I had my junior matriculation and that's all that you went to- the only time you went and took grade-thirteen or senior matric is if you were going to university. And out of the class that I was in, at Runnymede, there would be about twenty of us and only two went to univesity. Very few people went to university.

Speaker: And out of the class that I was in, at Runnymede, there would be about twenty of us and only two went to univesity. Very few people went to university. Interviewer: And very few girls, right? Speaker: Well yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: And ah so it was strictly- junior matric was it. And you needed junior matric to get a decent job, but senior matric, as I say, the only people that ever got one were those who're planning to go on to university.

... the family needed um some assistance and right after that, I joined the Air-Force. And I know when I joined the Air-Force, fortunately it was getting to the point that they're getting a little hard-up for air crew. At one time, you had to have your senior-matric, or high-school graduation, to go be a pilot or navigator. And at this time, luckily, they ah gave me an aptitude-test and I passed that and they sent me to special schooling for about three months, I guess it was, to learn all the mathematics and everything else ...

Interviewer: What do you remember about- about being in high school? Speaker: Ah- I don-- I don-- (laughs) it's- it's different than now. Interviewer: Oh is that right? Speaker: Yes. Because ah- um ah- like there was commercial and matric, and that's all you just had the choice, that's the only choice you had. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: Commercial is if you want to be a bookkeeper, or-things-like-that, matric if you wanted to be a nurse or a doctor, or- ah, things-like-that.

Speaker: And ah I didn't ah- I-don't-know, I just didn't feel I could do it. Interviewer: Oh okay. But some of your friends went to university? Speaker: Oh all. All m-- I took a five year matric and so- Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: Most of those- most of those kids became doctors and- Interviewer: Oh wow. Speaker: I don't know about all else.

Interviewer: Did ah- did very many of them stay in Kirkland-Lake? Speaker: No. They went- mostly went to university. If they were in five year matric, they went to univer-- they took off.

Speaker: I went to the- to the Saint-Agnes, the private school here and- Interviewer: Oh. Speaker: Matriculated and then, well you can write down whatever you like. I didn't go to the high-school nor the- there wasn't a collegiate then you-know?

Interviewer: What subjects did you take in high-school? Speaker: I took my j-- my matriculations. Interviewer: Do you remember any of your teachers?

I went to high-school in Colbourne, Ontario. My father and mother, at that time living in the village of Smith-Field just west of Brighton. I took the senior matriculation or now known as grade thirteen in the Napanee-Collegiate.

You just called it the high-school. And I went to Saint-Agnes and got my matriculation from Saint-Agnes was a private school, do you know where it was?

It was quite a good sized school. We had- they had- they started with the- with kindergarten and they- they had classes right up through to matriculation, right through the collegiate and I got my matriculation from Saint-Agnes and then I went to Guelph.

Interviewer: How did you um manage to get into an Anglican school. Speaker: It was no trouble getting in, I passed into the high-school and then I went to Saint-Agnes and got my matriculation from Saint-Agnes, I was there for five years. Interviewer: So that- um your religion was not a deciding factor when you applied for the school.

Interviewer: Do you know how then how Saint-Agnes might have differed from the public-school? Speaker: Well it was a church school, that's all I know about it, but the- the course, we had to try the examination, the matriculation, we had to try it from the collegiate, we didn't have the exam at the school. But we took the- they- they taught, they had the teaching, they- they- they had the ah collegiate.

And I once asked a bank manager why he preferred boys for their matriculation rather than boys who taking the commercial course. He said, "if they got their matriculation at seventeen, I know they have got a certain amount of mentality, I know that they have worked hard to get some work that is disagreeable, and that is what you need in business."

When you got to the high-school the various classifications were called forms. Now of-course it's all grades but you went from first form to third, senior third, form which was the matriculation form. And then for people who wanted to have another year before going to university there was a fourth form which was very small.

... I didn't do the studying I would have done if I'd been at home so I failed one subject, didn't get my senior- matric 'cause back then it was senior-matriculation set by the province. Everybody- you could only graduate if you wrote that grade-thirteen exam and passed. And it wasn't at the school, it was down at the U-of-T as a matter of fact, in some great big gymnasium. Miles and miles of desks.

I still like (inc) and can still smell them. The smell in that subway. Yeah. But I went to Oakwood-Collegiate and got my senior matriculation and um- what else?

About that time, um wh-- see, what ah- yeah, I ah- I was old enough- ah, I was- oh, in fact, I- I quit- I was finished with school, Runnymede-Collegiate. I had my junior matriculation and that's all that you went to- the only time you went and took grade-thirteen or senior matric is if you were going to university. And out of the class that I was in, at Runnymede, there would be about twenty of us and only two went to university.

Speaker: And I w-- I went to what we called, in those days, tech. Interviewer 2: Tech? Speaker: Yeah as opposed to matriculation or commercial. Interviewer 2: Right. Speaker: Ah tech mostly the boys went and that was sort-of leading you to be m-- an electrician or-something. Commercial, the girls were going to be secretaries.

Speaker: Commercial, the girls were going to be secretaries. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: They were only going to go to a-- go to grade-twelve. They weren't- that w-- matriculation went to grade-thirteen. Interviewer: Mm. Speaker: We called it matriculation then and those- those people were boys and girls were mostly destined for university.