Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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'THE VOTAGEUR 'f'Gf ,Lv ,A V ,,,f - A. Nfmthmd-Futller of Archery

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THE VOYAGE UR 17 LAW AND FREEDOM IN EDUCATION Education can be defined as growth The human child comes into the world as a bundle of instincts, reflexes and inherent capacities capable of def velopment in an almost infinite variety of ways. Whether this process takes place within a formal institution such as a school, or whether it takes place as it does in a simpler society by the contact of the child with adults carrying on their daily activity, it is still education. There can, however, be no growth except in an atmosphere of freedom. It has been, therefore, a cardinal prin- ciple of our activity that the child in the school should have ample opporf tunity to develop to the utmost all of his finest potentialities. The school is obligated to provide in its environment and programme a stimulus for each and every individual. Such a doctrine of freedom, however, in education, does not imply that there is unlimited scope for any individual to do exactly what he wants. I would like to make this point clear, because by many the sofcalled new education is thought to mean that very thing. It is merely common sense, however, to point out that the freedom of any individual is limited inevitably by the fact that he has to live in a social relationship with other people. Equal freedom must be available to all the members of the group and in order to avoid infringing on the liberties of others it is essential that each should recognize from the beginning that one's freedom ends where the freedom of his neighbour begins. Furthermore a child must recognize somewhere in the educational process that there is an accumulated body of knowledge stored up by past generations. A child might conceivably develop his own intellect exploring his environment in a perfectly rational way, but there is no reason why each successive generation should repeat all the ex' plorations of the past. If, however, any given individual is to profit by the learnings of those who have gone before him, he must be ready to subject himself to the discipline that is inherent in any given body of knowledge. The freedom, therefore, of any given individual to think or act exactly as he pleases is inevitably and invariably conditioned by the fact that he is a social being living and working with others and helping to build a superstructure of thought and knowledge the main lines of which have been outlined by those who have gone before him. It is necessary, therefore, that the child, during the course of his formal education should recognize the inevitability of law in every form of activity in which he may engage. For centuries man dreamed of being free to fly like the birds in the air. It was not, however, until such time as he learned the laws governing such activity that the dream became a reality. It is the same in every other realm. Perfect freedom is only available when we are fully aware of the law operative in that particular realm. DISCIPLINE This whole theory of the relationship of law and freedom has a direct bearing on the matter of discipline. It is possible, of course, to establish an arbitrary code and to enforce external compliance for a longer or shorter period of time. Such a code rigidly enforced has been justified on the grounds that it did obtain results. I cannot believe, however, that a rigid discipline enforced f1'I4'il.s-4' turn In ptlylf' H31

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I . of gnfvvnuvifgzhi- THE VOTAGEUR 19 ISDN VUYAGE . . . ,qs EVERYONE AT PICKERING, from Law Wo to Bobby Mutch, is filled with regret at the departure of our dietif tian, Mrs. Brennand. For four years Mrs. Brennand has not only concoctf ed meals that are tonic and tooth' some, but she has also taken a very important place in the activities of the school. Three years ago she first trod the Pickering stage as the tragic heroine of Loyalties, and in the same year she was a delightful PeepfBo in The Mikado. Since her debut, Mrs. Brennand has appeared in Pinafore and The Gondoliers, much to the def light of the audiences. She has, in many other ways, made herself very popular with the students, particular' ly in connection with dances and ban' quetsg and she drives a wicked cross' court backfhand. Vi fl? 2-A X . Mex , ff f N it Mrs. Brennand's departure is all the more regrettable in that she is not going to be very close at hand next year. She leaves in September to ace company her husband to Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Tom Brennand, who is very wellfknown at the school, has for some years been a member of the viola section of the Toronto Sym' phony Orchestra. He has, however, recently received a very noteworthy promotion, having been offered the position of first viola player in the Cleveland Symphony which, under the direction of Arthur Rodzhinsky, is considered one of the finest orchesf tras on the continent. We certainly hope that Mr. and Mrs. Brennand will enjoy living in Cleveland, and we wish to congratulate them on this honour, but we cannot deny that Cleveland's gain is our loss. limi lvlljlllflf' . , , Vunfinufvl on the llf'.I'f pays'