurs Les éléments essentiels du statut L'HON. JUGE ANDRÉ MONTPETIT professionnel Rapport de la commission

198 203

B. La mise en valeur du "potentiel étudiant" Commentaires sur le texte de l'étude MME JEANNE D'ARC LEMAY-WARREN M. W. B. DOCKRELL Réponse M. LEWIS S. BEATTIE M. EDWARD F. SHEFFIELD Rapport de la commission

206 213 218 225 226

C. Nouveaux développements dans la société Débat: Les nouvelles conditions sociales auxquelles l'éducation doit faire face La presse M. GÉRARD PELLETIER 238 M. W. H. EVANS 241 L'industrie Le travail M . JEAN-PAUL LEFEBVRE 243 La famille MME H . T. CREIGHTON 247 M. ADELIN BOUCHARD 250 Cinéma et radiodiffusion 251 Rapport de la commission D. Le financement de l'éducation Remarques préliminaires Exposés Quel est le fardeau maximum de dépenses pour fins d'éducation que l'économie canadienne peut supporter? Quel genre d'impôt est le plus apte à recueillir les fonds nécessaires à l'éducation? Quelle est la responsabilité de la société à l'égard de l'éducation? Rapport de la commission

E. L'éducation post-sco/aire La Conférence nationale sur l'éducation des adultes, octobre 1961 Rapport de la commission

M. WILLIAM J. McCoRDIC

256

M. J. HARVEY PERRY

263

M. ROLAND P ARENTEAU

267

M. H. P. MOFFATT

274 280

MLLE MADELEINE JOUBERT M. FRANK PEERS

284 289 292

M. P. H. T . THORLAKSON M. PAUL DESROCHERS

301 303 306

F. Le citoyen et l'éducation Remarques préliminaires par le président le coprésident Rapport de la commission

Table des matières

xvi

G. L'éducation et l'emploi Exposés: Comment pouvons-nous aider les services d'éducation à répondre aux exigences de l'emploi? Direction M. H . L. SHEPHERD Travail M. JEAN MARCHAND Gouvernement M. ROBERT E. BYRON Projets spéciaux M . C . R. FORD Rapport de la commission

RÉUNIONS SPÉCIALES 1. L'aptitude physique Équipe de discussion

314 319 323 329 336

HUITIÈME PARTIE

M . G. E . DUFF-WILSON SOUTHERN-HOLT M. LUCIEN PLANTE M. MAX HOWELL

345 346 348 351

2. L'enseignement des sciences et des mathématiques au cours secondaire Remarques préliminaires du président M. LÉON LORTIE Équipe de discussion M . L.-P. BONNEAU M. A. J . COLEMAN M. L. M. SHEMILT M. A . A. SHEPPARD

354 356 357 360 363

DR MARY

3. La télévision comme méthode auxiliaire d'enseignement Résumé des remarques de Mme Alfred Paradis et de MM. T. R. Conant, David Clee, H. M. Nason Maurice Gosselin Alan Thomas 4. L'enseignement "mécanisé" Remarques préliminaires du président Équipe de discussion

M. SHERBURNE McCURDY M . MILES WISENTHAL M. E . N . McKEoWN M . SIDNEY KATZ M. FRED E . WHITWORTH M. RONALD GROSS

5. L'étude d'une langue seconde

Remarques préliminaires par le président Résumé des commentaires

6. Pourquoi faire de la recherche en éducation? Remarques préliminaires par le président Équipe de discussion .

1. Rapport sur deux projets

Le système métrique La réforme de l'orthographe anglaise

366-368 368 370 372

373 376 377

378 380

M . HUGH MACLENNAN

381 384

M. H. P. MOFFATT M . D . B. BLACK M . CECIL COLLINS M . ARMAND GAUTHIER M. FLOYD ROBINSON

386 387 389 391 394

M. J. T . HENDERSON M. CHRISTOPHER DEAN

398 399

Table des matières NEUVIÈME PARTIE

xvii

APPENDICE

Sociétés-membres Officiers Comité national Comité exécutif Comités de la Conférence Secrétariat Remerciements Les Études: Autres publications Films Les Étalages Index des participants

403 405 406 407 408 409 410 412 413 413 414

Part I / Première Partie INTRODUCTION

Introduction The Second Canadian Conference on Education was an outcome of Resolution No. 10 of the First Conference (February 1958), which read: Whereas it is the general consensus of the delegates to the 1958 Canadian Conference on Education that a continuing effort be made to sustain the spirit of this Conference which places the important issues of education before people who represent so many broad areas of national life and unites them in the common cause of furthering the best development of education in Canada; Therefore be it resolved: (a) that the existing Conference organization be continued to complete the work of this Conference; (b) that the resolutions of the Conference be conveyed to the appropriate authorities or associations, and that every effort be made to secure their implementation; ( c) that the present Conference and Steering Committees decide at the earliest opportunity upon an appropriate structure for the continuation of the work of this Conference, it being understood that its efforts shall not duplicate the work of existing educational organizations.

ln the summer of 1958, a Conference office was set up in Ottawa and Miss Caroline Robins, past president of the Canadian Teachers' Federation, was appointed Executive Secretary of the continuing organization. During the next year, the representatives of the sponsoring bodies met several times under the chairmanship of Kurt R. Swinton (National Committee) and Max Swerdlow (Executive Committee) and decided on -a Constitution, including statement of aims; -a Second Conference in February 1962; -appointment of a Conference Director, Fred W. Price. In November 1959, forty leading educators and laymen drawn from the ten provinces met with the Conference officers in a three-day seminar. Their program recommendations were subsequently approved and served as a guide for Conference plans. Eight areas of concern to all citizens were selected: The Aims of Education The Professional Status of Teachers The Development of Student Potential New Developments in Society Financing Education Continuing Education Research in Education The Citizen in Education (Lay Leadership)

4

Introduction

Studies The first step involved preparation of a series of booklets in these eight areas that would serve as documentation for the Conference delegates and provide necessary information for the public generally. George L. Roberts, Oshawa secondary school principal and a past president of the Canadian Teachers' Federation, was in charge of this assignment, aided by Dr. Robert Gauthier, formerly president of l'Association canadienne des éducateurs de langue française, as co-chairman of a consulting committee. Study-discussion guides were prepared in leaflet format in consultation with the director of each Study. The demand for these was so great, among ail sponsoring organizations and other interested groups, that reprints were called for and nearly 150,000 copies were distributed during 1960 and 1961. The Studies involved over 150 contributors and correspondents. In Mr. Roberts' words, " ... never before have so many Canadians placed their carefully considered thoughts on the public record, willingly and even enthusiastically, in such an extensive joint examination of education." The Studies were completed and published in the latter part of 1961, in English and French editions. A ninth booklet, Education and Emplayment, appeared in January 1962. All received excellent critical acclaim from the delegates and the press, and remaining stocks are still on sale. (See page 411.) Associated with these were two other publications, edited by the Conference Director for the information of delegates and the public: Education for Canad. Enchaînons en disant que notre théorie de l'éducation ne sera pas meilleure que les fins que nous lui assignons. Il n'y a pas lieu de mener une longue enquête en la matière pour nous en convaincre. Qu'il suffise, pour toutes fins pratiques, de relever quelques échantillons de fabrication canadienne ou étrangère. Non pas que tout soit faux dans ces définitions. Elles sont au contraire toutes vraies. Mais tout y est si mêlé qu'on a peine à distinguer le principal du secondaire. Ou plutôt disons que s'il arrive aux unes d'être au point, elles laissent une telle impression de flou qu'elles ne nous disent plus rien qui vaille, tandis que les autres en se voulant précises glissent finalement dans un autre travers aussi nocif : elles prennent les moyens pour des fins, les fins partielles pour la fin totale. Jugez par vousmêmes de leur qualité en écoutant la kyrielle suivante : former des individus qui ont confiance en eux-mêmes et en même temps des personnes respectées par leurs concitoyens (B.C.); réaliser ses possibilités et expérimenter la vie démocratique (Sask.); stimuler l'initiative, la pensée critique et la capacité de se diriger soi-même intellectuellement afin d'obtenir le bonheur (Alta.); développer le désir et la capacité de devenir membre acceptable et digne d'une société d'hommes libres (Man.); procurer toutes les occasions d'apprendre, faire fructifier les talents et enrichir l'héritage du pays (R.-Uni). Enfin, le dernier échantillon en liste, mais non le moins typique et représentatif par rapport à la suite de mes propos. Il s'agit de la conception dénommée life-adjustment education, telle que le Vice-amiral H. G. Richover la dégage de la brochure publiée par le United States Office of Education. Le savant américain fait observer que l'écrit en question « sets goals for secondary education which are almost wholly non-intellectual.... Among descriptions of some fourteen specific goals of life-adjustment education, one searches in vain for recognition that education deals with the intellect.» (The World of the Uneducated, dans le Saturday Evening Post, 28 nov. 1959.) Pareille théorie, on peut s'en douter, fait horreur à l'homme de science qui lui reproche précisément d'assimiler l'éducation à un simple dressage. J'endosse sans restriction son témoignage d'autant plus qu'il vient rejoindre et accuser la ligne de force de ma propre critique.

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Car si on en arrive aussi allègrement à identifier éducation et dressage, il y a lieu de croire qu'a l'origine on fut d'abord victime d'une confusion plus fondamentale. Tout remonte, à mon sens, au parti d'ignorer l'importance de la fin première. En la perdant de vue au premier tournant, on est vite amené au cours de la réflexion comme de la pratique soit à prendre les moyens pour des fins, soit à favoriser des objectifs partiels au détriment de la formation intégrale de la personne. Serait-ce téméraire de ma part d'avancer que nous touchons ici à la faiblesse congénitale d'un grand nombre de théories. On me pardonnera, j'en suis sûr, la témérité des remarques qui suivront, si l'on veut bien tenir compte du fait qu'on m'a assigné expressément la tâche de tenir en ces lieux ni plus ni moins que des propos provocateurs. Méconnaissance de la fin de l'éducation Monsieur Jacques Maritain en ses pages parfaites sur la philosophie de l'éducation, dont je me suis largement inspiré, revient à maintes reprises sur ce point capital. On s'est adonné avec succès et excès à une sorte de dressage animal ayant affaire aux habitudes psychologiques, aux réflexes conditionnels, à la mémorisation sensorielle. De là est né l'engouement pour les méthodes d'apprendre, les techniques d'adaptation au milieu. Ne disons pas que « ces moyens sont mauvais > ; « ils sont même si bons > que nous en avons perdu de vue le pourquoi essentiel. Aujourd'hui, « l'enfant est si bien testé et observé; ses besoins sont si détaillés, sa psychologie si clairement découpée, les méthodes pour lui rendre partout tout facile si perfectionnées, que la fin de toutes ces améliorations si appréciables court le risque d'être oubliée ou méconnue•· (Jacques Maritain, Pour une philosophie de l'éducation, Paris, Fayard, p. 19.) Que trouve-t-on à la source de cette méprise ? Rien d'autre qu'une ignorance de la vraie nature de l'homme. On hésite sur les fins de l'éducation parce qu'on ne s'entend pas sur les traits spécifiques de l'éduqué. Immanquablement, comme nous le laissions entendre plus haut, la question « qu'est-ce que l'homme> rebondit à tous -les stades d'une discussion sur le sujet. En la reprenant sans cesse, on est assuré de repartir d'un très bon pas. Encore faudrait-il poursuivre sa marche sans se laisser arrêter par les sinuosités du chemin. Dérouté, pour ainsi dire, par la trop riche complexité de l'être humain, on coupe au plus court vers des simplifications monstrueuses : pragmatisme, intellectualisme, sociologisme, etc. Tentation de facilité. Il est plus commode en effet de se fixer obstinément sur un aspect aux dépens des autres plutôt que de peiner pour les tenir tous à la fois. Attiré par l'idée que l'éducation est adaptation à un milieu de vie sociale, on pensera à faire un citoyen au lieu de faire d'abord un homme, et par là, faire un citoyen. De la même façon on se repliera avec une confiance

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aveugle sur l'idée scientifique de l'homme à l'exclusion de l'idée philosophique et vice versa. Or le vrai visage de l'homme ne nous apparaîtra selon toutes ses dimensions que par la superposition de ces deux images d'une seule et même réalité. Il est vrai qu'il y a une idée scientifique légitime de l'homme. Elle résulte d'une approche de la réalité humaine en tant que celle-ci donne prise à des théories biologiques, psychologiques, sociologiques ainsi qu'aux techniques ou mesures correspondantes. Mais le danger est de ne se référer effectivement qu'à cet aspect tout en continuant assez illogiquement à faire des déclarations vides de sens sur la dignité de la personne humaine. Cette manière étriquée de penser réagit infailliblement sur les comportements de l'éducateur. Elle ne l'empêchera pas, certes, de montrer une ingéniosité consommée à pousser à bout le rendement des facultés. Il n'y aura pas de recettes, d'appareils, de méthodes dont il ignorera le secret. Une seule chose lui manquera, c'est de savoir exactement, à qui il a affaire, ce que doit devenir ce petit bout d'homme qui lui est confié. Pour le découvrir, il lui importe de chercher inspiration ailleurs, à savoir dans une conception philosophique de l'homme qui lui révélera le sens à donner à l'existence, plus précisément l'orientation à donner au processus dynamique à travers lequel l'éduqué atteindra par lui-même sa maturité d'homme. Aucun éducateur accompli ne pourra s'en passer. Mais il lui aura fallu, au préalable, avoir répondu à la question : la vie vaut-elle la peine d'être vécue? Car un jour ou l'autre, il sera amené par profession à devoir communier à cette même inquiétude, si profondément ancrée au cœur de l'enfant qu'elle coïncide en fait, au dire de l'éminent psychiatre juif de Vienne, Viktor Frankl, avec l'aspiration profonde spécifique de l'être humain. Ce psychologue écrit dans son article sur The Search for Meaning: Freudian Psychoanalysis has introduced into psychological research what is called the Pleasure Principle, or as we might also term it, the will-to-pleasure as a motivating factor in life. Adlerian Psychology, on the other hand, stresses the role played by the will-to-power. But in my opinion man is dominated neither by the will-to-pleasure nor by the will-to-power, but by what I call man's will-to-meaning, that is to say, his deep-seated striving and struggle for a higher and ultimate meaning to existence. (Viktor E. Frankl, The Search for Meaning, dans Saturday Review, 13 sept. 1958; voir aussi du même auteur, The Doctor and the Soul: An Introduction to Logotherapy, translated by Richard and Clara Winston, New York: Alfred Knopf, 1957.)

Cette volonté indéracinable de donner un sens à sa vie, qui parmi les éducateurs dignes de leur vocation s'aviserait de la mépriser ? Elle demande d'être éclairée et soutenue tout le long du processus éducationnel. Son élan, hélas, peut être brutalement brisé par le maître ignare, aveuglément attaché à une image purement « scientifique » de l'homme. Au contraire, il prendra

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The Aims of Education

son plein essor sous la direction d'un guide sage se demandant sans répit ce que l'homme doit faire de l'homme. L'homme, un être de connaissance et d'amour Si on allait à brûle-pourpoint nous demander ce qu'est l'homme, nous dirions simplement comme tout le monde qu'il est une personne. Resterait, bien entendu, à dévoiler tout ce que nous croyons devoir mettre sous ce mot. Avouons que ce n'est pas une mince difficulté. La personne contient une sorte de paradoxe qui fut et qui reste un perpétuel défi aux intelligences philosophiques. Elle est à la fois, assez mysterieusement, une partie et un tout dans le grand tout de l'univers, son esclave et son seigneur. Esclave et partie, elle se prête à toutes les techniques ou théories dont on use à l'égard des choses. Immergée en celles-ci, elle en subit conséquemment le déterminisme physique. C'est justement de ce statut commun qu'elle partage avec elles qu'origine en éducation la tendance à traiter l'enfant non pas comme une personne, mais comme un objet. Or, par la fine pointe d'elle-même, la personne émerge de ce monde d'objets. Elle le domine à la façon d'un sujet, disons d'un seigneur. Car être une personne, ce n'est pas simplement exister à la manière des êtres inorganiques ou même organiques, mais c'est surexister par l'intelligence et la volonté, la connaissance et l'amour. Dès qu'on a saisi cela, une idée philosophique de l'homme a commencé à poindre à l'horizon de son esprit. On ne tardera pas dès lors à constater que rien dans la nature ne peut lui être comparé. L'homme ne nous apparaîtra plus comme une partie seulement, mais comme un tout, un microscome, qui contient par sa connaissance le grand univers. Anima est quodammodo omnia, écrivait naguère le vieil Aristote. De ces traits caractéristiques, recueillons, avant de passer outre, quelques conséquences significatives du point de vue éducationnel. C'est, par exemple, de la puissance spirituelle de reconstruire à l'intérieur de soi-même l'ensemble de l'univers que l'éducation acquiert son vrai sens. Aux yeux de Richover, c'est même à l'importance que l'éducateur lui reconnaît dans la formation que celui-ci se distinguera du dresseur. « Education is directed toward enlargement of the individual's comprehension of the world, by giving him the knowledge and the mental capacity to understand what lies beyond bis persona! experience and observation. lt familiarizes him with events and people .... It renders intelligible to him the physical world and the laws of nature, so that be can judge man's potentialities and limitations-bis place in nature.• On ne saurait mieux dire, même s'il faut ici dire davantage. Car être une personne, c'est encore surexister par l'amour de manière à aimer les autres comme d'autres «nous-mêmes•, les aimer jusqu'à prendre, pour ainsi parler, leur existence à notre propre compte. L'espace et le temps qui me

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sont alloués ne me permettent pas de m'étendre longuement sur ce chapitre de l'affectivité, le rôle irremplaçable qu'elle joue dans le façonnement d'une personnalité. Il suffira de signaler les quelques points suivants. La richesse d'une personnalité ne s'estime pas d'après les seules aptitudes intellectuelles ou cérébrales. Les activités de l'esprit pensant, rationalisant, systématisant ne constituent pas le tout de l'existence humaine. A ce compte, il nous faudrait croire qu'il suffirait d'être savant, philosophe ou théologien pour réaliser le type de l'homme parfait. Jusqu'à maintenant du moins la preuve en reste encore à faire. Quoi qu'il en soit, il existe tout un ensemble d'activités, qui relevant en nous du moi plus profond et moins périphérique, contribuent à nous réaliser comme hommes, nous font devenir ce que nous sommes. Or, l'amour compte parmi les plus efficaces. Il n'est pas exagéré de penser que la grandeur d'une personnalité se mesure ultimement à la qualité de ses amours, sa consistance, à l'excellence d'un amour unificateur, assumé lucidement et librement. De là découle pour l'éducateur une nouvelle responsabilité. Quelle sagesse, quelle clairvoyance, quelle sympathie lui seront demandées, quel amour surtout s'il est vrai que seul l'amour réussit à susciter chez l'autre un amour fort et libre ! L'homme n'a donc pas son pareil dans l'ensemble des êtres. Il est le seul à exercer ce double rapport de connaissance et d'amour, sa puissance et sa gloire. Aussi toute éducation véritable est-elle axée sur ces deux pôles. Elle vise comme à sa fin première essentielle à l'épanouissement de l'homme selon ces deux dimensions. Faire un homme, c'est en faire un être de connaissance et d'amour, c'est-à-dire libérer d'une part son intelligence de l'obscurité innée, qui l'empêche de voir son chemin; alléger d'autre part la volonté du poids des instincts qui la ferment aux autres. En un mot, selon la formule classique, ouvrir l'être entier aux valeurs de vrai, de beau et de bien. Quant aux fins plus particulières : apprendre un métier ( teaching techniques), apprendre à gagner sa vie (leaming for eaming), apprendre à vivre heureux (leaming for living), apprendre enfin à vivre en démocratie ( education for democracy), si elles ne sont pas à dédaigner, elles doivent rester subordonnées à la formation de l'homme comme être de connaissance et d'amour.

Ce qui fait l'intelligence, c'est de connaître la vérité,. (a) L'art de penser. Pas de n'importe quelle façon toutefois. Autant la nature de l'homme prescrit à l'éducateur la fin qu'il doit poursuivre, autant elle lui dicte son comportement vis-à-vis de l'intelligence et de la volonté. En tant qu'il est un être de connaissance et d'amour, l'élève n'est pas un organisme, il est une personne c'est-à-dire un foyer d'initiatives. L'éducateur s'en souviendra pour éviter de se substituer à lui. Avec un doigté infini, avec un respect du sacré, il réveillera simplement les puissances déjà là, «

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mais endormies au creux de l'âme. C'est comme une sorte d'appel qu'il est invité à lancer aux forces intérieures par lesquelles l'enfant, agent principal de son éducation, parviendra à penser juste et vrai par lui-même et à décider en conséquence de son propre devenir. Pour autant que l'intelligence est concernée, cela veut dire plus concrètement que le maître ne visera pas avant tout à produire des esprits informés, érudits, à les saturer d'un fatras de notions. Il s'appliquera au contraire à faire s'exercer par le dedans la puissance d'intuitivité, les énergies de vision intuitive de l'intelligence. Autrement, il se verra retomber au rang des dompteurs au détriment de la véritable croissance intellectuelle de sa victime. Là-dessus, Richover a encore de lumineuses remarques à nous communiquer. « Training does not stretch the mind. The intellect is not irnproved by acquiring habits or learning mechanical skills, nor will routine enlarge one's mental capacities, as bard thinking will. Anyone who bas ever tackled a difficult subject, such as bigher mathematics, and used it to solve complicated problems, knows that be bas emerged from this experience with a mind that functions better. Thereafter, be will find it easier to tackle other subjects and other problems, because bis mental capacity bas grown. ,. ( b) L'art de penser vrai. « Training does not stretch the mind ,. , mais l'éducation non plus qui pousserait la connaissance et l'amour à s'exercer dans le vide. Il faut plus qu'un intellect qui fonctionne bien. Le pouvoir d'intuitivité (insight) ne consiste pas dans l'aptitude à jongler, ni même à penser, mais dans la capacité de connaître, d'intelliger (intus-legit, read into) ce qui est. La raison en est que nos facultés intellectuelles et affectives sont en relation dynamique avec des objets spécifiques, des valeurs de vrai et de bien, qu'elles n'ont pas à inventer mais à révéler. Vouloir leur couper les vivres, c'est les vouer à la stérilité. Pour exprimer une vérité aussi banale, qu'on redécouvre pourtant après deux siècles l'idéalisme épuisant pour l'esprit, les penseurs contemporains attirent aujourd'hui l'attention sur le caractère dit « intentionnel » de la conscience. La conscience, répètent-ils après Husserl, est toujours conscience de quelque chose. Ses actes, en d'autres termes, sont essentiellement des visées dévoilantes du sens et de la valeur du monde. En termes plus simples, à la portée des profanes, disons avec Jean Daniélou que « ce qui fait l'intelligence, c'est de connaître la vérité » . Cela va de soi, me direz-vous. Mais il va encore mieux en le disant. Ou mieux, tout irait de soi, s'il n'existait pas le préjugé contraire concernant les vérités en dehors des sciences expérimentales. « Vous rencontrez chez beaucoup d'intellectuels, poursuit Daniélou, l'idée que croire qu'il y a une vérité est l'expression d'une espèce de débilité d'esprit, de ce qu'on appellera facilement un besoin de confort et de facilité, et qu'au contraire le propre de l'intelligence est de ne croire en rien, c'est-à-dire de faire

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de la recherche même l'idéal de l'exercice de l'intelligence. > (Jean Daniélou, « La crise du sens de la vérité », dans Recherches et Débats, 36 [ 1961], 154). Pouvons-nous imaginer perversion plus radicale de l'intelligence qu'un semblable scepticisme ? Nous la rencontrons pourtant chez ces éducateurs aux yeux de qui la culture de l'esprit est réduite à une acrobatie mentale, à de purs exercices de gymnastique. L'homme cultivé y trouverait sa complaisance. Son idéal serait de penser pour le plaisir de penser, et non plus de chercher la vérité. Il en est des intelligences ainsi formées comme de la liberté gidienne. Brillantes, mais agitées comme une boussole affolée, elles ne se fixent jamais sur la moindre vérité de peur qu'en le faisant elles n'aient plus le choix du parti contraire. Elles sont bavardes, habiles à discourir sur tout et d'autres choses encore, mais incapables d'émettre la plus petite parcelle de sagesse, et bien entendu d'en communiquer aux autres. Pour ma part, je ne connais rien de plus néfaste à l'enseignement, et surtout à l'enseigné qu'une telle déviation chez un éducateur. Comment espérer de celui-ci qu'il puisse communiquer l'art de penser juste et vrai, s'il ignore lui-même le droit usage de l'intelligence et du cœur, s'il a perdu la foi naturelle de la raison en la vérité. Or, ce droit usage de l'intelligence, il n'y en a pas d'autre que celui qui consiste à exercer l'intelligence dans la ligne de son élan vital vers les valeurs dont le réel est rempli. Ce qui fait l'intelligence, c'est de connaître la vérité, c'est de porter un jugement de valeur sur la situation fondamentale de l'homme, qui fait de lui, pour emprunter une expression à la mode, un être-dans-le-monde. Aussi, le premier devoir de l'éducateur, se conformant à la loi première de l'intelligence, est d'aider l'éduqué à se situer par rapport à l'ensemble du réel, c'est-à-dire de ce monde terrestre dans lequel il existe, vit, aime, souffre, prie, poursuit sa destinée et meurt. Cette ouverture de l'intelligence, elle ne peut être pratiquée à l'aide de trucs, d'appareils ou de recettes. Elle est le fruit d'une sagesse, dont le maître est avide de faire fructifier l'intelligence de l'enfant. Est-ce trop demander à l'éducateur que de jouer le rôle d'un sage, de posséder une vision du monde et de l'homme dans le monde ? Au sens fort du mot, seule la sagesse est éducatrice, qui s'emploie à révéler la signification de toutes les disciplines : science, littérature, histoire, religion par rapport à la situation fondamentale de l'homme comme être-dans-le-monde. Cette sagesse indispensable, elle ne sera pas refusée à l'éducateur qui aura réfléchi longuement sur la triple relation que l'homme soutient avec le monde, c'est-à-dire sa triple présence au cosmos, aux autres et à Dieu. Il ne devra pas cependant se contenter de découvrir ces trois dimensions. Il s'appliquera de plus à les coordonner, les hiérarchiser de telle sorte que les valeurs supérieures ne cessent de polariser les valeurs inférieures.

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Sinon c'en sera fait de l'intégration de la personnalité, qui sera sacrifiée au bénéfice d'une seule dimension. Mais voyons de plus près à quelles conditions un tel objectif peut être atteint. L'homme présent au cosmos, aux autres et à l'Autre Il est souhaitable, il est même urgent aujourd'hui plus que jamais, de former un plus grand nombre de scientifiques et de techniciens. Ils accompliront, en conformité avec la vocation biblique de l'homme, une mission irremplaçable, celle de percer le secret du cosmos et, pour autant, de libérer l'homme des servitudes de la matière. L'humanité ne s'en portera que mieux. Mais il n'est pas moins impérieux de protéger l'humanité, non pas contre la science mais contre la technocratie, c'est-à-dire le despotisme de la technique sur nos vies d'homme. Le monde technocratique est d'une étouffante tristesse, constate Gabriel Marcel, car la vie humaine y est fonctionnalisée de part en part. Ce monde sonne creux, c'est un monde cassé comme on dit d'une montre qu'elle est cassée. En apparence, rien de changé. Mais approchez-la de votre oreille. Vous n'entendez plus rien, parce que le cœur ne bat plus. Pour remettre le cœur du monde en marche, nous disposons d'un moyen : faire passer à travers le réseau des relations impersonnelles, tissé par une civilisation technologique, le fil humain des rapports interpersonnels. A partir de ce moment nous cesserons de nous considérer les uns les autres comme de simples fonctions d'une gigantesque usine. Rien n'y contribuera autant sur le plan humain qu'une éducation poussée, à l'école, du sens des autres, qu'une formation morale et sociale, basée sur le respect de la dignité d'un autre soi-même. Le très honorable Sir David Eccles, K.C.V.O., M.P., chef de la délégation du Royaume-Uni lors de la Conférence du Commonwealth sur l'Education à la Nouvelle-Delhi, citait à ce propos le témoignage d'un professeur anglais, le docteur M. V. C. Jeffreys : « The most important thing about any household or school or system of education is the quality of human relationships which it sanctions and fosters. » Puis, y allant de ses propres réflexions, il ajoutait : « In practical terms what do these ideals mean for us? That we should curb the advance in scientific and technological education? Certainly not. But they do mean that the benefits and results of such education should be used in the service of a good society the principles of which are explicitly and consistently upheld as part of the education itself ». Suffira-t-il, cependant, pour réaliser un tel idéal, de nous en tenir à un programme d'inspiration purement philanthropique? Sir David Eccles ne semblerait pas de cet avis. Relativement aux principes à maintenir, dont il vient justement de faire mention, il ne craint pas de préciser avec

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un accent assez énergique : « We should teach our religion to our children. > Parce que l'homme dépasse infiniment l'homme, pensait Pascal, il a besoin d'aller chercher plus haut le principe animateur de sa vie terrestre, interpersonnelle et sociale. Je ne vois guère où il pourrait le trouver ailleurs qu'en Dieu, la seule vérité apte à donner à une éducation morale et sociale toute sa consistance. Si l'éducateur ne puise pas à cette source l'inspiration de son enseignement moral et social, il ne lui restera qu'à en établir le fondement sur des éléments aussi précaires et contingents que les conventions, le caprice, les convenances sociales ou encore le pur instinct humanitaire. Depuis plus de deux siècles de laicisation progressive, c'est avec des armes d'une efficacité aussi douteuse que le monde occidental se donne l'illusion de défendre les valeurs spirituelles inhérentes à son « democratic way of life ». En fait, nous avons pu résister jusqu'à présent grâce à un petit reste d'héritage chrétien, sur lequel à notre insu nous continuons de vivre tout en le dilapidant de plus en plus. Combien de temps tiendrons-nous le coup avec notre instinct humanitaire ? Le communisme athée prétend tout autant que nous se montrer humanitaire, à cette différence près qu'il pousse au bout la logique de son athéisme. Il veut prouver au monde la possibilité d'établir une fraternité universelle sur le refus de Dieu. Qu'a-t-il réussi à faire jusqu'à ce jour, en plus de ses réalisations techniques et économiques colossales qui nous aveuglent sur sa signification véritable, sinon à lancer de larges portions de l'humanité dans l'aventure la plus inhumaine que l'histoire aura connue. Quoi d'étonnant en tout cela ? Tant que la fraternité appellera de soi la paternité, il est contradictoire de s'obstiner à vouloir traiter les hommes en frères tout en leur défendant de reconnaître Dieu comme Père. Quant à nous, nous opposons toujours une fin de non recevoir à ces leçons de l'histoire, lors même que tous les observateurs sérieux conviennent que la rupture entre la religion et la vie est la racine du désordre spirituel dont nous souffrons. « Ce qui menace le monde d'aujourd'hui, note Daniélou, c'est une espèce de suicide de l'homme, dans la mesure où nous considérons que c'est un suicide pour l'homme de le mutiler de la moitié de lui-même qui est sa relation avec Dieu » (Jean Daniélou, op. cit., p. 154). A moins donc de tenir comme Julian Huxley la religion comme une erreur ou une superstition, on ne voit guère, comme le fait observer Maritain, pourquoi Dieu serait moins en droit d'avoir sa place à l'école, que l'electron ou tout autre pontife de l'esprit sceptique. Couper l'enfant, dès l'école, de la religion, dissocier celle-ci de sa formation humaniste et morale, c'est lui laisser entendre, dès son bas âge, qu'elle est une pièce rapportée. En face de cette séparation, il se sentira évidemment dépaysé, impuissant à faire la synthése. Il ne sera pas loin d'en conclure qu'on

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lui raconte des histoires, question de ne pas briser trop brusquement avec la sentimentalité religieuse du foyer. Du reste, n'est-ce pas le droit de l'enfant d'être équipé à l'école de toutes les connaissances qui sont appelées à jouer un rôle dans sa vie ? La religion ne lui serait-elle d'aucun secours pour l'aider à se situer comme être-dans-le-monde ? On assigne quelquefois comme fin à l'éducation d'apprendre à l'enfant l'art de vivre (learning for living). S'avisera-t-on un jour de lui apprendre aussi à mourir ? A moins que dans une civilisation technologique, la mort aussi ait perdu son sens, ou plutôt qu'elle ait été assimilée à une autre fonction, la mise au rancart d'une masse de chair qui est de trop, de trop pour l'éternité. Nous plaçant maintenant, non pas du point de vue de la connexion indissoluble que la religion possède avec la vie morale ou l'art de vivre, mais dans une pure optique humaniste, nous découvrirons qu'elle apparaît comme la condition sine qua non pour comprendre jamais quelque chose à notre culture et civilisation occidentales - qu'il entre du reste dans les fins de l'éducation de transmettre d'une génération à l'autre. Christopher Dawson ne cesse de le répéter dans son livre sur The Crisis of Western Education : Anyone who wishes to understand our own culture as it exists today cannot dispense with the study of Christian culture, whether he is a Christian or not. lndeed in some ways this study is more necessary for the secularist than for the Christian, because be lacks that ideological key to the understanding of the past which every Christian ought to possess. (The Crisis of Western Education, New York: Sheed and Ward, 1961, p. 136).

L'histoire-l'histoire moderne est-elle intelligible sans la Réforme ? la littérature, la philosophie, même la philosophie moderne-l'hégélianisme n'est qu'une théologie sécularisée, le système de Sartre la suite logique d'un postulat athée-toutes ces disciplines représentent des énigmes indéchiffrables sans l'arrière-fond théologique de notre humanisme occidental, qui a sans doute une base gréco-latine, mais aussi judéo-chrétienne. Dawson écrit encore : I see no reason to suppose, as some have argued, that such a study would have a narrowing and cramping effect on the mind of the student. On the contrary, it is eminently a liberal and liberalizing study, since it shows how to relate our own contemporary social experience to the wider perspectives of universal history. For, after all, Christian culture is nothing to be ashamed of. It is no narrow sectarian tradition. It is one of the four great historie civilizations on which the modern world is founded. If modern education fails to communicate some understanding of this great tradition, it bas failed in one of its most essential tasks. For the educated person cannot play bis full part in modern life unless he bas a clear sense of the nature and achievements of Christian culture: how Western civilization became Christian and how far it is

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Christian today and in what ways it bas ceased to be Christian: in short, a knowledge of our Christian roots and of the abiding Christian element in Western culture. (Op. cit., p. 135)

Ceci, il faut le faire comprendre à ceux de notre génération qui pour des raisons qu'ils ont sans doute le droit de faire valoir s'opposent à l'enseignement religieux dans nos écoles. Ce que nous leur demandons, s'ils renoncent pour eux-mêmes aux avantages d'une telle étude, c'est de faire montre pour le moins de tolérance à l'égard de leurs concitoyens qui ont tout de même le droit de recevoir le bagage intellectuel nécessaire à l'intelligence de leurs propres culture et civilisation. L'éducation implique une philosophie du connaître De tout ceci, il suit clairement qu'il n'existe pas d'éducation indépendante d'une philosophie de l'homme. Refuser de le reconnaître c'est encore le reconnaître, car on ne détruit la philosophie qu'en faisant de la philosophie. Bien plus, toute théorie sur les fins de l'éducation est liée non seulement à notre idée de l'homme, mais plus radicalement à notre philosophie du connaître, à notre épistémologie, c'est-à-dire notre prise de position à l'égard de la vérité. Il est à peine possible d'en exagérer les répercussions sur le comportement de l'éducateur. Si la vérité concernant le sens du réel, de l'existence, est une vieille chose hors d'usage qu'il faut remplacer par des succédanés positivistes ou pragmatistes - est vrai pour le premier ce qui est vérifiable ou mesurable en laboratoire, pour le second ce qui est applicable ou réussit-la situation est désespérée du point de vue éducationnel. Autant renoncer à toute image de l'homme digne d'inspirer nos programmes scolaires. Ce qui « parasite » en ce moment les plus belles théories de l'éducation sans excepter l'éducation active (progressive education), dont tous les mérites doivent être reconnus, ce ne sont pas les sciences qui ont contribué à améliorer les méthodes, mais ce sont les philosophies du nothing but biological, psychological drives or reff,exes, nothing but blood and matter. Nous essayons bien de parer aux effets désastreux de cette réduction en nous accrochant éperdument, sentimentalement à un ensemble de valeurs, un consensus dont nous connaissons les vieux clichés : spiritualité, liberté, justice, égalité, dignité et droits de l'homme, etc. Mais il n'est pas sûr qu'en l'occurrence nous ayons dépassé de beaucoup la logomachie de certains défenseurs de la démocratie. Car, si nous demeurons tout ce temps impuissants à fonder en raison de telles valeurs, tout en continuant à les invoquer pour le besoin de la cause, j'ai bien l'impression que nous ne faisons que jouer avec des mots à décharge émotive. Le problème crucial selon Maritain, dont nous transcrivons ici substantiellement la pensée, est de redécouvrir « la foi naturelle de la raison

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en la vérité », et plus concrètement en la vérité sur l'homme. Pour autant que nous restons tous hommes, poursuit le même auteur, nous gardons cette foi dans notre subconscient. Malheureusement, nous l'avons perdue au niveau de la raison consciente sous l'action nocive de philosophies erronées. Les derniers ressorts de l'intelligence naturelle ont cédé. Les certitudes fondamentales se sont éteintes, même celles concernant les vérités essentielles ou fonctionnement de l'esprit dans son enquête sur le sens du réel. Voilà la tragique histoire qui sous-tend l'éducation, abandonnée aujourd'hui à la croisée des chemins. Elle y restera d'ailleurs tant que nous nous reconnaîtrons impuissants à justifier autrement que par un appel à l'instinct humanitaire notre indignation devant la barbarie du totalitarisme matérialiste de même que notre attachement aux valeurs spirituelles, fondement nécessaire d'une véritable démocratie et d'une éducation authentique. Sauvegarder la valeur éducative de l'enseignement

En terminant, je voudrais compléter ces réflexions par un corollaire de portée plus pratique. Je me rends bien compte, sans la moindre illusion là-dessus, que les vues exposées ci-haut ne rallieront pas tous les suffrages. Le contraire m'aurait profondément déçu. Il aurait enlevé toute raison d'être à notre congrès. Mais, il ne s'ensuit aucunement que nous soyons en désaccord sur toute la ligne. Il existe au moins un terrain d'entente. Nos vues divergentes ne doivent pas nous empêcher d'avoir une attitude commune vis-à-vis de la pluralité de nos options doctrinales. Bien plus, c'est même sur une telle pluralité qu'on peut fonder l'espoir d'une certaine philosophie commune de l'éducation au Canada. A quelque vision philosophique du monde et de l'homme que nous nous rattachions, nous conviendrons assez facilement que nos théories éducationnelles respectives en sont toujours la traduction assez fidèle. Qu'il le veuille ou non, l'éducateur y a effectivement recours d'une façon consciente ou inconsciente. Partant de ce fait indéniable, nous devons en accepter les conséquences logiques. Je me contenterai d'en signaler une se rapportant à la condition requise pour garder à notre enseignement une valeur vraiment éducative.

L'éducation nous est apparue comme un échange vital et intime entre deux personnes, une rencontre interpersonnelle où l'esprit du maître livre le meilleur de lui-même en même temps qu'il féconde et délivre le pouvoir critique de son élève. Si ces vues sont exactes, l'éducateur ne peut mener à bonne fin sa tâche délicate qu'à la condition de compter sur la liberté de penser à même ses propres convictions intellectuelles. A moins qu'il ait songé à renoncer à sa vocation d'éducateur pour s'adonner à une simple fonction d'instructeur. Obligé, dans ce cas, de faire contre mauvaise

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fortune bon coeur, il n'en pensera pas moins. Il doutera avec raison de la valeur éducative d'un enseignement soumis à travers tout un pays à une consigne si peu pédagogique. Il est vrai que des circonstances particulières peuvent expliquer ce pis-aller. Elles feront même à l'enseignant un devoir moral de s'y plier, de se contenter de baser son enseignement sur les soi-disant « valeurs communes » constituant le patrimoine de l'humanité. Personnellement, je doute fort, avec Louis de Naurois, de la consistance de ces dites « valeurs communes » autrefois admises, mais remises aujourd'hui universellement en question par un nombre croissant de penseurs et d'éducateurs. Quoi qu'il en soit, une solution de pis-aller n'a pas à être proposée comme un idéal quand il est question de s'enquérir des exigences essentielles d'une éducation authentique. Permettez-moi, pour mieux illustrer ma pensée, de descendre de ces régions abstraites vers un terrain plus circonscrit. Prenons, par exemple, le cas de la formation civique et démocratique, que toutes les définitions s'accordent à bon droit à reconnaître comme une des fins essentielles de l'éducation. Demandons-nous à quelles conditions elle peut être réussie, c'est-à-dire engendrer des convictions intellectuelles. Pour y voir plus clair, partons de quelques constatations relatives à notre conscience démocratique. Personne ne doute que notre régime de vie démocratique implique la reconnaissance d'un ensemble de valeurs spirituelles, objet de la part des citoyens d'une foi démocratique, d'une sorte de credo politique, trouvant son expression autorisée dans la charte des droits de l'homme. C'est sur une telle base que repose l'unité d'action et de vues de notre communauté politique. Ce consensus rend possible, dans un peuple devisé par ses options religieuses ou idéologiques, la collaboration à un même bien commun national. Est-ce à dire qu'il soit requis de ses adhérents de partager une manière identique de le justifier spéculativement ou idéologiquement. Pas le moins du monde. La seule condition exigée des citoyens pour participer à la tâche commune est de voir dans la charte l'expression de convictions pratiques que chacun fait siennes sur le plan de l'action. Chacun tentera par la suite de fonder en raison, au gré de sa position idéologique, son consentement personnel. Or le problème précis qu'il importe maintenant de soulever est de savoir si les choses peuvent se passer ainsi au plan non de la coexistence politique, mais de l'éducation scolaire. N'oublions pas que nous n'avons plus affaire dans le cas à l'action, mais à ['intellection. Il s'agit de faire naître le sens civique et démocratique et à cette fin de justifier les valeurs spirituelles dont il se nourrit. Toute éducation en la matière, parce qu'éducation, exige, pour garder toute sa vertu éducatrice, un approfondissement personnel du côté de l'éduqué. Celui-ci aspire légitimement à posséder des raisons d'être pouvant motiver son action et son engagement

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futur dans la vie sociale et politique. On peut toujours éluder le problème en répondant qu'il n'est pas nécessaire de lui en fournir, ou du moins qu'il n'y a pas lieu de le faire puisque ce ne serait pas possible sans entrer dans des discussions qui divisent, alors qu'il faut penser à unir. Louis de Naurois, dans un article ·très sérieux sur le sujet, nous invite à y regarder de plus près (Louis de Naurois, « La laïcité et l'enseignement confessionnel », dans Laïcité, vol. IV, Centre de Sciences Politiques de l'Institut d'Etudes juridiques de Nice, Presses Universitaires de France, 1960, pp. 361-380) . Il n'est pas, croit-on, nécessaire de le faire. Pourquoi ? Les jeunes esprits auraient horreur de la ratiocination et après tout ce ne sont pas les arguments qui convaincront. A ce compte, autant demander à l'éducateur de ne plus s'adresser aux esprits, mais de pratiquer à leur endroit quelque méthode de publicité pour ne pas dire de lessivage de cerveau. De toute façon, une telle capitulation, déshonorante pour les élèves autant que pour le maître, conduit tout droit à un empirisme moral dont toute la force de persuasion s'appuie en dernière analyse sur les seules convenances sociales. A supposer, enchaîne-t-on, qu'il soit reconnu nécessaire de descendre jusqu'au fondement doctrinal de la foi démocratique, il serait dans l'hypothèse malséant de le faire et d'accentuer ainsi les divisions, de nuire enfin du même coup à l'unité nationale. A quoi il faudrait rétorquer par une simple question: qu'entendez-vous par unité nationale ? Si vous confondez sans cesse uniformité et unité, division et diversité, vous avez peutêtre raison d'empêcher les esprits de réfléchir en profondeur sur leurs convictions démocratiques de peur qu'en le faisant, ils se découvrent à la fin en dissidence les uns avec les autres. Mais vous êtes-vous jamais demandé à qui et à quoi ce procédé causera, en fin de compte, le plus de dommage ? A nul autre qu'aux jeunes esprits que vous voulez protéger aussi bien qu'à l'unité nationale que vous voulez sauver. Aux premiers, que vous frusterez en leur refusant la réponse désirée, à la vie nationale, ou plutôt à l'idéal démocratique qui menacera de s'affaiblir dans les consciences faute d'y rencontrer des convictions fermement établies. La tâche de l'éducateur, comme on le voit, n'est pas de tout repos. Car le voilà bel et bien affronté à un dilemme apparemment sans issue. Ou bien il obéit à la consigne de dicter des vérités édulcorées, si vagues et gratuites qu'elles ne mordent plus sur les intelligences. Et dans ce cas, il renie son métier d'éducateur. Ou bien il tient à bon droit à l'exercer jusqu'au bout, mais alors il désobéit à la consigne. Il n'existe, que je sache, d'autre issue à l'impasse que dans l'institutionalisation par l'Etat d'un pluralisme scolaire répondant aux désirs des citoyens. L'Etat, on le reconnaît, a une mission primordiale à remplir dans le

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domaine de l'éducation. Il lui revient « de faire en sorte, écrit Louis de Naurois, que l'enseignement soit donné de la meilleure manière possible » Qu'est-ce à dire sinon qu'il doit se donner comme objectif le développement de l'homme selon ses dimensions sociale et personnelle. Mais il ne s'ensuit aucunement que le système d'école à la portée de tous soit le système le plus égalitariste et le plus conformiste. Le système à la portée de tous est celui qui, promoteur du civisme et de l'unité nationale d'une part, ne dédaigne pas d'autre part l'épanouissement personnel voulu selon toutes ses exigences intellectuelles. Ceci, il ne faudrait pas l'oublier, entre aussi dans la préoccupation que l'enseignement soit donné de la meilleure manière possible. Mais ceci n'exige pas moins que l'éducation humaine ne soit pas dissociée des sources idéologiques auxquelles l'éduqué puisera les raisons d'être de son agir tant personnel que démocratique. Il n'y a, à mon sens, que le pluralisme scolaire qui puisse faire justice à ces revendications légitimes, faites dans le but de garantir à l'enseignement sa vertu éducative maximale. C'est pourquoi, au delà de toutes les autres dispositions à prendre pour améliorer tel ou tel point en souffrance, il est impérieux de songer d'abord à une organisation d'ensemble telle qu'elle puisse réaliser le principal objectif: une formation humaine intégrale répondant aux exigences intellectuelles d'une éducation véritable. L'obtention des autres fins en sera facilitée, qu'il s'agisse de la formation du citoyen convaincu, ou de l'affermissement de la conscience nationale et démocratique. Un tel idéal, cependant, dans le cadre d'un pluralisme scolaire, restera dans l'ordre des velléités (wishful thinking) aussi longtemps que l'enseignement libre fera figure au pays de parent pauvre, de pièce rapportée, d'un concurrent et non d'un collaborateur. Et pour aller jusqu'au fond de ma pensée, tant que nous ne reviserons pas notre notion de tolérance. « Il n'est pas rare de recontrer des gens, écrit Maritain, qui pensent que ne pas croire à une vérité, ou ne pas adhérer fermement à une assertion comme inébranlablement vraie en elle-même est une condition des citoyens en démocratie, afin d'être tolérants les uns envers les autres et de vivre en paix les uns avec les autres.» (Jacques Maritain, « Tolérance et vérité», dans Nova et Vetera, 32 [1957), 162; voir aussi Truth and Human Fellowship, Princeton University Press, 1957). L'erreur de ces théoriciens est tout simplement d'oublier que la tolérance n'est pas une attitude à l'égard de la vérité, mais à l'égard des personnes, comme l'erreur des intolérants est de transformer leur amour de la vérité en zèle intempestif contre les personnes. La vérité n'est ni d'un côté ni de l'autre. Elle se trouve dans le parti des vrais tolérants. « Il n'y a tolérance réelle et authentique que lorsqu'un homme est fermement et absolument convaincu d'une vérité, ou ce qu'il tient pour une vérité, et quand, dans le même temps, il

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reconnaît pour ceux qui nient cette vérité le droit d'exister et de le contredire, et d'exprimer leur propre pensée, non point parce qu'ils seraient libres à l'égard de la vérité, mais parce qu'ils cherchent la vérité dans leur propre voie » (Idem, ibid.) . Nous n'avons rien à craindre de cette sorte de tolérance, tandis qu'il y a énormément à redouter de la tolérance intolérante des esprits égalitaristes, dont parfois la seule conviction intellectuelle qu'ils partagent est de n'en partager aucune. Nous n'aurons au Canada une philosophie viable de l'éducation que le jour où dans l'esprit d'une saine tolérance, nous travaillerons ensemble à l'unité dans et par la diversité à l'intérieur d'un contexte typiquement canadien, celui d'une dualité de races et de cultures. EXTRACTS FROM FATHER LÉGARÉ'S ADDRESS, "THE PRIMARY ENDS OF EDUCATION"

If an educator can . . . easily be brought to identify education with training, there are certainly grounds for believing that at the very outset he was victim of a confusion still more fondamental. lt all goes back, I maintain, to an aboriginal ignorance of the importance of the first end of education. And having lost sight of that, we are led in no time at ail in theory or in practice either to mistake means for ends or to promote the attainment of partial objectives at the expense of the integral formation of the person. And here-if I may make so bold-we touch upon the congenital weakness of many educational theories. You will forgive me, I am sure, the temerity of what I have to say when you remember that the task expressly assigned to me is to submit to you thoughts, of their nature, provocative. Jacques Maritain, in those inspiring pages on the philosophy of education on which my own thought it so largely dependent, constantly harks back to this fondamental point. Our educators have devoted themselves successfully and excessively to a sort of animal training, having to do with psychological habits, conditioned reflexes and sensorial memorization. It is from there that they have become infatuated by learning methods and techniques of social adjustment. Let us not say, I beg you, that "these means are bad." Indeed, "they are so good" that we have lost or forgotten the essential why of them. Today, "the child is so well tested and observed, bis needs so well detailed, his psychology so clearly eut out, the methods for making it easy for him everywhere so perfected, that the end of all these commendable improvements runs the risk of being forgotten or disregarded." (Jacques Maritain, Education at the Crossroads, Yale University Press, 1943, p. 3.)

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What is at the root of this mistake? It is neither more nor less than a radical ignorance of the true nature of man. We hem and haw over the ends of education because we cannot decide on the specific characteristics of the person to be educated. Inevitably, .. . the question "What is man?" cornes back at every stage of the discussion on the subject of education. And this is our security, for in our constant awareness of its presence, we can be certain of keeping on the right track. We must keep on going on this same path in spite of the temptation to leave it because of its multiplying ramifications. Baffled by the very complexity of man, there is the constant temptation to take the short eut by monstrous over-simplifications, such as pragmatism, intellectualism, sociologism, etc. For it is readily admitted to be easier by far to concentrate on one aspect at the expense of others than to take the trouble to discover means of holding on to all. Too often our educators are allured by the idea that education is primarily adjustment to life in society and try to make of their students citizens, before making men of them and then citizens. No less frequent and equally dangerous is that educational theory which would have the educator bide beyond bis blind · confidence in either the scientific idea of man to the exclusion of the philosophie idea, or vice versa... . We see . .. that man is without a peer in all the kingdom of creation. He is the only one to exercise the double rôle of knowing and loving, bis power and bis glory. Therefore all true education must revolve upon the axis of these two poles, and must seek as its first essential goal the edification of man in this double dimension. To build a man is to build a being of love and knowledge, that is, on the one band, to free bis intellect from that innate darkness which prevents bis seeing clearly the path be is to follow, and, on the other, to free bis will from that servitude to the instincts which deny the will in the lower orders of creating. Or to use the classical formula, to open the entire being to the values of goodness, truth and beauty. As for those other more particular ends, such as teaching techniques, leaming for eaming, leaming for living, education for democracy, while they are not to be scorned, they must at all times be subordinate to the formation of a man as a being of knowledge and love .... "Training does not stretch the mind," nor does that education which would make knowledge and love exercise themselves in a vacuum. More is necessary than an intellect which merely functions well. Insight does not exist in an aptitude for juggling terms, not even for thinking, but in the capacity of knowing, of understanding that which is. And the reason is clear: our intellectual and affective faculties enter into a vital relation with specific objects, with values of goodness and truth, real objects which do not have to be invented, but rather to be revealed. And to eut off these

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faculties from what gives them their meaning is to condemn them to sterility. To explain what is in fact a very simple truth, but which is only now being re-discovered after two centuries of mentally paralysing idealism, our modern thinkers are devoting their attention to what is called the "intentional" character of the consciousness. Consciousness, they say, repeating Husserl, is always consciousness of something. The acts of consciousness, in other words, are essentially revelatory strokes that disclose the meaning and value of the world. In layman's language what this means is, as Jean Daniélou puts it, "what makes the intellect is to know the truth." ... . . . So, the primary duty of the educator, in conformity with the primary law of the intellect, is to help the student find himself, to help him find bis place in the whole reality, in this world here below in which be exists, lives, loves, suffers, prays, follows bis destiny and dies .... Today perhaps more than ever before one of our great needs is the formation of large numbers of technicians and men of science, and for them to accomplish, in keeping with the biblical vocation of man, the irreplaceable mission of penetrating the secrets of the cosmos, of liberating man from slavery to matter. Mankind can only be the better for their researches. But it is no less imperative in our day to protect humanity, not indeed from science but from technocracy, that is to say from the despotic domination of man's life by techniques .... And here nothing on the human level will help as much as an education, during the school years, in the meaning and value of others, as much as a moral and social formation firmly grounded upon the respect due the dignity of another self. The Rt. Hon. Sir David Eccles, K.C.V.O., M.P., leader of the United Kingdom delegation to the Commonwealth Conference on Education held in New Delhi, quoted, in reference to this, the words of the English Professor, Dr. M. V. C. Jeffreys: "The most important thing about any household or school or system of education is the quality of human relationships which it sanctions and fosters." He went on to develop bis own views by saying: "In practical terms what do these ideals mean for us? That we should curb the advance in scientific and technological education? Certainly not. But they do mean that the benefits and results of such education should be used in the service of a good society the principles of which are explicitly and consistently upheld as part of the education itself." There is another question which we must ask in this regard. Will it be enough for the realization of such an ideal to limit ourselves to a program inspired on purely philanthropie grounds? Sir David does not seem to be of this opinion. Regarding the principles which are to be upheld, of which he had just finished speaking, he did not hesitate to speak bis mind quite clearly by saying: "We should teach our religion to our children." For

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man infinitely transcends man, says Pascal. He must seek in a higher realm the animating principle of bis social and interpersonal life in the world. I cannot see where such a higher principle can be found if it be not in God, the only Truth capable of giving internai unity and soundness to moral and social education. If the educator does not tap this source for the inspiration of bis moral and social teaching, bis only alternative will be to base it upon such precarious, unstable foundations as convention, caprice, social convenience or on no more than a vague humanitarian instinct. During the past two hundred years of progressive secularization, the Western world bas suffered the illusion of defending the spiritual values inherent in its democratic way of life with such ineffectual weapons as these. But in fact, we have been able to resist up till now thanks to that residue of the Christian heritage on which, in spite of ourselves, we continue to live but which we continue to squander. But for how long can we resist attack, armed only with this poor humanitarian instinct? Atheistic communism shows no less a humanitarian face to the world, differing only from ours in that they push to the limit the logic of their atheism. They would prove to the world their ability to establish a universal brotherhood of men on the rejection of God. Apart from their colossal technological and economic advances which blind us to the true significance of their philosophy, the extent of their achievement to date lies in their success in launching great sections of humanity upon the most inhuman adventure yet known to the world. Nor should we be surprised by this! Brotherhood necessarily presupposes Fatherhood. lt is sublimely contradictory to keep on treating men as brothers while forbidding them to recognize God as their Father. And still we shut our eyes wilfully against these bard lessons of history, even when the most serious observers of the condition of man are unanimous in affirming that the cleavage between religion and life is at the very root of our spiritual malaise . . . . To separate the child from religion during bis school career, to divorce religious teaching from bis humanist and moral formation, is to give him to understand at the very threshold of bis intellectual life that religion is no more than a superfluous insignificant element. How can he avoid feeling bewildered, incapable of making a meaningful synthesis! Soon follows the conclusion that be bas been fed fables at home and that school is a process of gentle rupture with the family's religious sentimentality. Moreover, bas not the child a valid right to receive from bis education the knowledge of those things which are to play important parts in bis life? And is not religion just such a knowledge which will help him to find bis bearings as a being-in-the-world? Frequently, we hear that the goal of education is learning for living. What then about learning for dying? Unless

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it is that in our technological civilization even death has lost its meaning, or rather that it is regarded as no more than another function, when a mass of flesh is sloughed off as superfluous, etemally superfluous . . . . Those of our generation who, for opinions which they have every right to hold, oppose any form of religious education in our schools must corne to understand this. Ail we would ask of them is, that if they be pleased to deny themselves , the advantages of such instruction, they should at least show that tolerance towards their fellow citizens who have nevertheless the right to receive all the intellectual equipment necessary to the understanding of their culture and civilization. From all that bas been said so far, it follows inevitably that there can be no education independent of a philosophy of man. To refuse to recognize this is to admit it nonetheless, for a philosophy is denied only by a counter philosophy. And what is even more speci.fic, any theory concerning the ends of education is bound not just to our idea of man but more profoundly to our philosophy of knowledge, to our epistemology, that is to say to our stand in the face of truth. I do not think we can overestimate the importance of such a philosophy or exaggerate the repercussions of such a philosophy upon the over-all behaviour of the educator. If the truth concerning the meaning of reality, of existence is no more than an outmoded relie which must be replaced by modern pragmatic or positivist substitutes, if that only is true which can be checked and measured in the laboratory or which bas proved itself in experience to have succeeded, then is the situation of our education desperate indeed. We may as well give up any image of man worthy of inspiring our education programs. For what is sucking the life blood of all the wonderful theories of education which are proposed, and I include here what is called "progressive education" whose merits must be admitted, is not the contribution of science to the improvement of our methods but rather those philosophies which define man as nothing but biological, psychological drives or refl,exes, nothing but blood and matter. We try to ward off the disastrous results of this impoverished concept of man by clinging madly, emotionally to a mass of values, a consensus of which the components-spirituality, liberty, justice, equality, the dignity and the rights of man-have been reduced to wom-out clichés. In this I wonder if we are not just going one better than the logomachy of certain defenders of democracy. For if while invoking their aid we are always to remain powerless to base these values on reason, I very much fear that we will be doing no more than playing with words of high emotional charge ... . . . . I am well aware that the views I have so far expressed will not find universal support. I would be deceived if it were the contrary. Else, where would be the need of our congress? But it does not follow that we are at

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odds ail along the line. There is a definable area of agreement. Our differences need not, nay must not, prevent our having a common attitude regarding the plurality of our doctrinal tendencies. lndeed, it is upon just such plurality that we base our hope of building a common philosophy of education in Canada . . . . My questioner may ... admit the necessity of thus laying bare the doctrinal foundation of our faith in democracy, but will maintain the hypothesis that it is dangerous, unhealthy to do so, that it can but accentuate the walls that separate us, that it will make havoc of our precarious national unity. To which there can only be one answer-"What do you mean by 'national unity'?" If you continually confuse unity with uniformity, diversity with division, then indeed you may well seek to prevent young minds from reflecting upon the depths of their democratic convictions, for in so doing they will become aware of their differences. But have you considered who and what will be most hurt by such a prohibition? lt will be no other than the young minds you vainly seek to protect and that national unity you spend yourself to safeguard; the first will be frustrated by your refusai to give them a reasonable answer; the second, that is our national life or rather the democratic ideal, will be irremediably weakened in the minds of our people for it will not be supported on firmly established convictions. The educator's task, as you can well see, is no easy one. For be is set well and truly in the face of a dilemma which seems to escape any solution. He has two alternatives : either he must submit to the policy directives and accept the function of serving up watered-down truths, so vague and gratuitous that the intellect cannot get its teeth into them, in which case he denies his vocation as educator; or, he must hold out to the very end and educate, in which case be will be disobeying the policy directives. To the best of my knowledge, there is no possible solution to this impasse other than the official establishment by the State of a pluralism in education which will correspond to the desires of ail citizens. The State bas a fundamental rôle to play in the realm of education. Its charge is, writes Louis de Naurois, " .. . to so arrange that teaching be given in the best manner possible . ... " Does that not mean precisely that the State must have as its primary object the development of man in ail bis social and persona! dimensions? But it does not thereby follow that the school system serving the true interests of all will necessarily be the most egalitarian and the most conformist. For such a system, suiting everybody's needs, while promoting the sense of civic responsibility and national unity on the one band, will on the other take full cognizance of the need to help the individual achieve bis full stature as a man according to and in keeping with bis intellectual aspirations. Needless to say this consideration must

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also govern the constant preoccupation of the State that education be given in the best manner possible. But it demands no less than that human education be ever closely associated with those ideological bases on which the student will construct bis life philosophy, the reasons for bis personal and democratic commitments. I am convinced that only a pluralism in education can answer these legitimate claims, made as they are with the aim of guaranteeing the maximum educative value to our teaching. That is why, above and beyond any other plans to improve this or that point at issue, it is of pressing urgency to look first to the sound establishment of an over-all organization of such a nature as will permit it to realize the principal objective of any educational system: the integral human formation corresponding to the intellectual exigencies of a true education. This done, all other ends will be the more easily achieved, be it the formation of a citizen convinced of bis responsibilities or the strengthening of the national and democratic consciousness of our people. Such an ideal, however, in the context of pluralism in education, will ever remain in the realm of wishful thinking as long as the private school in Canada is forced to play the part of a poor relation, a tinker's make-shift, a rival instead of a partner . . .. We shall not have a viable Philosophy of Education in Canada until the day when in a spirit of healthy toleration we begin to work together for unity in and by diversity within the framework of a context typically Canadian, that of a duality of races and cultures.

NEVILLE V . SCARPE THE AIMS OF EDUCATION IN A FREE SOCIETY

Dr. Harold F. Blum, visiting professor of Biology, Princeton University, writes that "every revolution in scientific thought, whether great or small, reveals that we have not been solving a particular problem properly because of the restricting effect of ideas from the past. Every superstition, every taboo, every incorrect hypothesis or philosophie concept that persists for any length of time, places some limit on human thought. It is from such limits carried over from the past manner of thinking that the mind bas to escape to discover new things. Scientifi.c research, like all other creative activity, is essentially an unorthodox business. It depends upon new ways of looking at things which as a rule corne to be accepted at first only by part of the population." Although this quotation refers to biological investigation, it bas general application to education and particular relevance to the problem posed in this paper. lt is necessary to find new ways of looking at our aims in education and to escape from the incorrect philosophie concepts of the past. Thus the thesis to be propounded today is that schools and institutions of higher leaming must primarily be places where young people are encouraged to think creatively and constructively for themselves in ways that will help them deal effectively with the novel and challenging problems which they must face in the future. Schools are protected institutions where children can propose, debate, and discuss creative, unorthodox and even dangerous ideas without doing any harm to anyone but with great profit to themselves. For a short space of time, children can be freed from many of the adult restrictions of the outside world, and permitted to explore the exciting realm of refreshing ideas just as a scientist in a university may carry on research into the unknown. Whereas conservative caution, traditional virtues, and conformity to the law are properly taught in the home, in the church, and in the community, and by the society at large, it is the school that bas the added special function of developing creativity, initiative, and originality, by encouraging adventurous curiosity and enthusiasm for research types of activity. While the school promotes individuality and the development of the diverse gifts of each human being, all the agencies outside the school seem to combine to produce conformity. To the school alone is delegated the task of developing creative diversity and free-thinking individualism. It must foster curiosity and the inquiring mind. lt must train future citizens to be questioning and critical of all that they see or hear or read. Destructive criticism is, however, quite insufficient. lt is much more important to be construc-

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tively creative. We want our young people to be enthusiastic searchers for the truth, not energetic fault-finders. The remarks which follow are directed almost wholly towards the high school, partly because high schools have met with the severest criticisms, and partly because the Conference booklet on Aims concentrated on that age level. What is Happening Now? Before the thesis, thus briefly outlined, can be developed, it is necessary to present some unquestioned facts and easily ascertainable truths about education so that subsequent argument may be soundly based. 1. There is ample evidence to prove that the public in general is at present dissatisfied with the schools of the nation. This Conference bas been called because people feel that education in school could be improved substantially. They feel that the practices now commonly employed in schools are the results of aims that have long since outwom their usefulness. There are many people who think that we need aims different from those which satisfied our ancestors, and that these new aims should be higher and more challenging than in any previous decade. 2. The evidence of the Royal Commissions, which have been recently operative in Canada, and of investigations in the schools of America made in the last three years by Martin Mayer and James Conant, is that the practices in the high schools of North America do not derive to any important extent from the aims set forth by progressive educators. The progressive school of thought seems to have affected chiefly text-books, some programs of study, a few administrators, and the odd professor of education. Here and there some of the best ideas of progressive educators filtered into our elementary schools, but, in general, progressive education bas had relatively little effect in the classrooms of the nation and, in particular, almost no effect on the teachers in secondary schools. Martin Mayer writes : The Progressive Education Association died in 1955. Progressivism, as its founders saw it, had been dead a long time by then. Dating the death is difficult. The general rule is that an idea is dead when an organization is formed to promote it. By this rule the headstone might read 1919. Certainly the intellectual calibre of the movement began to descend at about that time. The Progressive Education Association's job was to sell progressivism to teachers and in the course of the selling the problem changed. Progressivism as James, Dewey, Parker and Eliot had seen it has never been widely accepted by American teachers. Progressivism, however, did do two things : lt made it respectable to be nice to children all day long: lt showed that intellectualism can become a mere barren fooling with irrelevant symbols. The tragedy of American educatiori in the twentieth century is not that Dewey's influence has been so great but

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it bas been so little. In speaking of Dewey's progressivism, one must copy Chesterton's remark on Christianity, that is, it has not so much been tried and found wanting as it has been found difficult and not tried. 3. Unfortunately, what goes on in our secondary schools is much more obsolete than many of the critics have thought. In the main, the aims of education, as can be seen from the practices in the classrooms, are still those of the traditional, authoritarian, conformist educators who saw schools, in the last century and in the beginning of this, as a great means of unifying the nation and bringing some uniformity to very diverse groups of people. They did not realize fifty years ago that mass production, mass media of communication, and the tremendous speeding up of transport, would bring about a unity and a conformity in the nation far faster and far more effectively than any school could ever do. Thus, schools, so far from needing to bring about conformity, now need to be the great advocates of diversity, ingenuity, novelty, and research. It is because of this massive change in the function and purpose of schools that Canada is looking most urgently for important changes in the aims of education. Jack Scott, columnist of the Vancouver Sun, wrote no more than a few months ago: When in Heaven's name is the school board going to learn to make education a joyful adventure instead of a grim dare? When are they going to grasp the basic idea that a disciplined memory is not half as important in life as an aroused curiosity? My children hold their own and better with their classmates in the competition for total recall but it is mighty rare for them to be engrossed in an idea or to sort out a great truth and mystery from the vast file of inconsequential, unimportant, and immaterial data that is shovelled daily into their tender little craniums. The curriculum, in short, remains as ironbound and unimaginative as it was in my day and as diabolically contrived to discourage the meaning and understanding of knowledge as it ever was. No deliberate conspiracy could contrive a formula so brutal in clobbering the true spirit of enquiry as this tedious traditional mill of arbitrary fact and robot-like method. God only knows how many fine minds and bright intellects have been discouraged by it and prevented from going on to university by revolting from it. More than that, it negates the whole idea of teaching-the "art," as Anatole France put it, "of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards." C. P. Snow says that our traditional culture responds by wishing that the future did not exist. "American education like the American theatre suffers today from a paucity of vital and controversial things. It is cluttered at the moment with trivia. A close correlation can be established between this and the swing toward conformity and conventionality in the American life as a whole. The American cultural climate is a mood of caution and complacency rather than one of moral audacity and social indignation."

