Denominational attitudes toward the subdivision of the 1874 Protestant grant to education in Newfoundland

MacDonald, Joseph Duncan (1998) Denominational attitudes toward the subdivision of the 1874 Protestant grant to education in Newfoundland. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The initial settlement stages of Newfoundland saw a slow expansion of education due to the interdiction of permanent residence by British authorities. After precarious colonization a system of education under the Colonial Secretary was to be implemented in the Colony, but with consistent and continual bickering amongst the Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Methodists, the task was complex. The Education Acts of 1836, 1843, and 1874, gradually establish the denominational system of education in Newfoundland and are discussed. By using these Educational enactments, historical documents, and a series of primary sources such as newspapers and Superintendents' Annual Reports, the researcher has attempted to trace denominational attitudes toward the subdivision of the 1874 Protestant grant to education in Newfoundland, while including an historical examination of the application of the Act of 1874 under superintendents of education that characterizes an opposition to denominationalism by the Methodist congregation. The dates covered are 1836-1903. Findings are that the proposal for subdivision favoured by the Anglicans, and supported in time by the Catholics, was opposed by the Methodists before its attainment in 1874. The Methodists believed the subdivision would result in even further complexity, and additionally dividing the grant would surrender schools to heights of ineffectiveness in their view. Their attitude expresses a reservation toward a system of denominational education. In light of these findings, religiously oriented educational circumstances leading up to 1874 that constitute relative denominational attitudes and historical examination, will be analyzed. It is further found through examination of the relevant documents that the opposition to denominationalism in education on the part of the Methodists continued unabated subsequent to the coming of full denominationalism in 1874.

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