Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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16 THE VOTAGEUR - Photo by R. B. Green The Voyageur Staff Back Rowfllreedman fAd1,VETI14S171gD, M1'. MCC1Ll1Cy, M1'. Renzius, Mr. Perry fStajf Editorj. Front RuwfLmdsey, fAd1lCTCiSl'HgJj Lumer, fLitera'ryj5 E. Mack fEdit01'Jg Lewis fSfU.dC'r1I Actwitiesf.

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THE VOTAGEUR li o EDITORIAL 0 To the Past, the Present and the Future CARCELY MORE THAN A YEAR Aoo a banquet was held at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto to commemorate the completion of the first ten successful years of a new Pickering College. The ten year experimental period was officially over and Pickering had succeeded in taking a front place with the other, older, well-known, Canadian schools. Last fall was the beginning of a new era in the history of our college but this period had a decidedly different beginning than the first. The task of the charter students and staff members was far from being an easy one. School traditions had to be established with the aid of time and actual experience. From the beginning a new and different system of student government was being developed under the guidance of a young and enthusiastic headmaster. Student ideals and attitudes had to be expressed and brought forth by the various early student committees before they found a permanent place in school life. The first year of this new decade has been a successful one but in some respects not an easy one. During the very early years of the new college the chief concern of its members was to establish not only the Pickering that we have tofday but rather to gain for themselves, and subsequently ourselves, and those that will follow us, the reputation of good sportsmanship together with good fellowship at all times. That reputation was gained hy the students who are our predecessors. Tofday and tofmorrow we, the present students and the students who will fill our places, have a constant duty to perform, not for ourselves but for Pickering, to maintain its standards, its traditions and the liberty for which it stands. During the American War for Independence the revolutionists declared they were In pursuit of happiness. Happiness meant to them much the same as it does to us--liberty, personal freedom and a measure of self expresf sion. To-day that is what we, the past and the present students of Pickering. know it stands for, and it is our hope that as long as it shall stand as a college it will mean the same to every one of its future students. Eowxao G. Mack.

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'THE VOYAGEUR 17 The Destiny of Democracy fThe British tradition in the world tofdayj fSumma1y of an address to the 'Toronto Kiwanis Clubs on Thursday, May 26th, 1938.j Jos. MCCULLEY, Headmaster THIS LUNCHEON is planned in honour of Empire Day, celebrated on the birth' day of Queen Victoria. There is very real reason to reflect why it is that we should still celebrate the birthday of a queen who died almost forty years ago. One is reminded of the school children's jingle, The twentyffourth of May is the .Queens birthday, .If you don't give us a holiday, well all nm away. There are serious reasons why her birthday should be celebrated as Empire Day. It was during her reign that the Empire approached its present form territorially. It was also during her reign that those seeds were sown which have since developed into the unique political structure that we know as the British Commonwealth of Nations. The Confederation of Canada, on july lst, 1867, was but the beginning of that combination of selffgoverning nations related to each other by the strongest possible ties,+those ties which lie deep in our history and tradition. Queen Victoria gave her name to a whole era comprising the latter part of the nineteenth century. In many places the word is used to decribe somef thing that is outworn and outmoded. To use the word Victorian in this way, however, is a sign of ignorance. It was during her reign that the growth of a political democracy in Great Britain came nearer to realization through the extension of the franchise. It was during her reign that people realized the necessity of mass education-if a political democracy is to be a reality it must be founded on an intelligent citizenship. Her reign also was a period of expansion in all phases of life and activity. The boundaries of knowledge were extended further than up till that time man had ever dared to dream. There was granted to all individuals during this period the freedom to explore, to investigate and to carry the banners of light and learning beyond those boundaries where they had rested for years. It was during this era that man began to visualize something of the possibilities for the progress of mankind inherent within himself. Sages and seers, recognizing human potentialities, envisioned something of the possibilities of the ultimate development which he might achieve. The belief in human progress was indeed sometimes too complacent. It was a nineteenth century poet who wrote Gods in his Heaven, all's right with the world. In spite of this tendency, however. the basis of the idea was essentially sound. Man has possibilities within himself for realizing dreams that only a limited few had envisioned prior to this period. It is for this reason that on this Empire Day I have chosen to speak on The Destiny of Democracy. If the Victorian period gave to the world any worth while heritage it is that intangible something which is described by the word democracy It is necessary, however, to point out that demncf