User:Hcaniobi/sandbox

In the 17th and 18th centuries, education in Canada was largely administered by the Catholic Church and was familial in nature. The first schools and universities were established by catholic congregations and orders. They were organized around the nuclear family and had the aim of forming characters and of preparing people for the work force.

The British conquest in 1760 changed the character of Canadian society from one that was mainly Catholic, to one comprising both Catholic and Protestant populations. They therefore arose in addition to the Catholic schools, Protestant and Anglican schools. There also arose an increase in non-denominational public schools.

The coming of the British was also instrumental in bringing industrialism to Canadian society. There was therefore a shift from a family focused education to an education with an aim to preparing children for the challenges of a capitalist society. There was a shift from a value-based education to an economy-based education.

Children were then not so much thought the catechism, and the skills needed for vocational work, but it was considered more important to teach math and other knowledge that will make them ready for company work.

Education lost its central familial nature and was geared towards the cooperate companies. The role of the Catholic Church in education and childhood formation was therefore dwindled. Moreover with the now significant Protestant population and growing immigrant population, it was no longer the popular consensus that catholic values and way of life was native to Canadian society.

The government allowed the rising companies to collect taxes to fund their new non-denominational schools, and people wondered whether these funds should be given to the Catholic schools which were now less and less representative of Canadian society as a whole.

Also, Catholic education was seen not to cater fairly to the needs of all the members of an increasingly pluralistic society. The Catholic schools required that the teachers be Catholics or at least have Catholic sentiments. They were reluctant to admit non-catholic wards. And people were concerned about the inclusion of religious education in their curriculum.

As education became more and more the responsibility of the government, and as the population was more and more diverse as regards beliefs, nationality, and goals, there was a bias against the religious element of catholic schools. While their teaching was good, people thought it would be even better if it did not contain the religious element.