I have just returned from the Round Square Conference, held this year in Nairobi, Kenya, and would like to share one observation with you.

I was very keen to go to Kenya because of the effect the country had on my daughter. Kate travelled to the Masai Mara in southern Kenya at the age of 16 with Free the Children, the Canadian NGO founded by Craig Kielburger. She spent three and a half weeks there, and it is no exaggeration to say the experience was life-changing. Kate is about to graduate from the University of Toronto with a degree in African Studies and goes on to do graduate work in that field in the fall. In between, she will spend three months this summer in Namibia. Kenya fired her intellectual curiosity—and won her heart. I have a better understanding of why now that I have had the opportunity to see a little of the country.

John O'Connor is the Headmaster of Brookhouse School in Nairobi, and was our host. An Australian by birth, he is a Kenyan by choice. One of the elements that excites him about the country at this point in its history is the enormous potential for his students to make positive change. I am not an African scholar, so my comments have to be seen in the framework from which they come—impressions gathered through conversations with a variety of people. Kenya's journey from being an underdeveloped, colonized country to being a modern democratic republic—still underway—has been relatively brief. It is rather like a country that moves from no communication network directly to cell phones, missing all the slow development of the land line, and the expensive infrastructure that goes with it. There is a huge advantage in coming late to that particular party! Similarly, Kenya has the opportunity to develop democracy at a modern level, without the arduous journey of the West, and there is a burning desire amongst the young to get it right. There are many challenges in front of them—rampant unemployment being probably the most serious—but there is a fierce pride in their country and confidence that they are up to the task. Having spent a little time amongst them, I share that confidence.

Canada's challenges are less immediate, but no less important as they are challenges we share with the rest of the world. Being less immediate, it is easier to procrastinate about finding solutions, and a sense that it is very difficult for an individual to make a significant difference. I have not yet had the opportunity to debrief with our six wonderful student delegates—all of whom threw themselves completely into the experience. What I hope they and their counterparts from around the world took away from the Brookhouse Conference is an appreciation of the desire of Kenya’s youth to make a difference and their confidence that they will do so, and the inspiration to do likewise.

There are no "A" schools in debate, no "AA" schools, no "AAA" schools. There is no quarter given because you represent a one-room schoolhouse from Lost Crossroads. There is simply an arena, and everyone who enters competes on an equal footing.

When we won the "AA" Provincial Championships in soccer this fall, we were ecstatic. As the smallest school in the tournament, we proved Mark Twain right: "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." Last weekend, we proved that again, when Christian Taylor and David Denhoff won the Provincial Debate Championship against all comers. Congratulations to Christian and David. They have worked very hard at their debating since beginning in Grade 7, and it is truly delightful to see their success. The huge bonus is that they are only in Grade 11, so they have the opportunity to compete for the Law Foundation Cup again next year!

Unlike soccer, there is a world beyond the provincial championships in debate. The Senior Nationals and the Oxford Cup take place in Montreal (April) and Toronto (November) respectively and David and Christian will be there. As well, Grade 10 student Jyotish Khanna's performance at the Provincials earned him an invitation to the National Debate Seminar in the fall. Kadie Freeman, Grade 9, earned a place at the Junior Nationals, Nicholas Higgins earned a place at the April Junior National Speech Competition. Nicholas and fellow Grade 8s Annika Svorkdal and Michael Cooper all won medals at the Provincials as well.

Perhaps I need to revisit my opening gambit. There is an "AAA" school in debate, and we are it. It has nothing to do with the size of the school, but everything to do with the size -- and the quality -- of the program. Again, as in soccer, we grow our own success. When Christian and David entered that arena last weekend, they did so as five-year veterans of a stellar program. They have had the training and the opportunity to become the most skilled high school debaters in the province, and they have made the most of that. They are the third GNS team to bring home the championship in the last five years, and so they trained with and were inspired by provincial champions on a weekly basis.

Most successful programs are supported by many hands, but truly great programs always have that one person who is the sine qua non. Our debating success certainly reflects that statement: that we are the finest debating school in the province is hugely due to the skill, passion and inspiration of John Baty. Congratulations to Christian and David. Congratulations to Jyotish and Kadie. Well done Annika, Michael and Nicholas. And thank you, John. Onwards to the Nationals!

SCB-L
March 8, 2012

One of the most rewarding aspects of working in a school is that you get to be around people with wondrous gifts—gifts they have been blessed with and then have worked hard to develop to a high level. When Jen Harvey performed the first movement of the Bach Italian Concerto at her Jane Goodall benefit concert recently, I was transfixed. ! In many ways, we have fewer opportunities to appreciate the talents of our staff than we do the talents of our students. I always knew Ms. Harvey was an excellent accompanist, but not until that evening did I have any idea of her extraordinary prowess as a concert soloist. What a treat!

