Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute - Spectrum Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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Uale trtory With reluctance do we, the grade twelve students of 1953, prepare to leave our dear M.B.C.I. A painful thought is that after our departure, the school will no longer be our school. Now, when we hear it mentioned we proudly say “I go to school there too.” After we leave, we will have to say “I used to go there too.” But changes come, and it is weak¬ ness to resist them. Therefore we will leave our melancholy reflections to extend a few words to the grade twelve students of next year. Our honest desire is that you will reap as much benefit from your last year in school as we have. On this point we would like, with all the friendliness in the world, to offer a word of advice. One of our teachers used to say; “Exercise a little will-power”. And an¬ other, “Apply yourself a little.” We would like to remind you of these words in order to spurn you on when you are in danger of be¬ coming — well, shall we say, tired? We sincerely wish you success and happiness in your search for knowledge. We have shared fun and work with you, and we sincerely thank you for your friendship. We thank our teachers who have so patient¬ ly guided us, day after day. You have given us a glimpse of the infinite store of knowledge one can acquire, and there-by an urge to learn, to study has been implanted in us. You have also showed us a way of life, the Chris¬ tian way. Words cannot express our apprecia- We would also like to extend our thanks to our parents, the sc hool board, the “Unter- stiitzungsverein”, — in short to every friend of our school. We hope to prove ourselves worthy of what you have done for us. Memories of our bright golden high-school days will forever be with us and our lives will be guided by the Christian principles we have learned. Ruth Dyck. Answer to ' HalrMrtory We, the remaining students, shall strive to live up to the standards which you, the grad¬ uating class and the students before you have set. We shall try to follow your kindly given advice and hope to be your worthy successors. We are thankful, that we have been able to associate with you for another year. It was only through the generosity of those who have whole-heartedly supported our school that we have had this privilege. We pray that the Lord might reward them richly. We are thank¬ ful for the friendship we have enjoyed with you, the work and fun we have shared with you. You have with your example spurred us on to follow more closely in the footsteps of our Master. We are thankful for the teachers we are fortunate to have. They help us to become well-balanced Christian men and women who realize their duty towards God, their fellow- men, and their country. They deserve our sincerest gratitude and our whole-hearted sup¬ port. To those who will soon take leave of our school we extend our wishes for a future of achievement and success. We are certain that the principles which you have adopted in this institution will be your guide in future life. Our blessings go with you. May you always remember the happy dqys which you spent in the M.B.C.I. M. Friesen.

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Students “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wis¬ dom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7. 7

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A Good Citizen What kind of citizens do you want your children to be? This question has an obvious urgency today when the civilized world is aware ' that the shape of things to come threat¬ ens to be a shapeless ruin. The answer to the above question, I believe, lies in the field of education and the problem of whether or not religion is a necessary complement of sound learning. It must be admitted that it is the business of thfe teacher to impart and interpret ‘secular’ information. I say ‘secular’ because there is no specifically Christian, Moslem or atheistic way of teaching German composition or solv¬ ing a quadratic equation. This type of know¬ ledge is the indispensable basis of education, a necessary condition of learning how to think. This ‘secularism’ is better known as science, in its widest meaning. One must however not lose sight of the close relationship between facts and values. For teachers and therefore their students may be roughly divided into two groups, the “good old grinders” and the “Primrosepathers”. That is, children may spend years in learning Latin and French grammar without being able to read either language when they leave school. On the other hand children must be taught to be exact, (really mastering the formulas etc.) or they will fall into the danger to which the primrose path is always exposed; “knowing a little about everything, but not very much about anything.” Since students are not spong¬ es which suck up information till they reach the saturation point, the facts must needs be selective, not as ends in themselves but as means to the true end of wisdom. Children must leave school with certain standards of reference which will be their abiding possession to provide a pattern for living and a meaning for life which no later experiences will be able to annihilate. Scientific knowledge is always a means to an end because it is not directly concerned with values. It leaves man to decide what he will do with discoveries which are vast in their potentiality for good or evil and this in turn depends on man’s scale of values. A fact sufficiently attested by two world wars in one generation is that there is something myster¬ iously, radically and permanently wrong with man. Every person is strangely corrupted at the centre of his moral being, that is, in his will. This is what Paul knew as the “mystery of iniquity”. He is in a sense unfree. Paul’s tesimony in Romans vn, “the evil that I would not,that I do” is a fitting testimonial to man’s behaviour. Man needs more than in¬ tellectual, aesthetic and moral development; he needs Redemption. Although it is not the function of the teacher to preach the mystery of grace to his pupils in so many words, as they fulfill their tasks in their note books or at the blackboard, still, the best teachers are nevertheless ministers of religion. The profound and silent influence which countless teachers exercise over their children long after they have left school makes the teacher far more of a spiritual shepherd than he knows, for his scale of values will be reflected, however inarticulately, in the lives and outlook of his students. Response to the redeeming love of God, which goes to the uttermost to save the fallen world, is the vocation which illumines and crowns every vocation—notably that of the teacher. This is faith. And the world urgently needs such a faith at once universal and authoritative, by which men may live together as men, and as citizens of the Kingdom of God. Frank Klassen, Pres. Alumni Assoc.