British Character

Almost every nation has a reputation of some kind. The French are supposed to be amorous; the Germans dull, formal efficient; the Americans boastful, energetic, gregarious and vulgar. The British have been known as superior, snobbish, aloof, hypocritical and unsociable. Though these characteristics have been noted by people from all over the world, the traditional opinion about British was based on the habits of those Britons, who could afford to travel: diplomats, merchants and those who were taught by Public school their “stiff-upper-lip” philosophy.

Being conservative, the British love old familiar things and suspect change, intellectuals and ideologies, fads, fancies and foreigners. Unlike elsewhere in Europe, someone described as «intellectual» usually feels embarrassed rather than flattered. Due to their conservatism the British were slow in adopting the metric system which came into general use only in 1975. Being traditionally-minded the British people are less fashion-conscious than other Europeans. The majority dress conservatively, «safely», rather than fashionably. The British may be among the least smartly dressed people in Europe, they wear what they want when they want.

The British are community-minded people. They have had a long tradition of democracy. The British have a strong civic sense and participate in public affairs as their birthright. There are 160000 charities officially registered with the government, and 200000 voluntary organizations, including sports clubs, trade-unions, rambling clubs, protest groups and societies. Britain is described as «the country of voluntary obedience, of spontaneous organization». The impulse to organize oneself and one’s neighbours in some course for bettering their life is a strong British tradition and understanding of their democracy. Due to that kind of activity and organization there is a fundamental liberty in Britain easily found elsewhere.

The British are not only community-minded but individualist-minded people as well. They emphasize individuality because they hate the idea of appearing the same. British individualism is built into custom and practice, into local work and community organization. Every regiment in the army, every school or university, many municipal corporations, clubs and other institutions tend to have their own uniform, traditions or their signs identifying them and making them different from others. British sense of dignity and importance of the individual explains their extraordinary toleration of individual eccentricities. And it is their individualism which explains why the British sense and feeling for privacy is so notorious.

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Education in Canada

Education is a passion in Canada. Many people came to Canada to do well. Poor and in need, the immigrant wanted to live securely. He hoped to find in the New

World greater scope than in the old. And education seemed to be the answer in any case.

Secondary schools have four or five grades and provide entrance qualifications for university courses of from three to seven years in various academic and professional fields.

There are about 3000 institutions offering courses of university standard in Canada. All the provinces have provincial universities or their equivalent giving courses of arts, science and engineering, medicine, theology and others.

In the French-speaking schools of Quebec take primary courses to grade seven. Pupils may then enter either the church-operated college classique which provides an eight year course leading to baccalaureate and entry to a university professional course, or they may enroll in the secondary division of the public school, which provides further training in technical fields, trades arts or home economics. Higher schools of applied science, commerce or agriculture, affiliated with universities, are available to graduates of the secondary courses. Trade school or regional agricultural school training is optional. The Indian affairs branch of the federal government maintains schools for Indians. Some of them are operated as day schools on the reservation and others as residential schools under some religious domination.

Most provinces require elementary teachers to have had high school graduation. High school teachers are required to have a university degree plus a year of professional study.

About fifty years ago the Canadian graduates who wanted to prepare himself for university teaching turned for advanced study to Oxford or to an American graduate school.

The last years, however, have seen the rise of higher educational institutions in Canada – Toronto, McGill, Montreal, and Laval. Most of the universities offer the doctorate in many fields – humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. Some of them restrict themselves to the natural sciences, the social sciences, and history, to French classics, and philosophy. Students from all over the world come to participate in this study and research.

University education as a provincial matter varies very considerably across Canada. Most of the universities established before confederation were private institutions. The great number was set up by the church as liberal arts and divinity colleges: Laval (Quebec) and Loyola (Montreal) were Roman Catholic, Dalhousie (Halifax) And Queen’s (Kingston) were Presbyterian, Trinity (Toronto) were Anglican. Today, most of the universities are provincial institutions, and only their theology departments remain under the church. Private universities are still influential, and are the choice of 15 per cent of Canada’s students.

The number of universities in Canada is very large. With 30 million people it has about 70 universities or degree-giving colleges. Canada, then, gives much more opportunity for higher education than most countries: altogether over 500,000 students are enrolled, of which more than a quarter are women.

Besides general and advanced education in the humanities, social sciences, and pure sciences, a wide range of professional faculties and schools is maintained by the universities of Canada.