Public education has been one of the central social institutions in Canada since Confederation. In The Sociology of Education in Canada Professor Terry Wotherspoon traces the historical development and organization of Canadian education, and describes sociological theories and analysis ofeducation. Using a critical perspective, the author examines: schooling and its impact on children and youth in Canada; the roles of teachers and teaching, and how these have and have not changed over the years; the relationship between education and employment; how education succeeds--andfails--in its task of social reproduction; and contemporary challenges and proposed reforms in provinces across Canada, where a secular multicultural society has created new demands on an institution formed in an earlier, more homogeneous Canada.Gender bias, cultural hegemony, racism, ethnicity, curricula, and Aboriginal needs are among the many topics considered, and this uniquely Canadian text also includes a wide range of boxed excerpts from such sources as: the 1875 regulations for BC teachers, first-person Native accounts ofresidential schools, recent provincial royal commissions, and the daily diary of an elementary school teacher.The importance of education in Canadian society, Professor Wotherspoon writes, reaches well beyond 'formal or overt educational objectives. We learn about such things as competition, success, failure, gender roles, cultural understanding, and our place in society through our participation in thedaily rituals of schooling.'