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- xxx. Règlements du comité catholique du conseil de l’instruction publique de la province de Québec (Refondus en 1915 et amendés jusqu’au 1er juillet 1936). Québec, s.n., 1936. ix, 214 p.
"Devoirs des inspecteurs d'écoles.
225. Les inspecteurs d'écoles doivent:
[...]
14. Transmettre un rapport de leurs visites aux secrétaires-trésoriers des municipalités scolaires visitées.
[...]
Dans ces rapports, ils doivent particulièrement appeler l'attention des commissaires ou des syndics d'écoles:
1. Sur:
[...]
b) L'emploi de livres de classe autorisés, [17]
[...] Règlements concernant les instituteurs. [...]
227. Il est du devoir de chaque instituteur:
[...]
8. De ne permettre que l'usage des livres autorisés; [20]
[...]
Approbation des livres de classe.
243. Toute personne qui désire soumettre un ouvrage à l'approbation du comité catholique du conseil de l'instruction publique doit, un mois au moins avant les sessions du comité, en envoyer un exemplaire imprimé ou clavigraphié à chacun des membres de ce comité avant que [22] ceux-ci en autorisent l'impression. Il devra aussi envoyer six exemplaires semblables au département de l'instruction publique en donnant en même temps le prix de chaque exemplaire et celui de la douzaine, ainsi que la mention du cours auquel il est destiné.
244. Lorsque l'examen d'un ouvrage soumis à l'approbation du comité est renvoyé à quelque personne dont il a fallu s'assurer le concours à raison de ses connaissances spéciales, le Surintendant doit exiger de la personne qui demande l'approbation une somme suffisante pour la rémunérer.
245. L'éditeur de tout livre autorisé doit en déposer un exemplaire de chaque édition au département de l'instruction publique et obtenir du surintendant un certificat attestant qu'il est approuvé; et chaque fois qu'il en publiera une nouvelle édition, il devra obtenir du surintendant un nouveau certificat attestant que telle édition est approuvée.
246. Le comité peut, quand il le juge convenable, retirer son approbation à un ouvrage autorisé.
A l'avenir, tout ouvrage qui recevra l'approbation du comité catholique du conseil de l'instruction publique devra porter, avec la mention de cette approbation, la date à laquelle elle a été accordée et indiquer le cours auquel il est destiné. Le défaut de se conformer à cette injonction fera perdre à l'auteur de tel ouvrage l'approbation obtenue.
247. Tout ouvrage approuvé doit porter le nom de l'éditeur et le prix de chaque exemplaire sur la couverture ou sur la page du titre; il ne peut y être inséré aucune annonce sans le consentement du surintendant de l'instruction publique.
248. Il faut l'approbation du comité catholique pour pouvoir modifier le texte, la typographie, la reliure, le papier, etc., d'un livre approuvé. Telle approbation ne pourra être accordée que sur présentation au comité catholique d'un sommaire indiquant les changements apportés.
249. Les ouvrages recommandés pour l'usage des instituteurs ne doivent pas servir aux élèves comme livres de classe.
250. Tout livre classique devra être imprimé en caractères suffisamment gros et interlignés, et toute gravure devra être faite avec soin et sur papier de bonne qualité.
Toute carte géographique dont on demande l'approbation doit être préalablement soumise à la commission de géographie de Québec, pour examen et rapport au comité catholique. [28]
[...]
XV. Le manuel.
- En parlant de la leçon et de la manière de la donner, le livre n’est guère intervenu. A l’école primaire, surtout aux cours préparatoire, inférieur et moyen, le maître doit se dispenser du manuel pendant la leçon, sauf pour la lecture. L’enseignement se donne comme expliqué plus haut: c’est l’unique moyen de pénétrer dans l’intelligence des enfants de cet âge. On explique comme si la [sic] manuel [51] n’existait pas, et on fait rendre compte de la leçon dans les propres termes de l’élève, sans s’occuper du manuel. Mais la leçon terminée, le maître prendra le manuel et fera constater qu’il résume toute la substance de ce qui a été enseigné; au besoin, il expliquera les mots et les phrases qui pourraient offrir quelque difficulté à l’élève. Puis l’enfant pourra ensuite se servir de son manuel comme aide-mémoire, afin de s’aider à graver dans sa mémoire des idées qui pourraient lui échapper, et les termes précis dans lesquels se moulent les idées qui ont pénétré son intelligence.
