By Paul W. Bennett
March 11, 2025
PDF of paper
Executive Summary
Canada’s best known school system founder Egerton Ryerson and the United States’ Horace Mann are each towering figures in the history of public education in North America. Both men received praise during their lifetimes – and for decades after – for leading the fight for universal tax-supported schooling. Their successes in Massachusetts and Canada West/Ontario, respectively, inspired the spread of publicly funded education throughout all Canadian provinces and American states.
Americans tend to be kinder than Canadians to their past heroes. In this case, Mann is still venerated in the public sphere as “the father of American education.” Unfortunately, in Canada, Ryerson – despite his many laudable achievements – is unjustly vilified as the “architect” of Indigenous residential schools. Indeed, he has been cast aside, even by the university that bore his name.
The toppling and erasure of Ryerson in such a fashion is a glaring injustice that leaves a gaping hole in the narrative arc of Ontario’s, and Canada’s, educational foundations.
While Reverend Adolphus Egerton Ryerson – a Methodist school reformer opposed to the privileges of the colonial elites – did issue an 1847 letter sanctioning Indian residential schools, that should be placed in context; he certainly cannot be held responsible for the abuses committed at residential schools in the decades and centuries after his death in 1882. His minor role in the system’s creation is far outweighed by his 32-year record as “a beacon of educational reform, a fighter against injustice of all sorts, and a kind and generous man who pushed for religious equality.”
Ryerson laid the foundations for and determined the boundaries of public schooling in Ontario and, by extension, other provinces. His 1846 blueprint for public elementary education profoundly shaped the school system in Ontario and beyond.
Removing his name from Ryerson University, now Toronto Metropolitan University, and Toronto’s first Normal School simply does not pass the test of fairness. Street justice, justified by a commissioned university report, was administered swiftly without sober second thought.
It’s up to historians to call out glaring examples of presentism that fail the test of historical accuracy and violate the fundamental principles of sound historical thinking. It’s time to restore Ryerson’s reputation and legacy, through the following actions:
• Ryerson’s statue, like that of Horace Mann, should be displayed in a prominent public space with a descriptive panel showcasing his historical legacy, in all its complexity.
• Canada should enact a strategy of national heritage revitalization encompassing a set of federal and provincial initiatives focused on restoring proper public commemoration and championing historical consciousness curriculum reform in universities, education faculties, and schools.
• The Government of Ontario should commission a new monument at Queen’s Park in Toronto to honour Egerton Ryerson, with a descriptive panel explaining his legacy in historical context.
• The Historic Sites and Monuments Canada should re-affirm “Adolphus Egerton Ryerson” as a “National Historic Person” with a new plaque and public display recognizing the totality of his educational legacy.
Sustainable change goes much deeper. Reclaiming lost history may require an Ontario provincial inquiry into the origins and founding mission of the Ministry of Education and its critical role in laying the foundations for the public education system across Canada.
It’s time to engage the public in reversing the fashionable trend of erasing the past. What it will take is a movement dedicated to broader curriculum reform aimed at restoring our lost educational heritage and instilling “narrative competencies” in the current generation of students.
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