Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne of Avonlea Illustrated Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne of Avonlea is a 1909 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (published as L. M. Montgomery). Montgomery was brought up with a traditional Scots Presbyterian education.[1] John Knox's famous dictum "A school in every village, a college in every town" had been embraced by the Presbyterian church, and Montgomery was brought up in a culture that greatly valued education.[2] At the same time, Montgomery's education had been extremely disciplinarian.[3] Montgomery had followed the theories of educational reformers like John Dewey, and this tension between traditional education vs. the new theories was reflected in Anne of Avonlea as Anne spends much time arguing about the merits of whipping students. vs persuasion as teaching methods.[4] In the book, Anne has her students write essays about their thoughts and feelings in place of rote learning.