Oakwood Collegiate Institute - Oracle Yearbook (Toronto Ontario, Canada)

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rs. Wilson Mr. Dunlevie HUMOUR David Goodman PHOTOGRAPHY ORACLE STAFF STAFF SPONSORS Mara Pavelsons LITERARY Elite Hershorn PUBLICITY Mr. McDonald GRADS Jennifer Page PHOTOGRAPHY Ed Friedberg SPORTS Howard Freedman Sue Axler Merike Lugus Nick Serba

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SSISTANT EDITORS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF BRUCE LEWIS ED LEA EDITORIAL The New Party Next Fall, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Canadian Labour Congress will unite to form a New Party, which they hope will become a third major force in Federal Poli- tics. I do not, however, believe that they will ever be greeted with much more popular support than the CCF. The exponents of the New Party point to British Labour ' s success as exemplary of what can be done with the backing of the Trade Unions. They ignore one very important factor, however. In Britain the Labour Party was formed with one definite purpose: the improvement of the atrocious social conditions of the Working Class. This was a valid goal, a necessary goal; one which the British Labour Party has to a very great extent accomplished. No such urgent need for reform exists in our country today. There is unemployment, great un- employment. But there was greater during the Depression and the CCF did not come to power. In addition, the standard of living of the Canadian working man compares favourably with that of his counterparts anywhere in the world. At present with the improved conditions remov- ing its original driving force, the British Labour Party is splitting under pressure from internal divisions, especially in the fields of foreign policy and defence. In Canada these topics are even more contraversial than in Britain, for Canada is in danger of losing her identity, her wealth, and . all control of her defence to the United States. They have already appeared as cracks in the uni- fied front that the exponents of the New Party are trying to present to the country. Last year, the CCF said Canada should leave Nato. The CLC wants her to remain. The Unions are approving the merger, but far from unanimously. There is another complication in Canada: the Farmers. Politically, Farmers and Trade Union- ists are natural enemies. The only man who wo uld be able to keep them in the Party is Tommy Douglas, five times Premier of Saskatchewan, and holding a great appeal for Farmers, Unionists, and most other sectors of the Canadian population. Elected Head of the CCF last year and opposing Douglas for the leadership of the New Party, is Hazen Argue, a Saskatchewan farmer. He holds little appeal from anyone except the Farmers. One thing the New Party will have that the CCF never did is money. Five cents per month from three quarters of Canada ' s million Trade Unionists would be $450,000 per annum. (The Ontario Liberal Association, incidentally, is chronically in debt.) In the first flush of newness and with Douglas as leader, it will probably gain more seats than the CCF ever did. However, in the long view it will probably never be more than a third, minority power. It will, as the CCF always did, serve to broaden the policies and platforms of the older parties. It may, as the CCF never did, hold the balance of power after the next Federal Elections. It will be a very interesting situation. Whatever one ' s political opinions, one will always agree that a third, left-wing Party is a useful and in- tegral part of the Canadian Political System.

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VALEDICTORY Mr. Tovell, Members of the Staff, Honoured Guests, Fellow Graduates, It is my honour to-night to say farewell to Oakwood on your behalf. That ' s what a valedic- tory is. Those of us who took Latin all know, of course, that the word valedictory is derived from two Latin words; vale ' which means farewell, and dico, dicere, dixi, dictum , the verb to say ' . But before I do say good-bye, I d like to reminisce a bit. We all know that last year was the 50th anni- versary of Oakwood. As I think over my past five years here, I realize how different and yet how much the same they were from those of the first students at Oakwood. School-spirit, then as now, was on everyone s mind. Editorials in the Oracles deplored the lack of it, or, in rare circumstances, praised the stu- dents for having so much. However I doubt if they ever won the school-spirit trophy as we did. There probably wasn ' t one then. The football teams, or should I say the rugby teams, all seemed to do very well in those days, even with- out such valuable players as our Caput president. They won basketball games in those days too and their hockey team was probably just as good as ours. The girls ' athletics were also pretty exciting. They seemed to win most of their bas- ketball and baseball games but the poor things didn ' t have a swimming pool nor a Miss Duff to coach them. It must have seemed strange not to see any drowned rats around Oakwood. One of the differences between then and now was the costumes. For five years we complained about those horrible blue gym rompers we wore. Be thankful girls; and boys too; the girls in the old days played basketball in baggy middies and long black pleated skirts. Speaking of costumes, that reminds me of the discussions that came up every year about uniforms. They did have them at Oakwood once, those same middies and skirts, very chic! I found out about all these things in old Orac- les. However I wasn t able to find out whether the Oracles came out in time in those days. They certainly didn ' t in ours. I must admit it gets bet- ter every year though. Last year they were out by the middle of June. In Grade nine — well you remember. About Christmas time, Mr. Stewart came into our room with one of his little an- nouncements. This one was about the school magazine, the Oracle, which would be on sale in a few weeks. Being keen and eager to do what we thought was expected of high-school students we all ordered one. When we finally got it we were surprised to find we didn ' t recognize any of the names and events mentioned in it. No wonder! It was the Oracle of the year before. But we must not forget the main reason we were here. Knowledge! Oakwood has always been known for its excellent scholastic record. Three Prince of Wales Scholarships, given to the stu- dent with the highest percent in the province, have been won by Oakwoodites over the years. A look at your program will show you how well we did on our 50th anniversary. And how could we have done it without our teachers. Good teachers seem to be a tradition at Oakwood. For example, the students as far back as 1920 have been lucky enough to have Mr. Jackson. I wonder if he al- ways said Zip, zip! and Get it? Mr. Horning who was then a great football player also came to Oakwood in 1920 and IVlr. O.J. Henderson, our fellow graduate, came in 1927. The science teachers may not have been as advanced in those days, but I m sure they all knew that, when you place a piece of cardboard on top of a completely filled glass of water, the glass can be turned upside down without the water spilling. However I m not sure Mr. Young knows it; at least he never proved it to those of us who were in 9A. He tried, but when he was waving it over Jean Lillie ' s head, the cardboard fell off and the water spilled. I ' m still not sure about that experiment. And as for our principal, well I ' m sure that the first principal at Oakwood didn ' t have Mr. Tovell ' s taste in curtains. Nor was he probably as frightening to newcomers at the school. When we first came to Oakwood, the proverbial little grade-niners, lost in the huge high school, we were struck with awe when we saw Mr. Tovell towering over us, telling us to stop talking. How- ever we soon realized that he wasn ' t really like that and I think I learned earlier than most. Our naughty class had been given a detention, my first, and I was afraid. I got up early, leaving plenty of time, but I had to wait at least twenty minutes for the bus. When I finally got there it was a quarter to nine. I was advised not to go in at all, but to tell Mr. Tovell at noon what had happened. I was also warned that he would be furious, and I would get at least two weeks de- tentions. So at noon, with much trepidation, I walked up to him in the hall and in a quivering voice explained myself. Much to my surprise he was not furious, nor did he give me two weeks detentions. Instead, he simply smiled down on me and said, Oh that ' s all right. I thought some- thing like that had happened. You, who are still here, don ' t get the idea that I am giving you a way to get out of detentions. All in all, I would say Oakwood couldn ' t be beaten fifty years ago and still can ' t. After all what other school has such wonderful opportuni- 10