London Normal School - Spectrum Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

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suggestions from the minister of education s during my long career in education I spent thirteen years in teacher-training, I know- very well the problems encountered by the young men and the young women in the Normal Schools of Ontario. Indeed, for more than thirty years I have visited Normal Schools once a year and have talked- with staffs and students about the trends in education. You who are now enrolled in the Normal Schools of this Province have been wise in your choice of a profession and fortunate in the conditions under which you commence your teaching careers, for teachers are scarce in Ontario and will be scarcer in the near future. This does not mean that you can be complacent about your chosen work. On the other hand, it means that you must give the best you have in energy, in scholarship, in technique, in such a way that you will make a great success of your classroom duties. Let me suggest that a motto for teachers during the present turmoil might very well be a Biblical expression — Hold fast that which is good . Do not adopt any change in educational methods, or any educational procedure, which has not been thoroughly proved to be beneficial. For example, there is no substitute for ability to speak and to write good English, nor is there any substitute for accurate skill in arithmetical computation. Your pupils must be taught to read well and to write well and they must also be taught to be good Canadian citizens who know what democracy means and who know what a privilege it is to be free people in a free country. For these fundamentals there are no substitutes and you really must, if you hope to succeed, devote a great deal of attention to the suggestions I have made. You will find, as the years go on, that there is no satisfaction so real and so lasting as that which comes from worthwhile achievement and that means that we must all work hard. Pupils in our schools like hard work, as you will soon find, and there is no danger in competition in schools. Surely boys and girls must learn to work hard and must learn to enjoy competition, because as soon as they leave school they encounter both and they must be prepared for active lives. If you see that your pupils are well prepared for the positions they occupy when they leave school, and, if you make sure that they have been taught loyalty to Queen and country as well as loyalty to God and to their parents, you will have rendered praiseworthy public service and you will have done a great deal to develop the Province of Ontario and the Dominion of Canada. My cordial good wishes go with you as you take up your new duties next September. W. J. DUNLOP, Minister of Education.

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dedication the memory of his beloved Majesty King George VI, Whose qualities of courage, Faith and steadfastness Won for him The love, and confidence Of his subjects, the world over, The Students of London Normal School, With heartfelt sadness, Respectfully dedicate The Spectrum, 1952. PAX SECUM The heavy hand of Death in reaching down Has plucked a King from out our troubled sphere; Nobility his strength, his life sincere, Humanity his claim to long renown. The edifice of Freedom, slowly laid, Has lost a pillar from its crumbling wall — His choice, the stern demands of duty ' s ca ll, His self, expended in the choice he made. We shall not soon forget the lesson learned From him, who served along the way he trod, Who put his hand into the hand of God, Assured that darkest paths would be discerned. Rest be to him whose death we mourn so much Who walked a King, nor lost the common touch. — G. A. DOBRINDT.

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on to the sea art of the District of Parry Sound in Northern Ontario I know well. Scattered through the area are many lakes, each with its own peculiar characteristics. One has crystal clear water with rocky shores rising precipitously to a great heigh t; one is dark and sluggish, deeply shadowed by pines and frequented only by overly-zealous fishermen; and one is really not a lake at all, merely a widening of a river into an overgrown pond fringed with weeds where black bass lurk. These and many others are tied to each other by a river known by the rhythmical Indian name Magnetawan. On occasion, I have sought out the sources of the stream and have discovered clear cool springs rising in the hills. Eventually, the lakes and their tributaries unite to form a great body of water flowing into Georgian Bay and on to the sea. As students your days have been spent on the waters of a relatively quiet lake. But soon as classroom teachers you will enter upon the full flood of your professional life. May you do so with zest and in a spirit of high adventure. With eager eyes, boys and girls in town and country are looking to you and your teaching for the vision and courage which may enable them, in turn, to launch themselves undaunted on the deeper currents of life. They must not look in vain. My best wishes go with you as you take up your responsibilities next September in the schools of Ontario. F. S. RIVERS DIRECTOR OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING.