Becoming a Teacher

While looking through my father’s papers I found a newspaper clipping from the Globe and Mail dated June 28th 1951. It was entitled  “Results of 1951 Examinations of Ontario of Education Are Announced. In the first paragraph was a familiar name: Gordon Russell Brooks, who was a successful candidate in the High School Assistants, Type A, Intramural examinations for Vocal and Instrumental Music. Interesting, I thought. Obviously I knew that my father was a teacher but what exactly was a High School Assistant, Type A and how did one become one?

My dad’s journey to becoming a teacher started much earlier. I had written earlier about how he obtained his Bachelor of Music degree thanks to the Veteran’s Charter. Russ loved music and had always dreamed of becoming a teacher. He enrolled in the new School Music program at the University of Toronto in 1947 after returning from service in Europe in 1946. 

The class was a small, select group of 21 students with 5 professors and 3 lecturers. The program was rigorous. In his 3rd year Russ would have studied the History of Music, Keyboard Harmony. Arranging, Choral Technique, Band and Orchestral Technique, Conducting and more. Students were also given “general instruction in programme planning and musical aptitude and achievement testing” to prepare them for their future teaching career. English and Physics were also required, the latter for acoustics. Fees of $210 were charged with an incidental fee of $39 which covered Hart House access, health services and the cost of the degree itself.

By the time he entered the Ontario College of Education in the fall of 1950 Russ was well positioned to become a teacher. He had met the qualifications for admission to the music teacher’s program by completing his Bachelor of Music degree. The fees for the year program were $125 for academic including the examination and $26 for incidentals including Hart House access, health service and the medical examination for admission to the College. The Faculty of Education was located in the building that now house UTS on Bloor Street West between Spadina and Huron. 

City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1244, Item 3256

There were two streams for the Interim High School Assistant Type A certificate. the first covered Agriculture, Classics, English and French, English and Latin, English, Geography, History, French and German, French and Italian, French and Spanish, Latin and French, Latin and Greek, Mathematics, Mathematics and Physics, Science,  Physics and Chemistry, Physics and Biology, Chemistry and Biology, and Home Economics. The second stream including Physical Education, Arts and Crafts, Instrumental Music and Vocal music. This is the stream that my dad entered.  Examinations for the music stream were to be held as follows: 

Russ was successful in his studies and quickly obtained a job at Uxbridge and Port Perry High Schools

Schools and teachers in the Province of Ontario. Ontario Department of Education 1951. Internet Archive  

Interesting how the directory lists the teachers’ salaries. Russ earned the princely sum of $2,800 which works out to $29,000 in today’s money. Teachers did not earn high salaries in those pre union days. My parents rented an apartment on Brock Street in Uxbridge, a 5 minute drive to Uxbridge Secondary School on Planks Lane

and a 15 minute drive to Port Perry High School on Rosa Street in Port Perry.

Both schools had been erected in the 1920s and would soon have additions built to accommodate the baby boomer generation. But in 1951 the student body was a modest size, both around 200, and the faculty small. Both schools had 11 teachers including the principal.

Uxbridge staff 1951-52

It was at the Port Perry High School that my dad first staged one of his beloved Gilbert and Sullivan operettas starting a tradition that lasted throughout his career.

   

Russ worked at the two schools for 3 years until 1954 when he moved to Oakville to teach at Oakville Trafalgar High School. He then moved on to Newmarket High School where he finished his career as a music teacher.

So what was a High School Assistant, Type A, Intramural? The difference between Intramural and extramural isn’t defined in the calendar but it appears to refer to students completing their studies in class at U of T and those studying off campus. The definition of the certificates is noted here:

Sure enough, when I next find Russ in a teacher directory he is teaching at Oakville Trafalgar High School in 1956. He is described at a HSS (High School Specialist) with special certificate in Interim and Art and earning $4,800.

Mystery solved and congratulations to my dad on this major achievement, 70 years ago!

Convocation 1950

On this day 70 years ago my father marched across the back campus into Convocation Hall and received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Toronto. His degree was much valued and hard fought for.

Russ' elementary years were spent at Hartman Jones memorial School on Carlaw Avenue in East York. He moved on to East York Collegiate where he completed grade 12 or Junior Matriculation in 1939. It was there that Russ' formal education came to a screeching halt. His dream had always been to study music at the University of Toronto. He had prepared for this by engaging in years of study at the the Royal Conservatory of Music. At the time the RCM was located at the corner of College Street and University Avenue in downtown Toronto.

Taken in March 1920, Toronto Public Library, Baldwin Collection

Russ got his love of music from his mother Gertie who was an accomplished musician. He inherited her Heintzmann piano which still holds a place of honour in my mother’s home. Russ followed Gertie’s footsteps in becoming a skilled pianist. Unfortunately we do not have records of his achievements at the Conservatory but according to his was file he completed Grade Ten piano, Grade 4 Theory and the Teacher's Written examination qualifying for ATCM.

 

 

Post secondary education in music in Toronto at the time was coordinated by the Royal Conservatory of Music in conjunction with the University of Toronto, both headed by Sir Ernest McMillan. In 1946 the Faculty of Music intiated the MusBac, a 3 year school music program which would prepare students for teaching instrumental and vocal music at high school level. In its first year 21 students enrolled in the program. With help from the Department of Veteran's Affairs Russ began his studies in 1947. Students studied string, woodwinds and brass, conducting, choral music, music theory and history (Russ is on clarinet).

University calendars had a lot of personal information back in the day. The full class is listed in the 1949-1950 Academic Division Calendar

Further information on Russ' studies was found in 1950 Torontonensis yearbook

Russ completed his degree in the spring of 1950. Convocation was held on October 27th 1950. My mom and grandparents attended

The class was impressive and so is the diploma itself. I was quite jealous when I discovered that my diploma from U of T was not in Latin!

I believe my dad was the first person in his close family to complete a university program.  It was a major accomplishment 70 years ago as higher education was usually out of the reach of the average Canadian. I was proud to follow in his footsteps 31 years later.