It's this time of the year when we learn things we never knew before, like some of the weird middle names of our friends when they are called up to receive their diplomas. But it's this time also that we should try to learn a little more about ourselves, in terms of what have these four years, these 1,460 days of our lives have come to and meant.

A long time ago schools were for learning facts and figures and things from books. How much real knowledge, useful knowledge, have we stolen from Maine West High School? The only person who can measure that is ourselves; but then again, how many of us want to know the truth? Yes, sometimes classes are "jokes" because of the class, or teacher, or the general atmosphere, sometimes.

But what can you do? And what did you try to do? But if Maine West has not given us anything in the way of learning, it is our own fault, because we more or less chose how well we are going to profit by four years of our lives. High School is something forced upon us, and we have always had the choice to fight it or profit by it. And who can say we did not know the consequences, which have been drummed into us our whole lives?

So some of us will have knowledge; what else will we take with us after Commencement on June 9? Will we remember the Maine Way? Very few people make it a part of their daily routine to practice it. We'll remember our good times and our bad times; the

people we like, the people we hate, an unjust society, the teachers, the deans; but we'll have more than memories. We may not be prepared entirely for the cold cruel world, but we have (even though it was forced) gotten to know people. Maybe we even have a few friends that we will keep for our whole lives. And we'll never feel more closely knit than right now because suddenly it dawns upon us that never again will the kid in study hail kick the back of our chair with his feet. Now that we think of it, he wasn't so bad after all. It makes you want to go right up to everyone you know and tell them what you have been thinking of them for four years. It's strange and sad but it's there.

What have we given to Maine West? We weren't special, not any more than any other class. We will be told that we were the best class on Wednesday, as they have done for years. We weren't "the best," but we have really given something that is very hard to define. You could say we have put our finger on prejudice; we have brought it out into the open if anything. And we have tried to bring people a little closer together, not through sports assemblies, but through everyday actions, expressing ideas, trying out new ways. We may have also given Maine West broken windows, dirty washrooms, nervous teachers, but we have initiated this new beginning to better understanding just by making people aware of it.

WELL CLASS of '71 have we failed, or have we at least started to succeed?