Growing up in a family that was always on the move, Harry Giles's refuge was in books.

"I was, as they used to say, four-eyed, because I had glasses," recalls Mr. Giles, who spent his childhood in Ontario communities including Windsor, Tiverton, Inverhuron and Toronto as his father held various jobs.

Now 78, Harry Giles remembers reading so many books that he often received the strap at school for inattention. Boredom, however, was a worse enemy, he says, so even getting whacked the odd time didn't deter him from expanding his knowledge.

Today, Mr. Giles, a trained lawyer and teacher and Order of Canada recipient, is considered an education genius and a pioneer in French-immersion education in Canada.

He and his wife, his beloved "soulmate" Anna, who died of cancer in 1975, started the prestigious Toronto French School in 1962 because they were unimpressed with their own educational experiences and felt their three children should be fluent in French.

In 1989, Mr. Giles founded the Giles School aiming to give every child a chance to thrive, no matter what his or her academic or financial background.

Known for his outspoken views on how to fix the public education system, he believes in using public funds for private education; giving students eight hours of learning daily, compared with the five hours commonplace in Canadian schools; boosting the training credentials of certain teachers; and holding parents accountable for sending problem children to school.

Question: How were you as a child?

Answer: I was a bit of a weirdo — one of these kids who knows everything, and it turned out they'd tested me when I was very young and I came out with an IQ of 195. I just assimilated things faster than anybody else — at that time, anyway. But I was a weirdo as far as everybody else was concerned.

The Giles School's program is built on child-guidance philosophies such as the Adlerian method, which emphasizes mutual respect between parents and their children, and encouraging and showing faith in children while raising them in secure environments. What do you feel is the biggest obstacle to a child's learning?

Insecurity. They need to be loved. That's why we talk about love all the time. Give children emotional security and out of that security comes healing. You have to give limits to children so they can be emotionally secure. And if the teacher is a great teacher, he or she will become a great student.

How does your school help foster feelings of security and a desire to achieve?

We believe in things like classroom management, having a classroom democracy, with the agenda decided by the children, and the chairman of the group is not the teacher — it's a child. And the children talk about their problems, without the teacher interfering. In doing this, you're likely to learn all kinds of things — about the fact some girls are being bullied by others in the washroom, which you wouldn't normally know. … It gives us a means of better protecting the children's emotions and emotional security.

What is the biggest misconception the public has of private schools?

They think that we cream off the best students and their parents are all wealthy. And that's crap. Many of our parents, I don't know how they do it. They must live on crackers — no cottages, no homes, no nothing. Provincial funding is a necessary thing, because these people are being abused, forced into ... a public system that is failing these kids.

What is the biggest advantage private schools have over public schools?

I think we have better teachers; I'm not saying there aren't good teachers in the public system, but our teachers aren't qualified in the Ontario way and that's an enormous advantage, because teacher colleges should all be closed, as far as I'm concerned. They're not effective, they create problems for the kids. We need to do much better in every area if the children are genuinely to benefit.

What subjects are integral in a good education?

You have to take everything. Languages are wonderful for giving you an understanding of other cultures; I think the beauty of mathematics, if learned in the right way, is something which is an enormous advantage. …

Science is critically important, too. China now graduates 200,000 engineers every year, the U.S. graduates 60,000 engineers every year, and Canada is somewhat analogous. There was a time 15 years ago when there were jobs for the unskilled. There aren't any more.

Giles School students start full days of schooling and French immersion at age 2 1/2, and must take either Mandarin or Japanese in Grade 1. Do you feel such a stringent curriculum is making them grow up too fast?

Many people would say, "Aren't you abusing those little children?" The answer is no. We're saving them from being bored. Young children are incredible, and like sponges, and they stay incredible unless you bore them out of their minds. And that's an important part of the intellectual success that we've had with the children. …

By learning in Japanese or Mandarin, you introduce a language into a new area of the brain which is a further developmental component with the French immersion.

What are your visions for education in Canada?

I had always hoped that we would be able to change public education and to create the opportunity for all children to benefit from [the Giles School's] type of learning. Economically if we don't do that, our society will die.

We have lots of natural resources, but we have to have people who think and who can understand.

I sometimes make the point that there's no point having a state room on the Titanic — that's what is happening in Canada now.

Special to The Globe and Mail