Dear One and All
I am aware that some parents were unable to attend our annual Founders’ Day Service and celebrations last Saturday. The theme this year focussed on Transformation and, because of the import of this issue, I thought I would send you the speech I delivered. It is reproduced below for your information.
“I wish to start by adding my words of welcome to those of the Chairman at the start of the service and my thanks to Mr Macozoma for his most enlightening speech today.
Recently, the College Council has debated and adopted a statement regarding transformation at the College. It was adopted after an 18-month period of debate and discussion amongst the senior management of the College, the College staff and lastly the Council, which is made up of the key stakeholders that constitute the school: these are the Church, the Trust (in whose hands the property and other fixed assets reside), the alumni and of course the parents (the democratically elected Chair of each school’s PTA being members of Council.)
The statement was e-mailed to all parents at the end of last term and a roll-out of the statement will begin amongst all the pupils from now on. New initiatives like this do not come without a certain level of controversy, perhaps even some fear. We all react to change and worry about how it will impact our lives. And of course we South Africans are probably the most change-weary population in the world.
Anticipating this, open meetings were held with the staff at the start of the term, with the Old Stithian Association a few weeks ago and all parents were invited to express their views at a meeting on 21 May. Whilst the turnout was disappointing, it was an opportunity to listen to the views of our parents. We have also set up a dedicated communication email address for anyone to share their thoughts on this all-important topic, although so far we have had very few comments. The address is transformation@stithian.com).
We also decided to choose Transformation as the theme of Founders’ Day this year, intending to ask the key leadership of the College to sign the statement as a public commitment to the ideals expressed therein. Perhaps we need to put this initiative into perspective and I wish to do that by stating that although this initiative is new it is not new.
It is new because it is a public statement of intent, signalling our intention regarding transformation with five clearly articulated and simple goals.
It is new because it seeks to gain widespread public acceptance from the broad Saints community. We are keen to have this entire community embrace this initiative, that it is not simply a resolution of Council but a living initiative that we all commit to.
It is new because it recognises the fact that all of us carry prejudices within us. I am conscious that this may apply more to us as parents and adults, but we would be naïve in the extreme if we thought we did not pass our prejudices onto our children. This statement asks all of us to examine ourselves to discover if we truly are as accepting of all that we mix with.
It is new because Council has appointed a dedicated committee, chaired by Mr Gary Morolo and including all the stakeholders in its deliberations, to oversee and monitor transformation at the College.
It is new because it is gives new impetus to a strategic imperative that is not new, that we have had at the College since 1994, and that goes further back in the College’s tradition.
Right at the start, the founders wanted a school offering “A liberal education with Christian teaching”. Imagine 5 years after the advent of Afrikaner Nationalist rule and its concomitant ideology of Christian National Education, establishing a school based on liberal values.
Transformation is not new, it is part of a long tradition of liberal thinking at the school. 25 years ago the College adopted a “Statement against Discrimination”. It states: “The Council and the Headmasters aim to ensure that at St Stithians College there shall be no discrimination against any person in admission, employment, or otherwise because of race, colour, religion or national origin.”
That was 1984, the year of the Vaal Triangle uprising where South Africa started a new initiative down the abyss of racial conflict. How prophetic of the College Council to make a statement such as this. I can only imagine the debates and controversies that raged. And this was no mere grandstanding – the College had taken the decision to defy the laws of the land, by accepting pupils of colour for the first time in 1979.
Transformation is not new at the College.
Since the legalising of political activity in 1990 and the eventual advent of democracy in 1994, transformation has been a strategic goal year in and year out.
Transformation is not new at the College.
We are following the lead of so many other good schools in this country, like Bishops, Redhill, Roedean, St Mary’s and Hilton.
Transformation is not new at the College.
We are still a College that will provide a world-class education.
As our results in the international ACER tests indicate, our students still compete (and will continue to do so) with the best from countries such as Japan, the US, England, Australia and Singapore.
Our sports teams will still compete at the highest level both nationally and internationally.
Our students will still have the best opportunities available to excel in music, drama and the arts.
We will still provide them with a leadership curriculum that will give them the skills and attitudes necessary to play a leadership role in commerce, industry, the professions and in government.
And even more, we will give this to them in a community and environment that recognises and celebrates excellence in all fields, in an environment that recognises the uniqueness of every individual whilst at the same time recognising their common humanity – a humanity that knows no race, religion, language, and every other form of discrimination known. A humanity that is firmly based on the values as espoused in the Charter of the College.
Ladies and gentlemen, transformation at St Stithians is not new. It is part of a long and proud tradition of progressive and liberal thought, always guided by wise and considered people, who have the best interests of the children in our care, at heart.
Transformation is not new at the College.
We are following the tradition that has swept this country in the last 20 years. Where all companies, businesses, schools, suburbs, every institution in this country has embarked on the journey of creating the Rainbow Nation that was so inspiringly described by Archbishop Tutu so many years ago. Where we have been challenged in the words of Oliver Tambo: “to break down (the) barriers of division and create a country where there will be neither whites nor blacks, just South Africans, free and united in diversity.” (As quoted in “Be the Key” published by Nedbank, 2009.)
It is new, however, because we are challenging our entire community to endorse this commitment. Framed copies of this statement will be displayed in the reception areas of all the schools and elsewhere on campus. There will be signature books available from Monday in all the receptions and we invite all parents and friends to endorse this statement.”
Kind regards
Stephen Lowry
Rector
St Stithians College
Private Bag 2, Randburg, 2125
011-577-6300