So Much to Do, So Little Time

Hilda Neatby became a figure of national controversy in 1953 with the publication of So Little for the Mind, a harsh critique of Canadian primary and secondary school education. In this collection of her published and unpublished articles, speeches, and letters, Michael Hayden presents the woman behind the controversy in the context of her times. He also includes a complete bibliography of her works.

Although deeply concerned with education, Hilda Neatby was equally outspoken on other matters -- religion, history, politics, and the role of women. She was a feminist before it was fashionable to be one, and an historian studying the role of Quebec in Canada. This book reveals, in her own words, the diversity of her interests. It is also about Hilda and the people and events which influenced her. As a member of the Massey Commission, Hilda was instrumental in formation of The Canada Council for the Encouragement of the Arts, Letters, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

Encouraged by her colleague Vincent Massey, Hilda produced So Little for the Mind. Based on four decades as a student and teacher, the book charged that Canadian schools did not provide intellectual training. Although welcomed by many teachers and parents, the book stirred up the educational establishment. Hilda Neatby emerges in this book as an impatient idealist who despaired of finding time to achieve her goals. She learned that Canadian society was not ready for an uncompromising, intellectual woman reformer and, as a result, she had to concentrate more often on preservation and holding firm rather than reform. And Not to Yield, the title of her last book, is a fitting epithet to a woman who represents an important part of Canada's recent past and whose ideas still deserve to be heard.