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4. More than ever before in the history of the human race our future citizens will need the skills, the courage, the confidence, the knowledge and the moral fortitude to face a dynamically dangerous future where flexibility, resilience, resourcefulness, and willingness to think for oneself, will be of paramount value. Dr. Broek Chisholm, the author of one of the outstanding papers available to this Conference in the Study booklets, bas said that we have to start completely afresh in our thinking about future problems. They are so different from anything that we have faced in the past that we must free our minds of obsolete ideas, from prejudice and superstition, and develop new insights, new approaches, and novel skills. 5. At the same time as we plan to face change we must maintain a free society. Perhaps we should say we must still continue to work towards a free society, for it is obvious that even in the Western world the four freedoms are not universally enjoyed by all. The charter of human rights is still far from being ideally applied. The great challenge of the French Revolution has yet to be properly tried out. Rarely have the triple aims of equality, liberty, and fraternity been simultaneously used. Too often the third side of the triangle, fratemity, is omitted. Furthermore, people have long since realized that liberty and equality in their extreme forms are mutually exclusive. There bas to be a balance between liberty and equality. Even this balance is unworkable unless it is fully and properly seasoned by the golden rule of brotherly love. Put in other words, a free democracy cannot be a free society unless it is also an ethical society. Our high school students must be encouraged to discuss these important issues and act on them. A free society has the obligation to create circumstances in which all individuals may have opportunity and encouragement to attain freedom of the mind. To be free, a man must be capable of basing bis choices and actions on understandings which be himself achieves and on values which he examines for himself. He must understand the values by which he lives and the assumptions on which they rest. The free man, in short, has a rational grasp of himself, bis surroundings, and the relations between them. He bas the freedom to think and choose. 6. Everybody is saying that the future will see great changes and that knowledge which today seems true will be proven untrue within a decade, that skills learned now will be obsolete within four or five years. We do not know what problems will face humanity in the future, but we do know that there will be some very grave problems, some very difficult crises, which will demand the best thought and the most careful reasoning that men can summon. lt will, therefore, be less important in the future to accumulate facts than to know how and where to find facts and how to verify them. Facts, no doubt, will be available in plenty-in books, in encyclopaedias, and in all other forms of record. Therefore, the important

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skills will be how to use facts, how to think through a problem, how to leam and how to relearn the skills of logical thinking and alert reasoning. Discrimination, judgment, and good taste must be carefully fostered, for not only will there be many new and unforeseen problems, but the mass means of communication will extend an ever increasing barrage of persuasion and propaganda over us. Education in the future, in fact, will be the only reasonable protective shelter against mass media fallout. 7. Schools must be a means of decreasing the incidence of public gullibility and susceptibility to emotional persuasion and subtle propaganda. Whereas schools have, in the past, tried to train their pupils to be critical of books and printed words, they must now take on the task of training future citizens to be critical of what they see and hear on radio, television, and film, because more and more of the ideas which will reach the public will corne through the media of expression other than printed words. We know enough of group psychology and social engineering to know the tremendous threats that mass means of communication present to human life. We know that human beings can be kept in chains economically, intellectually, and emotionally by clever suggestion and diabolical persuasion. If we are ever to maintain a free society, then schools must be the protectors and promoters of freedom of thought and freedom of expression by providing mental training in clear logical thinking freed from superstition, prejudice, and unnecessary taboos. 8. We know a number of things about how children learn. We know, for instance, that they learn most effectively when they devote energetic attention to important problems. We know that they become diligently thoughtful when they are actively investigating real and concrete problems that seem to them worthwhile solving. We know that they learn most effectively if they can persist with concentrated effort for a considerable length of time. We know that this can happen and does happen when the problem or topic of investigation retains their interest, awakens their curiosity, and develops their enthusiasm. We know, too, that children are different-that different things interest different children. We realize, therefore, that it is the business of the school to make sure that every child devotes concentrated attention and thought to important and challenging problems, bearing in mind that not all worthwhile problems or useful ideas are interesting to begin with. lt is the teacher's job to make them interesting, attractive, and valuable educationally. 9. All schools of psychological thought agree that behaviour which is rewarded is more likely to recur. They also say that the kind of reward which is very effective in motivating leaming is the opportunity for fresh, novel, and stimulating experiences. A. N. Whitehead said many years ago that: "For successful education, there must always be a certain freshness in the knowledge dealt with. lt must either be new in itself or it must be

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invested with some novelty of application to the new world of new times. Knowledge does not keep any better than fish." Psychologists are ail agreed, too, that the most effective effort put forth by children is where success seems quite possible but not certain. Children learn best in an atmosphere of trust and sympathy just as teachers teach best when they are trusted and given freedom and responsibility. There is very little that need be boring or worthless in school. There are plenty of exciting and worthwhile things to learn. No teacher need be dull or lacking in enthusiasm. No lesson need be unstimulating or unprovocative. Learning can be and should be a very profitable experimental inquiry offering exciting rewards for diligent thinking and creative imagination. 10. Education can never be made easy. There is no labour-saving device which can save the child the effort of thinking for himself. Education cannot be mechanized even though instruction can. Wisdom and virtue are not achieved by effort expended in any form outside the child's brain. The art of education is to make use of a child's natural desire, needs, interests, curiosity, in order to tap the maximum energy and guide it towards the consideration of the important problems of our time and of the future. Since children spend maximum effort on those activities which interest them most, all such activities should be turned to intellectual profit and thought-provoking value by a clever teacher. The purpose of the teacher is to see that a maximum amount of high quality cerebration goes on in a given time-far more than normally goes on now. This is not done by regimentation, by prescription, by compulsion, or by direct frontal attack-but by subtlety, ingenuity, persuasion, stimulus and by working through the things that naturally attract the inquisitive curiosity of the child. 11. Education is something that the child must do for himself. Teachers cannot add to the power of the child's mind any more than they can add one cubit to bis stature. The child must do all the thinking for himself if be is to be educated. Like digestion and exercise, thinking and wise action are self-operated, essential activities which no one can do for another individual. Teachers can only arrange conditions which stimulate, foster, and main tain a desire for mental activity. Without the desire no valuable intellectual effort is forthcoming. It needs consummate artistry and scientific skill to arrange conditions in school so that children naturally want to leam, because the emphasis must always be on learning rather than teaching. Yet neither of these are ever easy. 12. We know that no one subject in the curriculum is of itself any more effective than another in developing and encouraging the thoughtful and critical activities of the mind.

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The idea that some subjects or some topics are intrinsically easy and some difficult is fallacious. Mathematicians have recently shown that many of the concepts which were once reserved for university students can now be understood by children in Grade 4. Many have claimed that foreign languages are di.fficult, and yet we know that all but the very severely mentally retarded French children speak that language relatively easily before attending school. The facts are that our schools have often made French unnecessarily difficult by obsolete ways of teaching and by concentrating on grammatical rules that no Frenchman would consciously observe, instead of concentrating on French dialogue and French literature and France. The Educational Policies Commission makes a daim for the equality of subjects: The study of an abstract subject like mathematics or philosophy, in and of itself, does not necessarily enhance rational powers, and it is possible that experiences in areas which appear to have little connection may, in fact, make a substantial contribution to rational development. Music and vocational subjects may engage the rational powers of pupils equally well. There is a highly creative aspect in the processes of thought. Ali the higher mental processes involve more than simple awareness of facts; they depend also on the ability to conceive what might be as well as what is, to construct mental images in new and original ways. Experiences in literature and arts may well make a larger contribution to these abilities than studies usually assumed to develop abstract thinking.

Thinking is in no sense restricted to academic subject-matter of the traditional Arts and Science programs. Sorne of the best thinking is done by those who apply themselves to the practical business of the world. Engineering physics, chemical engineering, architecture, cancer research, plant breeding, etc., are often far more stimulating to thought, far more demanding intellectually than such subjects as history or mathematics as taught in university because the latter are so often a question of memorizing masses of inert facts or useless formulae. 13. There is no known or proven educational good derived from forcing children to undertake boring and apparently valueless tasks. This does not mean that any human being can avoid harshness, drudgery or boredom sometimes, but let us not justify these educationally. It does not do people good to be compelled to suffer hardship, deprivation, or indignity. To have corne up the bard way is not necessarily beneficial to the character or the soul. These old puritanical and sadistical fallacies die bard. We must renounce the fallacious notion that it is good for children to be made to do things they dislike. There is no educational advantage in pain, failure, threats of punishment, or appeals to fear. It does not do people good to have to suffer disappointment or disgrace. Spartan austerity and

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toughening up tactics are simply illogical relies of a barbarie age. The Christian ethic of forgiving one another, of turning the other cheek, of love, of ldndliness to little children is totally opposed to such brutality. Why Are Schools Lagging?

Having examined some of the factual information related to education, it is necessary to explain why obsolete emphasis on the accumulation of facts and insufficient attention to thinldng effort is still characteristic of our schools despite the massive weight of evidence and public unrest which demands a change. The fact that our schools are still carrying on in dusty, obsolete, textbook-dominated, standardized classrooms is not primarily the fault of the teacher. It is primarily the fault of those who control education, and of the impersonal, highly conservative, and authoritarian system which deprives teachers of sufficient freedom to do better. There are many forces which combine to curtail freedom and teachers caught in this web find it difficult to exhibit initiative, to use new ideas and fresh practices proven by research, or to develop independently. The whole atmosphere discourages enthusiasm, eagerness, confidence, or imagination, all of which are essential ingredients in any good classroom. Many, many teachers are capable of teaching far better than they do, but they resort to orthodox and sterotyped practices because they lack freedom. What curtails or seems to curtail their freedom? 1. One of the reasons why the freedom of many is curtailed is that they have been inadequately educated for their profession. They are, therefore, hemmed in by ignorance and lack of understanding. Ail teachers should have as long and as rigorous a preparation for their profession as a doctor, an architect, an engineer, or a lawyer. This is just as true of those who teach in Kindergarten as those who teach Grade 13. Teachers must be educated men and women before they become teachers. Cultured maturity and worldly wisdom are even more important than a complete knowledge of the subject, important though that is. Furthermore, every teacher needs to have a great deal of training in psychology and sociology, so that he knows why be is teaching the way he is. Those who send out adolescents with just one year of teacher training can expect adolescent behaviour to be imitated in the schools. A great deal of what is best leamed in the school is acquired incidentally, as if by infection, rather than by direct instruction. Children are very imitative and they need, therefore, to have examples of high quality persons in the classroom. They need to see the way of life of a person who loves books, who loves leaming, who is an enthusiastic searcher for knowledge and skill, who believes in high ethical standards and bas excellent work habits. Children need to be in the company of mature, wise, and humane adults who have mastered the artistry and

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science of clever educational procedures. These highly educated, highly qualified persons are the only ones who are inwardly free to experiment, to adventure, to lead with confidence and competence. 2. The freedom of the teacher is restricted because the curricula and the textbooks are usually prescribed by a superior authority. 3. ln many instances, but certainly not in ail, the effect of inspectors and supervisors is to restrict the freedom of teachers. 4. Teachers have no legal powers vested in them. 5. Parental criticisms voiced publicly or to school boards or to principals and superintendents are taken so seriously that teachers often feel totally intimidated, if not persecuted, by these activities. 6. There have been occasions, especially in the past, when School Boards and School Trustees have exercised a curbing influence on teacher freedom. 7. Since there are very few direct rewards for excellent teaching and since excellent teaching is very demanding, fatiguing, and time-consuming, few teachers find it worthwhile to pursue excellent teaching to a point where it might be questioned by an old-fashioned inspector or criticized by a conservatively minded parent. 8. Perhaps one of the most obvious reasons why the freedom of teachers is restricted is the size of the classes they have to teach and the number of different classes they have to meet in a given week. A teacher who must teach five hours a day to five different classes of 35 children will find that he is exhausted at the end of the day and will find it impossible both to prepare good lessons for the following day and to mark the exercises or essays completed during the current session. 9. Large classes in small classrooms make it impossible to use the most up-to-date facilities and equipment necessary for excellent education. Most classrooms are built and equipped solely for the study of textbooks; they are not designed for any other form of inquiry. 1O. The excessive emphasis that we in Canada put on examinations and the frequent incidence of these examinations exert a tremendously restrictive influence. Formal examinations occupy a very large portion of the secondary school year so that the amount of time during which children are learning new things is seriously reduced and far less than many people suppose. The passing of examinations is for many teachers and children the only purpose of school attendance. Education becomes a subsidiary, incidental, almost accidentai, concomitant to the grind for examination success. Since the easiest type of material to examine, measure, and mark is factual information, examinations very often degenerate into a factual recall process. Children are not required to understand what they put

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down, they are simply required to regurgitate or repeat uncomprehended syllables and verbalisms, or still more frequently, to make check marks or crosses on an objective test indicating that they have recognized by clever random sampling or inspired guesswork the right response to an anticipated stimulus. Here is an example of the plaintive cry of one teacher. "The succession of tests and examinations which clutter the schools are a curse, for they interfere with the real business of teaching which is to stimulate curiosity and expose children to a few important truths." Wilbur J. Bender of Harvard in a brilliant exposition points out the futility of relying too naively on examinations: The student who ranks first in bis class may be genuinely brilliant, or be may be a compulsive worker, or the instrument of domineering parents' ambition, or a conformist, or self-centred careerist who bas shrewdly calculated bis teachers' prejudices and expectations and discovered how to regurgitate efficiently what they want. The adolescent with wide ranging curiosity and stubborn independence, with vivid imagination and desire to explore fascinating by-paths, to follow bis own interest, to contemplate, to read the unrequired books, the boy fi.lied with this sheer love of life and exuberance may well seem to bis teachers troublesome, undisciplined, a rebel, may not conform to their stereotype, and may not get the top grades and the highest rank in the class. Our present school system seems, in fact, to produce simply a high level of dull, competent, safe, academic mediocrities, an army of future Ph.D.'s. Competitive scholarship at the secondary school level is often the enemy of originality and creativity. There are many kinds or aspects of intelligence which are important and grade getting and test scoring intelligence is not necessarily the most important even for purely intellectual pursuits. Judgment is important, and curiosity and independence and honesty and courage and sensitivity and generosity and vitality. Energy may well be the most important x-factor in determining the future contribution of an individual. Ten per cent of extra energy is probably worth at least 150 points on the scholastic aptitude test score. And judgment may be worth 200. 11. In general, therefore, teachers feel that they are inadequately trusted and are not given sufficient scope to carry on teaching in ways which they know to be better than the orthodox. New York State and its school districts taken together employ more administrators than ail of Western Europe. In Western Europe supervision is in the bands of men who understand that influence is at once more agreeable and more effective than authority. When the London County Council appoints the headmaster, they appoint the captain of a ship. And the headmaster, who may be teaching half a day, will usually extend similar courtesies to individual teachers. In France their system is held together not by orders from Paris, but by the general agreement of French teachers on what is important.

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It is true, of course, that none of these restrictive influences need, in fact, curtail the freedom of the excellent teacher. If a first class person with a highly intelligent outlook feels that bis freedom is curtailed by these influences be will likely move out of the profession. Unfortunately, because of the known restrictions, many of the great minds of the nation do not even attempt to enter the teaching profession; if they do, they leave it. Sometimes, therefore, the profession must make do with less than the most brilliant minds. Yet many such persons could do a first class job in the classroom if they were adequately trained, if the classes could be small, and if they could be given scope to develop original ideas, without undue inspection, criticism, and excessive domination by examinations. People become trustworthy only by being trusted. They learn to be responsible only by being given freedom. They learn self-discipline only by not being disciplined from outside. They learn to think for themselves only by not having their thinking done for them.

Teaching and Instruction Before spelling out more clearly how our future education should look, it seems necessary to distinguish between instruction and teaching. An instructor is a performer and an informer. He tells a listening, attentive audience what they should know, how they should behave, what they should think. He presents problems and questions and then tells the answer with careful explanation and demonstration. He gives plenty of practice and drill. He relies mainly on memory and habit. An instructor is often convinced, quite erroneously, that there is educational value in self-denial, in regimenting one's self, in doing one's duty. He feels, unjustifiably, some puritanism is a good training for future life and that a certain amount of asceticism builds character. Instruction is authoritarian, or even patriarchal. It leads to conformity and preserves the status quo. It is a method of handing on, in easy doses, the distilled and accumulated wisdom and skill of the past. Instruction is a means of reproducing the type. It is designed to inculcate respect for tradition, for wbat society in the past bas judged to be good, true, rigbt and beautiful. Instruction produces well-informed conformists. It satisfies the conservative side of human nature only. Instruction can, of course, be done by mecbanical means, tbrougb mass media, tbrough books, and simply requires tbat the learner be able to read. Instruction as described above does not, bowever, produce an educated person. It produces a well-informed person, but not a thinker, not a doubter, not an originator. By itself it is of Iittle use for the future. Teaching, on the otber band, is something entirely different. Teaching

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is human artistry in getting pupils to think for themselves, not by telling them answers but by asking questions. Pupils are no longer passively listening or patiently learning by heart what the text-book says. They are actively investigating original sources of information and data by experimental methods in order to draw their own inferences and their own conclusions. The teacher is a resourceful person, a guide, a stimulus, one who opens cultural windows, suggests other approaches and other points of view. A teacher is a subtle adviser whose primary purpose is not to condition or to indoctrinate or to constrain, but to free future citizens of the trappings of prejudice, tradition, and custom, in order that they may arrive anew by thinking for themselves at the great truths of the ages and at great new truths. A teacher bas at least four main functions, none of which could be called direct instruction : 1. To see clearly the immediate and ultimate purposes of education for himself and for bis class. He should also be able to state quite clearly the worthwhile, practical, immediate purpose for the children. That purpose is never passing an examination. The purpose is always intrinsic to the subject to be studied and its value for the children at the age and level at which they are. 2. The teacher should select and arrange the environment or the materials or the information or the experiences with which the children are to corne into direct contact. 3. The teacher should guide, by suggestion, encouragement and stimulus, the children's investigation of and thought about the environment, materials, information, and experiences provided. Wherever possible the experiences should be direct experiences and not verbal substitutes for them. Obviously a laboratory type of research enquiry is intended for all subjects. 4. By some careful guidance the children should be led to draw conclusions and inferences and then apply acquired ideas to themselves and to the problems of the world around. They should also be given opportunities to express their ideas in various art forms. Obviously a studio type activity is implied again for all subjects. The teacher, then, is one who sees to it that children are actively inquiring into and experimenting with new materials in order to gain new insights, new enlightenment, and new understandings useful to them and satisfying to their needs. A great teacher is one who can help them carry over their newly acquired insights to the improvement of the power of their mind, the quality of their character and wisdom. This final carry-

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over from acquired ideas to mind quality and power is the most fundamental part of education and the activity for which a personal teacber is most necessary. Education and Learning Education is not just leaming, that is, acquiring or mastering or understanding or achieving or accumulating. Education is a power, a quality, a richness, an ability to think and act wisely and virtuously. Education gives freedom, independence, assurance, confidence, a sense of perspective, powers of discrimination, and judgment. In fact, education gives personal quality. Education, of course, cannot happen without leaming, without information, and without skill. Learning is essential to education, just as food is necessary for bodily growth. Learning and education must go on together just as bodily growth and food consumption must go on together. Bodies must expend energy in order to eat, and in order to have energy a person must eat. One does not necessarily corne before the other. They should happen simultaneously. Thus the learning of certain skills and the acquisition of certain information are not the necessary prerequisites to education, but they are necessary concomitants. Education may result from learning but learning always results from education. Therefore, it is best in school to concentrate on the educational side and to have learning as the incidental accomplishment that must corne through concentration on education. In our schools the instruction and the learning acts are still essentially those of fact-giving and fact-getting. This conception of fact as the basis of education process is both unnecessary and undesirable. The mental processes involved in the acquisition of facts about things as they are, are of a low order in the range of human intellectual potential. Another very serious criticism of the fact type of education is that, in the life of the citizen, in bis work, his play, bis family life, bis participation in civic, social, and religious institutions, the critical mental processes in use are not the simple recall and application of learned fact, but thought processes such as judgment, inference, and reasoning. lt is, therefore, the development of the person in terms of increasing precision and appropriateness of thought processes which should form the continuing basis for educational experience rather than the mere addition of layer upon layer of descriptive fact through successive years of schooling. Rarely are problems solved by facts all of which are carried in the head. What a person understands of the functional relationship between classes of things, bis understanding of the limits of such present knowledge as he bas,

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and bis insight into the need for particular kinds of additional facts, are the only truly effective understandings which lead to the successful adjustment of a situation to human needs. Fact collecting is, therefore, inadequate to the educative process. There is a massive weight of opinion as well as undoubted evidence which favours emphasis on thinking rather than accumulation of facts. A few opinions only are provided. From Principal M. Woodside of University College, University of Toronto: We should not teach facts at all. We shall have to make use of current facts for our purpose, but our purpose should be to teach the young to think in certain ways. The minimum of literacy required by the modem world is the ability to detect prejudice, special pleading and fraud and to reach conclusions by some valid form of reasoning. This cannot be deferred until the young reach the university or the technical institute. The process must begin in grade one. Most, if not all of the evil in the world today, is due to muddled thinking.

From Dean W. R. Niblett, University of London, lnstitute of Education: Sheer knowledge is not necessarily educative. There is no proof and little evidence that if you do succeed in making a much greater proportion of men and women knowledgeable about all sorts of interesting things you will produce any great increase in the proportion of really educated people. Knowledge bas to enter the heart as well as the head. School books tend to be looked upon as repositories of the dull truth is some absolute desiccated way. We all have to learn how to cope with feeling as well as how to cope with fact. To pretend that feeling hardly matters, or that the school need have no regard for such things, is to mistake part of the nature of our business.

John Dewey said: "The sole direct path to enduring improvement in the methods of instruction and leaming consists in centering upon the conditions which exact, promote and test thinking." And A. N. Whitehead: "A merely well informed mind is the most useless bore on God's Earth." Professor E. A. Peel, in his book The Pupil's Thinking, distinguishes four types of thinking. First he names "imaginative thinking." This is the type called up in creative writing, painting, music, and so on. Secondly, he identifies one called "explanatory thinking" which is connected with describing and explaining events or things in history, geography, science, or mathematics. The third kind is called "productive thinking," where the pupil is called upon to apply his knowledge or make use of his explanations in new situations. The fourth kind of thinking does not often appear in school but is called "integrative thinking" and is the type of thinking involved where great men such as Einstein develop new theories and systems of thought. Sorne people would call this speculative thought.

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The conclusion to this study of teaching and education is that instruction will no longer suffi.ce to help our future citizens face the problems of the future. Simple acquisition of the 3-R skills or the accumulation of information will no longer be of much avail by themselves. Instead, future citizens must be educated to speak for themselves, to learn the skills of argument and analysis, of logical deduction, of critical appraisal, and of experimental inquiry. They must learn how to sift, select, and assess evidence. They must learn how to counteract the effects of propaganda and persuasive appeals to the emotions. A1l this they must leam through their own efforts, not by instruction, by being in situations which cause them to think through what is presented to them, naturally and willingly. Creative Education for the Future Since change is obvious in the future, we must concentrate more on the creative rather than on the conservative thinker in school; on freedom rather than conformity. The ingenious, the thoughtful, and the courageous must be encouraged. If young people are to face new problems in a fresh situation they must learn to take nothing for granted, to make no false assumptions. They must leam the arts of thinking things out afresh for themselves by asking the most searching, appropriate, and fundamental questions. If this is so, we cannot expect them to accept education in school on trust. They must be convinced in their minds that what is provided in school is of value for them. They must not rely on authority, on custom, on precedent, or on time-honoured theory to solve future problems. They must learn that they cannot lean on or depend on adults or any other authorities to do their thinking for them. They must, in fact, resist all attempts to have thinking done for them. Unless they become independent thinkers, they will not be able to face future difficulties. Moreover, they will tend to conform to ail the persuasive devices that vested interests can construct. In the matter of traditional values schools start where other agencies leave off. Certain moral standards and codes of behaviour must be assumed. Schools can reinforce these but preservation of the past or of the status quo is not their major function. Schools should not primarily be devoted to passing on the accumulated wisdom of the past. This is already in books for all to read. They must perform the intellectual function which other agencies cannot easily undertake, which is to use the wisdom of the past to stimulate thinking and adventure with new ideas and with recent research findings. Schools must set children free to explore, to investigate, to experiment, and to construct. They must be essentially creative.

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Home and society will naturally be conservative. Without large-scale opportunity to create, schooling can never become education and knowledge will never become wisdom. That is why children must actively pursue education in laboratories and studios working with many more sources of information than books, and many more media of expresion than words. Real education, then is not turing out well-rounded individuals in grey flannel suits, but young people with sharp-edged and uncowed consciences, persons with the character to be critics of society rather than conformists to it. They will be men of high understanding and broad principles who do not worship the god conformity, and do not mind sticking out their necks in favour of a moral principle. The value of education lies in its power to enable students to invent and create new learning. Researchers have discovered that conformists are not the most useful citizens. The divergent thinker and those of complex temperaments are more useful to society than the convergent thinker and those who are only well-adjusted. The divergent thinker is one who bas an acute sensitivity to problems, a fluency of ideas, mental flexibility, and an ability to redefine familiar concepts. A creative soul bas a quick humour and an ability to accept conflicts and tension. He is willing to let go all certainties and illusions. It is the convergent thinker who rates high in I .Q. tests and on academic achievement tests, for he is able to give back the answers that the teacher wants. The divergent thinker, however, is the inventor, the originator of new ideas. He is the critic not only of the natural world but of the social world. Creativity in adulthood is the natural sequence to play in childhood and both are the natural research activities of the human mind which flourish only in freedom. Creativity, however, does not develop in license and it isn't novelty just for the sake of being different. Creativity results from knowledge, understanding, and careful reflective thought, and depends for its success on thorough understanding of thought processes. Unless children are allowed to be creative, unless they have opportunity to express their ideas, they can never become educated. Similarly, unless teachers in training are allowed to be experimental and creative, ingenious and imaginative in trying out new ways of teaching, we can never call the process teacher education. Creativity implies that artistic pursuits are important in schools. Whitehead made this claim many years ago: "What is most precious and distinctive about any human being is bis inner life, bis appreciation, bis sense of values. Art objectifies this subjective call of life. Civilization that

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neglects art for the sake of specialized education, competitive business, or scientific and technological advancement, is cutting the roots of its spiritual powers." Sir Julian Huxley also claims that "The essential distinctiveness of Art is that it provides a qualitative enrichment of life by creating a diversity of new experience. lt is a process of discovery about ourselves and about life. Art opens the doors of that other world in which matter and quantity are transcended by mind and quality." Jerome S. Bruner in his book The Process of Education very rightly advocates intuitive learning rather than formai understanding. When he uses the word "intuitive" he means what others in education mean by "creative." He uses a rather telling phrase when he says "that children should have an intuitive feel for geometry." Again, in attacking formalization in school, which he daims is dull and boring, he says that children when studying geometry should become skilful in discovering proofs, not in checking the validity of or remembering proofs already provided. Formalism in school bas devalued intuition and creativity and debased imagination. Grading and examinations, reward and punishments also inhibit intuitive thinking. He clinches his argument by quoting another writer as saying: "How do I know what I think until I feel what I do?" The Positive Dynamic Outlook As in school, so out of school, adolescents should be encouraged to be critical of what they hear or see or read. They should be taught to verify statements, to investigate original sources of information and to avoid judgment without adequate data or evidence. To do this children must be freed from many of their prejudices and allowed to be accurately questioning and creatively original. C. P. Snow says: Modern education should be completely antithetical to indoctrination. It should constantly require searching examination of the relevant evidence borne against every economic, political, moral or other proposai. It requires frank uninhibited communication about every aspect of ail proposais. The major task of the school is not to transmit culture, rather its task is to lift the sights of the educational operation towards its innovative role. Educators must accept the thrilling opportunities of sharing in the creation of a new epoch both by and for mankind. The teacher is no longer a person whose main function is to impart information or even to demonstrate skills since so many resources are available and conveniently organized in a variety of published forms. In the age of mass media the teacher's function shifts to emphasis on selection, evaluation, interpretation, application, and individual guidance.

John A. Irving in an article entitled "The Changing World Community," says most aptly that : "Those who tremble before the shape of things to

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come have failed to realize that our educational systems are already heavily weighted with propaganda-propaganda for the status quo. If we prevent educators from educating for social change, they will become pallid retailers of social reaction. Any education that is not education of the social change is missing fire." A Creative Philosophy

It seems appropriate to end by stating succinctly my own convictions about the aims of education in our schools: 1. The function of the teacher in school is to select and arrange materials and conditions which encourage and stimulate future citizens to reflect, contemplate, reason, cogitate, and think diligently, critically, constructively, and creatively for themselves and by themselves about the world of men and nature. 2. In order to think eflectively future citizens need (a) to be alertly aware of and curiously inquisitive about the world of nature and man around them; ( b) to acquire the mental skills necessary to face new problems courageously, constructively, and creatively. 3. In order to become effective future citizens, schools should encourage the maximum development of initiative, independence, and responsible use of freedom in their pupils. 4. In order to promote maximum mental growth and health, schools should concern themselves with the ail-round development of the childin particular, much care must be taken of emotional, aesthetic, and artistic development. Intellectual, physical, and spiritual growth depend on the care devoted to emotional harmony, balance, and well-being. 5. Education is an active, exploratory, discovery process of selfdevelopment and fulfilment. It is stimulated by using the child's native curiosity, love of adventure and experiment, and bis desire to create and construct for himself. Education is stimulating chiefly when it deals with modem problems which have real and immediate significance for the child. The emphasis must always be on treading new ground, on possible future problems rather than on going over well-trodden ground or recounting past diffi.culties. 6. Education implies the development of future citizens who welcome change and are willing and able to modify society progressively and intelligently for the benefit of all mankind. 7. Education is not primarily: (a) handing on the heritage of the past; ( b) moulding citizens to a type; ( c) acquisition of factual information; (d) testing, by recall, of acquired facts; (e) training of regimented minds who accept traditional behaviour and thinking uncritically; (f) a passive absorptive process.

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8. An educated person is one for wbom facts, knowledge, and particularly experience have stimulated thinking so tbat independent ideas, conclusions, attitudes, and wisdom have developed to produce a barmoniously balanced personality devoted to fredom, honesty, impartiality, tolerance, and human virtue. An educated person not only knows facts, but bas tbought about them, bas associated them into ideas, patterns of thought, connected argument and generalizations. Further the educated person bas assimilated the ideas and principles derived from thinking about facts and experiences and is able to use and apply these ideas to understanding the world and bimself. He bas further developed attitudes cbaracter, culture, maturity and wisdom. His mind bas developed power, efficiency and bumanity. Conclusion

This dissertation bas shown that there is a massive array of evidence to prove tbat the aims which animate the present practices in school are inadequate for the free Canadian society of the future. The evidence is also overwhelming that our children are not being educated as effectively as they should. The chief faults are caused by the obsolete aims of the traditional, authoritarian, and excessively academic school of thought with its emphasis on passive absorption of verbal information. The future must put far greater emphasis on the thinking processes, on creativity, on self-directed inquiry, on problem-solving techniques. Far more effort and energy must be devoted to learning rather than teaching. Curiosity, initiative, and interest must be kept alive. Fact-finding and fact regurgitation must no longer be the primary purpose of schooling or examinations. To acbieve these aims, teachers must be given a far better education not merely in professional work, but more particularly as persons. High quality individuals with wisdom and artistry in human relations are needed. Four years of immersion in the cultural excitement and intellectual turmoil of a university are an essential minimum. Teachers must also be given a far greater measure of freedom and trust than they now enjoy, so that they can set an example of enthusiastic inquiry, independent initiative, and courageous creativity. Teachers must have mucb smaller classes and more ready access to a great variety of teacbing materials, aids and apparatus. Nothing, however, is more important than the quality of the person who becomes a teacher in the classroom. Dr. A. W. Trueman at the last Canadian Conference tried to crystallize the general feeling by saying: "Nothing is wrong with Canadian Education that a great deal more money will not put straight." He was wrong because be thought we simply needed

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more of the same. May I try to sum up our present thinking by using a slightly altered phrasing? "Nothing is wrong with Canadian Education that better quality teachers will not put straight." This implies that we need an education that is better and difjerent. Dare I say exacting, positive, creative, thought-provoking, and experimental? Let us avoid tedious dullness, unchallenging drill, stereotyped repetition, useless content, and puritanical mistrust. Let us have faith in the goodness of our fellow men, our teachers, and our children. References Barzun, Jacques. The Bouse of Intellect (Harper), 1959. Bender, Wilbur. The Top-One-Per-Cent Policy (Harvard University Press), 1961. Bruner, J. S. The Process of Education (Harvard University Press), 1960. Burton, Kimball and King. Education for Effective Thinking (AppletonCentury-Crofts), 1960. Conant, James B. The American High School Today (McGraw-Hill), 1959. Educational Policies Commission. The Central Purpose of American Education, 1961. Fleming, C. M. Teaching (Methuen), 1959. Hullfish and Smith. Reflective Thinking (Dodd Mead & Co.), 1961. Huxley, Julian. The Humanist Frame (Allen & Unwin), 1961. Mayer, Martin. The Schoo/s (Harper), 1961. Niblett, W. R. Objectives in Secondary Education Today (College of Preceptors), 1961. Peel, E. A. The Psycho/ogical Basis of Education (Clarke Irwin), 1956. Peel, E. A. The Pupi/s Thinking (Oldbourne Book Co.), 1960. Phenix, P. Education and the Common Good (Harper), 1961. Scarfe, N. V. Conflicting Ideas in Teacher Education (Boyd Bode Lectures, University of Ohio Press), 1959. - - - A Phi/osophy of Education (University of Manitoba Press), 1952. Whitehead, A. N. The Aims of Education (Williams & Norgate), 1947.

EXTRAITS DU DISCOURS DE M. SCARFE

... Il est nécessaire de découvrir de nouvelles façons d'envisager les buts visés par l'éducation et de nous libérer des concepts philosophiques erronnés du passé. Il faut donc nous convaincre que les écoles et les institutions de haut savoir doivent d'abord favoriser chez les jeunes étudiants la réflexion créatrice qui leur permettra de résoudre les problèmes nouveaux et ardus auxquels ils devront faire face dans l'avenir. Les écoles sont des institutions fermées où les enfants peuvent étudier, discuter et proposer certaines idées hardies et même dangereuses, sans nuire à personne, mais dont ils peuvent grandement bénéficier. Pour une courte période les enfants peuvent ne pas se plier à plusieurs des restrictions qui se posent aux adultes du

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monde extérieur et ont le loisir d'explorer le monde merveilleux des idées nouvelles, comme le savant à l'université peut poursuivre ses recherches dans l'inconnu. Tandis que la prudence conservatrice, les vertus traditionnelles et l'obéissance aux lois sont enseignées comme il se doit au foyer, à l'église, dans la collectivité et dans le milieu social, c'est à l'école qu'il incombe en outre de développer l'activité créatrice, l'initiative et l'originalité en favorisant la curiosité aventureuse et l'enthousiasme pour la recherche. Tandis que l'école favorise l'épanouissement de la personnalité et le développement des facultés de chaque être humain, il semble que tous les organismes à l'extérieur de l'école se liguent ensemble pour engendrer le conformisme. Il ne revient qu'à l'école de développer les nombreuses facultés créatrices et la personnalité autonome ; elle doit favoriser la curiosité et la recherche ; elle doit inculquer aux citoyens de demain un sens critique devant tout ce qu'ils voient, entendent ou lisent. Cependant, la critique destructrice ne suffit pas. Une activité créatrice constructive est beaucoup plus importante. Nos jeunes étudiants doivent rechercher la vérité avec enthousiasme et ne pas viser seulement à trouver la bête noire ... Il est indéniable que le public en général est d'avis que les écoles de la nation ne répondent plus à son attente. La présente Conférence a été convoquée parce qu'on est d'opinion que l'éducation dans les écoles peut être beaucoup améliorée. On est d'opinion que les méthodes communément employées dans les écoles répondaient à des buts qui sont périmés depuis longtemps. On pense dans plusieurs milieux qu'il nous faut viser des buts différents de ceux dont se contentaient nos ancêtres, et que ces nouveaux buts doivent être supérieurs et présenter de plus grands défis que dans toute autre décennie antérieure ... Il est impossible de rendre l'éducation chose facile. Aucun dispositif mécanique ne peut remplacer l'effort de réflexion de l'enfant. L'éducation ne peut être mécanisée bien que l'instruction puisse l'être. L'enfant ne peut acquérir la sagesse et la vertu sans faire appel à ses facultés intellectuelles et morales. L'art de l'éducation consiste à éveiller les désirs, les besoins, les intérêts et la curiosité naturels de l'enfant au plus haut degré et de les canaliser vers l'étude des problèmes importants de notre époque et de l'avenir. Etant donné que les plus grands efforts des enfants se portent sur les domaines qui les intéressent le plus, il incombe à un professeur habile d'en tirer le meilleur parti possible pour la formation de l'intelligence et de la réflexion chez ses élèves. Il doit voir à ce que ses élèves fassent travailler leurs méninges le plus possible dans un certain laps de temps, bien plus qu'ils le font à l'heure actuelle. Il n'y arrivera pas en les embrigadant, en leur ordonnant de le faire, en les y obligeant, ou en menant une attaque de front, mais en faisant preuve de souplesse,

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d'ingéniosité, de conviction, en les stimulant et en se servant des domaines qui éveillent naturellement la cuàosité innée de l'enfant. L'enfant a un rôle personnel à jouer dans son éducation. Les professeurs ne peuvent accroître les facultés intellectuelles de l'enfant, pas plus qu'ils peuvent le faire grandir d'une coudée. L'effort de réflexion nécessaire à l'éducation de l'enfant doit être fait par lui-même. Comme la digestion et l'exercice physique, la réflexion et le jugement sont essentiellement personnels. Le rôle des professeurs ne consiste qu'à éveiller, favoriser et maintenir chez les élèves un besoin de gymnastique intellectuelle. Sans ce besoin, aucun effort intellectuel valable n'est possible. Il faut un art consommé et une grande habileté pour faire en sorte que les conditions qui existent dans l'école poussent les enfants à apprendre d'eux-mêmes, car on doit toujours insister davantage sur l'étude plutôt que sur l'enseignement. Il reste que ni l'un ni l'autre sont chose facile ... ... Ce n'est pas d'abord la faute du professeur si l'enseignement continue d'être donné dans des classes vétustes, désuètes, uniformes et où le manuel fait loi. C'est d'abord la faute de ceux qui régissent l'éducation et du régime sans âme, très conservateur et autoritaire, qui ne donne pas aux professeurs la latitude requise pour faire mieux. Il y a plusieurs facteurs qui restreignent la liberté et les professeurs pris dans cet engrenage ont beaucoup de difficulté à démontrer de l'initiative, à appliquer de nouvelles idées et de nouvelles méthodes dont l'excellence est reconnue ou de se perfectionner individuellement. Tout ce climat met un frein à l'enthousiasme, à la confiance ou bride l'imagination, qui sont tous nécessaires pour que l'enseignement soit un succès. De nombreux professeurs sont en mesure d'enseigner bien mieux qu'ils ne le font, mais ils emploient des méthodes surannées et stéréotypées parce qu'ils ne sont pas libres de faire autrement. Une des raisons pour lesquelles la liberté des professeurs est restreinte, c'est qu'ils n'ont pas reçu la formation qui s'imposait pour exercer leur profession. Ils sont donc en butte à l'ignorance et au manque de compréhension. Tous les professeurs devraient recevoir une formation aussi longue et aussi sévère que les médecins, les ingénieurs, les architectes et les avocats. Cela vaut tant pour les professeurs de classes maternelles que pour ceux de la 13ème année. Les professeurs doivent être formés euxmêmes avant de former leurs élèves. Il est bien plus important de posséder une culture d'homme mûr et une sagesse du monde que de connaître parfaitement sa matière, bien que cela soit important. En outre, chaque professeur doit posséder une formation poussée en psychologie et en sociologie afin de savoir pourquoi il emploie telle méthode dans son enseignement. Ceux qui confient l'enseignement à des adolescents qui n'ont reçu qu'une seule année de formation pédagogique peuvent s'attendre à ce que les élèves réagissent comme des adolescents. Une bonne partie de

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ce qui s'apprend facilement à l'école s'acquiert part hasard plutôt que par l'enseignement direct. Les enfants ont un grand instinct d'imitation et ils doivent avoir dans la classe des exemples de personnes supérieures. Ils doivent voir comment se comporte une personne qui aime la lecture, qui aime l'étude, qui est avide de connaissances, qui a des normes élevées de moralité et d'excellentes habitudes de travail. Il faut que les enfants vivent en compagnie d'adultes sages et humains qui ont maîtrisé l'art et la science des méthodes d'enseignement fructueuses. Ces personnes d'une éducation et d'une compétence supérieures sont les seules qui peuvent en toute liberté tenter l'expérience de nouvelles méthodes, en rechercher de nouvelles et enseigner avec confiance et compétence... Un professeur doit accomplir au moins quatre fonctions principales, dont aucune n'est de l'instruction directe : 1. Voir clairement quels sont les fins immédiates et ultimes de l'éducation pour lui-même et pour ses élèves. Il doit également pouvoir définir clairement la fin valable pratique et immédiate que les élèves doivent viser. Cette fin ne consiste jamais à passer un examen. Elle est toujours intrinsèque au sujet à l'étude et sa valeur correspond à l'âge et au niveau scolaire des élèves. 2. Le professeur doit choisir et disposer les locaux ou le matériel ou les renseignements ou les expériences avec lesquels les élèves viendront directement en contact. 3. Le professeur doit guider en faisant des suggestions, en encourageant et en stimulant les élèves, leurs recherches et leurs réflexions sur le milieu, le matériel, les renseignements et les expériences en cause. Chaque fois que c'est possible, les expériences doivent être directes et ne pas être remplacées par des paroles. Tous les sujets doivent pouvoir se prêter à des recherches pratiques. 4. Sous surveillance, les enfants doivent être amenés à tirer des conclusions et appliquer ensuite à eux-mêmes et aux problèmes qui les entourent les idées acquises. Ils devraient également avoir l'occasion d'exprimer leurs idées de façon artistique. Encore une fois, ces matières doivent être enseignées de façon pratique plutôt que théorique. Par conséquent, le professeur doit voir à ce que les élèves s'intéressent activement à leurs recherches et fassent l'essai de nouvelles méthodes afin de découvrir de nouvelles perspectives qui leur seront utiles et répondront à leurs besoins. Un professeur compétent est celui qui peut aider les élèves à faire servir les nouvelles perspectives qu'ils ont acquises au développement de leur intelligence, de leur volonté et de leur jugement. Cette application des idées acquises au développement de l'esprit constitue la partie la plus importante de l'éducation et la tâche qui ne peut être accomplie que par un professeur doué de personnalité...

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Pour conclure cette étude de l'enseignement et de l'éducation, nous devons dire que l'instruction ne suffira plus à préparer nos futurs citoyens à régler les problèmes de l'avenir. Il servira de peu de s'en tenir à l'étude de l'écriture, de la lecture et des mathématiques ou à l'accumulation de renseignements. On doit plutôt former les futurs citoyens à exprimer leur propre opinion, à apprendre à analyser les arguments, à raisonner logiquement, à tout voir d'un œil critique et à vérifier si les principes s'appliquent en pratique. Ils doivent apprendre à distinguer les faits d'après leur importance. Ils doivent savoir comment contrebalancer les effets de la propagande et des arguments qui font appel aux sentiments. Ils doivent y arriver d'eux-mêmes, non pas pour en avoir été instruits mais en étant placés dans des situations qui les font réfléchir à ces choses d'une façon toute naturelle ... Vu que des changements s'annoncent pour l'avenir, nous devons viser à ce que nos écoles forment des penseurs novateurs et non traditionnalistes. Elles doivent insister sur la liberté de pensée plutôt que sur le conformisme. Il faut favoriser l'ingéniosité, la réflexion et le courage. Si des adolescents doivent faire face à de nouveaux problèmes dans de nouvelles circonstances, ils doivent apprendre à ne rien prendre pour acquit, à ne pas faire de suppositions erronnées. Ils doivent apprendre à réfléchir par eux-mêmes en allant au fond des choses. Dans cette éventualité, nous ne pouvons nous attendre à ce qu'ils gobent tout ce qu'on leur enseignera dans les écoles. Ils doivent être persuadés qu'ils y apprennent quelque chose de valable. Ils ne doivent pas se fonder sur les autorités, les coutumes, les précédents, ou les théories immémoriales pour régler les problèmes de l'avenir. Ils doivent apprendre qu'ils ne peuvent s'attendre à ce que les adultes ou d'autres autorités réfléchissent pour eux. En réalité, ils doivent repousser toutes les tentatives à cet égard. A moins de pouvoir réfléchir par eux-mêmes, ils ne pourront pas faire face aux difficultés de l'avenir. En outre, ils auront tendance à accorder leur assentiment à tous les arguments employés par des intérêts de longue date pour les convaincre. En ce qui concerne les valeurs traditionnelles, les écoles continuent le travail commencé par d'autres organismes. Il faut supposer l'existence de certaines normes morales et de certaines règles de conduite. Les écoles peuvent insister aussi sur ces normes, mais leur tâche principale n'est pas de conserver les choses du passé ni de garder le status quo. Les écoles ne doivent pas d'abord viser à transmettre la sagesse accumulée au cours des siècles qui se trouve déjà dans les livres que tous peuvent lire. Elles doivent accomplir le travail intellectuel que les autres organismes ne peuvent pas entreprendre facilement, à savoir d'utiliser la sagesse du passé pour stimuler la réflexion, et d'appliquer de nouvelles idées et les résultats de travaux

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récents de recherche. Les écoles doivent donner aux élèves la liberté d'explorer, de faire des recherches, des expériences, et d'édifier de nouvelles théories. Elles doivent être essentiellement créatrices. Le foyer et la société seront naturellement traditionnalistes. Si l'activité créatrice n'est pas hautement favorisée, l'enseignement ne deviendra pas éducation et la science ne deviendra pas sagesse. Voilà pourquoi les élèves doivent poursuivre activement leur éducation dans des laboratoires et des ateliers, en se servant de plusieurs autres sources de renseignements en plus des livres et de plusieurs autres moyens d'expression en plus des mots ... Il convient de terminer en résumant mes propres opinions sur les buts de l'éducation dans nos écoles : 1. Le rôle du professeur à l'école est de choisir et d'agencer les matières et les conditions de l'enseignement pour que les futurs citoyens soient portés à réfléchir, raisonner, penser avec ardeur, user de sens critique et d'esprit d'invention, pour eux-mêmes et par eux-mêmes sur le monde de l'homme et de la nature. 2. Afin que leurs pensées mènent aux actes, les futurs citoyens doivent (a) chercher à découvrir de nouvelles choses sur le monde de la nature et sur celui qui les entoure ; ( b) développer leurs facultés spirituelles afin de pouvoir régler avec courage, de façon constructive et avec esprit d'invention les nouveaux problèmes qui se poseront à eux. 3. Afin de jouer pleinement leur rôle, les écoles doivent favoriser chez les élèves l'esprit d'initiative, l'indépendance, et faire en sorte qu'ils usent bien de leur liberté. 4. Afin d'assurer au maximum le perfectionnement et l'hygiène de l'esprit, les écoles doivent voir à ce que toutes les facultés de l'élève soient développées. On doit voir surtout à développer son sens esthétique et artistique. La croissance intellectuelle, physique et spirituelle est fondée sur le soin apporté au développement harmonieux des sentiments, à leur équilibre et à leur bien-être. 5. L'éducation consiste à développer les facultés personnelles et exige la participation active de l'élève. Elle fait appel à sa curiosité innée, à son esprit aventureux et à son désir de créer et d'édifier pour lui-même. L'éducation est surtout enrichissante quand elle traite des problèmes d'actualité qui ont une importance réelle et immédiate pour l'élève. On doit toujours mettre l'accent sur l'acquisition de nouvelles connaissances, sur les nouveaux problèmes qui pourraient se poser, plutôt que sur le rappel d'anciennes vérités ou de difficultés du passé. 6. L'éducation s'adresse à de futurs citoyens qui souhaitent des changements et qui acceptent et qui sont capables de changer graduellement la structure de la société, de façon intelligente et au profit de toute l'humanité. 7. Le premier but de l'éducation n'est pas : (a) de transmettre l'héritage

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du passé ; ( b) de former des citoyens selon un prototype ; ( c) de faire l'acquisition de faits ; (d) de vérifier les faits recueillis par la mémoire; ( e) de former des esprits endoctrinés qui adoptent sans manifester de sens critique le comportement et les façons de penser traditionnelles ; (f) de tout recevoir avec passivité. 8. Une personne éduquée est celle dont la réflexion a été stimulée par les faits, les connaissances et surtout l'expérience acquise, pour produire des idées, des conclusions, des attitudes et une sagesse indépendantes en vue de former une personnalité bien équilibrée respirant la liberté, la franchise, l'impartialité, la tolérance et les vertus de l'homme. Non seulement une personne éduquée connaît-elle les faits, mais elle y a réfléchi, elle en a tiré des idées, des façons de penser, elle s'en sert pour raisonner et généraliser. Bien plus, la personne éduquée sait assimiler les idées et les principes découlant de ses réflexions sur les faits et les expériences, et elle est en mesure de se servir de ces idées pour comprendre le monde et elle-même. Elle s'est forgée des attitudes, un caractère, elle s'est cultivée, elle a atteint la maturité et la sagesse. Son esprit est devenu puissant, efficace et humain.

The Aims of Education as discussed by a panel of laymen / Les buts de l'éducation vus par un groupe de profanes

H . H . HANNAM My definition of education, perhaps an oversimplified one, is that it is primarily a development of mind, personality, and character. Such development enables a person-young or old-to find within himself something of the "meaning of life" and a formula for the "art of living." Living with whom? First of ail with oneself, then with one's family and community and one's countrymen, but also with mankind at large. Today more than ever before one must learn to live, free of prejudices and narrowness, as a useful, neighbourly member of the world community. When one has discovered the art of living within oneself, life takes on a new meaning and grander purpose. It's like climbing a tower; we reach and open more windows; we gain a broader outlook and envisage a wider horizon with more promise for the future. We find greater inner joy and live a finer, fuller, richer, more satisfying life. This idea of the aim of education was brought forcibly to my attention when, after graduating from the Ontario Agricultural College, I went to Denmark and other Scandinavian countries on a Carnegie Fellowship awarded to me to study the Folk High School Movement. There I found some sixty residential schools in Denmark alone, providing mostly a fivemonth winter course for boys and a three-month summer course for girls. These schools were essentially for farm young people, eighteen years of age or over, who intended to settle permanently in farming as their life work. These schools, it was explained to me, were designed to give students a start in education "for life and for living." One thought dominated their philosophy of education. lt was: "the culture of the mind must precede the culture of the soil." ln these schools they did not teach agriculture. They had another series of residential vocational schools giving training in the science and practice of agriculture. The state, while making grants, had no supervision over the curriculum. Bach school was headed up by a principal and his wife who were outstanding educators. Often the students dined regularly with them or were entertained frequently in their homes. AU with whom I talked-principal, former students, any Dane-had the identical single concept regarding the aim of these schools. I came away convinced that in four decades these schools had exerted a tremendous influence not only on the co-operative outlook of their people, on the quality of their democratic life, but interestingly enough on the technical efficiency of their agriculture.

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If I have given the impression, in my discussion of the basic aim of education, that education is purely and wholly an individualist concept I have not intended to do so. In fact, I consider that the greatest error of old-time education bas been its narrow-gauge individualism. In this day no persons and no countries can live unto themselves alone. We know man's welfare throughout the world is interdependent. The kind of education, then, designed to equip us to compete more effectively against our neighbours is obsolete. Rather, we need the type of education which wi1l fit us to live together with other members of the human family co-operatively and peaceably as good neighbours. We must not overdo sowing the seeds of competition in the hearts and minds of children and expect to reap constructive co-operative personalities. Too much of the motivating spirit of our school system is a competitive spirit rather than a co-operative spirit. This is indicated by emphasis upon rank in examinations; preferments for the winners of high marks; prizes, honours and scholarships for the bookishly gifted; and advancement in professional and commercial life for aggressive go-getters. The teacher too must have bis freedom. During my five years as an elementary school teacher, I would gladly have joined a revolt against a rigid curriculum which said I must do so and so, with the inspector grading my work on that basis. With some freedom, I felt that I could have introduced my pupils to studies of the society in which we lived which would have contributed to mental development as well as to starting them on creative thinking, and would have inspired in them the inquiring mind so vitally important in any right concept of education. Schools, colleges, and universities do not have a monopoly of education any more than greenhouses can have a monopoly of the sunlight. Education should be a continuous process which goes on throughout life. lt is for everybody and, like sunlight, available, or should and can be, everywhere. This is why I would like to see our educators give greater recognition and attention to adult educational programs. Adult educational programs can have the advantage of providing education ( or training) when citizens urgently feel the need of it; it can more easily be progressive; it can better meet the practical ever-changing need of the time which, as Professor Scarfe points out, is more necessary today than formerly. If the rapidity with which the times are changing does not make necessary a change in the basic aim of education I agree with Professor Scarfe that it certainly does require frequent changes in those aims of education having to do with social adjustment and with the way in which problems of world affairs, in our smaller one world, are coming home to the ordinary citizen for decisive action. Lyman Bryson, a United States educator, says : "A man lives by patterns determined by the fact that he was born at a certain place, at a certain moment in its history. This means that

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two young people of about the same generation in two different countries are now more alike than either one of them is like his parents and far more alike than either one of them is like his grandparents." Even though we want to emphasize in our schools, colleges, and universities, the basic aim or aims of education, this should not be taken to mean that instruction of various kinds, and technical and vocational training, are unimportant or that we can afford to overlook these. On the contrary, the trend of the times with its rapid advance in technology and automation makes it imperative that we redouble our efforts to provide vocational training and retraining. The fact that 75 per cent of our unemployed in one period recently had no schooling beyond the eighth grade is surely a challenge alike to our educational standards and our facilities for vocational training. Many thoughtful rural citizens believe that the needs of country life have suffered, have in some measure been sacrificed to the academic, the professional, and the things that belong to the city; that our formai educational system has not recognized its obligation to the work-a-day folk of the farms, the homes, and the workshops. In support of this provocative statement, it is undeniable that school facilities are far less adequate in rural Canada than in urban centres; that universities are located in urban centres where the cost of attending is far greater to farm youth than to most of urban youth; that libraries and cultural opportunities are seldom within easy reach of rural youth. The same can be said regarding most schools for vocational and technical training. Our farm organization, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, bas adopted a policy recommending that our aim for all rural youth should be an opportunity to complete at least Grade 10, plus two years of vocational or technical training. This should be just a start, a bare minimum. Equal opportunities for education in rural Canada form a problem which should receive the early and serious attention of our educators. EXTRAITS DU DISCOURS DE M . HANNAM

A mon avis l'éducation est avant tout le développement de l'intelligence, de la personnalité et du caractère. Ce développement permet à une personne, qu'elle soit jeune ou âgée, de trouver en elle-même le « sens de la vie» et une formule de « l'art de vivre». De vivre avec qui? Tout d'abord avec soi-même, puis avec les membres de sa famille, avec les membres de la localité où l'on réside, avec ses concitoyens, enfin avec toute l'humanité. Aujourd'hui plus que jamais, il faut connaître l'art de vivre, sans préjugés et sans étroitesse d'esprit, comme un membre utile et serviable de la communauté humaine ...

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Les écoles, les collèges et les universités n'ont pas le monopole de l'éducation, comme les terres chaudes n'ont pas le monopole de la lumière du soleil. L'éducation est un processus continu qui dure toute la vie. Elle est à la portée de tout le monde, comme la lumière du soleil; elle est à la disposition de tout le monde, ou du moins elle devrait l'être, toujours et partout. Voilà pourquoi j'aimerais que nos éducateurs reconnaissent davantage l'importance de l'éducation populaire ... Beaucoup de citoyens sérieux des régions rurales ont l'impression qu'on a négligé la population des campagnes et qu'on l'a sacrifiée au bénéfice de la population urbaine et des professions libérales. On prétend que notre système d'éducation n'a pas fait son devoir envers la population agricole et la population ouvrière. A l'appui de cette assertion on peut dire sans crainte de se tromper que les chances de s'instruire au Canada sont moins grandes dans les régions rurales que dans les régions urbaines, que les universités sont situées dans les villes et qu'il en coûte davantage aux jeunes gens de la campagne pour les fréquenter qu'il n'en coûte aux jeunes gens des villes, que les bibliothèques et autres moyens de culture intellectuelle ne sont pas facilement accessibles à la jeunesse rurale et qu'il en est ainsi des écoles techniques et des écoles de formation professionnelle. La Fédération canadienne de l'agriculture, qui représente la classe agricole, réclame pour la jeunesse rurale un cours d'études générales de dix ans et deux ans de formation technique ou professionnelle. Et ce n'est là qu'un strict minimum. L'établissement d'un système de « chance égale » pour la jeunesse rurale et la jeunesse urbaine est un problème qui réclame l'attention immédiate de nos éducateurs.

BEATRICE HAYES The aims of education are indistinguishable from the aims of society. Education is nothing more nor nothing less than the methods used to train the young to fit into the society into which they are bom. Good educators are often those who, like Socrates, are not satisfied with the existing society and, wishing to improve it, "corrupt" the youth. Bad or indifferent educators accept the existing society, excuse it as being inorganic and remain satisfied with routine systems. Since the aims of education are the aims of society, it is necessary to try to ascertain what these are. But, as the society in which we find ourselves is characterized by doubts, frustrations, and anxieties and consequently does not lend itself to a ready definition in terms of generally agreed-upon

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aims and objectives, it is no small wonder that those of education are also beset with similar difficulties. Every age in turmoil perforce must have been compelled to analyse the basis of its educational system. This probably was true of the Renaissance era of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as it was of the Age of Reason, of the Industrial Revolution of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and as it is in this age of industrial miracles and scientific advances ... . In the battle of survival, the search for inner happiness, the achievement of work satisfaction, which should be the aims of society should also be the aims of education. These can be accomplished by the development of an inquiring mind and the development of skills. It is important to elicit a public opinion, although perhaps it might be true that everybody's business is nobody's business. The rôle of the public should be understood and placed in its true perspective. Its attitudes, its fears, its aspirations as they reflect the living society are important as a guide and not to be ignored. However, education is a discipline and a serious one. It bas a methodology, it bas a system, it requires a vast background of pedagogy. The public cannot and indeed must not substitute for educators. There bas been pointed criticism by the public that the content of public education bas been watered down, that the academic subjects have been crowded out by what some modem educators have called "life adjustment" courses. Too many of those who plan the curriculum, say the critics, are experts only in the method of teaching but know too little about the content of true education. lt is said that war is too important to leave to the generals. These critics apply this saying to education. Isn't it true, nevertheless, that it is also too important to leave to the armchair generals? We Canadians should take a bard look at and make a long examination of the applicability to Canadian education of the sage observation by Charles Kingsley that "the question is not what to teach but how to educate." The debate over the relative merits and faults of the liberal arts and the teachers' colleges goes on and on. The charge most frequently made is that the teachers' colleges have given too much of their time and emphasis to the teaching of methodology-too much instruction about academic subjects and not enough in them. We Canadians have a responsibility for our own society, that is our own culture and our own civilization. In the discharge of this responsibility, there might be varied opinions but certainly there will be agreement with that well-known character who explained to Alice-in-Wonderland "Now here you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that." This might well be called the Red Queen theory of Canadian education.

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...Bien que « les affaires de tout le monde ne soient l'affaire de personne», il est important quand même de rechercher quelle est l'opinion publique. Le rôle du public devrait être compris ; il faudrait lui accorder sa vraie place. Les réactions, les craintes, les aspirations du public sont l'image de la société ; elles constituent un guide important qu'il ne faut pas négliger. Toutefois, l'éducation est une discipline de première importance. Elle possède sa méthodologie et son système et elle suppose de vastes connaissances pédagogiques. Le public ne peut pas, et assurément, ne doit pas se substituer aux éducat~urs. On a entendu les critiques du public au sujet de l'affaiblissement des normes de l'instruction publique et contre les éducateurs qui ont laissé de côté certains sujets académiques au bénéfice de certains cours « d'adaptation à la vie moderne». Les critiques déclarent qu'un trop grand nombre de ceux qui établissent les programmes ne sont que des experts en méthodes pédagogiques et qu'ils ne connaissent pas suffisamment les matières qui font l'objet de l'enseignement. On a dit que la guerre est une affaire trop grave pour la laisser entièrement aux soins des généraux. Les critiques appliquent cette boutade à l'éducation. Mais n'est-il pas vrai qu'elle est également trop grave pour qu'on la laisse entièrement aux soins des stratèges en pantoufles ? Nous, Canadiens, nous devrions appliquer aux systèmes d'éducation de notre pays la sage remarque de Charles Kingsley : « La question n'est pas de savoir quoi enseigner mais de savoir comment éduquer ». La discussion sur les mérites et les lacunes des arts libéraux et des collèges de pédagogie se poursuit constamment. La critique la plus fréquente dirigée contre les écoles de formation pédagogique, c'est d'avoir consacré trop de temps et accordé trop d'importance à l'enseignement de la méthodologie-de trop insister sur la manière d'enseigner les sujets académiques et de ne pas insister assez sur la nécessité de bien posséder ces matières. ROGER

PROVOST

Jamais de mémoire d'homme, tant de citoyens ne se sont penchés sur le problème de l'éducation que depuis quelques années. Ce domaine était réservé autrefois aux experts en la matière et il serait mal de voir des profanes s'introduire dans ce cénacle fermé. Aujourd'hui, c'est devenue l'affaire de tous, c'est une des préoccupations premières de chaque citoyen. Il n'est donc plus étonnant, même si cela est un peu inquiétant pour les spécialistes, d'entendre un représentant syndical s'efforcer d'énoncer sur le sujet des opinions qu'il voudrait cohérentes.

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L'éducation comme problème des masses n'a connu le jour qu'avec les régimes démocratiques modernes. Autrefois, elle n'était l'apanage que des élites et de la bourgeoisie. Elle est née de la liberté. A mesure que la liberté des hommes a grandi, leur conscience d'homme, en les plaçant en face de leurs responsabilités envers eux-mêmes et envers la société, leur a imposé la nécessité de considérer l'éducation comme un moyen de plus en plus essentiel d'atteindre leurs aspirations. L'individu qui autrefois n'était que l'instrument de l'Etat vers des fins auxquelles il ne participait que comme instrument, est devenu dans l'état démocratique un participant à la vie et aux décisions de cette société au sein de laquelle il vit. Comme membre à part entière, il réalise la nécessité d'apporter à cette société une participation active et éclairée. En retour, il réclame le droit d'attendre de la société les moyens d'atteindre son plein épanouissement. Avide de connaissances parce qu'être intelligent, anxieux de contribuer au bien-être général parce qu'être social, il demande à la société des réponses aux problèmes qu'il se pose en même temps qu'il exige des outils pour mieux servir la collectivité. Lorsqu'il vivait dans une société aux horizons limités où les problèmes des autres sociétés n'étaient pour lui qu'un élément de vague curiosité, il ne s'inquiétait guère alors de la vie des autres sociétés politiques. Aujourd'hui, il réalise qu'il ne peut rester étranger aux perturbations et aux transformations qui naissent ailleurs, car il sait que tôt ou tard, ces perturbations ou ces transformations auront des répercussions au sein même de la société où il vit. D'où pour lui, la croissance et la complexité des problèmes. Il réalise donc la nécessité de posséder les données essentielles à former un jugement. Dans ce domaine comme ailleurs, l'homme cherche la vérité ; vérité autrefois bien simple puisqu'elle lui était dispensée, sans qu'il ne puisse l'approfondir, par une élite dont c'était la fonction exclusive. D'autre part, ses relations avec les autres sociétés humaines, rendues plus faciles par les moyens modernes de communication, lui ont ouvert des horizons jusqu'alors insoupçonnés, l'ont mis en face de découvertes et de transformations technologiques qui ont développé chez lui des désirs et des appétits de bien-être matériel auxquelles ses ancêtres, sauf de rares exceptions, n'auraient même pas rêvé. Les vieux adages être né pour un petit pain ou ce qui était bon pour mes parents l'est aussi pour moi sont aujourd'hui non seulement dénués de valeur mais ont même un sens péjoratif. Ils sont une condamnation passée à laquelle l'homme d'aujourd'hui sent la nécessité d'échapper. Il est maintenant animé, pour ne pas dire hanté par le désir d'une vie économique meilleure pour lui-même et encore meilleure pour ses enfants. Cette civili-

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sation matérielle dont il est le témoin en même temps que l'acteur, il désire d'elle une part toujours plus grande de bien-être. Si les institutions démocratiques sont incapables ou ne veulent pas lui fournir l'opportunité d'accéder à un bien-être matériel plus grand, il voudra les transformer sinon parfois les remplacer par d'autres. En plus de sa fonction sociale et de ses besoins économiques, l'homme est aussi en face de la vie morale et de ses fins surnaturelles. Il voit le matérialisme dans lequel se débat la société humaine et constate trop souvent la déchéance de ce qu'on lui avait présenté comme des valeurs morales de tout repos. Lorsque ces valeurs morales ne lui ont été transmises que comme des habitudes et des traditions qu'il ne faut pas transgresser, parce que la transgression comporte des sanctions, elles ne demeurent souvent à ses yeux que comme des prohibitions sans aucune valeur réelle. Il cherche alors un sens à la vie. Bien que dans la plupart des cas, il croit à une destinée supérieure à celle du monde, il est angoissé. Il voit les valeurs morales sans fondements réels. Il voit la science franchir les bornes de ce qui autrefois n'était que croyance et se demande où se termine le scientifique et où commence le surnaturel. C'est pour cet homme animé d'un désir de participation, avide de bien-être, inquiet du sort de la planète où il vit, angoissé, que l'éducation doit trouver ses buts. Les buts de l'éducation sont donc plus complexes et plus vastes aujourd'hui que dans le passé. 1. L'éducation doit offrir à l'homme l'opportunité de jouer pleinement son rôle dans l'ordre social afin qu'il devienne un participant éclairé à la vie des institutions que lui appartiennent et qui existent en fonction de l'homme. Afin de mieux atteindre ce but, l'éducation doit se faire dans un contexte démocratique. Dans ce sens, l'enseignement doit donc être démocratique même si pour ce faire il faut effectuer des transformations radicales au système actuel en certain cas. Il n'y a pas de plus efficace enseignement de la démocratie que celui qui peut être pratiqué dans la famille et à l'école. 2. L'éducation doit apprendre à l'homme dès son jeune âge, à réfléchir sur les problèmes qui le confrontent et lui donner l'opportunité de penser lui-même aux solutions. Le professeur ne doit pas dispenser son enseignement comme un dogme, mais simplement servir de phare pour guider l'intelligence vers la vérité. 3. L'éducation doit permettre à l'homme d'atteindre un miximum de bien-être matériel compatible avec une vie saine et utile. Dans notre pays surtout, ignorance et chômage vont trop souvent de pair. 4. L'éducation doit contribuer à rapprocher les sociétés humaines en apportant aux hommes une meilleur notion de l'être humain. En ce faisant, il sera possible de prévenir les préjugés de race, de couleur, de

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philosophie et de religion. En d'autres termes, le respect de la liberté de pensée de l'homme et le respect de l'homme tel qu'il est. 5. L'éducation doit contribuer au maintien des valeurs morales en permettant à l'homme de substituer sur le plan moral une compréhension juste des valeurs aux slogans et à la crainte de la punition. L'éducation doit reconnaître aussi l'importance des communications entre les être humains et faire en sorte que le dialogue entre les hommes soit toujours éclairé. 6. Enfin, dans le respect de la conscience de chacun, l'éducation devra guider l'homme vers ses fins surnaturelles. Voilà simplement quelques-uns des buts de l'éducation qui nous ont impressioné plus particulièrement. En conclusion, l'éducation doit s'efforcer d'humaniser l'homme, de le rendre conscient de ses responsabilités et de le diriger par la voie du bien, du beau et de l'idéal vers ses fins dernières. MR. PROVOST'S MAIN POINTS

Education must prepare citizens for their rôle in a democratic social order. lt must lead them to find their own solutions to problems, not merely provide dogmas. lt should permit them to gain material needs; ignorance and poverty go band in band. lt should lead to high ideals of living, to destruction of prejudices of race, colour, philosophy and religion. It must respect each man's conscience and guide him to bis ultimate destiny.

LINDSAY H. PLACE I have read the essays of Messrs. Phillips, Leddy, and Frye, and of Father de Grandpré, all of which are contained in the Study booklet prepared under the auspices of the Canadian Conference on Education, and I thought each of these studies was excellent in itself, not that I necessarily agree with all their views. But, after having read ail four, I was left with the very definite feeling that something was lacking in their treatment of "The Aims of Education." Father Legaré and Dean Searle must, I think, have felt much as I did, because they have fi.lied in many of the gaps. I say "many of the gaps" because all these gentlemen are educationists by profession. They have necessarily treated the subject from a somewhat professional and abstract point of view. Many views have been expressed as to what are the aims of education in a free society. In the few minutes given tome I cannot do more than touch on these in a most sketchy manner.

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Basically, all the views expressed fall into three groups or areas of interest: ( 1) Each individual should be educated to the maximum of bis or ber ability consistent with the needs of society; (2) The conception of what constitutes education; (3) The means by which the process of education should be accomplished. 1. It is easy to say each individual should be educated to the maximum of bis or ber abilities-and in principle I do not believe anyone of us would disagree with this. lt is not so easy to do! North Americans-including Canadians-are obsessed with the idea their children must go to university if they are to be successful and happy in later life. This is a fundamental error in thinking because it is based on a materialistic philosophy, social snobbery, and the supposition that all individuals possess equal aptitudes and mental capabilities. Thus our first, and one of our greatest, tasks is to educate parents to allow their children to be educated according to their individual potentialities. Should we infer from the acceptance of this principle of the development of maximum potential that society should be wholly and exclusive/y responsible for the financial burden of implementing it? I do not believe it should. There is a limit to the amount of education that society can afford to give at any one time. Acceptance of this principle requires the development of new tools for the measurement of student potential-and in a free society, such as ours, the introduction into our educational systems of protective devices whereby students whose potential bas been misgauged will not be penalized. Last, but far from least, we should not fall into the error of thinking that education can only be had in a recognized institution of leaming. Only too frequently students, to say nothing of adults, find themselves entrapped in a field of endeavour they dislike; this might well have been avoided had they been given an opportunity to test it out by actual "working" experience. 2. I am in strong disagreement with the view expressed by some educationists, not all, as to what constitutes "education." Dr. Searle implied that "training" is not a primary purpose of education. I would say that in a free society it necessarily bas to be one of the primary aims of education. The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language defines "education," in part, as "the systematic instruction, schooling or training given to the young ( and, by extension, to adults) in preparation for the work of life." If our educational system does not at some stage provide each individual with a minimum of the training needed for the work of life we are

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simply passing on to others part of the responsibility of education. We will, in effect, be setting up another educational system. Secondly, I take strong issue with those who question that there should be a "Canadian" concept of education. By this I do not mean to imply we should ignore the other philosophies of education. We should not. Equally we should not take it for granted that what is good for England, or for France, or for the United States, is necessarily good for Canada. We must develop a concept of education that takes into account the two great ethnie groups, French and English, which compose the major part of the people of our country. The time is already long since past when we should have developed a true sense of Canadian nationhood. 3. As a layman, not professing to know too much of the techniques of education, I can only say "Amen" to the ideas expressed by the Very Reverend Father Legaré, Dean Scarfe, and others as to the need for a new and radical approach to teaching. I would also like to make an amendment to Dean Scarfe's amendment to Dr. Trueman's classic utterance, and say: "Nothing is wrong with Canadian Education that better quality teachers will not put straight -if we can afford them!" But, all joking aside, there is a great deal of truth in what Dean Searle has said. In conclusion let me remind you that the United States has often been referred to as a country based on "an economy of waste." Let us hope and pray that this Conference will do much to prevent Canada ever being referred to as a land of wasted educational effort. RÉSUMÉ DES OBSERVATIONS DE M. PLACE

Les divers points de vue exprimés sur les buts de l'éducation peuvent se classer en trois catégories: 1. Chaque individu, homme ou femme, doit recevoir le plus haut degré d'instruction que lui permettent ses capacités, compte tenu des besoins de la société. Cela ne signifie pas nécessairement qu'il doive recevoir une instruction supérieure, ni que la société soit tenue entièrement responsable du coût de son éducation. 2. Le sens réel de l'éducation. L'instruction est un des buts principaux. Il y a un concept canadien de l'éducation, qui doit tenir compte de nos deux groupes ethniques principaux, en visant à développer un véritable sentiment national. 3. Les moyens par lesquels doit s'accomplir le processus de l'éducation. « Il n'y a dans l'enseignement au Canada rien de défectueux que des instituteurs de plus haute valeur ne puissent redresser »-pourvu que nous soyons en mesure de nous les procurer.