Par là on voit l’usage qu’il faut faire du manuel. Les directions suivantes, qui résument et précisent toute la théorie de l’emploi du livre de classe, doivent être scrupuleusement observées par le personnel enseignant.
1. L’enseignement purement livresque est partout prohibé.
2. L’usage du manuel est absolument interdit aux cours préparatoire et inférieur, sauf les livres de lecture. A ce stage de leur développement, les enfants ne savent pas lire suffisamment pour tirer profit d’un livre, et son usage ne peut avoir d’autre effet que de substituer la culture de la mémoire des mots à la culture de l’esprit par les idées.
3. Aux cours moyen et supérieur, on utilise le manuel pour atteindre deux objectifs: a) comme aide-mémoire, après la leçon apprise par l’enfant sans le livre, suivant ce qui a été expliqué plus haut; b) comme auxiliaire, parce que le manuel bien fait apporte des applications qui fournissent à l’élève une matière sur laquelle il pourra occuper son activité pendant la classe, entre les leçons, ou à domicile.
En toute éventualité, le livre ne doit arriver que pour confirmer, consolider, synthétiser l’enseignement oral.
Dans ces limites, le livre est utile et nécessaire à l’élève et au maître: à l’élève qui y trouve le condensé de ce qu’il a appris pour se le graver davantage, et des applications qui lui permettront de faire un travail personnel; au maître pour lequel il sera un guide et un aide pour interpréter le programme, préparer ses leçons, et fournir des applications à ses élèves.
Le manuel est nuisible lorsqu’il remplace l’enseignement oral; quand on le suit servilement d’une leçon à l’autre; quand il se borne au par coeur qui ne permet pas de rendre compte d’une définition, d’une règle, ou d’un fait, sans employer les mots mêmes du livre; lorsqu’il emprisonne dans les formules sans pénétrer dans l’idée.
L’utilité du livre varie selon les spécialités. Dans la lecture il est évidemment indispensable. En catéchisme, aux cours moye et supérieur, il est nécessaire, pour que le texte soit confié à la mémoire, mais le texte expliqué, compris par l’élève, avant que la formule soit logée dans la mémoire. En histoire, le manuel n’est qu’un aide-mémoire, un moyen de recherche et de contrôle. En mathématiques et en grammaire, le tableau noir et la leçon orale sont presque tout. En géographie et dans les leçons de choses, le livre ne peut avoir d’utilité qu’après l’étude de la carte ou l’observation des objets, et son importance est bien secondaire. [52]
Mais encore une fois, et c’est le point à retenir, toute étude dans un manuel, pour être profitable, suppose et exige des explications suffisantes et de nombreuses interrogations de contrôle.
Le livre ne devient l’ami de l’enfant que quand celui-ci le comprend bien, quand il lui sert d’auxiliaire pour retrouver les choses dont le maître lui a parlé. Il l’ouvre avec plaisir, et se plaît à chercher et à apprendre la leçon qui lui a été expliquée.
Mais il importe que les élèves, après avoir étudié le texte, ne soient pas forcés de le réciter mot à mot. Sans doute, le maître sera nécessairement amené à exiger le texte exact, littéral, quand il s’agira d’une définition qui ne comporte pas d’à peu près, d’une formule qui doit rester gravée dans la mémoire, des résumés de l’histoire, des prières, des leçons de catéchisme et des morceaux qui servent d’exercices de diction. Pour le reste, il acceptera volontiers tout ce qui reproduira la pensée du manuel, sous quelque forme que l’enfant l’exprime. Il encouragera même les écoliers à dire les choses à leur façon, se contentant de redresser avec douceur les incorrections de langage et les termes impropres.» [53]
- xxx. "Bibliographie", L'enseignement primaire, 57, 6(février 1936):402-403.
