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

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AWARD WINNING PHOTOGRAPHS r •• ' V r . 6 ' SJ (Howard Saginur) Op -vv 12

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ties for learning anything and everything. We will always remember the orchestra, the choir, the football games, the Aqua Shows, the dances, and above all, the classes, for what we learned here will go with us for the rest of our lives. Yes, we will always remember Oakwood. And now that we are all separated, some of us out working, and some of us continuing our education, we will look back on our five years at Oakwood and say Thank-you, to you who have taught us to play our part as citizens of a school community and to accept responsibility, and have changed us from those merely eager to learn to those ready to learn, for we won ' t stop now. I think I can speak for us all when I say we enjoyed it here and though we re sorry to leave, we re glad we came. Martha Brewin DEDICATION OF THE NEW FIELD The sale and demolition of Oakwood Stadium, the present site of the Dominion Store and park- ing lot, in the late 1940 ' s dealt a crippling blow to the sports life of the Oakwood district. The Toronto Secondary School Athletic Association was forced to schedule games at the Earlscourt Park dust bowl. Exhibition Park, Maple Leaf Stadium, or east of the Don River. On Thursday, September 29, 1960, a new page was written into the history of Oakwood athletics. The new Oakwood Field was formally opened by the Toronto Board of Education. In the pr esence of the Oakwood and Western Tech football teams, cheerleaders and spectators, Mrs. McBrien cut the double blue and gold ribbons. The new field and crushed brick track have provided a new impetus to football, and track and field events. During the Fall, eight double- header and several single football games were played. Some quarter and semi-finals were held at Oakwood. The Cross Country Team worked out in the mornings at 8:00. The new facilities are providing the greatest benefits to the Physical Education classes in the Fall and Spring. The expanse of green turf is adequate space for maximum participation. Seating accomodation for spectators is lack- ing at the present time. This, however, is under consideration by the Board of Education and bleachers will probably be installed in the near future. The V. I. P. ' s Mary, Carmen, Linda, Julie, Pat 11

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CAPUT EXECUTIVE 1st ROW: Mr. Nicholson, P. Kopstick, Mr. Jackson 2nd ROW: V. Hori, B. M. Stathom THE PRESIDENT ' S REPORT Recognizing the need for a change, if progress were not to be retarded, our Caput of five years ago wrote and adopted a new constitution. Three years ago, the state of affairs was so satisfactory that this constitution went untouched by human hands. Examining our record of 1960-61 it is a rather incongruous one. There were three sets of amendments to the constitution. One was com- pounded of good sense, it moved closer by two weeks the date of Executive electio ns. This re- lieves the burden on those candidates, already toiling in preparation for impending exams. Another smacked of liberalism (extension of franchise for Executive elections to grade 10). And the third, definitely the most interesting was the formation of a Publicity Committee to publicize the Caput and the school . The overtones of this move indi- cate that our august body is becoming increasingly aware of the value of publicity. Let us, therefore examine what Caput is selling and why, indeed, it should be doing so. During the year 1960-61, Caput has been of necessity waging a war against numbers. It has lost its earlier resemblance to a mere debating so- ciety, and as a grandiose conglomeration of voices and opinions resembles a vast, magnificent Assem- bly, wherein strategy, vanity, idealism, conserva- tism, defeat and victory have taken on greater sig- nificance than in previous years. Whether this is symbolic of Caput ' s maturity or lack of it, may be argued either way depending upon whether your political tastes lean to oligarchy or democracy. Is Caput becoming too serious, too sensitive? Is it outdoing itself when it resorts to such unorthodox rules as Committee of the Whole? If so, is this her- esy leading to lethargy and ineffectiveness? Or, is the converse true? Could it be that as a debat- ing society, where informal and dispassionate judgment has more meaning than the interpolation of passion and idealism, common to representative government. Caput could never be an effective voice of the students themselves? Is it not true that politics is essentially the manipulation of power and much more than the registering of indi- vidual judgment? Having raised these questions, it seems to me the middle road would be the best one to follow. Here is the safest ground, and our maturing body has but two ahernatives.lt can turn back the pages of time and become a restricted sort of club, oper- ating by and for a self-interested oligarchy; it can continue to expand until it reaches the point of grandiosity and verbosity, where individual effort is buried and stifled in a melee of empty chatter, massive voting blocks, and decentralisation of power. It would seem, in view of our distaste for either possibility, that Caput must take upon itself a more critical self-analysis, and revise its modus Vivendi. For there are dangers lurking at the door- step, which threaten to enter the temple, and steal its riches. The would-be demagogues and the ac- complished filibusterers must be muzzled. The bonds linking Caput with individual Committees and organizations must be strengthened. Members must make greater efforts at grasping Parliament- ary tactics, since their value as a time-saving de- vice (not to mention their strategic advantage) is progressively entrenched into Caput operations. The student government, which has adopted and applied such techniques contributes inestimably to the school life. Individually students who master basic governmental concepts, and who get practice in the handling of people find in student councils a training ground for a career in law or diplomacy. Collectively, student government is the best pos- sible nursery for developing the qualities needed to understand the complicated governmental struc- ture of the free nations, whose existence, we the citizens of tomorrow shal be called upon to pre- serve. Still despite the basic truth of this obser- vation, student government must eternally contend with the smugly content cynic, who scornfully de- mands: ' What good is Caput? ' This, it seems to me, is the greatest problem facing Caput — it must maintain a high level of the support of the student, it would represent. It must dispel the ignorance and apathy of those who have not learned to cher- ish democratic concepts and ideals, and who po- tentially might destroy it as a result. To accomplish this difficult task. Caput must start with a bit of housecleaning. It must become less complacent and matter-of-fact about what it does and it must further explore what it could be doing. For if it does not, there shall gather weight the conception that it is some sort of puppet king- dom where verbal duels consume time, the outcome of which is approximately nothing. As it is, you have heard this opinion and I ' ve heard it. Is it not true? No, of course not. But this conception persists in its existence, awaiting the day when it shall be the rule. This, then is why a self-appraisal bv Caput of Caput is necessary and is indeed in progress. This is why this year s student administration has instituted a permanent committee (the Publicity Committee) to spread the story of Caput and our school. This is why this committee has recommended education of Caput members in basic Parliamentary procedure as part of a face-lifting programme, to increase its effectiveness and to thus improve the general pub- lic ' s conception of it. This is why a full outline of Caput s achievements has already been presented (continued on page 95) 13