Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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The Voyageur and Persia, but also had a reputation as Hne as it was far-reaching. The schoolis achievement was brought to a conclusive but again only temporary end by a disastrous fire which, on the last day of 1905, almost completely destroyed the buildings and its contents. The Committee lost no time in making plans for a new school. After four years of effort on its part under its generous and enthusiastic chairman. Albert S. Rogers, assisted by many Friends and well-wishers, notably Joseph A. Baker and Arthur C. Dorland who interested English Friends in the undertaking, students again entered Pickering College, a noble building beautifully situated on the outskirts of Newmarket. The first few years in Newmarket were not easy ones. The demand for this type of education had definitely declined. ln the rapidly expanding Canadian economy, a set of values stemming from the Quaker tradition appealed to a relatively limited group of people with means sufficient to make use of a private school rather than the increasingly elaborate state schools supported by tax-payers. English-style colleges and finishing schools were fashionable. The leader- ship and devotion of Dr. and Mrs. Firth, however, surmounted this and other difficulties, and had it not been for the first World War the previous success would beyond doubt have been repeated. But a different mode of service presented itself, and the school, with its land and equipment, was turned over in 1916 to the Military Hospitals Commission to be used rent free as a mental hospital as long as it was required. The plant was released by the government in 1920. For seven years the uschool on the hilli' did not function, and one might have supposed that its history as an educational institution had ended. But in the midst of the materialism and disillusionment general after the war, the great Quaker attributes of faith and vision endured. If a predominantly Quaker co-educational boarding school did not seem a practical venture, the College Board and the Society of Friends saw that a service of great signifi- cance to education generally might be performed by a private school with a freedom to experiment often lacking in more conservative foundations or government controlled institutions. A new charter was obtained for the school which left it associated with but not controlled by the Canada Yearly Meeting, the co-educational feature of the College was abandoned, since the duplicating of equipment was very costly, and finally, on the retirement of Dr. and Mrs. Firth, the Board believed that they had found in Joseph McCulley, the present Headmaster, a man who could undertake the kind of educational pioneering which the Board envisioned. A great opportunity was thus offered him and, gathering around him a group of young and enthusiastic teachers like himself, ua great experimenti' was begunfi 'Of the 1927-28 staff of the College, besides the Headmaster, Mr. Taylor Statten. Mr. R. E. K. Rourke, Mr. R. H. Perry, Mr. J. A. Maitland, and Miss F. S. Ancient are still associated with the school. In 1942, Mr. Rourke was appointed Associate Headmaster: Mr. Perry is on leave of absence, a Flight Lieutenant in the R.C.A.F.: Mr. C. R. Blackstock, Director of Health and Physical Education, and more recently Preparatory Housemaster, came to the school in 1928. 19

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The Voyageur ln these young Canadians was to be inculcated Ha love of outside exercise . . . . a prominent feature of the institution , and gymnasiums were avail- able during Mwinter and inclement weatherw. A Literary Society was organized which met once a week, when lectures on literary and scientific subjects were heard. Among the distinguished visitors in this connection were George W. Ross, lV1.P., and Inspector James L. Hughes. A student paper was published by the simple and convenient method of having the editors read it to the assembled Society twice a term. Departments of Music and Art were added, and some paintings done under the tutelage of Edward S. Shrapnell, A.R.C.A., the first art teacher, w-ere hung in the present school at the time of the Centenary Re-union through the kindness of Mr. Walton of Aurora. As a final suggestion of the spirit of this first Pickering College, there may be noted the gracious and rather curious survival of the old manual labouri' tradition in the announcement that ustudents who wish may have flower jkots assigned to them for their own cultivationf' I The history of Pickering College nicely exemplifies the truth of a belief often expressed by the present Headmaster that uthere is no growth without a strugglef' A division in the Society of Friends along conservative and progressive lines fthe Separation of 18811, together with financial troubles, occasioned the temporary closing of the school in 1885. After seven years, however, operations were resumed, partly because of aid solicited and ob? tained from Friends in Great Britain by Mr. John R. Harris and Mr. Samuel Rogers. It is noteworthy that the College Committee described the re- opening at this time as Han act of faith , for the