Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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all-important fact that because the make--up of each individual is entirely dif- ferent, a distinction should be made. If pupils have not yet learned how to work without being forced, surely someone should see that both time and money are spent in an endeavour to change the system. As it is now we are admitting a weakness in human nature and have so far only made clumsy attempts to improve it. Other countries have already made successful reforms and are carrying out further experiments. Due to the rapidly increasing number of students in the last few years, the courses are being made more difficult in order not to overcrowd the universities. This may be all very well, but on the other hand many of us feel that the specified courses in many subjects are already much too long to be properly studied in one or two years as the case may be. Usually we spend the whole year just storing up facts. At the end of the year we find that we possess only half of the true value of the course. Very little if any time can be taken for discussion and outside reading and as a rule absolutely no effort is made to teach pupils how to get out intelligently the material that is crammed into their heads. Training in expression should go hand in hand with the acquisition of knowledge. It is indeed unfortunate that under the present system we receive practically no encouragement to really think for ourselves. As a result, by the time we are ready to receive a diploma, in most cases creative thinking has been killed and very few retain questioning minds. Not nearly enough attention is paid to the stimulation of the imagination and all in all a sort of mass mind is developed so that those who do not attend university remain very susceptible to crowd appeal. Perhaps we should be more thankful for the opportunities that we have, but still we find it hard to be content when we feel that so much improvement can be made. It is our sincere hope that those responsible for the matricula- tion requirements will see fit to attempt new policies in the important task of giving the best possible educational training to Canadian youth. -MD. REGARDIN G EXCHANGES To whom it may concern we would offer a slight explanation of our policy or lack of policy in regard to exchange with publications from other schools. Magazines have been received from several schools in the province and we would thank those who have been so kind as to make some criticism of our former volumes. Because the enrollment of the school is still limited to about ninety-five students, the lion 's share of the work involved in printing a magazine is borne by a very limited group. The fact that this is so means that there is a definite lack of experience and the editors feel that as yet we are incapable of offering mature criticism. In the near future, however, it is expected that we will have more confidence in ourselves and an exchange department will be added. s. N28 -f

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Not the ruler for me, but the ranher, the tramp of the road, The slave with the sack on his shoulders pricked on with the goad, The man with too weighty a burden, too weary a load. Others may sing of the wine and the wealth and the mirth, The portly presence of potentates goodly in girth- Mine be the dirt and the dross, the dust and scum of the earth. Theirs be the music, the colour, the glory, the gold: Mine be a handful of ashes, a mouthful of mould, Of the maimed, of the halt and the blind in the rain and the Cold- Of these shall my song.s be fashioned, my tales be told. It is not because he loves the Cdirt and dross' that he writes about them but because he sees a vision of butterflies and petals from an unseen world of beauty that continues to gleam ahead as a possible goal of achievement for all those whose lives are cast in drudgery and squalor, in the dust and scum of the earth. And because he is an authentic poet, and a poet of the common people, he not only brings honour to a purely honorary position but may be expected to express in music a programme which a government can at best express in terms of an economic idiom. To John Masefield, poet laureate, we look for a spiritual interpretation of those human values which are being so largely accepted in this day as most Worthy of consideration. y -H. M. Concerning Things Academic HE entire student body would join in thanking each master for working so earnestly in directing the various academic departments. VVe go to school primarily for the pursuit of knowledge and hence the masters are largely responsible for any success the school has had. Mr. Taylor Statten has also given untiring service as a counselor in guiding our character training a.nd vocational adjustments. As students, we find ourselves in a rather diflicult position in attempting to make any criticism of the educational system to which we are expected to apply the better part of our youthful years. We recognize quite well that our elders who have made an intelligent study of causes and effects are much more capable of judgment. However, regardless of our immaturity, there are many obvious faults which can be understood even by a first form student and in addition, fortunately or unfortunately, we are continually exposed to an increasing number of magazine articles criticizing the present methods of education. Not so very long ago school attendance was nothing more than torture to many a young lad mainly because of the harsh methods of a teacher possessing an entirely wrong type of personality and temperament. This has been largely done away With in recent years but still there are many pupils who will do work only when threatened with punishment or Hwatch-dog supervision. Surely the blame cannot be placed wholly upon the student. Why is it not possible by a few carefully planned changes in the subject material and in the method of presentation to arouse a keen interest in the mind of the most indifferent type of student? This would further take into consideration the - N27 ' f

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Rain OFT, slow dropping rain soothed the dusty, wind-weary leaves of an old pine. This was not the first time rain had fallen on the old tree in the long years it had stood on the hillside. During those years, the insistent west wind had bent the tree. Life had left its mark on it. Fighting many battles and enduring many trials had given it an appearance of being willing to listen to the troubles of others with a sympathetic ear. This night the rain stirred the weather-beaten pine 's memory-gentle rain on the roof or on your face always does this.-Many things drifted from the past. Tales long ago forgotten by questing man. The old, log cabin on the edge of the sandy trail and over which the tree put protecting arms was empty now. Just on the very edge of its memory, the pine could recall that a laughing young giant had come up the slope, had paused to gasp at nature 's noiseless, startling beauty, covering the valley. The cabin had been built to the ringing, swinging of the adventurerls axe. Soon after a lithe woman came striding up the grade and joined the man in his seeking. One night-it was raining that night too-they had sat on the door step. The rain, dripping from the rough eves, made puddles at their feet. The pine leaned close to hear their dreams and hopes for days yet to come. But that was long ago. The years brought joy and children and pain and sorrow. A neighbour came up from the valley and his words disturbed the peace of the settlers. The man went away and did not come back. The woman laboured in the field, became stooped, lost the gleam in her eye. In the evening she sat on the step and gazed far off towards the distant ridge. On rainy nights, about a fire, she told the children that the man had gone far away to fight other men. If he hadn't these other men would have come and taken their little cabin. The pine listening over the chimney wondered at that. No one had even been near there to take the cabin. Men are funny creatures! Then the woman and the children went away and never came back .... Two nights ago a wandering pair stopped and sat under the pine whis- pering, Hshishingw branches. They were young and keen.-Pine trees are good judges of men. They see and hear so many, you know.-These wanderers felt the wonder, the ringing silence, the mystery of life thrusting upwards. Un- usual people these, in such a day of monotonous frenzy. They went over the hill, laughing softly. Life seemed good to them. Youth is a time of great hope, but sorrow and disappointment are such merciless robbers, thought the pine. This rain brings drowsiness. 'Tis a good rain- Dry grass will like this- Rain. Will it rain all night? Sleep-pine trees sleep! Yes, it was a long time ago that . . . But it is still raining. Why don't men walk in the rain more? Maybe it is because they think They are no longer rooted in the ground. They have forgotten! Rain, nature's tears of ecstasy! Rain . . . night rain . . . Pattering, homey rain . . Rain...Rain... , C.R.B. -. N29 -