Calgary Normal School - Chinook Yearbook (Calgary, Alberta Canada)

Page 25 text:

A V A S custodians of the reputation of the ‘kid line’ on the Normal School staff, we feel very happy that our play during this initial year has met V, with the approval of that most critical of audiences, a student body. The inspiration of your fine spirit of cooperation has made it very easy for us to give of our best, and has made every moment of our association a joyous ex¬ perience. We can never hope to work with a finer group of young people than is to be found in the class of 1940, and it is our sincere desire that the friendly and cordial relations established during the past months shall not be terminated by the mere fact of graduation. To the class of 1940 we extend our most sincere wishes for success in the teaching profession, and for rich and joyous living during the years to come. W. D. McDOUGALL. T. Gl. FINN. Page twenty-one

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OAhl GA novAs § ljnul He ®t|htk? f EOPLE go crazy thinking — it’s not a very safe thing to do. I know because I tried it one day and before the classes were out at noon my mental state was not the least bit flattering to a prospective teacher. To explain more fully: I set out for school in the morning, a bit fearful over an assignment in art which was two days overdue. I came to Mr. Hutton with it. “That piece should have been in here the day before yesterday,” he told me (among other things). I nodded meekjy. “Well!” lie exclaimed, at once dismissing my case and calling on the next Normal sinner. As I left the office in 201 I began to think. The day before yesterday — why, that’s today! Before means “in front of” doesn’t it? Time goes forward, and certainly today is in front of yesterday in the progression of time. Mr. Hutton wanted the assignment in two days ago, and yet what he said meant the assignment was to be handed in today. Then classes began. This time it was Miss Fisher. She wanted some primers handed in the day after tomorrow. Again I began to think. “After,” that means “behind” or “later.” The day later than tomorrow:—! That’s today too! Today has come and gone before tomorrow ever gets here. Certainly tomorrow is far ahead of today. That makes today the day after tomorrow. But, Miss Fisher meant two days from now, and that’s what the day after tomorrow is supposed to mean. But it doesn’t, if you think. Psychology with Dr. Coffin came next. Dn Coffin pushed the desk to one side. “Any questions this morning?” he asked the class. And that started me thinking again. If we ask a question that shows we are seeking knowledge. If we are seeking know¬ ledge, we lack knowledge. If we lack knowledge, we lack intelligence. Imbeciles and morons lack intelligence. Was Dr. Coffin trying to find out if there were any imbeciles and morons in the class ? I kept my hands tightly to myself. Then I noticed some others’ hands go up — Gold¬ ring’s, Fisher’s, Heibert’s, and some more. Dr. Coffin grinned, satisfied. Was he thinking the same as I was? Or was he thinking? Maybe he knew better than to think. A question came up. Dr. Coffin asked if anyone in the class could answer it. The answer called for a diagram on the blackboard. Mr. Sillito volunteered his services. As I watched Mr. Sillito rise from his seat another thought came to me. What a world we live in if we think! Here Mr. Sillito was getting off his chair— a thing which no one can do. For if a person gets off his chair, he is not on it. And if he is not on it, how can he get off it? By this time I was beginning to feel quite miserable. I had come to Normal to think, but if things were to be so ridiculous when one thought, then I decided it would be better not to think. Yet a person has to think in order to get anywhere. May as well be dead if you can’t think. Dead — I began to think again. To die we must have a material body. How do we know we have such a thing? We have five external senses. You can feel, see, hear, touch, and smell things about you. Ami you think because of that, they, and you, really exist? Without your consciousness you would be aware of none of these sensations, for out¬ side your consciousness nothing exists. Your body, your brain, your sensations, they all exist only in so far as you are conscious, which consciousness enables you to believe in their reality. The individual is not body and life; the individual is only consciousness. And so I came to the conclusion that I did not even exist. Even though I was sitting there in the psychology class, I was not there! I was not anywhere, I was just some sort of a consciousness floating about. Definitely, I say we shouldn’t think! And anyway why be bothered? Professor Brett of Toronto has discovered that people can be taught 17% faster while asleep. So let’s all go to sleep and let the instructors go to work. — S. SMEDSTAD, Class A. Page twenty-three