University of Toronto - Torontonensis Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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To the Graduating Class of University College By Professor Malcolm W. Wallace, B.A., Ph.D. EW events in your lives are likely to mark the end of one period and the beginning of another more definitely than graduation from college. It is an event that suggests the desirability of mental and moral stocktaking-a fresh surveying and estimating of your programme of life. For four years you have been able to devote yourselves almost exclu- sively to study. Your instructors and your fellow- students have made their contribution to your edu- cation. What value do you set on the process to which you have been subjected? Perhaps a more important question is, W'hat pro- gramme have you laid down for your own imme- diate future? You should know definitely what you propose to seek from life, and you should bend all your energies to its attainment. Whether your goal be riches or eminence in a profession, or success in politics or some more altruistic achievement, you cannot afford any longer to be indefinite about it. Success is almost always dependent on hard work consistently directed toward a definitely conceived end. It is said that many university graduates cease to be students from the time of their graduation. They represent the failure of the arts college. They have wasted four years of their lives, and the state has made a bad investment in them. Unless college has stung you wide awake, unless it has implanted tastes and interests which clamour for satisfaction, all your accumulated information will avail you - little. Information is of value only as the raw mater- ial which will enable you continually to add to and to modify your stock of ideas and of convic- tions. The very existence of the University can be justified only to t-he extent that you prove to be more alive, more intelligent, more devoted to social good than those whose opportunities have been less. Your education must continue as long as your lives. You can continue to grow only if you regard your books, your friends and your work as sources on which you are dependent for greater understanding and for becoming more efficient members of your community. This is a difficult world in which to find your way, for there is no easy solution to the perennial human enigma of the juxtaposition of good and evil in life. I would warn you against adopting easily the attitude of the cynics or of the disillusioned. They will assure you that In headaches and in worry Vaguely Life leaks away. That is a perfectly just description-of them and of all superficial weaklings, who cannot endure the pains of thinking or of strenuous moral striving. I suggest to you that you hold fast to your belief in the reality of goodness, truth and beauty no matter how intimately you find them associated with wickedness and error and ugliness. Angels are bright still though the brightest fell, and your deepest instincts Will tell you that human experience is satu- rated with meaning, to discover it is the only serious occupation of man. I confess that I have but little faith in sermonizing of this kind. Your tastes and inclin- ations are already pretty well determined, and they will bid you seek for satisfaction either in trivialities or in more substantial ways. Very many of you, I believe, will aim at making a contribution toward untangling the irrationalities and injustices of the puzzling world in which you must play your part. I can only assure you that your efforts to live the good life will be watched with the deepest satisfaction and pride by those who for a time have had the great privilege of being your instructors. ,. 18

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UNIVERSITY COLLEGE Q Qu... T0'VI COLE, President: B1-:TTY CAUDWELL, Vice-President: BEV. GAYNOR, Secretary: PEGGY CARSON, Tveasurer Message from Class of 3T8 HE record, of 3T8 U.C. academically has been high. Possibly the most notable honours have come in our last year with the winning of a Rhodes Scholarship by Alan Jarvis-who is the fifth successive Rhodes scholar to come out of University College-and of a Massey Scholarship by Wilf Smith. Here the augury for the future is fair. In the field of athletics, our men and women have played a prominent part in the sports of the University as a whole, and we have watched our Col- lege intramurally in its ups and downs till now we are no longer the intel- lectual college that always loses. In campus life-in the many clubs, organizations, and conferences--for the last four years, we have occupied prominent places. Again this augurs Well. In a literary way, We have made an excellent showing. We have nursed The Undergraduate into a publication with a reputation of which we may with justice be proud. We have had men and women on nearly every debating team sent out by the University, and within the College, we have won the Robinette Debates Trophy. At the University Drama Festival, we have won the Cody Award both years so far. Perhaps we are fitted for heavy roles later on. Varsity life has been grand. We used to smile when Alumni sighed and said the four years at college were the most wonderful experience they'd ever had. Now we know. We've enjoyed them. We're sorry it's through. But let's never be pessimistic-let's enjoy life always. ff 19