St Johns High School - Torch Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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FORE W O R D A YEAR AGO, the school was instructed by the Manitoba Department of Education to find out what could be done to make the High School of to-day more efficient. In order that we may be free to experiment, the University has agreed to accept our students without examination. The experiment, or study, began with the 1945-46 Grade Ten Classes. Our first step was to define the purpose of the High School. The definition we have accepted is that the purpose of the High School is to maintain and extend the democratic way of life as it should be lived. From this we deduce that living, not learning, is the true objective of the school, and that our main task is to train up a better type of individual. For this purpose, we conclude that curriculum is less important than mind-training, and that, in turn, mind-training is less important than character training. These principles dominate the work of the school. Realizing that individuals differ profoundly and that complete adjust¬ ment of the individual is essential to the good life, we have greatly extended our counselling service. Each student will have two or three interviews in the course of the year, and everything possible will be done to make of him a well-adjusted person whose life brings him many and real satis¬ factions. We are laying great stress on the provision of increased opportunities for character-training. Each class is required to accept responsibility for the attendance, conduct and progress of each one of its members. It will take time to develop among the students a school spirit that will insist on the full and complete discharge of this obligation. An excellent start has been made, and we shall persevere, because we believe that the world’s great need to-day is for citizens with a well-developed sense of civic and community responsibility. And we know that only by giving persons responsibilities, can we develop in them a sense of responsibility. So we give greatly, and in return, ask greatly. We are also trying to explain to our students the world in which they live. We are trying to bring before them the important issues of the day, local, national, and international. We are encouraging them to read widely. In every way we are trying to get them to take an intelligent attitude towards life and the world at large. The enthusiastic co-operation of staff and students ensures that the school will benefit greatly from the experiment. It is within the bounds of possibility that the school may achieve an outstanding success through this experiment. To all the students who have taken a part in the preparation and publication of this admirable volume, my grateful thanks. To all graduating students, my sincerest good-wishes. G. J. REEVE Page Four

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■HH USQUE AD ASTRA

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