Some Day the Sun Will Shine and Have Not Will Be No More by Brian Peckford

willingly participated.
     One I clearly remember was a debate over the statement: “Labrador belongs to
     Quebec.” I was on the negative team with Bob (Robert) Crocker, and I remember
     Rex Murphy was on the affirmative team. It was memorable because of the topic
     (one sure way to get a Newfoundlander’s dander up) and also because Rex, in an
     effort no doubt to intimidate his opposition and perhaps try and impress the
     judges, entered the theatre in dramatic fashion after everyone was seated,
     burdened down by a pile of books which he placed next to his lectern on the
     stage. Notwithstanding the flourish, Bob and I won the debate.
    After my first year at university, I spent a year teaching grade six at
     Lewisporte Central School. It was a funny arrangement. Central school meant from
     grade seven to eleven in those days. But apparently there was some problem with
     housing the grade sixes at the elementary schools in town, and so grade six (all
     eighty-five of them) ended up in a section/extension of the central school with
     its own entrance/ exit, thereby, I suppose, still keeping within the silly
     guidelines of maintaining the central school idea. I think my reasoning at this
     stage for taking a year from university was to see whether I liked teaching,
     since I was having some ideas about switching to law at that time.
    This was a wonderful experience and solidified my original decision to go into
     teaching, although originally it was as much financial as it was a career
     choice. The provincial government at the time was offering a $600 grant for
     first-year Education students. The only incentive was that you had to commit to
     teach for two years in the province. In any case, this one year teaching was
     very rewarding, notwithstanding the crammed quarters and two large classes of
     forty and forty-two, respectively. There were two of us teachers—Jack Bussey and
     myself—and we had six courses: I taught three and Jack, of course, taught the
     other three, switching classes as appropriate.
    Grade six is a great grade—the students no longer need personalhelp and are inquisitive without the teenage issues. We had a large number of
     very bright students, which in itself was a challenge, but it also presented the
     larger challenge of ensuring that the average student and those with
     difficulties were not ignored. The existing English course seemed inadequate,
     and so I received grudging permission to replace some of the program with
     materials that I had discovered from the United States. This would be a direct
     cost to the parents, so I wrote all the parents and received overwhelming
     support from them to get the new materials and bill them. This proved to be very
     successful and of significant benefit to students who were having some
     difficulty in reading and comprehension.
    As I said, I enjoyed the classes immensely—they were lively and often
     spontaneous. After we got used to one another and a few ground rules were
     established, it was surprising how cohesive the classes became. Each morning
     there was a short period of fifteen minutes where there would be general
     discussion, usually about the hockey games of the day or weekend before. I
     remember one occasion when we were discussing a certain local hockey game in
     which I had played; it became obvious that I had incurred an injury above my
     eye—it required stitches and I was wearing a patch. The kids were eager to know
     what had happened. So an animated discussion ensued as to whether the opposing
     team was to blame, if it was an accident, or whether in fact I was a little too
     aggressive. In the midst of this serious debate, Wayne, eager to speak,
     interjected and exclaimed that he knew exactly what had happened. The other
     students questioned him, and with a sly grin he evaded a direct answer.
    I stepped in and said: “Wayne, you owe it to the class to provide the answer.
     You said you