"Quatre manuels de dictées publiés par les frères du Sacré-Coeur.
A la série de leurs trois manuels de "Dictées et analyses", à l'usage des classes de première année jusqu'à la sixième inclusivement et approuvée par le Conseil de l'Instruction publique, les Frères du Sacré-Coeur viennent de'ajouter un quatrième manuel destiné aux élèves du Cours primaire complémentaire (7e et 8e années).
Ce livre renferme 150 dictées en texte continu, puisées chez les meilleurs prosateurs du Canada et de la France, et une dizaine d'autres dictées en phrases détachées dans lesquelles se trouvent appliquées les principales règles de grammaire et de syntaxe.
Pour que les maîtres et les maîtresses puissent choisir rapidement la dictée qui convient à leurs élèves, ils ont marqué par la lettre F, celles qui sont faciles; par la lettre M, celles qui sont de difficulté moyenne; et par la lettre D, celles qui sont difficiles.
A titre d'exemples, le plus grand nombre de ces dictées sont accompagnées d'une série de questions sur la composition et la dérivation des mots; sur les homonymes, les [402] antonymes, la signification d'un mot ou d'une expression, etc. En général, la réponse suit la question. Le maître peut multiplier ces exercices ou les varier selon les circonstances, les besoins et le degré d'avancement de ses élèves.
Chaque questionnaire comprend aussi des phrases et des mots analysés. Pour l'analyse de ces derniers, les auteurs n'en disent que la nature et la fonction. Tout ce qui fait l'objet d'une question est écrit en italique dans la dictée.
Ces manuels, bien adaptés au programme, fournissent la matière du devoir français journalier, de la dictée et de l'analyse. Ils sont en vente chez les Frères du Sacré-Coeur, 2244, rue Fullum, à Montréal, et chez les principaux libraires."
- Percival, W.P. "Should children use out-moded text books?", Montreal Daily Herald, April 25th, 1936.
"There was no text book problem in the schools of Greece or Rome. Masters dictated the poems of Homer and other works and pupils wrote their own text books. Though such a process would involve only the cost of writing materials, the expenditure of time and the inability of younger pupils in our schools to take dictation accurately would render such a process inexpedient. On the contrary, the small relative cost of text books, the accuracy of the contents, the ability of pupils to learn to read early in their school life, the comparative ease with which information can be apprehended from books and the saving of the teacher's time provide good reasons for the change in the tools of learning.
The oldest school text book used on this continent (apart from Bibles and Testaments) was not a book in the present sense.
It consisted simply of a printed page placed on a piece of wood that resembled a lady's hand mirror with a short handle. The page was covered with a piece of transparent horn so that the letters could be read and the «book» would not be soiled. It met entirely the wishes of parents who wanted a cheap book that could be retained in the family and be used by every member in turn. It usually contained the alphabet and the Lord's Prayer. A few of these reached Quebec.
Obvioulsy such a «book» would be of little use in the modern school where children read without necessarily knowing the names of the letters. In a language like English, the names of the letters are not good clues, to the procunciation of the words, in which they are used. One has only to pronounce the letters in such supposedly easy words as cat or dog to find that not a single letter in either is pronounced according to tis name. A cat, according to the names of the letters, would be a seeaytee and a dog ould be a deeohgee.
A book used by the earliest settlers in the Eastern Townships was of New England origin. It was four and a half inches in length, three and a quarter inches in width, an quarter of an inch in thickness and contained eighty pages. Since this book was probably the only one used in the early nineteenth century, littel complaint could be made about the over-crowding of the course of study. It contained illustrations made from wood cuts, many of which were a little difficult to understand but its moral lessons were very clear to its readers. It commenced with the alphabet. Words of one syllable folllowed. The Lord's Prayer and the Apostles Creed soon appeared. The Shorter Catechism occupied a large place.
Noah Webster's blue-backed Spelling Book was used for a century in the United Sates and was imported into Canada.
