Page 16 - 1972

V ALEDICTORIAN
As I look around, I find row upon row of a fresh crop of graduatirlg students sitting before me. And last year, another group graduated also, and the same occur- red the year before last, and the year before that . . . And it'll happen next year and so on. I ask myself, WHY? Whyhave we spent so much of our short yet valu- able lives being educated?
Was it worth the money? Why yes, of course some people would say. They are the ones who have been taught to believe that money isn't everything in life. They unquestioningly sacrifice all their taxe$ to appease the minataur in the labrinthes of the Ont. Inst. for Studies in Education.
Then there are those people who dish out their money into the bottomless pit with hope that maybe they are helping to build a new world for tomorrow by assisting in education.
Another taxpayer has a great deal of respect for money, but, even upon seeing the finished product, he shuts his eyes and pretends it doesn't exist.
Finally, there are the realists who hate the big greedy monster which gobbles up their hard earned money. They hope for the day a Theseus will slay the minataur.
What benefit have we received from education? The experience gained through constant contact with other students, the atmosphere of inquisitiveness fas- tened by teachers, tolerance shown by the administra- tion; these are but a few of the ingredients to make us more human.
Aleksander Antoniuk
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