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

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The Stag 1973-74 Editor M. L. MacLachlan Assistant Editors S. Bryan I. Hyde-Lay B. Crane S. Larsen D. Crawford C. MacLachlan S. Ferguson S. Roskell The Literary Magazine Photography I. Leitch, with much help from and many thanks to: Mr. J. Gotthardt Staff Advisor Mr. R. St. J. Stuart Editorial The STAG is the only record of a year besides the great reams of bills and circulars that must be filed away somewhere in the Bursary. The STAG is the only record that contains pictures, reports written by the boys, witty and topical captions and references that will recapture for anyone twenty years hence the true spirit of their schoolboy days, in short, nostalgia in the making. Yet the advantages of having a wonderful record still seem to be outweighed, at least for the majority of the school, by the disadvantages of a little old-fashioned hard work and civic or scholastic responsibility. Even though the STAG this year is being printed by a company in Winnipeg which specializes in yearbooks, and even though the STAG has a small dedicated, staff there is still very little cooperation from most sectors of the school. Ad- vertising revenue was low this year because the Bursary failed to come through with promised help. Many reports from both boys and masters were short and rushed, written, no doubt, with very little thought for posterity. The many boys who can be seen every day with their cameras around the cam- pus failed with few exceptions to produce the pictures which are so essential to a good annual. All this not only means that the STAG staff is overworked to the extreme collecting photographs, expanding reports or simply finding material to fill up space, and taking sole responsibility for what belongs to the whole school, but also that there is a waste of the nearly three thousand dollars it takes to produce the STAG because not all the school are involved in some way in the best possible production. The STAGS of both 1971-72 and 1972-73 almost failed to materialize because they were confronted by these problems and there is a fear that these problems will create the absence of a published STAG in the near future. Steps must be taken to prevent this. Some suggestions: the STAG and its sister publication the LITERARY MAGAZINE must be included in the hobbies programme and might well be included in the school ' s academic curriculum if not under Journalism at least under the auspices of the English Department. The Art Department must take some of the responsibility for layout and all of the responsibility for the art work. The Photo Club must do the same thing in the area of photography and photographic layout. But most importantly all boys must learn to take the initiative and produce work of any kind of their own free will and for the good of the community and not on the prompting of a staff member. With just a few improvements, the STAG can become the record of one of t he best schools in Canada, and I am confident the administration has the foresight to make them. M.L.M. Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat 13

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Headmaster ' s Comments SPOILING THEIR FUN While driving through Goldstream last summer, I picked up a young university student hitchhiking his way up-lsland. We talked for a while and then I asked him how he was spending the summer. I ' m helping to run a summer camp for boys, ' ' he said. ' There are thirty-five kids; all teenagers. Do you have good facilities? I asked. The very best, he answered. Boats, sports, a good beach, fishing and lots of good hiking trails nearby. What a perfect summer job, I said, You must be having a great time. His face darkened; Actually, it ' s awful. I am completely frustrated. It is the most depressing thing I ' ve ever done. How could that be? I asked. They don ' t want to do anything. They sit around and complain most of the time. I do my best to encourage them but when they do start playing a game or using the boat it ends up in a fight; - or with equipment being misused or broken; - or they get bored or upset and give it up. But surely that ' s your job; - to get them organized; to get them started; to make them do something properly, and long enough to find the enjoyment in it. I suggested, rather tactlessly Oh, no! he exclaimed. That would be authoritarian. It wouldn ' t be democratic. I could act that way. It would spoil their fun. I dropped him at Mill Bay and drove into Shawnigan thinking of this poor young fellow and his fear of leadership. It occurred to me that he is not alone. So many who deal with youngsters - parents, teachers, scout leaders, counsellors - achieve little except muddle through fear of being thought undemocratic . They allow the slackest and least able kids to dominate the rest, because they dare not and set and enforce any code of behavior. They deny their charges the skill and satisfaction which results from diligent practice, because they refuse to be authority figures. The truth is that most youngsters need firm guidance from adults if they are ever to develop any skills, or learn the satisfaction and fun which come only from being competent in something. With increasing competence a person gains the ability to take responsibility for himself and thus to be free. By denying teenagers the direction they need adults deny them real freedom and condemn them to the shackles of inexperience, incompetence and im- maturity. For fear of spoiling their fun they deny them any fun at all. H. C. Wilkinson Exchange Peter Bloemen - Appleby College I arrived knowing only one of the 200 odd boys, and knew that was a good start. I slowly got all the names put together, and learned all the ins and outs of the school. Most or all private schools in the country have the same goals and principles. Most give the greatest emphasis to academics. I have noticed this here; to most people the fun starts after classes, doing a variety of sports and activities of their own choice. I was impressed by the very elaborate set-up of activities - it is impossible to compare this to any of the Eastern schools. I like the idea of having a set time for them, unlike other schools where you have to find your own time to do your activities. The sports facilities are of special interest to me because I am a sports- minded person. The facilities are better or at least as good as those at any other school I ' ve seen I (obviously) constantly meet new people and it has really impressed me how everybody (or at least most) took an interest in me - the only problem was that I had to answer the same questions over and over - How many guys go to Appleby? etc. I know that by the time that I leave Shawnigan I will have certainly had a lifetime experience. Peter Bloemen

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The Ski Week ! ' I lit r it«s