Ryerson Memorial Volume / Prepared on the occasion of the unveiling of the Ryerson statute in the grounds of the Education department on the Queen's birthday, 1889

by J. George Hodgins

State of Education in Upper Canada, 1795-1799.

As to the actual state of education in Upper Canada at this time, we get a brief glimpse from the travels of the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, who visited Kingston in July, 1795. He says:—

"In this district there are some schools, but they are few in number. The children are instructed in reading and writing, and pay each a dollar a month. One of the masters taught Latin, but he has left, without being succeeded by another instructor in the same language."

As to the character of the private schools thus established, and the facilities of education which they afforded, we learn incidentally from letters and early books of travel, what they were. In a "Tour through Upper Canada, by a Citizen of the United States," published in 1799, we learn that the policy of the government of that day, was to exclude "schoolmasters from the States, lest they should instil Republicanism into the tender minds of the youth of the province."