Headmaster's Address on Speech Day,23September 1994 Mr Chairman and Mrs Polkinghorne, Mr Clem Sunter, Members of the Board of Governors, Distinguished Guests,Ladies and Gentlemen; Welcome to you all and thank you for being with us today. What an incredible year we have had unfold before us. From the uncertainty preceding the elections, to the marvel of the birth of our 'rainbow nation', to strikes and expectations not yet met. We have been on a roller coaster ride with our hopes and fears the peaks and the valleys. Everything around us is changing and you might well ask "What are you doing to meet the chal lenges in education?" Wellfirstand foremost,Ithink we mustretain oursense ofhumour.One ofthejoys ofschoolmastering is read ing the gems youngsters come up with. These are prov erbs completed by the boys: * Don't count your chickens-before you cook them. * Don't put all your eggs-in the microwave. * All's fair in-rugby * People wholive in glass houses-shouldn'ttake their clothes off. * Ifatfirst you don'tsucceed-go and play touch rugby. * All work and no play-is disgusting. * Two heads are-funny looking. * A stitch in time-saves your pants. * The grass is always greener-than the cows. * Clothes make-people decent. * Do unto others-like you don't do to yourself. * He who laughs last-didn't understand the joke. More seriously, I want briefly to help get change into perspective, then mention some of the changes already implemented,before talking about the future. I am well aware-though our staff may not think so!- of what Alvin Toffler describes as: "the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time." I am equally aware that you cannot apply the solutions ofthe past to the problems oftoday. Unless we managethe processofchange,the proc ess will manage us. We can either resent it and resist it, or anticipate it for our own good.A bal ance between boldness and prudence must be maintained if we are to steer a true course into the uncertain future. I would like briefly to mention some ofthe mostsignifi cant changes already in the process ofimplementation. When one looks at the incredible advances in technol ogy-from the phone to the fax to electronic mail-one may think that education has not moved into the 20th century,never mind the 21stcentury.Today'sclassroom is virtually the same as 100 years ago! But real change is whathappensin the classroom -one can change the physical structure and pour money into fancy aids-hut in the end it's up to the teacher to establish a learner centred envi ronment. To this end we have an ongoing programme ofin-serv ice training with the focus this year being on co-opera tive and resource based learning. All the staff were in volved in developing ideasfor the upgrade ofthe Re source Centre which is now nearly complete.TheCen tre has huge possibilities with the collection of all re sources computerised and networked with the computer centre. We have started a CD Rom collection and will have our E mail number enabling us to network with other centres,local and international. Pupil and teacher education gathers pace. We have to make our curriculum relevant to the new South Africa.Financial and entrepreneurial skills must be added to other skills taught in the labs,classrooms,computer room and the design and technology centre. The whole emphasis on Career Education has changed to meet changing employment opportunities. We have to look at job makers rather than job seekers. Our Ca reers Department did us proud with their 20speakers on 3 nights, the counselling and testing done, and the shadow employment weeks for our Post Matrics.Aspe cial task group researched the whole matter of subject choice. The outcome has been the establishment of a CommercialSubjectsDepartmentto be headed by Mrs D. Woodroffe assisted by Mr B. Steyn. They will not only be teaching Accounting and Business Economics and the many subjects done by our Post Matrics, but will be introducing the whole concept of entrepreneurship throughout the school. The other area ofchange which is paramountlies in our attitudes. This is by far our biggest chal lenge. The bottom line is: will our boys fit com fortably into the new South Africa? To start with,we must not pretend there are not any dif ferences in the people that make up our land. We are all different. As Dr Julian Sonn so eloquently put it: "Unless we root ourselves in our own culture, we can't grow wings and without wings you can't fly". That does not mean we have to abandon our tradi tional values and ethos-rather we have to expand the ethos to include others. Three short years ago, I appointed a Community Of ficer so that we could become more expansive and share and care with others. Work with Smile, Khabazela,and with welfare, animaland environmentalactivities has presented our lads with wonderful opportunities. Kearsney Chronicle 1994 13
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