Grade Nine to Grade Thirteen. The average age for the last year of school is eighteen. English and History are compulsory right through senior school, and choice of options is made from Mathematics (Trigonometry, Geometry or Algebra), Science (Physics, Chemistry or Zoology), French, Latin, German, Typing, Music or Art. Some schools also provide Home Economics and Industrial Arts but mine wasn't equipped for these subjects. The big event of the year is the election for the Student Council. The schools don't have prefects, but the students elect this council to deal with social and extra-curricular activities, and, if necessary, disciplinary measures. Two students from Senior Year are chosen by teachers to lead the two competing parties and the election proceeds with campaign speeches and posters, publicity gimmicks, and an assembly to allow the parties' platforms to be presented. On the last day of the week voting takes place. The positions being vied for are President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Social Convener. The result sof the election are announced at a dance on the Friday night and the new Student Council is duly inaugurated. The Council works with teachers and students to try and maintain harmony throughout the school. The sports played at school are Volleyball, Basketball, Lacrosse, Football (American), Badminton and Baseball. Team players must maintain a certain level in their marks or they are not allowed to participate in competitive games with other schools. Quite a few students drive their cars to school so there is usually an adequate car park provided. Sometimes things get a little hot when a teacher has to park his car in the street because some pupil has parked in his space. What do Canadian teenagers do for recreation, In the winter they skate and ski; in the summer they swim and water-ski. Bowling and dancing, and quite recently roller-skating, are popular the whole year round. The movies are ever-present and many small drama groups have sprung up for aspiring actors. Dances are held frequently alt school, about once a month, and there is a big formal dance once a year. 'Canada is still a growing country; she is not yet a hundred years old. Bach day new buildings go up, and cities spread out, and highways are built further and further north. The Arctic north is still mainly inhabited by Eskimos, who do use dog sleds for transportation sometimes, but no longer live in igloos. The snow never completely disappears up there but conditions are not nearly as rough as ithey used to be. The Indians of the land live on Reservations where they carry out their tribal customs with a hint of modern cynicism. I thought for my last paragraph I'd just sum up and give general impressions, since it is impossible to describe every aspect of Canadian life. Canada is a land of flat, vast prairies, of modern expressways linking the cities dotted all over the country, and of 56 shiny, sleek cars which have somehow become a status symbol. She is a land of cold, frozen winters and hot, sweltering summers, of old-fashioned Victorian-like hypocrites, friendly welcoming citizens, rebellious searching moderns. She is a land of hot dogs and hamburgers, milk shakes and Cokes, and frozen foods and TV Dinners. She was born of English ad French parents but is greatly influenced now by the United States. Her government is still not quite sure of itself and has not reached a high diplomatic plateau in International Relations. Unemployment is widespread, but for those who have secure jobs, luxuries are easy to come by and life is very pleasant. Like many other immigrants, I will always be a little homesick for England, but I am now quite content to call Canada my home. SANDRA SAINES. The following extra criticism of the school play has been written by a friend of Mr. Jardine and it is printed at his request. "THE MERCHANT OF VENICE" "The Merchant of Venice" is one of the most puzzling of Shakespeare's plays. The chief problem lies in Shakespeare's attitude to Shylock; at the same time he is both the inhuman 'devil Jew', a traditional villain of Elizabethan drama, and a suffering human being, whose terrible plan of revege is a counter-attack against the persecution and humiliation heaped on him by the Christians. How can we share in the Christians' final triumph over Shylock if we have had any sympathy for him during the play, The producers tackle this problem by presenting not a straightforward conflict between good in the persons of the Christians against evil in the person of Shylock but a collision of two worlds, existing side by side but having no real knowledge of or insight into each other. The characters can thus develop fully without being inhibited by having to belong either to the 'right' or the 'wrong' side. T. Parks, as Shylock, the pivot of the play, gives a performance remarkable for its power and maturity. Voice and movement are perfectly controlled to give an impression of passion deliberately held in check; when on a few occasions it breaks through irresistably the effect is all the more profound. His greatest triumph is in the trial scene, as he moves through a frenzy of triumph and excitement to the point where, after all his wealth and position have been stripped away, he crouches in abject humiliation before the Duke to beg for mercy. The presentation of Antonio, the merchant of Venice, also raises difficulties. What is the cause of Antonio's melancholy? The play itself provides no clear reason, and this production makes no attempt to impose one. Antonio is presented as the eternal victim, both of fortune and of his own melancholy nature. M. Neville, however lacks the necessary dignity and nobility In this 57