ATTITUDES OF PARENTS TOWARD THE DEVELOPMENT OF F'LTBLIC SCHOOLING IN VICTORIA. B.C. DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD by ELSIE INA WATTS B.R.E.. Northwest Baptist Theological College. 1979 A THESIS SUBMITTID IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History @ Elsie Ina Watts 1986 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITP August 1986 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part. by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name : Elsie Ina Watts Degree: M. A. Title of thesis: Attitudes of Parents Toward the Development of Public Schooling in Victoria, B. C., During the Colonial Period. Examining Committee: Allen Seager, Chairman ~obyi/FsWSyiorSupervisor e,PSupervisory Committee L Veronica Strong-BoaI* ~u-sor~ -tee ~onaldWilson, ~xteKalExaminer, fessor, Social & Educational Studies Dept., University of British Columbia PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE 1 hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be a1 lowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/Project/Extended Essay Attitudes of Parents Toward the Development of Public Schooling in Victoria, B. C., During the Colonial Period. Author: (signature) Elsie Ina Watts ( name August 11, 1986 (date) iii ABSTRACT A revolution in education occurred in western society in the nineteenth century. State-controlled free non-sectarian school systems took over the schooling of most children. Much has been written about the roles of governments, educational bureaucracies and educators in this phenomenon but little has been said about that of parents. Because parents in western society have traditionally had the ultimate responsibility for the development of their children, their attitudes toward the rise of state schooling is a necessary question in educational history; This thesis explores the attitudes of parents to the growth of public schooling on colonial Vancouver Island. It shows that parents considered the school which their children would attend to be their choice. If they could, they put their children in private schools. If a private school which supported their values and ambitions was not available or economically feasible, they put their children in non-sectarian public schools. Since the low population in the rural areas surrounding Victoria made a proliferation of specialized private schools impractical, public schools were more strongly supported by rural parents than by city parents. The first chapter introduces the question of parental attitudes toward schooling and its importance in educational history. The second, third and fourth chapters show what kinds of schools parents supported. Rather than separating the schools for analysis into categories such as upper and lower-class, sectarian and non-sectarian, rural and urban, or public and private, I have chosen to show the schools in chronological development so they can be seen in the context of the overall development of the Victoria area. The status of each school has, however, been identified as closely as possible. Chapter five summarizes the conclusions drawn from the evidence and analyzes why parents may have preferred one type of schooling over another. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT To Jack. Julie and Michelle Watts. and Rena Vlag, for their faith and support; to Simon Fraser University for allowing me to fulfil a dream; to the public and private archivists for being so patient and helpful; to Mary Vorvis for her enthusiasm and "second-to-none" typing skills. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES . ix LISTOFMAPS......................... x CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION . 1 State of the Question . 1 Limits and Definitions . 15 NOTES............................ 17 Father Lempfritls (22)--Rev. and Mrs. Staines's (23)--Victoria District (29)--Craigflower (30)--Away to England (32)--Capt. Langford's (32)--Appointment of Cridge (33)--Victoria District (33)--Craigflower (34)--Mrs. Cridge's (36)--Bishop Demers's (36)--St. Ann's (38)--Madame Petibeau's (40)--Victoria District (41)--Dr. Silversmith's (42) Attitudes of Parents . Craigf lower (45 )--Victoria District (45 )--Upper Class (45 ) --Lower Class (46)--Nonrhites (47 ) NOTES............................ CHAPTER 111. 1859-1865 . Sectarian Schools . Rev. Garrett's (58)--Boys1 Collegiate (59)--Mallandainels (61) -Girls1 Collegiate (63)--Anglican Indian School (65)--John Hall (65)--St. Ann's (69)--St. Louis College (74)--Presbyterian (76) Private Schools . 