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

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To the Graduating Students of the Class of ' 62: Within the next few months the majority of the members of this class will have taken their places as educators in various communities. The parents of your pupils will have a perfect right to expect you to be able to discuss education in an intelligent manner. What does the term ' education ' mean to you? What abilities do you think an educated person should possess? Philosophers from ancient times to the present day have advanced vastly different answers to these questions. Three of those most frequently quoted are Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Each had his definite idea of what the aims of education should be and they are not exactly in accord. The main interest of the teaching of Socrates was the moral interest. He refused to accept any belief or practice because it had the support of custom. To him ' man was the measure of all things. ' He set forth the maxim ' Know thyself as the all-sufficient summary of the aims of education. Plato held that the chief aim of education was to prepare each individual to take his proper place in the society of which he must necessarily be a part. Aristotle believed that the chief aim of education should be the development of virtue. Ethics played a large part in his thinking. Education should make possible what he chose to call the good life. It seems to me that if the aims of these three philosophers were combined the result would be a type of education which could very well satisfy the needs of to-day. If one could bring a background of relevant knowledge to bear upon a prob- lem, could assemble pertinent data, recognize relationships and properly assess the values involved and then arrive at a sound judgement, I would regard that person as one who might rightfully be called ' educated. ' L. B. Hyde 6

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The Principal It cannot be said too often that little things count. We, individuals as well as corporations, are judged by our behaviour, not in great crises, but in minor adjustments of daily life. This quotation came to me to-day in a news letter addressed to business tycoons. I thought how true it is of that work of teaching which is your career and mine. There comes to my mind one of my Latin masters, long after I have forgotten most of my Virgil and Horace, chiefly because of one thing. One night after I had suffered a trifling mishap in gym he went a long way out of his way to drive me home. Another of my teachers of those days had read some of my attempts at verse. One afternoon he caught me loitering between classes, and prodded me with, Hurry up, Tennyson! That got me moving, but after forty vears it is now the only thing I can recall about a man who taught me for a whole term. And, although I am sure it is no loss to poetry, it cured me of trying to write verse. On the other hand I can remember another teacher of still earlier days only because of the way her face lighted and her voice warmed when she read poetry to us children. Then there is the teacher whom I can summon back only because of the trick her eyes had of wandering away and growing blank when we children tried to share with her some six-year-old confidence. We didn ' t keep on trying to share. Again there was the retired school man whom I had almost forgotten, and whom I was sure had forgotten me. Years after I left his classes I got a kindly note from him. He had seen some minor article of mine in a minor magazine. So many of our pictures of our own childhood teachers seem to be the trivial ones. There was the lady who wore only one dress all winter, and that a drab brown one. There was the man who took our pack of urchins into the bush one Saturday and awakened in us our first insight into nature in springtime. There was the lady who smiled so genuinely whenever she met us on the street, the other one who came to see one during a prolonged childhood illness with a little thoughtful gift, and the one who every day in the school year had a fresh flower on her desk. There was the lady sergeant-major who barked, and the lovely lady whose voice was music. All these random memories of the men and women who taught me! None of these memories in the main stream of the work of the educator. But together they helped form in the mind of a boy his image of formal education. You too have similiar memories; and those whom you teach will remember you, if they remember you at all, in much the same ways. This is not to say that the trees are more important than the woods,- but it is to say that one s picture of the woods is largely that of certain trees that stood out from others. Perhaps Wordsworth was not too wide of the mark when he spoke of That best portion of a good man ' s life, — His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love. F. C. Biehl 5

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STUDENT PARLIAMENT Front: M. Harrison, G. Smith, E. Polachok, D. Hern, M. Mollicone. Center: H. Millitz, G, Witherden, Mr. Biehl, W. Price, C. Ball, B. Power, J. Murphy, Mr. Hyde, R. Norris. Back: R. McRae, T. Carless, N. Wilson, D. Young, J. Koop, E. Shaver, R. Corry, P Shively, R. Brown, G. Sass, C. Brown, J. Kennedy, L. Eady. We are entering a noble and enriching profession, it is one that seeks to broaden our experiences. The numerous problems that we will meet in our complex society will be a challenge to all of us. Only through persistent and purposive efforts, combined with methods and knowledge we have learned, shall our objectives be reached. Our task shall not be light. It shall demand continued and difficult work, kindness, praise and love — but above all under- standing. Joseph Murphy, Prime Minister, Student Parliament 7