I found last weeks reading on the foundations of Canadian Curriculum to be quite interesting, even thought I feel I missed the critical lesson that was to be learned about the importance of understanding the perspective and history of authorship.
One idea that I was fascinated by was the obvious tie between the school system and the type of citizenry the government was attempting to mold. I thought some of Ryerson's comments were so interesting, particularly when his purposes were so overtly stated. Specifically, I found the comments about immigrant children to be shocking, more of a comment on the current values that I read back into the text. As Tomkins writes, " Schooling was viewed as the prime means of uplifting them (immigrants) and their children from iniquity to Canadian levels of morality and industry."
I was also intrigued by the attendance medal brought in by one of my classmates. I love how this is a symbol of the important goals of education at the time, a celebration of what was valued at certain time and a certain place. I also found it interesting how the owner of the medal still valued it meaning and memory, almost as though the physical object represented a story that someone likes to know/tell about themselves. I saw it as a another object in the questions I have about personal memory versus collective memory and the stories we use to define ourselves. I think we like to create our own heritage and think its our history.
I also wonder what the medals for today's students might look like. Are we still striving for "good conduct, punctuality, regularity and diligence?" in our schools today? It's a great question for me as a teacher to reflect on which four values would I put on a school medal and are they the same as the foundation of the curriculum(s) that I teach.
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