Yesterday, I dropped in on the monthly Fine Arts Lunchbox Wednesday, and thoroughly enjoyed performances by the band, slam poetry team and members of the cast of The Gamester, this year's SS drama production. All used the opportunity to practice in front of an audience for upcoming events. I couldn’t help but be envious and proud—envious, because my schooling was almost completely lacking in anything creative, and the atmosphere in the school was not conducive to developing any passion beyond the normal fixation with sport; proud because GNS is just the opposite—a school with a culture that encourages, supports and applauds the pursuit of a passion, and provides an environment where it is safe to take the risk of stepping out of one’s comfort zone. The freedom to search for, discover and develop one’s passions is far too rare—and is a gift that will keep giving to our students for the rest of their lives. It lies at the heart of what and who we are.

SCBL
February 23, 2012

On Monday, first the Middle School and Grade 5s, then the Senior School, were treated to an outstanding performance of "The Spirit of Harriet Tubman." I had the good fortune to be in the audience for one of those, and was struck by a number of remarkable aspects.

The play was written, produced, directed and performed by Leslie McCurdy, a Canadian teacher/dancer/actor. It runs for just over an hour, during which Ms. McCurdy is alone on stage the whole time. She has an old trunk with a few items of old clothing in it, and a couple of hats. That's it. Yet she kept audiences ranging from 10 to 18 years old (to say nothing of the adults) completely mesmerized for an hour. I think most of the Senior School—staff included—would admit to going into the performance with a degree of skepticism: "Where was this coming from? Why are we watching it?" Harriet Tubman, after all, is not a character most of them would know apart from a passing glance in a Canadian history course, and a possible portrayal in the Gallery of Fame. That skepticism melted completely beneath Ms. McCurdy's skill as an actress, her charisma and the compelling nature of the story.

The second remarkable aspect was to do with the performance itself. With no more than the doffing of a hat and the shedding of a shawl, Ms. McCurdy transformed herself from a 90 year old woman to a 7 year old girl. The addition of a head scarf and a work shirt made her a mature woman, then on went the shawl and hat, and behold, she was ninety again. It was an inspirational lesson to all aspiring actors in the audience about the power of body language, voice and attention to detail.

Thirdly, the story behind how the play came to be—which came out in the very lively and informative question and answer session at the end—underlined the strength of the play's message: the medium and the message became one. Harriet Tubman's credo is dream and then never let anyone take your dreams away from you. Ms. McCurdy was a teacher of fine arts and a dancer. About to go to New York to take up a position with a well-known dance company, she fell and broke both her hip and her dance career. A friend got her interested in acting, and she soon got the opportunity to play her childhood hero, Harriet Tubman, in a one woman play written by someone else. Ms. McCurdy is a 5th or 6th generation Canadian whose forebears not only came to Canada through the Underground Railway, but also went back to help others from the American South do the same, which explains her passion for Harriet Tubman. The play never quite sat comfortably with her, and she eventually decided to write her own. With booked audiences anticipating her appearance, she had less than four weeks to write, memorize and put together "The Spirit of Harriet Tubman" before performing it. That was fourteen years ago. She has written and performed other one woman plays, and appears in other dramatic productions, but "The Spirit of Harriet Tubman" obviously sits very comfortably with her. It is our great good fortune that it remains the mainstay of her work as she fulfils her dream of bringing her hero to life for young audiences across Canada.

SCBL
February 1, 2012

For the last couple of days, a great many students have been dropping hints about the weather conditions, and how a little snow in Victoria is the equivalent to a lot of snow in central Canada. Mother Nature has co-operated with them, and they have their much longed for snow day, so it is very quiet in the office at the moment—a good time to be reflective.

As many of you know, Jean Bigelow, the faculty of the Junior School and I have been wrestling with the question of whether the Junior School should become co-educational in its classes. As part of that process, we have had three meetings with parents, the most recent one just two days ago. At that meeting, Jean and I explained to a group of about forty parents why we are recommending to the Board of Governors that we do become co-educational in September.

This is an issue about which many people are passionate, and that is as it should be: our children’s education is immensely important to us as is demonstrated by our willingness to invest so heavily in it. The parents who gathered on Monday night represented the gamut of opinions, but they all shared three things in common: the aforementioned passion for their children’s education, a love of GNS and a respectfulness towards differing opinions. They asked probing questions; they expressed their reactions to the recommendation and to the process; and they listened to one another.

The Board will make their decision on Thursday night. Three of them are Junior School parents, with 8 children currently at the Beach, and the majority of the rest have had children in the Junior School fairly recently. I will report their decision on Friday. Whatever that decision is, it will have been made after a great deal of thought and consideration by a great many people who care deeply about Glenlyon Norfolk School.

