Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

Page 12 text:

H01 THE ASHBURIAN of self-government thot school-boys con be given. lt is not very much, prefects oct under the orders ond occording to the policy of the mosters. They ore chosen by the mosters, ond the greoter moss of school-boys ore left with no voice in their fote ot oll, On the other hond, too much freedom must not be given to boys. l-lumons ore noturolly lozy, ond this is especiolly true of boys. So the pupils in o school do need some sort of supervision to keep the system running smoothly. Whot is needed is o prefect system with further, but not complete, seporo- tion from the control of odults ond some body representing the rest of the school -some sort of students' council thot could decide whot policy the prefects were to pursue, thot could review comploints ond suggestions ond poss on the more reosonoble ones to the l-leodmoster, ond thot could serve os o nucleus round which the vorious octivities of the school could form-plonning of societies, excursions, etc. :,: :,: :,: Self-government in o school is o highly dongerous thing to meddle with. lt is common knowledge thot mojor politicol upheovols ond revolutions olwoys occur in o country not when the period of suppression is ot its height, but when reforms ore mode. As soon os o repressed people feel the iron hond slockening they ore reody to put it off foster, The some could be true of o school, not thot the pupils ore suppressed, but once they ore encouroged to think of things they think ore wrong with the school, their comploints will come in for foster thon they ore justified. As on educoting system, the formotion of something like o students' council in o school is highly to be commended. lt teoches the pupils o number of things. lt teoches them self-expression. lf the stoff represented ore owe-inspiring enough, it con teoch toct ond diplomocy in o difficult subejct. It shows the pupils thot the orgonizotion of o school is not just writing out o set of rules ond thot there is o lot of orgonizing to be done. The very thought of such o system omong boys is indeed o dongerous one. lf we could be sure thot every boy would think ond do his job such o system would be excellent, but the overoge boy is inclined to think in terms of personol friendship rother thon for the betterment of the institution. .i. .-. -1, .,. .,. .,. One of the chorocteristics of the British people, is thot they stubbornly refuse to be oppressed in ony woy whotsoever by on outocrotic government, but they will submit to the greotest hordships willingly, if they know thot their own representotives hove opproved them. Likewise in o school, boys should be given the reosons for oll the mony rules, ond there should be on ossembly of boys to discuss ond propose them. V An importont function of this ossembly, would be the question period, in which prefects ond members of the stoff would be osked questions concerning seemingly pointless or unfoir rules ond octions, which they moy hove mode. The ossembly would hove little or no reol power, but the very foct thot they would hove to onswer for their deeds, ond give sensible reosons for rules, before the

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I I s.-. A - 'TETI ' 11. L I. i It .-Is- THE ASHBURIAN l9l VALEDICTORY IG-iven by L. I-I. Chapman, I-lead Prefect, at the closingi When I arrived here four years ago, little did I dream, except in my wildest nightmares, that one doy I would be standing on this platform as valedictorian. Now that I om here I am indeed honoured In July l94O I stepped off the gangplank of the Duchess of Richmond, a bewildered schoolboy in shorts expecting at any moment to hear the worcry of the redskins. Since then some of this bewilderment has gone and I have come to regard Canada as my second home, and when I return to England this summer one of the happiest chapters of my life will have ended. Arriving from Abinger, an English prep school, we found that the atmos- phere of Ashbury moderated this great change, for here we found a scholastic system In many ways similar to that of England. As for myself, whilst I have been in Canada I have grown both in mind and body and know that these most important years of my life have most certainly not been wasted, and I feel sure that I am speaking for the other Abinger boys when I soy that the kindness and help we have received here in Canada have played an exceedingly important part in the development of our characters. Of those who are leaving Ashbury this year some will be entering the Forces, others going to places of higher learning, but no matter what course we may follow, we all have a great duty ahead of us. .Ashbury has well pre- pared us for the trials that will follow this war, the training which we have received both on the playing fields and in the class-rooms will help us to play Our part in the peace to come. But now I must say farewelli farewell to Canada, farewell to Ashbury, and to you, Mr, Archdole, who together with Mr. Harrison have done so much for us in the absence of our parents. And to end I would like to quote from one of your young Canadian poets: If we must part, let this our parting be, Peaceful as break the elonds in sunny skies, And let it be, before all mortal eyes. As smooth as part the sn-ells upon the sea. iq-Q-31 SELF-GCVERNMENT IN SCHOOLS Below we print extracts from essays on the above topic. by diferent authors. We take no responsibility for the opinions ex- pressed. Self-government in schools is desirable because of the development of a sense of responsibility. Whatever your station in life, you must be able to give orders, as well as to obey, to organise as well as to be organised. The prefect system is an application of this, but the question is whether it is the maximum

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