purpose of education that I thought laid down some challenge for all of us here, despite it being written almost 70 years ago by a young Christian human rights activist while in his formative years at university … one Martin Luther King Jr. In the Morehouse College Journal he wrote: “It seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the one is utility, and the other is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life. “Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for one’s self is very difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half- truths, prejudices, and propaganda. At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority of the so- called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass
of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction. “The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals. “We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge, but also the accumulated experience of social living.” Mr King tells us character, is a fundamental component of a quality education, and it is forged in culture. We all know that culture is created by what we do day-to-day, how we
speak and engage, the behaviours we advocate and commit to, and what we allow to occur between us. Our College virtues in practice is our culture. That culture is our individual actions in the face of collective will. It is whether we turn away or turn in. Through years past and in the years ahead, this school is only as good as the culture created by our considered actions, not our hope nor the platitudes of leaders. In every moment, we cannot allow ourselves to be compromised in what is right nor avert our attention from the consequences. What you learn at College is what you do and what you do at College is what you learn. One does not learn by osmosis. To those boys who are leaving, I trust the experience of this school has set for you a moral compass that is essentially uncompromising and reflects in your character and actions our most significant virtues of honesty, compassion and justice. For those of you who remain, the issue is to not stand by, but to courageously step up and to act in the face of anything that compromises another person’s rights to be who and as they are. Only if we consistently and unwaveringly act with total respect will we create a culture that enables the development of every positive feature of the graduate outcome and an environment that grows boys of integrity and strength of character to become men as we see in the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. Thank you again to the parents gathered here and the incredible staff for your ongoing support of all things College and thank you boys for being that Christ’s College. Have a wonderful Christmas and I trust that Christ’s example continues to guide you in all that you do. No ¯ reira, te¯ na¯ koutou, te¯ na¯ koutou, te¯ na¯ tatou katoa.
Garth Wynne Executive Principal
9
Register 2020 Leadership
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs