Galt Collegiate Institute and Vocational School - Specula Galtonia Yearbook (Galt, Ontario Canada)

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SPECULA GALTONIA 17 to scholastic excellence candidates should have given proof of proficiency in manly sports. The ancient Greeks recognized the value of athletic training to ensure an all-round development. In addressing the Hi-Y Club of this school, our principal, Mr. Wholton, referred to an investigation conducted recently in one of the larger col- legiates with a View to clearing up this vexed point. From the data avail- able, the conclusion was reached that distinction in athletics neither connoted superior aptitude for academic work nor the reverse. And with this somewhat neutral finding, we are content to leave the issue. Ak! An April Mom By WREATHA LAING Hail to thee, O bright-eyed April, With thy robes of flowing green! Welcome to our vast Dominion, Here to reign as vernal queen! Soon the sweetly scented violets, Like myriad pools of amethyst, And the modest white alyssum Will be peeping from their nests. And the woodland rills will quicken, As thy fairy hand beats time, And they feel thy breath upon them Witching, subtle, sweet, sublime. Now the winged red-bird greets us From his morning bath of dew, And the robin's throat is swelling Anthems old, yet ever new. Telling o'er the same sweet story He has often told before, Spreading joy to all who greet him, Thrilling gladness now in store. Now the dreamy pond-pipe wakens From his long and peaceful sleep, To bid his bandsmen join the chorus- A joyous April morn to greet. Above, beneath, yes, all around, All Nature stirs in life new-born, And, decked in raiment freshly donned, Rises to greet an April morn.

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16 SPECULA GALTONIA a royal seal of pleasure or displeasure-the SPECULA GALTONIA has been marked for reward. It remains for us who stand on sacred ground to approve our worthiness of so high favour. iam tempus agi res nec tantis mora prodigiis. AES The ancient Greeks were renowned for their experiments Advantages in democracy. It is where their teachings have taken of Sfudgnt root that government of the people, by the people, and for the people has been established. The majority of nations, provinces, states and communities enjoy a measure of self-government. Collegiates, high schools and colleges, then, as distinct communities playing an important part in the development of the nation, should have self-government. The best instrument to this end is the Student Council. Government Each and every citizen of Canada has a voice in the government through his elected representative. The collegiate students of to-day are the men and women of to-morrow and they should be rendered familiar with parliamentary procedure and the like in their youth. Only thus will they become capable of discharging their responsibilities in this growing Dominion. Student councils, conducted with a rigid regard for proper procedure, will furnish invaluable experience. Here will be a field for extempore speaking and debating that should be of inestimable value in later years. Questions of interest to the student body as a whole could here be threshed out. Apart from the gain to the individual student in the acquisition of confidence and a platform presence, the school itself would find its reputation enhanced. Such a council would in its operation promote closer relations between staff and students, en- courage better feeling, adjust disputes amicably, and serve as a clearing house for student opinion. Kms There has been some difference of opinion expressed in Mens Sana this province of late on the relative value of athletics in in Corporg high school activities. Some maintain that athletics constitute an integral part of the curriculum, while there are those who trace a decline in scholarship to over- emphasis upon inter-school games. Sana It is significant that the late Cecil Rhodes, in establishing the fund which enables students of the overseas dominions and the United States to continue their studies at Oxford, laid down the condition that in addition

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18 SPECULA GALTONIA Proposed Vocational Addition By C. E. APPLEYARD IN CE the opening of the vocational departments of our School some four years ago all of the science taught in these departments has been confined, in so far as practical experimental work goes, to those periods during which the Collegiate laboratories are not being used by Collegiate classes. This so cramped the work of the science teachers in the Vocation- al School that the Department of Education has declined to approve this work unless accommodation, independent of the Collegiate department, be provided for it. The application of science to business and industry is becoming so marked that it is necessary that pupils entering these voca- tions be grounded in such subjects as solidly as possible. It is now proposed to build a third story above the wood-shop which will house a well equipped laboratory and also provide the extra class-room which will be necessitated by the organization of part-time classes September next. This addition is to be about 60 feet long and 40 feet wide, and it is hoped that it will be ready for use by September. The north wall will be of limestone, carrying out the architectural design of the present north- west wing, while the west and south walls will probably be of the steel-and- concrete factory construction which may be seen in the present machine- shop and wood-shop. Access to the new rooms will be effected by contin- uing the corridor leading to the present typewriting-room, as shown on the accompanying plan. The laboratory will serve for physics and chemistry of the Technical and Home Economics Departments, and possibly bacteriology in the latter department, and will also provide for physiography in the Commercial Department. There are to be nine desks, each 6 feet by 315 feet, which will accommodate 36 pupils. Each desk will have six drawers, two cup- boards, a lead sink and connections for water, gas and electricity. The tops of the desks will be acid-proof. The electrical wires to the desks will be brought from the electrical laboratory, Room '74, so that either 110 or 220 volts A.C. or 5-40 volts D.C. may be had at each desk. A magneto telephone system between these two rooms has been planned both for practice in telephone wiring and installa- tion and to make possible quicker changes in the power supply from the electrical laboratory. 'The instructor's desk is to be on a platform some 16 inches high, with a long blackboard behind it, an arrangement somewhat similar to that found in the present chemical laboratory. Instead of having hoods upon each desk, the top of the desk will be left clear for the work in physics, but fume cupboards will be installed at the south side ofthe laboratory which will be furnished with vents to the outside. The chemical reagents, glassware and other supplies will be kept in a room in the north-west corner, and along the north wall will extend a balance room large enough to contain nine good balances for the finer work. Both of these two small rooms will be partitioned off with iron plate and glass, similar to the partitions which enclose the tool room and finish- ing room in the wood-shop.