At the turn of the 19th century, about 470 school districts existed in Prince Edward Island, each with its own small school. The quality of education was dependent on the teacher, with the Province setting the curriculum that students studied. PEI was largely agricultural at the time, but education – especially higher education – was largely geared to students who wanted to enter the professions, such as law, medicine, and education. Little was taught that would be helpful for students who decided to remain in farming and agriculture.

The Macdonald Consolidated School was an experiment in two ways. First, it was a larger school that provided education for students from several districts. Secondly, the school’s curriculum included additional practical training that would be useful for rural students: gardening, household science, manual training, and agriculture, for instance.

Small school districts were set up so that students could walk to school. Creating a bigger school district that covered a larger area meant that the school was too far away for all students to walk. This photograph shows an early “schoolbus.” What are the differences between this schoolbus and today’s schoolbuses? Note the decoration of the Macdonald schoolbus, the harness used for the horse, and the number of students crowded into it!

Macdonald Consolidated School Horse-drawn Schoolbus
PARO, Acc3466/HF73.354.2

Further Reading:
Darin MacKinnon. “Master for Service: The Macdonald Consolidated School, 1905-1912.” Island Magazine.