The School Promoters: Egerton Ryerson and His Circle, Second Edition

Alison Prentice

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The School Promoters

Egerton Ryerson and His Circle, Second Edition

Alison Prentice
Preface by: Bruce Curtis , Bruce Curtis , Jennifer Henderson and Mythili Rajiva

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2025

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About this book

Alison Prentice's 1977 groundbreaking monograph The School Promoters is a revisionist account of public education’s emergence. This latest edition includes a foreword and appendices by editors Bruce Curtis, Jennifer Henderson, and Mythili Rajiva, offering updated analysis and primary documents that deepen the understanding of Egerton Ryerson’s role in shaping Ontario’s educational system.

Using a wide range of archival and published sources, The School Promoters provides a lucid account of the preoccupations of the White, mostly middle-class reformers connected to Ryerson, who were responsible for the advent of public education in Ontario as part of their concern with the future of Canadian society. This edition situates Prentice’s analysis of class domination within the context of settler-colonialism, exploring how education worked as a project for genocide as well as a means of social discipline. In particular, the editors expose how the proclaimed universality of public education was contradicted by the reformers’ logic for targeting paupers and Indigenous peoples with religious schooling.

A reparative reading of Prentice's influential work, The School Promoters: Egerton Ryerson and His Circle, Second Edition highlights the relevance of this groundbreaking social history to contemporary analysis of Canada.

Author / Editor information

Contributor: Alison Prentice Alison Prentice was a Canadian historian, a member of the Order of Canada and the founding head of OISE’s Centre for Women’s Studies in Education. --- Contributor: Bruce Curtis Bruce Curtis is a professor emeritus in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University. --- Contributor: Jennifer Henderson Jennifer Henderson is a professor in the Department of English and the School of Canadian Studies at Carleton University. --- Contributor: Mythili Rajiva Mythili Rajiva is an associate professor of feminist and gender studies at the University of Ottawa.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Foreword Bruce Curtis, Jennifer Henderson and Mythili Rajiva Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Te Canadian Social History Series Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	7
Note on Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	9
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	12
Introduction : Te Public School Movement in Upper Canada and Ontario Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	13
1 Human and Child Nature : The Search for Perfection Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	25
2 Upper Canada at Mid-Century : The Necessity of Progress Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	45
3 Education and the Creation of a Respectable Class Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	66
4 Occupations in Transition : The Danger of Downward Mobility Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	88
5 The Integration and Invigoration of the Labouring Classes and the Poor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	119
6 Class and the Schools Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	138
7 Nature, Order and National Education: The Government as Parent Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	170
Appendix A: Report of Dr. Ryerson on Industrial Schools, 1847 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	187
Appendix B: General Recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Afairs of Indians in Canada (Extract), 1847 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	197
Appendix C: Draft of Bill Relating to Vagrant and Neglected Children in Cities and Towns, 1862 and Memorandum on the Draft of Bill for the Further Promotion of Education in the Cities and Towns of Upper Canada, in Regard to Vagrant and Neglected Children Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	207
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	219
THE CANADIAN SOCIAL HISTORY SERIES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	227

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

August 29, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9781487570262

Edition:

2nd edition

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

224

https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487570262

eBook ISBN: 9781487570262

Audience(s) for this book

For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research

The School Promoters

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

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