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

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deed, prejudice is a wonderful time saver— it enables one to have an opinion without bothering to get the facts. It is certainly true that Shawnigan teams do very well in their athletic endeavours and, on an overall analysis, one will see that the School wins more inter-school competitions than any other school in the province. However, from this it is not a corollary to decide that therefore the academic programme is secondary. Unfortunately the newspapers publicize our athletic achievements all too easily, whereas it is difficult to publicize to the same extent the academic developments which are taking place (nor would this be desirable). However, they are taking place and we are devoting our main energies to the improvement of standards in this field. While these results will not be so easily recognized as those in other fields, they exist nonetheless, and will be more appreciated in the long run. This may sound fine in theory, but what are we actually doing and have we any tangible results? The practical elements of our policy include the estab- lishment of three academic streams through the school, with no class above Grade 8 having more than twenty pupils in it; and we have also improved our staff— student ratio to 1:11. As a result of these factors we are able to provide for more homogeneous teaching in our programme, and we are able more and more to give personal attention to our boys and to extend them to their indi- vidual capacities. With regard to any special approach to academics which we are striving to make at Shawnigan, over and above Department requirements for a high school programme, I would say this: We believe, and we make this our concern, that a deep-rooted desire and ability to read widely and intelligently is the be- ginning of wisdom scholastically, and almost ensures more success in higher 77

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a preparation for the next step, in which the boys would prepare themselves with further study for their places in life. Pointing out that each generation had a problem to solve, he said that the rising generation had the biggest problem of all— that of human relationships. He stressed, in fact, that people must be taught to live amicably or soon there would be no people at all. Dissension amongst nations, peoples and individuals must be overcome, and this will be a tremendous task. He concluded by expressing certainty that these boys knew where to begin because they had been trained in a Christian School. Through their belief in God they would know that all men were brothers. Headmaster ' s Report Honoured guests, members of the Board of Governors, members of the Staff, boys of the School, Ladies and Gentlemen: First of all I should like to say how very pleased we are at Shawnigan that so many of you have made the effort to come and support us in our Closing Ceremonies. I must say that this is a very sad day for us at Shawnigan. In many respects we have had a grand year with the general esprit de corps reaching a new high, and it is an unhappy time for us when many of the senior boys— who have done so much for the School in their loyalty and enthusiasm— have to leave. Some of us remember five or six years ago when these same boys came to the School as wide-eyed new boys, who were eager to do well— but just a little apprehen- sive. We have tried to help them in the various phases of their development and in many cases have suffered with them the anguish of their growing pains. How- ever, a concomitant of this has been the development of a mutual understanding and, indeed, affection between us as they have grown into responsible seniors in the School. I hope they know that this will not cease as they leave to take their places as responsible citizens in their community; in fact, our relationship with them which has developed during their most important years means a great deal to us at Shawnigan, and we shall always be grateful when they can find the time to write to us, or, better still, when they can return and see us to tell us of their new thoughts, their plans, their frustrations and their achieve- ments. In our continuing effort to improve standards at Shawnigan we are mak- ing our academic development our primary concern. I have heard it said that Shawnigan has the reputation in some quarters of being top notch in sports to the detriment of academics. This is utter nonsense and results from the fact that people in general become quickly prejudiced on the basis of too few facts. In- 70

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education. Especially is it important that the young read and digest biographies of great men. We see in our young people generally a more widespread lack of development in this art of reading than ever before, owing to obvious causes. As we expand our facilities we must be certain to provide more libraries and attractive reading rooms, because they will be fundamental in this develop- ment. We must do our utmost to recapture that sense of awe and wonder and enquiry which used to be more common— a feeling that life was an exciting adventure, and that the world around us was full of thrilling unknowns. Then will come a sense of the sublime which will raise men above the level all too commonly found today. Parents so often say that their boy would do well at school if only he knew how to study. Learning how to study is fundamentally learning how to read and to focus attention for longer and longer periods of time. The long-continued effort always brings results. Now with regard to our results, at this stage it is difficult to say how our present graduating class has done in their recent examinations; but I can say something about the class of last year. Last June, even though a much higher standard was required in the University Entrance examinations, we were pleased to learn from the Department that 13 of our 26 Grade 12 boys received Govern- ment scholarships and that this was the highest number per capita of any school in the province. For this year, the only results we have so far are that four of our students have already been accepted into first-class American universities: Richard Anderson has won a scholarship to the University of Illinois, Nick Kaiser has been accepted into Yale, Dal Grauer into Amherst and Christopher Elms into M.I.T. You will recognize these universities as being among the 12