The Aims of Education in practice, as discussed by a panel of teachers / Les buts de l'éducation vus par un groupe d'éducateurs

KENNETH M. AITCHISON Aims are a public statement of goals to be worked towards, not necessarily reached. Any statement of aims must be ail things to an people. To do that, it must be very general and of little assistance in determining procedures. It becomes a statement of pious generalities, to be read once, agreed with, and then forgotten. It is often drafted by a person or persons up top in the educational hierarchy. Teachers feel no real identity with the statement. Many obstacles stand between the statement of aims of education and their realization. The basic problem is that our educational systems are too centralized. Too much authority is vested in Departments of Education, not enough in local authorities. The provincial authorities draft a statement of aims, then tend to substitute the form for the substance of education. They concem themselves with the trappings of education, forgetting the aims. They tinker with such practices as the school organization, the alignment of subjects, the report cards, the length of the school day or year, etc., and in concentrating of the form of education, they tend to lose sight of the objectives, and in fact may subvert them, albeit unintentionally. For example, if all the aims of education could be combined into one, that one would probab1y be something like this: "To promote the over-all development of each individual intellectually, physically, emotionally, and morally, to the limits of his potential." And how do we go about developing each individual? 1. We put students in large classes where they cannot obtain individual attention. 2. We use the lock-step grade system, so that an students must progress at essentially the same rate. 3. We give lip service to education for every man's child, yet we in fact want to confine education to the academic subjects. Parents and employers place great stress on the university preparatory course. Thus we force students to take courses they are not suited for, and have little if any interest in. 4. We work bard to keep students in school long after they have reached the limits of their educability, or after they have lost all interest in school, and have no motivation to accomplish anything in school. 5. We say we want to develop in each student a questioning mind, and the ability to think critically. Yet we really want no such thing. We want young people to conform to our adult way of thinking. Indeed,

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the public is very ready to criticize courses involving discussion as a waste of time-presumably because the students do not memorize a collection of facts. Yet these discussions often are most effective in developing critical thinking. 6. We allow Departments of Education to prescribe courses in detail, often in so much detail as to stifle local initiative and variation. 7. We go overboard on examinations to the point where the exam becomes an end in itself. So powerful a pressure is the Departmental exam that it forces ail teachers to use basically the same approach to a course. Concepts are taught for no other reason than that the odds are very good that the concepts will be on the exam. 8. We carry this examination phobia one step farther, and judge teachers almost entirely by how many of their students pass the Departmental exams-as if education consisted merely of memorizing facts and regurgitating them when called upon to do so. Of course, if the chief aim of education is to acquire a body of facts, presumably the emphasis on examinations is justifiable. 9. We allow Departments of Education to prescribe only one course for a text ( another phenomenal pressure towards conformity), and we allow governments to invest such huge sums in text-book rental schemes that we can't get rid of unsatisfactory texts. Educational value is subordinated to financial value. 10. We snow our teachers under with such an avalanche of clerical and other non-teaching tasks that they cannot get time for contemplation and self-evaluation. Moreover, we fill their schedules so full of courses and extracurricular activities, that they are bard put to find the time to continue their own reading and leaming. They become so immersed in the details of the day-to-day grind, that they are depleted of their creative energy. It bas always seemed to me an anomaly that we unhesitatingly recognize the need for time for thought for university teachers, but seemingly have decided that public school teachers do not have the same need. 11. Despite the fact that many teachers are university graduates, we don't trust them to act as professional people. We subject them to autocratie direction in overly centralized educational systems, instead of encouraging them to practise their profession in the manner their talents best suit them for. ln short, we concern ourselves only with the form of education, not the substance. We are, if you like, dealing with the symptoms, rather than the illness. Let's concentrate on the substance for a change. In this the teacher is all important. Efforts better to serve the aims of education should be centred around the teacher. ( 1) Select him more carefully.

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(2) Educate and train him more rigorously. Require full degree standing of him before permitting him to influence children. It is incredible to me that people would throw up their bands in terror at the thought of entrusting their car to a mechanic who is not fully trained will, with no qualms whatsoever, entrust their children to a youngster just out of high school with little or no training as a teacher. ( 3) Free him from clerical and other non-teaching tri via. ( 4) Free him from autocratie direction so that be may practise bis profession in bis own way. (5) Give him classes of manageable size. ( 6) Give him time to prepare, to mark, to assess, to think, and to pursue bis own further leaming. Teachers, too, need time to learn. (7) Entrust him with responsibility: for pupil promotion, for curriculum content, for teaching methods, and so on. ( 8) Reeducate existing teachers-as individuals and through their organizations -in terms of a new concept of professional responsibility. Full acceptance of professional responsibility will be a new concept to many teachers, who for decades have been schooled to accept dictation rather than responsibility. (9) And finally, in support of this program, be prepared to expend liberal amounts of time, patience, effort, and money. The best educational aims in the world will never be realized unless they are fully appreciated by, accepted by, and implemented through our teachers. RÉSUMÉ DES OBSERVATIONS DE M. AITCHISON

Nos systèmes d'éducation sont trop centralisés. Les ministères de l'instruction publique sont investis d'une trop grande autorité ; ils sont tellement préoccupés par les modalités de l'enseignement qu'ils en perdent de vue les buts et, parfois même, subvertissent ces derniers. Les classes nombreuses, le système de classement par années du cours, l'accent sur les cours de formation académique, l'absence de discussion dans les classes en vue de former le sens critique, la phobie des examens, la conservation au programme de manuels peu satisfaisants, la trop grande abondance des matières, la répression de l'initiative professionnelle de l'instituteur, sont autant de caractéristiques frappantes que présentent nos écoles trop centralisées. Les meilleurs buts que l'on puisse se proposer en matière d'éducation ne pourront se réaliser que si les instituteurs en reconnaissent pleinement la valeur, que s'ils les acceptent et se chargent de les mettre en œuvre. Choisissons nos instituteurs avec un plus grand soin, donnons-leur une formation plus solide, libérons-les des futilités et d'une direction autoritaire, confions-leur des classes raisonnablement nombreuses, donnons-leur du temps pour se cultiver, et investissons-les de responsabilité.

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CORA E. BAILEY The aims of education I wish to present are based on my experience as a classroom teacher, as a principal, and in my present capacity as the president of a provincial teachers' group. I firmly believe that education should be concerned with the total development of the child. I firmly believe that the major responsibility of the school is to promote the optimum intellectual development of each of of the students. Further, I believe that this development should be based on the child's acquisition of many forms of knowledge, on the development of skills, on efficient habits of thinking, study, and work. And to reach these objectives I know from experience that the program of development should be varied and flexible, providing for the development of each child at his or her own God-given rate. ln this day of man-in-space it is also imperative that children be provided with the opportunities to grow in the acceptance of responsibility and in the development of positive attitudes towards their work, both at home and at school. This development and awareness from the earliest school days is essential if the young people, emerging from the cocoon of academic education, are to effectively join the labour or business or professional work force of the nation. The alternatives to this we have seen more recently in the thousands upon thousands of young people who have joined the swelling ranks of unemployed, their loss of work resulting from their inability or unwillingness to accept responsibility or to develop acceptable attitudes towards work when they were in school. The ultimate aim of the school should be to help prepare each young citizen to assume personal responsibility for equipping himself to obtain the greatest satisfaction from ·life, and to give of bis best to his family and to the world community. Society demands that he act not only in the interest of self, but in the interest of others. Our society is constantly undergoing change. The individual must be able to adjust to new and developing conditions, and be able to meet these changing conditions with intelligence. The primary aim of the school, therefore, must lie in things academic and things intellectual. This, of course, relates to my first thoughts on the application of knowledge and development of skills not only by the students, but by those who teach them. These are necessary attributes in the teacher so that the students may be guided in acquiring a growing fund of knowledge, which will help them to understand the world in which they live and an appreciation of such. Provision may be made for growth, in the understanding of the

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more intimate relationships through literature; of society itself through social studies; of physical environment through science and arithmetic, and so on. Of course, some abilities are essential to life in a modern society. The school's historie function bas been to provide for the literacy of the population. ln recent years, this need bas increased rather than diminished. If the students in our nation's schools are to become worthy, valuable, mature citizens then they must have a wide and sound knowledge. The teachers take up the task the parents have begun, dispelling ignorance where it exists by imparting knowledge. In all countries of the world, ignorance and lack of factual knowledge on social issues is a danger and threat to democratic development. This budding acquisition of knowledge, coupled with the skills involved, should create a desire to gain more knowledge and a desire for selfimprovement. This should make individual students aware of their capacities and their potential, and of their obligation to develop these to the utmost. Basic skills should assist students in speaking and writing clearly and in understanding what others have written. The skills involved in communicating ideas and emotions to others and in receiving communications from them are essential to our life in a democratic society. In this connection, I feel strongly that the school must seek to lead the child to choose and to accept those ideals of conduct and morality that a democratic society approves. This would involve: teaching acceptable group behaviour; showing how to identify self with a group suitable to the individual's way of living; fostering the growth of such virtues as honesty, integrity, sincerity and service to mankind; making children aware of family living and of community living, and even directing awareness and attention to the world community; helping them to develop a willingness to accept others, regardless of their differences; developing attitudes such as consideration of others, willingness to accept responsibility and to work with others to accomplish tasks, attitudes of helpfulness, loyalty, respect and tolerance. In the school, as in the home, the moral and spiritual development and awareness of right and wrong must be developed. In the school, as in the home, the desire to serve God and one's fellow man should be nurtured. Of course, the establishment of desirable and necessary attitudes is the fore-runner of establishment of desirable habits. In order that one may attain the highest level of achievement of which one is capable, habits of work, of study, of the economical use of time must be considered, and must be developed.

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One fault frequently placed at the doorstep of the elementary school is that we do not present opportunities for the child to develop the ability to think for himself and to develop as a responsible citizen. Of course, we are not doing all that we might, but our aim as teachers and parents and citizens should be to develop processes such as creativeness, selfdirection, the making of generalizations, improved methods, communications, discrimination and evaluation. If we do, then our schools will be doing their job. If we do, then we will have fostered independence and self-reliance among the thousands of youngsters whom we teach. I could sum up this one all-embracing aim of education in four short words-"the acceptance of responsibility." This makes the fourth "R" in our curriculum-Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic, and RESPONSIBILITY. While I have stated that the aims of education, in my view, should be to provide for the acquiring of knowledge, of basic skills, of ability to think, and of proper attitudes, I do not necessarily take them or consider them in that order of importance. Rather, I believe that they hold equal importance in the scheme of things. If it is the duty of the school to be responsible for the persona! development of the whole child, in the final analysis it is the interpretation of the aims of education by the teacher which decides the success or the failure of the elementary programs of education. We must instil in our own minds the conviction that we live in a creative, self-directing society, and that the aims of education always must be creative and self-directing. RÉSUMÉ DES OBSERVATIONS DE MLLE BAILEY

L'éducation doit viser au développement total de l'enfant ; l'école est comptable surtout de l'aspect intellectuel. L'école doit aussi aider à préparer chaque jeune citoyen à assumer la responsabilité personnelle d'acquérir ce qu'il faut pour pouvoir retirer de la vie le plus de contentement possible, et consacrer à sa famille et au genre humain le meilleur de lui-même.

PAUL-ÉMILE GINGRAS Lorsqu'une assemblée aussi nombreuse et diversifiée que cette conférence entreprend de discuter des buts de l'éducation, il est quelques termes, comme ceux de « culture, éducation, enseignement >, qui seront fatalement employés dans des sens analogues sinon équivoques et qu'il

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m'apparaît utile de définir d'abord, sinon pour satisfaire l'auditoire, du moins pour que celui-ci entende bien à quoi personnellement nous nous référons. Pour nous, la culture est un ensemble de valeurs qui constituent l'héritage social d'un groupe d'hommes, valeurs qui se sont constituées à travers une tradition de connaissance et une capitalisation de savoirs, valeurs qui ont été progressivement découvertes, hiérarchisées entre elles et incarnées dans une conception générale de l'homme et de la vie, dans une vision du monde naturel et surnaturel, incarnées dans des modes de vie et des institutions. L'éducation devient alors le procédé général par lequel la communauté rend possible aux individus de participer à cette culture; les moyens et les méthodes par lesquels elle leur transmet la culture, leur permet d'en vivre consciemment, c'est-à-dire de s'y initier, de l'assimiler et de l'accroître. L'enseignement apparaît enfin comme un de ces moyens de l'éducation, de ce processus d'acculturation d'une société, soit l'initiation systématique de la jeuneusse, dans des institutions spécialisées, aux modes de connaissance et de vie de la communauté. Plus la culture sera primitive, moins l'enseignement aura place dans l'éducation. Dans un monde primitif, la famille et le milieu social suffisent en effet à initier pratiquement les jeunes aux habitudes, mœurs et coutumes du groupe. Mais dans la mesure où la connaissance progresse, où les savoirs s'approfondissent, se diversifient et s'intègrent à la fois, dans la mesure encore où les applications de la science, où la technique compliquent l'intégration de l'individu dans la société, dans la même mesure l'initiation naturelle, l'éducation générale s'avèrent insuffisantes. Pour un temps, comme cela s'est pratiqué au cours des derniers siècles ; il suffira peut-être d'acculturer une élite, les dirigeants de la communauté et de laisser le peuple s'éduquer par la tradition orale, les pratiques religieuses, l'apprentissage et le folklore. Mais le jour vient, et c'est aujourd'hui, où il faut systèmatiquement entraîner l'être humain à mener une vie adulte, où il faut préparer l'individu à contribuer à l'évolution du monde, où il faut rendre l'individu apte à penser, à communiquer avec ses semblables, créer, à mesurer le monde et à le servir, selon les plans du Créateur. Dans cette perspective, les buts de l'éducation et particulièrement de l'enseignement rejoignent l'idée que l'on se fait de l'homme et, avant tout de sa vie intellectuelle. Nous accorderons alors la primauté au désir de connaître, d'atteindre à la vérité; nous tendrons à affiner, à discipliner l'intelligence par l'étude méthodique de quelques matières bien assimilées ;

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nous remettrons en valeur à l'école, non pas tant des qualités natives de caractère, de jugement, de sens pratique, mais bien le rôle de l'intelligence; nous donnerons le pas à la formation de l'esprit sur l'acquisition des connaissances; nous croierons, comme Whitehead, que c dans les condiùons de la vie moderne, la loi est sans exception : la nation qui n'estime pas la formation intellectuelle comme la valeur humaine suprême est perdue et vouée au déclin ». Mais dans la même perspective, les buts de l'éducation rejoignent, après l'idée que l'on se fait de la croissance personnelle de l'homme par l'intelligence, cette autre idée du rôle qu'on assigne à l'homme dans la transformation de la société. Or la transformation de notre société, elle s'effectue actuellement et va demain s'effectuer davantage encore par les savants, les techniciens, les économistes, les sociologues, les géographes, les administrateurs des entreprises privées et des services publics, par tous ces travailleurs intellectuels, consacrés à l'enseignement, à l'étude, à la recherche comme à l'application des savoirs. Dans une sociéte instruite, où le capital « savoir humain » devient le facteur-pilote de toute évolution, où l'activité humaine compte toujours davantage sur des intelligences disciplinées et inventives, le but de l'éducation devient alors de mener chacun des individus au développement maximum de ses aptitudes et le premier devoir de la société est de donner au développement de l'enseignement la priorité sur tout autre secteur de la politique. L'effort d'enseignement doit se concentrer sur la progression des effectifs étudiants, sur l'accroissement et la formation du corps enseignant, sur l'amélioration des outils d'enseignement, sur la multiplication et la diversification des institutions, sur l'appui financier accordé aux étudiants et aux institutions, sur la création de centres de recherches. L'enjeu de cette politique d'investissements en éducation est radical : l'avenir n'appartient plus en effet aux peuples les plus nombreux, non plus qu'aux peuples les plus riches en ressources naturelles, mais aux sociétés instruites, dont chacun des membres aura été rendu efficace par une instruction allant jusqu'aux limites de ses possibilités. Une telle politique de l'enseignement, quand éclatent les cadres économiques et sociaux, quand le travail s'intellectualise et que les activités se déplacent vers le secteur tertiaire de l'économie, quand le travail exige à la fois une très large formation générale et une compétence professionnelle, une telle politique d'enseignement ne souffre plus de discussions, ni de délais. Si demain, comme disait Anthony Eden, « une douzaine d'hommes bien enseignés auront le pouvoir de réaliser autant que des milliers d'hommes pouvaient le faire voici 50 ans», il est alors vrai d'affirmer avec Jean Fourastié « qu'un pays sous-instruit est un pays sous-développé».

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Culture needs definition as the values which form our social heritage. Education is the process by which the community provides participation in this culture. Training or instruction is one of the means of education-the formai initiation of youth into the knowledge and life of the community. Instruction, which has little place in a primitive culture, is important today in developing man's intellect-in addition to character, judgment, common sense. The development of our society rests increasingly in the bands of highly educated citizens. The aim of education, under these conditions, is to bring each individual to bis maximum potential; the aim of society is to give top priority to training and instruction. The future belongs, not to the nations with the largest populations or the richest resources of nature, but to those whose citizens have the most knowledge and training.

LORRAINE

LEBLANC

Quand on se déplace en voiture, avec un but précis, il est surprenant de voir comme on peut filer, laissant errer ses pensées à l'aventure, sans qu'il soit nécessaire de répérer la bonne direction à chaque croisée de chemins. En effet le but défini se loge dans un subconscient toujours en éveil, nous guide, influence efficacement chacun de nos actes, sans pour cela accaparer l'esprit comme une obsession ininterrompue. Ainsi en est-il dans toutes nos activités. Comme éducateurs, nous dispensons l'enseignement suivant les données de nos programmes scolaires et selon les directives ministérielles. Nous n'avons pas dans notre travail quotidien, à confronter à chaque instant nos actes avec les objectifs généraux de l'éducation. Mais à l'occasion d'un événement aussi important qu'une Conférence comme celle-ci, la nature même de la finalité exige que nous lui accordions la toute première place dans la hiérarchie des valeurs. C'est ce que les organisateurs ont reconnu en lui cédant la préséance dans le programme. Dans une œuvre vitale comme la formation de la jeunesse, une conception erronnée du but peut entrainer des conséquences désastreuses. La valeur d'un système d'éducation, la nature de l'enseignement, l'organisation des programmes scolaires, les procédés pédagogiques employés dépendent avant tout du but proposé, et varieront selon ce que nous aurons choisi comme préoccupation première : la réussite aux examens, la préparation à

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la vie, l'initiation à une profession, l'art de s'enrichir, la formation du caractère, le développement de la mémoire ou des facultés supérieures, l'acquisition de connaissances encyclopédiques, le développement du sens social, les habitudes de vie chrétienne, etc. L'essentiel, c'est d'établir de l'ordre dans les fins particulières, de façon à les classer judicieusement dans une hiérarchie bien charpentée, accordant à chacune la place qui lui revient. A défaut de temps, je me contente de suggérer quelques distinctions essentielles susceptibles de nous guider dans la définition des buts de l'éducation. 1. Pour mettre de l'ordre dans nos concepts, il faut commencer par différencier le but suprême des buts prochains. Puisque l'éducation vise, comme dit Aristote, à « conduire l'enfant à l'état d'homme parfait», le but suprême doit coïncider avec la perfection finale à laquelle l'être humain est destiné. L'idée maîtresse appelée à dominer toute l'œuvre de l'éducation et la guider comme un phare, c'est donc la destinée de la personne humaine. Et un système d'éducation qui n'aurait pas à sa base cette fidélité au plan providentiel serait lamentablement désaxé. Cette donnée fondamentale est d'importance capitale. Reconnaissons qu'elle soulève un problème délicat, puisqu'elle implique des vues subjectives sur les croyances religieuses d'un chacun; sur cette question, les principes et les applications varient d'une province à l'autre, et le problème est d'autant plus épineux que le choc des idées risque de soulever des argumentations passionnées. Mais j'ai confiance que la qualité des congressistes réunis ici saura garantir à cette question primordiale une étude sérieuse, objective, où chacun éprouvera le besoin de respecter les convictions intimes de son voisin. 2. Allons plus loin. Quelle que soit l'importance accordée au but suprême, on ne peut sousestimer la valeur des fins prochaines ; car l'existence de l'au-delà doit être préparée par - et atteinte à travers les diverses formes et étapes de la vie terrestre. Ici, les buts peuvent être innombrables ; on n'arriverait jamais à les énumérer. A défaut d'une liste exhaustive, contentons-nous de distinguer entre buts principaux et buts accessoires. Je ne retiens qu'une idée, que je propose à votre considération. Parmi les nombreux objectifs de l'éducateur, je voudrais en qualifier un de « principal», et lui subordonner tous les autres. Nous devons, me semble-t-il, viser d'abord à la formation des facultés supérieures de l'homme plutôt qu'à un entrainement superficiel, ou à un bagage d'informations pratiques.

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3. Enfin, comme couronnement à ce bref exposé, je voudrais distinguer entre l'aspect personnel et l'aspect social des buts de l'éducation. Nos visées seraient incomplètes si nous nous abstenions - au-delà de la formation de l'individu - de considérer l'éducation comme une fonction sociale, une responsabilité envers la nation. Dans la vaste perspective où se situe une Conférence d'envergure comme celle-ci, nous aurons à déterminer dans quelle mesure nous voulons atteindre toutes les ressources intellectuelles du pays pour les valoriser pleinement. Concrètement, cela suppose la lutte contre la mortalité scolaire et un effort systématique soutenu pour dépister les talents, les orienter judicieusement, et procurer à chacun les possibilités d'atteindre le maximum de son épanouissement et de son rendement. Cette préoccupation de donner à tous la formation dont ils ont besoin suppose encore un plus grand souci de respecter les talents individuels. Dans le passé, on a trop exclusivement conçu des institutions pour la moyenne, sans tenir compte suffisamment de l'intérêt des sous-doués et des sur-doués. Dans ce même ordre d'idées, il faut inclure, parmi les buts de l'éducation, le développement des vertus sociales, du sens civique, afin que nos jeunes deviennent plus conscients de leurs obligations envers les diverses collectivités où ils sont appelés à vivre. L'éducateur doit leur faire accepter que, parce que la société est à leur service pour suppléer à leurs faiblesses natives, ils n'ont pas le droit de se comporter en profiteurs égoistes ou en indifférents. Le sens social les portera comme d'instinct à servir la société. Eh bien, voilà ma modeste contribution. Ayant à vous parler de « buts », celui que je m'étais proposé visait simplement à présenter la structure générale des idées qui, à mon avis, doivent guider nos discussions dans cette tâche difficile qui nous a été assignée, celle de définir les buts de l'éducation. Et je résume en trois mots : respect du but suprême, qui est la destinée de la personne humaine; détermination du but principal : la formation des facultés supérieures; et j'ai voulu souligner d'une façon speciale, la fonction sociale de l'éducation. EXTRACTS FROM MISS LEBLANC'S REMARKS

Since education, as Aristotle put it, aims at "leading the child into the state of perfect manhood," its supreme goal must coincide with the ultimate perfection to which the human being is destined. The dominating idea which must direct all endeavour in education, and guide it like a beacon, is thus the destiny of the human personality. And an educational system which did not hold this loyalty to the providential plan as basic would be sadly out of true ....

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Among the numerous objectives which determine the direction the work of education will take, I would like to describe one as "principal" and subordinate ail the others to it. lt seems to me that we must first of all aim at the training of the higher faculties of man rather than at a superficial technical training. There is cause for concern at the modern tendency which sets itself to giving our young people a trifle of practical knowledge rather than a real training of the mind . . .. There must be included among the important ends of education, the social virtues and a civic sense so that our young people will become good and useful servants of the varied communities in which they will be called upon to live. JOHN

A.

McDONALD

Three levels of activity and decision-making are involved in the formulation of aims for education and the transferring of these aims into practice: (a) The determination of the objectives and purposes of education by society; ( b) The organization of an over-all school structure and of a general curriculum to promote the objectives and purposes; (c) The development of methods of instruction and orientation of the curriculum to implement the objectives. The decisions which determine the aims and purposes of education are those of society. Society does not reach these decisions in any formal way. Public opinion is expressed and debated through numerous media and from time to time the public debate crystallizes in statements of aims such as those contained in the reports of Royal Commissions on education or in Department of Education publications or other reports. Since such statements shape the offerings of education, these statements cannot be accepted as fixed or immutable. If this were to happen, we would soon find ourselves educating our youth for a way of life that no longer existed. Decisions at the second level are also those of society as a whole, although the responsibility for making these decisions is delegated to the people's representatives in the provincial governments and are made on the advice of the departments of education. Two areas of decision-making are involved at this stage. The general structure of the school system-types of schools, administration and regulation of the schools, financing, staffing, and time of operation-is among the decisions which are formally stated in the school acts and departmental regulations. The legislation and regulations adopted are influenced by society's views on the aims and purposes of education.

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The second area of decision-making at this level is the development of the general curriculum and courses of study for the schools. The responsibility for these decisions rests with the departments of education. These departments seek the advice of the people and the professional advice of teachers through curriculum committees. The courses of study finally accepted by the Ministers of Education are designed so that if they are followed throughout the schools the aims of education will be promoted. At the third level, the responsibility for decision-making rests with the teacher as a professional. It is at this level that the implementation of the aims of education is finally achieved. Within the framework of decisions made at the other levels, the organization of courses, selection of methods of instruction and classroom, school and extracurricular activities are decided upon. This framework contains factors which determine the decisions of teachers and school staffs in these matters. Sorne of the major influences are : (a) External Examinations-these control the content and emphasis in classroom activities; (b) Teacher Preparation-teachers cannot use methods of which they are unaware nor teach what they do not know; ( c) School Organization-the normal practice of having standard classes of say thirty pupils detennines what can be done; (d) School Building and Equipment-the physical facilities detennine what organization is possible and what methods and activities are practical. In the day-to-day operation of the classroom and the school, teachers' decisions are influenced more by the immediate tasks to be perfonned in following through the curriculum than by the ultimate objectives. Evaluation of the tasks performed in tenns of the aims of education becomes, in practice, the concern of teachers' institutes, conventions, staff meetings, in-service training programs, specialist council studies, action research, and other activities of like nature. Thus decisions with respect to methods used in the classroom, although directed to the perfonnance of immediate tasks, are made consistent with the long-run objectives both through frequent evaluation and through the influence of the total curriculum. A recent research study, Tasks of Alberta Schools: Public and Professional Opinion, conducted by Dr. H. J. M. Andrews of the University of Alberta, bears out the conclusion that practice within the schools corresponds very closely with public expectations of the schools. Within these conditions, the teacher does have considerable freedom of choice. There is probably a great variation from classroom to classroom in what is done to promote the aims of education. On the whole, however, studies show that more children learn more and learn better in today's schools than in the schools of the past. In spite of this, there is room for endless improvement. Such improvement will corne by change in the

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factors which determine the activities of teachers. One proposai for improvement already being tested is that of team-teaching. If adopted, this technique would require changes in school organization and in school buildings and equipment. This and other such proposais are directed towards the achievement of the ideal of "Individualized Instruction" through which the potential of each child will be developed to the full. EXTRAITS DU DISCOURS DE M. MCDONALD

La détermination des buts à atteindre relève de la société. Or, la société n'a pas de système bien défini pour en arriver à ces décisions. L'opinion publique s'exprime de diverses manières et, de temps en temps, l'opinion publique s'exprime dans des documents comme les rapports des commissions royales ou dans des publications des ministères d'éducation. Ces documents expriment les opinions de diverses personnes qui s'occupent d'éducation, mais ils ne peuvent pas être considérés comme des dogmes immuables. S'il en était ainsi, nous en arriverions bientôt à préparer notre jeunesse pour un mode de vie qui serait déjà périmé. Dans le travail journalier de l'école et de la classe, les décisions des éducateurs sont influencées plus fortement par la mise en pratique du programme des études que par les buts ultimes à atteindre. L'évaluation des tâches quotidiennes en fonction des buts que l'on cherche à atteindre dans le processus de l'éducation se fait, en pratique, par les congrès d'éducateurs, les colloques, les programmes de formation sur place, les conseils des spécialistes en éducation, les travaux de recherche et autres moyens semblables. Ainsi donc, bien que les décision prises par les éducateurs dans l'exercice de leur tâche journalière aient pour but immédiat de répondre aux exigences des programmes, elles sont quand même ordonnées vers la réalisation des objectifs ultimes de l'éducation grâce à de fréquentes évaluations des procédés et des méthodes et à l'influence de l'ensemble du programme d'étude. Dans une étude récente intitulée Les tâches accomplies dans les écoles de !'Alberta: L'opinion du public et l'opinion des éducateurs, le docteur H. J. M. Andrews de l'Université de l'Alberta en vient à la conclusion que la pratique journalière dans les écoles concorde très étroitement avec les résultats que le public attend de ses écoles. Même en tenant compte des exigences que nous avons mentionnées, l'éducateur a encore beaucoup de latitude dans l'accomplissement de sa tâche. Il y a probablement beaucoup de variété d'une classe à l'autre dans le travail qui se fait en vue d'atteindre les buts de l'éducation. Dans l'ensemble, les travaux de recherche révèlent qu'un plus grand nombre d'enfants apprennent un plus grand nombre de choses et l'apprennent

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mieux qu'autrefois dans les écoles d'aujourd'hui. Malgré cela il y a toujours place pour de l'amélioration. Cette amélioration proviendra des changements que l'on apportera dans les facteurs qui conditionnent le travail des éducateurs. L'une des améliorations à l'étude est la méthode d'étude par groupes. Cette technique exige des modifications dans l'organisation scolaire et même dans l'aménagement des écoles et l'outillage scolaire. Cette technique et d'autres semblables visent à la réalisation de l'enseignement individuel qui assurera le plein développement du potentiel de chaque enfant.

EDUCATION IN THE LIFE OF A NATION M.

S.

MEHTA

lt is a great privilege for me to be asked to address this gathering which is representative of the educational thought and leadership of Canada. This is one of the most moving experiences of my life-enjoying the fellowship of educational workers and thinkers half-way across the world! You cannot imagine with what joy and eagerness I have travelled these ten thousand miles to join you on this occasion. The broad basis of the Canadian Education Conference as visualized in the first assembly at Ottawa and its comprehensive purpose is unique and hope-inspiring. Nearly seventy organizations support the Conference's idea and ideal. 1t is with a sense of deep admiration that I have learnt how the objectives accepted at Ottawa in 1958 have been pursued since then. It must be most heartening to mobilize ail progressive forces on a nation-wide scale for building up Canada's future through a multi-purpose educational program. The world in which we live and labour today and the huge events which are fast changing its whole complexion urgently call for a new outlook. And for this latter, we need a new educational philosophy. I am deliberately using the expression "Philosophy of education," because we must examine our purpose and objective and not merely discuss methods and techniques, although these latter are undoubtedly important in their own place as means to an end. If educational needs and objectives are not properly understood and comprehensively dealt with, our society faces serions dangers. lndeed this problem is closely related to the basis of human civilization, in fact with its very survival. I should not take your time in emphasizing this obvions point. 1t is clear how closely and effectively education-its policy, character, and program-affects the moral and material interests of mankind. lt touches almost every aspect of our life and relations, and bas a powerful influence in moulding our future. The lesson is brought home to us every day, every hour that education is a theme which needs constant thinking and rethinking. In our long history, educational concepts and practices have undergone radical changes. In feudal days education was more or less the monopoly of the Baron and the Priest. Even after society cast off its mediaeval garment, education remained for a long time the privilege of the élite. With the advent of democratic process and adult franchise, education came to be recognized as the right of all-what was the privilege of the classes became the right of the masses. Educational thinkers have carried on long debates on the aims and

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purpose of education: whether, as bas been discussed by Bertrand Russell, it is the training of the individual or the citizen. In other words, which approach was to be stressed, the psychological or the sociological? For a long time the subject of education was taken to be the growing child, and the grown-up adult was nowhere in the picture! The conflict of opinion continues on the comparative measure of benefit derived by the child at home and at school. Theo the controversy bas raged over the importance of the humanities and sciences, over the value of classical education versus modern subjects as a potent factor for developing the intellect. At one stage far-sighted educationists complained of the inadequacy of the educational program inasmuch as it treated a child's mind as the receptacle of knowledge white bis body, spirit, and emotions received so little attention. Educators were not clear as to whether their object was mainly to equip the individual with the capacity for finding bis livelihood, or primarily to build up the whole personality of the pupil. Theo there was a lively controversy about methods ( which still continues unresolved). I shall not weary you any longer with more examples to show how our ideas and beliefs about every aspect of education have been continuously passing through the process of change and evolution since the dawn of history. You all know this already. Now our world bas reached a stage in which it bas assumed new dimensions-small in one way and huge and extraordinary in another-with the achievements of modem science: electricity, wireless, progress in aviation and other means of communication, political and industrial developments as also military potential, above all the splitting of the atom and the possibility of space travel! There are extremely hopeful, at the same time terribly frightening, prospects ahead of us. They naturally pose for our generation sharp and crucial problems affecting the human communityproblems which have the possibility of unprecedented prosperity but also of utter annihilation. The story of these astonishing advances should also take note of some historical and sociological factors of major importance. The most distressing of them all is the fact that the pace of man's progress in the moral sphere bas lagged far far behind his technological achievements. Furthermore, religion all the world over tends slowly but steadily to become a declining force in man's social affairs today. There are very wide disparities among human beings and communities in the economic, cultural, social, and political spheres. In the educational field the disparity between different sections of the population, particularly in the countries of Asia and Africa, is even more noticeable. Theo, apart from the ever present threat to world peace with nuclear weapons and rockets stockpiled, mankind is riddled with numerous other conflicts which constitute even in peacetime a constant

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menace to its general well-being and happiness, conflicts producing a variety of stresses-communal, racial, territorial, economic and commercial -between and within the nation groups. Sorne parts of the human race periodically suffer calamities, owing to social, historical, or natural causes such as climate, population, growth, barrenness of land, anti-social traditions or continuous ravages of microbes, etc. And lastly, the impact of Western (European) culture as also its political and military systems on the older societies of Asia and Africa have produced mixed results. In some ways they stirred up stagnant waters and stimulated dynamic progress; at the same time, in other directions, the upshot was adverse situations and disturbing trends. A break from old traditions, resulting in internai stresses and rifts, caused disharmony, even disruption to a limited extent. This is a grim picture indeed. I hope I have not painted it in unduly sharp colour! Perhaps we might be tempted to look upon the present state of the world principally as the headache of the statesman. It is be who should apply his mind and energies to it. Unquestionably this would be a fair enough statement. I, however, submit that it is up to the educators also to share this burden. In fact-and this has to be emphasized-without right attitude and right direction in the field of education, the leaders of government are bound to fail in the long run to save the world from the great dangers which threaten human society, and might destroy all that is good, noble, and beautiful. This broad approach to the education problem in general is common ground ( or background, if you please) on which we should take our stand to discharge our responsibility-whether as a specialist educator or a layman. Perhaps you will accuse me of emphasizing the obvious. I now proceed to present to you what might be called the report on India in the educational realm. The educators of Canada will, I hope, be interested to know with what strength and at what pace we are moving forward. India became independent in 1947 and its new Constitution was brought into force in January 1950. The need was urgently and widely felt to raise the economic and educational standards of the people, to develop the natural resources of the country, and in general to lift up the society out of the quagmire of nineteenth-century economy and civic outlook. A big effort was called for. lndian leaders lost no time in organizing a comprehensive scheme of development all round through its Pive Year Plans. Two plan periods have registered a big ail-round improvement in the country, and now we are going through the :first year of the Third Plan. No sector of the national life has remained untouched: irrigation, communications, industries, handicrafts, rural life, housing, power, flood control, family planning, health service, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, scienti:fic research, social welfare, etc. You will be pleased to know that education in almost

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all its many aspects is given a place of pride in our Five Year Plans. And I may add that ( apart from minor details) so far as educational development goes, there is general agreement among al1 parties and sections of the people in the country. Education is recognized as the main spring and storehouse from which the life and vitality of the nation is to be sustained and enriched. It is the policy of the State to enlist private effort in support of Government activity in the program of social reconstruction through education. It sets out to achieve the following purposes: (a) To give every persona minimum of the education needed in the present age; (b) To equip men and women with knowledge and skills so that they become qualified to find their own place in society and the vocation suited to their capacity and aptitude; (c) To afford opportunity to such people as are competent for creative work of advancing the level of culture and civilization, their own and that of society; (d) To build up a progressively higher sense of civic responsibility and the will to exercise it; and (e) To provide people with the means of selfexpression and self-realization. May I now proceed to indicate what is being done to realize this objective. But before doing so, one or two basic points should be emphasized. We no longer conceive of education as the sole responsibility of the individual or the family. This does not mean that the parents and family are ruled out of account, or that their share in the educational sphere is negligible. Far from it. In fact education does and will receive increasing thought, care, and contribution from the family. But society now assumes a direct and definite responsibility in this matter so that under no circumstances will it allow the proper education of its future citizens to be neglected or suifer in quality on grounds of individual incapacity, local custom, or other precarious conditions. These last may be illustrated by the attitude of some parents in some conservative and custom-ridden parts of our country who would neglect the schooling of girls and devote their effort only to the education of their male children. Both law and government action intervene to make amends for such an attitude. Women's education, therefore, is given a high priority in our Plans. Yet another example of the assumption by society of the responsibility for the nation's proper education is seen in the provision for the children of poorer families and backward communities of special educational facilities of all types. The national Government atone offers about 60,000 scholarships a year to such children in order to equalize opportunities for people of different economic and cultural levels. Secondly, education has now corne to be accepted as a way of life and an important way of life. Old conventional barriers which restricted its application to a narrow field are being pulled down. Education is no longer

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confined to the people of a particular age, sect, or class. It is a life-long business and also a life-giving occupation. Its stream should flow to every part, every section of the people and enrich every sphere of national life. Millions of persons are acquiring new knowledge and new skills, developing new attitudes. It is true that most of this happens at the elementary level. The value of flexible and carefully-thought-out plans of adult education is still inadequately realized. But there is a growing awareness of its need. The present ill-informed attitude will not continue much longer. Mass illiteracy, which is a heavy drag on our progress is being vigorously attacked from many points. We do not now regard adult education as a mere remedial measure. It is really accepted as more and further education. This is supported by the fact that today nearly 50 million people ( about one in every eight of our population) are being educated in one way or the other, in some part of their life or the other. The nation is spending 2.2 per cent of its national income on education-about Rs. 3,200 million. We still do not compare favourably with countries like Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, or the U.S.S.R. But it is notable that during the last ten years our expenditure on education bas more than doubled. And a further expanding and widening sphere for education is being chalked out for the future for which the nation is prepared to make greater sacrifices. The size of our population calls for this big effort. That is why voluntary organizations and educational leaders urge even larger provision and more comprehensive schemes for educational service. I now take up again the five-fold objective and how we in India are planning to realize it. Provision for universal primary education is accepted as the foremost duty of the modern state. This bas been recognized and enshrined in our Constitution ( which includes elementary education for children and literacy for adults). The aim is to provide eight years' schooling for ail children. They should be in school up to the age of 14 years. That it will still take about a decade to achieve this is inevitable, but the progress registered between the years 1946 and 1961 is remarkable. The number of children in the age group in the first eight school classes has risen from 25 per cent to 47 per cent and during the next five years it is expected to go up to 60 per cent. During the last ten years, the number of children in the age group 6 to 14 has gone up by nearly 80 percent; but the number of illiterates in the country in 1961 was actually higher by 10 per cent than in 1951. Literacy does not consist of the full elementary education course. Then, out of every 100 children who enter the first form of elementary school, only 20 or 21 reach the eighth class. This is dismal and disheartening. The remedy lies in separate adult schools without which we shall not succeed in eradicating illiteracy for another half a century. The second section of our educational system helps our people to find

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their place in society. lt covers secondary education and vocational training, using the word "vocational" in a very broad sense. In most Western countries secondary education is fast becoming, in reality ( though not by law), universal. We are still very backward in this respect. Not even 12 per cent of the age group 14-17 are in school and the wastage amounts to over 50 per cent. Secondary school education for adults is practically nonexistent. The number of secondary schools has increased from about 5,300 in 1946--47 to 16,600 in 1960, with the enrolment going up from 870,000 to about 3 million. In the Third Five Year Plan, 1961-66, it is expected that over 2.2 million persons will be trained as engineers, craftsmen, teachers, health inspectors, community development officiais, administrative staff, etc. The young people coming out of high schools and junior colleges will be absorbed in these vocations. The intake capacity of both types of institutions bas increased from 6,610 to 39,420 since our independence. The process of industrialization now in full swing will necessarily, though not so much by design, stimulate adult education. The law under the National Apprenticeship Scheme will oblige industries to accept apprentices. This will involve 12,000 workers. Then the ïacilities of evening classes are provided for industrial workers, covering nearly 11,000 persons. The Central Govemment Ministries and some of their Departments have a program of special training of in-service personnel. The Central Institute of Education will be organizing refresher courses for teachers-in-service. The K.hadi (handloom) and Village Industries Commission, the All-India Handicrafts and Small Scale Industries Board train skilled and semi-skilled workers in different crafts. At this point I should mention a most remarkable political measure which bas great possibilities. Here it is relevant only as a new and powerful means of promoting adult education, by training a large number of village leaders in civic duty. I refer to the countrywide scheme of Democratic Decentralization (Panchayati Raj) by which civil, municipal, developmental, and limited judicial functions have been entrusted to village communities. Thousands of village leaders are drawn into this project of farreaching importance. The third plank of the educational platform covers higher education for the humanities, technology, and the professions, the study of sciences, pure and applied, and research-producing intellectual leaders for society and thinkers who extend the frontiers of knowledge, shape the destiny of society, and contribute to the development of the arts, culture, and civilized Iife. In this direction too India bas, since Independence, made significant progress. The number of universities bas grown from 19 in 1946 to 46 in 1961, with 462 university teaching departments, 228 constituent colleges,

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1,316affiliated colleges and 83 postgraduate research institutions. Besides, there are 581 institutions of higher learning not attached to statutory universities. lndia bas now 20 National Research Laboratories and Research Centres. The number of postgraduate students and research scholars in the year 1958-59 was respectively 35,872 and 3,819 which is very low indeed for our country as compared to other advanced countries. But in 1949-50 the figures of the two categories of students were only 13,689 and 922 respectively. The students enrolled in the Indian universities have risen in numbers from 256,000 in 1946 to 1,000,000 in 1960, and will probably be over 1,700,000 at the end of the Third Five Year Plan. The University Grants Commission, a statutory body, administers the funds allotted for higher education by the Union Govemment. So many young men and women will apply for admission to universities and their colleges during the next five to ten years that the situation calls for drastic reorganization and careful thinking. Apart from numbers, there are many other problems relating to university administration in India, the scale and complexity of which are causing serious concern. The task referred to the Committee set up for the United Kingdom under the chairmanship of Lord Robins, now in action, faces our leaders also. Building up a sense of social responsibility in the minds of men and women of our country of over four hundred millions and preparing them to understand the issues of our age-social, political, economic, national, international-and their interrelation, also forms a part of our educational program. In an old country like ours with its traditions and institutions which became static and rigid at one stage and with the vast proportion of the population being illiterate, this task assumes great urgency, complexity, and importance. lt would not be easy for you at this distance fully to understand our difficulties. Besides the efforts in the field of education-through government and private effort-the Ministry of Community Development bas organized a network of Social Education training centres. There is a basic unity underlying the diversity of customs, beliefs, languages, social patterns, and historical influences. We have passed through a period of inaction, subjection, and loss of initiative. But we are keen to see this unity of the country become a living reality for the masses of the people and not merely for the few. ln other words, we have to work for the emotional integration of our people. And the problem bas to be attacked from both ends-its inculcation in the minds of the school-age children and its appreciation by the adults through different aspects of Social Education. With this effort is closely linked up the future of our democratic ideal. This sense of responsibility bas to develop not only with the understanding

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of civic and social issues, but also in influencing policies. Formation of healthy and alert public opinion supported by the sensitivity of men and women to moral issues and problems of human welfare is the best safeguard against the dangers of conflict, convulsions, or disintegration of all kinds. The fifth purpose enumerated above is the highest use to which educational service could and should be put by wise and far-sighted leadership. The spirit of a man, as an individual and as a member of the community, should find itself through self-expression. That alone gives to him real worth, grace, and dignity and brings balance and harmony into his life and behaviour. We have a Sanskrit saying-"Real leaming is that which liberates." When "the restricted life of the rural family, the narrow training and environment of the professional technician, the blinkers of persona! psychological need or social structures" become the "idols of one's tribe" (Bacon), they serve as a bondage for a human being. Emancipating education cornes through self-study and reflection. The universities can be the sources of such liberal and liberating influences. And the other big factor for realising this great purpose can be a national library movement. The voice of a few enlightened persons of vision is being raised for the provision of such educational facilities of "liberal" education. The progress is meagre but the prospects are hopeful. Society is awake and the signs of "divine discontent" are visible everywhere. Unluckily our universities are somewhat conventional in their outlook and their scheme of studies, but they are bound to liberalize themselves in the future. We have a National Library of which any country can be proud. Nearly half the Districts in India have libraries at their headquarters. There are fifty to sixty thousand libraries in the country but many of these can only be described as "small stagnating pools of books," and are therefore quite unequal to the big educational purpose expected of them. In this respect also the future appears to be brighter than the present. I wonder whether in describing the five-fold aspect of my subject I have been able to convey to you the basic concept and purpose of India's present-day educational trends. Possibly my description has been too general, even superficial. I intentionally omitted speaking about methods, techniques, and educational administration and many other minor matters. Education is a vast theme and its adequate treatment will need much more time ·than I can fairly ask of you. I have therefore focussed your attention only on the larger objectives and how efforts are being organized to realize them. Let me now refer briefly to t\vo or three other features of our educational program to complete my account. Along with and supplementary to our plans for industrialization and to overcome our technological back-

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wardness, the Government of India bas set up four regional technological institutes which are being properly staffed and equipped. This is considered a big step forward in making up for lost time. It is being more and more clearly realized that the teacher is the keystone of the educational arch. He is, therefore, beginning to receive now the care, attention, and respect which be deserves. For the big national educational program adopted for our people we shall need more than 2 million teachers. Their supply, apart from their quality, is a baffling proposition. So also is their training. Both these aspects are being tackled. For junior schools and high schools there are about 1,200 training centres and colleges, and more are being established. It is felt that the teacher should have a higher status in and greater respect from society than hitherto. His emoluments have been substantially raised at all levels-from the elementary school to the University. Sorne of us feel that society should go even further in this direction. A national welfare fund for teachers bas recently been initiated. A decision of the Union Ministry which bas received much public appreciation is the institution of national awards for teachers at different levels, for meritorious work. They receive these gifts from the President at a special function each year at New Delhi. An account of our educational program, however sketchy, will remain incomplete if it does not bring into relief the special efforts which have been initiated on a big scale for meeting the educational needs of our backward communities. We have more than 22 million tribal people who generally live in very small habitations, either in the bills or in forests. They are often eut off from the ordinary social life of the country, particularly of towns. Their way of life, social habits, customs, and economy are rather antiquated, even peculiar, based on their own traditions. Sorne of them have just reached the agricultural stage, while others are far more advanced. Similarly we have several million people who live as part of the country's general population but have suffered for hundreds of years a life of inferior status. They are victims of the age during which our caste system became rigid. lt is the accepted national policy to remove ail these social handicaps. Our Constitution lays this down in unambiguous terms. Not a single boy or girl belonging to these communities is allowed to suffer any educational handicap for lack of funds. So long as the child is prepared and the parents are willing, be will have this opportunity. The education of these tribes and scheduled castes is treated as the special responsibility of society. Since Independence remarkable progress bas been registered in lifting up this large bulk of our people and putting them on the open plain of equality of status and opportunity. lt will be

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interesting for you to know that there is not a single cabinet either of the Central or of the State Governments which does not have one or two Ministers belonging to the scheduled castes. The expenditure in the fonn of scholarships on the education of these castes and tribes during the year 1960-61 was to the amount of Rs. 25.74 millions. Il a person who knew lndia twenty years ago were to visit our country today, the change which bas corne over the land, its people, and their national life would seem incredible to him. Thirty or forty years ago, not only was there no big program on a national scale for improving and expanding educational arrangements, but on the part of the people also there was hardly any desire for overcoming educational backwardness. Now things are very different. The Government's drive to spread elementary education bas evoked an astonishing and unexpected response. Much larger numbers of children are seeking admission than were anticipated. Almost every village is asking for a school where it does not exist, and for a raising the standard of the school already in action from the elementary to the secondary or from the secondary to the higher secondary. Small towns and large villages are clamouring for degree colleges. A large number of villages have actually offered to share the capital expenditure involved in providing educational facilities for their people. Either they have shared in the cost of construction of the school building or they have put in their personal labour in raising the school building. The keenness for education is being seen even in the remote regions in the interior of the country, which formerly lay under a heavy blanket of ignorance and illiteracy. This rapid expansion of education since Independence, with education becoming a powerful means of social reconstruction, means that the purpose and methods of education in its diverse forms must corne under constant study. With this end in view the Union Govemment have recently established the National Council of Educational Research. Its first meeting took place early in 1962. It bas a program of considerable scope and importance. This National Council will control the Central Institute of Education, the Directorate of Extension Programmes for Secondary Education, the National Institute of Basic Education, and the National Fundamental Education Centre. This institution, it is expected, will function at a high level providing advanced courses in education at postgraduate and doctorate stages. Its training program will .serve all the States of India. Under our Constitution, education is a State subject, the Union Govemment reserving to itself the responsibility (besides controlling the three central universities and National Scientific Laboratories) only for higher

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scientific research, coordination of State activities, regional technological institutions, and supply of information. However, with the adoption of the policy of planned development in our country, the Centre bas been progressively involved in providing stimulus, advice and even substantial financial grants for schemes of educational development ail round. I have placed before you, in bare outline, the educational picture of our country at the present time. It is a vast canvas. Data and basis are so varied that only a sketchy treatment bas been possible. The system of education before Independence consisted largely in bringing the knowledge of Western science and literature to a small part of the population and in training the personnel required for government service. The standard of learning was fairly high but it was confined to a small minority. The vast masses of the people remained almost untouched. "The dominnance of the externat examinations was pronounced at every stage; and stagnation and wastage formed a distinct characteristic of every sector, particularly at the primary stage." As we have seen, after Independence the big task of educational reconstruction was taken in band and a bold effort was made to fill up the large gaps of inadequacies both in quality and in quantity. While the measure of progress achieved during the last fifteen years is considerable, much-indeed much-remains to be done. Those of us who regard education as the real answer to many acute ills and problems of the human family remain impatient with the existing pace of progress. In methods of education and the quality of the teachers much remains to be done. The universities should grapple with the needs of society in a much more effective manner. Adult education suffers much neglect even now. While, therefore, there are many patches of light represented by educational planning and achievements, a much larger portion of the educational map of India is still covered by the darkness of complacency, ignorance, and lack of vision. This story is that of the fate and fortune of four hundred million people, about a sixth of the human race. They cannot remain as they are today, a large majority of them illiterate, steeped in ignorance and helplessness, unable to share in making the policies which shape the future of our world. We must not rest content, indeed we should not regard ourselves as free men and women so long as any part of humanity remains under the thraldom of ignorance, poverty, and disease. May I, in conclusion, indulge in the hope that for educational service, our sentiments, our thoughts and aspirations would travel freely beyond national and political boundaries. The Canadian Conference on Education gives such a lead. Let us all band ourselves together in a close but informai fellowship to promote educational service among all peoples, irrespective

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of their race, sects, or regions, without any distinction, so that the unity of mankind can be realized as soon as possible. And that will be the best and surest guarantee for an abiding peace among men, and the uninterrupted growth of our civilization. IBRAHIMA BA « Le rôle de l'éducation dans le développement de la Nation, du point de vue social, culturel, économique et politique », telle est la question que vous m'avez demandé de traiter en un temps très limité. Pour rassembler en quelques pages les idées essentielles en ce domaine, il faudrait avoir les moyens d'analyser une somme de documents, d'observations et de travaux dont ne disposent pas encore nos jeunes états. Il faudrait aussi être doué d'un sens de la synthèse qui n'est pas la qualité dominante des hommes de ma génération, jetés soudain dans l'action, sans possibilité d'exercer une pensée réflexive, faute de temps et de recul. La première remarque qui me vient à l'esprit c'est que 50 pour cent de la population du Sénégal a moins de vingt ans, et 42 pour cent moins de 14 ans. Si l'on joint à cela que les plus de 20 ans ont grandi dans une période où le taux de scolarisation allait de 8 à 15 pour cent, on peut affirmer que le problème de l'éducation touche les trois-quarts des Sénégalais, sous une forme ou sous une autre. Ces chiffres vous montrent assez les difficultés des problèmes de l'éducation et leurs incidences budgétaires. Pour scolariser, il faut que le développement économique permette les équipements nécessaires. Pour que le développement économique, à vocation agricole, progresse vraiment, il faut que l'éducation de la masse rurale soit réelle, efficace, bien adaptée. Par ailleurs l'école sénégalaise poursuit un double objectif : évolution de la masse dans son cadre traditionnel et sur son lieu de travail ; formation des cadres et des élites nouvelles du Sénégal indépendant. Dans l'harmonisation de cette double vocation réside le problème de l'éducation du Sénégal. Examinons successivement ces deux notions. L'école a pour mission de lutter contre l'ignorance de la masse. L'instruction élémentaire apporte les connaissances qui permettent à l'homme de comprendre le monde actuel et de s'y inscrire d'une façon plus harmonieuse. Elle prépare et rend possible l'épanouissement de la personne humaine, en délivrant l'individu des superstitions, en lui donnant le sens de la dignité de l'esprit en face des forces physiques. Elle soutient l'espérance en un monde meilleur, où la maladie, l'injustice, le hasard, peuvent être tempérés par l'organisation sociale et l'équipement technique. Cette tâche est d'autant plus pressante que l'évolution industrielle, politique ou ad-

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of their race, sects, or regions, without any distinction, so that the unity of mankind can be realized as soon as possible. And that will be the best and surest guarantee for an abiding peace among men, and the uninterrupted growth of our civilization. IBRAHIMA BA « Le rôle de l'éducation dans le développement de la Nation, du point de vue social, culturel, économique et politique », telle est la question que vous m'avez demandé de traiter en un temps très limité. Pour rassembler en quelques pages les idées essentielles en ce domaine, il faudrait avoir les moyens d'analyser une somme de documents, d'observations et de travaux dont ne disposent pas encore nos jeunes états. Il faudrait aussi être doué d'un sens de la synthèse qui n'est pas la qualité dominante des hommes de ma génération, jetés soudain dans l'action, sans possibilité d'exercer une pensée réflexive, faute de temps et de recul. La première remarque qui me vient à l'esprit c'est que 50 pour cent de la population du Sénégal a moins de vingt ans, et 42 pour cent moins de 14 ans. Si l'on joint à cela que les plus de 20 ans ont grandi dans une période où le taux de scolarisation allait de 8 à 15 pour cent, on peut affirmer que le problème de l'éducation touche les trois-quarts des Sénégalais, sous une forme ou sous une autre. Ces chiffres vous montrent assez les difficultés des problèmes de l'éducation et leurs incidences budgétaires. Pour scolariser, il faut que le développement économique permette les équipements nécessaires. Pour que le développement économique, à vocation agricole, progresse vraiment, il faut que l'éducation de la masse rurale soit réelle, efficace, bien adaptée. Par ailleurs l'école sénégalaise poursuit un double objectif : évolution de la masse dans son cadre traditionnel et sur son lieu de travail ; formation des cadres et des élites nouvelles du Sénégal indépendant. Dans l'harmonisation de cette double vocation réside le problème de l'éducation du Sénégal. Examinons successivement ces deux notions. L'école a pour mission de lutter contre l'ignorance de la masse. L'instruction élémentaire apporte les connaissances qui permettent à l'homme de comprendre le monde actuel et de s'y inscrire d'une façon plus harmonieuse. Elle prépare et rend possible l'épanouissement de la personne humaine, en délivrant l'individu des superstitions, en lui donnant le sens de la dignité de l'esprit en face des forces physiques. Elle soutient l'espérance en un monde meilleur, où la maladie, l'injustice, le hasard, peuvent être tempérés par l'organisation sociale et l'équipement technique. Cette tâche est d'autant plus pressante que l'évolution industrielle, politique ou ad-

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ministrative, toujours en pointe, précède l'évolution humaine, fait craquer constamment les cadres des anciennes sociétés, s'oppose même à certains modes de pensée. Entre le milieu africain encore fortement fixé dans le passé et le monde africain moderne qui se dessine, l'école joue le rôle de catalyseur : elle permet les modifications du milieu, tout en restant, sauf aménagements de détail, assez indépendante de ces fluctuations. Elle n'a pas pour mission d'apporter des techniques ou des doctrines, mais des notions élémentaires sans lesquelles aucun progrès n'est possible. Au Sénégal plus particulièrement, l'école doit apporter des habitudes d'esprit. Il s'agit de préparer les enfants à l'ordre, à la démonstration, à l'analyse, à la synthèse. Apprendre aux enfants à parler le français, langue véhiculaire, à lire, écrire, compter, raisonner, c'est leur permettre de réfléchir soit dès l'école, soit à l'âge d'homme, sur leur vie, leurs institutions, leurs techniques, leur mode de pensée. C'est leur permettre de les comparer à d'autres. Les méthodes de l'enseignement primaire inspirées du système français sont sensiblement les mêmes dans le monde entier : cette universalité est une garantie tant de leur efficacité que de leur désintéressement. Emanation de l'expérience séculaire des nations modernes, l'école primaire sénégalaise apporte à l'homme« ce qu'il ne peut pas ignorer». Mais notre école n'a pas uniquement pour rôle de préparer à la vie une masse d'hommes et de femmes voués aux tâches quotidiennes, aux humbles travaux coutumiers. Dans un pays en pleine croissance, elle doit permettre l'éclosion de cadres administratifs à un niveau suffisant d'instruction et de spécialisation, et la naissance d'une élite intellectuelle capable de prendre en mains les destinées du groupe humain dont elle est issue. C'est surtout le rôle des enseignements secondaire, technique, supérieur. Mais c'est l'école primaire qui permet le choix. Elle est le palier nécessaire pour accéder aux autres degrés d'enseignement. C'est pourquoi elle doit atteindre le niveau d'études qui permet cette articulation. Vous comprendrez facilement qu'il y a dans ce double impératif la source d'interprétations opposées, et l'on peut dire d'un conflit permanent entre éducateurs. En effet, si l'on envisage l'école, animatrice de l'économie de base, « institutrice ,. des populations peu évoluées, il faut l'adapter à ces objectifs. C'est la pensée des économistes et de nombreux observateurs des problèmes sociaux-politiques. Au contraire, et c'est la tendance actuelle, si l'on veut pousser rapidement à l'africanisation totale des cadres, à l'amélioration de ces cadres, à la formation rapide d'une élite, il est nécessaire de maintenir une scolarité longue, exigente, coûteuse et qui risque de ne pas répondre aux besoins de la masse.

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Les arguments dans un sens et dans l'autre ne manquent pas. Ce qui est le plus à craindre c'est que l'échec de l'une ou l'autre tendance entraîne des renversements successifs préjudiciables à la scolarisation, alors qu'il serait souhaitable de chercher une solution raisonnable entre ces voies divergentes. Une des constatations les plus pénibles, c'est bien de voir le milieu rural, base de l'économie sénégalaise, nettement moins scolarisé que le milieu urbain, et, lorsqu'il est scolarisé, former de jeunes ruraux ayant tendance à fuir leur milieu où ils trouvent difficilement l'emploi correspondant à leur formation. Il est certain qu'une meilleure adaptation de l'école serait favorable à l'essor économique et à la modernisation du milieu rural. Par contre en adaptant l'école de village on court le risque d'empêcher le milieu rural de fournir à la nation ces élites qui, par leur origine, en sont les meilleurs éléments. Il semble bien cependant que, pour la période transitoire une expérience serait intéressante, d'autant plus que l'argument donné du « maintien du niveau de l'école » est fallacieux car, faute de moyens et de cadres, le niveau de l'école baissera fatalement à mesure que les besoins de la scolarisation seront plus grands. Je pense vous avoir présenté objectivement le difficile problème de l'école sénégalaise, problème qui est celui de tous les nouveaux états africains et qui a reçu d'ailleurs des solutions assez sensiblement différentes selon les états. Toutefois, je me dois de dire que le Sénégal, dans la voie qu'il a choisie, a fait d'immenses progrès depuis l'indépendance. Le taux de scolarisation est passé de 15 à 30 pour cent, l'effort de construction s'est porté dans le milieu rural surtout, et l'investissement humain a permis des constructions moins chères, la main-d'œuvre volontaire des villages étant toujours disponible quand il s'agit de l'école. L'excellence de l'équipement pour le secondaire, dans les villes, s'est complété par l'ouverture d'établissements décentralisés. L'enseignement technique se développe également dans le même sens, en multipliant les centres d'apprentissages, adaptés aux nécessités régionales. Dans le cadre de cet enseignement qualitatif, la recherche d'une adaptation ne va pas sans tâtonnements et difficultés. J'ai pensé qu'il serait intéressant, pour préciser le rôle social, culturel, économique et politique de l'école, de poser à cette occasion le problème de l'adaptation de l'enseignement sénégalais, problème pédagogique dominant finalement tous les autres. Il est curieux de remarquer que, si tout le monde parle d'adaptation, on voit rarement développer la question qui doit être logiquement posée : adaptation à quoi ?

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Ce que, avant tout, l'homme africain vient chercher à l'école, c'est moins la pensée occidentale, que ses méthodes. La poussée vers l'école est un désir d'adaptation aux concepts de l'occident. Ces concepts sont la base de toute évolution, de tout mouvement créateur. Le désir des Sénégalais est d'aller vers le monde moderne ; le devoir des éducateurs est d'apporter aux enfants l'expérience intellectuelle du monde moderne. Cette double exigence ne doit pas être perdue de vue chaque fois que l'on parle d'adaptation. Pour l'éducateur, adapter l'enseignement, est à la fois un problème pédagogique et un problème de conscience. On pourrait adapter l'enseignement à l'état présent de l'Afrique. L'enfant sortant de l'école, retomberait dans son milieu, serait repris par le village, les coutumes, les castes ; il serait jugulé par les traditions, les interdits, repris par les gestes et les pouvoirs autoritaires dans une société figée. La seule éducation qui lui serait alors utile serait celle qu'il aurait reçue de ce milieu. Si l'Africain quitte son village après l'école, c'est également parce que, hors de son village, de ses parents, de ses proches, il est plus libre de profiter de ce que l'école lui apporte. En effet, il ne faut pas oublier dans la balance le poids de l'éducation traditionnelle reçue par l'enfant dans sa famille, et par l'adolescent, dans le milieu où il vit. Contrairement à certaines apparences trompeuses, l'enfant sénégalais n'est pas abandonné, il ne bénéficie pas de cette vie naturelle, extrêmement libre et insouciante, que lui attribuent les observateurs superficiels. D'abord confié à sa mère durant les premières années, c'est d'elle que l'enfant tirera ses premières règles de vie, comme ses premiers mots. Gardienne des traditions, mère farouche et tendre s'il en est, la femme sénégalaise, même misérable, élève son enfant dans la tendresse et l'admiration. L'enfant est pour la femme l'objet d'un véritable culte et c'est une grande détresse que de ne pas avoir d'enfants. En souvenir de ces premières années, tout Sénégalais garde pour sa mère une grande vénération. Adolescent ou jeune homme, elle conservera sur lui une influence sentimentale profonde : c'est auprès d'elle que l'étudiant occidentalisé retrouvera avec émotion les valeurs propres de sa civilisation. Or l'éducation des filles marque un retard important eu égard à l'évolution des hommes. Cette simple remarque vous fait comprendre que l'un des problèmes de l'éducation est l'évolution harmonieuse de la femme africaine. En elle réside la chance d'heureuse fusion de la tradition et de l'avenir ; grace à elle l'africain moderne trouvera dans le milieu familial cet équilibre qu'il souhaite entre des modes de vie qui restent valables, des coutumes souvent charmantes, tout ce qui fait l'originalité de la vie sénégalaise, et les nécessités de la modernisation de la vie sociale et ménagère. Pour cela, on peut souhaiter

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aussi une véritable adaptation de l'éducation des filles, qui éviterait bien des conflits familiaux et serait une source de bonheur. Car, là encore, le problème n'est-il pas d'adapter cette éducation aux réalités sénégalaises ; c'est-à-dire à la nécessité de ne pas créer une cassure entre l'éducation familiale et l'école, de préparer la jeune fille à ses tâches essentielles d'épouse et de mère, dans une société modernisée. Ces tâches sont avant tout des tâches d'éducation et le retentissement final de cette influence sur les époux et sur les enfants font bien de la femme africaine la véritable initiatrice de base pour bien des années encore. La rendre apte à cette action éducative est un problème parmi les plus urgents. Mais l'enfant échappe assez jeune à sa mère. Souvent il sera confié à un oncle, à un parent. Il commencera aussi très souvent la conduite d'un marabout des études coraniques qui lui ouvriront parfois de nouveaux horizons sur la culture et la civilisation arabes. Vous le voyez, les sollicitations son variées. Instruire un jeune Sénégalais c'est avant tout lui permettre de rester maître de lui, de gouverner au mieux entre les obstacles qu'il rencontre. Souvent, à l'âge de l'adolescence, la subtilité du choix entraîne une crise difficile : pensée rationnelle inculquée par les études en français, subjectivité, sentiments, personnalité axées sur la langue et la vie africaines, projections irradiantes de l'islam inspiré. Le vaisseau de l'école sénégalaise cherche la passe entre ces courants divers, profonds, parfois violents. Le péril de l'adaptation mal comprise, est la cristallisation des habitudes de pensée et d'action. Non seulement l'enfant africain a besoin d'être préparé à une autre vie, mais encore il doit être le promoteur de cette vie nouvelle. En ce sens, il sera obligatoirement désadapté, peut-être même en réaction contre son milieu. Ce déséquilibre apparent entre les générations sera l'élément moteur vers des formes nouvelles de la civilisation. Ou bien nous apportons à l'enfant des connaissances, de nouveaux modes de pensée et nous le changeons, ou bien nous ne lui apportons rien et le laissons vivre harmonieusement dans son milieu. Tel est le dilemme. Il est évident qu'il ne peut se résoudre que dans un sens. C'est bien le rôle de l'école de donner le désir de vivre mieux, autrement, d'abandonner certaines formes de pensée paralysantes, d'ouvrir l'esprit à d'autres techniques. Inexorablement l'école africaine prépare un homme nouveau. Que sera cet homme nouveau ? Ce que l'on peut dire, c'est qu'il évoluera dans le sens de l'adaptation au monde moderne. C'est ce monde que nous devons faire bien comprendre et bien assimiler. Pour cela, il faut partir de l'enfant, de sa famille, de son milieu actuel. Rien en peut être vraiment enraciné si l'éducation n'a pas pour point de départ le fond de civilisation où l'enfant a puisé ses premières pensées. Puis il faut partir de là pour

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le transformer avec prudence. Appuyer tous ses progrès futurs sur ses tendances profondes, greffer les rameaux à fruits sur le bois vigoureux qui s'alimente de toutes ses racines dans le passé et dans le milieu. Loin d'arracher l'enfant à sa civilisation l'école lui apportera alors des outils pour étudier, améliorer, exalter ses valeurs propres. C'est pourquoi, plus encore que l'adaptation, problème pédagogique universel, c'est l'africanisation de l'enseignement qu'il est urgent d'envisager. Cette dualité permanente que l'on rencontre à tous les échelons de notre enseignement, se retrouve également dans la dualité linguistique. Il est indéniable que le génie d'une race est inscrit dans sa langue, et qu'une partie de l'expérience d'un peuple est contenue dans ses modes d'expression, langage, chants, musique, jeux, danses, cérémonies, etc. D'autre part, la République du Sénégal, pour des raisons pratiques, n'a pu éviter d'utiliser une langue de civilisation, support de l'instruction, permettant l'accès aux techniques et aux idées de la vie moderne. Pour ma part je pense qu'il n'y a pas incompatibilité absolue, au niveau du 1er degré surtout, entre le français et les langues locales. Au contraire, il y a un péril certain à bannir de l'école le langage naturel de l'enfant, pour des raisons à la fois psychologiques et pratiques. Le jeune enfant perd, à l'entrée à l'école, le bénéfice de son expérience personnelle. On sépare trop brutalement sa pensée, ses connaissances, de leur mode d'expression naturel et habituel, en imposant dès le départ une langue nouvelle qui ne se rattache à rien dans le monde intime de l'enfant. Comment s'étonner dans ces conditions que le français se développe comme une excroissance, comme délié de la pensée, selon un processus parasitaire n'excluant pas toujours même un certain réflexe de défense et d'hostilité de la part de l'enfant. Quantité de notions d'ordre personnel et moral sont accessibles à l'enfant dès son entrée à l'école, à condition qu'elles soient exprimées dans sa langue maternelle. Il est bien évident qu'il est difficile d'acclimater l'enfant à l'école, de lui donner de bonnes habitudes, en utilisant le vocabulaire réduit qu'on lui apporte chaque jour. On freine ainsi son développement intellectuel, en maintenant sa pensée au niveau d'un vocabulaire trop pauvre. S'agissant de tous les enseignements à caractère artistique, il est évident que l'on ne peut raisonnablement priver l'enfant des récits, des contes, des chants du folklore local, qui sont le sel même d'une civilisation dont l'enfant est dépositaire. En s'entourant de toutes les garanties pédagogiques nécessaires, l'introduction des langues locales, en particulier dans les classes de débutants, présenterait les avantages suivants : ( 1) Elle rendrait à ces langues leur dignité, les délivrerait de ce complexe du « parent pauvre > qui n'a pas

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droit de cité dans le monde de la connaissance. (2) Elle favoriserait le développement intellectuel des enfants en utilisant mieux les connaissances préscolaires, en n'excluant pas de leur esprit certains aspects valables de leur propre civilisation. ( 3) Elle favoriserait l'apprentissage du français en lui permettant d'enfoncer davantage ses racines dans le monde enfantin, en comblant le fossé que l'on a trop tendance à creuser entre la vie personnelle de l'enfant et son moyen d'expression, en empruntant l'expérience linguistique de l'enfant pour éclairer les termes acquis dans la langue d'enseignement. Par tous les moyens, il faut éviter la rupture entre le milieu et la scolarité, surtout si cette scolarité s'arrête à un niveau élémentaire, car elle ne permet pas de transcender les acquisitions et, faute de les rendre utiles, risque d'encombrer les esprits, au lieu de les former. Pour une école bien comprise, les études et les travaux de l'enfant doivent intéresser les parents. Un double courant doit se produire, l'enfant éveille la curiosité des parents par ce qu'il dit et fait au retour de l'école ; les parents reconnaissent l'intérêt pratique de l'école pour la conduite de leurs propres affaires. A cette condition l'école peut jouer dans l'immédiat un rôle capital dans la mutation nécessaire des esprits. C'est pourquoi l'école doit être avant tout technicienne. Plus que dans toute autre région du monde elle doit se garder de tout dogmatisme et de tout formalisme. Le Président Senghor a fort bien dit que si ailleurs le dogmatisme était une erreur en Afrique il devenait un crime. Rien ne devrait être enseigné qui de quelque manière ne touche pas au connu de l'enfant, à son expérience personnelle. Rien ne devrait être enseigné qui ne trouve pas une application pratique réelle. La poussée vers l'instruction elle-même n'est pas toujours de bon aloi. Comment démontrer au paysan sénégalais, qui est l'un des hommes les plus pratiques et les plus sages du monde, comment démontrer à ce paysan dont le revenu annuel est de 10,000 frs, qu'il faut maintenir son enfant scolarisé dans cette situation, alors que les cadres les plus modestes qui essaient de l'en persuader gagnent en un mois plus que lui en un an. Mais le paysan aime sa terre et son métier. Si l'école, par l'intermédiaire de son enfant, lui démontre qu'elle apporte le moyen d'augmenter les rendements, d'organiser la coopération, d'améliorer l'habitat et la vie sociale, de se mieux porter, tout en respectant les modes de vie, il est à prévoir qu'il approuvera alors que l'instruction ne débouche pas uniquement sur le fonctionnariat. J'ai dit qu'une école utile devrait être technicienne. Il ne faut pas que l'école débouche continuellement sur elle-même, comme c'est trop souvent le cas dans le système européen. Un cycle d'études en entraîne un autre et quiconque ne passe pas du cours élémentaire au supérieur, du primaire au secondaire, du secondaire au supérieur, éprouve un

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sentiment de frustration. C'est ce système et cet état d'esprit qu'il faut rompre et surtout au niveau des études primaires. Pour cela, le seul moyen, c'est de faire en sorte que ces études débouchent sur la vie locale. C'est un problème d'africanisation du contenu de l'enseignement, d'orientation pratique des programmes, c'est un problème technique relativement simple que les pédagogues peuvent résoudre si les économistes et les politiques se mettent préalablement d'accord. Un enseignement de masse ne peut pas contribuer fortement à la naissance et à l'organisation d'une nation s'il ne met pas au premier plan de ses préoccupations la formation civique, la formation coopérative, et une formation pratique démontrant au jour le jour la valeur des acquisitions intellectuelles théoriques. Nous touchons là à une idée plus générale. En effet s'il est nécessaire de donner aux enfants le goût de l'action et de l'initiative, il ne faut pas les abandonner à la sortie de l'école, quelle que soit la valeur des études. A 15 ans, l'adolescent ne demande qu'à s'affirmer. C'est à ce moment que doit intervenir tout un réseau d'activités d'éducation dite populaire ou permanente. Il est nécessaire que le jeune ne soit pas livré subitement à lui-même. Il doit réussir ce qu'il fait, afin de ne pas encourir la moquerie de son entourage. Pour cela, il est nécessaire que les groupements et associations de jeunesse jouent dans la nation le rôle éducatif capital qui leur est imparti. C'est au sein de ces associations que les jeunes de 15 à 20 ans deviendront vraiment des citoyens. C'est durant cette période que l'on peut encore efficacement lutter contre l'incivisme, plaie des nations modernes. En effet, le civisme ne s'apprend que par la pratique. Si nous prenons comme exemple la coopération, activité capitale pour le développement économique et social d'un pays, ainsi que pour la culture des vertus individuelles, nous pouvons suivre facilement le rôle de la scolarité et de l'éducation permanente en ce domaine. Nous commençons à la coopérative de classe, puis d'école. Coopérative enfantine elle marque les enfants d'une manière définitive. La gestion, le partage des responsabilitiés, le choix des responsables par un vote démocratique, le dévouement de chacun à la collectivité, sont autant d'habitudes qui préparent profondément aux responsabilitiés futures. La démocratie ne peut vivre que si l'ensemble des citoyens lui apporte son appui intelligent et actif. Mais l'éducation coopérative a bien d'autres vertus. D'abord elle contraint l'enfant à s'informer, à utiliser intelligemment des documents. Elle l'oblige également à étudier et connaître le milieu où il vit, à en analyser les ressources et les faiblesses.