On this snowy morning, I am grateful for the unexpected luxury of time a snow day brings, and I am even more grateful for the outstanding values that permeate the GNS community so completely.

SCBL
January 18, 2012

'Tis the season for giving. On that note, many thanks to all who supported the Warm a Soul campaign—540 stockings and counting—and the boys who shaved their heads for cancer—over $11,000 and counting. Those two initiatives are excellent indicators of the sense of greater community that exists within GNS families.

I put several challenges to the Senior School last week as we entered this season. The first was to think about everything material they have and how intrinsic it is to their happiness. We live in a world of rampant consumerism—very costly to the world in terms of environment and not sustainable in the long (or even the medium) term. This time of heightened consumerism is a great opportunity to reflect on that in all its manifestations and implications.

The second challenge—in contradiction—was to give two student volunteers $20—with some strings attached. The conditions were simple: they have to buy something for someone in need that will "make" that person's Christmas; and it cannot be someone they know. I stressed that they could not simply give the money to an individual or charity—both worthy, but not the point of the exercise. And the final condition was that they come back and report to us at the first Friday assembly in January.

I am not sure what I would do in that circumstance. I do know I am thinking about it, that there are at least two students who are thinking about it very seriously, and that hopefully it causes some reflection about consumerism, material goods and what is really important in a great many others.

To another topic: congratulations to Cheryl Tradewell and Inge Illman and all who supported them in the Carol Service last night. The readers were excellent; the selection of music was inspired; and the performance by the choirs was wonderful—a tremendous start to the Christmas season. Thanks to Angie Girard for pulling it all together.

Best wishes to all our families for a happy, relaxing and safe holiday, and a great year in 2012.

SCBL
December 14, 2011

Presiding over last Friday's assembly made me feel like the ringmaster of a three ring circus. That was apt, because the assembly WAS a three ring circus, complete with drama, excitement, anticipation, comedy, clowns and bravery.

In one ring, we had the normal business of assemblies: announcements, a short performance advertising a longer performance, and a few words from yours truly on the subject of the day. In the second ring, we had the representative of Extreme Outreach on hand to accept Christmas stockings collected by school families. And—in the centre ring—we had a head shaving event to raise funds for cancer.

The math of the third event was simple: 11 heads to shave, 2 barbers, 4 to 5 minutes per head and about 30 minutes for assembly. The head shaving had to start at the beginning, run throughout the assembly and everything else had to operate around it. It was chaotic, exciting and fun. We stuffed 45 minutes of activity into a 30 minute sack! (Do I hear a recurring theme?)

This IS the season of giving, and that was the central motif of the occasion. The "Warm a Soul" campaign provides Christmas stockings to youngsters in Greater Victoria who otherwise wouldn't receive one. It was the Christmas season event of choice of the Parents' Auxiliary, and they executed it with their typical efficiency and spirit. Our students were asked to select the gender and age of a child for whom their stocking was intended, fill it with appropriate items (a list of suggestions was provided) and then bring it to school. Last Friday, Cliff from Extreme Outreach received over 520 stockings at the assembly, reportedly the largest "single" donation from a school ever! It was an act of giving intended to involve all our students in the process—and was singularly successful. A group of senior students is poised to serve an Extreme Outreach lunch to needy families shortly, and another group will help with the delivery of the stockings to children. Many thanks to all who climbed on board, and to Darlene Campana who spearheaded the drive.

Several years ago, we raised over $11,000 for Cops for Cancer. Upon hearing a very poignant address by a teacher with cancer (from another BC independent school) some weeks ago, a group of Grade 12 students decided they wanted to shave their heads to raise money for the BC Cancer Foundation. Ten Grade 12s and one Grade 9 became involved, campaigning in the school and in their neighbourhoods. At this point, they have raised over $11,000, and the money is still coming in. This was their initiative from beginning to end. In fact, they didn't even invite staff members to join them under the barbers' shears!! Thank you to Patrick and Cameron, and to Rab, Connor, Hamish, Chadi, John, Nick, Thomas, Dale and Elliot. Your instincts were generous and heart-warming; your fund-raising efforts were greatly successful and worthy; and your entertainment quotient in the centre ring was extremely high! Thanks also to Sofie Campbell for pulling it all together.

Well done, all!

SCBL
December 7, 2011

Last Friday, we hoisted the Double A Provincial Soccer Championship Banner in a special celebratory assembly, complete with a power lift and television cameras. The soccer boys got a well-deserved rousing ovation, and were proud to see their extraordinary achievement recognized. They have had an unbelievable season. To have capped it off with a win at their third straight Colonist Cup last night would have been superb, but alas, that was not to be as Lambrick Park got the upper hand 1-0 in overtime. Nonetheless, the season and its successes were remarkable, and the boys should be very proud of it.

