Appleby College - Argus Yearbook (Oakville, Ontario Canada)

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I x d ;4ctiMtce The Response of the Masters by Charles Stacey The Thursday Activity Pro- gram, in its infinite variety and splendor, w as, on the whole, well- recessed by the masters. The concept was thought to be ad- mirable, and desirable, by all, but many harboured reservations about the execution of the program. Upon being questioned about their misgivings related to the activities, the masters cited a few problem areas that cropped up in all the interviews . All agreed, for example, that the Mickey Mouse pseudo-activities, such as baseball, while being far and away the most popular and well- attended group (to the point of spectators), had to go. They felt that the activities should all be of a more academically-oriented nature. A few masters thought that the program in its present form was a waste of valuable practice time for school teams, and thought that team members, especially on the 1

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have to offer in the way of character and skill development is invaluable. People should look further than plain amusement on Thursdays- it is ultimately to their own benefit. Thus, supposing there are people who do heed the advice mentioned above and join those who have already discovered what the program can offer- where is it going? Obviously the answer is up. If we are already experiencing success, the in- clusion of those who are presently non-participators will naturally boost the level of the program ' s achievement. In a future, highly mechaniz- ed world, man ' s sole labour might merely be to kill time. The benefits of Appley ' s Thursday Ac- tivities might be well appreciated then.

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One Master felt that because of the competition of nnore relaxing and subsequently more popular ac- tivities, such as Film Club, his ac- tivity, one of a more academic and worthwhile nature was losing ground. He advo- cated that all acti- vities should be roughly equiva- lent in appeal, and therefore fun ac- tivities should be ruled out. 4 first teams, should be allowed practice times when they had a game the following day. Perhaps the best fudges of the program ' s level of participation were the masters who were on duty in the houses on Thursday evenings. These gentlemen seemed to think that very few people actually attended ac- tivities, even though on paper, everyone appeared to be involved in at least two activities. It was suggested, not only by these masters in fact, that a tighter control over the boys writh regards to attending their chosen ac- tivities should be instilled. They realized the probable effect of a negative attitude if a defaulter system were enforced for ab- senteeism, but thought it preferable to the night-off at- titude they were convinced that the boys were adopting. One master felt that because of the competition of more relaxing and subsequently more popular activities, such as the Film Club, his activity, one of a more academic and worthwhile nature was losing ground. He advocated that all activities should be roughly equivalent in appeal, and therefore fun activities should be ruled out. The masters felt that the time slots were also too small for the objectives which they were trying to reach. Longer time periods were mentioned as desirable goals for next year, which could of course entail the lowering of the number of activities that each boy coulld participate in. On the whole, however, the masters agreed that the program was well worth keeping, and although change was necessary in some areas, the afternoon activities program was worthy of this development. They thought it allowed important groups such as the choir, the prenorth boys, and the band a time period that would be othervrise unavailable, and for the rest of the school it was an opportunity for the boys and the masters to meet one another on a different plane than usual.