Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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editorial s I SIT' AT THE TYPEVVRITER this morning I find it very easy to look upon the year as an entity. Since early last evening I have been reading articles for this magazine concerning teams and activities, highlights and low- lights of the school year. I have been selecting photographs for publication fr-om a file that includes every face in the community and pages from almost every day of the school year diary. The typewritten pages and glossy photos are no longer clear in my mind, but they have mingled to form a picture ofthe school year, nineteen forty-eight, forty-nine. I think I can now see this past year as it should be seen, not a series -of disconnected events and ideas but rather the development of a new kind of thinking in the school, and possibly the prelude to a new era in the school 's history. IN THE FALL TERM it became evident that there was the usual amount of criticism of the policy and outlook of the school. Much of this was turned against the students and some of it was in direct opposition to staff policy and the mistreatment of the ideals of the school as we had understood them. The first sign of this beyond the corridor bull-sessions appeared in a group of editorials in the December edition of the school paper. The editorials accused the students of lack ot' spirit and sense of responsibility. Student projects were proposed and it was suggested that the students could accept responsibility for s-ome of the tasks about the school. Another editorial accused the staff of having forgotten that we owed it to the greater community to carry out experiments in education. In summary, the conclusion that had been reached by those students in the fall term who were concerned with the state of our school community was simply that we were HSTAGNANTH. Some- thing was missing. Pickering needed a shot in the arm. In the second issue of the Quaker Cracker the editorial attacked the student committee as undemocratic and nothing more than a popularity poll. This jab served to wake up many of the senior students, and before the second term had passed its first week. Mr. Rourke hadgc-ome forward with a proposal for a basic change in the school organization. The committee had seen the need for change and the headmaster's suggestion that the academic and age-grouped corridors be broken up, received their immediate support. The new plan was to have students of all ages and academic levels living together on the same corridors. In addition, the students were to take the responsibility for keeping their rooms swept and clean as well as handling the evening duties themselves. After a measure of persuading and explaining the matter was put to a vote and with eighty percent student support, the plan was put into effect. Six

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some thoughts from the headmaster T IS IMPORTANT for every school periodically to examine its traditions and customs. Do they represent the best thinking of the community distilled through years of experience? Or do they, in part at least, represent nothing more than convenient patterns of behaviour into which the group has drifted? Some traditions may very well have such fundamental value that we should hold fast to them over the yearsg others may be only first approximations to the good life. . Twenty-two years ago, hacked by the thinking of our Quaker founders, we set forth the programme and organization of our school. The focus of attention was on the individual, and on his right to grow and develop subject only to the limitations imposed upon him by his group responsibilities. This is a basic concept at Pickeringg it involves the two supplementary ideas of privilege and responsibility. Pickering students have many privileges. Some feel that they have too many. In my opinion, the danger point is reached when the privileges are given rather than won, when they are unaccompanied by commensurate re- sponsibilities. S-o long as the increase in personal freedom goes hand-in-hand with a greater awareness of one 's place in his group and his obligations to it. I contend that the development is wholesome and proper in a society of free men The staff and students of Pickering College this year gave considerable thought to ways and means -of increasing their contributions to the community. XVhen Hugh liyon, former Headmaster of Rugby, visited Pickering Follege in the fall, he told us of the manner in which the older students at Rugby accepted responsibility. A number were impressed to the point of taking action. The customs of over twenty years are hard to break, particularly so when they have undoubtedly had many merits. It is therefore to the credit of the students that they were willing to undertake a new plan of corridor arrangement that promised more opportunities for developing better school tone. Instead of corridors composed entirely of seniors or of intermediates or of juniors, Pickering corridors henceforth were to be real family units with boys of all ages living together and working together. Some of our hopes for the new scheme were realized. But it would be foolish to pretend that we have explored its possibilities in a few monthsg only after twenty years did we feel that the former method had been fully exploited. Early next September a joint committee of staff and students will study the problem anew in the light of our present experiences. I believe that we are on the track of something worthwhile. And so it must always go. As soon as we feel that nothing remains to be improved, we shall have reached the end of our vision. If I interpret the aims of Pickering aright, we must look forward to finding better ways of developing that inner discipline that enables young men to make good decisions, to handle freedom wisely, and to stand ready to accept their full share of responsibility in their group. Thus will Pickering become a beloved com- munity , a true society of friends. Fila

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After the room change, the desire for rejuvenation dropped to the bull session level again. The spirit of change and the essentiality of experiment for progress has been planted in enough student minds, however, that the coming school year may show us a greater and stronger lust for improvement. This desire is not only the means toward the end but it is essentially the end itself. This realization of a stagnant condition and the resulting attempts to bring about the necessary change has been the most significant aspect of this year at Pickering and all of the other areas of activity reflect the conditions which promoted it. getting in the lust word S wiz PUT' THE MAGAZINE to bed. at three o'clock this morning. we feel that - there are one or two things that we ought to pass on. The most startling news that we have heard in the past week is that Mr. Donald Stewart is not coming back to the college in the fall. Don Stewart is going to the Department of External Affairs this summer and is changing his profession from that of teacher to that of diplomat. During Mr. Stewart 's years at the college he has been the inspiration behind much intellec- tual aetivity, and the Dramatic Club has been one of the many projects which owes all of its debts to this one man. A gentleman and a kind and earnest teacher, Mr. Stewart has won the respect of everyone whom he has taught. The English classes have been refreshing. a high spot in the student day. and the many innovations and experiments that have been tried in class have made the courses of grades eleven and thirteen both exciting and valuable. Mr. Stewart has had a series of nick-names. a sign of popularity in spite of their occasional disrespectful connotations. Beacon and Lobster have lasted out the years and although they may not be appreciated in some circles. we know very well that it has only been on rare occasions that there was any more malice in them than in naming at chum, t'Stinky . We realize that our housemasters absence will be sorely felt in the coming years and we can only hope that in his new work and new community he will find satisfaction and happiness. Another piece of news that some of the students may not have picked up before leaving school concerns Lou Lanier 's trip to Europe. To-morrow, on the twenty-third of June, Lou is leaving for London, England, Paris, Brussels, and other centres of interest. He will end up in Sweden where he is attending the Lingiad and will be studying physical education among other things. Lou will be spending the iirst half of the summer on his trip and will no doubt be overflowing with new ideas when the fall term comes along. Seven