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ADDRESS
AT TUK
#^^nnig ofj Ihe ^etr lligli ^chool,
MAir :Slsi, 1878.
ADDRESS
AT THE OPKXINO OK THK
On, MA r 2M, 1878,
BY THK
KEV. eJOHN JENKINS, D.D.
CHAIRMAN OF THK PROTKSTAVT BOARD OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONRR3.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the name of the Protestant Board of School Commissioners,
I thank you for 3'our presence here (o-day, and extend to every
one of you a cordial welcome to our new High School buildings.
That you have consented to appear at this public ceremonial, we
accept as an evidence of your interest in that educational work
which, on behalf of their Protestant fellow-citizens, the Board
has been prosecuting during thirty years. I say " thirty years,"
because this is the period of the Board's existence. But it must
be remembered that very little was attempted in the line of
adequate educational provision for the city, until the year 1868 ;
indeed, in a not unimportant sense, our sj'stem is but five years
old ; for it was as lately as 1873, that a nearly commensurate
pecuniary provision for schools was made by the Legislature. I
shall have little difficulty in convincing you, that only by the most
strenuous endeavours, have the Commissioners succeeded in mak-
ing, during this brief space, an almost adequate provision for the
educational needs of their Protestant fellow-citizens. We have
gathered into our schools twelve per cent, of the whole Protestant
population of the city. Even in Boston, whoso school system has
for many years commanded the admiration of the world, at least
of the civilized world, only thirteen and half per cent, of its popu-
lation are in schools. So, you see, Montreal is already following
close on the heels of this far-famed New-England city. It is
scarcely needful to explain that this rapid extension of school
facilities has involved a very large outlay in the erection of school
houses. Now, I am not vain enough to sujjpose that the policy of
the Board commands the universal approval of the Protestants of
Montreal, On so wide a question, a question, moreover, so diffi-
cult of solution as that of State or iiublic education, the Board
could not have expected unanimous agreement as to its policy.
There are so many points of view from which the subject is
regarded; that one ought not, perhaps, to wonder at the variety of
opinions and objections which have been propounded respecting
this policy. Some, very naturally, look at the question from the
tax-paying point of view ; others, from the broader, patriotic point
of view; others, again, from a professional or educational point
of view. While slow to disregard the views which have reached
them now and again from influential citizens and from the press,
these views have been so divergent, so irreconcilable indeed, that
the Commissioners have all along felt that nothing was left to
them but to carry out their oAvn convictions of what would satisfy
the mass of their fellow-citizens, and would be, on the whole, best
in the educational interests of the citv. ^Ye advance no claim to
infallibility; so far from this, we readily allow that we have made
mistakes. Yet, I have good reason for thinking that the results
already secured are such as largely to commend the policy of
the Board to the Protestants of Montreal. I venture, morever, to
predict that the fruit Avhich shall be hereafter gathered, will com-
mand for this policy a yet warmer and wider, if not indeed a
universal, civic approval. This, too, I will assume, that whatever
differences of opinion may exist as to their policy, there are few
of our taxpayers who would not be ready to accord to the Com-
missioners the credit of having worked earnestly and honestly in
the public interest. That we have worked self-denyingly, too, L
take this opportunity of stating, just for the purpose of dispelling
an illusion that still lingers in the minds of people, and haunts
them almost to distraction, viz., that the Commissioners are paid
for their work ! A member of the Board was gravely asked by a
friend the other day, what salary he got foi* being on the School
Board ! Let it be known in Montreal, once and forever, that no
CommisHioner receives a dollar of pay for his work. I was speak-
ii;g of existing differences of opinion respecting the policy of the
Board ; i might have added that these differences have occawionally
found expression in sharp criticism, not to use a stronger phrase.
We have tried, not without success, to hear these things with
equanimity. This 1 chiim on the Board's behalf, tliat so far- from
concealing our policy from the public, we have all along announced
it in the frankest and fullest way. The Department of Public
Instruction, the City Council, and the citizens generally, have
known beforehand, or might have known, all that the Board pro-
posed to do and have since done, in the prosecution t)f its work.