7 6 Mrs. Wilson Brown's (76)--Miss Faussette's (77)--Mrs. Hayward's (77)--Mrs. Denny's (78)--Rev. Clarke's (78)--Mrs. Atwood's (78) -Mr. Templeton's (79)--Mr. Thompson's (79)--Miss Alsop's (80) -Miss Fernetell's (80)--~iss Lester's (80)--Mr. ~essop's (80) vii PublicSchools ........................... Victoria District (83)--Craigflower (84)--Cedar Hill (87) --Esquimalt (87)--South Saanich (89)--Common School System Established (90) Attitudes of Parents .................... Rural (95)--City (95)--Non-whites (96) CHAPTER IV. 1865-1871 ..................... PublicSchools ....................... Vancouver Island Board of Education (107)-Victoria Central (110)--Victoria District (112)--Craigflower (112)--Cedar Hill (113)--Esquimalt (113)--South Saanich (114)--Lake District (115)--Common School System Under Fire (116)-Craigflower (121) -Cedar Hill (122)--Esquimait (123 )--South Saanich (124) --Lake District (125)--Victoria District (125)--Central (126) Sectarian Schools ...................... St. Ann's (132)--St. Locis College (134)--Girls8 Collegiate (135)-Boys' Collegiate (136)-Anglican Indian Schools (140)--Methodist Chinese and Indian Schools (141) Private Schools ....................... Madame Petibeau's (141)--Mrs. Wilson Brown's (142)--~iss Faussette's (142)--Mrs. Hayward's (142)--Mrs. ~ellows's (142) --Mr. Vieusseux's (143)--Miss Cridge's (143)-Miss Barry's (143)-Mr. Bell's (143)--Miss Mills's (143)--Mr. LeLievre's (143)--Mrs. Atwood's (143)--Mrs. Tod's (143)-Miss Yardley's (144)-Mr. Meachen' s (144) Attitudes of Parents .................... Vancouver Island Board of Education (144)-Rural (146)--City (146)--Nonrhites (147) NOTES viii CHAPTERV . CONCLUSIONS .................... 164 Parental Preferences .................... 164 Parental Interest ...................... 180 Parental Use of Influence .................. 181 NOTES ............................ 187 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................... 189 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 . Members of the Board of Education . Vancouver Island . From1865to1869 .................. 108 2 . Length of Operation of Schools . 1849 to 1871 ...... 166 3 . Number of Students ................... 169 4 . Curriculum ....................... 171 5 . Day Fees Per Month ................... 176 LIST OF MAPS Map Page 1. Greater Victoria with Public School Districts, 1865. 19860........................ 14 2. City of Victoria, Vancouver Island, School Locations . 174 CHAF'TER I INTRODUCTION The expansion of schooling that took place in the Western woz beginning in the eighteenth century was a fundamental social change. At the beginning of the century, schooling was conducted as it had been for centuries in such institutions as parents or religious bodies could afford. Many children never received formal schooling, acquiring the knowledge they needed to support themselves from older members of their communities as well as from their peers. By contrast, at the turn of the twentieth century, most Western nations had either established or were developing school systems in which their children were required to spend their formative years. There is a lively debate in educational history today about the reasons for the maturation of the trend toward public schooling in the nineteenth century. Early to mid-twentieth century writers of educational histories are now labelled 'Whig historiansn because they viewed the organization of common schooling under government control as part of the necessary adjustment of Western societies to revolutions in industry, religion and government. ' They believed public schooling ensured that the energies of the young were channelled to the benefit of society. The young benefitted because they received equal opportunity to better themselves.2 later educational historians are called moderate revisionists partly because they believe that public schooling is a necessary and beneficial feature of modem society but agree that it requires reforms before it will serve all its clients equally.3 The radical revisionists of the 1970s doubted the necessity of bureaucratized ed~cation.~They claimed that the upper classes imposed universal standardized public schooling on the lower classes to give them the skills they needed for the changing character of lower-class positions while making them believe they had equal 5 opportunity. Radical revisionism with its emphasis on the use of a neo-Marxist model of interpretation has fallen into mild disrepute in educational history but the questions that it raised are being taken seriously by all historians. What were the purposes