{"id":230,"date":"2017-12-04T02:36:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T02:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/?p=230"},"modified":"2017-12-14T02:40:39","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T02:40:39","slug":"prize-giving-address-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/2017\/12\/04\/prize-giving-address-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Prize Giving Address 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
Address to the College during Annual Prize Giving\u00a0on Monday, 4 December 2017.<\/em><\/strong><\/strong>\u00a0<\/header>\n
<\/header>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

As per my practice I do not intend to go over the annual report today. I prefer to speak to a theme linked\u00a0<\/span>to our pastoral ambition of \u201cboys of promise to men of substance\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

I regularly get lobbied for Newington College to publicly get behind a campaign for a particular cause.\u00a0<\/span>They are usually of great value and importance and the proponents are passionate about what they are\u00a0<\/span>doing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recent lobbies have been around some very key issues such as North Korea and peace education,\u00a0<\/span>marriage equality, refugee policies and practices, the coal debate, indigenous inequalities, gender\u00a0<\/span>inequality, domestic violence, global warming and poverty \u2013 domestically and worldwide.<\/span><\/p>\n

We do want Newington boys to be engaged in the important debates, the analysis and the trials and\u00a0<\/span>tribulations of evaluating the countering arguments and passions of both or multiple sides. A robust\u00a0<\/span>democracy demands its citizens to be engaged.<\/span><\/p>\n

More importantly, we must educate our boys to learn the tools of analysis, to know why judgements are\u00a0<\/span>being made, to read the signs for fake news, to test the validity of any argument, to be willing to do\u00a0<\/span>further research, to be willing to change their mind (and often many times) and not to be daunted by\u00a0<\/span>some of the massive and complex issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the program I use a quote attributed to Muhammad Ali or Robert service. \u201cit isn\u2019t the mountain ahead\u00a0<\/span>that wears you out, it\u2019s the pebble in your shoe\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One must be careful that the pebble \u2013 the minor irritant \u2013 does not distract you from your big goal \u2013 the\u00a0<\/span>big picture \u2013 the thing that really matters. Obsessive focus on the \u201cpebble\u201d can distort you to negativity\u00a0<\/span>and affects your attitude to life. Too often we do not stop and take off the shoe to empty the pebble \u2013\u00a0<\/span>we do not stop to deal with the minor irritant in our life or workplace or relationships. We often do not\u00a0<\/span>have the difficult conversation early to clear the air \u2013 rather we carry on with the irritant (the pebble)\u00a0<\/span>unresolved. That, in turn, affects our attitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our attitude is a conscious choice we make every day. We all love being around positive people \u2013 so\u00a0<\/span>one must ask \u2013 are we such a person? And we need an engaged and positive attitude to take on the\u00a0<\/span>big issues of life and being a valued member of society.<\/span><\/p>\n

Boys should be willing to challenge and to be challenged on the important issues. The Harvey Weinstein\u00a0<\/span>case and a few recent local cases have at last brought that shocking male world of abuse of power\u00a0<\/span>against women fully into the open. And yet \u2013 what about all the men \u201cin the know\u201d who turned a blind\u00a0<\/span>eye over so many years? Where was their backbone? If all of us males are to be men of substance we\u00a0<\/span>can no longer turn blind eyes to such matters \u2013 at home, at work, at social occasions, at public\u00a0<\/span>gatherings, or even at our university residential college.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, the MLC girl leaders spoke at an assembly on world women\u2019s day. They showed a Youtube\u00a0<\/span>film clip of a female in her mid-20\u2019s conservatively dressed, walking the streets of New York in the\u00a0<\/span>daytime over 10 hours. It has now been watched by over 43 million people. The number of comments,\u00a0<\/span>suggestions and gestures she received from men were appalling. It is something we males do not\u00a0<\/span>endure. It is something we males must engage with to change things for the better for our sisters,\u00a0<\/span>mothers, girlfriends, wives, partners, daughters, female friends and in my case now, two granddaughters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Newington must engage with boys via our character focus on these important gender\u00a0<\/span>matters. I hope our dads are also discussing these issues at home with their sons.\u00a0<\/span>In a recent paper by Professor Randall Curren of the University of Rochester UK on \u201cwhy character\u00a0<\/span>education?\u201d He sets out a robust defence of character education in schools.<\/span><\/p>\n

He stated that to narrow a focus just on the performance virtues such as perseverance and resilience\u00a0<\/span>can be a mistake. He argues that such traits only qualify as virtues when they are part of a more\u00a0<\/span>comprehensive package that includes good judgement and valuing what is worthy of being valued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such an approach makes us all pause and reflect. What do we stand for and why? What rattles our cage\u00a0<\/span>enough to make a public stand? What shakes us from turning a blind eye? Where do our values originate\u00a0<\/span>from? What is a rock solid value no matter what or do some values vary depending upon the\u00a0<\/span>circumstances? Our brilliant philosophy and religious studies course for years 7 \u2013 10, led by Dr Jeremy\u00a0<\/span>Hall and his team, seek to tackle such big questions that require critical thinking. Such an attribute is a\u00a0<\/span>vital part of the journey to wisdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

As an individual or school or community or nation, we are defined by the choices we make. The\u00a0<\/span>Newington education seeks to shape these choices as our boys of promise mature into men of\u00a0<\/span>substance and resilience. I thank every one of the Newington extended family and village for their role\u00a0<\/span>in this journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

In conclusion, may the spiritual dimension of the Christmas season provide time to reflect on all that is\u00a0<\/span>moving about the human spirit, about our families and loved ones, and about our relationship with our\u00a0<\/span>God.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

<\/header>\n
\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr David Mulford
\n Headmaster<\/strong><\/p>\n

4 December 2017<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Address to the College during Annual Prize Giving\u00a0on Monday, 4 December 2017.\u00a0   As per my practice I do not intend to go over the annual report today. I prefer to speak to a theme linked\u00a0to our pastoral ambition of … read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insites.newington.nsw.edu.au\/headmasters_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}