After the banner was placed, I acknowledged and celebrated other recent outstanding achievements. They included:

• Fergus Hall: off to the U-19 National Rugby Camp
• Sean Pickersgill: tournament MVP at the soccer provincials
• Evan Letkeman: for a stellar performance at the BC high school swim championships
• Ben Weir: for a stellar performance at the high school X-country championships
• Liam Stanley (grade 8) who, at 14, has been asked to join the Men’s Paralympic Soccer Team—one of the youngest players ever so honoured
• Nelson Moneo: for his widely acclaimed performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Sooke Philharmonic
• Ella Van Cleave: for her activism and her talk at the TedX Talks in Victoria
• Jim Pommlet for his flawless performance of Taps and Reveille at the Remembrance Day Assembly – a nerve-wracking solo assignment if ever there was one!
• Jyotish Khanna and David Denhoff for being selected as 2 of 24 students from across Canada competing for 6 berths on the Canadian High School Debate Team
• Philip Bohlman, Candace Rissley and Hannah Komlodi for their excellent performances at the International Public Speaking and Debate Tournament
• The students who had their portraits of senior citizens on show at the Red Art Gallery
• Jane Wright, commissioned by Janeece’s Place to provide an 8’ x 4’ piece of original art work
• Sofie Campbell (SS Head Girl), David Weaver and Annika Svorkdal (MS Head Boy and Girl) for their outstanding speeches to new parents about their GNS experiences
• Ellie Sercombe (grad of last year) who, at 17, came back and did a wonderful coaching job with our Senior Girls Volleyball team
• The Senior Girls Field Hockey team who finished 7th in the province (in Double A), losing only 2 games—both to Collingwood, last year’s champions
• And finally, the rowing program which has grown from 24 or so students last year to 54 this fall.

I never did get to talk about the MYP Projects or the Gallery of Fame, because I had already gone considerably into overtime.

Two points, folks. That phenomenal roll of achievement represents one month at the school, mainly the Senior School. One of the most difficult aspects of my job is keeping up with all the outstanding events and performances here – a great problem to have! If that is hard for me as the Head of School, how can anyone else hope to keep up? Fortunately, technology helps a great deal. You can read about/see pictures of much of the above on our website at w3w.mygns.ca/gns. Stories are posted under News on the home page on an ongoing basis. As an alternative, go to Life at GNS. From there, you can click on News, Photo Galleries (for an extraordinary array of photos) and finally, click on the Facebook icon on the right hand side of the page (you do not need to have a Facebook account to do this) to get quick snapshots of life at GNS that are very up to date. Enjoy!

SCBL
December 1, 2011

What were you doing at 15? Learning to cook? To photograph or to decorate cakes at a professional level? Learning to fly? Dressmake? Sign? To make jewelry with gorgeous glass beads you have manufactured yourself? None of the above? Too bad you did not have the extraordinary opportunity our GNS Grade 10s have with their MYP Personal Project.

The theatre and Gudewill Building were filled last night with excited kids, proud parents and grandparents and staff who continue to be amazed at the level of expertise uncovered in their students. The Personal Project Presentation is the culmination of months of hard work reaching back into the middle of grade 9. No doubt there are many headaches and heartaches along the way, moments of panic when presentation and deadlines crashed together, particularly over written reflections! And no doubt there is huge collective gratitude—from parents and students alike—that it is finished. But there is a great deal more. There is pride; there is a sense of accomplishment; there is confidence that comes from that sense of accomplishment; and there is newly won respect that such accomplishment engenders.

The choice of topic is important because students are going to be “married” to it for a long time. Some choose to take an existing interest and challenge themselves to new heights. Others take that existing interest in a new direction: the soccer players who become soccer coaches; the singer who becomes a songwriter. Still others—and these tend to be my favourites—strike out in a completely new direction. The student who formerly couldn’t fry an egg cheerfully cooking up delicious Thai chicken followed by chocolate truffles Rogers would be proud of; the student who designed a website in a new system; the student who had never done any surfing or windsurfing but learned to kiteboard on Nitnat Lake; the student who built a gorgeous Coast Salish canoe from scratch. I say it every year, and every year it becomes clearer: I am humbled by what these youngsters accomplish. Further, I am thrilled, I am grateful for the program and I feel regret that students elsewhere are not given this opportunity.

There are two other aspects of the project worth highlighting. The first is the opportunity for parent and child to collaborate in an adventure—by that I in no way mean the parent takes over!— the kiteboarder and her father learning together; the mother and daughter who made an 800 km bike trip through Spain and France; the father and son who conquered the Chilkoot Trail together. The second is that we live in a world increasingly broken into bits and bytes, fragmented into little pieces easily digested. The greatest gift of the Personal Project is that it is a sustained piece of work, an extraordinarily sustained piece of work in the landscape of adolescence. In fact, it is probably a more sustained piece of work than students will be called upon to produce until they face a thesis in university. That opportunity and expectation is our gift to them. That they manage it so brilliantly is their gift to us; more importantly, it is their gift to themselves.

