Paul Axelrod

The promise of schooling : education in Canada, 1800-1914

Between 1800 and 1914, Canadian society and its school systems were forged, populated, expanded and reformed. The Promise of Schooling explores the links between social and educational change in this complex and dynamic period. It raises and seeks to answer a number of questions: How extensive was schooling in the early nineteenth century? What lay behind the campaign to extend publicly funded education? What went on inside the Canadian classroom? How did schools address the needs of Native students, blacks, and the children of immigrants? What cultural and social roles did universities serve by the beginning of the twentieth century? And how were schools affected by the economic and social pressures arising from the Industrial Revolution? The book contends that educational authorities built and reformed schools in ways that were not always consistent with their idealistic visions. Economic constraints, political expediency, and the agendas of ordinary citizens all influenced the life of the Canadian school in an era marked by dramatic social change. Drawing from an abundant scholarly literature published over the last two decades, this study seeks to expose readers to the richness of the field of educational history. Written for a broad audience, it also hopes, by providing historical context, to stimulate informed discussion about educational issues.

The Politics of Policy Making in Postsecondary Education in Canada and in the Province of Ontario: Implications for Governance *

Governance in higher education is, in some crucial senses, about the management of universities. This chapter probes not the management of universities so much as decision making in government and its impact on university governance. Drawing on a larger study of postsecondary policy making in the federal and Ontario provincial jurisdictions, and relying on primary documents and interviews with individuals directly involved in policy making, this chapter illustrates how certain Canadian PSE policies were made and executed.

Businessmen and the Building of Canadian Universities: A Case Study

POWERFUL BUSINESSMEN have long played an active role in the affairs of Canadian higher education. During the nineteenth century universities functioned mainly as theological training institutes. But under the pressures of secularization and industrialization, they gradually became agencies of professional development and scientific research, and business men replaced churchmen on university governing boards. In the interests of securing financial solvency, universities also depended heavily on the beneficence of these wealthy individuals. Curiously, in the two decades following World War II, government support far surpassed the proportion of funds received by universities from the private sector, but the presence of renowned businessmen on university boards became even more conspicuous. During the 196os the typical Canadian university both the well established and the newly founded was governed by a board whose members occupied prominent places in the pages of Who• Who and the Financial Post• Directory of Directors. 1 Why should this have been the case? Amid the plethora of literature on the purposes, accomplishments, and problems of Canadian universities, there remains a dearth of detailed information about the

Scholars and Dollars: Politics, Economics, and the Universities of Ontario, 1945-1980

Propelled by buoyant economic conditions, favoured by free-spending politicians, and buttressed by widespread public support, higher education during the 1960s became one of Onatrios major growth industries. But less than a decade later, in a dramatic reversal of spending priorities, funing policies threatened to squeeze the very life out of the provincial university system.In this wide-ranging study, Axelrod explores the impact of economic changes on Ontario universities since World War Two. He addresses the questions of how universities were percieved by the public, why they were supported during the period of expansion, how they set out to fulfil their prescribed functions, and how they were affected by the diminshed opportunities and cooler economic climate of the 1970s.This volume touches on such diverse issues as business-university relations, student financial assistance, manpower planning, and faculty unionization. It examines the internal dynamics of university life against the background of the social and economic conditions which directly affected Ontario universities but over which they had virtually no control. How could they plan for an economy that valued having no plan?The author concludes that not only did the universities prove to be imperfect instruments of economic development, but the efforts expended in the task compromised their vital role as islands of culture and critical thought in a materialistic society.