To the Expositor:
Alan McQuarrie of Gore Bay presented my wife, Joanne, and me with a valuable and unique gift for safe keeping. It is a 1923 yearbook of MCS (Mindemoya Continuation School). The pride in this grand old school is clear throughout the small but mighty publication, as shown by the following excerpt found within it. If ever an indisputable argument to preserve this historical building can be seen, readers will have no difficulty in finding it here in these pages of the past. The excerpt is entitled ‘School Spirit,’ and demonstrates just that! Although the piece is not signed, it seems to be an editorial, the editor being A.E. Graham of the Gore Bay Recorder. An excerpt of that piece follows below.
Jim Smith
Mindemoya
School Spirit
“This year the Mindemoya High School came into existence. Its splendid modern construction was the pride of architect and artisan, of educational authorities and of the community itself. No stone was left unturned in the effort to give central Manitoulin the best in education.
“Unfortunately, some people believe that a school is merely a building—a thing of wood or brick or stone. Others imagine that it must have teachers who boast of long lists of letters after their names, and a horde of solemn, studious children constantly poring over books. Others still look to examination results, probably these are in the majority. They consider a school successful only of the aforesaid pale faced students pile up a huge total of marks, a series of ninety per cent averages, or capture a string of prizes and sweep grandly through to all the scholarships of the county. But the more intelligent and farseeing of the educational critics realize that the great essential in our educational world is the development of spirit, the true school spirit.
“The true school spirit will persist in later life. We look for support and encouragement from the graduates, who should give the old yell just as loudly, sing the old songs just as melodiously, and support the old school just as freely, as if they were there once more.”