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Ensuite elle oblige les individus à faire preuve d'initiative dans la recherche des ressources. L'organisation de fêtes, de compétitions, les achats, les collectes, entraînent des rapports constants entre l'enfant et le milieu adulte, permettant ce double-courant si vivement souhaité entre le milieu et son école. Dès la sortie de l'école les jeunes peuvent alors, soit s'organiser au sein de nouvelles associations, soit continuer au sein de la coopérative scolaire, au titre d'anciens élèves, une action extrêmement bénéfique. Les anciens élèves seront en effet le lien le plus sûr entre l'école et les adultes. On peut être certain alors que des jeunes hommes ainsi formés seront les meilleurs coopérateurs. On les retrouvera partout : responsables syndicaux, conseillers municipaux, animateurs d'associations sportives et culturelles. Le rôle de l'école est avant tout, dans les jeunes nations, de former ces bons citoyens au sens civique et moral élevé. L'enseignement sénégalais, dans sa forme actuelle, est-il en mesure de résoudre le problème ? Oui, sans doute, si parvenant à la scolarisation totale, il permettait rapidement ce choc en retour de tout un peuple instruit, exerçant sa réfléxion avec intelligence et amitié sur le contenu de sa propre civilisation. Mais cette voie royale est jalonnée de risques. Je pense pour ma part qu'un effort d'adaptation et de coordination, dans la période transitoire où nous sommes, une expérimentation pédagogique plus poussée, une africanisation intelligente de contenu de l'enseignement, serait souhaitable. Egalement la masse des non-scolarisés pose un problème dramatique. Comme cela se fait en de nombreux pays en voie de Développement, des initiatives devraient être prises pour attaquer par tous les moyens, ce secteur de résorption, parallèlement à l'effort de scolarisation. L'indéniable valeur de l'enseignement sénégalais à tous les niveaux, ne court pas le risque d'une désagrégation rapide et devrait permettre une expérimentation hardie, améliorant en 5 ans le niveau général des masses rurales et urbaines. D'autant plus que le Sénégal a déjà africanisé presque totalement ses cadres, qu'il a chaque année des centaines de bacheliers alimentant l'université qui fournit un nombre imposant de licenciés et de diplômés dans ses facultés et instituts. Peut-être ai-je voulu trop dire en trop peu de temps. Je crains que ce rapide exposé vous apparaisse confus et vous laisse sur votre faim. J'ai voulu vous informer des problèmes scolaires sénégalais, et plus généralement africains, et vous en faire sentir la complexité. Le rôle de notre école, je pense vous en avoir montré les objectifs souhaitables : éducation civique, sociale, économique, d'abord, intellectuelle, technique, également. Dans ce dosage entre la pratique de la vie africaine et l'acquisition des connaissances intellectuelles du monde moderne, s'inscrit le problème scolaire sénégalais.

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Le point crucial est la symbiose entre l'école et la famille, entre la mère et l'enfant, entre la tradition et l'instruction moderne. C'est à peine un paradoxe que de dire : l'école sénégalaise doit être d'abord une bonne coopérative, qui apporte à ses petits coopérateurs toutes les notions intellectuelles et pratiques dont ils ont besoin pour devenir des citoyens dans leur village et dans leur milieu. Ceci n'implique nullement un niveau d'instruction abaissé, mais un changement du contenu de l'enseignement. L'évaluation d'un niveau d'étude est d'ailleurs très subjectif : le meilleur niveau n'est-il pas celui qui permet à la majorité des hommes de vivre mieux, en harmonie avec leur sol et avec leurs semblables ? C'est en étant d'abord l'éducatrice de l'homme sénégalais que notre école préparera le mieux nos futurs citoyens à cette universalité qui est d'abord le fruit de connaissances simples et bien assimilées.

GERMAN ARCINIEGAS When it is said that the problern of the world today is one of education, a great truth is being stated, and it is an old one. Something new is creating differences which were unknown before in the history of man. Education has escaped the hands of the family and the teacher. Up to yesterday man obeyed-as far as it is possible for man to obey---certain norrns of conduct in whose elaboration first the home, then the school, then the university, took part. Thus morality as we knew it was maintained. At home we leamed the Ten Commandments, at school the tables of human rights. Even the fiercest revolutions sternmed frorn these two sources of justice. I remember how on one occasion an orator delivering a speech in which he accused bis country's dictator limited himself to reading the Ten Cornmandrnents of God's law. The reading of such an old lesson produced so great an impression on bis audience that he had to repeat the speech. ln Columbia, in the nineteenth century, the revolutionists who called themselves enemies of tradition and sought radical changes were more severe than the conservatives in keeping the rules which made a man a good son, a good husband, and a stem master of bis home. They pursued the ideal of what was then called "the good citizen." In this way, some of the Spanish traditions were interlaced with some of the teachings of the French Revolution. Everything carne from the cornmon source that reached every person through the primers and the initial words which opened the roads of the world. Not today. We leave the home, the school, the university, or the workshop, we go out to the street, and it is full of voices which assault us,

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Le point crucial est la symbiose entre l'école et la famille, entre la mère et l'enfant, entre la tradition et l'instruction moderne. C'est à peine un paradoxe que de dire : l'école sénégalaise doit être d'abord une bonne coopérative, qui apporte à ses petits coopérateurs toutes les notions intellectuelles et pratiques dont ils ont besoin pour devenir des citoyens dans leur village et dans leur milieu. Ceci n'implique nullement un niveau d'instruction abaissé, mais un changement du contenu de l'enseignement. L'évaluation d'un niveau d'étude est d'ailleurs très subjectif : le meilleur niveau n'est-il pas celui qui permet à la majorité des hommes de vivre mieux, en harmonie avec leur sol et avec leurs semblables ? C'est en étant d'abord l'éducatrice de l'homme sénégalais que notre école préparera le mieux nos futurs citoyens à cette universalité qui est d'abord le fruit de connaissances simples et bien assimilées.

GERMAN ARCINIEGAS When it is said that the problern of the world today is one of education, a great truth is being stated, and it is an old one. Something new is creating differences which were unknown before in the history of man. Education has escaped the hands of the family and the teacher. Up to yesterday man obeyed-as far as it is possible for man to obey---certain norrns of conduct in whose elaboration first the home, then the school, then the university, took part. Thus morality as we knew it was maintained. At home we leamed the Ten Commandments, at school the tables of human rights. Even the fiercest revolutions sternmed frorn these two sources of justice. I remember how on one occasion an orator delivering a speech in which he accused bis country's dictator limited himself to reading the Ten Cornmandrnents of God's law. The reading of such an old lesson produced so great an impression on bis audience that he had to repeat the speech. ln Columbia, in the nineteenth century, the revolutionists who called themselves enemies of tradition and sought radical changes were more severe than the conservatives in keeping the rules which made a man a good son, a good husband, and a stem master of bis home. They pursued the ideal of what was then called "the good citizen." In this way, some of the Spanish traditions were interlaced with some of the teachings of the French Revolution. Everything carne from the cornmon source that reached every person through the primers and the initial words which opened the roads of the world. Not today. We leave the home, the school, the university, or the workshop, we go out to the street, and it is full of voices which assault us,

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which repeat the same tesson like hammers. Propaganda walks shouting through the air, and substitutes for the old pedagogue. Slogan commands are passed in a chain from one continent to the other. The scope of the school has changed. A school used to be a building where the classroom provided the ideal space for the resonance of a teacher's words. Today the school is the street, the café, the movie theatre, the radio, the television set, the newspaper. If an eighteenth-century professor had been offered this possibility for covering every corner of his country with his teachings he would have been the bappiest man on earth. To be able to reach the villages, to be heard by the old men, to have the whole country for his classroom would seem better to him than ail the alphabetization campaigns. Let us now consider the type of tessons that reach us through the air in this century. We have lost the faintest control over who speaks to a Colombian about Colombian affairs. It can be a foreigner who has received preparation in another continent, one who has never seen our homeland with his own eyes, and whose only interest is to incite a subversive movement, a path of violence leading to the triumph of anything: a new international doctrine, an imperialism capable of ruling through remote control, a revolution plotted by a third hand. Once, the revolutions were ours. We made them at home, we kindled them in our university. Today there are alien revolutions. Anyone who sits down and listens to the radio may also hear the most well-intentioned voices, perhaps a Beethoven symphony, even a Gregorian chant. What is new is that already the school is another thing. The call to study, to revoit, to peace or to war, passes through the walls, reaches the most intimate recesses, expands in public places, walks band in hand with the person who strolls in the park, keeps him company in the car, in the taxi. The dimension of the school has changed, and so bas the pedagogue. The head of a state was called once "the First Magistrate." Today be is something more : he is the super-teacher. A new verb to indoctrinate forms part of the dictionary of education. The word movement bas replaced the word party, and the leaders of the movements, once in power, take over the machine which serves for diffusing a doctrine, and have access to instruments for demagogic coercion which revolutionists of the past had never known. The new moral values emerging from these circumstances are so compelling, that the process of indoctrination is accomplished with amazing speed, if one considers with what slowness the principles which have been the pride of the civilized world were formed in the collective conscience. The exact formulas for the respect of human life were a conquest that took centuries. These formulas remained as the expression of our greatest

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triumph over the barbarity of crude times. I remember one instance when the abolition of the death penalty was being discussed in the Colombian senate, and one who favoured capital punishment, wishing to confuse bis opponents, asked their leader, "And what is life?" The other senator replied: "That which you try to take away at the scaffold." AU over Latin America the passion for defending human life was accompanied by a terrible memory: that of the shootings for political reasons, which remained like a lingering shadow long after the war of independence. Nevertheless, within the same geographic zone we have seen a case in which propagandistic pressure alters the existing moral values and arrives at what the old Spanish language used to call "judicial murders," to eliminate political adversaries, through shootings decided by a plebiscite in a public square. This same country once found ail the stimulus necessary to become a republic when its very soul protested against the shooting of eight students by the Spanish authorities. Nothing characterized the methods of Nazism like the creation of a Ministry of Propaganda, raised to the status of what was traditionaily the Ministry of Public Instruction. The fabulous power obtained by the new minister reduced the power of the schools to ashes. Nazism is dead, but a great number of its methods still find a warm welcome in our days. And there is something which seems destined to tempt those anxious for power: the magic instruments of modern technique. The fact is that we live within this technique, that it is the product of the science we have developed, that we ail have access to the new means of communication, and that these means also can fail into the bands of an amateur of violence. Democracy should take advantage of these means not only to defend its ideals but also to evolve. ln this sense all these things belong to an educators' conference, because we have to know that there is also a school of struggle, and such is the school of our times. Ortega y Gasset used to say that a man was himself and bis circumstance; circumstance is that close reality which surrounds us, which places immediate problems before us, in such a way that these become the frame around our lives. I have tried to sketch the circumstances of a present-day pedagogue. Formerly, around the teacher were the walls of a classroom, where one could see maps, a coloured anatomie chart representing the heart, the lungs, the intestines, perhaps an oleograph from some painting by Leonardo da Vinci or Raphael, and this was all. Today the classroom is without walls. The human material with whom the teacher worked went out into the world and was still bis material. Perhaps the pedagogue can no longer be considered a specialist. He cannot tum bis back on things which would not seem strictly pertinent to bis work. At least this is the case for those

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who are to animate education. Gone is that old type of school teacher who used to move alone, spellbound, and apart from the world. His profession was as limited as his responsibility. Today this responsibility bas multiplied its dimensions. But on the other band something else has corne to relieve the educator. The responsibility is not his alone; and, since it is shared, there should be some fellowship in the sharing. If the problem of the world is one of education, what used to be a persona! achievement becomes now a collective obligation. Today the educator needs the living support of all those who are interested not in conserving many privileges that the wind justly blew away, but the essence of freedom, of the intimate dignity of man: of those who when they express themselves are not going to do so for the sake of lulling the fountains of redemption and justice to sleep. Ail of us in America have a revolutionary heritage. This was the first place in the modern world where the cry of independence was heard. Now that we discover the school's new mission, that of defending our democratic principles, we are not retreating a step on the road of the great historical revolutions. We do on the contrary retain the most important conquests of those revolutions in order to affirm the dignity of man. Reaction is the negation of liberty. Reactionary it is to retreat into forms of violence which eliminate free dialogue, the right to doubt, the power to dissent. This dialogue, this right, this power, have secured man a base each time firmer and wider for bis experiences and advances. Neither science, nor philosophy, nor social progress have been possible without liberty. With freedom, at least with a minimum of it, Rousseau's Social Contract, Marx's Das Kapital, Sorel's Refl,ections on Violence can be written . . . or the poetry of Verlaine. If dialectic processes are valid throughout the chain of historie facts, if this was how the world attained readjustments each time on a higher level, it is absurd for dialectic to freeze suddenly. What bas been presented as universal law bas not been historie reality. In America we have other experiences which were unknown to Hegel. In order to gain independence, Spanish America and the thirteen original colonies which gave birth to the United States had to wage a violent war. But neither Canada nor Brazil had to wage such wars, and we ail have arrived at the same political level through very different roads. Up to yesterday civic education might have been more or less important within the general school picture. Today, when politics affect the whole world directly, the institutions of democracy are being attacked by a new type of imperialism which bas established an international network to destroy the free determination of countries, and some have already lost their independence. Every Latin American student in Russia, of the thou~

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sands who study there in schools of engineering, chemical industries, architecture, or social sciences bas to add not a few hours per week to the normal time which these studies require for courses in which be leams the systems employed for the subversion of democratic order. Almost a century before Champlain discovered the landscapes of this corner of Canada where we now meet, and 282 years before Nicholas Sparks built a farm on the place which later became the heart of Ottawa, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada conquered what is now the Republic of Colombia and founded Bogotâ in 1538. In going from the Caribbean coast to that elevated plateau, 8,000 feet above sea-level, be spent more than two years, and had to cross a vast tropical jungle. This conquistador graduated in law. He was a writer, and a pedagogue in the sense that in the camp be used to drive away bis companions' hunger and weariness, discussing whether Italian meter or Castilian traditional verse should be used in Spanish poetry. When be finally completed bis conquest, there arrived two others with a number of soldiers equal to bis. They were a German coming from Venezuela, and another Spaniard who came from Quito. The right to the land which ail three had discovered almost simultaneously should have been decided, according to the normal logic of those times, by swords. Not so with Quesada. He made a speech. He spoke of peace and of justice, and persuaded the two rivals to leave their troops there, and retum to Spain where the king would give each bis reward. Out of this lesson we were born. Once, in Spain, Quesada took a fancy to reading books on contemporary history, and came upon one by Paolo Giovio, where the great ltalian humanist narrated the history of Charles V's wars in a way which the Spaniard considered offensive to bis king. Indignantly, he devoted himself to writing a voluminous argument, beautiful because of the fi.erce desire for justice that inspires it. Thus instead of retuming to America with a viceroyalty, be retumed with a book. In Bogotâ be dedicated bis time to reading and writing, and among bis works is the essay on the good govemment of the Indians, very unusual if one considers that it is the work of a conquistador. Upon bis death he left bis heirs a library, and a legacy for the construction of a public fountain on a certain road which passed through buming lands, where travellers died of thirst. I have always believed that from Jiménez de Quesada, Cervantes received a large part of bis inspiration for the portrait of Don Quixote de la Mancha, who was also called Quesada. In this way, Colombia, bom out of a classroom, as it were, enjoyed, like the rest of Hispanie America, nearly three centuries of peace-a strange case in the world-and when it plunged into the first and only war in its

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history with another country, the War of Independence, something of Quesada's heritage guided the steps of its fighters. It began as a common peoples' war in the provinces. But a few well-read men accompanied the people. Once, during an insurrection, in the small village of El Socorro, they took the men of the village council, the representatives of colonial domination, prisoners. They locked them up in the council-house court, and met to decide what should be done with them. Here is what the spokesman of the people said: "Let us send them to Philadelphia where they can study the new philosophy." During the war, the most outstanding general whom Colombia produced, the same one who prepared the campaigns together with Bolivar, and who waged the last, decisive, and victorious battle, was a general whom Bolivar called "the man of the laws." When this general-he was called Francisco de Paula Santander-became president, he was in the first place concerned with creating primary schools in towns and villages, with founding schools for women, institutions of higher leaming, universities which are still the most important in Colombia, museums, academies. He was a formidable organizer, the only person of bis day who accomplished in South America anything in the field of education as formidable as Sarmiento's achievements years later in Argentina. Santander's concept of the role which soldiers and laws should play in the formation of a republic bas been crystallized for posterity in a celebrated phrase which I quote now, using the words pronounced by President Kennedy when he visited Bogotâ in December of 1961 : "When the struggle for South American emancipation had ended, the president of Colombia, General Francisco de Paula Santander, said: 'Arms have given you Independence, laws will give you Freedom'. These prophetic words cast a light on the history of our hemisphere. For our true progress was not shaped by violence or tyranny, but under the guidance of democratic leaders who realized how great is the capacity of a free society to evolve within the regime of the law." With these words, taken from history, Colombia may become a good school, an invaluable classroom. The problem is to defend these roots of our civilisation's progress within the new circumstances of the world. It is a problem in which the case of our republic is only an example, but an example not devoid of universal interest.

WILDER

PENFIELD

ALLIANCE, EDUCATION AND A NATIONAL FORUM

Mr. Toastmaster, this address will have nothing to do with the title, "Postgraduate Studies and Research in Canada," although those words appear opposite my name in the Conference Program. Men change their minds as well as women. In recent months, I have listened to the voices of those who talk of separatism. Hearing the introductory speeches of this meeting, I have realized the full value of the contribution that this Conference is making to Canada and the need of an endowed Canadian Education Forum to continue and fulfil its work. I have re-written the beginning and the conclusion of the address given to the press. Accept, then, a new title for this talk-"Alliance, Education and a National Forum." Like the young woman who was irritated by the insistent demand that her conclusion on a certain subject should be expressed in a few words, I might well exclaim as she did, "How can I tell what I think until I hear what I say?" We welcome the delegates of this great Conference to Montreal. Others have done this in official terms. I speak for my fellows in education. To you who may not know and understand this city, let me say that I know it well and have a deep affection for it. In addition to being the largest, it is the most cultured city in Canada. That is not an idle, partisan boast. We have two cultures here, not one, as well as two Ianguages. And there are unique overtones of mind and emotion, there are delightful contacts for those of real perception, not to be found in less cosmopolitan and in less fortunate unilingual communities. If you have heard talk of racial friction and separation, you may be reassured. Though we are two, yet we are one "for better, for worse . . . till death do us part." As Honorary Chairman of this Conference, I am stepping down-and out. I did nothing to organize Education's first mass meeting in Ottawa four years ago. I was not a delegate from any constituent body but was simply invited to attend, I suppose, as a long-time student and teacher. I took it on myself to speak for the common man and the unorganized woman of Canada. (1 am aware of the fact that women can be organized, extremely well organized, but most often in units of one!) We were not satisfied with education in 1958. Good things have corne to pass since then. Teaching salaries have started to rise, and no doubt the Conference deserves some credit for that. The publicity given to that mass meeting was phenomenal. Now, if I may speak again for the common

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man and bis wife and children, we are still far from satisfied. More money is needed, and we do not forget that this money cornes from us in the end. But money is not enough. There are defects of plan and organization and execution. SecondIanguage teaching is badly planned and sometimes poorly executed. There are many other school and college defects. We realize that home education and discipline, which are no less important, could be vastly improved. We want a view of the whole structure of education, set out in the light of day in long perspective: home teaching, language learning, curriculum for the bright student and the dull. We want to see an integrated whole from home to school, and on to college, trade school, university, professional school, and institute. We want to know about opportunities for the student's extracurricular activity, athletics, trades, professions, and opportunities for the adult in creative art and literature, learning and research. We are interested in a healthy religious and moral environment of school and college, and of the society in which we live. We want Canada to lead the world in the organization and the efficiency of national education. We believe she could lead the world intellectually, with wise planning. I shall refer briefly to three of the emerging needs in Canada: 1. The need of efficient teaching of secondary languages. This calls for scientific reorganization of school teaching to be carried out by teachers who use their mother tongue. That would mean abolition of a rule established in some Provinces that a Catholic may not teach language to the children of Protestant and Jew, and vice versa. lt calls furthermore for introduction of a system of bilingual juvenile exchange, and trans-lingual school placement. This system would enable the parents of small children to start second-language leaming more easily on their own initiative. As His Excellency, the Governor-General, said in bis message tous, "The family is the first of educators." 2. Canada bas need of a permanent Council or Canadian Education Forum officered by wise and experienced educators to replace the present temporary Conference organization, and to plan occasional as well as regular conferences. 3. Education bas need of help from the Federal Govemment, given in a manner that will promote national achievement without infringement of the rights and responsibilities of the Provinces-a supplementary system of recognition and reward of excellence in the intellectual Iife of the nation. This would push on where the Canada Council bas made a small but promising beginning. lt would begin with the universities and graduate schools and embrace the activities of adult society in the arts, Iiterature, and the sciences-social, political, physical, and biological. Time will not permit me to elaborate this third need tonight. These are sober issues. You will probably not forgive me if I discuss

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them now. In civilized society, after-dinner speakers are expected to amuse and entertain. This is the witching hour of nightfall. At this titne, warmed by hospitality, the minstrels of old were wont to make men laugh, and to pause and wonder at life. Telling them stories, hall true and hall fancy, these raconteurs created the myths, adding new gods to the old gods of Olympus. The modern version of the myth-maker is the after-dinner speaker who retells other men's jokes and rambles on with uninhibited loquacity. When your Program Chairman invited me to speak, I begged him to let me have you at some early hour, fresh from your beds, stimulated by your breakfast coffee. I wanted a time when you would be prepared to deal with matters of the mind, a time when that master organ, which makes education possible, would be at its best. I refer to the one that is hidden away from the educators above the eyebrows and under the haïr, or at least under the hat-the forgotten organ. If I were to paraphrase Marc Anthony, I might say, "Friends, teachers, countrymen, lend me your brains, and together we will discover the good and the evil in education." Now, at this tag-end of the day and after such bountiful hospitality, you have little left to lend. Other organs, hidden from view below the diaphragm, corne into their own at a time like this and men and women alike are ready to laugh and relax, to be amused and to sleep. But I will corne to the point, unlike an after-dinner speaker. My request was refused. I was told that the real educators, the ones who organize more and teach less, had need of the early hours. It would not do for the audience to doze before important men: the Honourable Minister, Paul Gérin-Lajoie; the President of the University of Toronto, Claude Bissell; the Rector of the University of Ottawa, Henri Legaré; the Dean of Education from British Columbia, Neville Scarfe. Then, of course, there was the Honourable John Roharts of Ontario to consider and George Roberts and Francis Leddy and many others. But now after the "early birds" have been given this chance to catch the worm of your attention, I will be content if only a little remains. Let me then turn back from this idle nonsense to the problems of education. Dr. P. H. T. Thorlakson, in opening the forum discussion on "The Citizen in Education," quotes the words of Canada's former Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier: "I have given my life to one idea only, and I will stand or fall on that idea. But whether I succeed or fail, I will have the right to have inscribed on my tombstone: 'Here lies a man who desired to make French-Canadian and English-Canadian families one united family, living in hannony.'" I would like to join him, to deserve a similar headstone. · Perbaps we, in the Province of Quebec, are most keenly aware of the

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urgency of this domestic issue. The first step to be taken towards harmony is obviously an educational one, to reform and make effective the teaching of the second language. But times have changed. Laurier's Canada was safe within an Empire. Today, beyond the domestic rivalry lies an international situation that we must face together. Educators, perhaps before ail others, as Bascom St. John declared in the Ottawa Conference, should have a profound sense of urgency in their affairs. Time is running out. Bitter rivalries threaten peace. They threaten our very existence. Friendship, forbearance, and a gospel of the brotherhood of man must prevail or we are doomed. lt is as simple as that. We must understand each other. Understanding, as well as charity, should begin at home. We must speak each other's language figuratively, and also literally, at home and also abroad. It bas been said that in union there is strength. In the United States of America, union is the goal towards which they strive, and in that nation, races have joined together and been submerged as races. One language has survived. The English culture which persisted bas been altered into something uniquely American. The American "melting pot" boils on. There is much yet for it to do, if the "black" and the "white" are to disappear and corne out, at last, American brown. Here in Canada, it is not for us to say that the American method is wrong. We have two melting pots of our own. Pioneers sailed to the Canadian wildemess in two streams of wooden ships, the one from France, the other from the British Isles. There came at last a struggle between two races. At the end, instead of subjugation and absorption, agreement was reached for co-existence in one new nation. Thus, two languages, and two cultures survived. ALLIANCE is our goal, and the development of these two cultures, the perfection of these two tongues. In alliance there can be greater strength than in compulsive union, because each of the co-existing races, through its mother tongue, bas contact with the literature and the tradition and the wisdom of its ancestors, and because two strengths are stronger than one. If you prefer a parable, two thoroughbreds are better than one hybrid. They are better and stronger. But this is true only if there is true alliance, not separatism, nor separation, nor civil war. Our bilingualism is far from perfect. To make it so, we must tum to education, and to intelligent parents. I have made a study of the human brain and have taken a special interest in speech mechanisms. It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the standard teaching of secondary languages in schools is poorly planned and unscientific. lt ignores the changing capacity of the child's brain for language leaming. Our schools could be so easily ( and they should be) the best in the world, but they are not.

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Language leaming is not a "one-way street" in Canada. The English Canadian desires to speak good French. If be succeeds a little less often than bis proud French-speaking compatriot, it may well be that the French schools are better in that respect than the English. As Dr. Séraphin Marion has pointed out, French schools do start language teaching earlier. Bilingualism, if we can achieve it, is more than a bond of alliance, more than a yoke to make common labour efficient. It is a great opportunity. To a large extent, formai education devotes itself to learning about the culture of other peoples. To be bilingual and trilingual and quadrilingual is to begin upon an education. In education, home and school must supplement and support each other. Men who are lucky enough to be fluently bilingual or multilingual, men who do not stumble as I do in second languages, have usually heard the second, and perhaps a third, language in early life. Since history began it was the parents who gave such men this opportunity. It is still the parents' primary responsibility and it must continue to be, until educators organize so as to let children hear a second language well spoken at an early age. Consider language learning outside the school. There are two stages: first the acquisition of language units, and second the expansion of vocabulary. Take the mother tongue : his family teaches a child to speak by the direct method, simply talking to him, and the child acquires the basic units of pronunciation and formulation and word perception without apparent effort. lt is slow for the first two years, then faster and faster. By the time he goes to school, he knows only a few hundred basic words, but he has the essential units hidden away. The primary stage of language-unit learning is carried out at home. The secondary stage of vocabulary expansion is carried out wherever be hears the mother tongue spoken and in his reading. Now, for the second languages. If parents can arrange to have a child hear a second language without formai teaching, beginning preferably before age 5, the child will acquire those basic units quickly. He will not lose them, but will have them ready if called upon for vocabulary expansion later in school or elsewhere. That child can become truly bilingual. How are parents to manage this primary stage of the second-language learning? Young English-speaking couples have often said to me, "We would like to exchange our little boy or girl with a French family. Do you know how we might find one, willing to undertake it?" Or they ask me, "What French school is there in which we can enter our children for a few years?" There must be French-speaking families who are seeking the answer to the same questions. Here is a great opportunity and a great need. Create a clearing house of information in regard to bilingual training. If there is no other way, it

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could quite well be set up on a self-supporting basis, making a charge for arranging an exchange of children between suitably similar familles. In addition, the bureau could easily provide complete information regarding placement of small French-speaking children in an English school, or vice versa. It could serve as an employment or placement bureau for French students who, in retum for room and board, would promise to speak only French in an English home, and vice versa. There is nothing new in what I have said. Men have always known these things and have proven them, generation after generation. The school's method of teaching modem languages after the age of ten by the dead-language technique, as in Greek and Latin, with word lists and grammar, that is comparatively new. Why should pedagogy not be scientific? If in the field of physics, or engineering, or medicine it could be shown that traditional methods were ineffective and based on unsound physical or physiological principles, attention would be focused on that area of defect, experiments would be set up, and correct methods would be elaborated, proven, used. That would be done whatever the cost of experimentation. If no better scheme can be hit upon, those responsible for our schools might place a French and an English school on either side of a common playground. Allot a half hour each day for simultaneous recess and games. Let French sportsmasters look after the English children as much as possible, and vice versa. Do that only for the first five school years for children of four to ten years of age. Then take stock of the result. You know very well what the result would be. Most of the children would have passed through the primary stage and be capable of fluent bilingualism with some subsequent work to expand the vocabulary. ln education, it is best to see the issues clearly and to discuss them publicly. This applies to religious organizations in the field, as well as to any other. Language teaching is an important issue. As a general rule, the best teacher of a language is one for whom it is the mother tongue. The supply of teachers should be discussed at a religious "summit conference." I would be the last person to criticize or interfere with religion. But "summit" consideration might well discover that a Protestant teacher, speaking English, could be allowed on occasion to handle the routine classwork of the six-year-olds and the seven-year-olds in a Catholic school to advantage. Perhaps, too, Catholic teachers speaking French could handle classes of the same age in English public schools to equal advantage. There was a time when the churches, Roman Catholic and Protestant alike, were opposed to science and to work in the field of evolution. That time is past. The scientist may worship as sincerely and rationally as the least educated man or woman. There is nothing that the world needs more

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than enlightened religion, and it is good that children should be brought up to worship God and to love their fellows. But religion must be sincere, and education intelligent. The second subject I should like to discuss is the need for a continuing conference organization in Canada. The first Conference came into existence through the initiative in 1956 of the Canadian Teachers' Federation under the leadership of George Croskery--outstanding as a teacher, school principal, and educationist. He became Director of that Conference which was, to quote bis own words, "an experiment in self-examination." It was based on the belief that "wider public understanding of Canada's educational needs and problems would be a major step toward their solution." But, alas, following the Conference, a slowly advancing and inexorable illness forced him to drop out of the work and finally be was taken from us on October 13, 1961. His many friends have mourned the passing of this dedicated teacher. Before that Conference, I encountered some in university circles who were surprised, amused, or shall I say "high-hat" about the whole project. lt would be, it was suggested, a strange spectacle to see such a mass meeting examine the state of Canadian education as a whole. It was strange, too, that it should be initiated by school teachers and lifted onto the national stage by representatives of chambers of commerce and organized labour, abetted by business management. But Swinton and Gauthier, Swerdlow and Croskery, Nason and Deeks, took up the task of organization. And with the tireless administrative assistance of Miss Caroline Robins (herself a Past President of the Canadian Teachers' Federation) they succeeded brilliantly. George Lawrence, with an effective voluntary public relations committee, let the nation hear about it. AU national and provincial organizations with an interest in education were invited to send delegates. Most organizations accepted with alacrity, led by L'Association Canadiene des Educateurs de Langue Française, Home and School Associations, and Adult Education. The Provincial Ministers of Education gave it their approval, and the heads of various units of education came to work: MacKenzie from British Columbia; Bissell, then from Carleton University; Hoskin from Western Ontario; Woodside and Bascom St. John from Toronto; Munroe and Cohen from McGill; Donald Cameron from Banff; Father Lévesque from Montmorency. Many joined in the important work of program preparation: Schoales, Herbert, Pullen, MacLeod, Stiling, Moore, Goldring. They were dedicated men, like Croskery, giving their labour and enthusiasm with no thought of reward. A throng of 850 delegates descended on Ottawa, and the first morning session seemed to fulfil the dream of the organizers with Canada's Douglas

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Le Pan, Marcel Faribault, and A. W. Trueman. W. G. Carr, from Washington, talked of American education. A. S. Tovstogen, from Moscow, did the same for the U.S.S.R., and Sir Ronald Gould discussed the state of education in England with wit and humour. ln retrospect, it should not appear surprising that the initiative for this mass meeting came from teachers, and that Labour and Capital supported it and organized it in this upsurge of patriotic public spirit. The teachers had been ignored and unjustly treated while workers in other trades and professions had managed on their own to secure an adequate rising wage. That Ottawa Conference had an impact on education that was challenging, stimulating, provocative. These far-reaching effects, like the modest initial rise in teachers' salaries, were indirect. This Montreal Conference, in which we are at present engaged, will, I dare say, go far beyond that achievement. It bas been ably directed by Fred Price, a man of long experience in Parent and Teachers Organizations. When the history of Canadian education is written, the names of Croskery, Gauthier, Swinton, Swerdlow, and Robins will not be forgotten. But I wonder what the historians will conclude? Are these conferences a symptom of the hoped-for birth of better education? Or are they no more than a protest against the moral and intellectual decay in yet another affluent nation? Scientific advance and electronic luxury may seem to be good, but they threaten morality and intellectual excellence unless we make some corresponding progress on the spiritual side. The value to the nation of omnibus conferences, such as this, in the field of education bas been demonstrated. They should be continued. My own proposai is that this emergency ad hoc organization, which has produced two great conferences, should now be replaced by a NATIONAL FORUM for debate of the needs of education in ail its aspects. But to make the forum organization permanent and independent, there must be basic endowment of its new administrative organization. This absurd after-dinner address began with talk of minstrels and myths! lt goes on now to a blueprint of administration, and an appeal that is designed to attract endowment! Endowment from whom and from what? Millionaires don't often listen to dinner addresses. I know that very well. Why be a millionaire at ail, if you can't escape from something? Millionaires and foundation officers don't go to committee meetings either. I refer to the fateful gathering, planned for tomorrow, at which the future will be discussed. And since I, too, shall be absent from that meeting and since I have a captive audience before me, you'll have to listen to my plan now! Alan Gregg was a professional philanthropist in education. He spent bis life giving away the Rockefeller millions. He looked, sometimes in despair,

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for a clear formulation of educational needs. I heard him remark once with a chuckle that Goethe, the great German intellectual and poet, had said that it was important "to know as much as possible about what you want most of all, because sooner or later you are so likely to obtain it." A permanent organization, of the type I shall describe, should be endowed to provide basic support and the independence so necessary for a continuing national agency. There are many wise and generous Canadians who are ready to use their wealth for this nation's good, if they see a valid project clearly formulated. They are like certain great American and British philanthropists of recent "blessed memory." The desire of those men was "to dispose of their wealth in a socially useful way," as the Director of the Nuffield Foundation put it in bis 1960 Report. That desire, he continues, "was based upon the idea that a man who dies rich, dies disgraced." In any case, here is my recommendation for your consideration, a recommendation based on Canada's need as I see it. I would replace the ad hoc organization, which bas produced the first two Canadian Conferences, by an agency to be called, for example : "THE CANADIAN EDUCATION FORUM ."

Officers: These would include a Director who has the public's confidence and a broad experience of education, supported by English-speaking and French-speaking assistants who are experts in education. A Governing Board would be empowered to appoint the above officers and to elect its own Chairman from outside the Board membership. The members of the Board should be representatives of national educational organizations such as those that have supported this Conference. I would add to them the Canada Council and the National Research Councilprobably not more than twelve in all. Support: This should be of two types: first, basic endowment, to yield something between $50,000 and $100,000 annually; and secondly, annual income from supporting organizations and the public. Purpose: A national forum of this structure should undertake to organize at regular intervals conferences in which the best interests of national education could be discussed by representatives of teaching agencies, the public, and the govemment. It would have no power to dictate or to interefere with any educational organization, but would provide opportunity for useful consultation on special problems. lt would prepare much valuable information for academic institutions, govemments, and the Canadian public. It would aim, by objective reports, to call attention to the good and the bad in our educational system. The creation of such a forum to continue the work of this Conference should not be understood to mean lack of confidence in any particular

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group of present leaders of education. lt is not that we respect the teachers of our children less but rather that we love our children more. The Forum would provide opportunity for debate. This was the method used, in the Agora of Athens and in the Forum of Rome, to introduce justice and wisdom into public actions. lt is still the method of democratic control. ln conclusion, as so-called Chairman of the first two Canadian Education Conferences, I have spoken as a severe critic-spoken, I believe, for the rank and file of thinking Canadians. Granting greater sums of money is not enough. Defects in present organization must be recognized and corrected. Religious prejudice must no longer prevent our children from being taught a second language by well-qualified teachers. Grave defects in home training and in home and school discipline must be recognized by parents and teachers. These conferences have demonstrated the need and the purpose of such gatherings where "self-examination" and "understanding" may lead to "solution" (George Croskery) . Canada bas a need of a continuing National Forum, permanently established where all Canadians can see for themselves, set out in the light of day in long perspective, the complete system of education for rich and for poor, for the bright scholar and the slow worker. I believe with the Minister, Gérin-Lajoie, that the two Canadian ethnie groups should never be placed in a melting pot. ln co-operative alliance there is strength. Bilingualism is an opportunity. Let those who teach second languages, at home and at school, adopt rational methods applied at the correct physiological age. Learning languages is only the beginning of education. There is far more at stake today than Canadian alliance. Men in every walk of life who see the world as it is, and who look into our precarious future, realize, too, that the Russian and Chinese languages should be taught, in some schools at least, as well as in the present poorly organized university departments. Finally, let the Federal Government do for education what only a federal govemment can do, and do it without interference in the provincial management of education. Let it establish a nation-wide system of scholarships, create a non-political Commission of Research and Development which, following the start made by The Canada Council, and the National Research Council, can recognize, reward, and support excellence in the arts and the sciences. Thus, strategic endowments may be granted to the universities for creative activity. Thus, creative excellence may be supported and rewarded in other organizations of national life. Cardinal Léger, as be opened this Conference, set before it the goal of "wisdom." If you who are our educators could achieve wisdom and

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organize wisely with the help of wise political co-operation, Canada could well lead the whole world in intellectual excellence, in twenty years. To do this you need the help of the people of Canada. Winston Churchill said that war was far too important a malter to be left to the generals. Today, education is more important than war. If we can strengtben it and improve it, education might save us from destruction. No war of the future ever will. Education is everyone's business. EXTRAITS DE L'ALLOCUTION DU DR PENFIELD

S'il m'est de nouveau permis d'élever la voix au nom du citoyen moyen, de sa femme et de ses enfants, je voudrais encore une fois dire que nous sommes loin d'être satisfaits. Il nous faut encore plus d'argent et cet argent, nous n'ignorons pas, qu'en définitive, c'est nous qui devons le fournir. Nous voulons obtenir la certitude que l'argent des contribuables qui est affecté à l'éducation est dépensé à bon escient et sagement. Mais l'argent n'est pas tout. Il y a des réformes qui s'imposent dans les programmes scolaires, dans l'organisation du système et dans les méthodes d'enseignement. L'enseignement de la langue seconde est mal conçu et parfois mal exécuté. Nos écoles et nos collèges pourraient être l'objet de plusieurs critiques. Nous reconnaissons qu'il y aurait aussi beaucoup à redire sur l'éducation au foyer et sur la discipline familiale dont on ne saurait exagérer l'importance. Il nous faut repenser tout le problème de l'éducation : éducation familiale, étude des langues, programmes d'études pour surdoués aussi bien que pour sous-doués ; il faut exposer tout cela au grand jour en songeant à l'avenir. Il faut en arriver à un tout cohérent, du foyer à l'école, puis au collège, à l'école technique, à l'université, à l'école professionnelle et aux établissements de haut savoir. Nous devons aussi étudier les activités para-scolaires, les sports, l'orientation professionnelle, et, pour les adultes, les diverses possibilités qui s'offrent à eux de se livrer à la création artistique, à la littérature, à l'étude et à la recherche. Nous avons intérêt aussi à voir au climat religieux et moral de l'école, du collège et du milieu où nous vivons. C'est notre plus cher désir que le Canada donne l'exemple au monde pour ce qui est de l'organisation et de l'efficacité de l'instruction publique. Avec une sage orientation, nous croyons que notre pays pourrait devenir un phare intellectuel. J'aimerais signaler ici, en passant, trois des besoins qui se font sentir au Canada. 1. Le besoin de bien enseigner les langues secondes. Ceci exige que l'on réorganise l'enseignement de nos écoles selon des normes scientifiques et que cet enseignement se fasse par des instituteurs parlant leur langue maternelle. Ceci entraînerait en certaines provinces l'abolition de la pratique

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tendant à interdire à un catholique de donner des cours de langue à des enfants protestants ou juifs, ou vice versa. On pourrait en outre adopter un système permettant à de jeunes enfants des deux groupes linguistiques de se mêler, soit à l'école, soit en dehors des cadres scolaires. Ce système permettrait aux parents de faire débuter l'étude de la langue seconde en des conditions plus favorables et de leur propre initiative. 2. Le Canada a besoin d'un Conseil permanent ou d'un Conseil canadien de l'Education dirigé par des éducateurs réputés et avertis pour convoquer des conférences régulières et extraordinaires en prolongeant l'œuvre de l'organisme qui a préparé la présente Conférence. 3. Il faut que le gouvernement fédéral trouve le moyen de favoriser l'éducation en accordant une aide propre à élever les normes nationales sans porter atteinte aux droits et prérogatives des provinces-un autre système de récompenses et d'honneur au mérite pour contribution à notre vie intellectuelle nationale. Il faut amplifier l'œuvre déjà si bien entreprise par le Conseil des Arts. Ce programme pourrait débuter au niveau des universités et des écoles de gradués et s'étendre au domaine des arts, de la littérature et des sciences ( sociales, politiques, physiques et biologiques) ... Le Dr P. H. T. Thorlakson inaugurait le coloque sur le Citoyen et l'Education en citant ces paroles de Sir Wilfrid Laurier, ancien Premier Ministre du Canada : « J'ai consacré ma vie à une seule idée, et, que l'avenir me donne tort ou raison, je veux que mon nom y demeure associé. Quoi qu'il advienne, j'aurai mérité qu'on inscrive sur ma tombe : Ci-git un homme qui a voulu que les Canadiens de langue française et ceux de langue anglaise forment une grande famille et vivent en harmonie. ,. Nous, résidents de la province de Québec, nous sommes peut-être plus conscients du caractère pressant de ce problème domestique. La première mesure qui s'impose pour rétablir l'harmonie relève évidemment du domaine de l'éducation et consiste à réformer l'enseignement de la langue seconde et à le rendre efficace. Mais les temps ont bien changé : le Canada de Laurier était partie intégrante d'un vaste et puissant empire. Aujourd'hui, cependant, en plus de notre rivalité interne, le peuple canadien tout entier est appelé à résoudre des problèmes internationaux. Les éducateurs, plus que quiconque peut-être, devraient sentir l'urgence des problèmes d'éducation. Pendant que le temps fuit, d'amères rivalités menacent la paix et en même temps notre propre existence. Si on ne parvient pas à faire triompher l'amitié, la tolérance et le principe évangélique de la fraternité humaine, c'en est fait de nous. Voilà. Nous devons nous entendre. Il faut que nous parvenions à nous comprendre, non seulement au sens figuré mais au sens propre et littéral du mot. .. Nous sommes à la recherche d'une entente et du moyen de favoriser le

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développement de ces deux cultures et l'épanouissement de ces deux langues. Une alliance peut être plus forte qu'une fusion imposée parce que chacun des deux groupes ethniques, grâce à sa langue propre, puise à même la littérature, la tradition et la sagesse de son pays d'origine. Deux groupes complémentaires sont parfois plus puissants qu'un groupe homogène; en d'autres mots, deux pur-sang valent mieux qu'un hybride. Ils sont plus racés et plus vigoureux. Mais cela n'est vrai que s'il y a une vraie alliance et non isolement, séparatisme ou guerre civile. Notre bilinguisme laisse beaucoup à désirer. Pour l'amélioration, il faut faire appel à nos éducateurs. Je me suis consacré à l'étude du cerveau humain et je me suis intéressé tout particulièrement au mécanisme de la parole. Je suis convaincu que l'enseignement des langues secondes tel qu'on le pratique dans nos écoles est mal organisé et non conforme aux données de la science. Il ne tient pas compte de l'aptitude variable du cerveau de l'enfant pour l'étude des langues. Nos écoles pourraient facilement être et, en fait, devraient être les meilleures au monde, mais tel n'est pas le cas. L'étude de la langue seconde au Canada n'est pas un effort unilatéral. Le Canadien anglophone éprouve le désir de bien parler le français. S'il réussit un peu moins souvent que nos concitoyens de langue française, c'est sans doute que les écoles de langue française sont, sous ce rapport, plus au point que celles de langue anglaise. Ainsi que l'a indiqué le Dr Séraphin Marion, les écoles de langue française commencent plus tôt à enseigner la langue seconde. Le bilinguisme, que nous préconisons, est plus qu'un pacte ou un joug servant à conjuguer les efforts. C'est une source d'enrichissement. Dans une large mesure, l'éducation consiste à mettre à notre portée la culture des autres peuples. Celui qui possède deux ou trois langues possèdent autant de clés donnant accès à d'autres cultures ... En matière d'éducation, il est essentiel de bien prévoir les solutions et, pour cela, de les discuter publiquement. L'enseignement de la langue est grosse de conséquences. Règle générale, le meilleur professeur d'une langue donnée parle cette langue depuis le berceau. Pour s'assurer du nombre voulu de professeurs de langues, il y aurait sans doute lieu de tenir une conférence au sommet. Loin de moi la pensée de critiquer la religion ou d'y faire obstacle. Mais, je crois qu'au cours d'une de ces conférences au sommet, on pourrait fort bien convenir de l'opportunité de confier occasionnellement à un professeur anglophone protestant une classe d'enfants catholiques de six ou sept ans. Inversement, il pourrait être également profitable de permettre à des professeurs francophones catholiques de diriger un groupe de jeunes élèves de langue anglaise. Il y eut une époque où les églises catholiques comme protestantes

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redoutaient l'enseignement des sciences naturelles et l'étude de l'évolution. Cette époque est révolue. L'homme de science peut pratiquer une religion avec autant de sincérité et de conviction que l'homme ou la femme la moins instruite. Il n'y a rien de plus important pour le monde d'aujourd'hui qu'une religion éclairée et il convient d'éduquer les enfants dans l'amour de Dieu et du prochain. La religion doit être sincère et l'éducation éclairée. Le deuxième point que je voudrais traiter est la nécessité pour notre pays d'assurer la continuité de la présente conférence ... Les conférences générales, comme celle-ci, sur l'éducation ont une valeur indiscutable. Il faudrait les continuer. J'aimerais suggérer, pour ma part, que cette organisation, répondant à un besoin particulier, devrait donner lieu à un conseil national où on pourrait prolonger les délibérations sur tous les aspects de l'éducation. Pour assurer l'existence et la liberté d'action de cette nouvelle organisation, il faudrait lui assurer un fonds de dotation... Une organisation permanente comme celle que je vais vous décrire devrait être pourvue d'un fonds de dotation pour être assurée de sa liberté d'action et de moyens de subsistance. Plusieurs Canadiens à l'esprit sage et au cœur généreux sont prêts à mettre leur fortune au service de leur pays si on leur soumet un projet clair et précis. Ils sont comme les grands philanthropes anglais et américains dont on conserve encore un souvenir ému et qui, selon les mots mêmes d'un récent rapport de la Fondation Nuffield (1960) « ont exprimé le désir de disposer de leur fortune pour le plus grand bien de la société car un homme qui meurt riche est un pauvre homme». De toute façon, voici le projet que j'ai à vous soumettre. C'est une suggestion à titre personnel basée sur ce que je crois être un besoin national. Que la présente Conférence se transforme en Conseil de l'Education. Le personnel pourrait comprendre : ( 1) un directeur possédant la confiance publique et une vaste expérience de l'enseignement ; (2) des assistants de langue française et de langue anglaise qui seraient eux-mêmes des experts en matière d'éducation ; (3) un Conseil d'administration ayant le pouvoir de nommer le directeur et ses assistants. Le président ne devrait pas toutefois être choisi parmi les membres du Conseil. Les autres membres du Conseil pourraient comprendre outre le président, les représentants de société-membres de cette conférence, du Conseil des Arts du Canada, et du Conseil National des Recherches. 4. Ressources financières. Les ressources financières devraient provenir (a) d'une caisse dotation d'un rendement annuel de $50,000 à $100,000; ( b) des contributions annuelles des organismes représentés et du public en général. But. Un Conseil de cette envergure serait en mesure de convoquer, à intervalles réguliers, des conférences où des représentants de la profession

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enseignante, du peuple et des gouvernements pourraient discuter des grands problèmes de l'éducation nationale. Ce Conseil ne pourrait donner de directives en matière d'éducation ni intervenir dans le fonctionnement des systèmes d'éducation établis mais serait un forum tout désigné pour discuter de problèmes particuliers. Ce serait une mine de renseignements pour nos maisons d'enseignement, nos gouvernements et les contribuables canadiens. Au moyen de rapports objectifs, il s'efforcerait de mettre en lumière les points forts comme les points faibles de notre système d'éducation. Il ne faudrait pas considérer la création d'un tel Conseil comme un manque de confiance envers ceux qui président aux destinées de notre éducation. Ce n'est pas que nous sous-estimons nos éducateurs; c'est que nous croyons qu'on ne saurait trop faire pour notre jeunesse étudiante. Le Conseil serait l'endroit tout désigné pour agiter des idées, comme on le faisait dans l'agora d'Athènes ou dans le forum romain pour assurer le règne de la sagesse et de la justice dans la vie publique. Tel est encore le secret de notre démocratie.

Report of the National Committee concerning the Continuance of the Canadian Conference on Education

ln 1958 the first Canadian Conference on Education was held in the City of Ottawa. Eight hundred and seventy delegates appeared at the Conference which was sponsored by nineteen national organizations. Plans were made at that time to establish a continuing organization, and in the spring of 1959 to hold a second Canadian Conference in 1962. More than six hundred persons have been engaged for the past two years, in cooperation with the Conference secretariat, in preparing for this second Conference which bas attracted two thousand delegates from seventy-six national organizations. While the purposes of these conferences will corne readily to the minds of those present, you may wish to refresh your memory by reference to the statement of aims and objectives of the Canadian Conference on Education as shown on the inside cover of your program. ln addition to these aims, there have been other emerging needs in education which call for national attention. For example, the problem of equality of opportunity for education in Canada looms large in our minds. We are concerned as well with second-language teaching in this country where two major cultures live side by side. We are concerned with common standards of vocational competence. We are concerned with research in education; with the use of educational television; with the need for national support for adult education. Moreover, our university facilities must be expanded as much as 250 per cent in the next decade. Other national needs will no doubt corne to your minds. AU these issues benefit from discussion and consideration by responsible citizens across the country. Conscious of the public response to the first Conference and the indication of interest in the present Conference, and conscious of the ever growing educational needs, the National Committee of the Canadian Conference on Education bas reached two conclusions. These are: 1. The national organizations which have demonstrated their interest in education should maintain a centre for the discussion of national issues in education. 2. The purposes of this continuing educational organization have been set out briefly as follows: ( 1) To help create wide public understanding and support among Canadians for the educational development which is essential to meet the needs of our growing nation and to encourage appropriate efforts designed to solve the problems created by these needs.

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(2) To keep inforrned about ernerging needs of education in Canada and elsewhere, and, in co-operation with the authorities concerned, to tabulate these needs so that actual achievernent can be rneasured; and to irnprove communication arnong the segments of Canadian society interested in education. (3 )To offer, as appropriate, to co-operate in the promotion of activities designed to arouse public interest in education such as Education Week, Canada's Centennial program, and liaison with Provincial bodies. The National Committee was of the opinion that certain matters can best be decided over a period covering the next two to six months. These matters include: eligibility for membership, the structure of the governing body, the secretariat, the budget, and the procedure for raising the finances. In order to assist in making these decisions, specific proposais will be submitted to the constituent members of this Canadian Conference on Education. The members will then be asked to indicate their concurrence in the proposais, or suggest suitable alternatives. lt is expected that by this means a new organization will be formed which will have the wide support enjoyed by the present Conference and will be a vehicle which will carry forward in the most appropriate form the aims which have been set out above. ln this connection, further study and consideration will be given to Dr. Penfield's suggestions made before this body on Tuesday night. ln summary, a decision bas been made that a national organization will continue. The aims are as set out above. The form and structure of this organization remain to be decided. Decisions on this matter will be made by the National Committee, after proposais have been placed before the constituent members of the Conference. In the Iast few years steps have been taken to prornote understanding and interest in education, something which affects the welfare of all Canadians. These efforts are only the initial impulse in a movement which should extend to every corner of the nation. The nature and extent of the next step forward will be the responsibility of the constituent members of the Conference. Z. S. PHIMISTER Rapport du Comité national au sujet du maintien de la Conférence canadienne sur l'éducation En 1958 avait lieu à Ottawa la Première Conférence sur l'éducation. Cette conférence convoquée par dix-sept organismes d'envergure nationale

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réunit 870 délégués. On songea dès lors à mettre sur pied un organisme permanent et à organiser une deuxième conférence du même genre qui aurait lieu au mois de mars 1962. Au cours des deux dernières années plus de six cents personnes ont collaboré avec le secrétariat à la préparation de cette seconde conférence qui a attiré à Montréal 2,000 personnes déléguées par 76 organismes d'envergure nationale. Les buts de ces conférences vous sont bien connus, mais il pourrait être utile d'en rappeler le texte qui est reproduit sur la page intérieure de la couverture de votre programme. A ces buts premiers d'autres sont venus s'ajouter qui ont été inspirés par certains besoins urgents dans le domaine de l'éducation. Ainsi, par exemple, le problème de l'égalité de chance en matière d'éducation en est un qui préoccupe sérieusement tous ceux qui s'intéressent aux travaux de notre Conférence. Un autre problème important est celui de l'enseignement d'une langue seconde dans un pays comme le nôtre où coexistent deux grandes cultures. Nous nous intéressons également à la fixation de normes communes dans le domaine de la formation professionnelle. D'autres sujets d'importance primordiale sont la recherche en éducation, l'emploi de la télévision comme moyen d'éducation et le besoin d'appui au palier national en faveur de l'éducation populaire ou éducation des adultes. De plus, nos institutions universitaires envisagent une expansion de 250 pour cent au cours de la prochaine décennie. D'autres grands besoins qui ont une portée nationale nous viennent sans doute à l'esprit. Il est utile que ces questions vitales soient étudiées et discutées par des citoyens responsables de toutes les parties du pays. En raison de l'intérêt qu'on a manifesté à l'égard de la première Conférence et à la présente Conférence et en raison des besoins croissants qui se font sentir dans le domaine de l'éducation, le Comité national de la Conférence canadienne sur l'éducation en est venu à deux conclusions. 1. Les organismes nationaux qui ont manifesté de l'intérêt à l'égard de l'éducation doivent maintenir un organisme en vue de l'étude et de la discussion des questions d'éducation qui intéressent toute la nation. 2. Les buts de cet organisme ont été définis brièvement comme il suit : ( 1) Contribuer à créer un vaste mouvement de compréhension et d'assistance de la part de la population du Canada à l'égard de l'expansion des facilités d'éducation qui sont devenues nécessaires pour répondre aux besoins d'une nation en pleine croissance et encourager les efforts tentés en vue de la solution des problèmes créés par ces besoins. (2) Se tenir au courant des besoins de l'éducation au Canada et ailleurs et, en collaboration avec les autorités compétentes, tenir un

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compte exact de ces besoins afin d'être en mesure d'évaluer les progrès accomplis; et améliorer les contacts entre les différents secteurs de la population canadienne qui sont intéressés à l'éducation. (3) Collaborer, au besoin, à la réalisation d'entreprises destinées à intéresser le public aux questions d'éducation comme, par exemple, la Semaine de l'éducation, la célébration du Centenaire de la Confédération canadienne et le travail de liaison avec les organismes provinciaux. Le Comité national est d'avis que certaines questions pourraient être réglées d'une façon plus satisfaisante dans un délai de deux à six mois. Ces questions sont, par exemple, le choix des organismes-membres, la structure administrative de l'organisme, le secrétariat, le budget, le financement afin d'aider les intéressés à prendre ces décisions, des propositions précises seront soumises aux organismes-membres de la Conférence actuelle. Ces organismes seront invités à exprimer leur opinion au sujet de ces propositions en les approuvant ou en proposant des solutions de rechange. Le Comité estime que, par ce moyen, on pourra mettre sur pied un nouvel organisme qui pourra compter sur le même appui que la présente Conférence et qui pourra mettre à exécution de la manière la plus appropriée les buts énoncés ci-dessus. A ce propos on étudiera d'une façon plus approfondie les suggestions qui ont été faites mardi soir par le docteur Penfield. En résumé, le Comité en est venu à la décision qu'il doit y avoir un organisme chargé de continuer le travail de la présente Conférence. Les buts proposés par le Comité sont ceux qui ont été définis précédemment. La structure de l'organisme proposé reste à déterminer. Les décisions à ce sujet seront prises par le Comité national d'après des propositions qui seront soumises aux organismes-membres de la présente Conférence. Au cours des dernières années il s'est pris un bon nombre d'initiatives destinées à susciter de l'intérêt à l'égard des questions d'éducation, questions qui touchent au bien-être de tous les Canadiens. Ces efforts ne sont que l'impulsion première d'un grand mouvement qui doit atteindre tous les citoyens qui composent notre nation. La nature et la portée de la prochaine initiative à prendre est entre les mains des divers organismes qui constituent la Conférence canadienne sur l'éducation.

Z. S.

PHIMISTER

J.

F.

LEDDY

EDUCATION FOR CANADA

This remarkable Conference and its predecessor in 1958 have been gatherings of unique character, without parallel in Canadian history or, so far as I am aware, in the experience of other countries. We have had larger meetings for political or religious, or for business or social purposes but nothing which bas been so meticulously planned for several years in advance, or which bas been so widely representative of every area, of every age group, and of every interest in Canada. lt bas been a truly national effort with the full support and co-operation of business and labour, of teachers and students, of trustees and parents, of clergy and laity, of experts of great professional competence, and of men and women with no pretension to special knowledge but with an ample store of common sense and good will. In short, it bas been a citizens' gathering, united in the intention to promote the welfare of education throughout Canada and to solve the urgent problems which challenge our ingenuity in every province. It is particularly agreeable to signalize the truly representative attendance of Canadians of the French language, numbering nearly one-third of the delegates here, as they should, and rightly taking a prominent part in the proceedings of this Conference. As a result the Conference has been something of an historie landmark on the way to greater unity and friendliness between Canadians of the English and the French languages, a process deliberately promoted with increasing determination in educational circles in this country since the end of the Second World War. For some years past, at meetings of the Learned Societies and at other professional and scholarly gatherings, there bas been an agreement that each participant should speak his own language, without apology or repetition of translation on bis part. The provision of neat electronic devices for simultaneous translation bas made the exchange here more convenient and efficient without any offensive suggestion of priority. This Conference did not assemble on short or casual notice or as the result of incidental or intermittent efforts. Its preparation bas required long hours of planning and work on the part of many men and women who deserve our gratitude. There are several who should be singled out not because they need our thanks but because they are entitled to it, and in naming them I mean to include their collaborators. There is first our honorary chairman, Dr. Wilder Penfield, a scientist of world renown and, in the opinion of many of us, Canada's most eminent citizen. His distinguished and active patronage has been most helpful to

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us. The vigorous direction of Kurt Swinton, the Chairman of the National Committee, and of Max Swerdlow, Chairman of the Executive Committee, each drawing on wide experience in the respective fields of business and labour, has been invaluable. Under such leadership the preliminaries of the Conference have been processed with efliciency and with thoughtful consideration by the Director, Fred W. Price, and by the Executive Secretary, Caroline Robins, whose patience seems quite without limit. Since the beginning of the Conference I fear that there have been times when we were an anxious worry to these oflicers, wrecking their schedule with mass late arrivais, and with speeches which frequently exceeded the requested length, those characteristically casual Canadian offences against good procedure in such matters. As a courtesy to you and as a reparation to them I now disclose to you the original and novel intention that, having been asked to speak for half an hour, I propose to speak to you not more than-thirty minutes! There must have been times when these good people doubted the success of this Conference, rather like the audience at a symphony concert listening to the preliminary tuning up with its confusion and conflict of instruments, and wondering if, after such clashing chaos, the same performers will provide harmony and melody-and respond to some direction. In the event, their confidence bas been justified, with the emergence of greater agreement and wider conviction than I would have thought possible in advance. I do not claim that there bas been a clear and uniform pattern which I can now expound to you. And I do not intend to affront your good sense with an artificial construction of carefully selected sentences and comments designed to suggest a unity of thought in these proceedings which was not in fact always exhibited and which is not to be expected or even desired in a gathering of two thousand people. But some of the differences which have been expressed, occasionally in vigorous language, are more apparent than real, with more common ground than may have been admitted in debate. Certainly this seemed to be so in the discussion of the aims of education. The organizers of the Conference took an unusual and bold step in assigning the entire first day to an exchange on the aims of education, thus requiring us to be philosophers of a sort, at least for the day. We may not all have risen to the challenge but it was clearly logical to press us to consider our fundamental ideals before allowing us to talk about secondary matters on which our opinions had been at least in part determined by our prior acceptance of certain basic principles. In the presentations, both in the main addresses and in the panels, the point of view seemed repeatedly to divide on the line of cleavage between those whose first preoccupation was with man as he is in bis nature, and

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those who preferred to give priority to what be is to do. The positions are not mutually exclusive and can be and usually are combined in varying proportions, and it seems correct to say that most delegates would feel uncomfortable with an uncompromising statement of either approach which was not balanced or completed with at least some acceptance of the other. An exclusive attention to the practical and the immediate, with the intention of producing the flexible and all-purpose mind, runs the risk of leaving the student all dressed up but with no place to go, or at any rate with no reason for selecting an objective. On the other hand, theory, however admirable, which is not projected into the context of the practical problems of the school and university, can be remote and ineffectual in its impact. There is no Canadian philosophy of education, and no reason why there should be, any more than there should be Canadian mathematics or chemistry. But there is a reasonably clear uniformity in Canadian reactions to various theories of education, and, typically, it can be described as a judicious compromise, on the conservative side. Sweeping and challenging demands for radical changes were not much heard at this Conference and if they had been they would have been enjoyed, discussed, debated-and forgotten, the common fate of any effort in this country to break sharply with previous general practice. And on the whole that fact is the most revealing thing about this Conference. lt is to be emphasized that, although there have been sharp and striking criticisms of various aspects of Canadian education, and these have naturally been much publicized in press reports, as excellent copy, the basic mood of the Conference bas not been negative but positive, with an assumption, much taken for granted, that basically Canadian education is sound and creditable, advancing with the country, keeping pace, or almost so, with the demands made upon it. But good enough is not good enough, in this day and age, and what is well done can be even better done and ought to be, and it is in this spirit that our delegates have corne to Montreal, satisfied with much that bas been done, determined to make advantageous changes, and deeply aware that Canada will not be left untouched by the world-wide revolution in politics and in science which is now in full tide and will sweep on throughout our lifetime. It is no longer in our hands, as Canadian educators, to select the times and the seasons for change, at our own leisurely convenience, and this awareness, if Iittle expressed, bas never been out of our thoughts. 1t is usual, and this Conference bas been no exception, to describe, with a nice blend of alarm and delight, the accelerating rate of change in the world today-the swift advance of science, the growth in our schools and universities, the shift in customs and interests, which make 1939 seem old-fashioned, and 1914 ancient. lt is possible to maintain that there were fewer changes in the world between the days of Julius Caesar and Queen

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Victoria than there have been in the past century. Jacques Cartier who stepped ashore on this pleasant island over four hundred years ago could have imagined, with little effort, the development of a harbour town at Montreal, and if he had been allowed on each subsequent centenary anniversary of his arrivai to retum for a view of this city, he would have been gratified but not, I think, much surprised at the changes until this century. But today he would be astounded at the view by night from the mountain, or the top of this building, thinking himself to be in a magician's world of bright lights, vast buildings, and swift transport. And by the same token, how futile for us to stretch our imaginations to attempt to glimpse the world in which our present students will reach old age! In one sense we cannot hope to prepare them for that world, at least in its specific features, any more than my teachers in the twenties could have anticipated on my behalf the world which I have reached in early middle age, characterized by television, swift jet transport, the promise, and the threat, of nuclear power. Yet, in another way, the tasks of education change very little over the centuries, at least in their fundamental objectives, seeing the individual as deserving our best attentions, whose talents are to be liberated and enhanced, equal to bis own times but not limited to them. In one sense the necessity of holding this Conference bas been dictated by the changes which impose so heavy a burden on educational administrators in this country. We must make clear to the people of Canada our urgent needs, the heavy taxation required to provide the new schools and universities across this country-and we need to do so, without apology, reminding them that this is on their account, in their interest, and not merely in response to the unreasonable demands of some limited professional group. Repeatedly it was clear, especially in the workshops, that our trustees and teachers, who had undertaken such programs of exposition to the public, had been met with the fullest co-operation and understanding, and that where there was an appreciation of the facts there was the fullest support. And yet, as we consider the financial burden of our schools and universities, it is inescapably clear that traditional methods of financing our increasingly heavy budgets are inadequate. Provincial and municipal resources are no longer enough, in the tax structure which bas developed in Canada, to meet all the necessary demands. What then do we do? The answer is clear and unavoidable--even if it raises awkward constitutional problems. We turn to the Federal Government, with its wider-based, national, sources of income. I am aware that I here tread on dangerous ground, an easy target for the stem theorist in constitutional matters, especially those who are, for other reasons, rightly concemed to protect

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and maintain the legitimate interest of Canadians of the French language. But I do so deliberately, considering that we have not gone to much trouble and to vast expense to gather here with the intention of speaking only gentle evasions. The plight of our schools and universities, often tied to out-of-date financial procedures increasingly inadequate, presents a national problem and it must be solved by national means, unencumbered by the dreary mystique of constitutional lawyers, happily debating clauses and commas without reference to the grim realities of the world in which we now live and in which great nations do not hamper and hobble themselves. I put it to you bluntly: what is reaily at stake today-the freedom and welfare of ail Canadians, threatened in a divided world by the relentless hostility of slave states, or the traditional privileges of our provinces, as conceived and protected a century ago? You know the main issues as weil as I do, and you are aware that Canadian survival in the twentieth century is geared closely to the effectiveness of Canadian education-in every province. We have made at least a beginning, at the university level and at the vocational level, under the last federal govemment and under the present regime, in making available large grants for research, for vocational training, and for general university expenses, and by the extension of the same technique, I see no reason why we cannot do as weil at other levels and in other areas of education, throughout Canada, without offence or transgression where essential and fundamental rights need to be protected. I desire to make this argument clear, and in unmistakable terms : I am convinced that what we have done in recent years in these areas is in no way a violation of the fundamental sense of our constitution-and that we can extend the federal involvement in SUPPORT of education without introducing any unwelcome threat of DIRECTION of education. lt requires no great ingenuity to make the necessary adjustments of interpretation. After ail, in 1867 there were no universities, as we now have them, in their intricate and expensive complexity, and there was no worldwide threat to freedom such as we face. There were wise and prudent men in 1867-as there are in 1962. Canadian wisdom and enterprise was not exhausted, constitutionaily, in the last century, and it is left to, and demanded of, us in our generation to look to the future, as well as the past. Canadians will seem extremely silly if, in the face of the challenges of the twentieth century, they are to be found bemused with the preoccupations of the nineteenth, paralysed by the suspicions and the divisions of a bygone age. And here I address myself, by way of assurance, to my friends of the French language who are perhaps uneasy at the direction of these remarks.

