Historical Foundations: "Education is Not Simply About Schools"

 

In Curtis’ (1997) article about “The State of Tutelage in Lower Canada…”, the author’s main argument is that liberal reforms in Lower Canada during the period 1835 – 1851 provide an excellent example of how “education is not simply about schools” (p. 43).  In fact the author considers liberal democracies to be “tutelar states”, involving “the placement of a population in a state of tutelage”(p.26). Tutelage is defined as including “instruction” as well as “systems of institutions” and “condition” (p. 26), which seems to refer to a kind of well-organized system of teaching with the goal of passing on certain knowledge, skills or cultural practices.  In the case of Lower Canada, the implementation of liberal democracy was paired with “colonial domination”. (p.26)		Figure 1: Bataille de Saint-Eustache, 14 décembre 1837   (Beauclerk, 1840) Figure 2: The Canadian Revolution Explained (History Matters, 2019) which may be useful to understand the context of this time.
Figure 3: The Rebellion of Lower Canada (Goodwin Education in, 2023) is another video which helps put this time period into context.		Curtis (1997) documents the colonial reforms of the period 1835-1851, which were likely considered by the English liberal elite to be innovations.   The article chronicles the forcible movement from the pre-existing French Canadienne seigneurial system, with inherently localized political structures, systems of education and strong connection to the Catholic Church, towards an English controlled, capitalist, liberal democracy.  The article documents the implementation of forced local school taxation and colonialist regulated public schools, along with the on-going rebellion against these reforms in this period.
This article encourages a broad definition of teaching and learning, beyond the domain of public schooling, showing how in this time teaching and learning was considered to take place throughout social and political life, and that public schools were developed as a way to promote new political beliefs and power dynamics in the emerging nation of Canada.    This helps us understand the political implications of our definitions of teaching and learning, as well as the concepts of creativity and innovation.		Figure 4: The Painful Legacy of an Ontario Residential School (CBC, 2021) [The Mohawk Institute, established 1831] Reading this article I am struck by the parallels between the forcible tutelage as described in Curtis' article, and the Indian Residential School system which started in the same time period, when the Mohawk Institute opened in 1831.  While this institution was located in what is now Ontario/Upper Canada, children from Haudenosaunee territory in what is now Quebec were also sent here.
Figure 5: Iroquois [Haudenosaunee] Confederacy: Beginnings of Democracy. (PBS, 2021). This is a video about the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, of which First Nations living in lower Canada were part.  It is interesting to note that the Haudenosaunee developed the first democracy we are aware of in what is now known as North America.  The video also highlights some important ideas such as wampum, and the three sisters, which are important aspects of Haudenosaunee epistemology and pedagogy.		Questions for reflection relating to this article include: how can the French-Canadian resistance to these changes be understood in the context of innovation and creativity, and how can the English reforms?   Knowing that public education is so closely linked with colonialism and capitalistic thinking, it is possible to decolonize public education?   Can the form of democracy forced onto French Canadians through colonial regulation, taxation, violence, and tutelage be considered true democracy?   As we begin to recognize and appreciate more personal and individualized learning, rather than just tutelage, are there risks to the stability of our social structure, and if so, is that a problem or a potential for positive innovation and a stronger democracy?;What were the Indigenous traditions of teaching and learning in this time period?; and how can this time period provide perspective on the Indian residential schools which also began during this era (although interestingly, it seems that the first residential schools in Quebec were not created until the 1930s, while in Lower Canada they began with the Mohawk Institute in 1831.(Speaker, 2021).)

References

Beauclerk, C. (1840, image uploaded in 2014) Bataille de Saint-Eustache, 14 décembre 1837.

[image] Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Canada_Rebellion#/media/File:Saint-Eustache-

Patriotes.jpg

CBC (2021, June 27) The Painful Legacy of an Ontario Residential School. The National.

Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvVU9iFPj1s

Curtis, B. (1997). The state of tutelage in Lower Canada, 1835– 1851. History of Education

Quarterly, 37(1), 25-43. doi: 10.2307/369903

Goodwin Education. (2023, Jan. 3)The Rebellion of Lower Canada. Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmK6ZC3seNs

History Matters (2019, Dec. 6) The Canadian Revolution Explained. Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK-NtT17qGo

PBS (2021, Jan. 11) The Iroquois Confederacy – Beginnings of Democracy. Quincy’s Class

Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFqS0rii1Vs

Speaker, K.E. (2021) The history of Canada’s residential school system. Galt Museum.

[website]. https://www.galtmuseum.com/articles/history-of-canadas-residential-school-system#:~:text=Residential%20schools%20began%20to%20open,Brantford%2C%20Ontario%2C%20in%201831.