The extension of the common school system to the point of suffi-
ciency, its connection with the High School and University, and
latterly with the higher education for girls — this whole scheme
was submitted to the City Council and to leading Protestant
citizens in a document which the Commissioners issued ii» 1872,
entitled "A pleafor the augmentation of the School Tax in theCity
of Montreal." This plea was made the ground of that approach
to the Legislature which led to the levy of the present rate. The
City Council was a party to that augmentation against which some
of its members are now crying out. Influential citizens of Mon-
treal approached the Legislature by petition, craving augmenta-
tion in the interests of the city, on the ground set forth in the
Commissioners' Plea. Now, what extension of their work did the
Commissioners propose in their " Plea ?" Amongst other iieedg
propounded in it are these : A new School House in Shei-brooke
Street Kast; another at Point St. Charles; and a High School for
girls. The Lcgislatui-e having granted the increase thus contem-
plated and sought for, the Commissioners felt themselves pledged
to both the Provincial Legislature and to the City Council, no less
than to their Protestant fellow-citizens generally, to act upon this
2)roposed extension of their policy : and act upon it they did ;
believing, that having made, in advance, so frank an announce-
ment, and havijig been, at the time, so largely encouraged, by both
official and public opinion, to persist in their policy, they would
thereafter be sustained by the sutlrages of every iTitelligent Pro-
testant in the community. 1 ask those of our friends who clamour
for a diminution of the school tax to consider what this narrower
policy would involve. Certainly it would lead to the closing of one
6
half of our Common Schools, aud the withdrawal, Ihoroforo, oftho
means of oducation from two thousand children of tax-paying'
citizens, now under trainiiiii^, nioi'o or Icsh efficient, in these schools.
As certainly would valuable properties which the city is pledi»cd
to pay for, which indeed the city cannot escape ])ayint>; for, he loft
useless — yea, rathei', a source of i-esultless expense. More than
this, it would have the effect of disgracin<jf our city in the eyon of
our whole Dominion, aye and far n)ore widely, as the one Cana-
dian city, the Protestant inhahilauts of whicl' 'lad ])ut their hand,
with seeming firmness, to tlie educational ])lough, and were now
'' looking hack ;" a city content to hear the stigma of ignoi-ance and
selfishness ; an ignorance so great as to dejjreciate the value to a
community of general education ; and a selfishness so narrow, as
to place its futui'c sons and daughters in a l(»wer raidc as to know-
lodge, and therefore as to civilization, than that which will be held
by the people of eveiy other considerable city in the length and
breadth of Canada. Hcttcii" i'nr never to have expended a dollar on
public schools in Montreal, than at this ])eri()d, to withdi'aw, even
in part only, those pi'ivileges which the children of our I'l-ottistant
people have possessed and have profited by, undei- that cnlai'gtMl
system which the Board has inaugurated. I cannot believe, how-
ever, though 1 thus s])eak, that the Protestant citizens of Monti'cal
will be content to allow that im])airment of the efficiency and
adequacy of our school sy.stem, which the pi'Ojwsed reduction of
the school tax could not fail to effect. A chief objection which
has been i-aised against the policy of the Board, so far that is as I
have been able to learn, relates to the establishment of our High
(Schools. The ground of this objection J fail to see. It cannot be
that of the cost to the city of these High Schools ; for the gi'cat
proportion of the money expended in sustaining them, is furnished
by the fees of the pupils, which amounted last yeai* to nearly
twenty-three thousand dollars. This amount came from the })Ockot8
of the parents of the pupils, over and above the sums which they
paid into the civic treasury in the shape of school tax. What
think you, was the cost of these High Schools to the city? The
gross charge upon the school tax last year, was $2,215 — an
average of $3. G8 for each pupil. The average cost per pupil in the
High School was S4.8l>; the average cost in the High School for
Girls was 07c. If thcHo schools were closed, the cost to the city
of educutiny the Ili^h School boys and ^nrls in the Common
Scho(>ls would 1)0 «ijreatoi' by $4,270 than the outlay incurred
under the present system. In the United States, the ili^U Schools
are free, and a source of <;reat ex])ense to the cities in which they
are established. In the High Schools of Boston each i)ii})il costs
the city 830 a year. The city of New York maintains a free
college, in which each jnipil costs the municipal government 816(5
a year. New York has also its Normal School, in which the cost
of tuition alone is 858 i)er pupil. The same city provides for its
population an educational luxury in the form of a Nautical School,
the outlay for each pupil being $218 a year. In Montreal, on
the contrary, the charge on the school tax for High School main-
tenance is, as we have seen, so insigniticant as to be simpl}'
nominal. I take this op])ortunity of reminding you of the ground
which the Commissioners took on this question in their last
Report, a ground to which they still adhere, viz., that every Pro-
testant child in the city has a claim, equitable and even legal, to
an expenditure on his education of an equal share of the whole
amount provided by taxation for the maintenance of public schools.
