author
Aletta E. Marty
A pioneering Canadian educator, reformer, and writer, she helped shape how literature and oral reading were taught in Ontario schools. Her best-known work, The Ontario High School Reader, reflects a lifelong commitment to public education and civic life.
1 Audiobook
The Ontario High School Reader
by Aletta E. Marty
About the author
Aletta E. Marty was a Canadian educator and author remembered for her influence on education reform in Ontario. Queen’s University describes her as a pioneering force in Canadian education and notes that she received an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1919, after earning her MA there in 1894.
She is best known to readers today for The Ontario High School Reader, an anthology created for high school students, and for other work connected to teaching oral reading and literature. Her writing grew out of practical classroom aims, bringing together literary selections and speaking exercises meant to help students read clearly, think carefully, and engage with public life.
Archival records also show the lasting respect she earned in academic circles, including a painted portrait presented to Queen’s University in 1949. Even in brief glimpses from university and archive sources, she comes across as someone who saw education not just as instruction, but as a public service.