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I can do so from the point of vantage of one who is located in intermediate territory, affiliated by language and culture with the majority, and by religion with the minority. It is not comfortable territory, in something of a crossfire, on occasion, and, let me assure you, it is quite without political prospects; but it does have certain advantages, not least of which is a natural inclination, which I hope I fully exhibit, in favour of genuine unity in this country, free of constraint, and open to diversity. So let me declare, what I am sure to be the genuine desire of delegates to this Conference, that it is our conviction that the Canada of the future like the Canada of the past will be a country in which mutual respect, under the law and constitution of our founding fathers, will flourish in a spirit of understanding. We now approach our centenary as a united nation. Surely it does not need saying, but I shall say it anyway, that we corne to this great anniversary not in any spirit of distrust or disaffection, doubtful of our federation, province by province, English with French, but rather with a growing sense of satisfaction and confidence that we have chosen the right road. In our conversations, French with English, this has been made clear many times over as we have met informally at this great Conference. We have extended to one another the hand of warm greeting, of confidence, and of full fratemity. We have been conscious of no barrier between us, differ as we might in many matters. And yet, I must confess, with feelings of special regret, that these genuine and undoubted emotions, privately exhibited, have been too little echoed on public occassions. What a service it would be, and how close it would be to the realities, if from time to time and especially on distinguished occasions such as this we should hear from the official spokesmen of the great Province in which we meet some expression of their warm affiliation with us, instead of formai wamings implying some transgression which we do not have it in mind to commit. Rather than the wagging finger of admonition, cannot we have the extended hand of fellowship? We shall not misunderstand the occasional reminder of the basic situation. We shall scrupulously observe the commitments made at Confederation, not only because we must but because we desire to do so. We Canadians are an honest and honourable people; we plan no deceit; we are engaged in no conspiracy-and we are entitled to resent even the suggestion. We revere, as of the greatest of Canadians, the memory of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. And we await bis successor, willing and indeed eager to find him in the Province of Quebec, preferring indeed to find him here rather than elsewhere in Canada, knowing something of the magnificent virtues which have been traditionally displayed in this Province and admiring the warm hearts and the keen zest, so traditionally French, so often to be found in our fellow citizens of Quebec.

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And having said as much, as a devoted honorary alumnus of two great French Canadian universities, may I gently add that there is a reciprocal obligation, of which we might well hear more, on the part of our friends of the French language, not only to remind us of the differences which they so honourably desire to maintain but of the unities which they share in the fullness of Christian amity, and of which they must be the special hope and defence in this Canada of ours. As it happens, there bas been at our many sessions no statement, in ringing and eloquent terms, of the general principles, the deep affirmations to which Canadians can be invited to subscribe, whatever their manifold and various cultural background. It is too late to supply it, and in any case it would be presumptuous of me to suggest that I can offer to you what other men have been unable to give or unwilling to provide-but I cannot conclude without saying some things which are close to my deepest convictions, offering them not on my account atone, but because I feel them to be the aspirations of many, of most Canadians of goodwill in this day. I begin with the proposition, surely not to be denied, that in the 1960's the key to the future of Canada, and of any country in the world today, is the effectiveness of its educational system. I say to you frankly that any country in which the schools and universities are in trouble is a country without a future, or with a troubled and difficult prospect. It is the discovery of this age, throughout every continent, that a country which cares for anything-money, power, or the show of influence-more than education, is a country which shall miss those inferior aims, and at the same time fail to achieve any others. lt was the comment of a gallant American, Sergeant York, that if men cared more for power or money than they did for freedom, they would lose their freedom, and everything else besides. So it is with education. This is the way of the world, this is the bitter experience of past ages. I see no reason why we should trouble to question the clear tesson of history. It applies, with full force, to Canada, whether we live in Quebec or in Montreal, in Calgary or in Vancouver. If we are slow to accept this reality there are others, in Moscow or in Peking, who are not so confused, and so it is, in 1962, that the most important facts of life are not the trade balances of keen business men, not the subtle adjustments of suave diplomats, but the patient tessons and lectures of teachers and professors who have yet to learn their own power. AU this would not matter very much, if to you and me Canada was just another country, an accidentai combination of political and economic factors and of historical memories. For all of us Canada is not merely the loyalty of the moment, interchangeable with the technical requirements of citizenship in another land. We cannot think of Canada in this way, whether we live in the valley of the St. Lawrence, the gateway to Canada

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for more than four centuries, the route through which the grand seigneurs and the patient and humble workmen of bygone centuries passed on their way to the interior, the route through which many a weary and harassed man went, desiring, as did my forebears from Ireland, to find quiet, freedom and a modest prosperity, not chailenged by others; or whether we came late to Canada, already set on the modem way, in this century, in this decade. Canada, we sense, is a special place, blessed of Providence, preserved from the undeserved misfortunes which have overwhelmed better people. I do not know why this should be so, and I avoid any complacency in making the daim. And I seek the concurrence of my fellow Canadians, both French and English in language, in acknowledging the remarkable good fortune, without parallel in history, which bas so attended us. But reflecting on these things I am prompted to assert that of ail countries in the world, without exception, Canada is most favoured in one respect, the remarkable combination of circumstances which sets us apart, without rivalry as the freest and finest of countries in which to live. Obscurely, sometimes, Canadians know this, seeking to corne back to Canada from the United States, or Great Britain, or some other country, not quite sure why they desire to do so. In my view they have sensed something which cails for explicit recognition: that Canada enjoys unusual equality in social, in economic, and in political conditions. There are other countries with a daim to greater equality in one of these categories than we can pretend. I would suppose that the United States might present a more impressive record of economic equality, on the whole, than we can offer, and that the United Kingdom could point with pride to a more sophisticated level of political development. Such concessions one might make, but I would affirm, with much emphasis, that Canada is unique in its portrayal of these three fundamental equalities, taken in combination and in their interrelated unity. And so I would dedare that nowhere in the world are there men and women more fortunate than we are, set upon the stage of the twentieth century less burdened than anyone in history. How can we maintain this advantage? How can we pass along to others of the next generation that which we have received, and which we most eagerly desire continued in Canada in future generations? You know the answer, as weil as I do. You are aware that the three equalities which I have discerned and daimed, in combination, for Canada alone, depend entirely upon the strength and the intensity of conviction in our educational system. Ail other considerations falter in comparison. This is our sole defence, our only safeguard. This is the chief aim, the only prospect of

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I am sure that the men and women of Canada, required to advance our education, will not fail us. Eagerly I await the story of the next and succeeding decades. With gratitude I salute those who have gone before us, and with full confidence I watch for those who will maintain their worthy tradition. We are the most fortunate of men in Canada, indulged by history more than those in any other country. Let us acknowledge our undeserved prosperity, our free access to full knowledge, our freedom from mean constraint. And let us, in gratitude, turn with enterprise, with vigour and generosity to the full development of education in Canada, at every level, for our own sake and for the men of other countries, to whom Providence bas given us, in spite of our unworthiness, as eider brothers. We have had great and golden ages in the past, accomplished by rough military power and overwhelming financial affluence. Today, for the first time, in such countries as Canada, we hear a call to achievement and endeavour addressed to countries of no such pretensions. We welcome it, and we shall not fail. DISCOURS DE CLÔTURE DE M . LEDDY

La présente Conférence et celle qui l'a précédée en 1958 ont un caractère unique et sans précédent dans l'histoire du Canada ou peut-être même, au meilleur de ma connaissance, dans l'histoire de tout autre pays. Nous avons connu de plus imposantes réunions politiques, religieuses, commerciales ou sociales, mais aucune n'a été préparée aussi minutieusement, des années à l'avance, de façon à réunir aussi bien que celle-ci des gens de tous âges, aux occupations les plus diverses, venant de tous les coins du pays. Cette Conférence a été d'envergure vraiment nationale, grâce à la coopération et à l'appui du monde des affaires et du travail, du personnel enseignant et étudiant, des commissaires d'écoles aussi bien que des parents, du clergé et des laïcs, des experts d'une compétence reconnue, aussi bien que d'hommes et de femmes sans préparation spéciale mais pourvus d'une ample provision de bon sens et de bonne volonté. Bref, ce fut une véritable rencontre « sur la place publique» inspirée d'un même désir de promouvoir la cause de l'éducation dans tout le Canada et d'apporter une solution aux problèmes urgents qui, dans chaque province, posent un défi aux éducateurs. Il est tout particulièrement agréable de signaler l'imposante représentation des Canadiens de langue française qui, comme de juste, comptent près d'un tiers des délégués ici présents et qui jouent, à bon droit, un rôle important dans les délibérations en cours. La Conférence aura donc marqué une étape dans notre recherche de l'unité et de la compréhension

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entre Canadiens de langue française et de langue anglaise, recherche qui s'annonce déjà bien et que nos éducateurs poursuivent avec une détermination toujours croissante depuis la fin de la seconde Grande Guerre. Depuis quelques années, aux Congrès des Sociétés Savantes et à d'autres réunions de caractère professionnel ou universitaire, il a été convenu que chaque délégué parlerait en sa langue, sans faire d'excuse et sans s'arrêter à traduire sa pensée. Le système électronique d'interprétation simultanée dont nous disposons aujourd'hui, facilite de beaucoup les échanges de vue et tend à faire oublier en quelle langue les discours sont prononcés. Les délégués ici présents ne se sont pas réunis à la suite d'une invitation imprévue, de préparatifs de dernière heure ou d'efforts intermittents. La préparation de la Conférence a exigé de longues heures d'étude et de travail de la part d'hommes et de femmes qui méritent notre vive gratitude. Permettez-moi d'en signaler quelques-uns à votre attention, non pas qu'ils aient besoin de nos remerciements mais parce qu'ils y ont droit ; en les nommant, je voudrais les associer dans ma penséé à leurs collaborateurs. Il y a tout d'abord notre président honoraire, le Dr Wilder Penfield, un savant de renommée internationale et, selon plusieurs d'entre nous, le plus éminent citoyen du Canada. Son encouragement et son appui nous ont été précieux. On ne saurait exagérer l'importance de la direction énergique assurée par M. Kurt Swinton, le président du Comité national et M. Max Swerdlow, président du Comité exécutif ; ils nous ont fait bénéficier respectivement de leur vaste expérience du monde des affaires et du monde ouvrier. C'est sous leur direction éclairée que M. Fred Price, notre directeur, et la secrétaire, Caroline Robins, dont la patience semble à toute épreuve, ont su mener à bonne fin les préparatifs de cette vaste entreprise. Depuis le début de la Conférence, je crains fort qu'en plus d'une occasion nous leur ayons causé de graves ennuis en chambardant l'horaire prévu par nos manquements collectifs à la ponctualité, par des discours souvent trop longs, accrocs aux lois de la procédure qui sont peut-être typiquement canadiens. Pour leur faire amende honorable et aussi par égard pour vous tous, je tiens à déclarer qu'ayant été invité à vous adresser la parole pendant une demie-heure, j'ai bien l'intention, au risque de créer un précédent, de limiter mon allocution à trente minutes ! Ces dévoués animateurs ont dû s'inquiéter parfois du succès de la Conférence comme on se demande parfois, avant un concert symphonique, en écoutant la cacophonie des instruments qui s'accordent, si le coup de baguette du directeur parviendra jamais à créer l'harmonie et à nous faire entendre la mélodie. En l'occurrence, leur confiance s'est trouvée justifiée car on a vu se manifester un degré d'entente et de conviction qui a dépassé tout ce que j'avais pu prévoir. Je ne prétends pas qu'on ait vu se dessiner d'orientations bien définies

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et uniformes que je pourrais maintenant vous exposer. Ce serait faire affront à votre bon jugement que de vous présenter une compilation de déclarations et de commentaires bien choisis pour faire croire à une unité de pensée qui en fait n'a pas toujours animé nos délibérations et qui d'ailleurs n'était ni possible ni désirable dans une assemblée de deux mille personnes. Certaines des divergences d'opinion qui se sont manifestées, parfois en termes non équivoques, sont toutefois plus apparentes que réelles et cachent souvent un terrain de rencontre plus vaste qu'on ne veut bien l'admettre dans la discussion. Tel a bien semblé être le cas, par exemple, alors qu'on discutait des fins de l'éducation. J'aimerais signaler que les organisateurs de la Conférence ont fait preuve d'audace et d'imagination en consacrant la première journée tout entière à l'étude des fins de l'éducation, nous obligeant ainsi, en quelque sorte, à devenir philosophes, pour une journée du moins. Nous n'étions peut-être pas tous à la hauteur de la situation mais il était logique de nous obliger à préciser notre conception de l'éducation avant de nous amener à discuter de problèmes secondaires dont la solution ne peut qu'être influencée, au moins partiellement, par nos principes de base. Au cours des exposés, tant dans les discours que dans les discussions, les orateurs semblaient se partager constamment en deux écoles de pensée : d'une part, ceux dont la préoccupation primordiale est l'homme tel qu'il est; d'autre part, ceux qui attachent plus d'importance au rôle que l'homme est appelé à jouer. Ces points de vue ne s'excluent pas nécessairement; ils peuvent se rencontrer et se compénètrent de fait, à des degrés divers. Il semble bien, en effet, que la plupart des délégués hésiteraient à se prononcer catégoriquement dans un sens ou dans l'autre mais songeraient plutôt à prendre une position intermédiaire entre ces deux extrêmes. Si, par exemple, nous nous proposions comme but d'inculquer à des étudiants une formation libérale, nous risquerions fort d'en laisser plus d'un perplexe sinon désemparé, en accordant toute notre attention aux choses d'ordre pratique et d'intérêt immédiat. La théorie, par contre, si admirable soit-elle, demeure vague et inefficace si elle n'est étudiée en fonction des problèmes pratiques du monde scolaire ou universitaire. Il n'y a pas de philosophie canadienne de l'éducation; cela serait d'ailleurs aussi difficile à justifier qu'une conception canadienne des mathématiques ou de la chimie. On a pu constater cependant que les Canadiens réagissent à peu près tous de la même façon aux diverses conceptions de l'éducation, et, règle générale, on peut dire que la tendance commune semble être un compromis judicieux et plutôt conservateur. En effet, au cours de la présente Conférence, on n'a guère entendu d'appels passionnés pour préconiser l'adoption de principes ou de procédures radicalement nouvelles. Si on avait énoncé de telles idées, elles auraient soulevé de

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l'intérêt, quelques discussions, puis auraient sombré dans l'oubli, sort qui semble réservé dans notre pays à toute . tentative de rompre avec la pratique établie. C'est peut-être là le trait le plus révélateur de la Conférence. Signalons qu'en dépit de certaines critiques acerbes et violentes qu'on a formulées à l'endroit de notre système d'éducation et dont on a fait grand état dans la presse, le ton général de la Conférence n'a pas été négatif, mais positif. On suppose, on prend pour acquis que l'éducation au Canada est en somme dans la bonne voie, qu'elle progresse au même rythme que notre pays et qu'elle répond à ce qu'on attend d'elle, ou à peu près. Cet « àpeu-près », cependant, n'est plus acceptable à notre époque, éprise de progrès. C'est dans cet esprit que nos délégués se sont réunis ici à Montréal, satisfaits dans une large mesure du travail accompli et pourtant déterminés à effectuer certaines réformes. Ils sont en outre convaincus que le Canada sera forcément affecté par la révolution politique et scientifique qui déferle en ce moment sur le monde et dont nous ne verrons sans doute pas la fin, de notre vivant. Il ne nous appartient plus à nous , éducateurs canadiens, de choisir l'heure ou le moment d'introduire ces réformes selon notre bon plaisir. Ce sentiment, bien que rarement exprimé, est pourtant une de nos préoccupations constantes. A cette Conférence, on n'a pas manqué, selon l'usage, de décrire avec autant d'alarme que d'enthousiasme, le rythme trépidant du monde moderne, les rapides progrès de la science, l'essor de nos écoles et de nos universités, l'évolution des moeurs et de la vie qui fait qu'à nos yeux, si 1939 est déjà d'un autre âge, 1914 semble être de l'histoire ancienne. On a pu soutenir que notre monde a plus changé au cours des cinquante dernières années qu'entre le règne de Jules César et celui de la Reine Victoria. Jacques Cartier, en mettant le pied sur cette île accueillante, il y a plus de quatre siècles, aurait pu sans trop d'effort imaginer le développement éventuel du port de Montréal. Si on lui avait permis de contempler cette ville à chaque centenaire de son débarquement, je crois qu'il aurait été fort intéressé de constater les changements d'un siècle à l'autre mais je ne crois pas qu'il aurait été vraiment étonné avant aujourd'hui. Il serait vraiment ébahi de contempler le panorama qui s'offre à nos yeux du sommet de la montagne ou du dernier étage de cet édifice ; il se croirait dans un monde féérique de lumière, de vitesse et de vertige. Ce serait également peine perdue pour nous que d'essayer d'entrevoir le monde que connaîtront nos élèves, vers la fin de leurs jours. Dans un sens, nous ne pouvons pas plus espérer les préparer d'une façon précise à ce monde futur que mes professeurs des années '20 n'ont pu me préparer au monde que je connais, en atteignant l'âge mûr, le monde de la télévision, des réactés et de l'énergie nucléaire, avec tout ce que cela nous réserve de promesses et d'angoisses. Pourtant, la tâche des éducateurs ne se modifie

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guère au cours des siècles mais demeure conditionnée par les mêmes fins. Nous demeurons convaincus que la personne humaine mérite le meilleur de notre attention, qu'il faut permettre à chacun de se développer et de s'épanouir pour qu'il soit à la mesure de son époque sans toutefois y demeurer asservi. Cette Conférence a été nécessitée par des changements qui compliquent la tâche de ceux qui doivent assurer le financement de l'éducation. Il faut que tous les Canadiens comprennent bien l'urgence de nos besoins et acceptent les lourds impôts qui permettront la construction des écoles et des universités dont notre pays a besoin ; nous devons le faire sans excuse, leur rappelant que c'est en leur nom que nous agissons , qu'il y va de leur propre intérêt et qu'il ne s'agit pas simplement de satisfaire aux demandes exagérées d'une clique d'intéressés. En plus d'une occasion, alors que nos commissaires et nos instituteurs faisaient campagne en ce sens auprès du public et du monde ouvrier en particulier, nous avons eu la preuve qu'ils ont été compris et secondés dans toute la mesure du possible et que le public ne ménage pas son appui pour une cause dont il reconnaît le bien fondé. Et cependant, lorsque nous considérons le fardeau financier de nos écoles et de nos universités, il est clair et évident que les méthodes traditionnelles de financement ne parviennent plus à subvenir à leurs obligations de plus en plus lourdes. Compte tenu du système d'impôts qui s'est établi au Canada, les ressources provinciales et municipales ne suffisent plus à satisfaire à tous les besoins. Que devons-nous faire alors ? La réponse est claire et inéluctable, même si elle suscite des problèmes constitutionnels délicats. Nous devons faire appel au gouvernement fédéral qui possède des sources de revenus plus étendues. Je me rends compte que je m'aventure ici sur un terrain glissant et que j'encours les foudres de certains experts en droit constitutionnel, de ceux surtout qui ont pour mission de veiller aux légitimes intérêts des Canadiens de langue française. Mais je le fais délibérément, car nous étant réunis après des préparitifs aussi minutieux et coûteux, nous n'allons certes pas éviter la discussion par souci de courtoisie. La misère de nos écoles et de nos universités, qui découle souvent de méthodes de financement périmées, et de plus en plus insuffisantes, constitue un problème national qui doit être résolu en faisant appel aux ressources nationales. Il ne faut pas se laisser arrêter par les austères considérations de juristes en droit constitutionnel qui s'évertuent à analyser, à interpréter les textes de lois jusqu'à la dernière virgule, mais sans tenir compte des dures réalités du monde où nous vivons et où les grandes puissances sont celles qui ont su s'affranchir de toute entrave. Je vous le demande : Qu'est-ce qui est en jeu aujourd'hui : est-ce la

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liberté et le bien-être de tous les Canadiens dans un monde divisé et menacé par l'hostilité acharnée de peuples asservis à des gouvernements totalitaires, ou bien les prérogatives traditionnelles de nos provinces, conçues et définies il y a un siècle ? Vous connaissez la réponse à cette question aussi bien que moi et vous n'ignorez pas non plus que le gage de la survivance de notre pays au XXe siècle est intimement lié à l'efficacité du système d'éducation de chacune de nos provinces. Nous avons déjà fait un premier pas dans cette direction pour ce qui est de la formation universitaire et professionnelle ; en effet, notre dernier gouvernement fédéral et notre gouvernement actuel ont accordé des subventions importantes pour fins de recherches, pour la formation professionnelles et pour les frais généraux d'administration de nos universités ; en poursuivant cette ligne de pensée, je ne vois pas pourquoi nous ne pourrions pas réussir aussi bien dans d'autres domaines de l'éducation et à d'autres niveaux, sans aucunement porter atteinte aux droits essentiels et fondamentaux des provinces. Permettez-moi d'exposer ma pensée en termes non équivoques : je suis convaincu que ce que nous avons fait dans ce sens depuis quelques années ne porte aucunement atteinte à l'esprit de notre constitution et que nous pouvons permettre au gouvernement fédéral d'accorder son assistance à d'autres secteurs sans avoir à redouter le dirigisme fédéral en matière d'éducation. Il n'est pas nécessaire d'être très malin pour apporter les changements d'interprétation qui s'imposent. En 1867, il n'y avait pas d'universités au sens où nous l'entendons aujourd'hui avec tout leur appareil si complexe et si coûteux; notre monde d'alors n'avait pas non plus à faire face comme notre monde d'aujourd'hui à la menace contre la liberté. Il y avait des hommes sages et prudents, en 1867 comme il y en a en 1962. Notre pays, fort heureusement, n'a pas épuisé ses réserves de sagesse et d'esprit d'initiative au siècle dernier ; ceux de notre génération ont le droit et le devoir de porter leurs regards non seulement vers le passé mais aussi vers l'avenir. Le peuple canadien serait dans une position bien ridicule si, face aux défis que lui lance le XXe siècle, il demeurait absorbé par les problèmes du siècle dernier, paralysé par les soupçons et les divisions d'un autre âge. Je m'adresse ici à mes amis de langue française pour les rassurer sur le sens de ces dernières remarques. Je puis me le permettre d'autant plus que j'appartiens à un groupe qui est en quelque sorte mitoyen, se rattachant à la majorité par la langue et la culture et à la minorité par la religion. Cette situation n'est pas de tout repos ; on y est parfois pris entre deux feux et pour ce qui est des avantages politiques à espérer, je puis vous assurer qu'il n'y en a guère. Cette situation comporte tout de même certains avantages dont un des principaux, que

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j'espère posséder, est une tendance naturelle à favoriser une unité nationale bien comprise, libre de contrainte et compatible avec la diversité. Permettez-moi d'affirmer que les délégués à cette Conférence sont convaincus que dans le Canada de demain, comme dans celui d'hier, le respect mutuel sera assuré par un désir de compréhension aux termes de la constitution que nous ont léguée les Pères de la Confédération. Nous nous apprêtons à célébrer le centenaire de l'unification de notre pays. Certes, il ne devrait pas être nécessaire d'affirmer, mais je le ferai tout de même, que nous nous apprêtons à célébrer cet anniversaire non pas dans un esprit de méfiance ou de désillusion, mettant en doute la cohésion de nos provinces, de l'élément anglais ou français, mais plutôt avec la conviction croissante que nous sommes dans la bonne voie. Au cours de nos entretiens, entre Canadiens des deux langues, cela a été établi à maintes reprises comme nous venons encore de le faire d'une façon non officielle lors de notre grande Conférence. Nous avons échangé des poignées de main en signes d'amitié, de confiance et d'entière fraternité. Malgré nos divergences d'opinions sur plusieurs questions, nous n'avons jamais eu l'impression d'être séparés comme par un mur. A ce sujet, je dois vous avouer avec un regret bien sincère que lors d'occasions officielles comme celles-ci, on ne fait jamais assez état de ces sentiments auxquels on donne pourtant libre cours dans le particulier et dont l'authenticité ne laisse subsister aucun doute. Comme il serait profitable et pratique si, de temps à autre, et tout particulièrement à l'occasion de ce remarquable congrès, nous entendions des porte-parole officiels de cette grande province qui nous accueille aujourd'hui, exprimer leur intention bien arrêtée de faire cause commune avec nous, plutôt que nous mettre en garde contre des injustices que nous n'avons pas l'intention de commettre. Comme nous préférerions voir tendue vers nous une main amicale plutôt qu'un doigt accusateur ! Nous sommes prêts cependant à accepter de bonne part, à l'occasion, qu'on nous rappelle les termes de l'entente qui nous unit. Nous entendons respecter scrupuleusement les ententes conclues lors de la Confédération et cela non seulement parce que c'est notre devoir mais aussi parce que c'est là notre désir. En notre qualité de Canadiens, nous entendons demeurer dans la voie de l'honnêteté et de l'honneur ; nos intentions sont droites ; nous ne trempons dans aucune conspiration ; le mot même nous fait horreur. Nous vénérons la mémoire de Sir Wilfrid Laurier, un des fils les plus illustres du Canada. Nous attendons son successeur ; nous souhaitons et désirons ardemment qu'il nous vienne de la Province de Québec; nous voudrions même qu'il nous vienne de cette province de préférence à tout autre car nous connaissons les splendides qualités qui ont toujours marqué

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ses fils et nous admirons cette cordialité et cette ferveur typiquement françaises que l'on retrouve si souvent chez nos concitoyens du Québec. Ceci dit, en ma qualité d'ancien, à titre honoraire, de deux grandes universités canadiennes-françaises, puis-je rappeler à nos amis francophones qu'ils ont aussi une autre obligation et que nous aimerions les entendre nous rappeler non seulement les traits distinctifs qu'ils sont si fiers de conserver mais aussi les traits communs que nous partageons avec eux dans la plénitude de l'esprit chrétien, héritage dont ils se doivent d'être les plus fiers défenseurs, dans ce pays qui nous est cher. Permettez-moi de signaler en passant qu'à aucune de nos nombreuses réunions il n'y a eu de témoignage éloquent et éclatant, d'affirmations de principes qui puissent être proposés à tous les Canadiens, quelle que soit leur origine culturelle. Il est trop tard pour songer à le faire maintenant et, de toute façon, je n'ai pas la prétention d'insinuer que je pourrais vous offrir ce que d'autres n'ont pas su ou pas voulu apporter. Je ne saurais terminer sans vous livrer quelques pensées qui me sont dictées par mon cœur et inspirées de mes convictions les plus profondes ; je vous en fais part, non à titre personnel mais parce que je les crois partagées aujourd'hui par la majorité des Canadiens de bonne volonté. Je pose tout d'abord en principe une constatation qui me paraît indéniable, à savoir que dans les années '60, la clé de notre avenir national, pour nous comme pour tout autre pays du monde contemporain, c'est l'efficacité de notre système d'éducation. Je vous avoue franchement que tout pays où les écoles et les universités sont dans une impasse est un pays sans avenir ou qui doit se préparer à un avenir trouble et incertain. Notre monde moderne a compris, par l'expérience de chaque continent que tout pays qui place l'argent, la puissance et son prestige national au-dessus de l'éducation et du respect de ses obligations culturelles, est un pays qui ne parviendra pas à atteindre les fins qu'il se propose et qui, en outre, ne réussira pas plus à en atteindre d'autres. Un brave et illustre citoyen américain, le sergent York, d'humble extraction mais d'une grandeur d'âme qui le classe bien au-dessus du commun des mortels, disait un jour que si quelqu'un recherchait la puissance et la richesse plus que la liberté, il perdrait la liberté et tout le reste par surcroît. Il en va de même pour l'éducation. Ainsi va le monde ; telle est la leçon de la triste expérience de nombreuses générations. Je ne vois pas pourquoi nous mettrions en doute cette leçon de l'histoire. Elle s'applique intégralement au Canada où que nous vivions : à Montréal, à Québec, à Calgary ou à Vancouver. Si nous hésitons à accepter cette leçon il y en a d'autres à Moscou ou à Pékin qui sont plus perspicaces. En 1962, l'homme le plus important n'est peut-être pas le commerçant qui réussit à réaliser des échanges avantageux, ni le diplomate prudent qui joue sur le sens des mots pour en arriver à un compromis mais bien plutôt

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l'instituteur ou le professeur qui ne connaît pas encore les limites de son influence. Ceci nous laisserait plutôt indifférents si le Canada n'était, pour vous comme pour moi, qu'un espace géographique où s'exercent certains facteurs politiques et économiques et auquel se rattachent certains souvenirs historiques. Mais pour chacun de nous, le Canada représente beaucoup plus qu'une loyauté passagère que l'on peut troquer au besoin contre la citoyenneté d'un autre pays. Nous ne pouvons penser au Canada en ces termes; soit que nous y soyons établis depuis peu, depuis les années 1900 ou même depuis ces toutes dernières années; soit que nous habitions la vallée du St-Laurent qui pendant plus de quatre siècles a été la porte du Canada, la route des grands seigneurs et des humbles colons, la route aussi qui a accueilli plusieurs infortunés comme mes ancêtres qui venaient d'Irlande en quête de paix, de liberté et d'une modeste aisance, à l'abri des convoitises. Nous considérons le Canada comme une oasis bénie de la Providence à qui ont été épargnés les malheurs qui ont dévasté d'autres grands pays et décimé tant d'autres peuples. Ceci, nous pouvons l'admettre en toute humilité, sans chercher nous en attribuer le moindre mérite. Je ne sais vraiment pas pourquoi il en a été ainsi mais je demanderais à tous mes compatriotes, ceux de langue anglaise comme ceux de langue française, de bien vouloir reconnaître le sort privilégié qui nous a toujours été réservé. A ce sujet, je ne puis résister à la tentation d'affirmer que de tous les pays sans exception, le Canada est, à un certain point de vue, le plus favorisé : en effet, un extraordinaire concours de circonstances a fait de nous un pays privilégié, sans rivaux, un des plus beaux et des plus libres où on puisse espérer vivre. Les Canadiens s'en rendent compte parfois, mais plutôt inconsciemment, lorsqu'étant aux Etats-Unis, en Grande-Bretagne ou ailleurs à l'étranger, ils songent à rentrer au pays sans trop savoir pourquoi. A mon avis, c'est ce quelque chose qu'il s'agit de proclamer bien haut. Le Canada offre au point de vue social, économique et politique des conditions d'égalité tout à fait remarquables. Il y a des pays qui offrent à un des trois points de vue des conditions plus favorables que celles qui existent chez-nous. Les Etats-Unis peuvent peut-être prétendre dans l'ensemble avoir poussé plus loin que nous l'égalité économique ; le Royaume-Uni, par contre, est fier à bon droit du développement politique qu'il a atteint et qui a servi de modèle au nôtre. Je serais sans doute disposé à accepter ces revendications mais je répète, en insistant, que le Canada offre un exemple unique. Si on considère les conditions d'égalité dans ces trois domaines pris, soit conjointement, soit chacun par rapport aux autres, je déclare que nulle part au monde on ne

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peut trouver de collectivité humaine mieux partagée que nous, plus choyée par la Providence et lancée en plein XXe siècle avec une tradition historique plus favorable. Comment pouvons-nous conserver cet avantage ? Comment pouvonsnous transmettre à la génération montante cet héritage que nous aimerions perpétuer pour le plus grand bien de notre pays? Vous connaissez la réponse aussi bien que moi. Vous savez que ces trois égalités, que nous possédons à un degré aussi remarquable, reposent sur la valeur et l'efficacité de notre système d'éducation. Toute autre considération demeure d'intérêt secondaire. Voilà notre seule défense, notre seule sauvegarde. Tel est l'unique objet, l'unique ambition des éducateurs canadiens. Je suis persuadé que les hommes et les femmes dont nous avons besoin pour assurer le développement normal de notre système d'éducation ne nous feront pas défaut. Je brûle déjà de savoir ce que nous réserve la prochaine décennie et les autres qui suivront. C'est avec gratitude que je salue nos prédécesseurs et c'est avec confiance que j'attends ceux qui assureront le maintien de cette noble tradition. Nous, Canadiens, sommes au plus haut point des privilégiés ; plus que tout autre peuple, l'histoire nous a favorisés. Sachons au moins reconnaître notre prospérité non méritée, notre libre accès au savoir, notre affranchissement de toute restriction mesquine. Pour manifester notre gratitude, attaquons-nous avec ardeur, ferveur et désintéressement à la tâche de promouvoir l'éducation au Canada, à tous les niveaux, pour notre plus grand bien comme aussi pour le bien de ces peuples pour qui la Providence a bien voulu, malgré notre indignité, que nous fassions figure de frères aînés. Nous avons connu dans le passé des époques glorieuses et de véritables âges d'or grâce à la puissance de nos armes et à notre prospérité économique. Aujourd'hui, pour la première fois, on convie des pays comme le nôtre à se porter au secours de pays moins fortunés. Cet appel, nous l'avons entendu. Nous ne faillirons pas à la tâche. Closing remarks by the chairman of the C.C.E. National Committee / Ajournement par le président du Comité national de la Conférence

KURT

R.

SWINTON

We are now approaching the end of a memorable event in Canadian history, and a remarkable milestone in the development of Canadian education. During the last four and a half days we have talked education, laughed education, wept education, and dreamed education. I hope we were able

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peut trouver de collectivité humaine mieux partagée que nous, plus choyée par la Providence et lancée en plein XXe siècle avec une tradition historique plus favorable. Comment pouvons-nous conserver cet avantage ? Comment pouvonsnous transmettre à la génération montante cet héritage que nous aimerions perpétuer pour le plus grand bien de notre pays? Vous connaissez la réponse aussi bien que moi. Vous savez que ces trois égalités, que nous possédons à un degré aussi remarquable, reposent sur la valeur et l'efficacité de notre système d'éducation. Toute autre considération demeure d'intérêt secondaire. Voilà notre seule défense, notre seule sauvegarde. Tel est l'unique objet, l'unique ambition des éducateurs canadiens. Je suis persuadé que les hommes et les femmes dont nous avons besoin pour assurer le développement normal de notre système d'éducation ne nous feront pas défaut. Je brûle déjà de savoir ce que nous réserve la prochaine décennie et les autres qui suivront. C'est avec gratitude que je salue nos prédécesseurs et c'est avec confiance que j'attends ceux qui assureront le maintien de cette noble tradition. Nous, Canadiens, sommes au plus haut point des privilégiés ; plus que tout autre peuple, l'histoire nous a favorisés. Sachons au moins reconnaître notre prospérité non méritée, notre libre accès au savoir, notre affranchissement de toute restriction mesquine. Pour manifester notre gratitude, attaquons-nous avec ardeur, ferveur et désintéressement à la tâche de promouvoir l'éducation au Canada, à tous les niveaux, pour notre plus grand bien comme aussi pour le bien de ces peuples pour qui la Providence a bien voulu, malgré notre indignité, que nous fassions figure de frères aînés. Nous avons connu dans le passé des époques glorieuses et de véritables âges d'or grâce à la puissance de nos armes et à notre prospérité économique. Aujourd'hui, pour la première fois, on convie des pays comme le nôtre à se porter au secours de pays moins fortunés. Cet appel, nous l'avons entendu. Nous ne faillirons pas à la tâche. Closing remarks by the chairman of the C.C.E. National Committee / Ajournement par le président du Comité national de la Conférence

KURT

R.

SWINTON

We are now approaching the end of a memorable event in Canadian history, and a remarkable milestone in the development of Canadian education. During the last four and a half days we have talked education, laughed education, wept education, and dreamed education. I hope we were able

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to convey a significant message on education to our fellow citizens across this vast nation. Never before bas a conference been so well reported, so closely observed, and so carefully analysed. lt is now my task to say goodbye to you, and to express the thanks of a grateful nation for ail that you have done. Almost two thousand of you came here, from ail parts of Canada and representing every phase of our national life. Ail of you have given up a week of your busy lives to study the problems and dilemmas of education, and to attempt to find a solution for the future. National problems-many people will say-are never solved by conferences, however large, long, or exciting. However, in many respects this was a conference with a difference. Nearly seven hundred people worked for over two years in preparing for it, and its impact on the national conscience will be felt long after the final word bas been spoken and the last article written. I have now to perform the difficult task of offering my resignation as Chairman of the National Committee of the Canadian Conference on Education. I have had the privilege of occupying this position for the last six years, and I feel deeply and strongly that I should not continue any longer. I will of course carry on until such time as the continuing organization has been properly constituted and a successor has been chosen. These last six years-and particularly these last five days-have been an enormous emotional experience for me. I came to this country twentytwo years ago as a refugee from central Europe, and I still laugh when I consider that on the slightest provocation I have the temerity to get up and make speeches on Canadian education-with a foreign accent. I am truly deeply and intensely grateful, however, to ail those who have worked so bard and so closely with me and thus given a New Canadian a unique opportunity to serve bis country of adoption. Now I feel that I must go beyond the level of mere expressions of gratitude and appreciation. This, I think, is perhaps my last opportunity of expressing before a forum of such scope and talent a conviction which has struck me more and more forcibly as I have studied the Canadian education picture over the past years. I know that what I am going to suggest will meet with the disapproval of some of you. I trust that its sincerity will ensure that it loses me no friends. I believe-in fact, I am convinced-that Canada needs a National Office of Education. I think this conference has proved beyond any doubt that there is such a thing as education in Canada. I think that all of us here now must be convinced that we have many more things in common than things that separate us. This, I believe, is one of the great tessons of this conference.

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It is one of the many platitudes which open or close most speeches on education that education is a national concem but a provincial responsibility. I feel strongly that this concern bas now become desperate and that the problems of education have become such that they simply cannot be solved by local boards or provincial departments alone. The need for a National Office of Education bas become almost overpowering. I know that this thought is neither drastically new nor startlingly revolutionary. I am firmly convinced that such a National Office will be a reality sooner or later. I would like to do here and now what little I can to have it become a reality sooner. This forum bas access to the eyes and ears of the nation and while it is too much to hope that my clarion call will cause the immediate establishment of such an institution, I fervently hope that it may provoke a national debate and intensive soul-searching throughout this country. Let those who are opposed get up and explain the reasons why, and give those who are in favour an opportunity to consider these objections sine ira et studio ( without favour and fury). Having lived and worked with educators and enjoyed their friendship and understanding for almost a decade now, I am of course fully aware of the existence of the British North America Act. Somehow I feel, however, that the B.N.A. Act, forming as it does the basis of our federation, is now being used as a justification rather than a constitution. I submit for your consideration that while the chronological age of this important document of Canadian history is 95 years now, in terms of technical, scientific, social, economic, and political problems, it is about 950 years old. So much bas happened in so many fields that some of its provisions now urgently require reconsideration and re-examination. Surely, living in the second half of the twentieth century, we will be able to match the imagination, boldness, and resourcefulness of our forefathers and find a modus vivendi suitable to our times. I am not suggesting here a voluntary organization such as the Canadian Conference on Education, or a Citizens' Advisory Council or whatever else you might wish to call it. I am also fully aware that there are many excellent professional organizations in the field of education, notably the Canadian Education Association and the Canadian Teachers' Federation. I feel strongly, however, that something new, something different, is needed, and that only a bold and imaginative approach can provide the needed impetus. I am suggesting a federal-provincial Office of Education, reporting to Parliament, set up with the full prestige and resources of a federal office, but conceivably financed and staffed jointly by the federal govemment and the ten-and I say advisedly ten-provincial governments. It is surely not

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beyond the creative genius of Canadian educators, as well as of Canadian politicians (or should we call them statesmen?) to work out a pattern that would provide an instrument and a vehicle, and to find ail the financial resources needed to carry out the many important tasks which will further the progress of Canadian education. Such a National Office need not mean federal control or domination, central direction, or stifling bureaucracy exercised by unimaginative civil servants from Ottawa. On the contrary, it can, and I am sure it will, provide a central focus for the many vital and dynamic trends that now exist in Canadian education and from which this nation as a whole will benefit. Whether we like it or not, the Federal Government is in the field of education in a big way-through the back door, the side door, and often through the front door. I understand that a special report bas been prepared for the Glassco Commission in Ottawa, which amazed everybody who saw it, about the many and varied activities carried out by the Federal Government in the field of education. The duties and responsibilities of such a National Office would be manifold and in many cases obvious. I should like to mention only a few of them here. The growing stature of Canada in the international field has involved us deeply as a nation in the field of international education, and at the moment there simply is no apparatus to deal with this growing involvement and these increasing responsibilities. There is, too, a desperate need to co-ordinate and integrate the financial aid provided by the federal government to the provinces and the local boards. I could keep on enumerating such problem areas for a long time, and I am sure there are many of you here who have more ideas on this subject than I have. If this suggestion appears fantastic and unrealistic to you, please stop to contemplate the progress which this Conference-a citizens' movement -has made in the last four years. At the beginning it appeared impossible that we would ever hold such an important meeting in the field of education in Canada's largest French-speaking city. The meeting has been held in a spirit of friendship and mutual understanding. Ways and means have been found for the two major groups of this country to get together, to understand each other, and to work towards their common goal-the advancement of Canadian education. I am unalterably convinced that it will be possible to find a new constitutional formula giving recognition to this overpowering need for a National

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Office, while at the same time recognizing the bilingual and bicultural nature of this country. In order to avoid any possibility of a misunderstanding, and for the benefit of my many French-speaking friends, 1 would like to state categorically that the opposition to a National Office is not confined to the Province of Quebec. There is opposition in other areas of Canada as well. ln my many travels, however-and I have spoken to hundreds, if not thousands of gatherings and meetings, to large and small groups across the country, from one coast to the other-1 have found that among ordinary citizens, the voters, the taxpayers, the fathers and mothers of this country, there is a general longing, or at least a vague desire, for an institution such as the one I suggest. lt is true that there are powerful forces opposed to the creation of such a National Office, but I am convinced that if today we had a national plebiscite on this problem, the Canadian nation would overwhelmingly support this idea. lt is true, too, that the ten provinces have different requirements, different interests, and to a certain extent different histories. Our country covers a variety of conditions and a multiplicity of characters and requirements. However, we have one thing in common: we ail feel as Canadians and want to be Canadians-Canadians of one culture or the other, but nonetheless Canadian. This is the true and only definition of a nation. However different the conditions may be, we have ail to face the problems of the twentieth century and the desperate need to adjust ourselves to changed and changing conditions. 1 am convinced that a properly constituted National Office of Education will greatly contribute to what appears now to be non-existent-namely, "Canadian education." And Canadian education can develop into the most powerful force for the development of a Canadian national character. lt will surely contribute a good deal more than a distinctive Canadian flag, a special Canadian national anthem, or government regulations of advertising in Canadian editions of American magazines. May I ask you to look at the enormous problems we have to face, to think of the staggering changes which we will encounter in the next decade, to realize the speed with which we have to adjust ourselves to these important factors. 1 feel that time is running out. We simply cannot continue "business as usual," or politics as usual, and especially education as usual. H. G. Wells coined the now-famous phrase that history is a race between catastrophe and education. By our presence here we have shown that we are willing to contribute our share to making sure that education will win, and I hope that we all go home not only convinced ourselves but prepared to convince our fellow citizens, that "As education goes, so goes Canada."

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EXTRAITS DU MOT DE LA FIN PAR M. SWINTON

Je crois que la Conférence a prouvé qu'il existe au Canada ce qu'on pourrait appeler le système scolaire canadien. Je crois que vous êtes tous convaincus qu'il y a beaucoup plus de choses qui nous rapprochent qu'il y en a qui nous divisent. C'est là, je crois, une des grandes leçons que nous pouvons tirer de la présente conférence. C'est devenu un lien commun de déclarer au commencement ou à la fin de tout discours sur l'éducation que l'éducation au Canada préoccupe toute la nation mais que la responsabilité en incombe aux provinces. Je suis fermement convaincu que le problème a atteint une telle acuité et une telle ampleur qu'il ne peut être résolu par les seuls efforts des autorités locales et des autorités provinciales. L'établissement d'un Office National de l'Education est devenu une nécessité impérieuse. J'ai l'impression que cette proposition n'est pas absolument nouvelle et qu'elle n'est pas foncièrement révolutionnaire. Je suis fermement convaincu qu'un tel Office deviendra tôt ou tard une réalité. Je désire faire ici le peu que je puis faire pour contribuer à hâter la réalisation de cette entreprise. Notre réunion a été observée et entendue par la nation tout entière et, bien qu'il serait présomptueux de ma part d'espérer que mon appel aura pour résultat l'organisation immédiate de l'organisme proposé, je crois néanmoins qu'il pourra inviter à la réflexion et provoquer un débat d'envergure nationale au cours duquel ceux qui sont opposés au projet pourront faire valoir leurs arguments pendant que les partisans du projet pourront prendre les objections en considération sine ira et studio (sans parti-pris et sans colère). Ayant vécu et travaillé avec des éducateurs depuis près de dix ans et ayant bénéficié de leur amitié et de leur compréhension, je suis parfaitement au courant de l'Acte de l'Amérique du nord britannique. J'ai, cependant, l'impression que cette loi qui constitue la base de notre fédération, est employée maintenant plutôt comme une justification que comme une constitution. Permettez-moi de faire remarquer que, si l'âge chronologique de cet important document de l'histoire du Canada est 95 ans, son âge réel, aux points de vue technique, scientifique, social, économique et politique, est d'environ 950 ans. Tant de choses se sont produites dans tant de domaines que certaines des dispositions de ce document constitutionnel ont besoin d'être étudiées de nouveau et d'être mises au point. Nous qui vivons dans la deuxième moitié du 20ième siècle, nous pourrions sûrement manüester autant de courage et d'imagination que nos ancêtres en vue de trouver des solutions conformes à la situation actuelle. Je ne parle pas en ce moment d'un organisme bénévole comme la Conférence canadienne sur l'Education ni d'un Conseil consultatü de

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citoyens ni d'un autre organisme du même genre. Je sais parfaitement bien qu'il y a actuellement plusieurs excellents organismes professionnels, dans le domaine de l'éducation, comme l'Association canadienne d'Education et la Canadian Teachers' Federation. Je crois fermement qu'il faut quelque chose de nouveau et de différent et qu'il faudra du courage et de l'imagination pour aborder le sujet et donner l'impulsion initiale. Je veux parler d'un Office fédéral-provincial d'éducation qui ferait rapport de son travail au Parlement, qui serait doté du prestige et des ressources d'un organisme national, mais qui pourrait être financé conjointement et doté d'un personnel par le gouvernement fédéral et les dix gouvernements provinciaux, je dis avec dessein par les dix gouvernements provinciaux. Sûrement ce ne doit pas être une tâche qui dépasse le génie créateur des éducateurs et des hommes d'Etat au Canada que de mettre sur pied un organisme de ce genre qui pourrait trouver les ressources financières nécessaires pour accomplir toutes les tâches importantes qui ont pour objet d'assurer le progrès de l'éducation au Canada. Un Office National de ce genre ne veut pas dire un organisme dominé par les autorités fédérales et régi par une bureaucratie du gouvernement central. Au contraire, il pourra, et je suis persuadé qu'il en sera ainsi, harmoniser et coordonner les tendances dynamiques qui existent actuellement au sein de toutes les parties du Canada en matière d'éducation en vue de les faire servir au bien-être du Canada tout entier ... Je suis parfaitement convaincu qu'il serait possible de trouver une nouvelle formule constitutionnelle qui permettrait l'établissement d'un Office National d'éducation et qui reconnaîtrait le caractère bilingue et biculturel de notre pays. Afin d'éviter tout malentendu, et je dis ceci à l'adresse de mes amis de langue française, je dois dire que l'opposition à l'établissement d'un Office national d'éducation ne vient pas seulement de la province de Québec. Elle vient aussi d'autres régions du Canada. Au cours de mes voyages, cependant, j'ai porté la parole dans des centaines, pour ne pas dire des milliers, de réunions grandes et petites dans toutes les parties du Canada et j'ai constaté que parmi les citoyens moyens (les électeurs, les contribuables, les pères et les mères de familles), on est en faveur de l'établissement d'un organisme du genre de celui que je viens de décrire. Il est vrai qu'il y a des forces puissantes qui s'opposent à ce projet, mais je suis convaincu que, si l'on organisait un référendum sur cette question, la grande majorité du peuple canadien serait en faveur. Il est vrai aussi que les dix provinces ont des besoins et des intérêts différents et, jusqu'à un certain point, une histoire différente. Il y a dans notre pays une grande variété de situations, de mœurs et de besoins. Mais nous avons une chose en commun. Que nous appartenions à une culture

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ou à une autre, nous sommes tous fiers d'être Canadiens. C'est la véritable et seule définition d'une nation. Quelle que soit notre situation particulière, nous devons tous faire face aux problèmes du vingtième siècle et au besoin de nous adapter aux conditions actuelles. Je suis persuadé qu'un Office National suppose évidemment une connaissance approfondie et sans cesse renouvelée du milieu, de même que l'acquisition d'une habitude de réflexion qui permette de dominer les situations à la lumière d'un jugement critique. On parle souvent de l'extrême mobilité et complexité du monde, de la responsabilité de l'être humain, du rôle de l'éducateur d'adultes. Voilà certes de bien grands mots, mais qui risquent de faire figure de lieux communs s'ils ne cernent de près une réalité. Dans le contexte social qui est nôtre, et plus particulièrement le milieu d'expression française, nous essaierons d'inventorier, en un tour d'horizon, quelques-uns des faits marquants qui posent un défi à l'homme de chez nous et militent en faveur d'une action toujours plus dynamique des mouvements d'éducation des adultes. Après quoi nous rappellerons un certain nombre de moyens suggérés à la Conférence d'octobre, comme étant les plus aptes à répondre aux besoins actuels de notre société. I. Que le Canada français soit en pleine révolution intellectuelle, que cette révolution ait des implications sociales, politiques, religieuses et con-

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séquemment de fortes répercussions dans la vie de l'individu comme dans celle de la collectivité, nous l'admettons tous, pour peu que nous ayons l'œil ouvert. Nous ne sommes plus au pays de la chasse-gardée et la violence des forces nouvelles se fait d'autant plus sentir que jusqu'ici la tradition établie, l'éducation reçue et maintenant dépassée ont eu pour effet d'engourdir notre inquiétude dans une douce somnolence. Notre sécurité est ébranlée : la vérité que nous croyions si bien posséder est sans cesse à redécouvrir par une quête perpétuelle. Aujourd'hui, l'accession possible à des idéologies nouvelles et multiples implique la responsabilité de choisir et nécessite autrement plus de formation et d'esprit critique que l'embrigadement dans une pensée commune et unanime. L'instinct et la propre vitalité de l'adulte ne suffisent pas à la tâche ; il a besoin d'être éclairé, de confronter ses idées avec celles de son voisin, d'apprendre à peser les options possibles et d'acquérir enfin cette force tranquille de l'âme, capable d'engagement. Si la façon de sentir, de penser, de vivre évolue, il en va de même de la culture influencée par des courants divers. Cela peut paraître paradoxal, mais il semble que l'homme envahi par la technique éprouve le besoin de se tourner vers l'essence même de ce qui est humain : l'expression artistique. L'industrialisation et l'urbanisation en créant des standards de vie plus élevés ont décuplé l'intérêt pour les humanités et les arts. Les sciences elles-mêmes se taillent une place de choix dans une nouvelle forme d'humanisme qui attire l'adulte et le place devant des impératifs. A l'approche du Centenaire de la Confédération, le problème d'un Canada bi-culturel se pose avec acuité. L'unité canadienne peut-elle se réaliser dans le respect des deux groupes ethniques ? Des réactions se font vivement sentir de part et d'autre car l'enjeu est sérieux : il y va des aspirations les plus profondes et les plus légitimes de l'homme, comme de la conservation de son patrimoine culturel. Sommes-nous suffisamment avertis pour mesurer toutes les implications politiques, économiques et sociales de la question ? L'information objective, l'éducation à la compréhension, au respect d'autrui à la recherche du bien commun s'imposent à cette heure déterminante. Pour aussi complexe que puisse paraître la situation, il faut craindre l'enlisement dans l'égoïsme. Car les pays sous-développés sollicitent notre attention : ils ont besoin de l'aide des peuples les mieux pourvus. Sans doute nous accepterions généreusement de fournir notre quote-part, mais encore est-il nécessaire que soient étudiés et portés à notre connaissance les problèmes des peuples moins bien partagés. Faire comprendre à l'homme le sens de la citoyenneté, de l'entr'aide à l'échelle mondiale et la nature des obligations souvent très lourdes que cela comporte est l'une des tâches de l'éducation des adultes.

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Au niveau de l'enseignement académique, un système d'éducation incomplet et incohérent a gaspillé, jusqu'à date, du moins dans la province de Québec, beaucoup de talents. Les problèmes de récupération et de rattrapage sont nombreux. Les résultats d'une récente enquête de l'Institut Canadien d'Éducation des Adultes, portant sur quelques 60,000 sujets fournissent des preuves à l'appui. Il s'avère urgent de combler cette lacune et de prévoir, en matière d'éducation, une action coordonnée englobant l'enseignement aux adultes. La coupure impardonnable entre le monde de l'éducation et le monde du travail, le manque d'orientation, l'absence de méthodologie adaptée à la psychologie de l'adulte sont autant d'aspects qui demandent à être étudiés. De même en regard des cours offerts aux adultes et des ouvertures disponibles sur le marché du travail, une société industrielle bien organisée se doit d'établir une planification régionale qui joue dans le sens d'une mobilité, tant professionnelle que géographique, de la main-d'œuvre. Or, toujours d'après la même enquête, la situation apparaît pour le moins anarchique. Enfin, l'automation pose elle-même le problème, à court et à long terme, de la réadaptation professionnelle ; il semble bien qu'encore une fois on ne soit pas en mesure d'y faire face et de prévoir pour l'avenir. Nous pourrions poursuivre ainsi l'énumération des facteurs qui montrent l'urgence de l'organisation et du développement de l'éducation des adultes. Mais le temps mis à notre disposition nous permet tout au plus d'indiquer, pour le moment, quelques moyens et initiatives propres à assurer l'accomplissement maxima de l'adulte et de la collectivité. II. La première qui s'impose à notre réflexion, c'est l'intégration de l'éducation des adultes dans tout le système d'enseignement. Il serait souhaitable que le gouvernement de toutes les provinces du Canada prévoit à cette fin une division provinciale de l'éducation des adultes. Au niveau de l'enseignement académique, il y aurait lieu de prendre des dispositions précises en vue d'une réglementation et d'une coordination de toutes les institutions dispensant l'enseignement aux adultes et trop souvent, hélas ! laissées, jusqu'ici, à leur propre improvisation. On pourrait songer également à un rôle plus actif des commissions scolaires et à la formation de professeurs spécialisés. Il va sans dire que les exigences académiques et pédagogiques en regard du corps professoral peuvent sensiblement différer de celles requises pour la formation des jeunes. Mais il apparaît indispensable, entre autre, que l'éducateur d'adultes possède de bonnes notions de la psychologie de l'adulte, soit familier avec l'emploi des méthodes actives et sache assurer un lien continuel avec l'actualité. Au niveau des programmes et des examens, il s'avère nécessaire d'établir

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un système de crédits souple, allant jusqu'à l'université, et comportant des équivalences par rapport au cours régulier, de sorte qu'à concurrence égale avec les jeunes, l'adulte puisse obtenir un emploi ou poursuivre des études supérieures. La création de centres permanents d'éducation des adultes où se tiendraient des stages en résidence, tant pour la formation de responsables que pour celle des groupes adultes, rejoint une de nos préoccupations pour l'avenir. Ces centres s'inspireraient des folk high schools de Scandinavie et pourraient être avantageusement utilisés par les mouvements et associations qui y trouveraient le matériel indispensable pour leur propre cours, ainsi que des locaux bien aménagés pour l'organisation de journées d'études et de rencontres de toutes so1tes. Dans le domaine proprement culturel, il apparaît nécessaire de rendre accessible à un plus grand nombre de personnes les musées et les bibliothèques. Un réseau de services auxiliaires bien organisés - bibliothèques régionales, comprenant des services par colis postaux, biblio-bus, collections ambulantes, ... etc. - pourrait rendre d'immenses services et accroître l'essor culturel de toute notre population. De même, une meilleure utilisation des mass media, particulièrement la télévision, peut effectivement donner le moyen d'atteindre un large public qui mérite une promotion culturelle, civique, politique et technique. Jusqu'ici le Service éducatif de Radio-Canada a mis en ondes des émissions de qualité propres à assurer cette promotion. On pourrait souhaiter toutefois un effort dans la coordination des programmes et l'emploi d'une politique plus souple apte à favoriser davantage la collaboration des organismes et associations d'éducation des adultes intéressée à la préparation de telles émissions. Les possibilités d'emploi d'une télévision éducative en faveur d'une clientèle de langue française, jusqu'ici à peu près ignorée, ont soulevé, ces derniers mois, d'ardentes polémiques. Parce qu'ils y voient tout le profit que peut en retirer la communauté, les responsables d'éducation des adultes sont entrés dans la mêlée. Des positions très fermes ont été adoptées à l'effet qu'il ne saurait être question de confier la direction d'un réseau éducatif à la seule entreprise privée et qu'il apparaît plus sage, du moins pour le moment, de s'en tenir à des expériences avant d'engager de fortes sommes pour la création d'un réseau. On sait que par ailleurs, particulièrement dans le secteur des cours par correspondance aux adultes, la télévision peut rendre d'immenses services auxiliaires et on souhaite que des efforts soient entrepris en ce sens et qu'on aborde aussi d'autres domaines. Au Canada français, l'éducation des adultes a connu une vive impulsion, au cours de ces dernières années, grâce surtout à l'apport d'organismes privés qui ont joué un rôle très actif malgré des ressources plutôt limitées.

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On songe par exemple à la somme de courage déployé par une petite poignée d'hommes qui ont réussi à tenir le coup, parce qu'ils y croyaient, qu'ils avaient foi en l'avenir. De l'ampleur des tâches qui restent maintenant à accomplir, il ressort que l'éducation des adultes est désormais la responsabilité de la société dans son ensemble et à plus forte raison du gouvernement. Il serait souhaitable que celui-ci adopte une politique libérale envers les initiatives des corps bénévoles et favorise ainsi l'éclosion de formules nouvelles qui rejoignent de plus en plus la masse. Sur le plan économique, politique, social et familial un effort spécial d'initiation aux techniques d'action susceptibles de créer et de développer le sens des responsabilités doit être entrepris. Combien d'adultes par exemple possèdent des notions précises sur le mouvement coopératif et syndical, combien sont en mesure de discuter en connaissance de cause les problèmes reliés à la vie politique, économique et même familiale, de la nation canadienne. Devant la complexité de la situation et la difficulté que l'on éprouve à classifier les problèmes, par ordre d'importance, une solution s'impose : la création d'un CENTRE CANADIEN DE RECHERCHE. Analyser les besoins pratiques et théoriques de l'éducation des adultes, rédiger les projets pour l'établissement des grandes lignes d'un programme qui réponde aux besoins, prévoir la publication des travaux et favoriser l'esprit de coopération en vue de la coordination des efforts, tels sont dans l'ensemble, les aspects principaux soulevés par les participants à la Conférence d'octobre. Il va sans dire qu'un tableau aussi chargé que celui que nous venons de brosser et qui, malgré tout, est loin d'être complet, requiert un mode de financement adéquat qui permette de donner à l'éducation l'extension et la qualité dont notre pays a besoin. Aussi, estime-t-on urgent de créer : une commission d'études sur le financement de l'éducation des adultes au Canada et de recueillir immédiatement les fonds nécessaires au fonctionnement de cette commission en s'adressant à quelques fondations que le projet pourrait intéresser. III. Je me permets de rappeler, en terminant, que l'éducation des adultes s'intègre dans la vie toute entière de chaque homme par un processus de continuité qui ne connaît ni commencement, ni fin. Ses possibilités sont illimitées et chacun d'entre nous en porte, à divers titre, la responsabilité. SUMMARY OF MISS JOUBERT'S REMARKS

The most striking impression from the recent National Conference on Adult Education was the accent on a changing society, with much of the change being directed by the citizens themselves. This calls for thorough and ever-renewing knowledge as well as critical judgment-surely a great task and a great challenge.

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French Canada is in the midst of an intellectual revolution, with unprecedented demands being placed on adult education agencies. Artistic expression, the humanities and the sciences-an have gained renewed vigour. Pride in our cultural heritage may even imperil Canadian unity, if we are not alert. And others less fortunate need our help: the newly developing nations. An intensive inquiry by the Institut canadien d'éducation des adultes reveals a serious situation in Quebec as a result of incomplete schooling. Establishment of an adult division of the provincial department of education is urgently needed. Specially trained teachers, permanent centres for the courses, extension of library and museum services, use of radio and television, a research centre in this field-all are under active consideration, as is the means of financing such a program. FRANK

PEERS

Director, Information Programming, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CONCLUSIONS ARISING OUT OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADULT EDUCATION, OCTOBER

1961

Underlying the deliberations of the National Conference on Adult Education was the firm conviction that education must be a continuing process throughout our lifetime. The concept of a "learning society" is one which must be taken seriously and one for which we must make comprehensive plans. It was felt that f ailure to recognize this necessity or to make adequate provision for the education of adults would mean lasses for the individual, and would also prevent Canada from maintaining any position of leadership in the modern world. The Conference recognized that by reason of our Canadian constitution and the structure of government we have no natural machinery for initiating and supporting adult education programs of the size and scope needed. We must therefore take steps to strengthen and endow the co-ordinating national adult education associations, in particular the Canadian Association for Adult Education and L'Institut canadien d'éducation des adultes. Continuing education is necessary for men and women at work; it is necessary if they are to exercise their freedom creatively in the hours outside work; it is necessary if they are to make wise and effective political judgments; it is necessary if they are to understand their rôle in the complex society of the present day, and to leam to live together in social units; and it is necessary if they are to make the best use of their physical environment with the aid of science and technology.

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French Canada is in the midst of an intellectual revolution, with unprecedented demands being placed on adult education agencies. Artistic expression, the humanities and the sciences-an have gained renewed vigour. Pride in our cultural heritage may even imperil Canadian unity, if we are not alert. And others less fortunate need our help: the newly developing nations. An intensive inquiry by the Institut canadien d'éducation des adultes reveals a serious situation in Quebec as a result of incomplete schooling. Establishment of an adult division of the provincial department of education is urgently needed. Specially trained teachers, permanent centres for the courses, extension of library and museum services, use of radio and television, a research centre in this field-all are under active consideration, as is the means of financing such a program. FRANK

PEERS

Director, Information Programming, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CONCLUSIONS ARISING OUT OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADULT EDUCATION, OCTOBER

1961

Underlying the deliberations of the National Conference on Adult Education was the firm conviction that education must be a continuing process throughout our lifetime. The concept of a "learning society" is one which must be taken seriously and one for which we must make comprehensive plans. It was felt that f ailure to recognize this necessity or to make adequate provision for the education of adults would mean lasses for the individual, and would also prevent Canada from maintaining any position of leadership in the modern world. The Conference recognized that by reason of our Canadian constitution and the structure of government we have no natural machinery for initiating and supporting adult education programs of the size and scope needed. We must therefore take steps to strengthen and endow the co-ordinating national adult education associations, in particular the Canadian Association for Adult Education and L'Institut canadien d'éducation des adultes. Continuing education is necessary for men and women at work; it is necessary if they are to exercise their freedom creatively in the hours outside work; it is necessary if they are to make wise and effective political judgments; it is necessary if they are to understand their rôle in the complex society of the present day, and to leam to live together in social units; and it is necessary if they are to make the best use of their physical environment with the aid of science and technology.

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Adult education programs must be conducted with the aid of ail sorts of voluntary organizations, but the Conference reasoned that they must have more unity, more direction, more purpose, than the voluntary organizations could give, working by themselves. Education of ail kinds must have the leadership of professionals, and this is as true today in adult education as it is in the education of children. We must review our methods and facilities for the education and training of our adult leaders. We must improve the ways by which adult teachers are recruited and placed in their jobs. Universities have a particular responsibility in this field. With the size of the job that needs to be done, provincial departments of education and school boards must play a central rôle. School boards should recognize a responsibility for adult education equal in importance to educating youth. Schools should be community centres for continuous learning, with programs directed by competent adult educators. We must find new ways of extending education to those who have not so far been caught up in the process of continuing learning: the dislocated; the rejected; the apathetic; and the non-conformist. We must find ways of extending the useful life of older people, both in their working life and in leisure time. We must increase the communication skills of those who have dropped out of school with insufficient formal education. We must increase the number of Canadians who are bilingual and we must extend the efforts of the Citizenship Branch in seeing that the best kind of citizenship education is made available to everyone. The importance of the mass media in present-day society was recognized. The Conference recommended that those who work professionally in the mass media exchange information with educators so that their fonctions will be interrelated and better understood. It was suggested in particular that broadcasting policy must be analysed and studied, and that a national committee on television should be be established which would be representative of the departments of education, universities, national educational organizations, and the broadcasting agencies themselves. To improve the content of adult education, it was suggested that the problem of research must be tackled. We must decide what kinds of research are most valuable, how such research should be supported and carried out, and how the resulting information should be distributed and made use of. The emphasis on more professional leadership in adult education has already been referred to. There must be growing attention paid to programs carried on in residential adult education centres, including conference centres. There must be increasing use made of group travel as a way of gathering information and experience at first band. There must be more emphasis on the fine arts, on ·public libraries as a necessary

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resource in the education of adults, and on the evaluation of university extension programs. Finally, it was suggested that a commission on financing the education of adults should be set up by the two national organizations, the CAAE and the ICEA, financed possibly by a foundation, to report its findings to a national conference in 1963. The problem of finance is crucial. Even though it may be possible for many adult education programs to become more or less self-supporting, no one knows how much money is being spent on continuing education, or how much more needs to be spent. The establishment of a commission on financing the education of adults, it was suggested, was a fundamental step that needs to be taken before we can make progress along ail the lines suggested in this report. RÉSUMÉ DE L'EXPOSÉ DE M. PEERS

La ferme conviction que l'éducation doit être un procédé continuel durant toute notre vie a animé les délibérations de la conférence nationale sur l'éducation des adultes. L'idée d'une « société qui s'instruit » en est une qui doit être prise sérieusement et pour laquelle nous devons tracer un plan d'ensemble. On a convenu que si l'on négligeait de reconnaître cette nécessité et de prendre les dispositions voulues pour l'éducation des adultes, ce serait non seulement l'individu qui en souffrirait, mais le Canada ne pourrait conserver un poste de commande dans le monde moderne. La conférence a reconnu qu'en raison de la constitution canadienne et des cadres de notre gouvernement nous n'avons pas de rouage naturel pour prendre l'initiative et maintenir un programme d'éducation des adultes aussi élaboré qu'il le faudrait. Nous devons donc prendre des mesures pour renforcer et appuyer les associations nationales de coordination de l'éducation des adultes, en particulier la Canadian Association for Adult Education et l'Institut canadien d'éducation des adultes. L'éducation continuelle est nécessaire pour les hommes et les femmes à leur travail ; elle est nécessaire pour leur permettre d'exercer leur liberté d'une façon créatrice en dehors des heures de travail; elle est nécessaire pour leur permettre de rendre des jugements politiques sages et efficaces ; elle est nécessaire pour leur permettre de comprendre leur rôle dans la société complexe de nos jours et d'apprendre à vivre ensemble dans des groupes sociaux ; elle est nécessaire pour leur permettre de faire le meilleur emploi de leur entourage physique à l'aide de la science et de la technologie. Tout programme d'éducation des adultes doit être dirigé avec l'aide de toutes sortes d'organismes bénévoles, mais la conférence s'est dite d'avis que l'on devrait lui donner plus d'unité, une meilleure direction

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et un but plus précis que les organismes bénévoles, laissés à leurs propres ressources, ne pourraient lui donner. Toute éducation doit être dirigée par des professionnels, et c'est aussi vrai de nos jours pour l'éducation des adultes que pour l'éducation des enfants. Nous devons reviser nos méthodes et les moyens à notre disposition pour l'éducation et la formation de nos chefs adultes. Nous devons améliorer notre façon de recruter et de mettre au travail les professeurs d'adultes. Les universitiés ont une responsabilité toute particulière dans ce domaine. Les ministères provinciaux de l'éducation et les commissions scolaires doivent jouer un rôle de premier plan en raison de l'ampleur du travail à accomplir. Les commissions scolaires devraient reconnaître que leur responsabilité dans l'éducation des adultes est aussi importante que l'éducation de la jeunesse. Les écoles devraient être des centres communautaires où l'on pourrait continuer d'apprendre sous la direction d'éducateurs adultes compétents. Nous devons trouver de nouveaux moyens de voir à l'éducation de ceux que l'on a pas encore atteints par le procédé d'enseignement continuel, le disloqué, le rejeté, l'apathique et le non-conformiste. Nous devons trouver le moyen de permettre aux personnes plus âgées d'avoir une vie utile plus prolongée, tant au travail que dans leurs heures de loisir. Nous devons accroître la facilité de communication de ceux qui ont quitté l'école avec une formation insuffisante. Nous devons accroître le nombre de Canadiens bilingues et nous devons multiplier les efforts de la Branche de la Citoyenneté pour s'assurer que tous reçoivent la meilleure éducation possible en civisme.

