Shawnigan Lake School - Yearbook (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia Canada)

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fjaumigan iHapziitP 3tani , 1951

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Cditoriai This June of 1951 marks the end of a very happy year in our school life but it has one sad aspect in that it also marks the end of our long association with Strathcona Lodge School as founded by Miss Gildea twenty-four years ago. For the lack of a very few dollars, it has had to be sold and, at the time of writing, its future is not known. Whatever it may be, we do know that the work of Miss Gildea and her colleagues has come to an end but we also feel sure that her influence will not end. Her Old Girls and many of our Old Boys will long remember her and the precepts which she set up for Christian living. The opportunities offered by our two schools would be hard to duplicate anywhere in Canada — wholly boarding schools set in beautiful country surround- ings with the scope for games and outdoor activities such as can be enjoyed by so few young people today. We know that the trend in the Government Schools has been towards less classical education and more practical with the accent on Effective Living but what living can be more effective than that of a boarding school where, to be happy and successful, each student must learn to live with his fellow man every day and every hour of the school term. There is much talk in this part of the world as to the future of the Independent Schools. But one has only to look at the record of the Independent Schools in Great Britain where, under a Socialist Government, these schools are full, with waiting lists for years ahead, to know that they hold the answer to a growing need in education. We also understand that such schools are flourishing mightily in Eastern Canada. Why not in British Columbia? Perhaps it is that we are still too young and our Old Boys not yet fully established. But we do feel that if our Independent Schools could receive some sort of Government recognition (and not necessarily in the form of financial assistance) it would go a long way towards giving us a permanency and an acknowledged part in the development of our Province. We want and have asked for Govern- ment Inspection which would satisfy parents that our Schools are adequately staffed, adequately equipped and have an adequate record of successful results. Merely looking at the matter from the point of view of the Publicity Bureau, the very fact that hundreds of thousands of dollars are brought into the Province from outside sources should give the Independent Schools some status of material value. However, it would appear that many years and much hard work stand between us and this goal. We can only carry on as we have been doing, trying to give our boys and girls a standard of morals and conduct, a respect for fair play and good sportsmanship, and the necessary knowledge for University Entrance. Page 3