Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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THE .-1 SHI? L'Rl.Al .Y 'Q mm, aw, 'N I 'fy ' sf Xlr. Snelgrove, Dr. MacDonald, Xlr. Powell, Dr. Lowe. Upper Canada College, St. Andrews College, Pickering College, The Grove, Lakelield, Sedbergh School, and Bishops College School. The Committee was indeed fortunate to welcome as guest speakers Dr. Percy Lowe, Head of the Xlathematics Department at RNIC, and Dr. Keith XlacDonald, Director of Low Temperature Research Division at NRC and Head of the Department of Physics at Ottawa University. Dr. Lowe, from his extensive knowledge of the standards in secondary education of all 10 provinces, described the preparation needed, not only in Xlathematics but also in Science, for a successful assault on the curriculum of the Service Colleges. He left us with the impression that the educational standards in Ontario were as good as any in the Dominion, but suggested that there was some danger that standards might be going down while the marks seemed to be going up. He mentioned also that there had been a reduction in the proportion of candidates for the Service Colleges from the Independent Schools, this might be due in part to the present R.O.T.P. requirement. He stressed that precision in the use of language was vitally important for success in Mathematics and Science, and suggested that teachers them- selves were not always guiltless in this regard. Dr. MacDonald declared that in his experience many students. even in honours work, did not seem these days to know their fundamentals - units, operations, methods - at all thoroughly, consequently they were always looking for help. In other words, they did not seem to

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I I I 4? li 4 4 5 I: 1 I I gs ll 5 2 I 1 s I 22 THE ASHBURIAN ed the victory. Both sides of the issue were well presented, but the tide was turned in favour of the winners by the rebuttal speech by Harvey, whose charges against the cause of Britain and France in their joint action at Suez were inadequately refuted by Hanley of Bishop's in his counter rebuttal. Father O'Connor announced the judges' decision and compli- mented both teams on their debating techniques. POETRY READING CONTEST HE poetry reading, held in the School Chapel on Sunday, May 5th again brought out a gratifying number of contestants. Each was required to read three numbers: a set piece, a selection of his own choosing, and a sight piece. Mr. Hornyansky of the English Department at Carleton College, was kind enough to act as adjudicator and gave the boys a most help- ful and interesting address in his summing up of their respective per- formances. Upon request he also read a short lyric by his own pen. The winners were: Senior: Hutcheon, Intermediates: Rowe, juniors: Campbell I. PUBLIC SPEAKING CDNTEST HE contest was held in Rhodes Hall on Sunday, April 28th and produced a number of interesting and well thought out speeches. Chamard and Gale were the competitors in the Senior category, Noel- Bentley and Rowe, Intermediates, and Kennedy of the juniors. The judges, Messrs. D. L. Polk and A. B. Belcher had difficulty in selecting a winner from the excellent speeches by Chamard C Alu- minium in Canadawl and Gale C The Educational Problemvj but finally awarded the palm to the latter by virtue of the ease and Huency of his technique. Rowe chose as his topic The Human Heart , Noel-Bentley l ,dueation in the Soviet Union , and Kennedy, the sole competitor from the junior School, spoke on the Hawaiian Islands. The judges commended all five contestants for their interest and enthusiasm in preparing speeches and for their creditable performances in the competition. CGNEERENCES MATHEMATICS .Xsliliury College was this year host to the Nlathematics Committee of the lleadinasters' Association of Independent Schools. Represented were: Bishop Ridley College, llillheld School, Appleby College, I i 4 v l l 4 v I

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24 THE ASHBURIAN be certain or definite about anything. Like Dr. Lowe, he also stressed the importance of a thorough understanding of the language. The delegates were guests of the Headmaster at a reception before luncheon in Symington Hall. After lunch there was a short business meeting during which Mr. G. G. Steel of Hillfield School was unanimously elected President for the coming year. After the meeting the group proceeded to the National Research Council where, under the guidance of Dr. Kohr, several active re- search projects including cosmic ray investigation, low temperature techniques, thermometer calibration, and sub-microscopic biology work were demonstrated. It was the unanimous opinion of the delegates that the whole day proved to be a most rewarding experience. ENGLISH At a conference of the Teachers of English at Independent Schools, held at Hilliield School, Hamilton, on Easter Monday, Ash- buryis Department of English was represented by Mr. Belcher and the Rev. E. G. Kettleborough. At this meeting thirteen representatives from nine Independent Schools were in attendance, with Mr. N. D. Lewis of Hillfield pre- siding as chairman, and to him our thanks are extended. The morning assembly was addressed by Dr. VVilds of McMaster University. VVithout attempting a detailed analysis in this report, we may say that his sensitive appreciation of the colour, flavour, sound and power of words, and his hints as to how this appreciation might be conveyed by teacher to pupil were stimulating in the extreme. In the afternoon the speaker was Mr. Nichols, Vice-President and publisher of the Hamilton Spectator. It was interesting to note that Mr. Nichols' practical, newspaper man's approach paralleled the academic attitude of Professor VVilds when he stressed the necessity for truth, strength and economy of words. If there is a moral to be drawn from this it might be: the music of the spheres and the music of the circulation are less than worlds apart. ARMY ln May of this year, the representatives of several schools were invited to visit R.M.C., C.A.S.C., and Corps Schools at Kingston. The purpose of the visit was that the representatives should be given a concrete picture of the type of training provided by the Army under R.O.T.P. and S.A.P., also an idea of the material ad- vantages orfered to the candidates.