Commemoration 2017
Commemoration 2017: the Head Master’s address A council in Wales recently put up a bilingual road sign. The English instruction told drivers that they were entering a residential area that was unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles. Native speakers could see that the script underneath, in Welsh, read: ‘I am not in the office at the moment. Please attach any work to be translated’. We live in an age where things are done very fast; and communicated even faster. The age of Google Translate and Wikipedia: an ‘always-on’, data-rich world. Opinions are swiftly formed - and swiftly communicated. They are ‘liked’ and ‘go viral’. Emotions become fact. Facts are half-checked, finessed or ditched in favour of more convenient post-truths. We live in a world where Presidents Tweet. In such a world, it may feel as if authentic leadership is an endangered species: truth a rare bird. Can we still trust the version of events communicated to us? Or is the popular narrative composed of hollow words
4
The Peterite 2016-2017
– the work of silver-tongued smooth-talkers? Has reasoned argument really been supplanted by hectoring bluster and boo-hooray rhetoric? And, if this is the spirit of the times, should we go with the flow; resist it; or step aside? At times, the truth seems to have been lost in translation. Yet, as parents and as educators, we are wired to communicate a vision of hope. We want to see our children walk into their future with confidence. Our vocation is to ensure that our children are educated to think for themselves; to engage positively with the wider world; to be seekers and communicators of truth. One of our school’s seven school values asks us to ‘speak with conviction and honesty’, and ‘to listen carefully and openly’. True communication only happens when you have something meaningful to say; and when you are truly heard. True communication is the art of being understood. When I talk with Peterites, when I see what they do and how they talk, I am filled with hope. I believe in them. Educating