SCBL
November 16, 2011

I must confess to having mixed feelings about the "Occupy" movement. Set up initially as a protest against "corporate greed", it would seem to be a phenomenon a 60-something head of an independent school would quickly and easily dismiss. However, on the brink of a financial meltdown two years after a financial crisis, I'm less apt to be dismissive. My simplistic understanding is that the financial mess was fundamentally the result of unregulated institutions and a thirst for large and quick profits. The cost of the debacle was not borne by the perpetrators, but rather in the shattered dreams of would-be homeowners and—for what it's worth—the delayed retirement of many 60-somethings! So, although I dislike the simplistic phrase “corporate greed’, and the fact that the original mission of the "Occupy" movement has been diluted and distorted, I dislike the concept of underregulated financial institutions—and all they breed—even more!

I had the great good fortune to go to university in the United States during a period of enormous social upheaval (1967-1971). It was a time when young people—and many not so young—gave legs to the civil rights movement and steered the US out of the war in Vietnam. It was a time when ordinary people were a powerful force in national policy decisions. At its best, this is what "Occupy" is—or was—about.

A story in yesterday's Globe and Mail was headlined "The Lost Generation: no jobs, no hope for Europe's young." Youth unemployment for the last two years has topped 20% in the Eurozone, and has passed 40% in Spain and Greece. " . . . more of Europe's young are stepping into the ranks of the long term unemployed, a situation that threatens to produce lasting economic and social problems. . . . the International Labor Organization recently warned of the potential for a generation of youth that is, at best, disheartened about the future and, at worst, angry and violent."

Schools and parents are all about helping young people build their futures. When I read about the plight of my children's generation in Europe, I am even more apt to think that "Occupy"—in trying to create another time when ordinary people are a powerful force in national policy decisions—is worthy of our attention and consideration.

SCBL
November 9, 2011

In some ways, this is a difficult blog to write. What I want to say today, I have said before, but I need to say it again. How to do so without being repetitive and boring?

Yesterday, our Senior Boys' Soccer Team played in the semi-final of the Colonist Cup, against Claremont, their nemesis in last year's final. I do not think I am being disloyal to our boys in saying that—man for man—Claremont had the edge and were the favorites going into the game. Let me put that more strongly. In the words of Hugh Williams, our team "dared to believe that they could achieve something very few believed they would accomplish."

That is the attraction of sport—particularly amateur sport at the high school level. On any given day, given the right spirit, either team can win—whatever the odds. Yesterday, our boys brought their 'A Game', and played as hard and with as much spirit as I have ever seen them play. More importantly, they played for each other. That, I believe, was the well-spring of their unrelenting energy and determination. As a result, they came out on top 1 – 0.

Huge kudos to the boys and their coaches. They have now earned a berth in their third consecutive Colonist Cup final—a feat I doubt is matched in the cup’s long history. That is an extraordinary achievement, and one that we should not take for granted. Too often, ongoing success breeds expectation, a sense that not being in the final would be failure. Make no mistake about it: our appearance in the final is a hard-earned privilege of which we should all be very proud.

SCBL
November 2, 2011

I am writing this from the Round Square conference at Wellington College, England.

There are two important aspects to any conference. The first is what you experience while you are there, and the second is what you bring home.

Certainly from a student's point of view, a Round Square conference is an eye opening and thoroughly enjoyable experience, and I hope that our six young delegates will bring back friendships with students from around the world, a broader sense of internationalism, greater sensitivity to issues, and memories of time well spent.

As a veteran of many conferences, I always hope for an "aha moment", an idea that intrigues or troubles me, and that I want to explore or put into action. At about the halfway point of this conference, I already have one. It is: "Decide what you think is beyond the limit of what you are willing to accept about the way the world is—and then do something about it." This came from Jasmine Whitbread, the global CEO of Save the Children (not to be confused with Free the Children.) Turning that statement around is a little troubling: that which we do nothing about is within the limits of what we are willing to accept. I know that makes perfectly good sense—and is a realistic extension of the truth that we cannot take on all the problems of the world—but it is a fairly short journey to the statement "If you are not a part of the solution, you are part of the problem."

Powerful and admirable leadership emerges when one determines that something is beyond the limit of what he/she is willing to accept. Think Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Craig Keilburger, Terry Fox. In each case, refusal to accept the status quo led those individuals to courses of action that had far reaching benefits for broad constituencies.

