Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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HARRY IVI. BEER, B.A Headmaster

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THIS EDITION OF THE VOYAGEUR IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO FRED HASLANI a good friend of our school since the re-opening in 1927 and a Member of the Corporation of Pickering College. Fred Haslam has served the Religious Society of Friends, the founders of our school, with love and dedication for many years, as general secretary of the Canadian Friends Service Committee, as Secretary- Treasurer of the Canadian Yearly Meeting and as an inspiration to all Friends, both young and old. As he enters retirement this year, our best wishes go with him and our hope that he will continue to pay his visits to our school.

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A PERSONAL WORD FROM THE HEADMASTER The Meaning of Education at Pickering College Education encompasses far more than the training of minds. It is a deeper experience than the mere acquisition of factual knowledge, for it should lead the student to the thoughtful consideration of his relationship to the world around him. This world includes people as well as facts. Education must, therefore, bring the thoughts of youth to an understanding of moral, ethical and spiritual values, so that they may determine where they belong in the scheme of things. ln such a process the student must begin with an awareness of himself, of what kind of a person he is now and wants to become in the future. It follows that the foremost role of education is the development of individual character. This was the concern of the founders of our school in 1842, the Society of Friends, and it is the concern of Pickering College today. ' Why stay at school? In the current controversy about education we hear that students are bored and restless, that modern education does not effectively prepare the young for the future, that schools are so sterile that they should not exist, that few positions are available for the graduates of high school or university. Such criticisms miss the point, when one views education as a means of personal development. lf our graduates have to face a world which is econom- ically unstable, or at war, or prejudiced, or unjust, all the more reason for strength of character! Adolescents may have moods of boredom or restlessness, but at heart they very much want an education. Their curiosity is stronger than their boredom, their ambition is keener than their restlessness and their idealism is more meaningful than their immaturity. But education must challenge them so that they learn how to react positively to the demands implicit in the development of character and intellect. Growth of character, growth toward maturity, is not well cultivated in a secluded, cloistered environment. It needs, rather, the coarse, profane, common world, with its cares and temptations, its rivalries and competitions, its hourly, ever-recurring trials of temper. lFrom a sermon by John Caird.l In such an open, communal life as ours at Pickering, we cannot pretend to be something we are not, and thus is character tested, nurtured and forged. The com- panionship found in boarding school life,the guidance and friendship of counsellors and teachers, the Sunday Evening Meetings where the school's philosophy and faith are affirmed, all give a young man the background for forming his own values and standards. As has been so often stated at Pickering College, this basic kind of education is the crea- tion of attitudes. Growth of the mind must also face demands, for most young people do not learn in an atmosphere of laissez- faire. The intellectual life of the adolescent, to be fruitful, must exist within a positive structure. As the American Quaker, Elton Trueblood, has said, the heart of discipline is the constant vision of greatness. This is why at Picker- ing we believe that students need to study on their own, that homework is complementary to the classroom lesson. This is why a student receives a weekly grading of academic progress in each subject. This is why we believe in exam- inations which give the student not only an evaluation of his intellectual growth, but also afterwards a review of the material he has studied, of what he has understood and of what he has failed to understand. Thus the training of the mind becomes an integral part of the development of character. And so the role of our school must continue to be the development of each student's potential. Our dedication to such a purpose stresses the value of the individual, only so that he may in his turn serve others. This is why the Society of Friends brought our school into being and this is why you as students must pursue education to the best of your ability. Harry M. Beer