North Bay Teachers College - Polaris Yearbook (North Bay, Ontario Canada)

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The dreaded order came. Canada, you're on the wheel! A jolt of fear blasted me from head to toe. As I desperately scrambled for my scattered wits, I realized with a numbing horror that we were passing through the Welland Canal. It seemed only three feet wide! Canada, get up on the bridge! O.K. I said. I'm going. Stumbling as if in a trance I climbed up to the bridge, muttering to myself, Starboard is right, port is left. I stepped behind the wheel, I clamped my sweating hands to the spokes and gazed down the canal. That narrow, water-filled, V-shaped notch of concrete appeared to be scarcely wide enough for a rowboat, Then I noticed a freighter heading toward us. I stifled a cry in my throat. My body was rigid. Sweat ran into my eyes. This was a nightmare! Port a little, ordered the Captain. I hesitated, my mind clicked over, Port is left. I nudged the wheel over to the left. Port a little more, repeated the Captain. I nudged the wheel slightly more to the left. Steady on said the Captain. Holding the wheel to port for a few seconds I let it slip back to the centre position. I was intensely aware of the ponderous bulk of the ship beneath me, of the black massive hull of the oncoming freighter and the rapidly diminishing distance between them. With powerful concentration I absorbed the Captain's quietly-spoken commands and translated them into movements of the wheel. The black ship loomed like a mountain on our port bow. In one psychedelically-clear moment, I was aware of her white superstructure and red decks I could see the men on her bridge and the crew working on her deck. With a rush of swirling water she swept past us. A wave of relief swept over me. For the first time I realized that I was drenched with sweat. I began to relax. Starboard a little, intoned the Captain. I I snapped back to concentration and remained that way for the next hour as the ship wended her slow route along the canal and out into open lake. I was relieved from duty at the wheel and I staggered aft. How was it, Canada? asked Iohannsen. Not bad, I replied. Stumbling into my cabin I collapsed exhausted on my bunk. Six weeks. later, having completed all our Great Lake calls, we sailed out of Quebec city and headed for the Atlantic. I was proud, and why not? I was confident on the wheel, I could tie superlative knots, I could even speak a little Norwegian. But aren't you worried about being seasick? you may ask. Not this mariner, I reply as I feel the salt-tinged breeze ruffling my fledgeling beard, I have four boxes of seasick pills. Robert Evans Form 5 YOUR PUPILS MIGHT HAVE B, A, 'S IN CHEATING It is final exam time, and thirty-five students in the classroom are hard at work on their exam papers. From the front you, the teacher scan the room looking for wandering eyes. But the only movement is the normal shifting and fidgeting of tense, concentrating youngsters. Now let's take a closer look at these seemingly innocent gestures. The boy at the front row stares at his paper and drums his fingers meditatively. Another bites his lower lip, tugs at his left ear, writes on his paper, then scratches his head as he considers what he has written. A student wearing a hearing aid stares up at the ceiling, resting his hand against his bad ear. A young lady coughs and reaches into her purse for a sheet of tissue. In the second row a student is leaning back in his seat, deep in thought, his pencil idly poised in front of him. Next to him is a young man writing hurriedly, glancing at his watch to see how much time he has left. Yes, it is an industrious and innocent scene, marred by only one factg each of those six youngsters is cheating as hard as he can. The oldest and most common method of cheating, as you might already know, is simply to peek at the neighbour's paper. It's a primitive system, but it is used by the old pros, who feel it makes up in safety what it lacks in effectiveness, and by the novice or 'panic' cheater. Most of the other cheating techniques it seems to me, depend in one way or another on a piece of paper, or the like, crammed with notes. All the different methods of using this piece of paper indicate that some students will attempt to hide knowledge on any part of the body except the brain. These range from simple pieces of paper to modern electronic devices. You may have used or seen some of the following devices: writing facts on the palm of the hand, arm or wrist and covering the writing with a shirt sleeve or a bandageg or pasting long strips of paper under rulers or similar materials needed for examination purposes. And what is the simplest hiding place of all? The old reliable shirt pocket, where one can see a piece of paper and what is written on it just by looking down. Girls sometimes employ similar methods using areas of their persons which a teacher would not check without thinking twice -- and probably not even then. 106