Report of Forum E CONTINUING EDUCATION

Sorne 200 people representative of ail walks of life and every part of Canada registered in the Forum on Continuing Education. The Forum was divided into six main groups and these in tum were further divided into many such groups or buzz sessions for the purpose of getting the maximum discussion on the following topics: Financing adult education; Training leaders in adult education; Research in adult education; The role of the mass media; Individualized services; Promotion of continuing education programs; Co-operation and co-ordination between educational agencies; Content of programs; Higher education; Adult education facilities; Special publics; The needs of Indians and Eskimos. Although different groups gave more attention to some topics than

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et un but plus précis que les organismes bénévoles, laissés à leurs propres ressources, ne pourraient lui donner. Toute éducation doit être dirigée par des professionnels, et c'est aussi vrai de nos jours pour l'éducation des adultes que pour l'éducation des enfants. Nous devons reviser nos méthodes et les moyens à notre disposition pour l'éducation et la formation de nos chefs adultes. Nous devons améliorer notre façon de recruter et de mettre au travail les professeurs d'adultes. Les universitiés ont une responsabilité toute particulière dans ce domaine. Les ministères provinciaux de l'éducation et les commissions scolaires doivent jouer un rôle de premier plan en raison de l'ampleur du travail à accomplir. Les commissions scolaires devraient reconnaître que leur responsabilité dans l'éducation des adultes est aussi importante que l'éducation de la jeunesse. Les écoles devraient être des centres communautaires où l'on pourrait continuer d'apprendre sous la direction d'éducateurs adultes compétents. Nous devons trouver de nouveaux moyens de voir à l'éducation de ceux que l'on a pas encore atteints par le procédé d'enseignement continuel, le disloqué, le rejeté, l'apathique et le non-conformiste. Nous devons trouver le moyen de permettre aux personnes plus âgées d'avoir une vie utile plus prolongée, tant au travail que dans leurs heures de loisir. Nous devons accroître la facilité de communication de ceux qui ont quitté l'école avec une formation insuffisante. Nous devons accroître le nombre de Canadiens bilingues et nous devons multiplier les efforts de la Branche de la Citoyenneté pour s'assurer que tous reçoivent la meilleure éducation possible en civisme.

Report of Forum E CONTINUING EDUCATION

Sorne 200 people representative of ail walks of life and every part of Canada registered in the Forum on Continuing Education. The Forum was divided into six main groups and these in tum were further divided into many such groups or buzz sessions for the purpose of getting the maximum discussion on the following topics: Financing adult education; Training leaders in adult education; Research in adult education; The role of the mass media; Individualized services; Promotion of continuing education programs; Co-operation and co-ordination between educational agencies; Content of programs; Higher education; Adult education facilities; Special publics; The needs of Indians and Eskimos. Although different groups gave more attention to some topics than

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others and the emphasis varied from group to group in some degree, there was general agreement in ail groups that in a society of rapid change education must be recognized and accepted as a continuing process applicable to citizens of ail ages and it must be accepted as a normal responsibility of educational authorities both public and private. lt is not a process that terminates with adolescence or with the acquisition of a technical diploma or a university degree. Generally speaking, continuing education must be concemed with ail facets of life, but specifically with the following areas of concern: (a) Upgrading for increased economic efficiency; (b) Liberal education for selfimprovement; ( c) Education for more effective participation in community, national and international affairs. lt was agreed that responsibility for providing the necessary resources and facilities to make continuing education effective should be shared between govemments, business and industry, labour, and the individual. There was agreement that the public school system must be expanded to provide educational opportunities for adults as well as children and adolescents. This expansion should include the provision of necessary :financial resources, and competent guidance and counselling services. The programs offered should include full-time classes in either day or evening as well as intensive short courses of a few days to a few weeks or months. The Forum agreed that more effective use should be made of existing community educational facilities. Resistance to the use of public educational resources for adult leaming must be overcome where it exists and in the planning and designing of future educational facilities their use by adults as well as children must be kept in mind. It was agreed that special attention must be paid to the content of ail programs for adults with emphasis on high standards of achievement. General education programs for adults should be intensive and adapted to the needs and experience of adults. There should not be a duplicate of courses offered for children. The courses should also be presented in a manner which will utilize the most effective techniques and principles of adult learning. It was emphasized that there should be a greater measure of co-operation and co-ordination between agencies already providing a multiplicity of educational services for adults. It was also agreed that there was need for a more effective exchange of information about on-going programs, successful experiments, and research in adult education. Provincial adult education agencies should take the lead in co-ordinating efforts and exchanging information and in doing so might utilize the resources of the Canadian Association for Adult Education and the Institut Canadien

3. Le Conseil canadien sur /'Éducation Le groupe suggère la formation d'un Conseil consultatif canadien sur l'Éducation du type décrit par le Docteur Wilder Penfield. La Commission recommande : « L'établissement d'un Conseil canadien sur ['Éducation pour poursuivre l'œuvre de la Conférence canadienne sur !'Éducation. > 4. Les gouverneurs d'universités Nos groupes de discussion estiment que les associations de citoyens ne sont pas assez représentatives de la société en général pour justifier leur élection aux conseils d'administration de nos universités. La Commission recommande : c Que les devoirs, les pouvoirs et le mode d'élection des gouverneurs des universités et des membres des sénats universitaires soient portés à la connaissance des organismes qui composent la Conférence canadienne sur !'Éducation afin qu'une proportion plus considérable de la population du Canada sache comment nos universités sont administrées. »

5. Les techniques de diffusion Les groupes de discussion ont apprécié hautement l'intérêt manifesté par les organismes d'information à l'égard des problèmes d'éducation. On

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a apprécié particulièrement les articles de fond du genre de ceux qui ont été couronnés par la Conférence. Etant donné l'importance de l'éducation, on a insisté particulièrement sur la nécessité de rapporter soigneusement et fidèlement les faits et les événements qui se produisent dans le domaine de l'éducation. La Commission recommande : « Que les journaux établissent des postes de chroniqueurs et de rédacteurs affectés spécialement à l'éducation. ,. Les groupes de discussion ont manifesté beaucoup d'intérêt à l'égard des recherches en matière de télévision éducative. On estime également qu'il y a lieu de faire un examen critique des émissions quotidiennes télédiffusées par nos réseaux nationaux ou indépendants et d'indiquer aux réalisateurs des programmes les sujets les plus aptes à rendre service aux citoyens du Canada. La Commission recommande : « (a) Que cette conférence appuie la poursuite des recherches dans le domaine de la télévision éducative. ( b) Qu'on adresse des félicitations à la Société Radio-Canada qui présente à des heures favorables des programmes de grande valeur culturelle. > 6. L'aptitude physique On félicite le Gouvernement fédéral de l'intérêt qu'il a manifesté pour améliorer l'aptitude physique de la jeunesse canadienne en fournissant les sommes nécessaires à la mise en œuvre de programmes d'éducation physique et de recréation (fonnation du personnel et aménagement des installations requises) .

7. Les commissaires de bibliothèques La discussion révèle que les services rendus par les bibliothèques publiques varient énormément selon les régions. On est d'accord que les services de nos bibliothèques doivent se répandre partout au Canada et que cela doit se faire en étroite collaboration avec les autorités scolaires. La Commission recommande : « (a) Que les Ministères de l'instruction publique ou des Affaires culturelles collaborent à l'expansion et à la coordination des services de nos bibliothèques sur le plan local. ( b) Que les ministères provinciaux de l'instruction publique qui n'ont pas encore retenu les services d'un surintendant de bibliothèques scolaires soient priés de combler cette lacune, de façon à aider les autorités locales à établir des bibliothèques scolaires convenables. 8. Les commissaires d'écoles Les groupes de discussion s'accordent à reconnaître les comm1ss1ons scolaires comme l'intermédiaire par excellence entre l'école et l'État. On s'inquiète de la difficulté de trouver des citoyens compétents capables

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et désireux de servir comme commissaires d'écoles. On s'accorde à préciser que la population d'une municipalité doit faire un choix judicieux des commissaires d'écoles et suivre avec soin leur administration. Il n'est pas obligatoire mais il est fortement recommandable d'encourager la formation d'associations provinciales de commissaires d'écoles. Ces derniers doivent s'occuper du contenu des programmes mais feraient bien de s'en remettre aux membres du corps enseignant pour ce qui est des méthodes d'enseignement. La Commission recommande : « (a) que les commissaires d'écoles soient élus, sauf lorsqu'ils doivent être nommés pour remplir une vacance ; (b) que les citoyens canadiens, âgés d'au moins 21 ans et résidant dans une localité donnée depuis un an au moins, soient éligibles comme commissaires d'écoles ; (c) que les commissaires d'écoles soient défrayés des dépenses qu'ils doivent faire dans l'accomplissement de leurs fonctions ; (d) qu'on encourage la création de grandes unités administratives ; ( e) que les commissions scolaires s'adjoignent des administrateurs professionnels pour voir aux tâches de routine de sorte que les commissaires d'école puissent se consacrer aux questions exigeant des décisions importantes ; (f) que les associations provinciales de commissaires d'écoles se fassent un devoir de veiller à la formation des commissaires en service, au moyen de journées d'étude, de livrets de renseignements, de bulletins périodiques ou de revues spécialisées ; (g) que les commissions scolaires encouragent et appuient financièrement l'établissement de cours supplémentaires avancés ou de cours à caractère expérimental. Ces cours doivent être appropriés aux conditions locales tout en respectant les normes établies par le Ministère de l'instruction publique. » La Commission recommande : Que les organismes qui ont soumis à ce sujet des mémoires ou des recommandations aux Gouvernements provinciaux ou au Gouvernement fédéral, ainsi que d'autres groupes intéressés, poursuivent leurs études dans ce domaine en notant soigneusement les propositions qui ont été mises à exécution et ce qui reste à faire. »

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La séance a débuté par la présentation d'exposés en réponse à la question « Comment pouvons-nous aider les services d'éducation à répondre aux exigences de l'emploi ? > lesquels faisaient connaître les points de vue de la direction, de l'emploi et du gouvernement (MM. H. L. Shepherd, Jean Marchand, Robert E. Byron). M. Ford a fait part de certaines constatations de l'équipe du projet spécial sur l'éducation et la main-d'œuvre de la Conférence, question qui a également fait le sujet de la brochure Vers le climat technique de l'avenir, distribuée aux délégués avant la Conférence. Sept groupes d'étude se sont formés pour discuter ces différents points de vue et pour étudier le rapport sur L'éducation et l'emploi. Ils ont présenté leurs recommandations à la séance du lendemain après-midi. Exposés : Comment pouvons-nous ai.der les services d'éducation à répondre aux exigences de l'emploi?/ Symposium: How can we help education to meet employment needs?

H.

L.

SHEPHERD

Manager, Personnel Compensation and Development, Canadian Westinghouse Company

The booklet, Education and Employment, prepared for our forum by Arthur Pigott, emphasizes many important points which I do not intend to repeat. I recommend particularly chapter V, "Education Prior to Employment"; chapter VI, "A Time for Taking Stock," especially its treatment of courses in vocational schools and technical institutes; and chapter VIII, "Retraining for Adults." Retraining for adults-that is retraining for people young and older who have left the formal school system-may be the number one activity that will help education to meet employments needs. Do not leave this Conference without serious reflection on Dr. Bissell's comment, "The boundaries between education, work, and entertainment are rapidly disappearing." If these boundaries are indeed disappearing-and I am sure they arethen for most of us "the forty-hour week," or the shorter-hour week, is a phrase that we wil1 continue to worship only at our grave peril. The truth is, that "the constructive effort week," if I may coin a phrase, must consist of 50 or 60 or more hours. Perhaps 40 hours is enough to spend on daily repetitive tasks as we leamed them yesterday. Education and training related to industry and occupation, however, ought to render enjoyable, as well as necessary, another 10 or 20 hours devoted to the task of keeping ourselves ready for tomorrow, in step with competitive, economic, scientific,

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social, and technological change. And why should we consider such 10 and 20 hours a grim labour? Are we truly enjoying life only when we are passive and fl.abby spectators? Now let me turn to four more ways in which we can help education to meet employment needs. l. Find out what the needs are. We certainly do not know now. We can devise and apply a system for keeping actual employment needs in local areas under constant review. Sorne such agency as the local National Employment Service could, if all of us would co-operate, keep actual job openings, and estimated job openings for the year ahead, under constant review. Also, minimum qualifications considered satisfactory for these openings could be recorded and analysed. This would give educators three invaluable indications: (a) Are the job skills being imparted in the formai school system adequate for current and predicted openings? ( b) Are there new fields of fundamental knowledge and skill emerging over and above those we have already identified, such as mathematics, language, science and history? For instance, is knowledge of metals and other materials, and their machining and joining and working, a fundamental as important to many occupations as is mathematics? Is electrical circuitry and switching, including electronic applications, as much of a fundamental for many occupations as is basic science? ( c) Is there any hope whatever of the formal school system adjusting its courses and methods to the need for rapid changes in occupations for employed adults, or must the educational system provide schools for the specific purpose of up-dating the knowledge and skills of adults? And if such schools are required, should they operate on the basis of twelve months a year, with two or three shifts? Such questions must have an answer, if only to avoid continuing selfdelusion. The spotlight is on major manufacturing industries at the moment. Many look to them as the sponges that will soak up all the surplus on the labour market. Yet I recently read an opinion in the United States that the automobile manufacturers will probably never employ as many people as they did in 1953. We must not believe that major industries will employ everybody. We must watch with great care the emerging areas of employment in small business-the repair business, the small specialized shop, the distributive occupations, the hotel and motel occupations-and so on. Such alertness in prediction, and readiness to be flexible enough to retrain rapidly on the part of industry and school alike, may well prove our salvation, or if neglected, our enduring shame. 2. Provide improved work attitudes based on improved understanding of economics. We can, if we will, influence public opinion, so that economic

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facts of life will be introduced in our schools. By so doing, all of usmanagers, professionals, teachers, skilled workmen, technicians, men, women, white and blue-coilar, repetitive workers and semi-skilled-will have improved attitudes to the world of work and accomplishment. How this is to be done I do not presume to suggest. Perhaps economics should be taught as such. Perhaps it can receive clearer and more factual emphasis as we teach history, geography, commerce, shop practice, or business. However that may be, ail of us ought to understand much better than we do such matters as: the nature of profits, the application of profits, and their relationship to natural and national growth; the relationship between production, actual wealth, and money; the necessity of balancing application of human effort between the production and distribution of goods and the provisions of welfare, including education; the wisdom or lack of it in paying a floor sweeper approximately 70 per cent of what we pay a fuily skilled craftsman, as we tend to do in North America, or in providing a greater differential as is done elsewhere; the wisdom of paying unemployment insurance for the negative result of human wastage, when something more might be paid for retraining and working at simple tasks; the economic sterility fostered by companies that are hoping to get by with static products, static prices, and static people, making no provision for improvement in product and cost, and providing neither pressure nor encouragement for self-improvement in the knowledge and skill of the people; the economic sluggishness fostered by over-emphasis on seniority in considering promotion, demotion, or layoff. If ail of us had a better understanding of economics we would handle such problems more competently, and indeed more agreeably. And within our working lives we might weil find the 60-hour constructive effort week not to be as much of a cloud 19 dream as it appears to be today. 3. Bridge the gulf separating education and employment. Employment and education are certainly not the same thing. Unfortunately we have all too frequently behaved as if they were quite separate-an individual goes to school leading through university and either succeeds or fails. In any event, whether be gets a degree or stops short, our tradition says he bas finished bis education and be goes to work, and never the twain shail meet. There are of course notable exceptions. There are many night schools and correspondence courses. University extension work here in Montreal and elsewhere bas been outstanding. But attempts to bridge the gap have been far too few. Employers are only beginning to see the close relationships that have existed ail along; and educators have been curious about the value of education in the occupational world but have not really made a persistent

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attempt to get opinions from employers. Again, of course, there are notable exceptions: school board members have played their part, advisory vocational committees have given dedicated and useful service, teachers have visited companies and have brought their classes with them. But the notable exceptions are much in the minority. A few progressive companies, as a part of their operating pattern, have worked bard at training their people and have found that there is indeed a need for a very close relationship with education. For example, they have found that they cannot train circuit-testers because their people do not understand electricity, and they cannot teach them electricity because they cannot handle arithmetic. Or they cannot teach changes in occupations quickly and economically because people cannot quickly comprehend instruction whether verbal or printed. They are ill trained in the use of language. Out of such discoveries have corne approaches by employers to educators to reinforce the stay-in-school movement, so that the basic training sorely needed for development of skills within industry may be accomplished. And in some provinces, not only bas "stay-in-school" been pressed forward, but special programs have been put on in order to assist older people to overcome past deficiencies. ln other words, where employers persist in bridging the gulf, useful results begin to appear. There are other worthwhile examples. Employers played a part in pressing for the Advanced Technical evening program in Ontario. The textile industry fostered the development and growth of textile courses in the technical institutes at St. Hyacinthe and Hamilton. Ali this is helpful. Ali of us can play a part in accelerating this process in our home communities by encouraging employers to take an interest, and to table their views. Perhaps the greatest encouragement we can give to employers is to require educators to view preparation for employment as one worthwhile aim of education. 4. W e can take the curse off education for the world of work. Ali of us work, whether university presidents or unskilled people. The education of the university president helps him succeed in his occupation, just as does yours and mine. Why not admit it? Surely there is nothing wrong with patterning education so that we may earn a living. Sin enters in only when we do not build a sound base for continuing education, occupational success, and flexibility and/or when we limit deliberately the expansion of our intellectual capacity so that we ignore social, spiritual, and intellectual growth in favour of money-getting and physical consumption, alternating with periods of sloth. Young people do make mistakes. Learning is bard and long; some quit

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too easily and too soon. What encouragement they would be given in their self-reclamation if we would do a few vital things! (a) Admit that they have nothing to be ashamed of if they learned to support themselves in an occupation. (b) Provide opportunities for them to improve their qualifications by co-operation between education and employment. ( c) Provide known paths of progression to higher levels of education, and known standards of attainment, by collaboration between industries and schools so that young people might proceed step by step to publicly recognized vocational school levels, then technical institute levels, and finally, if spirit and flesh are strong, to university and ultimate graduation. Rocky as such a path might be I believe we owe it to ourselves and our people. My observations in England, Sweden, Germany, and France are that, there, employers have taken considerable initiative in this respect and that, with all their imperfections, they are ahead of us. ln concluding, I would like you to know that I wrote this last paragraph many weeks before I heard what Dr. Bissell said about the breakdown of boundaries between work and learning. Here is what I wrote: If I may be whimsical, I would like to suggest that we stop talking about the shorter work-week. Maybe we should be talking about the 80hour week, 40 on the job and 40 learning. The 40 hours in leaming would be partly for the job's sake and partly for the enrichment of the whole man. Perhaps the time will corne when we'll call education our work, and what we now call work will be our recreation. In any event wouldn't it be wonderful to think that we could do such a good job of educating for employment, and for far more than employment, that we could take pride in our contributions to the worlds of production and social improvement every hour of ail the days of our years! RÉSUMÉ DE L'EXPOSÉ DE M. SHEPHERD

1. Il faut définir continuellement les besoins locaux en matière d'emploi et publier ces chiffres périodiquement de façon à ce que les employeurs et les éducateurs soient bien au courant des besoins et des tendances probables. 2. Les employeurs devront collaborer avec les éducateurs pour établir la liste des découvertes qui ont été faites au cours des 25 dernières années dans le domaine de l'histoire, du commerce et des relations sociales. On a souvent répété que les nations de l'Amérique du Nord sont à peu près illettrées dans le domaine de l'économique. Si tous les employeurs et les éducateurs sérieux voulaient bien étudier ensemble ce qui se passe dans le monde, on pourrait mettre au point les programmes d'histoire, de sciences commerciales et de sciences sociales. L'enseignement qui en

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résulterait permettrait à la jeunesse d'entrer dans la vie active avec une meilleure compréhension de la vie commerciale, économique et sociale. 3. Les employeurs doivent prendre l'initiative de signaler aux éducateurs les tendances qui semblent désirables dans l'évolution de l'éducation. Outre les besoins actuels en fait d'emploi que nous avons mentionnés comme premier point, les employeurs peuvent et doivent aussi signaler aux éducateurs les changements dans les programmes d'études, et peut-être même dans les méthodes d'enseignement, qui pourraient contribuer à mieux préparer la jeunesse à entrer dans le monde du travail. Ainsi, par exemple, les employeurs, dans le domaine de l'industrie, insistent aujourd'hui sur la facilité d'adaptation que doivent posséder les employés afin de pouvoir recevoir une certaine formation au sein même de l'industrie. Cette formation sur place est souvent nécessaire, car les exigences des divers emplois changent avec les systèmes économiques, les goûts de la clientèle et les progrès de la technologie. Si cela est vrai dans la grande industrie, il est probable que d'autres employeurs, les propriétaires d'hôtels et de restaurants, par exemple, pourraient signaler la nécessité de certaines connaissances particulières de la part des personnes qu'ils prennent à leur service. Si on peut se procurer ces renseignements de tous les genres d'employeurs, cela aidera considérablement le corps enseignant à résoudre l'un de ses principaux problèmes : comment préparer à mener une vie utile des élèves qui ont des aptitudes intellectuelles et des goûts très différents. 4. On doit faire de l'éducation et de la formation en vue de l'entrée dans le monde du travail et au sein du monde du travail une activité désirable pour la vie tout entière et pour toute la population.

JEAN

MARCHAND

Président, Confédération des syndicats nationaux

Vous ne vous attendez sans doute pas de moi, et avec raison, que je donne des opinions pédagogiques ou que je fasse, devant vous, une analyse exhaustive de notre système d'éducation. Des spécialistes se chargeront, ou se sont déjà chargés, de ces tâches. Je désire simplement vous donner les impressions d'un dirigeant syndical qui a pris conscience, au cours de ses vingt années d'activité sociale, de l'importance de l'éducation et de l'urgence de procéder à des réformes profondes qui tiennent compte du développement technologique et des transformations qui se sont opérées dans notre société et dans le monde.

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résulterait permettrait à la jeunesse d'entrer dans la vie active avec une meilleure compréhension de la vie commerciale, économique et sociale. 3. Les employeurs doivent prendre l'initiative de signaler aux éducateurs les tendances qui semblent désirables dans l'évolution de l'éducation. Outre les besoins actuels en fait d'emploi que nous avons mentionnés comme premier point, les employeurs peuvent et doivent aussi signaler aux éducateurs les changements dans les programmes d'études, et peut-être même dans les méthodes d'enseignement, qui pourraient contribuer à mieux préparer la jeunesse à entrer dans le monde du travail. Ainsi, par exemple, les employeurs, dans le domaine de l'industrie, insistent aujourd'hui sur la facilité d'adaptation que doivent posséder les employés afin de pouvoir recevoir une certaine formation au sein même de l'industrie. Cette formation sur place est souvent nécessaire, car les exigences des divers emplois changent avec les systèmes économiques, les goûts de la clientèle et les progrès de la technologie. Si cela est vrai dans la grande industrie, il est probable que d'autres employeurs, les propriétaires d'hôtels et de restaurants, par exemple, pourraient signaler la nécessité de certaines connaissances particulières de la part des personnes qu'ils prennent à leur service. Si on peut se procurer ces renseignements de tous les genres d'employeurs, cela aidera considérablement le corps enseignant à résoudre l'un de ses principaux problèmes : comment préparer à mener une vie utile des élèves qui ont des aptitudes intellectuelles et des goûts très différents. 4. On doit faire de l'éducation et de la formation en vue de l'entrée dans le monde du travail et au sein du monde du travail une activité désirable pour la vie tout entière et pour toute la population.

JEAN

MARCHAND

Président, Confédération des syndicats nationaux

Vous ne vous attendez sans doute pas de moi, et avec raison, que je donne des opinions pédagogiques ou que je fasse, devant vous, une analyse exhaustive de notre système d'éducation. Des spécialistes se chargeront, ou se sont déjà chargés, de ces tâches. Je désire simplement vous donner les impressions d'un dirigeant syndical qui a pris conscience, au cours de ses vingt années d'activité sociale, de l'importance de l'éducation et de l'urgence de procéder à des réformes profondes qui tiennent compte du développement technologique et des transformations qui se sont opérées dans notre société et dans le monde.

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Permettez-moi de décrire quelques situations de fait dont il faut absolument tenir compte dans l'élaboration d'une politique et d'un système d'éducation modernes. Mes remarques seront faites dans une optique ouvrière, ce que l'on ne saurait me reprocher.

Rationalisation et spécialisation du travail

Il est indiscutable que la productivité industrielle est étroitement liée aux techniques de production et que notre standard de vie dépend de nos progrès dans ce domaine. Inutile de rêver d'une époque révolue qui, du strict point de vue humain, présentait des avantages certains mais qui, du point de vue économique, est dépassée et n'offre aucun espoir de retour. Mais cette rationalisation et spécialisation du travail industriel a radicalement modifié la conception traditionnelle du métier. L'évolution constante des techniques de production entraîne une redéfinition permanente des tâches et des changements continuels dans l'organisation du travail. Déshumanisation du travail industriel

La déshumanisation du travail industriel pose un problème à notre conscience collective. Dans notre désir effréné d'accroître la production, nous nous sommes peu souciés des conséquences de l'industrialisation sur les hommes dont la vie est littéralement attachée et même subordonnée à la machine. Nos grandes usines ne sont, pour la plupart, que des foyers d'abrutissement caractérisés par le morcellement excessif des tâches, le rythme endiablé de la production et l'intégration des hommes dans des processus dont ils ont perdu le contrôle. L'automation a introduit une nouvelle dimension à ce problème en limitant dangereusement le rôle de l'intelligence de l'homme et en réduisant progressivement son initiative. Complexité de l'industrie et de l'économie

La complexité de l'industrie et de l'économie modernes ne permettent plus à l'homme moyen de comprendre les phénomènes qui l'entourent. Son sort ne dépend pas seulement de son comportement au travail ni de la direction de l'entreprise où il travaille, mais d'un ensemble de forces qui s'affrontent ou se conjuguent à des niveaux qui ne lui sont plus accessibles. Il en résulte une profonde frustration. Complexité de la vie sociale et politique

Les travailleurs ne sont aucunement préparés à comprendre ou à jouer

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un rôle dans la société. La complexité des structures sociales et la multiplicité des institutions font que les travailleurs entrent dans un monde étranger dont ils ignorent le fonctionnement et le mécanisme. Réduction des heures de travail

Pour des raisons autant économiques qu'humanitaires, les heures de travail suivent une courbe décroissante ce qui laisse plus de loisirs aux travailleurs. Nos efforts pour que ces loisirs soient bien occupés ont été insuffisants. Exigences professionnelles des tâches industrielles

Les tâches industrielles, dans nos industries hautement spécialisées, exigent une préparation qu'on trop grand nombre de travailleurs n'ont pas reçue. Pour combler cette déficience, plusieurs entreprises ont créé des cours d'entraînement et même des écoles. D'autre part, la spécialisation des tâches a provoqué un chômage caractérisé chez les travailleurs manquant de formation. II

Les situations que je viens de décrire brièvement sont bien connues et je n'ai pas la prétention de faire oeuvre originale en les présentant. Elles me permettront, toutefois, de tirer quelques conclusions et faire quelques commentaires utiles à la discussion. Rationalisation et spécialisation du travail

Il est certain qu'en 1962, on ne peut rêver apprendre un métier qui offre la garantie d'être valable pour toute la vie. Il faut que la formation professionnelle soit non seulement polyvalente, mais qu'elle prévoie des cours de réadaptation. De plus, la formation académique de base doit être la plus complète possible afin de faciliter cette réadaptation. Déshumanisation du travail

Un sociologue français vient de démontrer que la rationalisation industrielle qui dépasse un certain degré de morcellement, entraîne une baisse de productivité à cause de l'absence totale d'intérêt humain. Il faut repenser l'organisation du travail industriel en fonction des hommes. Complexité de la vie sociale et politique

Le travailleur qui est devenu un étranger dans l'entreprise est souvent aussi un étranger dans la société. Il est indispensable que l'école l'initie

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au moins aux rudiments de l'organisation sociale, économique et politique de notre société.

Réduction des heures de travail La réduction des heures de travail accroît l'importance de l'organisation des loisirs et l'urgence de faire participer davantage les travailleurs aux valeurs de culture de notre civilisation. Complexité de l'industrie et de l'économie Le travailleur qui doit, dans la plupart des cas, accomplir une fonction ne présentant aucun intérêt humain, est perdu dans la grande entreprise moderne et on ne s'est jamais préoccupé de l'intégrer dans ce vaste ensemble. Les syndicats et les employeurs ont ici une responsabilité particulière qu'ils n'ont pas, jusqu'à présent, assumée. Exigences professionnelles des tâches industrielles Il n'est pas normal que les employeurs se chargent de la formation professionnelle des travailleurs. Quand ils le font, cette formation est beaucoup trop spécialisée et rend les ouvriers beaucoup trop dépendants d'une seule industrie et d'un seul métier. Education et chômage La publicité qui se fait, depuis quelques années, au sujet de l'incidence de l'éducation sur l'emploi peut créer de faux espoirs et préparer de graves frustrations. S'il est vrai qu'un travailleur instruit a plus de chances de se trouver de l'emploi, cette garantie est loin d'être absolue. CONCLUSION

Non seulement notre système d'éducation (académique et professionelle) doit correspondre aux normes et exigences des entreprises modernes, mais il doit être fidèle à notre conception humaniste et spiritualiste de l'homme et de la société. EXTRACTS FROM MR. MARCHAND'S REMARKS

(a) Specialization in work. lt is certain that in 1962 no one can dream of learning a job that will last him for life. Vocational training must prepare for several trades and also allow for courses in re-adaptation. In addition, basic academic training must be as complete as possible to facilitate this re-adaptation. (b) Reduction of the human factor in industrial work. A French sociologist bas shown that industrial organization that goes beyond a certain

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point in "assembly line" involves a reduction in productivity owing to total absence of human interest. Organization of industrial work must be reconsidered in human terms. (c) Complexity of social and political life. The worker who has become a stranger at work is just as often a stranger in society. It is essential that the school initiate him into at least the rudiments of the social, economic, and political organization of our society. ( d) Reduction in hours of work. Reduction of work hours increases the importance of organization of leisure time and the urgency of having workers share in the cultural values of our civilisation. (e) Complexity of industry and of economy. The worker who must, in most cases, carry out a job completely lacking in human interest, is lost in the large modem business and no interest is ever shown in integrating him into this vast ensemble. Unions and employers have here a special responsibility that they have not, as yet, assumed. (f) V ocational demands. It is not normal for employers to be concemed with the vocational training of workers. When they do so, this training is much too specialized and leaves the workers altogether too dependent upon one single industry and one single job. (g) Education and unemployment. The publicity which has been given for the past few years to the subject of the incidence of education on employment can raise false hopes and prepare the way for serious frustrations. If it is true that a trained worker has more chances of finding work, this is far from a guarantee. Conclusion. Not only must our system of education ( academic and vocational) correspond to the norms and needs of modem business, but it must be true to our humanistic and spiritual concept of man and of society. ROBERTE. BYRON

Director of Vocational Education, Alberta Department of Education The relationship between education and employment has been well documented. The fact that "Preparation for entry to gainful employment" bas been written into every modem statement of educational objectives is evidence of the secondary school's acceptance of this responsibility. Not so obvious is the fact that in many respects current concem about the development of adequate preparation for employment, and federal incentives to vocational education developments, provided under the Technical and Vocational Training Agreement of 1961, are enabling educators to do what they have advocated for many years. The Technical

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point in "assembly line" involves a reduction in productivity owing to total absence of human interest. Organization of industrial work must be reconsidered in human terms. (c) Complexity of social and political life. The worker who has become a stranger at work is just as often a stranger in society. It is essential that the school initiate him into at least the rudiments of the social, economic, and political organization of our society. ( d) Reduction in hours of work. Reduction of work hours increases the importance of organization of leisure time and the urgency of having workers share in the cultural values of our civilisation. (e) Complexity of industry and of economy. The worker who must, in most cases, carry out a job completely lacking in human interest, is lost in the large modem business and no interest is ever shown in integrating him into this vast ensemble. Unions and employers have here a special responsibility that they have not, as yet, assumed. (f) V ocational demands. It is not normal for employers to be concemed with the vocational training of workers. When they do so, this training is much too specialized and leaves the workers altogether too dependent upon one single industry and one single job. (g) Education and unemployment. The publicity which has been given for the past few years to the subject of the incidence of education on employment can raise false hopes and prepare the way for serious frustrations. If it is true that a trained worker has more chances of finding work, this is far from a guarantee. Conclusion. Not only must our system of education ( academic and vocational) correspond to the norms and needs of modem business, but it must be true to our humanistic and spiritual concept of man and of society. ROBERTE. BYRON

Director of Vocational Education, Alberta Department of Education The relationship between education and employment has been well documented. The fact that "Preparation for entry to gainful employment" bas been written into every modem statement of educational objectives is evidence of the secondary school's acceptance of this responsibility. Not so obvious is the fact that in many respects current concem about the development of adequate preparation for employment, and federal incentives to vocational education developments, provided under the Technical and Vocational Training Agreement of 1961, are enabling educators to do what they have advocated for many years. The Technical

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and Vocational Training Agreement is acting as a catalyst, facilitating changes in curricula, which though long recommended have not been fully implemented for lack of funds. Educators have for years deplored the curriculum which catered so exclusively to the university-bound group, to the neglect of the majority. They have inveighed against the futility of keeping in the school students whose aptitudes and interests are not academic, and which lead to apathy and indifference, if not rebellion, in the form of behavioural problems or early school leaving. The conclusions of the Canadian Research Committee on Practical Education in this regard are as valid today as when written in 1951, with particular respect to the inclination of school authorities to prevent drop-out at all cost, including the provision of superficially interesting quasi-vocational programs. More recently, studies and reports of the Economies and Research Branch of the Department of Labour have revealed facts and trends which previously had been surmise, that the conclusions of studies conducted in the United States were also valid in Canada. The evidence of educational deficiencies in our working force is quite clear. Nearly one-half of Canadian unemployed persons have less than Grade 8 education. The hard core of the unemployed consists for the most part of unplaced early schoolleavers, and adults displaced in the steady decline in the relative numbers of jobs in the unskilled and semi-skilled occupations. It should be mentioned, however, that the declining proportion of semi-skilled and unskilled jobs does not apply to all occupations. There is a compensating rise in the numbers of machine operators in the business sector, and assemblers in the industrial sector of the economy, although not in sufficient numbers to overcome the general decline. Whereas skilled and professional groups of occupations are the fastest growing, and now comprise 25 per cent of all jobs in the country, two-thirds of school-leavers have less than junior matriculation standing. Canada's skilled manpower requirements have been met largely through the migration of workers trained in the educational systems and industries of other countries. To our dismay, Canadian youth have been denied the opportunity to participate fully in the economic growth of their country, and in their own self-improvement. The Canadian problem has been aggravated by the fact that in the space of a few short years, the efficiency of agricultural production has sharply reduced the agricultural labour force, the group least able to qualify for the available jobs requiring higher levels of education and technical training. Recognizing the manpower problem, and the fact that Canada's manpower deficiencies contribute in no small measure to a declining relative

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productivity, the federal government has stimulated the development of vocational education facilities through the Technical and Vocational Training Agreement. It is a remarkable document, one that will be recorded in the history of the nation as a turning point in educational opportunity. But the provision of physical facilities and instructional staffs, because they are readily identifiable problems, are the easiest of the educators' tasks. More demanding is the development of acceptable curricula, and this is the crux of the matter. Many divergent points of view must be resolved, and the extent to which they are resolved will be a measure of the success of the Agreement. On the one hand, curriculum authorities are told that Canadians exalt culture at the expense of productivity, which is the means of paying for improved standards of living and culture. We are advised to beware of emulating the Russian system which stresses training and indoctrination, and instead to strengthen democratic ideals and respect for the principle of responsible govemment. On the one band, to meet the requirements of the Agreement, we are asked to devote more instructional time to skills development, and on the other hand, we have vigorous opposition to any reduction of instruction time for the social studies, literature, language, the cultural subjects, and physical fitness. In some respects the end result would appear to be a more sharply stratified society. In the United Kingdom the "eleven plus" examination and the frank submission of the Crowther Report that the nation cannot afford to keep the average person in school for more than ten years are applications of this philosophy. Yet the United Kingdom admires the philosophy of equal opportunity for ail as expressed in North America, and present trends suggest that we may meet in a compromise position. Confusing the issues and affecting the means if not the goals are the public statements of leaders in our industrial and commercial world. We are wamed not to train for the first job because it is said the average person will find employment security, not in specific occupational training, but in fundamental education. We are told that the function of the secondary school is general education, and that vocational training may be obtained at less expense on the job. The vocational educator, on the other band, asserts that training for occupational competence is as much a responsibility of public education as is preparation for higher education. The vocational educator is satisfied that basic vocational training can be conducted more efficiently in organized classes under competent instructors. lt should be noted that employers tend more and more to recroit fully trained personnel, and to delegate basic vocational training to vocational schools and technical institutes. It is possible that large corporations which are able to conduct in-service

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training programs may overlook problems of small employers who collectively constitute the larger portion of the economy. But there are practical problems, too. There is a danger in decentralized vocational training institutions, which must of necessity be smaller, that schools will provide initially for the numerically larger occupations, and that over-training for these occupations may occur. It is virtually impossible to deny any school system the opportunity to offer courses in the common trades, in the interest of coordinated and controlled manpower supply. There is a danger that in a decentralized vocational system, training for numerically smaller occupations may be ignored, and, further, that a narrow vocational offering may have unfortunate guidance implications. The implications of the developing vocational schools for apprenticeship deserve some consideration. Apprenticeship authorities favour that system because apprentice quotas automatically control entry to these trades according to demand. On the other band, there are indications that the apprenticeship system does not react quickly enough to manpower changes, and tends to stifle free choice of occupation to those wishing to enter the designated trades, and to eliminate competition amongst those practicing the trade. lt would appear that the development of vocational schools will not reduce the total members of apprentices in the designated trades, but will enable apprenticeship authorities to give more attention to building the increasing technical content of the trades on the foundation provided in vocational schools. A second practical problem is that of facilitating transfer from one program to another as interests and aptitudes are discovered. Articulation between the secondary school on the one band, and apprenticeship, higher technical training, and employment on the other, is urgently needed. Although the secondary school is in the best position to provide decentralized vocational training facilities, it is difficult to equip such schools for basic and broad training, while at the same time meeting the needs of adults who require upgrading and updating training or retraining for different occupations. The issues are clear, and it is apparent that they must be resolved in the curriculum committees of the provinces. It is unfortunate that the urgency of building programs now being expedited in order to qualify for federal assistance under the Agreement, bas caused the design of buildings and selection of equipment to precede curriculum requirements. This is clearly a reversai of sensible procedures. The success of curriculum authorities will depend as much upon the development of effective programs as upon the degree to which they will be recognized by students, parents, and employers, as acceptable alt~rnatives to academic programs.

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Representatives of organizations at this Conference have been afforded an excellent opportunity to become informed about the vital questions of education for employment. They can best help education to meet employment needs by imparting to provincial curriculum committees, and to the public at large, their informed opinions. RÉSUMÉ DE L'EXPOSÉ DE M. BYRON

On a consacré plusieurs études aux rapports entre l'éducation et l'emploi. On retrouve aujourd'hui dans tout manifeste sur l'éducation ce principe fondamental qu'il faut préparer les jeunes à gagner leur vie et certes nos écoles secondaires n'ont pas esquivé cette responsabilité. On sait moins bien cependant que, à la faveur de l'intérêt général suscité par cette question et grâce à l'aide du gouvernement fédéral aux termes de L'Entente sur la Formation technique et professionnelle de 1961, nos éducateurs sont maintenant en mesure de réaliser ce qu'ils préconisent depuis bon nombre d'années ... Parmi les tâches les moins ardues de l'éducateur on pourrait signaler la construction des édifices requis et la formation du personnel enseignant, tâches qui s'imposent avec une évidence indiscutable. Il est beaucoup plus difficile cependant de mettre au point les programmes convenables. C'est là, en effet, le cœur même du problème. Il s'agit tout d'abord de concilier plusieurs opinions contradictoires et la mesure de cet accord déterminera en même temps le degré de succès de !'Entente. On reproche, d'une part, aux autorités chargées de tracer les programmes, que nos systèmes scolaires favorisent la culture aux dépens de la productivité qui est pourtant le moyen d'élever notre niveau de culture tout autant que notre niveau de vie. On dit par contre qu'il faut éviter de tomber dans l'erreur du système russe qui insiste sur la formation technique et l'endoctrination politique et qu'il vaudrait mieux affermir l'idéal démocratique et le principe du gouvernment responsable. D'une part, pour satisfaire aux exigences de !'Entente, on nous demande de consacrer plus de temps à l'enseignement des métiers et, d'autre part, on s'oppose fortement à la réduction du temps consacré aux sciences sociales, à la littérature, à la langue, aux sujets culturels et à l'éducation physique ... Il faut éviter par exemple que les écoles de formation professionnelle, étant décentralisées et par conséquent beaucoup moins considérables, accordent tout d'abord trop d'importance aux métiers les plus usuels et forment pour ces métiers plus de candidats qu'il n'en faut. Il est bien difficile, en effet, sous prétexte d'assurer une force ouvrière bien équilibrée, d'empêcher une école d'enseigner certains métiers des plus communs. Il est à craindre que dans un système décentralisé d'écoles professionnelles

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on ne néglige les métiers les moins usuels et qu'un choix de cours par trop limité n'ait des répercussions malheureuses sur l'orientation des jeunes. Considérons maintenant le système d'apprentissage. Ceux qui préconisent ce système font valoir que chaque établissement n'accepte que le nombre d'apprentis qu'il peut absorber. Il semblerait, par contre, que ce système ne répond pas toujours assez rapidement aux fluctuations de la main-d'œuvre et tend à éliminer le libre choix des emplois aussi bien que la concurrence entre gens d'un même métier. Il semblerait que la multiplication des écoles professionnelles ne réduirait pas le nombre d'apprentis dans des métiers donnés mais permettrait aux employeurs de parachever la formation technique de leurs apprentis en complétant les notions déjà acquises à l'école. Un second problème d'ordre pratique se pose : c'est de permettre à un élève de passer d'un cours à un autre selon que ses intérêts s'éveillent et que ses aptitudes se manifestent. Il est grand temps que l'on en vienne à considérer comme un système bien articulé, d'une part, l'école secondaire et, d'autre part, l'apprentissage, les écoles techniques supérieures et le marché du travail. Bien que les écoles secondaires semblent bien désignées pour dispenser un enseignement professionnel décentralisé, il est difficile de les pourvoir de tout le matériel requis pour un enseignement aussi général alors que, par ailleurs, on leur demande de répondre aux exigences de l'éducation populaire: cours complémentaires, cours de mise au point ou de rééducation pour divers emplois. Les données du problème se précisent. Il va de soi que dans chaque province la solution est du ressort du comité des programmes d'études. Il est fort regrettable que l'on ait donné suite avec tant de hâte à des projets de construction aux seules fins de profiter de l'aide fédérale aux termes de !'Entente et que l'on ait commencé par tracer les bleus de ces écoles et à préparer les commandes de matériel d'enseignement avant de s'arrêter à étudier les programmes d'études et leurs exigences. C'est là un renversement complet de l'ordre des choses. Le succès des préposés à ces programmes dépendra autant de la valeur des programmes eux-mêmes que du succès qu'ils auront à les faire accepter, tant par les étudiants que par les parents et les employeurs, comme des cours tout aussi valables que les cours dits académiques. Les délégues des différentes organisations représentées à la présente conférence ont eu une occasion unique de se renseigner sur la préparation au marché du travail. Le plus grand service qu'ils pourraient maintenant rendre à la cause de l'éducation et aux besoins du marché du travail serait de diffuser ces connaissances dans le grand public et surtout au sein des comités qui, dans chaque province, sont chargés de tracer les programmes.

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Rapport des projets spéciaux / A special report

C. R.

FORD

Director, V ocational Training Branch, Canada Department of Labour EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES

The Commonwealth Education Conference at New Delhi completed a study of technical education which dealt with practically the same relationships in education as we are discussing today. May I quote the first sentence and a concluding paragraph of the Committee's final report: Technical education continues to be of vital importance to ail Commonwealth countries if their economies are to be developed and their standards of living maintained or developed. . • . Our discussions have confirmed the importance of technical education in all countries and particularly the developing countries of the Commonwealth and the need for the development of technical training facilities at ail levels. These realities cannot be ignored. Limited resources and administrative difficulties have prevented the recommendations of the Oxford Conference being fully implemented. However, nearly all countries have attempted to overcome, or to assist other countries to overcome, the many difficulties which obstruct their efforts to improve the quality and quantity of technical education. With further co-operation and effort, we believe that the problems confronting Commonwealth countries in the field of technical education can be solved.

This was the considered opinion of informed representatives from most countries of the Commonwealth. A problem exists. It can be solved. Together we must address ourselves to it. It was my good fortune last October to be a member of a team which visited several European countries and in January of this year to visit eastem Asia. The purpose of these visits was to see how each country was relating education, training, and employment. As we expected, problems do exist in this area everywhere, although in different forms. To maintain standards of living, people in today's world must work, nations must trade, and productivity in most countries is of national concem. The skills and technical competence of the labour force of each country are a matter of national interest. In the European countries the practices, procedures, and techniques of training the labour force, the organization and administrative machinery used for this purpose were explained and justified by the simple statement-"It is in the national

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GeneraUzations In each country the program of training to meet employment needs was an integral part of the educational program. The technical and vocational training programs are as much a part of the national program of education in France, Britain, Germany, Holland, and Japan as are the elementary or secondary schools. ln each of the countries diflerent patterns of programs have developed in their process of evolution and integration, but ail appeared to have a common objective-the development of the occupational and productive capacity of the nation's labour force. In Britain, the Education Act of 1944 charged local educational authorities with the duty of providing adequate facilities for further education, both general and vocational. Germany bas compulsory continuation classes for employed youth under 18 years of age. Sweden established a National Board of Vocational Education in 1944 to organize, administer when necessary, supervise, co-ordinate, and provide financial assistance nationally for technical and vocational programs. The Vocational Training Laws of Japan authorize the development of programs to provide the skilled workers for industry: the conducting of trade tests, the establishment of teacher training, and the appointment of a National Advisory Council. The reason given for this positive and direct action was explained in each country by the expression which I have mentioned a minute ago, that it is in the national interest. ln fact this expression was used so frequently by teachers, ministries of education, labour leaders, employer groups, and professional bodies that we got the impression that all groups had, in the development of technical and occupational competence, a cornmon national objective. In the national interest, the governments of France, Sweden, Germany, Britain, and Holland have each established an agency of the govemment and assigned to it the responsibility for developing, organizing and coordinating training programs for technicians, for youth still attending school, and for adults, both employed and unemployed. In the national interest, a balance is maintained between programs to train the professional, the technological, the skilied craftsman, and the operator. In the national interest, employers associations, labour unions, govemment agencies, teachers, and educational administrators co-operate to develop the programs which will develop the levels of occupational competence required in today's industries. The technical colleges of Britain, the trade schools and technical gymnasia of Sweden, the continuation and technical high schools of

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Germany, the Department of Labour trade schools and Department of Education lndustrial, Fisheries and Commercial High Schools of Japan, form in each country an integrated national network with a single objective -the development of the occupational competence of the country's labour force. There was no suggestion that education for employment was in competition with general education. General education was not being supplanted or replaced but rather they were building upon the best possible base of general education, those skills and knowledges required in the employment market. The techniques, programs, or devices which have developed vary with the industrial history of each country. In England and Germany, where manufacturing and industrial development preceded formal school programs for technical and vocational training, apprenticeship came to be the accepted method of passing on skills and technical knowledge and developing productive competence. In Sweden and Rolland, where industrialization is more recent, it bas been necessary to accelerate education and training, and apprenticeship techniques form a much less important role in their training program. In these countries a direct route from about the ninth year of schooling to pre-employment occupational or technical training institutions bas been developed into what apparently are successful patterns of development. In Japan a combination of apprenticeship, trade training schools and schools providing advanced technical training, numbering in the thousands, form a diverse network of programs to provide training and develop competence at the technician, craftsman and operator levels. In Britain, skills at the craftsman or joumeyman level are developed through a combination of employment and part-time technical training. When youths leave school they search out apprenticeships or employment in desirable fields. Following employment, the arrangements are made for their related technical training in local technical colleges by way of daily release or evening classes or in sandwich courses. In Gennany, of the 625,000 youths leaving school each year, about 70 per cent go into apprenticeship; the remainder go to work as unskilled workers. Youth who go directly from school to apprenticeship at approximately 14 or 15 years of age serve three-year industrial, commercial, or service trade apprenticeships. During this period they are required to take related formai training on a part-time basis either by way of a day release or by evening classes. Formai apprenticeship is an essential characteristic of German technical and vocational training at the craft level. Apprenticeship is not a fonnally organized program in Sweden as it is in Britain or Germany. The prospective craftsman in Sweden completes nine

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years of schooling, then transfers to one of the country's 700 trade or occupational training schools for a two-year preparatory or pre-employment training program in a specific field. Following this two-year training period the youth spends one additional year gaining experience in the occupation before receiving full journeyman rate of pay. In some construction trades the students and instructor actually undertake building construction projects during the training period with the approval of both labour and employers. Japan seems to have copied the best of several programs. Many young people enter employment and receive their training through the apprenticeship pattern. Others are given a two-year period of formai pre-employment training in a trade or occupational training centre; from this advanced preparation they proceed directly into employment and develop their additional competence by working in an industry or trade. In Germany and Britain many workers in operator or assembler or sirnilar semi-skilled classifications, do not carry through with the related training to reach full craftsrnan status. In Sweden and Japan production workers, whether youth or adults, are given brief periods of training in relatively narrow fields. However, in each country the opportunity is provided to develop full craftsrnan cornpetence through extended periods of work experience and intensive related part-tirne training. Technician Level of Training In this sub-professional area Britain bas developed apprenticeship or co-operative and full-time training prograrns of high standards with levels of competence identified by national qualification certificates or diplornas. The Swedish and German and Japanese prograrns, by contrast, develop cornpetence at this level principally in full-time day classes extending for three years. The Swedish prograrn includes three years of intensive pre-ernployment training beyond the ninth year of schooling and provides a level of technical knowledge and competence comparable to the Canadian threeyear post high school technical institute prograrns. The German engineer school also offers pre-ernplornyent training following the completion of the tenth year of school. The standard is high, maths and science are advanced and closely related to modern industrial practice, and industrial equiprnent is used throughout ail the schools at this level. In Japan the industrial high school offers a three-year program beyond the ninth year of school and the general standard attained is approximately two years beyond high school graduation in Canadian schools. ln none of the countries visited has a training program been developed at the high school level such as is found in the Canadian technical, voca-

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tional or composite high schools. The closest to this is to be found in Japan, although, as I mentioned a moment ago, the industrial program at least is considerably more advanced than any technical or vocational program found in high schools in Canada. Japan also has a variety of other vocational high schools, for example fisheries high schools, agriculture high schools, commercial high schools, home economics high schools and in some cases, a combination of these schools with academic high schools. I did not get an opportunity to observe their programs or standards. Standards

National standards in terms of occupational competence are developing as integral parts of the European programs and the program in Japan, although this development is more advanced in Britain and Germany than in Sweden or Japan. In each country, national examinations are based on standards developed by professional associations, employer and labour organizations in co-operation with educational authorities and teachers. The British standards at the craftsman level are established by the City and Guilds of London Institute examinations, and hundreds of technical colleges prepare candidates for the intermediate or final exams of this institute. This qualification identifies full craftsman or journeyman competence and the certificates awarded are accepted widely throughout the Commonwealth, outside of Canada. At the technician level, national certificates and diplomas have, throughout the years of high quality instruction closely related to industrial practice and high level of attainment, required standards which are accepted widely throughout the Commonwealth and the world as identifying advanced levels of technical competence. German craft standards are regulated by the examination of Chambers of Commerce and industry. The certificates of these bodies are recognized nationally and intemationally. The certificates of the engineer schools, because of their rigorous curriculum, identify a high level of technical achievement and have national recognition. In Sweden, at the craft level, courses are developed in co-operation with industry and labour and prescribed by the National Board of Vocational Education. Examinations are supervised by local representatives of employer and labour. Standards are maintained at the technical level in Sweden by courses prescribed or approved by the National Vocational Training Board and a Board of Censors. Representatives of the industry, labour and the local Royal College of Technology observe the teaching and report on examinations. The schools in Japan operate under a centralized administration. The

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Vocational Training Bureau of the Department of Labour bas established national tests to determine occupational proficiency. The courses are prescribed by the National Vocational Training Bureau and at the technical level, courses and examinations are set in co-operation with industry by the Department of Education. The Second Route A distinctive feature of the European programs is the second route which provides continuing opportunity for persons to develop recognized qualifications by other ways than the traditional pattern from elementary school to high school or to apprenticeship or technical training. The programs at both craft and technician level are open-ended and permit trainees to proceed to advanced qualifications usually by extended periods of very arduous, part-time or evening studies. The qualifications acquired in this way enable the trainee to attain the same national qualification as is awarded to the graduates of regular full-time day classes. In Britain the craft apprentice may transfer to the national certificate or technician training program and after completing a specified part of that course may transfer to the beginning of the technologist program leading to professional qualification. In Sweden provision is made for employed persons to develop national qualifications at both the craft and technician level by way of evening class study over extended periods. This is a very difficult route but those who complete it are eagerly sought after. Germany's training programs feature well-defined altemate routes from one level of proficiency to another, for those who wish to proceed even from the craft level through to the professional qualification of Diploma Engineer. Again this second route is not a short eut. In fact it is considerably longer and very difficult but it recognizes accomplishment and achievement no matter how attained. What are the implications for Canada? We are in a league in which the competition is keen, where high degrees of skill and technical competence have long been a normal requirement. If the qualifications, or productivity of our labour force are not comparable or better, our competitive position is serious. If adequate technical and vocational training and education programs are to develop in Canada an agency of each provincial government must be assigned the responsibility for planning, developing, co-ordinating, and financing this work in the province. Schools and training programs must maintain a doser contact with employment. The lessons to be leamed from Europe in the field of industry, labour, education relationships are very definite. Preparation for employ-

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ment is a co-operative undertaking involving active participation of management, labour and government (both education and labour). In most provinces much of the formai instructional service is being provided by education to meet the needs of industry and a much doser contact and working relationship must develop. The old attitude of "send them ( the students, the workers, the youth or adults) to our schools and education or school administration will give them what they need" cannot be tolerated. The education and training programs must serve the need. We must work toward the objective of nation-wide standards which will identify competence, skill, and technical knowledge at all levels. These standards must be based upon the requirements of the employment market. They will serve to identify compentence and qualification for the information of the employer, the parent, the student, and the educator. They are a key feature giving identification to achievement, a purpose to studies, and a measure of progress. They facilitate employment and promote labour mobility, placement, and productivity. lndustry has not assumed the degree of responsibility for providing training for its workers as does European industry. The practice of importing skilled workers when shortages occur is no longer effective and can no longer meet our needs for each of the European countries is short of workers of all kinds. Finally, we must recognize that the problems of education and employment are not solved by the training programs organized for youth while they are still attending school and completing their general education or by the post high school technical programs. The problem of education is much greater and much more pressing for those who have left the school system, either before or after completing it, than for those coming through the schools. This adult group must be served. Educational and training programs for this group must be given much more attention in Canada. lt is my firm conviction that there is a requirement for an adult vocational school and program for each area having a population of 250,000. These questions and many more are before us and solve them we must. There is no going back or remaining in the same place when the world is moving forward so rapidly. Our success depends upon the manner in which we use and develop our human resources. In this every Canadian bas a part to play. RÉSUMÉ DU DISCOURS DE M. FORD

Dans de nombreux pays, la productivité fait aujuord'hui l'objet d'une préoccupation nationale. Les aptitudes et la compétence du monde du travail intéressent toute la population.

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Aussi, dans beaucoup de pays, des organismes gouvernementaux se chargent des programmes pour la formation des techniciens, jeunes ou adultes, en collaboration avec les associations d'employeurs, les syndicats ouvriers, les instituteurs et les administrateurs dans le domaine éducatif. Les programmes d'apprentissage et de formation spécialisée, dans ces mêmes pays, sont coordonnés de diverses manières à l'enseignement général. On y travaille à l'établissement de normes nationales de compétence relativement aux métiers. Si l'on veut arriver à établir au Canada des programmes efficaces de formation et d'enseignement technique ou spécialisé, il faut que l'on confie à un organisme de chaque gouvernement provincial la tâche d'organiser, de faire avancer, de coordonner, et de financer ce travail dans sa province. Il faut que l'administration et la main-d'œuvre fassent leur large part. Nous devons tendre vers des normes nationales de compétence, d'aptitudes et de connaissances techniques, fondées sur les besoins du marché du travail. Les problèmes touchant l'éducation et l'emploi ne seront pas résolus par l'adoption de programmes de formation pour la jeunesse seulement. Toute région ayant une population de 250,000 habitants se doit d'avoir une école ou un programme de formation spécialisée pour les adultes.

Report of Forum G EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

A national emergency exists consequent upon our tardiness as a nation to compete with the increasing effi.ciency of industry in other parts of the world. We need a "crash program" to raise the effectiveness of our work force to a standard as extensive and vigorous as that which we would exert if the nation were at war. To this end a strenuous and sustained program should be undertaken immediately by federal and provincial governments, by educators and ail interested organizations to alert the public to the urgency of developing a more competent work force if Canada is to maintain its position among nations. It is important for Canadians to realize that every unit of goods and services must be produced by work and effort. The discussion of educational and training needs opened up two main areas of concern: (a) youths who are still in the formai school system, and

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Aussi, dans beaucoup de pays, des organismes gouvernementaux se chargent des programmes pour la formation des techniciens, jeunes ou adultes, en collaboration avec les associations d'employeurs, les syndicats ouvriers, les instituteurs et les administrateurs dans le domaine éducatif. Les programmes d'apprentissage et de formation spécialisée, dans ces mêmes pays, sont coordonnés de diverses manières à l'enseignement général. On y travaille à l'établissement de normes nationales de compétence relativement aux métiers. Si l'on veut arriver à établir au Canada des programmes efficaces de formation et d'enseignement technique ou spécialisé, il faut que l'on confie à un organisme de chaque gouvernement provincial la tâche d'organiser, de faire avancer, de coordonner, et de financer ce travail dans sa province. Il faut que l'administration et la main-d'œuvre fassent leur large part. Nous devons tendre vers des normes nationales de compétence, d'aptitudes et de connaissances techniques, fondées sur les besoins du marché du travail. Les problèmes touchant l'éducation et l'emploi ne seront pas résolus par l'adoption de programmes de formation pour la jeunesse seulement. Toute région ayant une population de 250,000 habitants se doit d'avoir une école ou un programme de formation spécialisée pour les adultes.

Report of Forum G EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

A national emergency exists consequent upon our tardiness as a nation to compete with the increasing effi.ciency of industry in other parts of the world. We need a "crash program" to raise the effectiveness of our work force to a standard as extensive and vigorous as that which we would exert if the nation were at war. To this end a strenuous and sustained program should be undertaken immediately by federal and provincial governments, by educators and ail interested organizations to alert the public to the urgency of developing a more competent work force if Canada is to maintain its position among nations. It is important for Canadians to realize that every unit of goods and services must be produced by work and effort. The discussion of educational and training needs opened up two main areas of concern: (a) youths who are still in the formai school system, and

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( b) persons already in the labour forces, both the employed and those seeking work. Educational responsibility begins in the elementary school in the development of constructive attitudes to life in modern industrial society. Teachers in the elementary system should be equipped to introduce children to the world of work and must have a broad, non-discriminatory attitude towards ail types of occupations. Links between education and employment are forged by many agents: parents, teachers, librarians, employers, unions and other community organizations. These must be aided and reinforced by a better system of vocational counselling, with a recognized role in the educational system. Schooling would be made more effective through the strengthening of counselling services along the following lines: ( 1) There must be a suffi.dent number of adequately trained vocational counsellors to serve every student on a persona} basis; (2) To be effective the vocational counsellor must be familiar with and work with other elements involved in guidance, particularly with teachers who must refer pupils to him, and with parents, employers and the local employment office; ( 3) All necessary facilities must be made available to those engaged in this field in order to relate the world of education to that of work, e.g., occupational monographs, films, and other relevant material; ( 4) In ail teacher training institutions the role and importance of vocational guidance should be stressed as an essential element in the curriculum. The importance of vocational competence of the work force should also be stressed. ( 5) Government agencies should substantially extend their services in the provision of information about guidance and remedial training which is available in particular areas. There is urgent need for an expanded program of research in the whole field of education and employment. The research that bas gone on, although considerable, bas not been adequately coordinated. The following areas suggest themselves as requiring attention immediately: (a) educational techniques and curricula; (b) drop-outs and failures; (c) occupational requirements; (d) manpower requirements; (e) means of inter-provincial co-operation; (f) the apprenticeship system, in all its aspects; (g) work study programs such as "sandwich" courses and "day release"; (h) ways and means of utilizing the potential of the handicapped and slow leamer; (i) the implications of proposais to raise the school-leaming age. In order to facilitate the realistic adjustments necessary to the current and future needs of the economy the results of such research should be widely disseminated. Although the emphasis in this section of the report is on preparation for employment we are mindful of the need for a core of basic knowledge. At all levels of leaming attention must be paid to standards. General education

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at a high level can be imparted in vocational programs. There is need for a revision and multiplication of courses to meet the needs of today and to recroit young people according to their interest, abilities and aptitudes. In this way, we can help to remove the stigma now placed upon non-academic courses. It is suggested that the provinces get together in setting standards in all courses. We should work toward the recognition of diplomas, certificates, and degrees in ail parts of Canada. Mobility plays an important part in meeting labour market demands. Attention should be given to the inspection and licensing of privately run vocational and trade schools. Unemployment bas reached such proportions that heroic measures must be taken to help untrained persons to return to the work force. This problem must be attacked on many fronts. Large numbers of unemployed require upgrading in elementary subjects before vocational training can be offered to them. Program five of the Federal-Provincial Vocational Technical Training Agreements can be used for this purpose. A strengthening of the national employment counselling and guidance services can help to recruit unemployed for retraining. The adequacy of the present financial assistance offered to adults undertaking retraining should be reviewed. A great deal can be done to ease the placement of those presently unemployed through adequate upgrading, training, and improvement of employed people within their present areas of occupation. There is a known demand for higher skills. If the present employed people are trained to fi.il these skilled jobs, there will be greater room in the semi-skilled and un-skilled areas for people now unemployed. Education, industry and government should co-operate in this important field of improving the present work force. Canada lags far behind many Western nations in this regard. Education for employment must be a partnership undertaking. AU the relevant resources of the community should be enlisted. For example, active advisory councils including educators, employers, employees, and government are needed in ail provinces as well as at the federal level. Local communities and their governments should be encouraged to define and to the best of their ability meet their particular needs. We must dedicate ourselves to the fullest development of our manpower resources among the young and the old. A nation can make no better investment. Social welfare is not limited to helping those in distress. Prevention is still better than cure. Education and training are the keys to a better future. If the economy of the natiort is to be developed to enable Canada to find ber place among the increasingly competitive markets of the world, we must rise to new heights of knowledge, skill, and purposeful achievements.

Rapport de la Commission G L'ÉDUCATION ET L'EMPLOI

Le manque de préparation du peuple canadien à rivaliser avec l'efficacité croissante de l'industrie dans les autres parties du monde a créé une situation alarmante. Il nous faut un programme d'urgence pour élever le niveau du rendement de notre main-d'œuvre et lui donner l'étendue et la vigueur qu'elle aurait si le pays était en guerre. A cette fin, il faudrait qu'un programme vigoureux et soutenu soit adopté sans délai par les gouvernements provinciaux et le gouvernement fédéral, par les éducateurs et tous les organismes intéressés à rendre le public conscient de l'urgence de former une main-d'œuvre plus compétente, si le Canada veut conserver le rang qu'il occupe parmi les nations du monde. Il est important que les Canadiens comprennent que tout produit ou tout service est le fruit du travail et d'un effort soutenu. L'examen des besoins de l'enseignement et de la formation a révélé l'existence de deux problèmes principaux, à savoir : (a) le problème des étudiants qui suivent encore des cours d'étude réguliers et ( b) le problème des personnes qui sont déjà sur le marché du travail, qu'elles soient employées ou à la recherche d'un emploi. La responsabilité de l'éducation commence à l'école élémentaire par le développement d'attitudes positives à l'égard de la vie dans notre société industrielle. Il faudrait que les instituteurs du degré primaire soient en mesure d'initier les enfants au monde du travail et envisagent tous les genres de métiers ou de professions avec un esprit ouvert et sans préjugés. Les liens entre l'éducation et l'emploi sont établis par plusieurs agents : les parents, les instituteurs, les bibliothécaires, les employeurs, les unions ouvrières et autres organismes communautaires. Ceux-ci doivent être aidés et renforcés par un meilleur système d'orientation professionnelle faisant partie intégrante du système scolaire. Les études seraient plus efficaces si les éducateurs pouvaient profiter de services d'orientation selon les principes suivants: (a) Il faut un nombre suffisant de conseillers d'orientation compétents pour que chaque étudiant puisse profiter personnellement de leurs services. ( b) Pour que l'action du conseiller d'orientation soit efficace, celui-ci doit être en relation suivie et collaborer avec les autres agents intéressés et en particulier avec les instituteurs qui doivent lui envoyer les élèves, avec les parents, les employeurs et le bureau de placement local. ( c) Il faudrait assurer aux personnes qui travaillent dans ce domaine tous les moyens qui peuvent relier le monde de l'éducation à celui du travail : monographies sur les métiers et professions, films et autre documentation

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appropnee. ( d) Dans toute école normale ou collège pédagogique, on devrait souligner l'importance de l'orientation professionnelle comme partie intégrante du cours d'étude. Il faudrait aussi insister sur la compétence professionnelle. ( e) Les organismes gouvernementaux devraient augmenter considérablement leurs services d'information au sujet dé l'orientation et de l'enseignement correctif qui existent dans des régions particulières. Il est urgent d'intensifier les recherches sur les relations entre l'éducation et l'emploi. Les nombreuses recherches faites jusqu'ici ont manqué de coordination. Il faut, semble-t-il, accorder une attention immédiate aux sujets suivants : (a) techniques d'enseignement et programmes d'étude~; ( b) abandon prématuré des études et insuccès scolaires ; ( c) exigences des divers emplois; (d) l'étude du marché du travail; (e) moyens de coopération entre les provinces ; (f) le système d'apprentissage, sous tous ses aspects; (g) programmes d'études destinés à des employés pendant leur journée de travail ou cours pendant les jours de congé payé ; (h) moyens d'utiliser les aptitudes des personnes désavantagées au point de vue physique ou qui sont lentes à apprendre; (i) le prolongement de la fréquentation scolaire obligatoire, et ce que cela comporte. On doit s'efforcer de disséminer le plus possible les résultats de telles recherches, afin de permettre une adaptation réaliste des études aux besoins actuels et futurs de l'économie. Bien que dans cette partie du rapport nous insistions sur la préparation à l'emploi, nous n'oublions pas le besoin d'une bonne formation générale. A tous les stades, il faut se préoccuper des normes à atteindre. Il est possible de donner un haut degré de formation générale dans les cours de formation professionnelle. Pour satisfaire aux besoins actuels et pour recruter les jeunes, en tenant compte de leurs intérêts, de leurs talents et aptitudes, il faut reviser les programmes et diversifier les cours. De cette façon, nous pourrons faire disparaître le discrédit que l'on attache souvent aux cours dits c non académiques ,. . Il est proposé que les provinces s'entendent pour établir des équivalences pour tous les cours. Il faudrait que diplômes, certificats et grades universitaires soient reconnus dans toutes les régions du Canada. Il existe une grande mobilité dans le marché du travail. Il conviendrait que l'on songe à l'inspection et à l'octroi de permis aux écoles de métiers dirigées par des entreprises privées. Le chômage a atteint de telles proportions qu'il faut adopter des mesures radicales pour aider les personnes sans formation professionnelle à retourner au travail. Il faut envisager ce problème sous différents aspects à la fois. Un grand nombre d'étudiants ont besoin de perfectionner leurs connaissances de certains sujets du cours élémentaire avant qu'on puisse leur offrir une formation professionnelle. On peut se servir à cette fin du

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Programme 5 de l'Accord fédéral-provincial sur la formation technique et professionnelle. Une amélioration des services d'orientation du Service national de placement pourrait aider à grouper des personnes sans emploi pour fins de réadaptation. L'appui financier offert aux adultes qui entreprennent des cours de réadaptation est insuffisant. On peut faire beaucoup pour faciliter le placement des personnes sans emploi en offrant des cours de perfectionnement à ceux qui sont déjà employés. En préparant des travailleurs à occuper des emplois spécialisés où on trouve le plus de vacances, on créera, dans les emplois semi-spécialisés ou non spécialisés des vacances qui pourront être comblées par des chômeurs. Les éducateurs, l'industrie et le gouvernement devraient collaborer dans ce domaine important qu'est l'amélioration de la maind'œuvre actuelle. Le Canada, à cet égard, suit de loin plusieurs pays de l'Ouest. L'éducation en vue de préparer à l'emploi doit être une entreprise conjointe. Tous les éléments intéressés de la société doivent prêter leur concours. Par exemple, des conseils consultatifs formés d'éducateurs, de patrons, d'employés et de représentants des gouvernements devraient exister dans toutes les provinces aussi bien qu'au niveau fédéral. Il faut encourager les collectivités et leurs administrateurs à définir leurs besoins particuliers et à les satisfaire au meilleur de leur connaissance. Nous ne devons rien négliger pour assurer le plein emploi de notre capital humain (les jeunes aussi bien que les plus âgés). Une nation ne saurait faire de meilleur placement. Le bien-être social ne limite pas son action aux malheureux. Il vaut mieux prévenir que guérir. L'éducation et la formation professionnelle sont la clé d'un avenir meilleur. Pour développer notre économie de façon à permettre au Canada d'accéder aux marchés internationaux en dépit d'une concurrence toujours croissante, il nous faut atteindre de nouveaux paliers en fait d'instruction, de compétence et de rendement.

1.

PHYSICAL FITNESS/L'APTITUDE PHYSIQUE Chairman / Président HUGH NOBLE,

DR.

o.

Nova Scotia Department of Education

Panelists / Équipe de discussion

Medical Officer of Health, Kitchener, Ontario

E. DUFF-WILSON,

Director of Maternai and Child Health, Province of New Brunswick

DR. MARY SOUTHERN-HOLT,

M. LUCIEN PLANTE, Directeur du Département de l'hygiène, de l'éducation physique et des loisirs, Université de Montréal

School of Physical Education, University of Alberta

DR. MAX HOWELL,

This luncheon meeting heard and discussed four viewpoints on the subject. Extracts from the papers are given here. A ce déjeuner-causerie, on a exposé et débattu quatre points de vue différents sur le sujet. On trouvera annexés des extraits des mémoires présentés. Extraits des discours / Extracts

G.

E.

