I know that prior to the creation of CEGEPs Quebec had “classical colleges” for secondary education and that they were single sex. Where they really focused on the classic and Catholic theology? Did male and female students study the same curriculum (at different schools)? Were there secular teachers or were they all clerics? And was a “family institute”?
I’m far too young to remember classical colleges, so I did an Internet search, and found this. Apparently they did focus on classics, theology and philosophy, and were the main access way to university at the time. I believe the (less numerous) classical colleges for women had a similar curriculum, but since these schools were private schools and existed before the creation of the Quebec Ministry of Education, I wouldn’t be surprised if the curriculum varied from school to school.
As for family institutes (instituts familiaux), I assumed that they had something to do with teaching “home economics” to young women, and a quick search leads me to believe that I am right.
If someone knows more about this than I, I invite them to say so. I can also try to ask some of the professors at my department, there are a few of them who probably went to a classical college.
I went to a collège classique. I was in the last group that went through the cycle (1968-1973) and it was a light version of the true classique curriculum. For example, we had Latin for four years, but Greek and philosophy had been dropped from the curriculum. As for teachers, we had a mix of clerical and secular teachers and we didn’t go co-ed until 1970 when we absorbed another school that was co-ed.