Universities were created to train priests and ministers.
One of the key elements in the Enlightenment was the switch of the University of Glasgow from the liberal arts to the sciences.
Community Colleges are the modern version of the Andersonian Institute which became the model for the Mechanics Institutes.
They were geared to teach workers, men and women, things that those workers found interesting and helpful in progressing their careers.
Founded in 1796 the Anderson’s Institute was the first technical college to provide scientific instruction with particular reference to the practical application of scientific ideas. The institution was the first in the world to provide systematic evening classes in science and its application and the first to admit women unreservedly on the same terms as men. Its influence was wide spread e.g. in 1799 Count Rumford founded the Royal Institution in London based on similar lines to the Anderson’s Institution.
technicaleducationmatters.org
Mechanics' Institutes Established first in England during the 1820s, Mechanics' Institutes began as voluntary associations of working men seeking self-improveme...
www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
One thing was not like the other.
One taught children what to think and how to teach.
The other taught adults the things they found useful.
As for Readin', 'Ritin' and 'Rithmetic - generations were made competent in those by Grade 6.
And History and Geography were considered core subjects along with Science.
But all of that was done in classes taught in their native tongue: Cockney, Brummie, Scouse, Geordie, Glaswegian, Aberdonian....
The bit that the school system isn't managing well is leveling up immigrants and ensuring that, no matter what age they enter the country, they have the opportunity to communicate with the locals.
My own racial bias is based on my ears and not my eyes. I freely admit that I feel warmer towards someone who speaks in a tongue I understand, regardless of their skin colour, than I do towards someone I struggle to communicate with. I relate better to a black Geordie, or even a West Indian, than I do a white Hungarian.
For me, getting a new Canadian to be able to be understood by, and just as importantly, understand, Canadians is a key element that needs improvement. And part of that understanding of Canadians has to be a degree of what some might call indoctrination - enough history and geography to let the immigrants understand how Canada and its institutions got to the current state.
But while the immigrant population is large and presents a real problem to the teachers of Canada
This Census in Brief article focuses on children with an immigrant background, that is, children aged 0 to 14 years old who were born abroad or who have at least one foreign-born parent. Children with an immigrant background are examined country of ancestry (country of birth of the foreign-born...
www12.statcan.gc.ca
The vast majority of school children are not immigrants. They were born in Canada and speak one of Canada's official languages colloquially.
The failure of the system to teach those children their 3Rs is the real failure for which The System needs to be held accountable.
