University of Toronto Schools - History

History

The University of Toronto Schools was founded in 1910 as a "practice school", also known as a laboratory school, for the University of Toronto's Faculty of Education. As originally conceived and reflected in its present name, UTS was intended to be a collection of at least two schools, one of which would enroll female students. The original plan was to recruit 200 teachers and 1200 students, but financial constraints limited the number of students to 375 boys.

The first headmaster in UTS' history was H.J. "Bull" Crawford, who also taught Classics at the school. Crawford was responsible for most administrative tasks, which, until a secretary was hired in 1921, included signing admit slips. The school won the first ever Memorial Cup in 1919, as the best junior ice hockey team in the country. They defeated the Regina Patricias in two games, by scores of 14-3 and 15-5. The school was Eastern Canadian Champions, the same year, defeating the Montreal Melvilles 8-2 in a single game playoff. Future NHL defenceman Dunc Munro played for this team. In 1925, Mike Rodden coached the UTS Rugby team to an undefeated season, culminating in the Canadian Interscholastic Championship. In 1934, A.C. Lewis succeeded John Althouse to become the third headmaster. In 1944, W.B. "Brock" MacMurray, a 1924 graduate of the school, became the fourth headmaster; his 28-year term at UTS remains the longest in school history. In 1957, the House System was established, with three of four houses named after the school's first three headmasters - Crawford, Althouse, and Lewis. The fourth house, Cody, was named after a former president of the University of Toronto.

The 1960s were a "turbulent" decade in the history of UTS. Prior to the 1960s, the Ontario Ministry of Education required seniors to complete a number of matriculation exams in order to graduate. The student who scored highest in his or her exams province-wide would be awarded the Prince of Wales Scholarship; during the matriculation era, UTS students won thirteen Prince of Wales Scholarships. Although matriculation exams would eventually be abolished in the 1960s, UTS students had been calling for change since the late 1930s in the form of valedictory addresses and protests. Addresses by Mark Czarnecki and Richard Reoch in 1963 and 1966, respectively, targeted the tendency for matriculations to reduce "a tangible desire for knowledge", producing instead "a mind that cannot think for itself". In 1967, Ian Morrison's valedictory address lambasted a number of teachers and administrators who had been responsible for rigidly holding UTS to its past. The speech was not published in The Twig the following year, but was still circulated among students. Discontent with the school's inability to reform climaxed in the "Protest for Nothing" in May 1969, which was led by Brian Blugerman, Michael Eccles, Paul Eprile and David Glennie. Unlike most protests, the placards that the protesters held were blank; when headmaster MacMurray asked for their demands, a student famously showed him a blank sheet of paper and stated, "This is a list of our demands." The protest was front page news in Toronto newspapers and was widely reported in the U.S. media, including the New York Times. It was the first (and perhaps only) time that UTS was the subject of such wide public attention.

At the turn of the decade, UTS developed a "New Program", which focused on completing subjects ("units") for graduation instead of matriculations. The administration also agreed to allow students to complete their secondary school requirements in 4 years instead of 5, an advantage that was enjoyed until the 2003 double cohort. The Executive Council was formed in 1968 to provide a liaison between students and staff. Some of the Executive Council's first recommendations were implemented in 1969, including making Latin optional after grade 11 and introducing non-numerical grades for Arts and Music courses. In addition to academics, certain aspects of the school's extracurricular traditions were gradually being phased out. In 1966, participation in the Cadet Corps, which had been a bastion of UTS tradition, became optional; eventually, the Corps was discontinued. Change was also evident in the school's teaching staff: in the 1960s alone, 35 new teachers were hired, compared to only 15 hirings during the 1950s.

Don Gutteridge had originally arrived in 1962 at MacMurray's request, and had taught Grade 13 English. In 1972, Gutteridge succeeded MacMurray. Although he was the school's fifth headmaster, he was the first to call himself a "principal". During his tenure as the Premier of Ontario, Bill Davis came under fire for publicly funding UTS, which Liberal education critic Tom Reed called an "elitist" institution. Under pressure from the provincial government and the University of Toronto, a decision was made to admit girls into the school. Two proposals were tabled: the first involved expanding the school by maintaining the same number of incoming boys, and the second involved maintaining the class size by reducing the number of incoming boys. On January 18, 1973, the University of Toronto approved the second proposal, paving the way for a co-educational UTS the following academic year. The first two co-educational cohorts totalled 70 students; each cohort was divided into two classes of 35 students. In spite of initial concerns about the watered-down quality of UTS boys athletics, the junior girls basketball team won a city title in 1978. In order to assist families in financial need, the UTS Endowment Fund was set up in 1980; in 1989, approximately $50,000 was distributed to students in need.

In April 1993, the New Democratic government of Ontario announced the withdrawal of public funding from the school, leading to a dramatic rise in tuition costs, and prompting the mobilization of all its constituencies to make up the loss.

In 2004, UTS became an ancillary unit of the University of Toronto separate from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. The school formed its own board of directors representing alumni, parents and the university administration. The school was threatened by the TDSB (Toronto District School Board) to change the daily schedule so that the number of hours of education could meet ministry requirements. Throughout the 2009-2010 school year, the school celebrated its centennial year with the Kickoff celebration at Varsity Stadium and the Homecoming weekend to be held in the school itself. The centennial year also saw the introduction of its new school song, written by Nathalie Siah '10, the House Centennial spirit pennant, as well as the House Cup, awarding the House who collected the most points (athletic, literary, and spirit) over the school year.