DUFF-WILSON

Dr. Duff-Wilson opened the session by asking the question, Is Physical Education important? Sir Richard Livingston defines the ai.ms of education as ( 1) general or vocational training to prepare us to earn our bread, ( 2) to give us some understanding of the universe and of men, and ( 3) to help us to become fully developed human beings. Physical Education qualifies for the second and third of these aims. The knowledge of man-the second aim of education-may certainly include a knowledge of physiology, biochemistry, anatomy, etc., but surely a repetitious refrain on the care of teeth, hair, nails, hours of sleep, importance of posture, year after year in the school child's life is not necessary. Physical Fitness in the medical mind is associated with an efficient cardio-vascular and respiratory system. There may even be evidence produced in time that fitness of these two systems means less cardio-vascular disease. The emphasis in our search for physical fitness should be on sports, games, and physical activity that exercise the heart, lungs, and the vascular tree, and not on the development of muscular strength, co-ordination, and

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agility. I believe at the present time about the only thing we can assert about physical fitness is that it can be partly achieved through physical activity. Physical activity of a recreative nature can be fostered, promoted, and taught in the high schools and colleges and here it properly comes under the third aim of education as defined by Sir Richard Livingston, viz. to help us to become fully developed human beings. We do not need to fear T.V. or spectatoritis.

MAR Y SOUTHERN-HOLT For the purpose of today's discussion it might be suggested that fitness be considered to mean that state of harmony which should exist between the physical body, mind, emotions, and that less well definable entity, the spiritual being of man, and the environment. This would imply the development and maintenance at a11 times of optimal function. In such a state of fitness, each physical movement would be basically of good pattern and achieve its result with the most perfect economy. Having defined fitness it remains to consider its assessment. Unfortunately the definition, including as it does many indefinable features, renders scientific measurements virtually impossible. The best that can be done, then, is to verify by examination that no detectable disease is present and then painstakingly measure various types of performance of interest to the examiner and of which the individual is capable. "Muscle testing is not, per se, a valid estimate of physical fitness" or of good health. lt would be a mistake to equate performance with fitness, as it has been defined, or even positive health. For example, Dr. Roger Bannister, the British athlete, and present research worker in this field, who was the first to break the four-minute mile, did not distinguish himself in- tests. In fact, bis results were rather poor in tests involving balance, flexibility, and certain other components of total fitness. Developed under such circumstances are only, it seems, the aspects of fitness appropriate to the particular sport. In itself this is a recommendation for a varied program of. physical activities ....

The Health of Children in School Children need to be educated in a healthful environment. The co-operation of members of the departments of health and education should aid in bringing this about. Their concem will be·with the provision of good school buildings, sound water supply, good lighting, provision of a safe interior, and safe play areas. The school health service, in which doctors, nurses, and teachers genetally participate as a team, will be concemed with the

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early detection of diseases and deviations from normal health. A good school health program and co-operation of the medical profession is essential to the physical education program, and the sound and safe development of · the latter will be handicapped if it is not provided. We can only pick out a few particular points for discussion. I want to mention four. The state of living tissues is determined to a not inconsiderable extent by the functional demands placed upon them. Cumulative strain, fatigue, and repeated incorrect use of the musculo-skeletal system can and do lead to various types of weakness and postural deviation. The utmost importance, trite as this sounds, should therefore be placed on ensuring that pupils, from their first days at school, see, learn, and repeat only good and correct movement patterns. (a) Posture. Fortunately, most postural faults in the growing individual fall in the category of transient developmental deviations, but when patterns are repeated and become habitua] they can be persistent and difficult to eradicate. The example of the teacher is important. The child sees the teachers ail through the school day. (b) Fatigue. The rôle of fatigue and energy restitution at ail ages, but particularly during periods of rapid growth, and the rôle played by the changing relations of muscle groups in different parts of the body in the actively growing child all need consideration when thinking in terms of physical movement and fitness. "Chronic fatigue bas long been recognized as a factor which can interefere with healthy growth. Difierentiation between healthy, transient fatigue and exhaustion which leads to chronic fatigue and other ill effects may not be readily discemible." Also "exhaustion may lead to physical injury which may be acute and apparent, or non-apparent, but likely to manifest itself at a later time." Education of parents, teachers, and others conceming these factors may fall partly in the public health field partly to the medical profession in general. (c) Remedial Defects, the Underweight and the Overweight. Children with remedial defects and those who are underweight or overweight should be detected by means of a school health program (or equivalent). "Obesity is becoming a threat even to the very young." In a recent study conducted in the Boston area by Jean Mayer, of the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health et al., it was found that "over 10% of the school population from kindergarten onward had to be classified as overweight, if not obese." When the food intake of the children was further studied it was said that "these overweight children differed from the normal not in that they ate more but in that they were extraordinarily inactive. These obese children, on the whole, just sat all their waking time." Other studies, including those of Johnson et al. have shown much the same thing.

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(d) Safety. The main cause of death in the age group 5-15 is Accidents. Therefore, ail programs should be taught with emphasis on safe practices. A good deal of accident prevention can be taught through physical education. This is particularly true in water activities. LUCIEN

PLANTE

Les dirigeants américains, désappointés de la performance de leurs enfants comparés à ceux des enfants d'autres pays se sont d'abord émus devant l'insuccès de leur méthode à prédominance sportive. C'est le Dr James B. Conant, ancien président de Harvard, qui déclarait, tout en déplorant l'excès du sport collégial américain : « Il va sans dire que nous devons nous occuper du développement physique de nos enfants et qu'ils devront consacrer plus de temps à cette fin. J'en suis venu à croire que tous les enfants devraient profiter d'une période régulière par jour pour le développement de leurs qualités physiques. > Cette dernière opinion pourtant bien défendable, dépasse nos espérances. A la suite de l'appel lancé par le Président, tous les états américains se sont engagés dans de vastes campagnes d'amélioration de leurs programmes en insistant sur les exercices fondamentaux plus intenses et mieux choisis, en réduisant la part relativement exagérée réservée aux sports, surtout dans les écoles primaires et secondaires, et en introduisant des mesures générales de contrôle ... Evidemment, si au départ, on assure l'aptitude physique scolaire on pourra, comme complément, songer à en prolonger les effets le plus tard possible dans la vie, par une variété de mesures sociales complémentaires. Mais il me semble de mauvaise psychologie d'essayer d'inculquer aux jeunes et aux personnes d'âge mur, des habitudes permanentes d'exercice intense et de participation active si ce goût de l'effort n'a pas été cultivé tôt dans la vie. La vigueur d'un peuple ne se mesure pas au tiers des citoyens adeptes instinctifs des sports, mais aux deux autres tiers à qui il aura fallu dès l'enfance apprendre les vertus de l'exercice pour qu'ils éprouvent la nécessité de le pratiquer toute leur vie, sans quoi ils rejoindront la masse des amoindris physiques. Si l'école ne s'occupe pas de cette dernière majorité, qui pourra le faire au bon moment ? Ainsi pour donner suite à son programme d'aptitude physique scolaire, l'Angleterre cherche maintenant à parfaire le travail bien commencé. A témoin l'excellent rapport de la Commission Wolfenden. C'est un plaidoyer très solide en faveur de la récréation physique et de la vie de plein air pour la population postscolaire, afin qu'à la suite d'une bonne formation à l'école, les jeunes Anglais puissent trouver les moyens de

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conserver le plus longtemps possible leurs bonnes habitudes d'activité physique. Dans ce rapport on étudie les moyens de combler le vide souvent laissé entre la vie intense de l'école et l'incertitude et le désœuvrement des années qui suivent. On insiste sur les installations de vie de plein air, sur la préparation d'instructeurs qualifiés au service du public, sur les meilleurs moyens d'organisation et de financement des organismes de récréation physique. On y traite des moyens d'encourager l'amateurisme, de retenir dans de justes bornes la participation aux sports internationaux et de se servir à bon escient des techniques de diffusion pour répandre la philosophie de l'action. On termine par la recommandation de créer un Conseil national des sports, pris ici dans le sens de récréation physique et de sports amateurs ... En éducation physique, devant les efforts des États-Unis, de la France, de l'Angleterre, du Japon, de la Russie, de l'Allemagne, de l'Australie, de la Suède, etc., nous serions présomptueux de penser que tous les autres ont tort et que nous sommes les seuls à avoir raison. Et l'aptitude physique n'est pas un concept abstrait qu'on satisfera par des approbations de principes, sans suites concrètes. Il faut que tous les éducateurs canadiens, dans une pensée d'ensemble, revisent, s'il le faut, leur position vis-à-vis l'éducation physique scolaire. Les points suivants sont à reconsidérer, le professeur, le programme, le contrôle et la recherche. 1. Le professeur d'éducation physique ne doit plus être la personne chargée officiellement d'occuper ou de reposer les enfants. Il devra rendre compte de l'efficacité de son enseignement. On n'aura pas cependant le droit de le blâmer pour l'échec de la formation physique si on ne lui donne pas le temps et les moyens de s'acquitter de sa tâche adéquatement. On a parfois compliqué son rôle à tel point qu'il en reste confus. On lui demande d'élever la jeunesse selon l'idéal démocratique, de préparer ses loisirs d'adulte, de développer ses qualités de caractère, de favoriser son adaptation sociale. Evidemment s'il est digne de sa profession, l'éducateur physique saisira au cours de son travail les nombreuses et uniques occasions de contribuer largement à l'éclosion et au développement de ces vertus humaines. Il faut cependant, reconnaître que son rôle primordial et propre reste la formation physique de l'enfant. 2. Le programme. Il a probablement besoin d'être repensé. Il faut insister sur l'intensité de l'action, et ne pas se satisfaire de la participation seule sans s'inquiéter de la qualité et de la quantité de cette participation. L'élève qui au cours de sa leçon d'éducation physique n'a pas senti de sueur au front a perdu son temps au point de vue physique, sa motivation

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en souffrira bientôt, il aura laissé passer des occasions de se former à l'effort et de réagir contre la vie facile. Ce que nous demandons n'est pas révolutionnaire. Pour tous nos enfants, jusqu'à la fin du cours secondaire, simplement un minimum de 2 périodes normales par semaine d'éducation physique systématique dont au moins l'équivalent d'une période sera consacré aux exercices de base. Sans ce minimum qui ne doit pas inclure les sports il est impossible d'accomplir un travail sérieux et de produire des résultats. Il nous faudra retenir ou réhabiliter des exercices fondamentaux (gymnastique éducative, aux agrès, athlétisme) qui ont fait leurs preuves mais qui seront modifiés à la lumière des données nouvelles dictées par la recherche en élaguant les mouvements qui favorisent peu ou point l'acquisition des qualités de force, d'endurance, d'agilité, de flexibilité et de coordination. Nos programmes sont trop chargés de routines empiriques ou démodées qui devraient être passées au crible de la critique scientifique. Les méthodes personnelles centrées sur les goûts et l'habileté de l'instructeur ou la popularité, devraient céder devant les exigences pédagogiques. La faillite physique de certains pays a prouvé qu'un programme scolaire presqu'exclusivement appuyé sur les sports ne peut donner les meilleurs résultats en aptitude physique. Il est peut-être heureux pour nous Canadiens d'avoir été en retard pour nous engager à fond dans un tel programme. Ce décalage involontaire nous ayant épargné la servitude d'une tradition rigide, nous permettra d'éviter la répétition de certaines erreurs tout en nous laissant encore le temps de reprendre le temps perdu par l'emploi des meilleurs méthodes et procédés. 3. L'usage de critères précis d'aptitude physique et l'introduction systématique de la mesure ob;ective des résultats. L'enfant devrait pouvoir constater les progrès qu'il a réalisés sur lui-même au cours d'une année. La valeur de motivation de cette mesure individuelle est grande. Il faudrait trouver le moyen qu'une cote physique ait un sens apprécié des enfants et des parents. Il vaudrait la peine de songer à introduire à l'échelon provincial un système gradué de normes comme, par exemple, celles de la Croix-Rouge pour la natation. En aptitude physique la recherche scientifique qu'il faut intensifier devra tenir compte de l'aspect pédagogique. Tout ce qu'on trouve en laboratoire n'est pas toujours applicable tel quel dans la pratique. On pourrait probablement prouver qu'une série limitée d'exercices répétés tous les jours avec intensité peut favoriser au maximum l'aptitude physique, mais puisqu'on s'adresse à des enfants dont l'immaturité relative et les goûts personnels n'incitent pas à travailler dans l'optique d'un concept théorique de santé ou d'aptitude physique sans réponse émotive chez eux,

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il faut compléter les exercices de bases très formateurs au point de vue santé, mais humainement peu enrichissants, par autre chose de plus attrayant et de plus pédagogique. On voit heureusement des signes évidents que les systèmes scolaires canadiens ne voudront pas manquer à leur devoir quant à la préparation physique des enfants et se voir accuser par la. génération future, s'ils refusaient dès aujourd'hui, de faire peut-être plus et certainement mieux.

MAX

HOWELL

There are some encouraging trends in Canada towards improving the physical fitness of Canadians. The most outstanding occurrence, of course, was the passage of Bill C-131, "An Act to Encourage Fitness and Amateur Sport," through the House of Commons on September 25, 1961. This Act allows for the provision of five million dollars per year to fulfil the purposes of the Act. What are these purposes? Quoting from the original bill, "The objects of this Act are to encourage, promote and develop fitness and amateur sport in Canada, and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Minister may, in furtherance of such objects, a)

provide assistance for the promotion and development of Canadian participation in national and international amateur sport; b) provide for the training of coaches and such other personnel as may be required for the purposes of this Act; c) provide bursaries or fellowships to assist in the training of necessary personnel; d) undertake or assist in research or surveys in respect of fitness and amateur sport; e) arrange for national and regional conferences designed to promote and further the objects of this Act; f) provide for recognition of achievement in respect of fitness and amateur sport by the grant or issue of certificates, citations or awards of merit; g) prepare and distribute information relating to fitness and amateur sport; h) assist, cooperate with and enlist the àid of any group interested in furthering the objects of this Act; i) coordinate federal activities related to the encouragement, promotion and development of fitness and amateur sport, in cooperation with any other departments or agencies of the Government of Canada carrying on such activities; and j) undertake such other projects or programmes, including the provision of services and facilities or the provision of assistance therefore, in respect of fitness and amateur sport as are designed to promote and further the objects of this Act."

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. . . Public interest in physical fitness came to a head seven years ago following the publication of the much-reported Kraus-Weber data. You may recall that Dr. Hans Kraus and his associates found, after administering a simple six-item test of "minimum muscular fitness" to 2,879 European children and 4,264 American children, that 8.7 per cent of the European children failed one or more of the tests, compared to 57.9 per cent of the American children. The publicity accorded these findings was overwhelming.... Canadian results on this test, incidentally, were very similar to those in the United States. The original test has been criticized extensively, as a great percentage of the North American failures were in one item alone, the inability of approximately 40 per cent of the youngsters tested to touch the floor with their fingertips with their feet together and legs straight. Nevertheless, the argument about fitness continued. The Duke of Edinburgh himself criticized the low standard of fitness in Canada in his inaugural speech as the first lay president of the Canadian Medical Association, in June, 1959. Similar disturbing statistics were reported recently at a colloquium on "Health and Fitness in the Modem World" in Rome last year. A U.S. Fitness test (the AAHPER Youth Fitness test) was given to 10,000 British school-children. The main conclusions were these: 1. The British boys were far superior to the U .S. boys in all the fitness tests exclusive of the softball throw for distance. "They have greater shoulder girdle strength, greater abdominal endurance, leg explosive power and circulatory endurance." 2. The British girls were superior to the U.S. girls. What was more surprising, was the fact that at specific ages, the British girls were superior to the U.S. boys at ages 10, 11, 12, and 13 on their mean scores in five of the seven tests. 3. In general, the British and U.S. boys and British girls improved with age while the U.S. girls showed either little improvement or regressed with age.

But there is a fundamental problem that perhaps no amount of money can resolve. How is one to change the thinking and behaviour of the culture? You may talk of fitness, you may show movies and give clinics on the subject, you may give free copies of the 5BX and the 10BX to every family: but how do you get people to actually do anything about their fitness, other than talk about it? Past prejudices and beliefs, the sumtotal of the past experiences of the environment, are difficult to change, and the truth is that physical education bas an accepted, but a very minor rôle, in this culture. In England, in Australia, in New Zealand, in many European countries, physical education plays, on the other band, a major rôle.

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A few examples will suffi.ce to demonstrate the main point. What percentage of the Canadian population is active in a sport following graduation from high school, what opportunities are there for a person for team or individual sports in the rural communities? Then compare those findings with what happens in England, for example. Next, survey twenty mothers in Edmonton and ask them if they would like their daughters to be athletes. Competitive sport for women is an interesting subject-some sports, like swimming and golf, may be socially acceptable, whereas track and field and basketball may not be. In Australia the idols of the young girls are outstanding athletes such as Shirley Strickland and Marjorie Jackson. How does one go about changing or modifying some of these cultural attitudes? And how do they develop in the first place? These, then, are a few of the problems that will confront those whose responsibility it is to disperse five million dollars. The Russian people have developed an all-round athletic nation in a very short time, and the secret of their success is by the development and subsidization of athletic clubs within the communities and by encouraging mass participation. So it is possible to change the way of life of people. But in a democratic system the task is made more difficult. The government action to provide five million dollars a year for physical fitness and athletics is an historie one. It could have far-sweeping consequences for each of us. Under proper leadership and direction, if such grants be maintained, it may very well herald a new age for physical fitness, an age in which the roots of the fundamental beliefs of physical education are more and more accepted by each of our citizens.

2.

SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS/ L'ENSEIGNEMENT DES SCIENCES ET DES MATHÉMATIQUES AU COURS SECONDAIRE M. LÉON LORTIE,

Chairman / Président Adjoint au recteur de l'Université de Montréal

Panelists / Équipe de discussion M. L.-P. BONNEAU, Université Laval PROFESSOR A. J. COLEMAN, Queen's University PROFESSOR ARTHUR PORTER, University of Toronto PROFESSOR L. M. SHEMILT, University of New Brunswick A. A. SHEPPARD, Imperia! Oil Ltd.

Pive papers were presented and discussed at this luncheon meeting. Extracts follow. Cinq mémoires ont été présentés et ont fait l'objet d'une discussion, à ce déjeuner-causerie. On en trouvera des extraits ci-après. Remarques Préliminaires du Président

LÉON LOR TIE Chacun s'accorde à reconnaître que la vie moderne est dominée par les applications de plus en plus nombreuses que l'on fait des découvertes des savants. Il est impérieux que tous les adolescents qui fréquentent les écoles secondaires, qu'ils se destinent ultérieurement à une carrière scientifique ou technique ou qu'ils choisissent une vocation qui n'a que peu ou pas de rapport avec la technique, reçoivent un enseignement scientifique dans les meilleures conditions possibles. Les derniers ont besoin de comprendre le rôle que joue la science dans la société contemporaine car, sans cela, ils risquent d'en être les victimes. Cet enseignement devra préparer les premiers à suivre les cours des universités qui les prépareront de façon plus immédiate à accomplir les tâches auxquelles ils s'attaqueront plus tard. Que faut-il exiger de l'enseignement des sciences du cours secondaire ? Les cinq personnes qui me suivront à cette tribune diront chacune ce qu'elles pensent à cet égard. L'intérêt que chacune d'elles porte à la préparation des futurs ingénieurs, techniciens et hommes de science les portera sans doute à mettre l'accent sur la préparation immédiate des étudiants, à l'enseignement qu'ils recevront dans les facultés des sciences et de génie.

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Je voudrais insister sur la nécessité qu'il y a de donner à ceux qui ne fréquenteront pas ces cours universitaires un enseignement qui leur permette de comprendre et d'apprécier le rôle que joue la science dans la société contemporaine. C'est un aspect de cette question que l'on néglige un peu trop sous prétexte que les sciences sont trop complexes de nos jours pour qu'on puisse les enseigner convenablement sans recourir à toutes les ressources des mathématiques, et à des méthodes qui ne s'appliquent bien qu'à la préparation des futurs spécialistes. C'est une attitude qu'il convient de changer si on veut éviter que la population se divise en spécialistes de la science et en profanes incapables de les comprendre. Un des orateurs qui me suivront aura l'occasion de parler d'une classe de gens qui, sans être des scientifiques, ne sauraient accomplir leurs tâches sans posséder une bonne connaissance des implications de la science dans leur propre domaine. Nous habitons un pays dont les ressources naturelles sont un défi aux hommes de science et aux ingénieurs. Elles sont à peine entamées, ce qui assure à notre population la possibilité d'en tirer un parti profitable alors que, dans un grand nombre de pays, l'usage que l'on a fait des richesses du sous-sol, qui ne sont pas renouvelables, les a presque épuisées. Encore faut-il connaître ces ressources et savoir où elles sont localisées. Il n'y a pas que le technicien et l'ingénieur qui doivent être renseignés à ce sujet. Nous aurions un bien plus grand orgueil national si nous étions mieux au courant de ce qu'il possède et de ce que l'on a fait pour exploiter ces richesses. De même, si on connaissait les noms des savants qui ont déjà procuré à notre pays une réputation enviable et si nous pouvions parler de leur œuvre en connaissance de cause. C'est au cours secondaire qu'il est le plus facile d'enseigner cela aux adolescents. On peut ainsi susciter des vocations de savants et, en même temps, on éveille chez les autres une fierté qui, trop souvent, nous manque encore. L'enseignement des sciences est devenu très complexe et les universités ont dû demander aux écoles secondaires d'enseigner des notions, devenues d'usage courant, dont elles assuraient elles-mêmes l'enseignement il n'y a que quelques années. Il faudrait aussi que l'école secondaire puisse compter, à l'école primaire, sur une initiation aux sciences qui pourrait se faire facilement par la méthode des leçons de choses. Cela se pratique déjà dans plusieurs écoles et les résultats sont excellents. Il ne s'agit que de phénomènes que l'on peut observer tous les jours et dont la connaissance et l'explication sont d'un grand intérêt pour les enfants de 10 à 12 ans. C'est pour eux que l'on vend des nécessaires de chimie, d'optique, d'électricité. Il arrive ainsi que les enfants en savent plus que leurs maîtres. Il importe donc que les programmes tiennent compte de cet intérêt des enfants pour des choses qui sont maintenant d'usage courant ou pour des notions dont

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ils entendent continuellement parler à la télévision, dans les c corn.mies ,. et à la maison. C'est une erreur que de sous-estimer la capacité d'apprendre des enfants et des adolescents. Il se peut que l'on n'ait pas toujours accordé à l'enseignement des sciences au cours secondaire l'importance qu'il devrait avoir. Vous aurez maintenant l'occasion de savoir, de source autorisée, ce qu'il faut exiger des autorités scolaires afin qu'elles procurent à cet enseignement les professeurs, les laboratoires et les programmes qu'il lui faut. Extraits des discours / Extracts

L . -P . BONNEAU Il semble bien évident pour toute personne du métier que les exigences, tant du contenu que de la bonne compréhension des mathématiques et des sciences, ont augmenté de façon considérable depuis quelques années. J'ai dit pour toute personne du métier ; comme je crois que dans cet auditoire tous ne sont pas nécessairement liés à l'enseignement dans les facultés de sciences ou de génies, je voudrais expliquer par deux exemples ce que j'entends par ces changements. En Génie électrique, il y quelques années, on soignait certaine section des mathématiques : les équations différentielles à coefficients linéaires avec ou sans second membre. Aujourd'hui, on s'attaque, au même niveau, aux équations différentielles non linéaires ; on a, de plus, ajouté à ce plat tout ce qui est nécessaire pour comprendre les circuits : algèbre Booléenne et topologie et aussi ce qui permet de comprendre la physique de l'état solide : distributions statistiques et calcul matriciel. En Génie mécanique, il y a quelques années, on se contentait en thermodynamique de traiter des phénomènes en régime permanent ; maintenant, on s'occupe aussi de plus en plus des phénomènes transitoires et de tout ce qu'ils demandent d'équations différentielles aux dérivées partielles. On retrouve les phénomènes de physique des solides en thermoélectricité et tout l'appareillage mathématique mentionné plus haut. Que dire des asservissements qui prennent de plus en plus de place dans le programme d'études et qui demandent eux aussi un complexe mathématique élaboré. J'ai donné des exemples tirés presque exclusivement des mathématiques ; on pourrait établir des exemples parallèles en science. Qu'est-ce que cet emphase de plus en plus grand sur ces disciplines veut dire pour leur enseignement au niveau de l'école secondaire? A mon sens, cela veut dire simplement que de plus en plus les méthodes conventionnelles d'enseignement devront être examinées, améliorées ou remplacées. Il faudra éliminer des matières qui depuis longtemps s'en-

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ils entendent continuellement parler à la télévision, dans les c corn.mies ,. et à la maison. C'est une erreur que de sous-estimer la capacité d'apprendre des enfants et des adolescents. Il se peut que l'on n'ait pas toujours accordé à l'enseignement des sciences au cours secondaire l'importance qu'il devrait avoir. Vous aurez maintenant l'occasion de savoir, de source autorisée, ce qu'il faut exiger des autorités scolaires afin qu'elles procurent à cet enseignement les professeurs, les laboratoires et les programmes qu'il lui faut. Extraits des discours / Extracts

L . -P . BONNEAU Il semble bien évident pour toute personne du métier que les exigences, tant du contenu que de la bonne compréhension des mathématiques et des sciences, ont augmenté de façon considérable depuis quelques années. J'ai dit pour toute personne du métier ; comme je crois que dans cet auditoire tous ne sont pas nécessairement liés à l'enseignement dans les facultés de sciences ou de génies, je voudrais expliquer par deux exemples ce que j'entends par ces changements. En Génie électrique, il y quelques années, on soignait certaine section des mathématiques : les équations différentielles à coefficients linéaires avec ou sans second membre. Aujourd'hui, on s'attaque, au même niveau, aux équations différentielles non linéaires ; on a, de plus, ajouté à ce plat tout ce qui est nécessaire pour comprendre les circuits : algèbre Booléenne et topologie et aussi ce qui permet de comprendre la physique de l'état solide : distributions statistiques et calcul matriciel. En Génie mécanique, il y a quelques années, on se contentait en thermodynamique de traiter des phénomènes en régime permanent ; maintenant, on s'occupe aussi de plus en plus des phénomènes transitoires et de tout ce qu'ils demandent d'équations différentielles aux dérivées partielles. On retrouve les phénomènes de physique des solides en thermoélectricité et tout l'appareillage mathématique mentionné plus haut. Que dire des asservissements qui prennent de plus en plus de place dans le programme d'études et qui demandent eux aussi un complexe mathématique élaboré. J'ai donné des exemples tirés presque exclusivement des mathématiques ; on pourrait établir des exemples parallèles en science. Qu'est-ce que cet emphase de plus en plus grand sur ces disciplines veut dire pour leur enseignement au niveau de l'école secondaire? A mon sens, cela veut dire simplement que de plus en plus les méthodes conventionnelles d'enseignement devront être examinées, améliorées ou remplacées. Il faudra éliminer des matières qui depuis longtemps s'en-

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seignent à certaines doses pour diminuer ou annuler les doses et mettre de l'emphase sur la compréhension mieux recherchée des quelques principes sur lesquels la science et les mathématiques sont fondées. Je ne veux pas entrer dans les détails de ce qu'on pourrait faire en mathématiques : il y a une recherche intense et extensive à faire pour trouver les formules raccourcies qui permettront aux étudiants de posséder l'outil mathématique à fond tout en prenant moins de temps pour le maîtriser. J'aimerais insister sur ce qu'on peut faire, et ce qu'on fait en réalité à quelques endroits à Montréal, pour l'enseignement de la physique. Comme plusieurs d'entre vous le savez, il y a quelques années un groupe de professeurs de physique américains, aidé de l'appui financier d'une Fondation, a fait une étude élaborée de l'enseignement de la physique et a donné tout un ensemble nouveau : manuel, méthodes de laboratoires, etc. Ce que, personnellement, je trouve excellent dans cette méthode, c'est la part très active que l'étudiant peut prendre dorénavant dans son cours de physique. On lui fait faire quelques expériences de base, bien choisies et illustrant bien les grands principes. On jette par-dessus bord un grand nombre d'expériences ou de démonstrations qui avaient fini par constituer en quelque sorte le folklore de cette science. J'ai d'autant plus de plaisir à reconnaître une grande valeur à cette méthode que j'ai eu personnellement une expérience qui confirme cette appréciation. Etant commissaire d'école, j'ai depuis quelques années collaboré avec les professeurs de sciences de ma commission scolaire dans l'élaboration d'expériences que les élèves eux-mêmes peuvent faire avec des matériaux communs ou facilement disponibles. C'est ainsi que le fait de bâtir une résistance de telle valeur ohmique qui peut dissiper tant de watts ne met entre les mains des étudiants que du fil à résistance, des pinces et un fer à souder. Mais je vous assure qu'après avoir gâché quelques pieds de fil, ces étudiants qui réussissent la tâche assignée connaissent la loi d'Ohm à l'envers et à l'endroit et cela pour toute leur vie, j'en suis convaincu. Si je peux résumer ces notes, je dirai que à cause des exigences accrues, il faut de plus en plus à l'école secondaire des méthodes dynamiques qui permettront de faire avancer l'étudiant plus rapidement mais surtout, et surtout, plus sûrement.

A. J. COLEMAN During the past year, I have been comparing the Grade 13 papers in Ontario with those which I, myself, wrote in 1935, twenty-seven years ago. Though my memory is a bit hazy, it is my impression that the French

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examination is almost twice as difficult now as it was then and that the content of the Physics and of the Chemistry courses bas doubled, at least. However, the courses in Mathematics in Ontario have not changed in any significant fashion in the past thirty years. Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to say that nothing is taught in the high school curriculum anywhere in Canada which was not known in 1800. The static condition of the high school curriculum in recent decades is in striking contrast with the development of mathematics, which bas been expanding both in scope and in applications at a fantastic rate and particularly in the past fifty years. It is impossible to give a numerical estimate to say that the number of theorems known to pure mathematicians, and the variety of problems in physics, economics, and engineering solved by applied mathematicians have doubled during each of the past five decades. Is the static state of the high school mathematics curriculum desirable? Is it inevitable? If not, what changes are desirable and how can they be effected? Many of my university colleagues say that to criticize the mathematics curriculum for teaching only what was known in 1800 is to create a false impression among educators. The sentence "2 2 4" is just as true today as it was in 1800! They would argue, that understanding mathematics is a cumulative process and that by 1800 more mathematics was known than we could possibly teach high school students. lt is true that many involved esoteric arguments known in 1800 should not be taught in high school or anywhere else for that matter. However, there is a view widespread among mathematicians to which I personally subscribe, that there have been many new ideas and points of view discovered in mathematics since 1800 which are essentially simpler than much of what was known at that time, ideas which greatly illuminate the most elementary parts of mathematics. These can and should be taught in elementary and secondary school because ( i) they are eminently teachable, (ii) they remove some of the difficulties which stand in the path of students taught in the traditional manner, (iii) they give the student greater general mathematical power, and (iv) they enable ail students to gain a better grasp of the nature of twentieth-century mathematics and to understand its importance in contemporary society. The traditional approach to high school mathematics leaves the average student ( and teacher!) with the feeling that it is a bag of unrelated tricks constituting a fascinating game but with no over-all understanding of what mathematics is or why it is important. The greatest obstacle to change is the fact that the people who shape curriculum--'-high school teachers, officiais in departments of education

+ =

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and teachers in colleges of education-have been brought up in a curriculum which bas not changed for thirty or forty years and therefore they have little basis for responsible and informed opinions about desirable changes. Frequently, the only justification I can find for schemes which please me is that they coïncide with what I, myself, was taught! The boldest change with which I am acquainted in Canada is taking place in New Brunswick where, through enormous efforts on the part of Professors Rosenberg and Crawford, an excellent new program, involving the teaching of algebra and geometry, bas been introduced in Grades 7 and 8. I understand that the Protestant School Board in Montreal bas introduced a new forward-looking program in Grades 1 to 6; that in Grades 11 and 12 truly up-to-date text-books have been introduced; and that the study of Calculus is now possible for Grade 12 students. In Ontario, as a result of the initiative of Professor D. T. Faught and Mr. Howard Mulligan, the Ontario Teachers' Federation created a Mathematics Commission, which was later reorganized as the Ontario Mathematics Commission. The members of the Commission are appointed by the Ontario universities, the Department of Education, the Ontario Teachers' Federation, the Canadian Mathematical Congress, and some other bodies. So far it bas been financed by grants in the amount of $25,000 from the Ontario Teachers' Federation and $20,000 from the Government of Ontario. With the active encouragement of the Minister of Education, experimental text material was tested in 1960-61 in sixty Grade 9 classes and in 1961-62 in seventy Grade 9 and thirty Grade 10 classes. As a result of this experimentation two new commercially produced texts will be available for Grade 9 in 1962, and it is expected that one or more such texts will be prepared for Grade 10 by 1963. lt is hoped that the Department of Education will continue to encourage the experimental use of text-materials for Grades 11 through 13. The Commission bas sought to evaluate curriculum ideas emanating from Europe and the United States; it bas supplied speakers for conferences and summer courses for teachers; it bas prepared several brochures dealing with specific tapies which could be used as enrichment material by enterprising teachers in connection with the present courses of study; it bas undertaken the publication of a mathematics bulletin for high school teachers of mathematics. AU these efforts represent but a minute beginning on the urgent task of bringing Canada out of the mathematical Dark Ages into parity with the best contemporary practice. The Danish student who leaves high school from the stream of education which pays most attention to mathematics is, mathematically, roughly two years ahead of the best students entering Queen's or Toronto universities. There is a similar disparity between Canada and France, Germany or Great Britain. To remedy this

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situation will require vigorous leadership and action on the part of universities, govemments, boards of education, teachers' organizations, and bodies such as the Chemical Institute of Canada and the Engineering Institute of Canada. L. M. SHEMILT

When considering what is done and what should be done about the teaching of science in the high schools it is well to remember that there are lessons to be leamed from what we already know about the teaching of science in the public scbools. ln general the public school curriculum aims at including a certain amount of science for the understanding of the world in which we live. This should be recognized as being essentially teaching about science and not teaching of science. The first waming I would sound, then, is that teaching science must not continue above public school level in this fashion. The second waming, or lesson to be leamed, from the teaching of science in public schools, is the danger inherent in the spiral approach that is used in many curricula. Through this approach, by the completion of six grades, the pupil bas been exposed to certain aspects of science, for example, magnetism, at least twice and often three times. This is nothing less than the murder of interest and initiative and probably does as much as any single item to build up a barrier to, instead of an excitement about, science. In the high school situation there are two major demands generally apparent at the present time. The first demand is for more appropriate and diversified programs. Such programs are contemplated as being of the type which would allow for clear separation of the academic and vocational streams. Whether one agrees with this type of separation or not, the Canadian educational scene will be involved for at least a considerable stretch of time with this type of separation. For science teaching it will still leave the important problem of preventing the lowering of standards and the dissipation of interest. The drop-out problem is of course often mentioned as evidence of this latter. A recent survey in my own county in New Brunswick has shown that 52 per cent of the group leaving Grade 8 in 1956 did not finish high school, 14 per cent were repeaters, and only 15 students out of almost 300 went on to university. Certainly in the science part of the curriculum there is a necessity to develop a program that will do its share to maintain interest to meet later needs, whether vocational or academic. The second demand in the high school situation is the demand for curriculum improvement, particularly in the academic matriculation

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courses. As a general basis here, I would claim as strongly and definitely as possible that in order to teach and to learn science we must insist on the fact that science can be learned only by doing what scientists do. I think a necessary corollary of this is that science can only be taught by those who can do what scientists do. The implications of this type of requirement are quite obvious. These requirements, then, for more appropriate and diversified programs, and for curriculum improvement in those programs, are not new requirements, but they do need new evaluation. These requirements can be met by: (1) a sparkling and sparking curriculum; (2) first-rate facilities; (3) knowledgeable teaching. Let us look at these in somewhat more detail. 1. In terms of curriculum, high school science courses require work that is sparkling in its newness and comprehensiveness and developed in such a way that it sparks initiative and interest. Outdated text-books must obviously be removed from the curriculum. In one province in Canada only last year the chemistry text-book that was removed from the curriculum was one that had been edited last in 1935. In my own province we are still using a chemistry text-book published before the Second World War. We must ensure that a proper consecutive arrangement of science teaching exists. It is worse than useless to develop much in the way of a chemistry course before adequate mathematics have been provided, and yet this is done in some curricula. A quantitative approach to quantitative subjects, such as the physical sciences, is absolutely necessary. The problem of examinations bas to be faced. They must not be a yardstick to measure principals, teachers, and students alike with the stress on memory and factual detail alone. An examination of current chemistry examinations in the high schools indicates an appalling lack of a quantitative approach in the application of mathematics and a considerable lack of requirement of ability to use concepts. To teach for understanding may be a cliché, but it bas been never more necessary to repeat it. I believe that the most important single aspect of curriculum as it particularly pertains to chemistry is to avoid teaching that which bas to be unleamed. There is a nineteenth-century Yankee proverb that "it's better to know nothing than to know something that ain't so." Old text-books and information that is not up to date render incomplete and balf-true concepts and definitions which have a bad result no matter which direction the student goes. ln the university this means material that bas to be unlearned and those who do not go on to university have mistaken ideas which do not adequately provide the understanding of the physical world in which the individual lives. Recent schemes have been developed in the field of chemistry and of physics for updating the high school teaching.

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Their application in Canada is striking by its absence. In chemistry, the chemical bond approach, which bas been in use in universities for some time, has not reached the high school level, even though there are chemical education material studies available. 2. The second requirement of first-rate f acilities is one that again cannot be overemphasized. To teach science one must do what scientists do. This requires laboratory equipment. We have, in our high schools, laboratory poverty in a rich country. Further, there is wide disparity between different sections and different areas. The well-equipped vocational home economic laboratories and the non-existent or poorly equipped physical science laboratories exist side by side in many a school-yet we need to have both at a first-class level. One cannot teach biology without a microscope, or chemistry without a chemical balance, or physics without the necessary measuring equipment. Yet teachers, principals, and school boards often use out-of-date lists of equipment; in many cases teachers or university faculty are not consulted with regard to moderate and yet modem equipment that could be used. At the same time one can have the situation of a well-trained teacher in a large and expensive school who finds it impossible to order even the smallest amount of scientific measuring equipment. lt is very common to find high schools with very poor libraries in the science field and with not a single relevant journal. First-rate facilities can be obtained and are a direct and absolute requirement. 3. The third requirement is that of knowledgeable teaching. This is a widespread problem of which teachers' organizations, school boards, and school education officiais are at least partly aware. We are in a situation where any subject is apparently taught at any level regardless of qualifications. The status and salary of teachers are apparently set by the number of university credits regardless of subject. We need correlation of assigned teaching with teachers' training. We need a merit system to encourage updating and broadening of competence in one's field. We need treatment of teachers as professional people who know their jobs. To meet these requirements that I have been emphasizing there are means and there are methods available. No attempt can be made here to. make a complete listing of them, but I do wish to emphasize the rôle of two groups in assisting our society to meet the requirements for good teaching of science in the high schools. I believe that the university bas an increasingly significant rôle to play here. It is a rôle that has in many instances in the past been neglected. In the sciences, the university must accept more responsibility for the thorough training of people who can teach science because they can do science. Sorne of the Canadian universities, notably in McGill's and the University of Alberta's departments of chemistry, have been doing a very

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good job in this regard in the last two or three years. They have been doing this by special courses, seminars, and a much closer relationship between university department staff and high school teachers of science. Ways of further exploring the university rôle in this field should be sought. The second group in our society which can assist in helping provide the means and methods of meeting our requirements are the professional organizations. I am thinking here particularly of such as the Chem.ical Institute of Canada ( CIC) and the Engineering Institute of Canada (BIC). ln the membership of such societies we have people with training in science. Here is a qualification pool-an opportunity fund of resource and potential. There is no doubt that such organizations can do a great deal, and they have already been making very distinct efforts in a number of ways. The CIC bas been very active in science fairs. lts Chemical Education Division bas been sponsoring various types of projects and experiments in certain centres of the country. Certainly much more can be done. For example, one of the first contributions that such an organization could make would be to assist in providing an immediate comprehensive curriculum survey of chemistry in the high schools across Canada, and to assist, along with university faculty, in providing some of the qualified resources during the next few years when it is obvious that well-trained teachers in many centres are not going to be available. Professional organizations not only should be encouraged but should be requested to make such contributions to the limit of their resources. In certain computer centres there is a deity by the name of Murphy who is invoked on occasion. Murphy's first law runs approximately thus: if anything undesirable can happen, it will. It is certainly true that undesirable things have happened and do happen in science curricula and science teaching. The energy to reverse a downhill trend is available but it must be harnessed. It is perhaps too tri te to say that what we need is fewer maxims and more money but it is also true that the resources of our society in terms of people and finances must be properly mobilized if we are going to improve the teaching of science in the high schools.

A . A. SHEPPARD From the standpoint of education, technological development has always required that workers develop new skills and understandin'gs. As a result a new look is needed and education in science and mathematics at the secondary school level must do the following things: 1. It must lay the groundwork of knowledge which can be adapted to

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new situations so that new machines and processes can be operated now, and those that are not yet developed can be operated in the future. 2. It must recognize the fact that technology and automation, science and invention will demand training and re-training. The secondary school system should not try to teach everything in the field of science and mathematics, but should give adequate time to teach basic principles in what it does teach so as to train the student to think intelligently. 3. At the same time it must ensure the proper balance between vocational and academic content so that the intellect is not forced to work in a vacuum but the student can at least demonstrate that he can translate theory into practice. In other words a more flexible correlation between commercial, technical, and academic courses would seem desirable. 4. It must have a well-balanced scientific and technical curriculum which would satisfactorily prepare secondary students for either (a) postsecondary studies at the university or technological institute level or; ( b) entering industry or commerce as technicians who will operate process equipment, perform engineering calculations, or carry out and eventually supervise automated office procedures. Methods and Techmques ln order to achieve these educational requirements in science and mathematics ail forces must be mustered to see that young minds receive the proper training. While large numbers of vocational and technical schools are being built under the Vocational and Technical Training Assistance Act, buildings are not an end in themselves. We must also modernize our attitudes towards vocational training so as to improve courses in science and mathematics and integration with industry. The previous speakers have dealt with equipment and techniques, course content and curricula, and teacher qualifications. I would like to briefl.y mention three additional methods whereby the Leamed Societies can and are doing a great deal to help foster the newlook in education today. 1. Guidance. This is a complex subject which is handled with great variation across Canada. The large proportion of early drop-outs and the glut of pupils in certain academic courses attest that guidance and counselling could be more effectively and uniformly performed. To help meet this challenge the Chemical Institute of Canada and the Engineering Institute of Canada have been working at the local level in guidance and counselling as follows : (a) Booklets have been prepared and distributed on Careers in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; ( b) Science Clubs and Science Pairs have been fostered throughout Canada; (c) Local student nights have been held at Local Section meetings; ( d) Chemistry badge tests have been

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carried out for high school boys in the Boy Scout Association; (e) Career talks to students have been conducted in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. 2. Relations with business and industry. Closer relations with business and industry must be developed if technical programs are to be integrated with other programs so as to turn out students with full occupational competence. The Learned Societies have : ( 1) sponsored industrial talks, conducted by industrial representatives, to representative groups of students; (2) arranged plant tours and student nights for high school students in several chemical and petrochemical industrial areas. 3. Uniformity of Standards and Accredited Qualifications. As we move across provincial boundaries mathematics and science courses vary greatly in the topics covered and the grade at which they are introduced. ln recognition of this problem the CEA bas appointed a working group of educators to study the problem of grading. if a pupil changes provinces. However, much remains to be done in the area of uniformity of curricula. The Chemical Institute of Canada bas established a program for the Certification of Chemical Technicians and Technologists in Canada, so that standards will be uniform and those who are qualified will receive proper recognition. The Engineers have set up a similar program for Engineering Technicians in Ontario. In an effort towards further uniformity of standards, the Chemical Institute of Canada is also participating in the National Committee for Vocational Training and Development set up by the federal Department of Labour.

3. TELEVISION AS A TEACHING AID/ LA TÉLÉVISION COMME MÉTHODE AUXILIAIRE D'ENSEIGNEMENT Chairman / Présidente MME ALFRED PARADIS, Vice-présidente de la Commission nationale canadienne pour l'UNESCO Panelists / Équipe de discussion T. R. CONANT, The Ford Foundation DAvm CLEE, Ontario Department of Education DR. H. M. NASON, Nova Scotia Department of Education M. MAURICE GOSSELIN, Département de l'instruction Publique, Québec ALAN THOMAS, Canadian Association for Adult Education

The Assembly on Educatjonal Television was designed to make a graphie presentation of some of the essential problems which confront educators in the use of television. By way of orientation, Mme PARADIS summarized the present use of educational television in Europe and Japan. Generally speaking, the use of television in Europe is for purposes of enrichment of the. curriculum in the schools. Programs were developed to provide students with information which otherwise would not be available in the classroom. There is, also, a strong emphasis on the use of television to stimulate further research and analysis of problems presented in the normal course of the curriculum. An outstanding exception to this pattern was the school television schedule of Telescuola where a real attempt is made to provide direct instruction. Television is being used to cope with the shortage of teachers and to provide the maximum opportunity for Italian children to leam to read and write. The Assembly was also reminded of the very extensive service to schools provided by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Mr. T. R. CONANT summarized the purpose of the National Program for the use of television in the public schools in the United States, a project sponsored by the Ford Foundation. This Program was an experiment in the use of large classes to cope with the shortage of teachers in general and particularly to cope with the shortage of subject-matter specialists in the teaching of foreign languages and the sciences. He observed how the creative use of television had raised teaching standards and intensified the leaming process for children in the American elementary schools. Emphasis was placed on direct instmction and much attention was given to the development of effective relationships between the classroom teacher and the studio teacher. The ultimate purpose of the use of television in the United States was to develop among children the mental capacity for wise

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decisions and judgment, to stimulate independent thinking and to use television in terms of its unique instructional qualities (for example, the close-up camera, the extension of experience beyond the limit of the classroom), and to present the teacher in the most dynamic relationship. Mr. DAVID CLEE gave comments conceming the impact of television in the home. Television bas been accused of causing delinquency, violence, and sloppy speech habits amongst children. Research bas shown that these accusations are unfounded. Such behaviour could equally result from films or from the comic strip. However, the real motives for these antisocial behaviour patterns rest within the emotional build-up of the child. Television bas, far too often, been used as a scapegoat. Teachers have too frequently stated that sleepiness and tiredness on the part of pupils in schools are due to television viewing at a late hour. The blame cannot be placed on the television set but on poor home habits and lack of parental control. Television viewing motivates reading. Librarians have indicated that children seek books on subjects they have recently viewed on television. Programs offer new knowledge and widen horizons; they offer enrichment. Parents should view programs with their children; occasionally families should view programs as a unit so as to stimulate discussion and share ideas. Reading as a family participation bas been replaced by television viewing. In schools, eductional television programs offer enrichment beyond the limits of the ability of busy classroom teachers. Prepared by competent writers who understand the learning and teaching processes and presented by creative and artistic producers, these school television programs take on a new dimension. The television set in the classroom is no longer a novelty; it is an accepted part of the classroom equipment. There is an empathy between the pupil and the television program. The television program in the classroom is as important as the textbook; it offers enrichment, knowledge, visual aids; it also stimulates thought and offers topics for discussion and questions for follow-up seatwork. Dr. H. M. NASON made a vigorous case for the use of television in Canada with its large sections of rural undeveloped and sparsely populated areas. He stressed the use of television for the teaching of mathematics, science, and foreign languages at the secondary school level and in the first two years of university. He reminded the Assembly of the shortage of teachers in Canada and of the need for a higher standard among those who are personally employed as teachers. He stated that good television programs should have the following characteristics: ( 1 ) They should not include too much material. (2) They should attempt to supply material that is simple and straightforward. ( 3) There should be in ail programs

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something for the teacher to do and something for the pupil to do. ( 4) There should be repetition and recapitulation. ( 5) The programs should attempt to supply information that the regular classroom teacher cannot supply. (6) They should use some material and aids not available to the regular classroom teacher. (7) The programs should be of such high value that no teacher could aflord to do without them. The factors important to the successful production of programs with an eye to their effective use in the classroom are: (a) The right team of people must be secured to do the work. The key people in the preparation of a program are the program director, the director of in-school television, the technicians, educators and artists. (b) Television teachers should have available adequate time and materials to prepare the lessons. The program should be rehearsed and video-taped. ( c) The programs should be prepared slowly to enable the producer to delete undesirable material. ( d) Models and animation are prerequisites for a good program. ( e) The producer should know the right place to stop. (/) A panel of educators should be set up on each subject to make suggestions and criticisms regarding the program. Sorne important factors that must be considered in making effective use of educational television are : (a) Teachers should recognize that an important aim of a program should be to stimulate imagination and critical thinking. ( b) Teachers must be given assistance in the preparation of the pu pils for the lesson. ( c) There must be ample time between programs for teachers to develop and follow up the work that cornes as a result of the lesson. (d) The real value of a program is determined by the way the teacher prepares ber pupils for the tesson and the way she questions them after it is over. In-service training programs for teachers should be arranged in connection with any ETV program that is developed. The main factor in determining the value of a program should be the extent to which it meets the present needs of the individual children in the classrooms. There should be no compulsion requiring teachers to use the programs because the programs should be so well prepared that they can sell themselves. Extraits du discours sur la radio-télédiffusion éducative au Québec

MAURICE GOSSELIN L'enseignement au Québec connaît actuellement une période d'évolution qui se déroule à un rythme vertigineux tant sur le plan financier que sur le plan pédagogique. Après l'adoption d'une législation aussi abondante que

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something for the teacher to do and something for the pupil to do. ( 4) There should be repetition and recapitulation. ( 5) The programs should attempt to supply information that the regular classroom teacher cannot supply. (6) They should use some material and aids not available to the regular classroom teacher. (7) The programs should be of such high value that no teacher could aflord to do without them. The factors important to the successful production of programs with an eye to their effective use in the classroom are: (a) The right team of people must be secured to do the work. The key people in the preparation of a program are the program director, the director of in-school television, the technicians, educators and artists. (b) Television teachers should have available adequate time and materials to prepare the lessons. The program should be rehearsed and video-taped. ( c) The programs should be prepared slowly to enable the producer to delete undesirable material. ( d) Models and animation are prerequisites for a good program. ( e) The producer should know the right place to stop. (/) A panel of educators should be set up on each subject to make suggestions and criticisms regarding the program. Sorne important factors that must be considered in making effective use of educational television are : (a) Teachers should recognize that an important aim of a program should be to stimulate imagination and critical thinking. ( b) Teachers must be given assistance in the preparation of the pu pils for the lesson. ( c) There must be ample time between programs for teachers to develop and follow up the work that cornes as a result of the lesson. (d) The real value of a program is determined by the way the teacher prepares ber pupils for the tesson and the way she questions them after it is over. In-service training programs for teachers should be arranged in connection with any ETV program that is developed. The main factor in determining the value of a program should be the extent to which it meets the present needs of the individual children in the classrooms. There should be no compulsion requiring teachers to use the programs because the programs should be so well prepared that they can sell themselves. Extraits du discours sur la radio-télédiffusion éducative au Québec

MAURICE GOSSELIN L'enseignement au Québec connaît actuellement une période d'évolution qui se déroule à un rythme vertigineux tant sur le plan financier que sur le plan pédagogique. Après l'adoption d'une législation aussi abondante que

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genereuse, la régionalisation des services d'enseignement et l'essor de l'enseignement secondaire battent leur plein ... L'année 1961-62 aura été l'occasion d'expériences sur deux plans bien distincts. Dès septembre 1961, l'université de Montréal, grâce à une entente conclue avec la société Radio-Canada, mettait en ondes, les dimanche et samedi de chaque semaine, trois types d'émission : l'une sur les mathématiques, l'autre sur les sciences, la troisième sur la linguistique. Elles se sont continuées sans interruption toute l'année durant avec un succès qui s'est traduit par une inscription considérable. Au niveau de l'enseignement secondaire public, deux émissions de caractère expérimental ont été présentées par le ministère de la Jeunesse et le département de l'instruction publique en collaboration avec la société Radio-Canada et ses postes affiliés : le 9 novembre 1961 une leçon sur les sciences naturelles (zoologie) au niveau des huitième et neuvième années à laquelle quatre classes participèrent directement ; le 21 mars, une leçon de botanique diffusée par toute la Province, s'adressait plus particulièrement à soixante-quatre classes de huitième et neuvième années choisies dans les municipalités scolaires de Montréal et de Québec. Notons en passant que près de trois mille classes ont manifesté le désir de profiter de l'expérience : la documentation appropriée leur fut adressée. Elle fut, du reste, plus scientifique que la première : des travaux d'élèves et des sondages auprès des maîtres nous sont venus de toutes les classes constituant les groupes expérimentaux. Des émissions de même type et de même caractère se poursuivront l'an prochain au niveau universitaire, au niveau de l'enseignement public primaire et secondaire, tant dans le champ de la radio que de la télédiffusion cette fois. Je suis informé que l'université a l'intention d'augmenter ses séries d'émissions télédiffusées. D'autre part, le ministère de la Jeunesse et le département de l'instruction publique ont l'intention de mettre en ondes deux séries de vingt-cinq télémissions chacune : la première série pour les connaissances usuelles ( sciences générales) pour les élèves de sixième année ; la seconde, sur la physique pour les élèves de onzième année. A la radio, les deux niveaux de l'enseignement public seront également desservis : une émission de langue parlée chaque semaine pour les élèves de cinquième, sixième et septième années ; une émission d'initiation à la musique pour les élèves de huitième et neuvième années d'octobre à mai... De son côté, l'Association canadienne des Éducateurs de Langue française (ACELF) prépare pour le mois d'octobre 1962 un colloque sur la télévision éducative qui doit être tenu à la Maison Montmorency près de Québec. Cette rencontre a pour but : d'éveiller l'attention du public en général et des éducateurs en particulier sur la valeur éminemment éduca-

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tive de la télévision scolaire ; de diffuser l'expérience et les informations en matière acquises par les pays étrangers, surtout ceux d'expression française. On espère grouper, à l'occasion de ces assises, quelque cent cinquante personnes intéressées par un côté ou par un autre à la télévision scolaire. A cette intention, des observateurs du Québec se rendront étudier sur place, aux États-Unis, en Angleterre, en France et en Italie, les structures établies et les résultats obtenus. Lors du colloque lui-même, des experts viendront de ces divers pays, à titre de conseillers et de conférenciers, nous entretenir des problèmes de la radio-télédiffusion. Les organisateurs de cette importante rencontre ont consacré un temps considérable. à la préparation qui marquera sans doute une époque dans l'évolution de l'enseignement au Canada français. Bref, la première année dans l'histoire de la radio-télédiffusion éducative au Québec laisse entrevoir des réalisations et des progrès comparables à ceux qui se manifestent déjà en de nombreux autres secteurs de l'enseignement. ALAN THOMAS (in part)

It is now roughly ten years since television has burst upon us officially in Canada. It seems to me fair to say that there has been tragically little progress in the area of adult education by means of television. Despite the commendable efforts of the CBC in general programming, and the regulatory activities of the Board in the interests of canadianizing the audience and the achievement of META, little has been accomplished. In comparison with the strides taken in the United States, in particular the creation of a third network devoted to education and experiment, our progress has been abysmal. I say this because we are largely responsible for it. The problems of educational television for children are relatively easy, the children at least physically have already been captured. But this greatest of all means for the genuine continuation of education, the one great instrument that can make our education truly continuing, rests largely unexploited in Canada. We are responsible, educators and administrators, because we really have not had the imagination to demand from it what we should have. We really don't believe in its value and there are still a good many among us who still boast about not having a set. We must, at once, have at least the following: one experimental station for testing educational programs to be used on a variety of stations across the country, one major project to help people leam to use this medium. We have the resources but so far we have lacked the will.

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tive de la télévision scolaire ; de diffuser l'expérience et les informations en matière acquises par les pays étrangers, surtout ceux d'expression française. On espère grouper, à l'occasion de ces assises, quelque cent cinquante personnes intéressées par un côté ou par un autre à la télévision scolaire. A cette intention, des observateurs du Québec se rendront étudier sur place, aux États-Unis, en Angleterre, en France et en Italie, les structures établies et les résultats obtenus. Lors du colloque lui-même, des experts viendront de ces divers pays, à titre de conseillers et de conférenciers, nous entretenir des problèmes de la radio-télédiffusion. Les organisateurs de cette importante rencontre ont consacré un temps considérable. à la préparation qui marquera sans doute une époque dans l'évolution de l'enseignement au Canada français. Bref, la première année dans l'histoire de la radio-télédiffusion éducative au Québec laisse entrevoir des réalisations et des progrès comparables à ceux qui se manifestent déjà en de nombreux autres secteurs de l'enseignement. ALAN THOMAS (in part)

It is now roughly ten years since television has burst upon us officially in Canada. It seems to me fair to say that there has been tragically little progress in the area of adult education by means of television. Despite the commendable efforts of the CBC in general programming, and the regulatory activities of the Board in the interests of canadianizing the audience and the achievement of META, little has been accomplished. In comparison with the strides taken in the United States, in particular the creation of a third network devoted to education and experiment, our progress has been abysmal. I say this because we are largely responsible for it. The problems of educational television for children are relatively easy, the children at least physically have already been captured. But this greatest of all means for the genuine continuation of education, the one great instrument that can make our education truly continuing, rests largely unexploited in Canada. We are responsible, educators and administrators, because we really have not had the imagination to demand from it what we should have. We really don't believe in its value and there are still a good many among us who still boast about not having a set. We must, at once, have at least the following: one experimental station for testing educational programs to be used on a variety of stations across the country, one major project to help people leam to use this medium. We have the resources but so far we have lacked the will.

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Chairman' s Summary / Résumé par le président

At this time of critical decision with respect to educational television in Canada, the Assembly afforded the opportunity to raise many questions. lt is hoped that in the next few months, practical and realistic answers to these questions can be provided. At the time of writing, the Nova Scotia Department of Education bas undertaken a major experiment in educational television in co-operation with the CBC to provide regular service in moming time to the entire province throughout the school year. In the province of Que bec, the Ministry of Youth bas likewise worked out a similar arrangement for co-operation with the French Network of the CBC. The Metropolitan Educational Television Association, Toronto, will continue its experiment with educational television in the coming year. The regular service of national school broadcasts provided by the CBC in co-operation with the National Advisory Council on School Broadcasting will continue in the school year 1962-63. In all these experiments, the fundamental objective will be to develop programs that are consistent with the aims and objectives of good curriculum planning. Only when the medium of communication, be it classroom, textbook, radio, film or television, is used in the interests of the creative growth and development of young people will the real aims of education be served.

4. PROGRAMMED LEA RN I NG/ L'ENSEIGNEMENT "MÉCANISÉ" Chairman / Président Principal, Prince of Wales Academy, St. John's, Newfoundland; President, Canadian Teachers' Federation SHERBURNE MCCURDY,

Panelists / Équipe de discussion PROFESSOR MILES WISENTHAL, McGill Institute of Education E. N. MCKEOWN, Williamson Road School, Toronto SIDNEY KATZ, Maclean's Magazine DR. FRED E. WHITWORTH, Dominion Bureau of Statistics RONALD GROSS, The Ford Foundation

Remarques préliminaires du président/ Chairman's remarks

SHERBURNE McCURDY Few tapies evoke livelier interest from educators at the present time than programmed leaming and the use of teaching machines. There tends to be some confusion between the two terms, to the point where the public has visions of a completely automated classroom with technicians pressing switches, etc. Perhaps it would clarify matters somewhat to say that it is possible to have programmed instruction without teaching machines, but that teaching machines would be of little use without programs. The chief feature of programmed leaming is the presentation of material in short sequential steps, coupled with immediate reinforcement and continuous feed-back. Although the theory behind programmed instruction is not new, its application is only in its infancy, with much of the current interest emanating from the centre of programmed instruction in New York City. The Ford Foundation bas also taken an active interest in this topic, and has supplied funds for disseminating information about programmed instruction. A short workshop on programmed instruction was held at the Canadian Education Association Annual Meeting in Halifax in September, 1961, and in November a three-day seminar was conducted by the Canadian Teachers' Federation, during which a number of Canadian educators had the opportunity to explore the topic in more detail. A further workshop was held by the Canadian Association of Adult Education in February of this year, as well as workshops and seminars sponsored at the provincial level by teachers' organizations and other groups interested and concerned. On a more practical level, experiments are being conducted in local areas in selected classrooms.

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The purpose of this panel is to raise and discuss a number of questions and problems associated with this new educational medium. Sorne of the questions are as follows: ( 1) Does programmed learning merely instruct, or does it educate? (2) Does it replace the teacher, or re-place the teacher? ( 3) Does it cater to individual differences? ( 4) Is programmed leaming dependent on the teaching machine? (5) For what does programmed leaming free the teacher? ( 6) What are the implications of programmed leaming for adult education? for teacher education? (7) With whom does the responsibility for developing programmed learning rest? Those are pertinent questions, the answers to which are of the greatest importance to Canadian education. Programmed leaming and the use of teaching machines are here, and it is imperative that we leam as much as possible about them. MILES

WISENTHAL

Programmed leaming bas at one stroke brought together into a comprehensive technology and science the art of teaching in a real and meaningful way. Basically, a program, whether presented by means of a machine, a special text, or just sheets of paper, is the material of a course of study arranged in a series of statements that follow each other clearly, logically, and in small conceptual steps. The student reads some information; be is asked a question arising out of this information, be writes bis answer, and then he sees the correct answer. He then moves on to the next step in the program. These steps or frames are arranged in a sequential order in such a way that each answer gives rise to the next bit of information which in tum gives rise to the next question and so on. Thus, starting from a very simple piece of information, it is possible to guide the student to a point where he is responding to questions which involve a considerable understanding of complex and previously unknown concepts. A good program is like a good private tutor. Like a good tutor the program requires that a given point be thoroughly understood before the student moves on. A program presents just that much new material for which the student is prepared, and by hinting, prompting, and suggesting it helps the student to corne up with the right answer. The student must be constantly thinking and composing answers. And like a good private tutor the program gives the student immediate information about the correctness of bis answers. Among the principles on which this new technology is based are some which educators have known for years. The first of these principles is that reinforcements must be immediate. Reinforcement to the student is the

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knowledge of the fact that he is making correct responses to questions which are leading him to a well-defined, well-stated goal. Skinner bas demonstrated in bis animal laboratory that a delay of even a fraction of a second can be very damaging in terms of the reinforcement value of whatever the reinforcement may be. Now if immediate reinforcement ( the knowledge of being correct) is important, what kind of a reinforcer can the average classroom teacher be? Is it possible for an average teacher in an average teaching situation to provide immediate reinforcement? Can any teacher with twenty to thirty or thirty-five pupils make known to each student immediately upon the student making the response that bis response is correct? There may be a period of twenty-four hours between the time that the student makes the response and the time that he receives confirmation. The bald facts are that human teachers are poor reinforcers. The second principle which emerges from studies in the animal laboratory, and also from our own observations in the classroom, is that success is extremely important in the learning situation. Success is a very powerful motivator of behaviour. Failure is very powerful punishment. The failure to accomplish, the failure to acquire the expected skills which teachers are anticipating, brings on feelings of guilt and anxiety and tension with respect to the particular subject-matter which seems to be beyond the capacity of the pupil. Our traditional classrooms, at all levels of education, present a host of punishing situations from which pupils seek to escapeand do escape in very large numbers. The data from the Dominion Bureau of Statistics reveal that over 50 per cent of the pupils who begin in Grade 2 never get as far as their junior matriculation year in high school. We have as yet failed to find an appropriate method to make algebra, for example, understandable to these pupils. As a result of this we then accuse the student of lacking quantitative ability; we accuse the student of being unable to deal with abstract symbols and suggest that he be placed in the stream of the school which makes fewer demands on whatever bis abilities are. We assume that because we have failed to teach him, he cannot learn. We have relegated to the academic ashcan a tremendous pool of human talent. We go to great lengths to conserve our natural resources in all areas. Yet we appear to be doing very little in terms of our greatest natural resource, human ability. When it is suggested that we must organize the curriculum and structure the school environment in such a way that we will ensure success for the majority of our population, we are sometimes accused of being soft. lt is perfectly true that people must learn to meet and live with the failures that life will provide, but learning to live with these failures will not be acquired by meeting a succession of failures in the process of learning the basic academic skills.

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Another factor which programmed instruction takes into account is that, if learning is to be effective, the learner cannot sit back and relax while the teacher works bis heart out. Passive participation on the part of pupils produces a paucity of learning. No matter how well the teacher presents bis subject, the amount of learning that takes place is a direct function of the amount of involvement the learner bas with the subject being taught. Learning is a very personal, internai process; a teacher, no matter how gifted, cannot learn for bis pupils. Programmed teaching by its very nature demands complete involvement on the part of the learner. We are all too familiar with the large lecture which is so characteristic of the modern university: hundreds of students in a lecture theatre, all sitting back and waiting to be inspired. This vestigial relie from the mediaeval university bas little if any place in our modern educational institutions. In the era prior to the invention of printing, it was a reasonable method of making the professor's notes available to a large number of students. This is no longer necessary. It must be remembered that the teacher presents bis material to the class at a rate which he judges to be appropriate for the majority of bis students. It is assumed that the teacher really knows what the learning rate of the pupils is. This is at best a very shaky assumption. Rate of learning is a function of a very large number of complex variables, few of which remain constant over any period of time. The whole problem of individual differences in learning rate bas been a most difficult one to resolve, but I believe that with the advent of programmed instruction we can corne closer to providing for individual needs than was ever dreamed possible. Learning, may I repeat, is an internai, persona! process and if we are truly anxious for people to learn, then we must provide the conditions that will allow them to learn at the rate which best meets their own needs. There is one further virtue in programmed instruction that I should like to mention. Heightened emotionality tends to reduce the amount of leaming that is likely to occur. Teachers are human beings and subject to all the frailties of the species. When the teacher is tired and out of sorts, ail kinds of petty annoyances can become major problems. A student who bas failed to understand some simple process because he was not listening, in addition to re-teaching, may get a severe tongue lashing which lets him know how poor bis academic future looks and restates a number of bis other failings as well. Teaching that takes place in this highly charged atmosphere is not likely to be very effective. Programs are never out of sorts, never tired, and always ready to teach; they never get angry no matter how indifferent the students may be. The program is always ready and waiting for the student without bitterness and rancour. This leaves us with a final consideration. What does the teacher do?

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Have we created a new kind of automation that will make the teacher obsolete? The answer to this last question is both "Yes" and "No." If by teacher we mean the individual whose sole job is keeping school, the dispenser of facts, the corrector of exercises and assignments, and the disciplinarian, then I say this kind of person is as obsolete as button boots. This teacher never really belonged in any classroom; but up to this time we have had no way of doing without him. Now at last, with programming, most of these tasks can be done much better by programs than by teachers. To conclude with just a brief observation, it is obvious that science and technology have combined to make major contributions in the process of liberating man from bis helpless dependency on the forces of nature. It is now possible for educational procedures to be reshaped by making fuller and more effective use of scientific advances. Programmed instruction is a logical development from our systematic study of the learning processes. Used intelligently, this new technology of teaching can be a major force in solving some of our educational problems. Résumé / Summary

E.

N.

McKEOWN

Mr. McKeown, in discussing programmed instruction, pointed to the fact that we are living in a technological age and that this is making itself felt in educational procedures. One of these is programmed instruction, although it is as yet too soon for it to have found its place in our schools. He noted that the term teaching machines which had become popular was probably misleading in that the important thing was a program devised by a program specialist whether it was administered through the use of some mechanical gadgetry or in the form of a book. In fact, be felt that the important thing was to produce good programs; the method of administration was secondary and experimenting with various devices could corne at a later stage. Teachers should welcome the new procedures, if by using them they could be freed from some of the routine drill, the correction of papers, and other time-consuming tasks which were ancillary parts of teaching. Experimental evidence shows that through using programs students do at least as well on the usual examinations as by other methods and usually cover the work in much less time. Mr. McKeown admitted that since the use of programs was relatively new, it was difficult to say whether or not the novelty would wear off, and whether or not some of the good results reported were not in part due to the "Hawthorne" effect. It is possible also

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Have we created a new kind of automation that will make the teacher obsolete? The answer to this last question is both "Yes" and "No." If by teacher we mean the individual whose sole job is keeping school, the dispenser of facts, the corrector of exercises and assignments, and the disciplinarian, then I say this kind of person is as obsolete as button boots. This teacher never really belonged in any classroom; but up to this time we have had no way of doing without him. Now at last, with programming, most of these tasks can be done much better by programs than by teachers. To conclude with just a brief observation, it is obvious that science and technology have combined to make major contributions in the process of liberating man from bis helpless dependency on the forces of nature. It is now possible for educational procedures to be reshaped by making fuller and more effective use of scientific advances. Programmed instruction is a logical development from our systematic study of the learning processes. Used intelligently, this new technology of teaching can be a major force in solving some of our educational problems. Résumé / Summary

E.

N.

McKEOWN

Mr. McKeown, in discussing programmed instruction, pointed to the fact that we are living in a technological age and that this is making itself felt in educational procedures. One of these is programmed instruction, although it is as yet too soon for it to have found its place in our schools. He noted that the term teaching machines which had become popular was probably misleading in that the important thing was a program devised by a program specialist whether it was administered through the use of some mechanical gadgetry or in the form of a book. In fact, be felt that the important thing was to produce good programs; the method of administration was secondary and experimenting with various devices could corne at a later stage. Teachers should welcome the new procedures, if by using them they could be freed from some of the routine drill, the correction of papers, and other time-consuming tasks which were ancillary parts of teaching. Experimental evidence shows that through using programs students do at least as well on the usual examinations as by other methods and usually cover the work in much less time. Mr. McKeown admitted that since the use of programs was relatively new, it was difficult to say whether or not the novelty would wear off, and whether or not some of the good results reported were not in part due to the "Hawthorne" effect. It is possible also

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that programs should be constructed according to developmental stages designed to match students' sophistication in studying. There is some evidence to show that programs can be used with the slow-learner as well as with the average and superior students, but although there was some indication that programs should be constructed for different degrees of ability this was still largely conjecture. Programs at the Grade 4 level would occupy about one-third of the pupil's time to give maximum results, according to some authorities. Educators will have to concern themselves with ways of relating programmed instruction to other teaching methods and devices. The preparation of a program is extremely onerous. You first decide what you want the children to do and how you are going to get them there. You may then make various informai presentations of the materials to individual pupils, possibly on cards. Next, after making as many revisions as expedient, you try out the material on groups of children with a wide range of abilities ( after an outside individual or two has edited it) . The number of frames is always extensive. The format should provide for answering the questions and an immediate confirmation. Next cornes an extensive analysis. Perhaps this is enough description to indicate that producing a program is time-consuming and expensive. However, once a suitable program is produced it can be used over and over. The practice that teachers receive through program construction should make them better teachers. Of course, one teacher can only be expected to produce a limited amount of program material. There is a reasonably high correlation between pupils' reading ability and their appreciation of the program. This is easily noticed at the Grade 4 level. It gives emphasis not only to the need for remedial reading programs but also to the need for ensuring that teachers have good, soundly constructed material that fits their purposes. SIDNEY

KATZ

Work bas been going on quietly in this field for four or five years with about 6,000 Canadian children already exposed to the method in classes across the country in arithmetic, English grammar, spelling and reading, and in the elementary and high schools and universities. In the United States the numbers involved are greater. Outside the schools, youth and adults are being taught basic electricity, and salesmen are being taught how to sell insurance ( among other things) . The early daims made for the teaching machines are impressive, including the one that they can teach practically any subject better and faster

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than a human. Since the machine enables each child to set bis own pace of learning, they may provide an effective answer to the scandai of the "dropout." Since each child moves along at bis own pace, and since ail generally move faster than at present, the growing use of teaching machines will tend to modify drastically the present grade system. The very shape of our schools will have to be redesigned. Children will require small private areas where they can be alone with their automatic tutors .... The fact is that children like teaching machines. Sorne educators, however, oppose the introduction of programmed instruction which they think will stultify youth. The machines are dictatorial, an answer is right or wrong, and adults so taught would be complex conditioned reflexes. Other educators believe that the machine will free the teacher to be creative, and enhance and elevate the profession of teaching. The teacher will no longer have to give dull, routine lessons, quiz the pupils, and correct exercises and homework. He will have time for counselling. If educators are to realize the full potentialities of the new techniques, they must, in the words of David Boroff of New York University, "avoid, equally, the delaying tactics of the inveterate enemies of change and the headlong impetuosity of the new radicals, naively enchanted with their shiny technology." Dans l'industrie / ln industrial situations

FRED

E.

