Border Crossings: US Culture and Education in Saskatchewan, 1905-1937 - Softcover

Alcorn, Kerry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0773542884 ISBN 13: 9780773542884

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2013

Synopsis

At the dawn of the last century a shift in direction emerged among education policy-makers in Saskatchewan. Prior to 1905, the territories that would become Saskatchewan and Alberta maintained a school system largely modelled after Ontario's British-inspired system. Between 1905 and 1937 however, the shared geography and culture of the continental plains that span the border between the United States and Canada became the primary influence on education in the Canadian prairies. In Border Crossings, Kerry Alcorn examines Saskatchewan's embrace of the culture of farmer revolt and populist and progressive democratic thought that originated south of the border. He argues that as a consequence Saskatchewan education developed in resistance to eastern Canadian forms, with education policy makers - some brought in from the United States - consciously looking to their southern neighbours for direction in developing educational models. Alcorn's detailed portrait of University of Saskatchewan president Walter C. Murray and his "Wisconsin Idea," further highlight the influence of the north-south axis. A challenge to standard histories of Canadian education, Border Crossings encapsulates the development of the meaning, practice, and language of Saskatchewan education in the early twentieth century.

About this title

About the Author:

Kerry Alcorn is an independent scholar who has worked for the Saskatoon Public School Division for over twenty-five years.

Review:

?In its broad but carefully constructed sweep of continental influences, Border Crossings provides a major contribution to knowledge of Canada?s education system and the reasons why one province eschewed central or eastern Canadian models and instead patterned its institutions and practices on its American counterpart.? Dianne Miller, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan

?Border Crossings will challenge historians of education across the continent to think differently about educational developments in North America and to make greater sense of our schools? shared histories.? Historical Studies in Education

?Kerry Alcorn?s work on the impact of American thought on Saskatchewan schools addresses an existing void in this literature. Border Crossings offers a fascinating account of the formation of Saskatchewan?s public schools and the important American influe

About this edition

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0773542884
• ISBN 13: 9780773542884
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232