same phrase was spoken again in 1927, and ufaithw has continued and will continue to make the school live. To give expression to their faith, the Committee were forunate to secure Willi.am P. Firth as Principal and Miss Ella Rogers, a graduate of the University of Toronto in Modern Languages, as Lady Principalg as Dr. Dorland writes, uso well did they succeed in this joint enterprise that in 1894- they joined hearts and hands to continue, as husband and wife, what was to be their lifeis workf, Dr. Firth came to America from a Yorkshire mill town in the seventies, he became a member llater a ministerl of the Society of Friends, and taught at Oakwood Seminary-a continuation of the earlier Nine Partners-before coming to Canada. His own field was Science, in which he received his Master's degree and afterwards his Doctor- ate from Queen's, but his learning was broad and his teaching exceptionally stimulating. His understanding of youth was matched only by the sympa- thetic and skilful endeavour of his wife, whose interest in the school has never flagged. It was perfectly 'fitting that the hundredth-birthday cake at the Centenary Dinner this year was cut by Mrs. Firth. The activities and objectives at this time differed little from those suc- cessfully established before the closing. Various improvements were effected in the building, a new gymnasium was added, the gift of Samuel Rogers, and the Hold pumpi' was abandoned where the 'corder of the bath had long been established as a technique of justice dispensed by students to their fellows. By 1904 the school had not only reached its peak enrolment of one hundred and twenty students, with some from as far away as Jamaica 18

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The Voyageur lVlr. lVIcCulley, of Old Country birth and Canadian convictions, has been described as Hpredominantly non-conformist and eclectic in his religious and educational philosophyf, This may be interpreted to mean that he is a keenly aware person, alive to and eager to apply the best in any system of ideas or practices. At one time a theological student at Wyeliffe College, a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Ontario College of Edu- cation, and holding the Oxford degree of MA., a synthesis of his knowledge and ideas might be said to be achieved by his inspiring respect for and faith in the personality and potentialities of human beings, especially young' human beings. This attitude towards people is basic in Quakerism, and at the same time finds place in the theories of the Nprogressivev educators of to-day. Similarly, we had early occasion to note the Quaker emphasis on the practical in education, this is nothing more nor less than the educa- tion for lifew which is an expressed ideal of the modern Pickering College. Again, it will be recalled that there was little formal religious instruction in the early Quaker school, but that religion was traditionally regarded as an inward experience showing itself by a way of life, to-day at Pickering College the democratic way of life is studied, and the attempt is constantly made to instil into the members of the school group a sense of belonging to a co-operative community, the essentially Christian basis of this concept and all the spiritual values inherent in it are brought out by the regular Sunday evening chapel services offered by the Headmaster, members of the staff, or friends of the school. ' The continuity of theory and practice through the last hundred years is apparent also in less general ways. The activities on the farm and grounds and in the workshop of the present school would gladden the heart of Joseph John Gurney, with his belief in the dignity and usefulness of manual labour. Physical exercise is still thought to be of fundamental importance, almost without exception every student participates in a year-round athletic program which emphasizes the development of lasting skills and the value of team-work. The facilities for amental recreationi' fin the phrase of '79l, with its attendant broadening of the student's cultural experience and its enriching of classroom studies, are numerous, and best revealed by the current 4'Voyageur,, with its accounts of the place occupied in the school by music and drama, the creative arts, and interest clubs of various kinds. There is the absence in the school of superimposed, unexplained author- ity, and of artificial deference from student to master. Mr. lVlcCulley has said on occasion that 'cteaehing is relationshipv, that is, the personality of the teacher must attract or interest the student to produce the most valuable and lasting exchange of ideas between the two. Thus, the Headmaster and staff endeavour to meet the students on the basis of friendship, and such respect as is due the older from the young is genuine and knowledgeable. Once a friendly relationship has been established, as is the way of friends the world over, the student in many situations may naturally address his teacher-friend by his first name. To correct a common misapprehension, it is perhaps not out of order to emphasize that the classroom, or any formal or official school meeting, does not present a situation in which this practice is acceptable. 20