It was a great improvement over the New England Primer. The subject of Spelling assumed enormous importance under the influence of this text and formed the core of the curriculum. This book was much larger in every respect than the Primer. Easy words were found in the early pages but many uncommon ones soon appeared.
Many residents of Quebec still remember Town's Speller. It contained scores of difficult words such as: armigerous, lanigerous, bacciferous, gammiferous, arundineous, phytology, pyretology, chalcography, falciform, gnomonics, catoprics, stratocracy and eudiometer. The reader might try his own ability with the procunciation and meaning of the words quoted and ask himsself if it is reasonable to have children spend long hours upon work so meaningless even to the average adult.
When one examines some of the other old books that have been used as chlidren's texts and compares them with those of today he must come to the conclusion that the new ones are wonderful improvements over those of former generations.
The old books contained such a small amount of subject matter (except the classics and mathematics) that they could have been covered in a short space of time were it not for the unattractiveness and comparative difficulty of the contents.
A «History of Canada» used at the end of last century is a little unatractive volume. It is printed in small type which is very hard on the eyes even of an adult. The book contains no illustrations, but abounds in long paragraphs of a very formal kind, each of which is numbered. The tenth paragraph, for example, reads, in part: «Another source of trouble to Champlaim was the constant change of governers. 1612, De Monts gave place to the Count de Soissons, who died the same year, and was followed by his brother, the Prince de Conde. In 1616 Conde sold his office to the Admiral de Montmorency for 11,000 crowns, a fact which shows Canada was beginning to be valued. Montmorency became dissatisfied with the trouble his office gave him, and, in 1624, handed it over to his nephew, the Duke de Ventadour.» It was obviously intended that this book should be read and learned in doses of a pragraphe at a time.
If the unattractive style, uninterested and (for children) unimportant information and the outworn method of teaching encouraged by such a book be contrasted with the quality of text books of the present day in History for Grades V and VI, the reader will see why pupils are now attracted to Canadian History instead of being repelled by it.
The English Reader which was used extensively last century is an improvement upon its predecessors, but its cold and frequently morbid pages bore children.
The book is replete with paragraphs such as the following: «The appearances of our security are frequently deceitful. When our sky seems most settled and serene, in some unobserved quarter gathers the little black cloud in which the tempest ferments and prepares to discharge itself on our head.» The highly interesting stories in the attractively printed and illustrated books on the new course of study in english in use in most of the Protestant schools testify eloquently to the wisdom of the changes to modern texts.
In one of the geographies published in Montreal in 1888, the Province of Quebec is introduced and dismissed with ten questions. The first three of these read: «Point out the position and boundaries of Quebec.» «Name its largest river.» «Name the principal rivers north of the St. Lawrence.» The answers are given in a few brief words. Hence a geography lesson, instead of being a voyage of discovery, consisted in a pitiful kind of memory work.
Facts as these must cause one enquiring whether children should leanr from old school books to ask at least «How old?» It is fair to state that many of those published even as recently as twenty years ago do not compare favourably with those of the last decade.
The inclination that children have of their own volition to pick up history and story books and spend enjoyable hours with them is in striking contrast to the attitude of previous generation of children, many of whom vowed that once they left school they would never pick up a book again.
The tastes of many of the adults of today have not been suitably developed in connection with reading. It is altogether likely, however, that the new attitude of children towards books will carry over into later life if they can procure suitable material to keep their appetites keen."
- Percival, W.P. "School text books - are they changed too often?", Montreal Daily Herald, May, 2, 1936.
"Many citizens of Quebec are convinced that, in the Protestant schools, text books are changed too frequently.The former practice of Protestant Committee was to make changes once every four years, when in the interest of educational efficiency. This practice has been altered during the past few years, partly because of the prevailing depression, as it was not considered advisable to effect changes that would bring undue financial hardship upon people during a period of crisis. Consequently, though the course of study has been altered materially to suit modern needs, the books have been affected as little as possible.
