Union of Interests
Illustration by James He (13AE)
PAGE 65
The Union of Societies coordinates over 50 active clubs and societies within the College. Current Year 13 pupil James He spoke to the President of the Union, Chloe Wang, about the purpose of the Union, the metrics by which to measure a society's success, and whether it’s acceptable to join a society just for the tie! What is the purpose of the Union? The Union serves as an umbrella organisation for our clubs and societies, providing like-minded pupils of all ages with a forum within which to explore their interests and experiment with new ideas. We provide support in a variety of ways, helping anyone who is establishing a new society or running weekly meetings. We also offer funding for essential equipment, as well as assisting with the organisation of whole-school collaborative events. Which aspects of the Union have made the deepest impressions on you? One of the most rewarding aspects of being President of the Union is having the opportunity to attend a wide range of society meetings. For example, more than ten societies played an active role in the 2021 Eco Week, and it was amazing to see each one looking at global issues such as climate change through their own unique lens. The passion and commitment of the societies is exceptional, and it’s great to see students having fun and enjoying wider school life. Is there any truth in the idea that sometimes a pupil might attend a society’s meetings just because they want the society tie? A society tie is a symbol of commitment and devotion, and anyone who gets given one must have displayed those qualities. I don’t think it would necessarily be a bad thing for a student to attend a society in order to get a tie; I think it shows that the student is prepared to contribute their knowledge, passion and time in order to make the society fun for others. That’s what is most important for me. Do you think the science societies, such as Chemistry Society, are more successful than some other societies, such as the Modern Languages Society? What do you think is the key to creating a successful, or popular, society? To me, the essence of a successful society lies in its ability to create a welcoming environment, and I don’t think that popularity is automatically a measure of a society’s success. If a society has a dedicated group of attendees who can comfortably share their ideas, then that society is successful in my eyes. An event is successful if it manages to inspire and engage; it’s never about how many people are in the room.
School of Your Dreams
– but there’s a danger in the alarming insularity and smallness it makes of our world. Dulwich College is physically and spiritually a Möbius strip, and it’s troublingly easy to forget there’s a world outside these four walls – a world which neither knows of us nor cares about us. In some ways the anxiety is to be expected, especially given our interaction with teachers. The fourth wall of teaching is sometimes broken by a reference to life, which takes us outside the pages of Hamlet or an AQA maths exercise book, and whilst it’s nice to be treated as person rather than pupil, part of me wishes it’d all come sooner. Many teachers have been people since day one – with their individual personalities, idiosyncrasies and their modi operandi; equally, many have been totems – figures who live and breathe by the book and by party lines. This great transition of totems into people just as the exit door creaks open is somewhat tragic: it makes me re- evaluate all the teachers by whom I’ve been fortunate to have been taught; it makes me wonder what they wish they could’ve told us, and the jokes they wish they could’ve made; it makes me wrap my head around them as people before, during and after Dulwich and its four walls.
Ekow Amoah (Year 13) articulates the strangeness, for students, of getting ready to leave the place which has been their world for so long, but which is far from being the ‘real world’. Given that incessant sequences of lessons have a tendency to stupefy and numb the senses, the most significant punctuation to the school day, for me, consists of moments of aberration: a teacher breaking character, or a monumental task. The constant requirement for excellence on the part of students can feel overwhelming: an Orpheus-bind between wanting to look back, in order to appreciate the work we’ve put behind us, and being forced to focus on what’s ahead of us. Recently (I write this during the first part of the Lent term), things have felt exceptionally liminal. There’s been an odd air permeating the campus, in which all causes and consequences appear to be suspended as we wait for university offers. I thought much of that miasma would be dispelled by my own, thankfully positive, news, but knowing the unease persists for others doesn’t really allow me to breathe, free from the smog. Further to that point, all offers are conditional; they feel more like mirages than the miracles people interpret them to be. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether the lauding and adulation are slipping through me or whether I’m slipping through them. The most important part of your education lies outside the syllabus, or so I am told. In consequence, I have to worry that what I am learning is a Greater Life Lesson: that when I move into adult life, which feels so imminent yet distant, things won’t necessarily go the way I want. Big whoop! Anti-climactic conclusion! Yet the insulation and mollycoddling, rectifying and rewriting, erasing and tippex-ing that goes on at school mean that for many of us this could be the first time things really haven’t gone the way we need them to. This is the Dulwich Experiment. "THERE’S A CHARM IN HAVING OAS TEACH US – I’M SURE THEY SEE THE SPECTRES OF THEMSELVES RUNNING AROUND CAMPUS"
But the students; the students!
I’ve watched their follies and I’ve witnessed their vices; their faux pas and shortcomings I know too well. To think that these are the adults of the future – parents, managers or even just drivers! I know not whether to laugh or cry. The thought crosses my mind that I’ll be one too, and that sends shivers down my spine. Me? I know myself too well to consider allowing myself to drive, let alone connecting with all the other tortures and trappings of adulthood. Should age alone be a gateway to responsibility? Time is relative, and I don’t believe that this is exhibited any more glaringly than in the concept of ‘maturity’, the abstract index of intelligence according to which we prohibit and inhibit. Regardless of my misgivings, we Year 13s do, I realise, have to grip the reins of newfound responsibilities tight, and ride towards the dawning of opportunities. However, I suggest we approach the sunrise with squinting and caution, watching ahead, so as not to lose our way, or take the same missteps as those who trod before us.
Union History
According to the Keeper of the College Archives, Calista Lucy, the Union was first proposed back in 1883, with a view to looking after the interests of the societies that were already running independently of each other, but sadly the idea did not take off. In 1952, His Honour Michael Rich KC (45-52) tried to revive the idea of a Union, but it was not actually established until 1964. It soon became a powerful force, aided by the formation of a committee and with a popular master as President. We were particularly interested to hear the recollections of Ian Newton (57-64) about establishing the Union. He recalls, ‘I remember visiting the manager of Barclays in Dulwich Village on my own to ask him to open a bank account for us, and then printing membership cards (for which pupils then had to pay!). To my knowledge there was only very light input from staff in all this.’
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