As far as I know, Martin Luther King did nothing to help the impoverished of India. According to my logic above, that puts Indian poverty within the limits of what he was willing to accept. Fair enough. We all have to make those decisions out of necessity. All of King's efforts were focused on what he did find to be beyond the limits of his acceptance: the plight of blacks in America. My problem is that I do not have that comfort. Additionally, I am the head of the school which states in its vision that our students have "the understanding that we are all responsible for the future of our communities." As such, I need to encourage students to see what it is they are unwilling to accept. What troubles me is that I have to remember to look in the mirror a little more frequently!

I have more thinking ahead. The conference has been a great success for me for that reason alone.

SCBL
October 20, 2011

On Thursday, the weather gods smiled on us as we celebrated the "groundbreaking" of The Hall. Our ceremony was a little unorthodox, as we actually broke ground at the beginning of September, before the start of the school year. Nonetheless, it was important to mark this historic event in the school's life.

Over 800 students, staff and guests gathered on the field for the occasion. Each class in the Junior School and each grade in the Middle and Senior Schools presented items to go into a time capsule, to be buried in an external wall until October 6, 2061. Hopefully, some of the student in attendance on Thursday will be on hand (with their grandchildren?) when the capsule is opened.

I said during the ceremony that a time capsule is "the present reaching out to the future, giving something important to us in our time to those who will open it 50 years hence." The ultimate time capsule, however, is the building itself. It is, in the best possible way, "the present reaching out to the future"—and generations of students will reap the benefit of that.

On behalf of everyone associated with the school now, and on behalf of the future students and their families who will benefit so greatly, my profound thanks to all those involved in helping make this project possible.

SCBL
October 11, 2011

The world of hockey almost lost one of its brightest lights last January: "Sid the Kid" Crosby suffered back to back blows to the head that—despite protection from what one assumes would be the finest helmet that technology has devised—led to severe concussion. The word in yesterday's Globe and Mail is that he is almost ready to return fully. I hope so, but I worry that his career is unlikely to run its natural course, given his history of concussions and the league's tolerance of violence. What will it take to wake up the hockey establishment?

The world of financial speculation brought the global economy to its knees in 2008 because of a lack of regulation of financial institutions. Those who engineered the apocalypse, however unwittingly, are not the ones who paid the price. Today, we are seemingly on the brink of another—and more serious—crisis, but regulation is being labeled as "un-American". What will it take to wake up the financial establishment?

The world of consumerism threatens to destroy the planet under a mountain—and sea!—of waste that, because of its chemical structure, will not benignly disappear. And there are fears that the impact of so much plastic not only threatens to clog our landfill and oceans, but also the very future of mankind as a result of its impact on reproduction rates. What will it take before we insist on environmental—and healthy—practices?

When I was in Britain last year, I rented a car. It was a luxurious Vauxhall with a diesel engine and a 6 speed manual transmission. I drove it a considerable distance—often at speeds of 80 miles per hour on one of the M highways—and got 60 miles to the gallon!! Why isn't every new car sold worldwide mandated to reach that standard? And why can't I buy any car in Canada that can match it?

I know I am oversimplifying and that I have a hazy—to non-existent in some cases—understanding of the complex issues involved. On the other hand, I also know that change, however painful, is necessary and that it will always be easier and less costly if it is accomplished before we are pushed to the edge. And I fear that the complexity of issues surrounding change is a rationalization that ultimately favours the status quo at the expense of the future.

I am, unfortunately, sure that my generation is not going to solve this, but am very hopeful that the young people we are working with will take it in hand. We Day (20,000 attending in Toronto yesterday), the growth of community service, the explosion of global connection and the growing awareness of collective and individual responsibility are very much a part of their lives. I believe that they will be what it takes!

SCBL
September 28, 2011

The Senior School opened this year with 274 students, which is about 25 more than where we were last year, about 10 more than our average. That has led to some timetable crunches, but those will be sorted out in the next few days, as will the two or three large classes. As a matter of interest, our average class in Grades 11 and 12 is between 13 and 14. Although 274 students is on the large size for us, it is by comparison with high schools everywhere very small. SMUS—our friendly rival down Richmond Road—has 570 students in its senior school, more than double us. And Oak Bay High, on Cadboro Bay Road, weighs in at about 1300 students, more than 4 times our number. Yet, if you look carefully, you will see that our programs are just as full and rich as theirs. There are two consequences of that. The first is that we rely on all students to be involved. If we are going to populate the same breadth of programs as Oak Bay, with 1/4 of their students, or as SMUS, with 1/2 theirs, we need to have more involvement per student. The flip side of that is there is so much more opportunity here for students to benefit from those programs.

The second consequence is that our day is too full. When David Graham died two years ago, Jack Knox, a columnist from the Times Colonist, wrote a wonderful article about him. He said that David always tried to put 20 pounds of living into a 10 pound bag—and everyone who knew David would understand exactly what Mr. Knox meant, and would agree with him.

