Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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THE VOYAGEUR If it is true that men can only be induced to fight by an appeal to his idealism, it is surely necessary for us to do everything in our power to strengthen the hands of those who, at the end of the struggle, will have the responsibility for creating a new world on the ruins of the old. If 'those purposes are to be achieved to which our leaders have given varying forms of expression, there must be behind the politicians at the end of the war a strong public opinion which will not rest content unless these expressed aims find some form of recognition in the settlement. Students who are now in our schools will be citizens when the time comes to make that settlement. ls it not one of our responsibilities to direct their thinking towards the problems that will arise at the end of the war? Not only the development of a satisfactory peace settlement, but those hundred and one other problems that arise as a war economy is turned once again to the tasks of peace time reconstruction. There may be very little that a high school student can do as an immediate job. We can, however, conserve his idealism by challenging him so to train and prepare himself that when the opportunity does arise, when he can give service, be it in war 'tirne or peace time, that he will be enabled to render his best service. Twenty-one years elapsed between the close of the last war and the out- break of the present one. One of the outstanding characteristics of this period in the history of all countries was the lack of youthful leadership. A whole generation of potential statesmen, artists, industrial and profes- sional leaders had been wiped out in the sacrifice of war. The world was the poorer for their loss. Must we not be the more conscious of the same possibility at the present time and do our maximum to prepare our young people at an earlier age than normally to accept the heavy responsibilities that will be theirs? This is basically a job of inspiration. I know, how- ever, of no other class in the community in a better position to provide such inspiration than are the teachers. They are in constant contact with young people and are familiar with their thinking. Even they, however, cannot perform this task unless they themselves have a firm conviction that there are values of a permanent character and of permanent validity NEW MEN ALL ' if 4 M ,,7' Science: Mr. Thomas Maths.: Mr. Colgrove Classics: Mr. Ward 23

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THE VOYAGEUR Only this, they say, can make the war worth lighting. Even though the last great sacrifice did not achieve this purpose, we are at war now, hoping that the ultimate result of this struggle may be the establishment of a better world. This is the appeal to which a population responds and it is an appeal basically to idealism. The adolescent cannot remain deaf to this challenge. He will want to do something. Educators must be conscious of the strength of this impulse. It is one of the tragedies of war that whole populations become obsessed by mass hatreds. As the war increases in intensity there is bound to be an acceleration of this tendency. Leaders of the British people have, during the past few months, made a distinct difference between the system of government under which the German people live and the German people themselves. We should recognize that it is impossible to annihilate a whole nation, and further that the Germany of the past has contributed much that is worthwhile in the sum total of western culture. We must continue to hope and pray that the day may come when the German people under better leadership may once again be in a position to make a worthy contri- bution to the arts of civilization. Probably the finest word that has been said on this subject has been uttered by John Masefreld, Poet Laureate: This is no idle boast or empty story, Une of the glories of the English race Is, that we recognize Beethoven's glory, And at his dying moment won his grace, '4For, in Vienna, while the thunder broke, And he, by sickness shaken, sank to death, These memorable words that Master spoke, 'God bless the English, with his dying breath. And of our Poet we have heard you say 'We call him Unser Shakespearef, he is ours, We share him with you as we share the day, The night, the seasons, and the happy hours. 7 uWe are as darkness to each other now, Our common task of bettering Life annulled, We plait new brambles on our Saviouris brow, By sharpening hate our spirits, edge is dulled. '6Upon another morrow, an we strive, Our links of Life, now broken, may unite, Not each for each but both for all alive Opening the other shutters for more light. 22

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THE VOYAGEUR in the life of man that will outlast any war, no matter how long or how destructive. lrwin Edman has well expressed this in his recently published essay entitled MA Candle in the Dark. Civilizations do not die. They may change. One of the outstanding qualities of all living organisms is the tenacity with which they hold on to life. We should recognize and impress upon our students that the greater the losses are, the heavier the responsibility of those who remain to carry aloft through changing circumstances and dark days, those ideals, those qualities, and those attitudes to life which mark man as a civilized human being. Even a young school child will wish to do something in response to the appeal that is made to his idealism and to his sense of adventure. Our governments have indicated that participation in active military service under the age of 19 is not desirable and that, in fact, it is a greater liability than it is an asset. During the last war students in our schools participated in practical projects of various kinds. The usoldiers of the soilw provided an outlet for adolescent boys who wished to contribute some measure of practical personal service. Various forms of Red Cross work were avail- able for both boys and girls and will undoubtedly be increasingly available during the present war. In recent times educators have stressed the value both from the point of view of personal and social development, of the project method in education. Here is a very real opportunity for teachers to develop projects which are of definite value to the community at large and which also provide scope for the idealism and the desire of the adoles- cent to be of some specific service. Asked during the last war when he thought the war would be won, Baden Powell-international youth leader-replied that it would be won in 1935. He implied that we would know by then what type of leadership would be in control of world affairs. The way things have developed, one must now question whether that war was won at all. lt is the heavy responsibility and the fine opportunity of the teachers of this generation to prove that they are equal to the task that is now laid upon them. The substance of this article appeared in TI-IE SCHOOL, Vol. XXVIII, No. 6. February, 1940. and is reprinted by pernzission. 24