Mad Mike
Well-known member
Thing is, those icons of history are what people look at and ask questions about. I remember my kids asking me about a confederate flag that was flying during a Memorial Day parade (kids grew up in California), had they not seen the flag they would have not asked questions. I didn't expect them to salute the thing, I'd never own one. I did explain what it meant. I'd do the same if I crossed the path of anything related to Ryerson.
What bothers me a little is how Ryerson's legacy has changed at the hands of the woke -- years ago he was noted for his contribution to developing education in Ontario, for building teacher colleges, and requiring public education till age 14 as a means to pull people out of poverty. The first Residential Schools opened about 20 years after he died, and 50 years after he consulted and described elements of a system that was simply modeled after the US. It's pretty clear he had little to do with implementing the system (hard to do after being in the ground for 20 years), and much of the design is contrary to his firm beliefs in family and the total removal of religion from public school system.
Don't read this wrong -- I'm not a crusader -- just an observer. I do believe the woke try to change history and villify historical figures using some distorted view of time and place.
The Colosseum and Pyramids, were built as monuments to tyrannical leaders -- slaves were forced to build them, think we ought to flatten those too? How about ideas on how Oxford should deal with Cecil Rhode's statue?