GNS is very much like that—we continually try to put 20 pounds of living into a 10 pound bag—which is why the opportunities are so rich. There are consequences to that. Programs are trying to compete for the same students and the same facilities, and that creates log jams. The 10 pound bag is the school day, running roughly from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and we probably manage to stuff about 13 pounds into that. Add the normal—for schools—3:30 to 6:00 stretch, and that looks after most sports and a good many other activities. We might get up to 17 pounds. To get those last 3 pounds in, we need to stretch that bag even further—and for years, we have done that. Many teams play on weekends. Basketball teams often practice and usually play in the evenings; debate happens on weekends and evenings; play rehearsals are evening and Sunday events; and then we spread into the mornings. Field hockey often practices at 7:00 a.m.—it used to be at UVic, but now as least is here; cross country running practices at 7:00 a.m.— and now Band is having 7:00 a.m. sectionals and Middle School Mandarin is taught before normal classes begin. There is no doubt that expanding the bag in all ways creates some stresses and strains, particularly when new in a particular program, and particularly for students who live a distance from the school, but coaches and teachers understand that and are very good at finding practical solutions. Those solutions will never be perfect, because we still have a pound or two to get into that bag, but there are very few problems that cannot be solved by people of good will working together.

We are very fortunate as a day school to have so many staff and students who are willing to extend the day and the week in order to stuff 20 pounds of living into that 10 pound bag!

Last night as I sat reading The Globe and Mail, I came across an extraordinary statement that jarred me. The article was entitled "Cashing In on an Urban Garden", the thesis of which was that, although one might save money on grocery bills, when one factored in the labour costs, gardening was a losing proposition. Fair enough, but here is the phrase that caught my attention:

As with other time consuming hobbies (such as knitting and needlepoint), it is best not to think about your labour costs.

The notion of figuring the cost of one's personal labour in the pursuit of a hobby is surely an oxymoron of the worst kind. A hobby is what you do in your spare time to follow an interest—a passion even. Generally speaking, it will involve expense. If it ends up producing something usable—such as lovely fresh organic vegetables—surely that is a bonus!

I suspect many of us have heard the sport fisherman who is serving fresh salmon he caught on a recent fishing trip to Haida Gwaii or some similarly expensive fishing destination bemoan the fact that it is the most expensive fish available. 100 pounds of salmon on a $3,000 trip is, after all, $30 a pound. What that equation doesn't take into account is the dividend—if one must use monetary terms—that is the fisherman's relaxation, enjoyment and sanity, the very elements that take him back for more $30 a pound salmon. This new equation would not only continue to ignore the dividend, but would in fact add the cost of his time in labour!!

Time is a precious commodity, the most precious we have. It is too precious to be denigrated by fixing all of it into an equation involving money. Or, in the case of school aged children, an equation involving achievement. GNS is, by intention, a very busy place, and we encourage our students to pursue their potential in every area. It is important, however, that we recognize that they need time to pursue their personal interests without equating them to achievement that is tied to future options just as much as we need time to pursue our hobbies without counting the cost of our labour.

SCBL
September 14, 2011

Last night, the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup. Notice I did not say that the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup. A seven game series will always go to the better team at the time – and, sadly for many of us, that was Boston.

The greatest loser (as in victim) last night was the city of Vancouver. I was shocked (am I naïve?) and, like everyone else, disgusted by the riots after the game. The city and police worked incredibly hard to make the whole cup experience positive and accessible. All that turned terribly sour, and a community that is noted for being laid back, and rightly celebrated for hosting a hugely successful Olympics, sees its reputation in tatters this morning.

I have no doubt that the acts of vandalism were perpetuated by a very small number of the thousands of people who were downtown last night, and I expect – with the amount of film footage – that almost all of them will be held accountable. Harder to deal with, however, is the much larger number of people who stood by. Not actively involved in criminal activity, they at worst contributed to the chaos by their participation in the mob mentality, and at the least impeded the police’s efforts to handle the situation by ignoring their pleas to clear the area.

There were certainly instances of bravery and civic responsibility, as when a group of people linked arms in front of a storefront to protect it from the rioters. I am sure we will hear stories of many other such selfless acts in the coming days. I suspect, however, that the greatest support most people could have shown police last night was to respond positively to their request to leave the area.

At the core of the GNS Vision statement is the concept that “we are all responsible for the well-being of our communities.” Another way of putting that is that the phrase “innocent by-stander” is almost always an oxymoron. No one can undo last night, but let us all applaud the hundreds of volunteers who responded to it by arriving this morning to help with the clean-up. Further, what occurred can be an opportunity to educate, to engage young people in discussion about what happened, why it happened, and what they might do in that situation. Our ability to take up that opportunity as a school is very limited because of the time of year, but I hope last night will generate lots of discussion at home.