The greatest recent change in the text books used in the Protestant schools has been in English where the treatment of subject has been vivified and advantage taken of the numerous new texts that are specially suitable for children.
This change has not been forced upon School Boards. History likewise has been vitalized, the dull chronicles of wars and dynasties and endless lists of dates being replaced in the junior grades by stories written specially from the children's point of view that make people and movements live for them.
The large print, the quality and colour of the paper of modern books in themselves demand that consideration be given to a revision as means of saving the pupils' eyes. The attractive make-up appeals to the children. The illustrations are splendid and the modern three and four colour process charms them. The simplicity of the language enables pupils to read without difficulty and the attention given to method of writing and child psychology commends itself alike to those who recommend the recent publications and to the pupils who profit by them.
In some of the quadrennial revisions, the alterations in text books have affected only a small percentage of those on the authorized list. In some cases not more than five or six percent of substitutions has been made. That rate of quadrennial revision would be just about sufficient to prevent one generation from studying any of the books its grandfathers used. Such a statement reveals the conservatism rather than the radicalism of the Province in this respect. Fortunately, however, all the changes have not been made at this slow pace.
With such reluctance are text books dropped, however, that readers may be surprised to learn that sons and daughters are now studying from a number of text books from which the parentsd learneed thirty or more years ago.
Such a statement immediately reveals the other side of the problem. Changes may not be frequent enough, and criticism of this score is much more valid than on that of the frequency of the alterations.
The only justification for the retention of a book is its kind or its excellence. Ceasar's «De Bello Gallico» has been written for almost two thousand years and still serves a purpose. Shakespeare's «Merchant of Venice» will probably be read two thousand years hence. Not all the books retained for a long gime, however, can be justified so easily. Modern editions even of these texts have advantages over the old.
It is not reasonable to keep books on the cours of study after they have lost their usefulness. As new ones are published that prove their worth and as the old ones become out-moded, substitution becomes inevitable if the school system is to be kept up-to-date. That changes have not been too drastic may be seen by the fact that over forty books on the present list have been used by teachers and children for past twelve years or longer.
Money spent for text books is a small part of the cost of education.
The annual expenditure upon education in the Protestant schools generally ranges between $40 and $100 per pupil, depending upon the grade and the locality.
The cost of the authorized text books varies with the Grades and the options selected. The use of some of the books extends over tow years so that each year should be considered as bearing its share of the expense.
The tools with which children work are just as important as those with which adults labor.
How extravagant it would be to waste time and efforts by using tools that would be less effective than others which are available! And how much money could be saved in a year for any child by such folly? Fifty cents? Two dolars? Would the saving be worth while? How much would children lose by such penuriousness? By whom would the saving be made? It would certainly not be by the parent who wishes to provide his child with new books. If the family automobile should be changed every year or two, as some people contend, if the tools with which men work and household ustensils are often exchanged in the interests of efficiency, it is hardly reasonable to expect that the instruments that the child works with for a year should be retained merely that they may be handed down from parents to child of from an older to a younger member of the family. The appearance, even of such second hand articles, may not conduce to the pupil's respect either for the subject of the battered bool.
Children cannot be kept from the elementary schools in this Province because of the inability of parents to pay school fees, though the School Boards must satisfy themselves of the justice of claims for exemption before granting them.
In the same way, School Boards may also provide text books free to indigent pupils. These are wise provisions of the school law in order that children may obtain their educational birthright.
The cost of text books is as favourite a topic of censure as the frequent change. As in another Province of the Dominion the cost to parents is not as great as it is here, there is little wonder that the prices of school books in Quebec is not understood. «Why the diffrence?» is frequently asked. The answer is that in Quebec the full cost must be met by each purchaser. This in not always so in the Province with which the comparison is made. There the government, in some cases, pays the cost of authorship, composition, photographs and the "cuts" from which they are printed. The parent then is called upon merely to pay the cost of printing and distribution. But the cost must be met in both instances. In Quebec it is a personal charge for value received and ceases when not required as such. In the other case, it is a charge partly upon the public revenue."
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17-05-2016
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