University of Toronto Schools - Twig Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

Page 98 text:

THE TWIG .yizfgifgjliwfigi i ' 7.. :ifcrr Xrx'l L frfxx ff 1, If 2 L, riefh 'N fag . F c - -.gs Y --X--as R isle ff if 'sf' H + - f r H .f 5 R , af 5 I 1 Ti :- s ,s ig n f E si gs Q31' g- Sdiilis F5 M 2 5 'il ilflt-Ellilf-lirlzl s ' 1 ' - rI:lfEEI' HeF1t i t ' Tfplifi . E l' Lf T 1. .. - frgj N Zi' - gi 5 E z: ' 51? I ' 2 f E r - I 5 EF? Q 2 , I 2 Alun J-lownnl 3 FULL quarter of a century has now elapsed since the University Schools were established by the University of Toronto, as a practice school for the teach- ers in training in the Faculty of Education. ' It was the first school of its kind in Ontario, a school for boys maintained by the provincial government through the University, and providing classes in the upper grades of the Public School course and in the entire Secondary School course lead- ing to honour matriculation. Since its pur- pose was primarily to serve in the training of teachers, its function as a school with a definite place in the training of youth might easily have been submerged. That this did not happen and that the University of Toronto Schools came to possess a personal- ity all its own, is due in large measure to the unique character of its hrst Headmaster, Professor H. Crawford, and to the strong support he received from Dean Pakenham of the Faculty of Education. Professor Crawford was a great teacher of the classics. Passionately fond of his sub- ject, he possessed that supreme gift of a teacher, the capacity to arouse enthusiasm in others. Outwardly he was somewhat stern, and sometimes a bit autocratic, but underneath he was tender-hearted and gen- erous to a fault. He hated sham and false- hood in every form, and woe-betide the luckless youth who sought to evade the con- sequences of his misdeeds by deceit. The infiuence of his great personality still lives at U.T.S. and in the lives of those who came under his influence. PROFESSOR H. sl. CRAXVFORD

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THE T WIC The Schools opened with an enrolment ot 374 boys drawn mainly from Toronto and its suburbs. The staff of Assistant Masters in the first year included the following, all of whom had had years of successful expe- rience in Ontario Schools: O. Carlisle, Classics, Cm. A. Cornish, Science: T. Crawford, Mathematicsg W. C. Ferguson, Moderns, H. A. Grainger, Scienceg W. E.. Macpherson, History: G. D. Robertson, Art and Commercial Work, O. Stevenson, English: G. Workman, Mathematics, and in the Junior School: C. N. Bramfitt, F, E.. Coombs, W. Dunlop, A. Irwin, T. M. Porter, and A. N. Scarrow. Of these originals, several are still on the staff of the Schools, or intimately associated with it as members of the staff of the College of Edu- cation. Dr. Pakenham's interest in the Schools has been active and sustained. His position as Dean of the Faculty of Education, later the College of Education, involved a certain amount of responsibility for the success of .Alan Howard '32.- Dx. PORTER I5 tlze Schools, and no one has followed their progress with greater appreciation, One of the original assistant masters, Dr. Porter, must always receive special mention in any review of the history of the Univer- sity Schools. Tommy, as he was affection-- ately known to his boys, held and still holds, though no longer with us, a place all his own in the life of the Schools. A bachelor with few family ties, he lived entirely for his boys. With him, teaching was not a profession or even a calling, it was his life. No other possessed his uncanny knowledge of youth, and few his unfaltering confidence in the innate decency of youth. ln every gathering of Old Boys, Tommy Porter is the name most frequently recalled and always in tones of reverence and affection. ln a very tang- ible way, Dr. Porter showed his interest in the Schools by generous gifts of needed equipment and by the endowment of nu- merous Scholarships that bear his name. The Schools were only four years old when the world war broke out. Of those tragic years that followed, much could be written that might quite properly hnd a place in these annals. We recall, as though it were last term, the eagerness of the boys to reach the age of eighteen and their zeai to pass the Matriculation examination in order that they might obtain permission to enlist and get into the conflict. We recall, too, the tragic occasions that came so fre- quently when word reached the Schools that another of the boys had given his all. Some four hundred of our lads enlisted, and sixty of them went away never to come back to us. Finer boys never sat in school anywhere, The story of their sacrifice is a precious part of our school traditions. ln l9I9, the first School Captain was elected in the person of Bill Baker. The establishment of such an office was an ex- periment in school government that has long since proven its worth as a feature of school organization. The duties of the School Cap- tain, chosen by the boys themselves, have never been explicitly defined, but his posi- tion is one of real importance. He is the