WHITWOR TH

Along with an interest in programmed learning which bas recently increased manifold, there is growing recognition that the methods used have something in common with ingenious procedures used for many years. This is not said to detract from the advances recently made but to assure doubting Thomases that this is not just a passing fad but an approach that will give good results if properly used in appropriate situations. In England, for example, some mechanical devices have been used to teach multiplication tables for many years and Dean M. E. LaZerte used an ingenious "machine" to teach problem-solving many years ago in Alberta. Again, some present programs have something in common with certain work books which have been reasonably effective for many years; learning through the prolific use of true-false tests and other related methods used to teach youth how to study. I do not wish to labour the point, nor would I wish to give the impression that this approach is "old bat." We generally use the term programmed learning rather loosely to cover situations ranging from those where one is learning skills to insightful

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learning. For example, it now seems possible to teach key punch operation through the use of a program which associates coded numbers with the punching of specific holes in a card, all of which can be learned marginally with the usual intermediate steps being eliminated. It may be that typing and speedwriting and even shorthand can be mastered in this manner and there may be a number of similar applications in on-the-job training. Although the above is true, we must remember that most industrial training is not of that order and the methods used will require the same sort of procedures as used in schools. A good many training problems require the mastery of information which can be leamed through completing a program. Considering that those in charge of training, and there are too few of them in Canada, are often not too knowledgeable in training methodology, the development of suitable programs, where feasible, is badly needed. Most of these programs could be constructed as a series of problems which progress through the topic in small steps to ensure complete coverage and mastery. However, there are situations where more advanced and academically sophisticated personnel could do equally well with the Crowder type of program. Since my remarks are being directed towards problems in industry, I should remind you of the wide variety of situations that must be met; of the increasing need for training, re-training, up-grading, and development with an eye towards quality production and the identification of creativity, if we are to maintain a position in the vanguard of advancing technology. Sorne of the problems relate to the lack of basic education of employees; the question of personnel finding time to work through the program as many have to do this during free hours at home; the usual individual differences of speed, motivation, background, etc. Perhaps it is too early to assess the possibilities of using such programs in industry not only because of lack of experimental evidence but also because of the cost, a lack of skilled programmers, and some questions still in the minds of many executives who fait to appreciate how times have changed, conceming the value of formai training. We are on the threshold of advances in education methodology and a good part of this must be to meet the needs of out-of-school youth and adults. It is now generally recognized that something must be done for the drop-outs and it may be that programmed leaming may help to bridge the gap, preparing them for successful vocational adjustment. New methods are especially pertinent since many of these youths have not learned how to study, have acquired bad study habits, or have reacted to the school leaming situation with frustrated behaviour. Programmed courses would also seem most appropriate for correspondence education, and there is still an important role for this at present.

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Aux États-Unis / Sorne American perspectives

RONALD

GROSS

Programmed learning is the most widely publicized innovation currently being introduced into American schools and colleges. Beneath this surface excitement lies a genuine educational challenge. Programmed learning is a new method of instruction based on a distinctive psychological theory. lts daims, which it o:ffers to submit to scientific verification, are that it can present material to be learned in such a way that the materials will be learned more rapidly, more thoroughly, and with intrinsic enjoyment by the student. These practical advantages have been conclusively demonstrated. As a result, programs are currently being written in virtually every subject, for virtually every grade from kindergarten to graduate school. lt is not solely in tenns of quanitity that the development of programmed learning is moving forward in the United States. There are promising efforts to maintain and upgrade the qua/,ity of materials being produced. Centres of program production, testing, and research have been established in various parts of the country, mostly at universities. These centres are also coming to accept their responsibilities for training school personnel in the creation and use of programmed learning materials. At the same time, other professional groups have been working toward defining criteria of rigour and standards of unüormity in programs and machines. Neither of these developments-the establishment of centres or the definition of standards of quality-has progressed as far as is necessary in order to control the floodtide of material which commercial producers are placing on the market. But these efforts do constitute the framework within which we may soon realize the great potentialities of this new method of teaching. If these were ordinary times in education we might be able to adopt a conservative wait-and-see attitude toward such innovations as programmed leaming. But the rapid expansion of enrolments, the explosion of knowledge, and the demand for a radically improved education to prepare students to cope with a complex world, compel us to find more efficient and effective ways of teaching. Through the kind of careful study and commitment to positive action exemplified in the research work which lies behind this Assembly, Canadians are demonstrating their eagemess to explore and test out the most promising new ways of improving their children's education. In programmed leaming you have at band one of the potentially most powerful methods of accomplishing this goal.

5.

LEARNING A SECOND LANGUAGE / L'ÉTUDE D'UNE LANGUE SECONDE Chairman / Président PROFESSOR HUGH MACLENNAN,

McGill University

Panelists / Équipe de discussion

STEPHEN DAVIDOVICH, Director of Citizenship, Ontario M . RAYMOND DUPLANTIE, Professeur dans les écoles d'Oakville, Ontario M . ROBERT GAUTHIER, Directeur de l'enseignement français,

Ministère de l'Éducation d'Ontario

M . SÉRAPHIN MARION, Professeur émérite de l'Université d'Ottawa EDWARD MCGIBBON, Television producer M . ANDRÉ RIGAULT, Professeur de l'Université McGill

Chairman's opening remarks / Remarques préliminaires par le président

HUGH MACLENNAN Cette conférence se propose de présenter des études très modernes sur l'enseignement d'une langue seconde au Canada. A l'instant même, nul sujet ne pourrait être plus important pour nous. Notre pays se trouve dans une situation très difficile, très dangereuse - à l'égard des États-Unis, à l'égard du monde, à l'égard de lui-même. Il se trouve aussi dans une situation presque ridicule. Actuellement, on pourrait dire que le dialogue entre les deux nations du Canada (je préfère l'expression « entre les deux associés du mariage canadien » ) ressemble au dialogue mythique, composé par Voltaire, entre le philosophe Spinoza et Dieu. « Je crois, » dit Spinoza à Dieu, « je crois, entre nous, que vous n'existez pas. » Comment les hommes peuvent-ils se comprendre, comment peuvent-ils parler l'un avec l'autre, s'ils sont séparés par la barrière de la langue ? Quant à moi, malheureusement, il me faut me présenter à vous comme un exemple très commun chez les Canadiens anglophones d'âge mûr qui a grandi dans une province anglophone où, il y a quarante ans, on apprenait le français comme une langue morte. En un mot, je n'ai eu aucune occasion d'apprendre le français quand j'étais jeune. Maintenant, je donnerais volontiers deux ans de ma vie pour maîtriser la grande langue de la France et de la Province de Québec, mais je sais bien que ce temps est révolu. Je suis devenu le prisonnier de ma profession, le prisonnier de plusieurs devoirs dans une société où personne d'âge mûr n'a assez de temps. Hélas, on doit apprendre une seconde langue lorsqu'on est jeune. C'est pourquoi j'ai lu avec étonnement, dans la brochure Innovations

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dans l'Enseignement de la Langue seconde, qu'il y a encore des gens qui s'opposent au bilinguisme, parce ce qu'ils y voient un danger pour la pureté de la langue maternelle. Et comme preuve de cette thèse, voici ce qui suit : « Il était bon, écrivit un historien français, que Chateaubriand revint en France. Son style se serait rouillé à la longue en Angleterre. Il est difficile, dans un séjour prolongé à l'étranger, de garder toute la splendeur du style de la patrie. » Now this statement about Chateaubriand absolutely begs the question we are discussing. Certainly it damages the style of a writer to adjust bis thought-patterns to the more primitive levels they must assume if he seeks to learn another language after he bas grown up. For this reason I agree that Chateaubriand acted well in returning to France. But this principle does not apply to the young. When one is young, one is naturally imitative; one's speech reflexes are at their most acute. When one is young one may possess for the rest of one's life a second language. And I tell you, as a writer, that it bas been an enduring grief to me that I never had the opportunity to possess French when I was young, and that nobody taught my ears -in the words of Dr. Gauthier-to loosen my tongue. Therefore I look forward with intense interest, and I am sure you do also, to the demonstrations in the art of teaching a second language which we are about to hear and see. And may I say, en passant, that nothing better illustrates the manner in which the world bas changed and grown smaller than that the Tan-Gau Method should have resulted from a partnership between a Canadian, Dr. Gauthier, and a Burmese, Dr. Tan Gwan Leong. May I also say how profoundly I agree in principle with the wisdom of Dr. Séraphin Marion when he writes, at the conclusion of bis article in the brochure, the following passage: « Il serait bien téméraire de vivre dans un monde illusoire et de pratiquer, dans le Canada de 1962, la politique de l'autruche. Toute une série d'événements qui se sont déroulés au cours de l'année 1961 devrait désiller les yeux les plus optimistes, et les ramener à la réalité des faits. A l'heure actuelle, une constatation s'impose à l'attention de tous les Canadiens : l'unité nationale - ou plutôt l'union entre les deux nations coexistant dans notre pays - se heurte à des obstacles majeurs. Et à moins que tous les intéressés ne déploient là-dessus de vigoureux efforts, il s'ensuivra probablement, à brève échéance, une situation difficile, voire tragique. » I could not possibly agree more strongly with Dr. Marion that an improvement in bilingualism, especially in English-speaking Canada, would help us greatly. lt will not be an easy thing, nor will it corne overnight. French seems to be a more difficult language for beginners than English,

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and in many provinces of Canada there is no real economic incentive to learn it. However, this I can truly say. During the last few years I have travelled back and forth across Canada many times, and never have I found such a great desire to learn French, especially among the young collegians. I honestly believe there is a chance that within a generation English-speaking Canada will produce a genuinely bilingual élite. J'espère que mes compatriotes de langue française vont me pardonner si je leur dis : c Trop souvent, en ce moment dans le Québec, on voit le Canada-Anglophone avec les yeux du passé. Actuellement, les Anglophones du Canada se trouvent dans une situation aussi difficile que la vôtre. Ils aiment le Canada entier, et il y a beaucoup de gens anglophones qui sont vraiment vos amis. • I hope my English-speaking compatriots will forgive me if I say: "French Canada will certainly appreciate us more if we learn to speak French better. But she will appreciate us still more if we take steps to preserve the French culture among French-Canadian minorities in other provinces than Quebec." Finally, I would like to say something which seems to me more important even than this: we Canadians today require more than a better understanding of each other; we require a true appreciation of the new situation in which we stand. Ever since 1948 we have been in the nuclear sandwich. At present we are virtually a part of the post-war American economic empire. In the near future we will almost certainly become a part of a North American Cornmon Market in which all the important levers of economic and military power will be in American bands. From this it follows that our cultural and political survival will have to be worked out in a climate new on earth. Our problem is to fulfil Canada's destiny as a self-respecting political nation which will serve as the home of two cultures locked together by history. lt is to retain, and then to re-create in modem terms, that sense of communal meaning without which no country is worth anything. This challenge is daunting because it is unfamiliar; strange, because in the past, threats to a nation's survival and meaning have corne from enemies and not from friends. At a time when most Canadians are anxious and frustrated, it is natural that one part should blame the other for all its troubles and ignore the larger issue. Natural, but also childish. Together, we are going to have difficulties enough. Separately, neither part of Canada will have any chance at all, and not ail the wishful thinking in the world can alter that fact. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I have pleasure in tuming this meeting over to the experts.

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Summary

Following the chairman's remarks, Dr. Séraphin Marion was invited to speak briefly on the survey made in the ten provinces which led to the publishing of Innovations in Second-Language Teaching in Canada. lt was evident that this report had aroused a great deal of interest from coast to coast. The first part of the Tan-Gau film was then shown. It was explained by Mr. McGibbon that Mr. Duplantie's tessons were completely unrehearsed and that the children involved had no previous knowledge of French. Mr. McGibbon also described the procedure which had been followed in getting the film shot by Toronto TV Station CFTO and processed by Canadian Kodak, Taylor-Video, and Pathé de Luxe corporations. Because of the Ford Foundation's assistance and the manifest interest and generosity of these firms, the thirty-minute sound film had cost the Canadian Conference on Education nothing. A lively discussion followed this first lesson. The teacher, Mr. Duplantie, as well as the Canadian originator of Tan-Gau, Dr. Robert Gauthier, were on band to answer the questions asked by several members of the audience. After the second Tan-Gau lesson was shown, another discussion period ensued. The showing of the second film, Let's Speak English, was preceded by a short talk by Mr. Steve Davidovich, who said that this lesson was one of a series developed by META, the CBC, and the University of Toronto for the teaching of English to New Canadians, and particularly to visiting university students from abroad who needed English instruction in order to derive a greater measure of profit from their studies at the University of Toronto. Professor John Wevers acted as English instructor in the filmed lesson shown. Professor André Rigault was then invited to describe the electronic ear. He showed that this device, the invention of Dr. A. Tomatis, a French ear, nose, and throat specialist, demonstrates that speech organs can reproduce only what is heard. As hearing deteriorates, so does speech, and as defective hearing is improved, so are the range and quality of speech. A practical demonstration of the electronic ear was given after the meeting, at McGill University, to a group of most interested people. Résumé

Le président invita alors le Dr Séraphin Marion à parler brièvement de l'enquête menée l'automne dernier dans les dix provinces et dont le rap-

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Summary

Following the chairman's remarks, Dr. Séraphin Marion was invited to speak briefly on the survey made in the ten provinces which led to the publishing of Innovations in Second-Language Teaching in Canada. lt was evident that this report had aroused a great deal of interest from coast to coast. The first part of the Tan-Gau film was then shown. It was explained by Mr. McGibbon that Mr. Duplantie's tessons were completely unrehearsed and that the children involved had no previous knowledge of French. Mr. McGibbon also described the procedure which had been followed in getting the film shot by Toronto TV Station CFTO and processed by Canadian Kodak, Taylor-Video, and Pathé de Luxe corporations. Because of the Ford Foundation's assistance and the manifest interest and generosity of these firms, the thirty-minute sound film had cost the Canadian Conference on Education nothing. A lively discussion followed this first lesson. The teacher, Mr. Duplantie, as well as the Canadian originator of Tan-Gau, Dr. Robert Gauthier, were on band to answer the questions asked by several members of the audience. After the second Tan-Gau lesson was shown, another discussion period ensued. The showing of the second film, Let's Speak English, was preceded by a short talk by Mr. Steve Davidovich, who said that this lesson was one of a series developed by META, the CBC, and the University of Toronto for the teaching of English to New Canadians, and particularly to visiting university students from abroad who needed English instruction in order to derive a greater measure of profit from their studies at the University of Toronto. Professor John Wevers acted as English instructor in the filmed lesson shown. Professor André Rigault was then invited to describe the electronic ear. He showed that this device, the invention of Dr. A. Tomatis, a French ear, nose, and throat specialist, demonstrates that speech organs can reproduce only what is heard. As hearing deteriorates, so does speech, and as defective hearing is improved, so are the range and quality of speech. A practical demonstration of the electronic ear was given after the meeting, at McGill University, to a group of most interested people. Résumé

Le président invita alors le Dr Séraphin Marion à parler brièvement de l'enquête menée l'automne dernier dans les dix provinces et dont le rap-

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port intitulé Innovations dans l'enseignement de la langue seconde au Canada a évidemment soulevé beaucoup d'intérêt d'un bout à l'autre du pays. On a ensuite assisté à la projection de la première partie du film TanGau. M. McGibbon a précisé que les leçons de M. Duplantie avaient été filmées sur le vif et que les élèves ne possédaient aucune notion préalable de français. Il a dit aussi comment on avait réalisé ce film, tourné par le poste de télévision CFTO, de Toronto, puis développé et monté par les compagnies Canadian Kodak, Taylor-Video et Pathé De Luxe. M. McGibbon a insisté sur le fait que, grâce à la subvention de la Fondation Ford et à la générosité de ces maisons d'entreprise, ce film sonore d'une durée de trente minutes n'avait rien coûté à la Conférence canadienne sur !'Éducation. Cette première leçon fut suivie d'une discussion animée. L'instituteur, M. Duplantie, de même que le Dr Robert Gauthier, co-inventeur de la méthode Tan-Gau, ont répondu aux questions de plusieurs personnes dans l'assistance. Après la projection de la deuxième leçon Tan-Gau, il y eut une autre période de discussion. La projection du second film Let's Speak English fut précédée d'une brève allocution de M. Davidovich qui a déclaré que cette leçon faisait partie d'une série réalisée par META, Radio-Canada et l'Université de Toronto pour l'enseignement de l'anglais aux néo-canadiens et en particulier aux étrangers, étudiant à l'Université de Toronto et éprouvant le besoin de perfectionner leur anglais pour mieux profiter des cours. Le professeur John Wevers dirigeait la leçon d'anglais illustrée par ce film. Le professeur André Rigault fut ensuite invité à décrire l'oreille électronique. Il a expliqué que cet appareil inventé par le Dr. A Tomatis, spécialiste français pour le nez, la gorge et les oreilles, démontre bien que les organes de la phonation ne peuvent reproduire que ce que le sujet entend. S'il entend mal, son parler en sera affecté dans la même mesure et si on remédie à cette imperfection de l'ouïe on améliore, par le fait même, la qualité du parler. Après l'assemblée, un groupe des auditeurs les plus intéressés eurent l'occasion d'assister à une démonstration pratique de l'oreille électronique, à l'Université McGill.

6.

WH Y RES E ARC H IN ED V CA TI ON?/ PO V R Q V O I FAIRE DE LA RECHERCHE EN ÉDUCATION? Chairman / Président Deputy Minister, Nova Scotia Department of Education; President, Canadian Council for Research in Education DR. H. P. MOFFATT,

Panelists / Équipe de discussion

DR. D. B. BLACK, University of Alberta DR. CECIL COLLINS, Canadian Education Association M. ARMAND GAUTHIER, Université Laval DR. FLOYD ROBINSON, Canadian Teachers' Federation

Following the chairman's opening remarks, four aspects of the subject were considered and discussed. Extracts from the papers are given here. Après l'allocution d'ouverture du président, on a étudié et discuté quatre aspects du sujet. On trouvera ci-joints des extraits des mémoires qui ont été présentés. Remarques préliminaires par le président/ Chairman's remarks

H. P. MOFFATT We are here today to d.iscuss the topic "Why Research in Education?" I think you probably know the general answer yourselves. At this meeting over 2,000 people are d.iscussing the most difficult and the most important task in human society: how to train that most incredibly complex organism, the human being, to live in a society that be himself is making more complex every day. These people are trying to :find solutions in eight broad areas of the educational task. I feel, and I know that you feel, that we could make better decisions in each of these areas if we had more facts, and if we knew of more de:finite principles and better techniques backed up by experimentation and demonstration; and what is more important, in the educational task itself we could do a better job if we knew more, and if we actually used what we already know. Last night, for example, Dr. Penfield, a world-famous neurologist, indicated that from bis knowledge of the structure and growth of the human brain it was bis opinion that foreign languages can best be leamed in early childhood. And yet, in practically every program of studies in Canada, the study of a second language is deferred until the beginning, and sometimes near the end, of the secondary school.

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In the field of finance, bulletins recently isued by the Canadian Tax Foundation show that the local property tax is still an efficient instrument for collecting revenues for local government and that it bas by no means reached the saturation point. But at one of our Panel Discussions on Educational Finance speaker after speaker stated categorically that the property tax had reached its limit and that a11 further funds for education should corne from provincial or national sources. And so, on and on we go, making many of our decisions and carrying out most of our tasks on the basis of tradition, uninformed opinions, and emotional pressures. The purpose of this discussion is to inquire as to whether educational research can help us to make better decisions and to improve our educational practices. We will try to be objective and realistic, as research persons should always be. We just cannot take it for granted, for example, that research in a highly complex discipline like education, involving not only individuals who themselves are complex, but action and reaction between groups of individuals, can be as clear eut and effective as research in the 'physical sciences. In fact, education is not a single discipline, and, if I may use a forbidden word, is a "melting pot" of disciplines. The general aims of education are determined by philosophy. The translation of these general aims into content is a task for sociology. Our techniques should be built on research in psychology-and even in anatomy, physiology and neurology. Many of our administration problems can only be solved by research in economics, and so on. Summing up then, the basic problems in educational research are: (1) What kinds of research do we need? (2) How can this research be carried out? (3) How can the results of research be translated into more effective practice?

Extraits des discours / Extracts

D. B. BLACK Today, research is fashionable, très avant-garde. Its disciples form a cult and its presence in the organizational flow chart of any agency becomes a status symbol that speaks silently. The truth of the matter is that there is nothing secret about research. Any teacher, any parent for that matter, can do acceptable and useful research if they want to learn the rules of the game. The rules are indeed simple, and can be learned by anyone empirically oriented and able to do Grade 9 mathematics. It is indeed a sign of the times and bespeaks for a brighter future that these simple truths are being discovered and are being used by our teachers as is being evidenced

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In the field of finance, bulletins recently isued by the Canadian Tax Foundation show that the local property tax is still an efficient instrument for collecting revenues for local government and that it bas by no means reached the saturation point. But at one of our Panel Discussions on Educational Finance speaker after speaker stated categorically that the property tax had reached its limit and that a11 further funds for education should corne from provincial or national sources. And so, on and on we go, making many of our decisions and carrying out most of our tasks on the basis of tradition, uninformed opinions, and emotional pressures. The purpose of this discussion is to inquire as to whether educational research can help us to make better decisions and to improve our educational practices. We will try to be objective and realistic, as research persons should always be. We just cannot take it for granted, for example, that research in a highly complex discipline like education, involving not only individuals who themselves are complex, but action and reaction between groups of individuals, can be as clear eut and effective as research in the 'physical sciences. In fact, education is not a single discipline, and, if I may use a forbidden word, is a "melting pot" of disciplines. The general aims of education are determined by philosophy. The translation of these general aims into content is a task for sociology. Our techniques should be built on research in psychology-and even in anatomy, physiology and neurology. Many of our administration problems can only be solved by research in economics, and so on. Summing up then, the basic problems in educational research are: (1) What kinds of research do we need? (2) How can this research be carried out? (3) How can the results of research be translated into more effective practice?

Extraits des discours / Extracts

D. B. BLACK Today, research is fashionable, très avant-garde. Its disciples form a cult and its presence in the organizational flow chart of any agency becomes a status symbol that speaks silently. The truth of the matter is that there is nothing secret about research. Any teacher, any parent for that matter, can do acceptable and useful research if they want to learn the rules of the game. The rules are indeed simple, and can be learned by anyone empirically oriented and able to do Grade 9 mathematics. It is indeed a sign of the times and bespeaks for a brighter future that these simple truths are being discovered and are being used by our teachers as is being evidenced

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by the increasing amounts of local research. As soon as we can destroy the pseudo prestige cuit of educational research, then it can be given a true opportunity to stand on its own feet and research prestige can be a matter of the quality of the work rather than nominal designation of various school supernumeraries as "researchers." ... In my opinion, the major research problem lying ahead for Canadian education is surprisingly not one of financing or even of getting the men to do research but rather one of co-ordination of effort. Many of the problems of education are not exclusive to any particular field of specialization. Let me illustrate this by using the study of school drop-outs as an example. Just who should do the research in this field? The school administrator bas to consider this in bis planning of schools and provision of facilities, the guidance people corne face to face with the school-leaving student, the curriculum development specialists must develop new programs to meet the peculiar needs of this group, and industry is expected to provide employment for these students, when they leave school. Obviously, this is an area in which any one agency working on the problem is bound to overlap other organizations' areas of specialization. Needless to say there are many, many problems like this in which research is being done and from which needless duplication results. There is, then, a need for some agency through which problems of common interest could be and should be co-ordinated. Logically, this can best be done through a non-partisan agency. This concept of "joint" research is not new and is being practised daily throughout Canada but these efforts are mainly at a local or, in certain cases, provincial level. In my own province, the practice is quite common through a "local" agreement or by co-ordination through the provincial AACER. The basic problem remains because educational problems refuse to respect provincial boundaries as decreed by the B.N.A. Act. Duplication results at the inter-provincial level. Sorne of these problems have been met by provincial groupings such as the Atlantic Provinces' Camegie-supported CAC High School Testing Project. There exists, in the West, the Western Canadian Conference on Teaching Education which represents the major educational agencies in the four western provinces. There is no reason why a regionally co-ordinated research program could not be conducted through this group. ln the future, I can see more of such projects emerging partially through the failure to provide an adequate national non-partisan research co-ordinating agency. The fact remains that the framework for such a national organization does exist in the CCRE. This group represents more than an idea for it is the start towards something sorely needed in Canadian educational research. But it is still little better than an idea. lt is at present without any influence in Canadian education. If it grows it will need a "working" committee, perhaps a CERA

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(Canadian Educational Research Association). If we are to accept my premise of the power motive behind research, will this group ultimately receive the full support of its member agencies? If educational research is to rise above partisanism, it must. That the machinery for such an agency does exist augurs well for the future. The problems of education are too numerous, the men of research too few, the money for research too limited, and the issues of education too great to afford us the luxury of needless research duplication. We need partisan research, we need it badly, but we also need a super co-ordinating non-partisan agency with the active support of educators, which bas internai integrity, and which can command the respect of industry and the lay public. CECIL COLLINS As a first step we must ask ourselves: Are there any school programs which are of marginal value? Does today's work make some classes or subjects of study obsolete, either in purpose or in procedure, and call for new or different classes, or new emphases? Are some of the new and proposed vocational education classes preparing people for jobs which are now, or will be, obsolete in a few years? Is their contribution to education sufficient to warrant the financial outlay? Are the kinds of buildings we are erecting obsolete or too restrictive for the educational program we are offering? Is the administrative and supervisory superstructure of education becoming top-heavy or do we need more specialized and consultative services for teachers? Would teachers with higher qualifications and more training make it possible to reduce drastically the staff and services at the central educational offices or urban school systems? A great deal of research must be done to test our present practices as well as to provide knowledge and much better insights into what should be done about the organization of our educational enterprise to meet the exigencies of the present and future. In raising these questions I do not infer that research bas contributed nothing to the improvement of educational practice in the past. Significant changes in the administration and financing of schools in Canada have taken place as a result of study and experimentation. The larger unit of administration, now the basic unit throughout Western Canada and Nova Scotia, was based on studies of more effective types of school organization which were more suited to settlement and economic conditions in these provinces, and upon experiments carried on at Hanna and Turner Valley in Alberta and in the Peace River Bloc in British Columbia. In the field of vocational education, for example, two major studies

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did much to supply answers to questions and prepare the way for new developments. The study of practical education conducted by the Canadian Education Association in the late 1940's focused attention of educators on the necessity for retaining students in school and on the need for diversification of general courses in industrial and practical subjects. A more recent study on skilled manpower conducted by the federal Department of Labour, which sought facts rather than opinions, led to the conclusion that opportunities for vocational and technical education under public authorities must be expanded if Canadian industry is to obtain a sufficient supply of skilled workmen and technicians to operate the economy. Knowledge gained from this study laid the foundation for the adoption of new policies by the federal government for financial assistance, largely in the capital field, to the provinces for vocational education at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Again, as an example, the extensive studies in Ontario, the Atlantic Provinces, Alberta, and Manitoba on student potential and prediction of success are producing pressures for radical changes in instructional patterns at the secondary level and in the relationship of school to university, commerce, and industry. Other investigations into the teaching of mathematics, science, reading, and other traditional subject fields, as well as new developments in leaming theories, are questioning the present grade-sequence of material. Many of the most competent educators on this continent are becoming more and more suspicious of our present methods of teaching and are examining the proposition that the way we teach, the techniques that are now in use, may handicap more than prepare the way for later leaming activities of the student. New knowledge from research in psychology, sociology, economics, government, and business, as well as changes in the complexity of our educational systems, are raising serious questions about the effectiveness of the principalship, the vice-principalship, the positions of heads of departments and consultants, as they are now constituted. There is a strong feeling that principals are required to spend far too much time on routine clerical and administrative activities that could be done better by a trained non-educational staff. There are also good reasons to doubt that teachers are allowed to make most effective use of their abilities. Certainly there should be experimental programs introduced which would test the present practices about the size of classes, the use of materials, the adaptability of school buildings to modern teaching practices, team teaching, the possibility of the use of apprentices and technicians as well as professional people in teaching, the kind and length of teacher training. History shows that all improvements in education in Canada since 1900 have a common characteristic, they all fit into the existing framework of

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school arrangement. History also reveals that a long list of other possible improvements, such as radio and television, were greeted with great enthusiasm at first but this gradually died out and they have never really been put to their fullest use. Present-day enthusiasm for language laboratories, programmed learning, teaching by machines, team teaching, and many other developments will probably meet the same fate if they cannot be fitted into the traditional structure of our educational enterprise, or unless the system itself is changed to accommodate them. lmprovement in education in Canada, in the main, bas in this century been by refinement, not by redefinition. Each improvement bas had its effect, but all have been limited by the existing framework that was developed over one hundred years ago. I doubt very much if refinement of our present structure and functions of our educational enterprise will provide for the changes which are pressing in from all sides. We must know that what we are doing is achieving the ends it is supposed to achieve, that it is the best that can be done, and, if it is not, we must be prepared to study and experiment with new ways so that the most efficient use can be made of the resources, both material and human, that our citizenry and our laws provide. AU these present critical problems to the people of Canada and especially to the educational administrators who are expected to solve them.

ARMAND GAUTHIER Il est probable que l'évolution des programmes scolaires sera toujours influencée par ces deux pôles à action contraire : la tradition qui jouera comme force stabilisatrice et les exigences de la société qui pousseront hors des sentiers battus. Le rôle premier de la recherche en ce domaine pourrait être de déterminer dans des cas concrets et bien circonscrits si ce que la société cherche à imposer au nom du progrès s'avère valable et ordonné aux fins de l'éducation et de l'enseignement, et en définitive à celles de l'homme lui-même. En plus de cette fonction sélective, la recherche doit en remplir une autre capitale, elle doit être l'outil numéro un de travail des spécialistes en élaboration et en révision des programmes ... Il y a un double écueil à éviter : celui qui ferait accepter trop docilement les courants imposés par les pressions sociales d'une part et l'autre qui dicterait à leur égard une atttitude d'opposition systématique. On méconnaîtrait l'importance d'un idéal éducatif transcendant en donnant trop aisément dans un conformisme social exagéré. En fait, jusqu'ici, dans la plupart des pays, toute amélioration sensible

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des programmes a été rendue difficile ou vaine, parce qu'on a mis au premier plan l'exigence sociologique : Qu'est-ce que les enfants doivent savoir ? Et la réponse n'a jamais varié : « Tout ce qu'il n'est permis d'ignorer ! > D'où l'encyclopédisme dont partout on dénonce les méfaits ... L'école d'aujourd'hui, devant la multiplicité des tâches qui s'imposent à elle à une époque où les conditions de l'enseignement tendent à empirer, ne peut plus fonder l'organisation du travail scolaire sur des opinions personnelles ou des affirmations gratuites. Une entreprise aussi vaste, aussi importante, aussi coûteuse que l'instruction publique ne saurait se satisfaire plus longtemps d'ignorer les problèmes de rendement, ni se refuser à mettre en œuvre les moyens de mesurer celui-ci et de l'améliorer. Il serait donc recommandable que la recherche se préoccupe des moyens qui assurent la formation morale, le développement du sens social de l'enfant, qu'elle mette l'accent sur le caractère, l'initiative, le sens de l'effort et l'activité créatrice... Il serait également nécessaire qu'on entreprenne des enquêtes sur la connaissance qu'ont les instituteurs des objectifs visés par les programmes qu'ils ont mission d'enseigner, ainsi que sur les effets que cette connaissance, si elle est présente, a sur les méthodes en usage et sur la préparation des questionnaires d'examen. Je m'en voudrais de clore cette première partie de mon travail sans suggérer une recherche qui porterait sur les moyens de faire naître, chez les jeunes Canadiens, le sens de l'unité nationale ... S'il y a un domaine où la recherche sur le vif s'impose avec force c'est bien celui de la méthodologie. Que l'on songe seulement à ce que Georges Cuisenaire et Caleb Gattegno ont fait pour l'enseignement des mathématiques au cours élémentaire et l'on aura une idée du champ ouvert à ceux qui voudraient aborder par la recherche sur le vif la révision de la plupart de nos méthodes traditionnelles d'enseignement, et cela avec un espoir à la fois réaliste et scientifique. Le rôle que les aides audio-visuelles peuvent jouer dans l'enseignement fait depuis assez longtemps déjà l'objet de discussions animées. Des sommes considérables ont été investies pour le perfectionnement et la mise au point de ce matériel didactique ; des services d'information et de distribution sont à le disposition du personnel enseignant et du public. Or, il apparaît que dans l'ensemble, on n'aurait pas retiré de ces aides ce qu'elles sont en mesure de donner, on ne les aurait pas exploîtées adéquatement. .. Est-ce exact ? Dans quelle mesure ? Pourquoi ? Quels moyens prendre pour obtenir le meilleur rendement possible ?... Ce sont autant de questions auxquelles on peut répondre en émettant une opinion... mais ce ne serait qu'une opinion. Une recherche sérieuse permettrait de répondre avec certitude.

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L'enseignement de la lecture, vu son caractère fondamental et vu le fait qu'il est le principal obstacle à une scolarité normale des élèves, ne devrait-il pas faire l'objet d'un apprentissage plus prolongé ?... En termes plus directs : nos élèves savent-ils assez lire en abordant le secondaire ?... Dans quelle mesure nos programmes d'enseignement tiennent-ils compte du temps de travail effectif dont disposent maîtres et élèves ? Dans quelle mesure le premier enseignement est-il donné en disciplines séparées étrangères au synchrétisme enfantin, ou bien est-il organisé globalement par une application judicieuse du principe des centres d'intérêt et de concentration? La T.V. frappe à la porte de nos classes, elle a même déjà accroché ses écrans aux murs d'un certain nombre d'entre elles. C'est un événement d'importance pour la pédagogie... et l'on conçoit difficilement que la recherche n'ait pas un rôle capital à remplir dans l'intégration de cette technique à nos procédés pédagogiques. On monte à grands frais en divers milieux des laboratoires de langue ... Il est sûr qu'il ne faut pas bouder le progrès, mais il est prudent d'asseoir l'usage de ces techniques nouvelles sur des données établies par de sérieuses recherches expérimentales... L'a-t-on assez fait ? Nous sommes tous au fait sans doute de l'intérêt qu'ont suscité récemment dans divers milieux des articles de journaux et de revues, des séminaires et des conférences où il a été question de machines à enseigner. Moins de gens ont une notion de ce qu'est la méthode "auto-didactique micro-graduée" sur laquelle repose l'usage de ces machines que le commerce d'ailleurs, a commencé de mettre sur le marché. Des entreprises d'édition offrent des textes aux écoles ... Les spécialistes de cette méthode sont d'accord pour déclarer que vu sa nouveauté et sa complexité d'une part et les promesses qu'elle semble renfermer d'autre part, ce qui importe avant tout, c'est d'en fonder le développement et la mise en usage sur de minutieuses recherches... Celles-ci d'ailleurs sont de rigueur pour la préparation des textes à proposer aux élèves ... Je crois savoir que des travaux sont en cours dans certaines provinces du pays sur ce sujet ; il serait peut-être bon qu'on s'y intéresse activement partout. Les relations entre maîtres et élèves constituent l'élément fondamental de la vie scolaire. Si ces relations ne satisfont pas les besoins affectifs des enfants, leur insuffisance rend illusoire un meilleur aménagement des programmes et des méthodes. N'y aurait-il pas là des sujets d'inquiétude scientifique ? Ne serait-il pas impérieux d'analyser méthodiquement de temps en temps le climat affectif où se déroule la vie scolaire dans un milieu donné, pour en déceler les éléments favorables et les éléments nuisibles ?••.

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Une autre question qui se pose avec insistance aux éducateurs de ce pays, c'est celle du bilinguisme... Il serait au moins logique que nous sachions ce que les faits ont à nous dire relativement à ce problème tel qu'il se pose en nos divers milieux ... Enfin si vous demandiez de suggérer un sujet vraiment passionnant de recherche qui embrasse les trois aspects de la pédagogie que j'ai tenté d'effleurer, je voudrais qu'on vérifie l'exactitude de cette affirmation de Jérome Bruner citée par le Dr Clark : c Il est possible d'enseigner efficacement n'importe quel sujet sous une forme intellectuellement honnête à tout enfant quel que soit son degré d'évolution. » FLOYD ROBINSON The achievements of educational research have been far less spectacular than those of the physical sciences. Why should this be? Sorne will argue that this disparity in achievement can be accounted for by the relative youth and complexity of research in the social sciences and by the fact that insufficient monies and energy are expended in these fields. I think this is a dangerously optimistic argument because it ignores what I would consider to be the primary stumbling block of educational research. This stumbling block-which I would like to explain in simple language-is the basic contradiction between the theory of educational research and the reality of educational practice. ln theory, educational research works as follows: Society, or some agent of society, first defines an underlying set of aims or purposes for education which are describable, and which can be ordered, weighted, and to some extent, therefore, quantified. In order to achieve these aims, the student must be subjected to a sequence of educational events which we would call an "educational program." The fonction of educational research, then, is to determine through fact-gathering, experiment, and theory the components of the program which will Iead to the most efficient realization of the given set of aims. So much for the theory. In practice, the specific components of an educational program are actually determined through the operation of an interlocking system of educational decisions. Consider, for example, the commonly accepted aim of developing in the child the skills of numerical computation. The sequence of educational decisions which determine the components of the arithmetic program begins in the provincial department of education, which decides when the child will begin the study of arithmetic, the content appropriate to each grade, the mathematical competence which must be possessed by those who would teach arithmetic, and so on.

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Within the system of constraints imposed by these departmental decisions, the school principal will make further decisions regarding the scheduling of arithmetic classes within the school day, the assignment of arithmetic students to specific classes and teachers, the type of audio-visual aids to be made available to the arithmetic teacher, and so on. Finally, in her own classroom, and within the system of constraints handed down from two levels of administration, the teacher of arithmetic must make a vast number of decisions regarding the actual procedures to be followed at each instant of time. ln practice, then, whether a relatively effective or a relatively ineffective arithmetic program emerges will depend upon the quality of the decision-making at each level in the hierarchy. Where the alternatives which are available at decision points are clearly laid out and their consequences explored through experiment, through the application of known principles, or through logical means-that is to say, where educational decisions are made in a rational manner-then one can have some confidence that efficient programs will emerge. On the other hand, where heavy reliance is placed upon guesswork, the application of untested "common sense," or the inappropriate continuation of past procedures, then the resultant program will have little likelihood of high effectiveness. lrrespective of our theorizing, whether educational research makes any impact on education practice will be decided at these choice points. I would submit that if you were to examine in detail specific educational programs, inquire to what extent the alternatives were recognized and explored, and what evidence was used to support the decisions finally taken, then you could only corne to the conclusion that there is a high element of irrationality in our educational programs. For example, when the mathematics content which is to be studied in each grade is laid down, is this decision made on the basis of a body of knowledge and theory ( such as the work of Piaget) or rather on the basis of past practice and what other people are doing? Again, when the body of mathematical knowledge which the arithmetic teacher must possess is specified, is this decision made on the basis of some body of theory, knowledge, or even concensus regarding the amount of training which the teacher should have, or is the decision made largely on the basis of supply and demand? Tuen at the clasroom level, does anyone seriously believe that the teacher with two years of training above junior matriculation could possess either the theoretical sophistication to know what alternatives are reasonable at a given choice point, or the quantitative sophistication to test the wisdom of her own decisions, or those handed down to ber, through simple experimentation? What I am trying to say is that in practice those people at the top of

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the educational hierarchy do not have the tune to assess their decisions adequately, and those at the bottom of the hierarchy do not have either the training or the opportunity to experiment. Consequently, it is inevitable that there should be a flow of irrationality beginning at the top of the educational hierarchy and accumulating as we proceed downward into the classroom. Under these conditions, it is highly unlikely that we are even approximating maximum efliciency in our educational programs. I also believe that those of us who work in educational research have shirked our responsibilities by putting forward "pie-in-the-sky" proposais based on analogies with the physical sciences, and by ignoring the fact that the decision-making hierarchy bas a distinct existence and a set of laws of its own. We have also assumed that there will be some necessary and immediate carry-over into the hierarchy of what we happen to be doing in the name of educational research. In so doing, we fail to recognize that the decision-making hierarchy is subjected to powerful social, economic, and political constraints which can not only repulse and retard the spread of new ideas, but which can also seriously limit the operation of elementary rational thinking. Beceause of these constraints there are several inherent limitations in the research which can be undertaken within or in conjonction with an educational system ... [Dr. Robinson gave the main limitations as (a) human attitudes and motives inimical to experimentation, and (b) available financial resources.] . . . Looking ahead, the future contribution of educational research to educational practice is pretty well assured, for it is diflicult to revert from scientific to pre-scientific thinking. Since there is simply no way of stopping the accumulation of knowledge about the nature and conditions of leaming, there is no reason for not believing that educational decision-making will continue to become more rational and educational programs, therefore, more effective. But whether or not there will be spectacular break-throughs in the efliciency of educational practice will depend upon a number of factors-of which the quality of research is but one. In the first place, there must be a more intense public desire to have effective programs. I would say from rny own observations that parents today are not disturbed to hear that school programs may be ineflicient; on the contrary, they are only disturbed when they suspect that someone else's children are enjoying a more effective program. For example, it seems likely that many parents of bright children feel that these children could leam to read before entering kindergarten. However, there is not likely to be any public clamour on this point until some group of children, possibly in the United States, actually does begin to read at a rnuch earlier age than they do in our present school programs; at this point, parents will

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be quick to sense that an inferior reading program puts their child at a disadvantage, and to demand experimentation and change. As long as "efficiency" is a purely relative concept, very inefficient programs will be tolerated because they are no worse than their contemporaries. Beyond an increased public desire for more effective programs, those who work in educational research must organize this research around the bard "facts of life," i.e., the decision-making hierarchy. Sorne start bas been made in this direction by encouraging teachers to deal rationally with their classroom problems through action research. But we must recognize that the possibilities of intelligent action research are vastly limited as long as we have what one might call "irrationality at the top." How can we ensure that those charged with making important educational decisions will know about, experiment with, and apply new ideas? While I would like to pursue this train of thought, I feel that this is in a sense a political question, which takes me into an area in which I am not qualified to speak. In summary, it is easy to be violently pessimistic about the possibilities of educational research. At the same time, it is foolish to be violently optimistic. I feel that the more realistic point of view is that educational research bas, can, and will continue to help public education, but that whether or not it makes any profound and immediate impact depends upon whether we develop an approach to research which takes into account not the complexity of the research design, but the interplay of human values and motives as well.

7.

REPORTS ON TWO PROJECTS/RAPPORTS SUR DEUX PROJETS Chairman / Président ROBIN HARRIS

University of Toronto THE METRIC SYSTEM / LE SYSTÈME MÉTRIQUE

Discussion was led by the author of The Metric System report, Dr. J. T. HENDERSON, of the National Research Council. L'auteur du rapport Le système métrique, M. J. T. HENDERSON du Conseil national des recherches, dirigea la discussion libre. Assisted by / Avec le concours de: M. GILBERT PROULX, La Compagnie Hydro-Électrique du Saguenay; R. H. MACKLEM, Inspector of Public Schools, Barrie, Ontario. From Dr. Henderson's remarks: "Since the report was written, the British have already made a small advance in favour of using metric units, in that temperatures for weather conditions are presently being quoted in degrees celsius (i.e., centigrade) as well as degrees fahrenheit. I understand it is the intention to drop the latter after an appropriate time bas elapsed for the public to become familiar with the centigrade scale. There is also, I understand, much more active interest in Britain today regarding the change of their monetary system, and the question there is at present one of how to change, not one of should a change be made at all. "There is also before the U .S. House of Representatives a Bill to authorize the expenditure of some half million dollars on a study of the metric system as it might apply to the United States. "lt seems to me these are all indications of a general tendency towards a shift to the metric system and support the belief that the least recommendation for this country is for further study of the wisdom of change and for further education in the metric system. "The ultimate financial advantages seem obvious, although there are mechanical industries that vigorously protest the cost of the changeover. The cost is precisely the point which is inconclusively demonstrated in our studies up to the present time. The desirability of educational programs to assist mature people who have never learned the metric system seems selfevident. Of course, no such program of study or of education could be implemented with a reasonably widespread demand for it."

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Those present were overwhelmingly of the opinion that the introduction of the metric system ought to be actively pursued in Canada. lt was moved, seconded and carried: "That this Assembly recommend that any continuing organization established as a consequence of this Canadian Conference on Education be requested to encourage the adoption of the Metric System in Canada." ENGLISH SPELLING REFORM / LA RÉFORME DE L'ORTHOGRAPHE ANGLAISE

Discussion was led by the author of Some Arguments for and against Reforming English Spelling, Dr. CHRISTOPHER DEAN, of Queen's University. L'auteur du rapport, M. CHRISTOPHER DEAN, de l'Université Queen's, dirigea la discussion libre. Assisted by / Avec le concours de: M. JEAN-PAUL VINAY, Directeur de la Section de Linguistique de l'Université de Montréal; W. T. MAcSKIMMING, Chief Inspector of Public Schools, Ottawa. From Dr. Dean's remarks : "The most significant developments, it seems to me, are those that have taken place in connection with the Augmented Roman Alphabet which is described on pages 14-18 of the report. The experiment which is mentioned there bas in fact been under way since last September. A large number of books have been printed in the new script and I have two here with me which anyone who is interested can see. "There is also an Augmented Roman News, a duplicated bulletin which will appear monthly and deal with matters concerning the new alphabet. Copies of this are available by subscription by writing to John Downing, University of London Institute of Education, Malet St., London, W.C.1. "The following pieces of information, taken from its first issue (November 1960) may be of interest: (a) N.B.C. have made two films on the subject for showing in America and according to them "A.R. has raised even greater interest in the U.S.A. than in the U.K." ( b) a child's comic is to be produced in the new script. ( c) an experimental typewriter has been designed for the new alphabet. "As for the experiment itself, it is being conducted in twenty-six British schools among children who will number 1200 by the end of two years. The children will use Augmented Roman for two years. At the end of two years the change back to Traditional Orthography will be made. Teaching methods will remain unchanged. The children will be tested annually and

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Those present were overwhelmingly of the opinion that the introduction of the metric system ought to be actively pursued in Canada. lt was moved, seconded and carried: "That this Assembly recommend that any continuing organization established as a consequence of this Canadian Conference on Education be requested to encourage the adoption of the Metric System in Canada." ENGLISH SPELLING REFORM / LA RÉFORME DE L'ORTHOGRAPHE ANGLAISE

Discussion was led by the author of Some Arguments for and against Reforming English Spelling, Dr. CHRISTOPHER DEAN, of Queen's University. L'auteur du rapport, M. CHRISTOPHER DEAN, de l'Université Queen's, dirigea la discussion libre. Assisted by / Avec le concours de: M. JEAN-PAUL VINAY, Directeur de la Section de Linguistique de l'Université de Montréal; W. T. MAcSKIMMING, Chief Inspector of Public Schools, Ottawa. From Dr. Dean's remarks : "The most significant developments, it seems to me, are those that have taken place in connection with the Augmented Roman Alphabet which is described on pages 14-18 of the report. The experiment which is mentioned there bas in fact been under way since last September. A large number of books have been printed in the new script and I have two here with me which anyone who is interested can see. "There is also an Augmented Roman News, a duplicated bulletin which will appear monthly and deal with matters concerning the new alphabet. Copies of this are available by subscription by writing to John Downing, University of London Institute of Education, Malet St., London, W.C.1. "The following pieces of information, taken from its first issue (November 1960) may be of interest: (a) N.B.C. have made two films on the subject for showing in America and according to them "A.R. has raised even greater interest in the U.S.A. than in the U.K." ( b) a child's comic is to be produced in the new script. ( c) an experimental typewriter has been designed for the new alphabet. "As for the experiment itself, it is being conducted in twenty-six British schools among children who will number 1200 by the end of two years. The children will use Augmented Roman for two years. At the end of two years the change back to Traditional Orthography will be made. Teaching methods will remain unchanged. The children will be tested annually and

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special note made of their progress until they reach the age of eleven. It is intended to publish detailed results in November 1965 .... "Meanwhile in the field of spelling reform proper very little is to be reported. However, I have been pleasantly surprised to find that so many people are interested in the topic. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all those people who have written to me personally. I have tried to answer them all. It struck me, however, from the letters I received that there is a great deal of duplication of effort on this topic by people working here and there by themselves. Perhaps I might make the suggestion that there is room for a Canadian Reformed Spelling Association through which interested people could exchange views and materials. This is perhaps an idea that could be discussed this aftemoon." While considerable interest was expressed on the subject of spelling reform, no unanimity of opinion was in evidence. The report had admirably outlined the pros and cons and, as well, had revealed the exceeding complexity of the subject. The majority of those present found themselves unable to draw a valid conclusion as to whether or not reform should be attempted.

Part IX/ Neuvième Partie APPENDIX / APPENDICE

Sponsoring Organizations / Sociétés-membres Officers / Officiers National Committee / Comité national Executive Committee / Comité exécutif Conference Committees / Comités de la Conférence Secrétariat Acknowledgements / Remerciements Conference Studies, other publications / Les Études et autres publications Films Exhibits / Les Étalages

SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS / SOCIÉTÉS-MEMBRES Agricultural lnstitute of Canada Association Canadienne des Bibliothécaires de Langue Française Association Canadienne des Éducateurs de Langue Française Association Canadienne-Française pour l'Avancement des Sciences Association Canadienne des Inspecteurs d'Écoles et des Directeurs d'Éducation de Langue Française Association Canadienne des Jardinières d'Enfants Association des Commissaires d'Écoles de Langue Française du Canada Association des Religieuses Enseignantes du Québec Association of Headmasters of Canada Association of Head Mistresses of Canada Boy Scouts of Canada Canadian Association for Adult Education Canadian Association of Broadcasters Canadian Association of Directors of Extension and Summer School Canadian Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation Canadian Association of Professors of Education Canadian Association of School Superintendents and lnspectors Canadian Association of University Teachers Canadian Bar Association Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Canadian Catholic Education Council Canadian Catholic Trustees' Association Canadian Chamber of Commerce Canadian Citizenship Council Canadian Council of Churches Canadian Dental Association Canadian Education Association Canadian Federation of Agriculture Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs Canadian Federation of Mayors and Municipalities Canadian Federation of University Women Canadian Film Institute

Canadian Home and School and ParentTeacher Federation Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants Canadian Institute on Public A.ffairs Canadian Jewish Congress Canadian Labour Congress Canadian Library Association Canadian Life Insurance Officers' Association Canadian Manufacturers' Association Canadian Mathematical Congress Canadian Medical Association Canadian Mental Health Association Canadian Nurses' Association Canadian Public Relations Society Canadian School Trustees' Association Canadian Teachers' Federation Canadian Textbook Publishers' Institute Catholic Women's League of Canada Office Catholique National des Techniques de Diffusion Chambre de Commerce de la Province de Québec Chemical lnstitute of Canada Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux Conseil Canadien des Associations d'Éducation de Langue Française Conseil de la Vie Française en Amérique Conseil National de la Jeunesse Canadienne-Française Educational Reference Book Publishers' Association Engineering lnstitute of Canada Federated Women's Institutes of Canada Fédération des Collèges Classiques Fédération des Frères Éducateurs du Canada Humanities Research Council of Canada 1.0.D.E. lndian-Eskimo Association of Canada lndustrial Foundation on Education Institut Canadien d'Éducation des Adultes Mouvement Catholique des Parents et Maîtres de Langue Française du Canada National Conference of Canadian Universities and Colleges National Council of Jewish Women of Canada

404

Appendix

National Council of Women of Canada National Council of Young Men's Christian Associations of Canada National Federation of Canadian University Students Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Royal Canadian Legion Social Science Research Council of Canada Young Women's Christian Association of Canada

Alberta Education Council British Columbia Council on Education Manitoba Council on Education New Brunswick Conference on Education Newfoundland Advisory Committee Nova Scotia Education Association Ontario Conference on Education Prince Edward Island Conference on Education Association d'Éducation du Québec Saskatchewan Advisory Committee

OFFICERS / OFFICIERS Honorary Chairman / Président d'Honneur DR. WILDER PENFIELD, O.M.

Honorary Co-Chairmen / Coprésidents d'Honneur HON. A. o. AALBORG, Minister of Education, Alberta HON. L. R. PETERSON, Minister of Education, British Columbia HON. STEWART E. MCLEAN, Minister of Education, Manitoba HON. H. G. IRWIN, Minister of Education, New Brunswick HON. DR. G. A. FRECKER, Minister of Education, Newfoundland HON. R. L. STANFIELD, Minister of Education, Nova Scotia HON. JOHN P. ROBARTS, Minister of Education, Ontario HON. DR. L. G. DEWAR, Minister of Education, P.E.I. HON. PAUL GÉRIN-LAJOIE, Ministre de la Jeunesse, Québec HON. o. A. TURNBULL, Minister of Education, Saskatchewan

Chairman, National Committee / Président, Comité national KURT R. SWINTON, President, Encyclopaedia Britannica of Canada Ltd. Vice-Chairmen, National Committee / Vice-présidents, Comité national DR. ROBERT GAUTHIER, Directeur de l'enseignement français, Ministère de l'Éducation d'Ontario MONSEIGNEUR JACQUES GARNEAU, Secrétaire général, Université Laval, Québec Chairman, Executive Committee / Président, Comité exécutif MAX SWERDLOW, Director of Education, Canadian Labour Congress / Directeur d'Éducation, Congrès du Travail du Canada Vice-Chairmen, Executive Committee / Vice-présidents, Comité exécutif DR. FRANK STILING, Dean of Arts and Science, University of Western Ontario GEORGE L. ROBERTS, Principal, R. S. McLaughlin Collegiate, Oshawa, Ontario Treasurer / Trésorier: DR. STANLEY DEEKS Director, Industrial Foundation on Education Director / Directeur:

FRED

Executive Secretary / Secrétaire:

w.

PRICE

MISS CAROLINE ROBINS

Co-ordinator, Special Projects / Coordonnateur des Projets spéciaux DR. FRED E. WHITWORTH

NATIONAL COMMITTEE / COMITÉ NATIONAL Dr. R. P. Pennington M. Germain Bélisle Dr. Robert Gauthier Rév. Mère Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola Dr. Philip Ketchum Mrs. Steel Sifton A. V. Pigott F. J. Finlay James Allard Poster Vernon N. R. Speirs Dr. George Flower R. H. Macklem Professor H. W. McCready John D. Arnup F. W. Peers Most Rev. G. Emmett Carter K. R. Swinton Royd Beamish Rev. Dr. W. J. Gallagher Dr. J. W. Neilson Dr. F. K. Stewart David Kirk Miss Una MacLean Dr. Eric Beecroft Mrs. A. McQueen Charles Topshee Douglas Walkington James P. Robertson R. D. Thomas Harry Wolfson Saul Hayes Max Swerdlow Miss Bertha Bassam Miss Nazla Dane Ira G. Needles L. F. S. Ritcey Dr. A. F. Hardyment Dr. Margery King

Miss Pearl Stiver H. J. A. Brown S. G. McCurdy J. C. W. Irwin Mrs. George Davis J. Y. Harcourt M. Fernand Jolicoeur M. Aimé Arvisais M. Ernest Desormeaux M. Pierre Gravelle Arthur B. Haven Dean A. Porter Mrs. R. J. Penney Mgr Pierre Décary Dr. J. R. Kidd Mrs. George E. Tait Rév. Père André Renaud, O.M.I. John Melling Dr. S. H. Deeks M. G. Letendre Mlle Madeleine Joubert M. Markland Smith Dean Frank Stiling Mrs. B. Grossberg Mrs. George Klinck D. H. Brundage Walter McLean Robbins Elliott Dr. R. O. MacFarlane Mrs. M. N. Vuchnich Ernest J. Ingram Dr. J. E. Kania Dr. P. H. T. Thorlakson Rev. Dr. Ross Flemington Michael Donovan Stirling Dorrance J. Lincoln Dewar Rév. Père Alfred Lavallée, C.S.C. Wray Wylie

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE / COMITÉ EXÉCUTIF James Allard Miss Bertha Bassam Dr. Eric Beecroft H. J. A. Brown Mgr Pierre Décary Dr. S. H. Deeks M. Paul Desrochers Mgr Jacques Garneau Dr. Robert Gauthier T. H. Hamill Dr. J. R. Kidd David Kirk Mrs. George Klinck R. H. Macklem

Mrs. D. W. McGibbon T. K. Mcllroy Walter McLean Mrs. A. W. F. McQueen Ira G. N eedles Dr. Z. S. Phimister George Roberts Dean Frank Stiling Max Swerdlow K. R. Swinton Mrs. J. D. Taylor D. Walkington Mrs. Jean Watson

CONFERENCE COMMITTEES / COMITÉS DE LA CONFÉRENCE Studies / Comité des études

Chairman / président: GEORGE L. ROBERTS Dr. J. R. Kidd Mrs. D. W. McGibbon Kim Mcllroy

Co-chairman / coprésident: DR. ROBERT GAUTHIER Ira G. Needles Dr. Freeman K. Stewart Dr. D. C. Williams

Programme

Prof. Fred Bartlett M. Richard Bergeron G. W. Boss Dr. George Flower Dr. Robert Gauthier Dr. Robin Harris David Kirk

Chairman / président: DR. J. R. KIDD Gerald Nason Robert Oliver Frank Peers Mrs. Ryrie Smith Dr. Freeman K. Stewart Dean Frank Stiling Douglas Walkington

Arrangements/ Comité des préparatifs

Chairman / présidente: MRs. D. w. MCGIBBON Mrs. H. E. Ball M. Pierre Benoit George Carter Jack Chivers Mrs. D. Frankel

Co-chairman / coprésident : M. YVES BOURASSA Gordon Goldie Mrs. J. Kyles Mlle Thérèse Thériault Mme Marcel Trahan

Public Relations / Comité des relations extérieures

Chairman / président: KIM McILROY James Allard M. Charles Bruyère W. John Dunlop Ray Frey Gordon Goldie M. Yves Jasmin

Co-chairman / coprésident: G. w. (BILL) BOSS Mlle Eveline LeBlanc Mace Mair M. René Montpetit Gerald Nason Phil Stone Jack Williams

Montreal Public Relations/ Relations extérieures Montréal Chairman / président: M. PAUL Co-chairman / coprésident: JOHN FILTEAU WELSH Mlle Lucie Robitaille John Gossip Roy Laberge Mlle Rolande Normandeau Mlle Simone Daignault Les Morrow M. Léon Roberge Mme Alberte Sénécal

D.

Appendix

409

Jack Busby M. Pierre Benoit F. Wes Thompson M. Jean Marion Dave Keogh Trevor Jones George Furse M. Pierre de Lean K. R. Stanley M. François Zalloni Donald Vince M. Alvarez Vaillancourt

Jack Hughes M. Guy de Merlis M. Paul Dumont-Frenette George Blackburn M. Pierre Chayer M. Fernand Labrosse Herb Hickey M. Jean-Paul Mongeau M. Albert Gervais Mlle Cécile Rouleau Don Rutledge Mlle Louise de Broin Mlle Geneviève Barré

SECRÉTARIAT Director / Directeur FRED W . PRICE

Executive Secretary / Secrétaire MISS CAROLINE ROBINS

Co-ordinator, Special Projects / Coordonnateur des Projets spéciaux DR. FRED E . WHITWORTH MISS YVONNE NYE MME JEANNE MCLEOD

MRS. HEATHER MCNALLY MRS. INA DELANEY

Public Relations / Relations extérieures MISS BEVERLEY HALES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Conference was made possible through generous contributions from its sponsoring organizations and from hundreds of business firms and individuals across Canada; and through grants from : THE FORD FOUNDATION THE CANADA COUNCIL THE ATKINSON FOUNDATION

REMERCIEMENTS La Conférence fut rendue possible grâce aux généreuses contributions de ses membres et de centaines de particuliers et d'entreprises commerciales de toutes les parties du Canada et grâce à des subventions accordées par: LA FONDATION FORD LE CONSEIL DES ARTS DU CANADA LA FONDATION ATKINSON

Donors to the Public Relations effort included / Les personnes et les organismes dont les noms suivent ont accordé leur appui au Comité des relations extérieures

Centre de Psychologie et de Pédagogie, Montréal L'Honorable Cyrille Vaillancourt La Fédération des Caisses Populaires Les Producteurs de Sucre d'Érable de la Province de Québec Quebec Brewers' Association Shawinigan Water and Power Company Syd Matthews and Partners Limited, Toronto International Railway Publishing Company, Montreal Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (Business Communications Division), Montreal Rolland Paper Company, Montreal Brown Brothers Limited, Toronto Gestetner Company of Canada, Ottawa and Montreal Underwood Limited, Toronto and Montreal Molson's Brewery Limited, Montreal Imperia! Tobacco Limited, Montreal The Florists' Council of Canada, Montreal Laura Secord Candy Shops, Montreal

CONFERENCESTUDIES General Editors:

GEORGE L. ROBERTS

and

FRED

w.

PRICE

1. The Aims of Education, edited by Freeman K. Stewart. Contributors:

C. E. Phillips, J.F. Leddy, Northrop Frye, Rév. Marcel de Grandpré. 2. The Professional Status of Teachers, by James M. Paton (in consultation with teachers and other interested citizens throughout Canada). 3. The Development of Student Potential, by Lewis S. Beattie (with Edward F. Sheffield and twenty consultants) . 4. New Developments in Society, edited by John P. Kidd and D. Carlton Williams. Contributors: John A. Irving, Broek Chisholm, Oswald Hall, Léon Lortie, Alan Thomas, Eric Smit, John P. Kidd. 5. Financing Education, by William J. McCordic (in consultation with George E. Flower, Broek Rideout, Floyd G. Robinson, Fred E. Whitworth, Edward F. Sheffield, Charles Bilodeau, and others). 6. Continuing Education, by James Robbins Kidd. 7. Research in Education, edited by Cecil P. Collins. Contributors: George M. Dunlop, John H. M. Andrews, Stanley C. T. Clarke, Herbert T. Coutts, Frank J. Clute, Bert E. Wales. S. The Citizen in Education, by H. J. A. Brown (in consultation with school trustees and other interested citizens throughout Canada). 9. Education and Employment, by Arthur V. Pigott (assisted by Margaret Avison) .

OTHER PUBLICATIONS Education for Canada's Future, edited by Fred W. Price. Educational Programs of National Organizations, edited by Fred W. Price. Innovations in Second Language Teaching in Canada, by Séraphin Marion. Contributors: William H. Agnew, Sadie M. Boyles. The Metric System, by J. T. Henderson. Sorne Arguments for and against Reforming English Spelling, by Christopher Dean. Skills for Tomorrow, by Fred E. Whitworth. Education and the Press.

Published by Dominion Bureau of Statistics especially for the Conference: A Graphie Presentation of Canadian Education.

LES ÉTUDES DE LA CONFÉRENCE Publiées sous la direction de

ROBERT GAUTHIER

et

FRED W. PRICE

1. Les buts de l'éducation, rédigée par Freeman K. Stewart. Collaborateurs : C.E. Philips, J.F. Leddy. Northrop Frye, Rév. Père Marcel de Grandpré. 2. Le statut professionnel des éducateurs, par James M. Paton (en collaboration avec divers professeurs et spécialistes canadiens). 3. La mise en valeur du "potentiel étudiant", par Lewis S. Beattie (avec le concours de Edward F. Sheffield et vingt autres experts). 4. Nouveaux développements dans la société, rédigée par John P. Kidd et D. Carlton Williams. Collaborateurs : John A. Irving, Broek Chisholm, Oswald Hall, Léon Lortie, Alan Thomas, Eric Smit, John P. Kidd. 5. Le financement de l'éducation, par William J. McCordic (en collaboration avec George E. Flower, Broek Rideout, Floyd G. Robinson, Fred E. Whitworth, Edward F. Sheffield, Charles Bilodeau, et plusieurs autres). 6. L'éducation post-scolaire, par James Robbins Kidd. 7. Les recherches en éducation, rédigée par Cecil P. Collins. Collaborateurs: George M. Dunlop, John H. M. Andrews, Stanley C. T. Clarke, Herbert T. Coutts, Frank J. Clute, Bert E. Wales. 8. Le citoyen et l'éducation, par H. J. A. Brown (en collaboration avec des commissaires d'écoles et d'autres personnes intéressées par tout le Canada) . 9. L'éducation et l'emploi, par Arthur V. Pigott (avec le concours de Mlle Margaret Avison).

AUTRES PUBLICATIONS L'éducation pour l'avenir du Canada, rédigée par Fred W. Price. Programmes et réalisations des organismes d'envergure nationale en matière d'éducation, rédigée par Fred W. Price. Innovations dans l'Enseignement de la Langue Seconde au Canada, par Séraphin Marion. Collaborateurs : William H. Agnew et Mlle Sadie M. Boyles. Le Système Métrique, par J. T. Henderson. Sorne Arguments for and against Reforming English Spelling, par Christopher Dean. Vers le Climat Technique de l'Avenir, par Fred E. Whitworth. L'Éducation et la Presse.

Le Bureau fédéral de la Statistique a publié une brochure intitulée Illustration graphique de l'enseignement au Canada.

FILMS Films of particular interest to delegates-all recent releases-were shown through the courtesy of the National Film Board: On montra aux délégués des films récents fournis gratuitement par l'Office national du film : The Teacher Dance Squared Four Teachers University Books for Beaver River Numbers in Co/our Qua/ity of a Nation Living Machine

The Test Nombres en couleur Danse carrée Quatre Instituteurs Elèves-maîtres li faut une bibliothèque Collège contemporain

EXHIBITS / LES ÉTALAGES Associated Programmers of Canada Ltd.

Association des commissaires d'écoles catholiques de langue française du Canada Bell Telephone Company of Canada Boy Scouts of Canada Canadian Association for Adult Education Canadian Association for Retarded Children Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Canadian Council of Churches Canadian Education Association Canadian Library Association Canadian Scholarship Trust Plan Canadian Textbook Publishers' Institute Carleton University Centre de Psychologie et de Pédagogie Chemical Institute of Canada Encyclopaedia Britannica Films Federated Women's Institutes of Canada Goveroment of Canada Department of Labour

Department of Trade and Commerce Dominion Bureau of Statistics Goveroment of Nova Scotia-Department of Education Government of Ontario--Department of Education Harvest House Publishers Industrial Foundation on Education Koncept-O-Graph National Conference of Canadian Universities and Colleges National Film Board of Canada Otto Klein Science Instruction Kits Owen Publishing Company Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal Quebec Home and School Stark Electronics Thompson Products Ltd. Toronto Board of Education United Kingdom Information Service United States Industries United States Information Service University of Toronto Press Webster Electric Inc.

INDEX OF CONTRIBUTORS/ INDEX DES PARTICIPANTS Aitchison, Kenneth M., 102 Arciniegas, His Excellency Dr. German, 139 Ba, bon. lbrahima, 130 Bailey, Cora E., 105 Beattie, Lewis S., 218 Bissell, Claude, 29 Black, D. B., 387 Bonneau, L.-P., 356 Bouchard, Adelin, 250 Byron, Robert E., 323 Clee, David, 367 Coleman, A. J., 357 Collins, Cecil, 389 Conant, T. R., 366 Creighton, Mrs. H. T., 247 Dean, Christopher, 399 Desrochers, Paul, 303 Dockrell, W. B., 213 Duff-Wilson, G. E., 345 Evans, W. H., 241 Ford, C. R., 329 Gauthier, Armand, 391 Gérin-Lajoie, hon. Paul, 23 Gingras, Paul-Émile, 107 Grosselin, Maurice, 368 Gross, Ronald, 380 Hannam, H. H., 91 Hayes, Beatrice, 94 Henderson, J. T., 398 Howell, Max, 351 Joubert, Mlle Madeleine, 284 Katz, Sidney, 377 LeBlanc, Mlle Lorraine, 110 Leddy, J.F., 16~ Lefebvre, Jean-Paul, 243 Légaré, T. R. P. Henri, 41

Léger, Son Éminence le Cardinal PaulÉmile; 19 Lemay-Warren, Mme Jeanne d'Arc, 206 Levy, Rev. Dr. Judson, 22 Lortie, Léon, 354 MacLennan,Hugh, 381 McCordic, William J., 256 McDonald, John A., 113 McKeown, E. N., 376 Marchand, Jean, 319 McCurdy, Sherburne, 372 Mehta, M. S., 119 Moffatt, H. P., 274, 386 Montpetit, bon. juge André, 198 Nason, H. M., 367 Paradis, Mme Alfred, 366, 371 Parenteau, Roland, 267 Peers, Frank, 289 Pelletier, Gérard, 238 Penfield, Wilder, 147 Perry, J. Harvey, 263 Phimister, Z. S., 165 Place, Lindsay H., 99 Plante, Lucien, 348 Price, Fred W., 3 Provost, Roger, 96 Robinson, Floyd, 394 Scarfe, Neville V., 64 Sheffield, Edward F., 225 Shemilt, L. M., 360 Shepherd, H. L., 314 Sheppard, A. A., 363 Southern-Holt, Mary, 346 Swinton, Kurt R., 186 Thomas, Alan, 370 Thorlakson, P. H. T., 301 Whitworth, Fred E., 378 Wisenthal, Miles, 373