Schools ought to be ]>rovido<] in which the foes (and fees mu.st be
charged in every school, according to a wise provision of the
Legislature,) should bo so modei-ate at. *hat none bo excluded
through ])overly. On thi other hand, those tax-])ayers who
desire for their children an education higlier, and more costly
therefore, than that which is given in the common schools, should
have access to it in schools of a diiierent chai-acter ; but that for
such an education, higher fees should be charged. To set aside
the High School department of the Montreal school system would
be to deprive those citizens who pay the highest school tax of
oven those small pecuniary advantages which they enjoy under
the present regime of the Board. Again, to abrogate the High
School department of the Montreal school system, would bo to
deprive parents in humble circumstances of the privilege of
giving those of their children who may happen to be of marked
natural ability, that higher education to which their talents seem
at least to entitle them. Under our present scheme we have pro-
moteti from the common schools to the High Schools fifty-two
pupils, most of whom havodiHtiiiguiHhed IhomHclvoH in tlicir higlioi-
HtudioH. HoyH in the common Hchools who ^ivo evidence of dili-
gence and jibility are not only admiltod free into the iriii;h School,
but by rt gonerouH arningcment on the part of the governors of
McCfill ('ollcge, have also secured to them a free education in the
University. The other day one of our lioyal-Arthur bt)y8 took
his Bachelor's degree at MeCTill, carrying oil' the liogan gold
medal. At the same Convo(!ation one oi'our British and Canadian
School boys, still an under-graduate, won nearly all the prizes
and honours of his year. At the present moment we have in the
High Schools 20 free pupils, 1 1 boj^s and 1) girls, who have been
transferred from our common scdiools on the ground of in<lustry
and proficiency in their elementary studies. Thirty-three new
promotions are to be immediately made. The policy which
a few influential citizens among us ujiaccountably attack, is that
by which these talented young people, and the city with thorn,
are immeasurably benetittcd.
In the estimate which I have given of the cost to the city of
High School j)upils, I have not included the interest on the Out-
lay in the ei'cction of buildings. Such a method of calculation
would not enable us to make a comparison of the cost of our own
schools with that of other cities, whethei- in Canada or in the
United States; indeed, there is no school system with which J
am acquainted the estimates of the cost of which are based upon
such an Jiddition. I have followed simply the custom whicli pre-
vails in regard to other departments of the pul)lic service. In
submitting the army estimates, no Minister of State adds to his
annual statement the interest on the outlay expended for the
erectioji of barracks. No Postmaster-General, in fMrnishing a
statement of the cost to the country of the postal service, adds
the annual interest on the amount laid out. in the erection of post
offices. We have built substantial school houses, the indebtedness
on which we are, year by year, clearing off by a sinking fund,
beside paying interest on the capital. These buildings, at no
distant period, will become the absolute property of the city, the
value of which, at a moderate estimate, including the land on
which they are erected, reaches the considerable sum of $350,000.
We have not aimed at an expensive and ornate style of arehitec-
9^
hire so much as at durabilit}- and convcnionco. Somo of our
friends have complainod that the buildings are not sufficiently
imposing, while others have not been slow to blame the Commis-
sioners for the cxpeiisivencss of these school structures. We are
content to have hit the happy mean.
The building which we open to-day contains a'o complete
schools. Each of these schools is distinct in all its appoint-
ments. Each has its own entrance from a different street.
The pupils in each will enjoy the use of a separate play-ground.
