It is 1943 and father moved the family to Forest Hill because of the quality of their education system. He had been talking to a provincial school inspector who was one of his customers at the family clothing business, John Bulloch Limited.
He told my father that Forest Hill had its own school board and paid the highest salaries in Ontario to get the best teachers. That did it. And off the family went to our new home.
Dad was prospering making officers uniforms and after the birth of brother Robert in 1942 we were cramped for space in our small bungalow.
It was years later that I began to understand the complexity of what we call education policy. The attached says it all.
It’s about things like the financing of our education system from primary school through to university. And about the nature of the education of our young people, the skills they must learn, the curriculum of the schools, the text books, and so on.
I guess it would be easier to say it is all about what governments must do to ensure that we are preparing young people for life.
I was a lucky young person, and for that I must thank my parents. My educational experience at Forest Hill from public school, junior high school and senior high school was inspirational.
I participated in the track and field program as a 400-yard runner, and as a member of the senior high school football team. And was appointed as a “prefect” which was a position of honour filling in for teachers when they were ill.
Education policy starts with legislation, and it is called the Education Act in Ontario. Then there is the Education Minister who implements the Act. Then we have the school boards who really run things, and they are led by elected trustees. Then it is the principals, the teachers and the students.
It is a complex system that enforces education policy, so we end up with young people taking their place as adults and making their lives count.
In 1947 when my father took the family to Ireland, I had to get the permission of the school principal. I remember him saying that the educational experience I would enjoy travelling to Ireland would be greater than any experience I would have in Canada. He gave me his blessing.
My history teacher asked if I would bring him back an Irish Shillelagh, which is either a club or a walking stick made from the Irish Blackthorn bush. He gave me a $20 bill.
My experience during my years at Forest Hill was that the teachers really cared about your personal development and progress.
I was in the Pirates of Penzance, and a member of the modern dance class which put on a major production. Of course, I would not have been seen dead in a modern dance outfit if I did not have a crush on the teacher.
During the 1970s when I was building the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, I developed an excellent working relationship with the Premier of Ontario Bill Davis, who had previously been the Minister of Education under Premier John Robarts.
Now here was someone that really changed things in Ontario. School boards were reduced from close to 4000 to about 200. He created the Community College System, and two new universities, Brock and Trent. And how about the educational TV channel TVO?
Something I have learned over the years is how progressive forward-looking governments link education policy with development policy. They are two sides of the same coin.
In Canada, we do not have a federal education department with education policy clearly the responsibility of the Provinces. Where the federal government plays a role is funding special job training programs.
I am part of a lucky generation when provincial governments made massive grants to universities, so that my fees to attend four years of engineering where minimal. Today, about 25% of the costs of university are covered by fees. Tough on mom and dad.
I am blessed that I was a product of progressive and quality education. What I was taught and how I was taught was all about education policy in Ontario.
Yes, I believe in “edumacation”.