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MY PLACE IT'S ALL WORTHWI-IILE Here the waves come to die-- I think with awe of distance far, Noisily, yet noiseless. That blue mysterious wink, a star. The heat of day The way the seeds grow in the spring Surrounds, suffocates and encloses The beauty found in everything. With the glazed and burdened odours Of blossom and pine. With sighs I think of happy days The pond nearby re-echoes Fulfilling in so many ways. The sounds of life, I think of the joy, the sadness too As the gelatinous amoebae The uncertainty in all I do. Divide and divide . . . Here is time, yet timelessness, I wonder why I carry on, Both gone and unnoticed When my motives all seem gone. By the occasional visitor. Then some happy child, his face a smile, The elements carve the face of the land . . . Suddenly makes it all worthwhile. Only in the future Will it be known E.A. Nicholls-- That the waves seen today Form 8 Have made a difference In my place . Rachel Seguin Form 3 THE MAKING OF A SEAMAN The shipping agent drove me to the Montreal waterfront. We pulled up beside a twenty-thousand-ton freighter. Well, what do you think of her? he enquired. I narrowed my eyes as I examined the grey hull and the white superstructure, attempting to give the impression thatl was appraising the ship with the benefit of years of experience. Not bad, I said. Well, that's your ship. A Norwegian freighter plying the Great Lakes and the Mediterranean. Good luck! I'll need it, I replied. Swinging my kitbag on my back I swaggered up the gangway as I imagined an experienced seaman would swagger. Leaping to the deck, I strode heartily to the nearest sailor. Hi, I am the new man. Where do I go? He didn't smile. Follow me, I'll show you. As I followed him to my quarters I was quaking in my boots, and justifiably too! I had talked my way into and signed up-for a job that demanded skill in tying knots, proficiency in steering and a general knowledge of seamanship. Wretched and lowly landlubber, the only thing I could do proficiently was get seasick when the water got choppy. I threw my kitbag on my bunk, It should prove an interesting trip. I mused. My unsmiling guide decided to be friendly. I'm Iohannsen. he said. I'm Bob Evans, I replied. I am glad to know you. He took me to the mess hall and introduced me to the crew. This is a crazy ship, he confided. There are Swedes, Finns, Norwegians, Germans, Italians and Spaniards on this tub. And now we have a Canadian! Are you Canadian? asked Colombia, who was from Colombia. Yeah, that's right. we'11 call you Canada. HO. K. iv My new name was a signal of good fortune, The weather was beautiful and the lakes were glass-smooth. I never once felt seasick. Every spare moment I referred to my trusty 'Manual of Seamanship' and practised knot-tying. At first I avoided situations that demanded the use of knots and busied myself chipping rust, washing the deck, coiling rope or working in the holds. But I couldn't avoid them all. My hours of clandestine practice paid dividends as I tied a bowline with speedy but studied nonchalance. I dreaded my first turn at the wheel. It was fearful to know that inevitably I would be responsible for the direction of twenty- thousand tons of ship, slipping at ten knots through the water. I studied desperately and discovered that 'port' meant 'left' and 'starboard' meant 'right' in nautical language. One morning while washing the bridge floor, I overheard and committed to memory the mate's commands and observed the helmsman's actions. It didn't look too difficult. 105

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But there are many sophisticated and imaginative variations, Compact transistorized tape recorders seem to be on the way out, for there is a stiff preliminary requirement which discourages all but those that are determined: the recorder ear plug must be worn all the time to establish the fact that the wearer uses a hearing-aid. At exam time he merely pre-records the information he needs. l have seen a pencil which was made hollow by removing most of the lead. The lead is replaced with a thin round stick of about the same size, to which was attached a sheet of paper, rolled up. A tiny slit was cut in the side of the pencil and the cheating student simply pulled out the sheet when he needed it, peeked at it, then rolled it back again by means of the eraser end of the pencil. A cheap wrist watch can be used just as effectively. One of my fellow students last year told me with admiration how the system works. Empty the works from a watch. Then take a long, thin piece of paper and write notes on it. Then fit it into the watch in such a way that when you turn the knob the paper inside would turn on a roller until whatever you wanted to know would appear on the face. Finally there are signaling and swapping -- forms of cheating that involve the participation of two students, one of whom knows the answers. ln a true-false test it is easy to pass information. The cheater indicates the number of the question and his accomplice replies with a prearranged signal -- perhaps tugging of an ear lobe for true , scratching the head for false . Answers also can be communicated by drumming in Morse code on the desk top. Of all the cheaters who use mechanical devices and carefully planned tricks that are used to cheat the teachers, the greatest respect -- if that is the word -- must be reserved for the impromptu cheater who uses nothing more complicated than a highly developed talent for being crooked on the spur of the moment. One of my friends attending university told me the following story. A friend of mine I know entered a calculus examination with practically no knowledge of the course. The exam questions were on two mimeographed sheets. One glance showed him that he knew nothing whatever about the four questions on the first sheet. He devoted the entire exam period to answering the single question on sheet two, then turned in the sheet alone. Taking the first sheet back to his room, he opened his textbooks, answered the first four questions and finally placed the page of answers on the floor and stepped on it. Then he handed the page to a friend who was about to take another exam in the same room. With the page went explicit instructions. The second student waited until his own exam had started, then walked up to the instructor bearing the dirty sheet of paper, Excuse me, sir, he said, l just found this at the back of the room. The instructor took the 'lost' paper. The cheater got one of the few A's in his class. lf all these examples prove anything, they prove that nothing will stop a really determined cheater. lt must be obvious that the solution to cheating is not a search for foolproof examinations but a change in moral attitude. This can be achieved only by the students themselves -- and their parents. What about the teachers? Dino De Rosa Form 5 CONFORMITY BUT FORTY BELOW lt's a good life-- Life It hung everywhere This life of utter conformity, IS often Unefldurablez Enveloping, But, Smothering, individuality is ours We all cling to it. Heavy and motionless The phantom public cries, H . Hovering o'er roof and street. 4 I appiness Absurd! As if they had been mesmerized IS fleeting: By rules of strict conformity. But, The town lay silently, I We au pursue it. Seemingly. frightened l-low atrocious these moral lepers Cowering in itself. Doing what nobody does! Loneliness Tucked close, Much better for us stereotyped ls avoidableg Anticipating daylight Than their festering, dulling, withering . BUT, Sunlight We all feel lonely now and then. Warmth, Preposterous these eccentricities! Hatred By gad! it is we, IS mahciousg Warmth, to thaw and reduce Your preponderant leaders, But, The icy chill to nothingness, Who have striven for your normality It rules Us all at times. Allowing air to breathe, and Yes, it is a good life-- Sun to smile. Our life of utter conformity. LUC14 To beat its happy dance IS ISYUPOFHIY: Upon the silvery surface Denise Pronovost Bur. Of earth's frozen sheath. Form 9 We all hope for it. Love Life therein, Is frequently distressingg was evldenced only by But' Drowsy plumes of smoke We all venture into it. Pushing' struggling up' Then falling under weight Death Of frost and cold. IS dreaded: All else wasn't! But, We all must meet it. Cheryl West Form 10 Christine Senter Form 9 107