The two schools are constructed to accommodate 600 pupils,
and there are now being educated in the two departments 241
boys and 22G girls. The Board would respectfully invite its
friends to make an inspection of the admirable minor arrange-
ments which have been effected for the comfort of the pupils,
as well as of the larger and smaller class rooms. In addition
to this lai-gc hall, which can be used for public examina-
tions, for the formal distribution of prizes, and for other special
occasions, as well as for the teaching of class singing, the
building contains, also, an elementary science class room, a class
room for instrumental music, and another for drawing. These
rooms are common to both schools, and will be used by boys and
girls alike, at separate hours. If anyone is disposed to question
the propriety of the Board's acquisition of so large and expensive
a piece of ground as that on which this building stands, I would
take leave to point out that when w^e build, as we hope to build,
two other school houses on this lot, one for the Preparatory High
School, the other for the Senior School, the Board will find itself
in possession of little enough ground for these purposes. The object
which we have in view in i3roposing these new erections, is that
of bringing up from Burnside Hall the schools which are being
taught there, that so the Commissioners may be in a position to sell
that most valuable property, and, by this means, reduce the cost
to the cit}' of the present and contemplated erections. Then, it
should be remembered, that this is the only Commissioners' school
house in the St. Antoinc Ward in which reside most of those
Protestant parents who do business in the W"est and Centre Wards.
From these three wards a very large proportion of Protestant
taxation is derived. Surely, then, the St. Antoine Ward is en-
iO
titled to some such consideration as that which the Board has
hereby given to it. The cost of the land avemgos 69 cents per
foot. As a sct-otf, it should be noted that for the Burnside pro-
perty the Boai'd will certainly receive a very much lai'gcr price.
For the curriculum of the studies pursued in each of these schools)
I refer you to the published Reports of the Board, as well as to the
School Prospectuses. I may claim for these reports a clear and
complete exposition, not only of the policy of the Board, but also
of its expenditures, whether for buildings or for mainteiumce,
(luring each year since 184*7. The number of pupils under in-
struction from year to year, the subjects taught, the proticiency
made by the pupils, are all given in detail ; indeed there is no in-
formatiofi which the Board itself possesses in i-egard to city
Protestant school work, wliich is not sot forth in these pub-
lications.
I must add another word respecting our work. To myself and to
my brother Commissioners it is the most satisfactory of all the
statements I shall have made in this address. I do not doubt that
when you, ladies and gentlemen, hear it, it will by you be
deemed no less satisfactory. It is this : that the Board may fairlv
claim that they have at length overt;! ken the Protestant school
necessities of Mojitreal — at least so far as these necessities atfect the
humbler classes of the Protestant population. In all the schools
in the outlying districts but one, there are some seats and desks
nnocoupied. The exception is the Shorbrooke street school. In
a week or two the pressure on that school will be relieved by the
opening of a primary school in Ontario street for one hundred of
the younger children now in the school in Shei'brooke street or
seeking admission into it.
The Commissioners, while conscious that there is room for
changes, and through these for improvement, in the administra-
tion of the al^airs of the Board, and in the conduct of its schools,
by which I mean that there are certain details which they feel
have need to be perfected in both the administrative and scholastic
divisions of their work, — are convinced that they have hit upon a
system of city schools which will secure the best interests of
Montreal in the best way. The principles that underlie our
system will, w:^ f^el, boar the Htrnin of any test to which from
11
any quarter it may be sul.joeted. So rapid has been the extension
shaped and arranged .o a.s to be perfectly satisfactory. Perfec ion
18 nevar reached bat as the result of long experience and !f ^
repealed trips and falls. Now that the^Bo^ ^1" ;^^^^^^^
taken the general scholastic necessities of ih. P , .
Montreal, it will set itseh' strenuot:;h p:2 \^^^^^^^^ '''
and so to make the .^^ontreal School ;ystefn w^.h; of L ^^^^^^^^
the intelligence, the progress, shall I add the c^xce^din. Cu. i;
the chief city of the Dominioi ^etuiing t,eauty of
I have claimed that the Board h.s worked strenuously But
or thjs, so much could r.ot have been accomplished as we liisda"
behold. I owe ,t to the Secretary a„d InspUr, Mr. I?obi s ^^^^
CBifyto the.,, and elficiency with whkd, h; has red'the
Board m the admiuistration of its trust.
It now only remains that 1 should declare this IIio.|. ^ .i ,
huMrns opened for the purposes for which it t^s '^^'::
tha I express U.o hope that, by the l.lossingof IVov d nee! m"v
be tlie means of securing for the citizens of >fontreal hrall f2^
time, the highest good. '^"»n eai, m all future
NUMBER OF PUPILS IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS
OF MONTREAL, I877-'8.
High School, or lloyal Cnimmav Sdu.ol . . . '■^'''"■"^'' ^''- ^""''■"^•
Preparatory Department ^^^
203
Total mimbcr of LovB
Hjgh School for Girl8 '^*^
•>26
Total number of Pupils
"- b(0