I am writing this from the line up in Tsawwassen, waiting for the 2:00 ferry to Victoria. I came over on the 7:00 ferry this morning and drove to Abbotsford to watch our rugby team take on Brentwood. The result was not what we hoped for, having earned a position in the top eight in the tournament by narrowly defeating a determined Sir Charles Tupper HS team — by 1 point — a few days ago. Brentwood, the ablest team I have seen in AA rugby in a long time and my bet to win the championship this year, well remembered our victory over them last year and came out flying from the start. Although we were a long way behind, our boys never gave up and scored two good tries in the last minutes of the game.

The occasion gave me cause for reflection — no surprise in an IB school. It is a tribute to the very talented and dedicated coaches that we are there at all. There is no single A rugby for very good reason: Single A schools do not have sufficient population to sustain a rugby program. Yet here we are for the second year in a row in the top eight in the province at the Double A level. I might say we are overachievers — if I believed in the validity of that concept.

Overachievement has two connotations. The first is to do with expectations — surpassing expectations. The second has to do with "excessive dedication to achieving success." Both of those are value judgments imposed by others, and say more about them than the person being labeled.

The rugby team expected to do better than they did yesterday — thankfully! In any athletic endeavor, one must have the expectation that, on any given day, one can win. To go in lacking that would certainly be a self-fulfilling prophecy!

As far as the second connotation – excessive dedication — is concerned, we are certainly free of that. Our student athletes lead very busy lives and rugby – although important to them — is but one part of the picture.

My congratulations to everyone involved in the rugby program. I am proud of their hard work and their attitude. They play tomorrow and on Saturday in Abbotsford, now vying for 5th spot in the Provincial AA championship (where they placed last year). Good luck to them. May they continue to play hard and achieve. They richly deserve to be there.

Recently, someone pointed out to me that GNS was ranked the top secondary school in Victoria, and 10th in the province by the Fraser Institute. I did share that information with the school eventually, but have not mentioned it publicly until now. That is because the institute’s ranking system is, in my opinion, flawed.

First of all, although academics are the foundation of a school, they do not begin to tell the whole story. A school is about community, about values, about growing whole people. With the dwindling influence of other institutions in society, more and more responsibility for those whole life aspects have devolved to schools, none of it measurable by test scores. So the Fraser Institute at best can begin to measure a narrow band of school performance – academics. In fairness, they are now careful to talk only about measuring “academic performance”, but the public perception goes much deeper.

Turning solely to academic matters, the methodology is still, in my estimation, questionable. There are 8 factors they take into account: average exam mark; percentage of exams failed; school vs exam mark difference; English gender gap; Math gender gap; graduation rate; and delayed advancement rate.

There are not a great many single sex schools in the province, but they claim a hugely disproportionate number of the top 10 spots in rankings – 40% to be exact. Is that because they are more academic? Or is it perhaps that 2 of 8 of the criteria do not apply to them? I understand the rationale behind the gender gap criteria. There are two issues surrounding it, however. The old belief, no doubt based on good evidence, is that girls score more highly in English, boys in Math. When I last looked closely at that – about 10 years ago – it was certainly not the case in BC independent schools. Both Math and English “supremacy” moved back and forth between girls and boys on a random basis. There was always some sort of gender gap – as there statistically will be in a small population – but no pattern. But the gender gap criterion in the ranking is essentially a negative one: any gap – with or without pattern – will generate less than a perfect 10, hence automatically disadvantaging co-ed schools as compared to single sex schools.

Secondly, there is another factor I noticed in preparing to write this article. That is to say the gender gap favours girls in both English and Math increasingly. (Girls came out ahead in 42/49 sample years in English, and 36/47 years in Math.) There is a great deal of writing in educational literature about boys being left behind, and these statistics – as narrow as they are – seem to give credence to that. However, I suspect that the move in favour of girls’ performance has more to do with the fact that, increasingly, the measures come from provincial exams written in grade 10. Everyone writes English 12, but the rest of the senior provincial exams are rapidly fading into memory for most students. So the only provincial exams written by everyone are English, Math and Science in grade 10, Socials in grade 11 and English in grade 12.

I don’t have statistics to back up this next assertion, just many years of experience: generally speaking, girls mature academically earlier than boys. As a result, I suspect that any measurement of academic success taken in grade 10 will show greater comparative success for females than the same measurement taken in grade 12. More advantage to the single sex schools in the rankings.

Finally, in IB schools, students studying IB History or Geography are exempt from the Socials 11 provincial exam requirement. Although that exemption plays no role in the gender gap criteria, I suspect it certainly has a measurable effect on our overall exam average as calculated by the institute.

I have no hesitation in believing that GNS is the best secondary school in Victoria, both academically and holistically – but I do not base that on the findings of the Fraser Institute!