A Character of Its Own: Ashbury College, 1891-1991

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of English at the University of Prince
Edward Island.

Few would quibble at Ashbury’s splendid record in fulfilling this aim
of its founder and first headmaster, Canon G.P. Woollcombe. Its alumni
have achieved high eminence in both the public and the private sectors.
Student success in the examination room has been matched on the playing
field. The school has pioneered significant educational innovations,
notably in outdoor education, the International Baccalaureate, and the
Forum for Young Canadians.

Certain common factors have contributed to this success. Foremost has
been the high calibre of most of the headmasters: good scholars, capable
administrators, shrewd in judgment, insistent on being final arbiters of
policy. They have been fortunate in having the steadfast backing of
boards of governors—well-heeled, influential, experienced
fund-raisers. Then there has been a succession of teachers, supremely
well qualified, masters of their own subject-discipline, skilled in
teaching it. Very properly, the book is dedicated to them. They in turn
would say they had the right material in their students, well able to
profit from being extended. The Neptune Project (described in this book)
is an excellent instance of team learning. An element of good luck
should also be mentioned, as in the case of the timely arrival of
students from an evacuated English school during World War II.

The author’s background contributes much to the general readability
of the book. As first Director of Development at the school, he writes
with all the ease and authority that stem from inside knowledge. His
style is pleasantly conversational, urbane, evenhanded, without
cluttering footnotes (though he does append a short bibliography).
Interleaved in the text are some fine illustrations of Ashbury’s high
achievers, both boys and girls (the school became co-educational in
1982). The Hon. Robert Stanfield, a former pupil, contributes a succinct
foreword.

Private day and boarding schools such as Ashbury are sometimes viewed
as enclaves of privilege, bespeaking social elitism. This book will help
mute such criticism. Role models for young Canadians may be drawn from
all walks of life.