Students, teachers and parents are preparing to go back to school this September or, in some families, preparing to learn at home. Whichever way you are learning or teaching this year, it will sure be a little different than the year before. Education is always changing, so we wanted to feature a few of the historical education books in our collection and see how far weve come since the early 1900s.

'The Golden Rule: A Graded System of Moral Instruction' was a teachers manual used to instruct schoolchildrens behavioural skills and teach them how to be a respectful addition to society. This version of the series was printed in 1915, and was authorized by the Ontario Ministry of Education. The four main themes of learning were the intellectual life, bodily life, social life and economic life. The topics dive deeper into discussions such as self-reliance, cleanliness of the body and courtesy in public through speech and actions. The purpose of 'The Golden Rule' books was to prepare children for life after school.

'The Canadian Readers: An Education Series' was also an important part of learning. Levelled books were created and printed for various age groups; level one intended for grade one students, level two for grade two students and so forth. Each book contains poems and short stories that are the expected level for the grade.

The stories within the book is different than what we would encourage children to read today. Poetry, nature and food is emphasized throughout the book. It was important for a child to learn to read and write food names and ingredients with the hope to learn to cook, go grocery shopping and read a recipe. There are many short passages on food and how it was made. For example: Bread is made of flour; and flour is made from wheat. When the wheat is ripe it is thrashed, and then it is ground down into flour by the miller. Although not a thrilling page turner, 'The Canadian Readers' did the trick and helped children learn to read.

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Karen Albrecht is the communications officer for the Museum on Tower Hill. Her column, 'In Our Collection', appears monthly. She can be reached at communications@museumontowerhill.com.

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Opinion | We've come a long way in education since early 1900s in Parry Sound - parrysound.com