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'mportant as bringing together the commercial products of the nations of
‘he world and exhibiting them. From all of this we can learn that in
>ducating the people of all nationalities we are bringing about that happy
ime when our swords shall be beaten into plowshares.
We have in the province which I have the honor to represent about nine
‘housand teachers, and about half a million school children in a population
say twice the size of the city of Chicago. We are not ambitious to excel
this great city in point of population, but we are anxious to excel it, if
possible, in educational matters. The first feature of our system is that
we are educationally a unit, from the kindergarten to the university.
The Department of Education determines what shall be the course in the
kindergarten, what shall be the course of study in the elementary schools,
and what shall be the course in the public high-schools, and, practically,
what shall be the course in the provincial university. The child who
ripens in the kindergarten goes to the elementary school, and from that
there is a uniform examination held all over the province to determine
when that child is fit to enter the high-school, without which examination
he cannot enter it. There the department determines when he is fit to
enter the university, and, except in a limited degree, without that
authority he is not admitted into the university. We believe that this
system is a saving of time, money, and educational force.
We separated, a few years ago, the professional from the non-profes-
sional training-school for teachers. Formerly our normal schools did both.
Latterly the training of our teachers has been relegated to our high-
schools with very satisfactory results. We believe that has added to the
sfficiency of the high-schools, to their usefulness, to their importance. We
selieve that the liberal training of the teachers has not suffered in the
least because that work has been relegated to the high-schools, because all
our high principals are graduates of a university. We hold in check their
training, and having that in hand we are not afraid to trust the non-pro-
fessional training of our teachers. Besides, the professional training of
our teachers begins with the kindergarten; that is a two years’ course.
No teacher can teach in a kindergarten without that training ; therefore
the kindergarten system stands side by side with the public schools and
the university. (Applause.)
In our elementary schools we have two courses of training. Firstly,
we have in the Province fifty-eight of what we call model schools, where
seachers for four months receive instruction in methods. From there the
teacher is sent on probation for a period of three years, under the control
and observation of our inspectors, who are supposed to assist the young
seacher in perfecting himself for the important duties of his profession.
When such teachers have taught one year, if the work is approved by the
inspector, the teacher is admitted to the provincial normal school, where
he receives additional instruction, such as is given in your own normal