By Dan Bourgeois
The last Now and Then column looked at the very early days of education in our area and Ontario generally.
During the mid 1800s the structure of schooling in Cavan township began to be established. The school year of two sessions was established; from April to September and October to March. Often attendance varied as children were needed to work the farm during the summer session. In 1850 at the Fallis Line school,27 students attended the summer session and 50 the winter session.
In 1842 the township was divided into 19 School Sections, with a school to be built for each Section. The school officially was named after its Section, and as wood frame or brick schoolhouses replaced the log cabins, a plaque or stone tablet bearing its number was placed above the entrance. Most schools had a name better known to locals. Cavan S.S. No. 2 was in the village of Mount Pleasant, thus the Mount Pleasant School. The brick S.S. No. 2 was built in 1879 on the Mount Pleasant Road heading towards Peterborough. It is now a private home. Cavan S.S. No. 8 on the corner of the Larmer Line and Middle Road (County Road 10) was called the Whitfield School, after its first teacher. Mr. Thomas Whitfield taught from 1841 to 1863 and had the reputation as a strict disciplinarian. His students were known for their beautiful handwriting (though their keyboard skills were lacking). In 1863, a brick school house was built on this site and a well was dug. This is now the Lion’s Den.
As the log cabin schools were replaced, other improvements were made. Benches against the walls were replaced by desks. Blackboards (the 19thcentury version of today’s class-room smartboards) were installed and the slate boards students used to practice handwriting gradually gave way to pencil or pen and paper. The emphasis remained on reading, writing and arithmetic, the 3Rs, with lots of memorization involved. Many schools had more than 30 students from grades one through eight, with a single teacher. In some cases, one or a few older students would be assigned to help the younger ones with their lessons.
In 1871, the School Act made elementary education compulsory and free for children to age 12. The compulsory age of elementary education was increased to 14 in 1891. Despite the compulsory nature of attending school, in many rural areas family and work responsibilities would interfere with attendance.
Most rural schools in our area continued to be heated by wood stove, with no indoor plumbing. A posh exception was Cavan S.S. No. 1 (Cedar Grove, on Hayes Line in the northwest corner of the township). The brick school built in 1916 had a full basement with a furnace room and separate bathrooms for boys and girls.
The quality of educators gradually improved. In 1847, the first Normal School opened in Toronto to provide standardized training (the norm) for teachers. Applicants had to be “at least 16 years old, present a certificate of good moral character from a clergyman, and provide evidence of skill in reading, writing and arithmetic”. Graduates of the Normal Schools were fairly well prepared for their teaching duties. Unfortunately, not all prospective teachers could afford the travel and lodging costs while attending a far-off Normal School, a particular problem for those living in distant rural communities. An apprenticeship program was set up in more remote areas so training could be obtained more locally. Apparently, the quality of these teachers was variable, to put it charitably.
In 1906, the Peterborough Normal School opened on Benson Avenue in the north end (now the Teacher’s College neighbourhood), and it became much easier for local folks to obtain teacher training. Because of this, the teachers in our area were usually better trained than in the more remote areas of the province. The building is now a heritage structure, housing apartments.
Gradually, standardized textbooks were introduced. In 1860, the first school library in the township was set up at Cavan S.S. No. 3 Fairmount, on the corner of the Stewart Line and Howden Quarter Line. Minutes of a trustee meeting notes that “$20 was forwarded to Toronto to the Chief Superintendent of Schools …. who forwarded to the school a select Library, consisting of over 70 volumes”.
Despite the fact that the education of children was considered of some value to most people, the role of a one room schoolhouse teacher was onerous. There was no sick leave or pensions, time off was rare, and job security was nonexistent. Their employment depended on the whims of often parsimonious local trustees, some living under the scrutiny of communities eager to judge their every action(especially if they were “from away”). Salaries were meager, though men made 1 ½-2 times that of women. Records from the Fallis Line School (S.S. No. 10)indicate that in 1897 Miss Mamie Cochrane was hired for $235($9,500 today), in 1925 Miss Margaret Whitfield’s salary was $1,000 ($18,000 today) and in 1946 Miss Velma Staples earned $1,250 ($22,000 today).
For this meager level of pay, the teacher was expected to prepare and teach lessons for all 8 grades and maintain discipline, often by means that would be much frowned upon these days. They had to keep the school and outhouse clean, haul wood for the stove and draw water from the well, if there was one. Some kept gardens to provide food for themselves and the students.
The role of a teacher could also be very fulfilling and many spent their entire careers in these one room schoolhouses educating generations of children and becoming beloved members of the community.
I’ve run out of space, so stay tuned for the next installment.