“Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.”
– Clare Booth Luce
This week Senior School pupils decided to talk in assembly about courage. In itself an activity not for the faint-hearted. They gave a fine presentation, and it was enhanced with numerous illustrations and examples, plenty of which brought both laughter and understanding. They had petitioned me for a non-uniform day today in order to help get their message across, I’m still not entirely sure what the connection between wearing their own clothes instead of uniform and courage is, but I admire their persuasiveness. The message was a good one and I know that many pupils have been thinking about how they act courageously.
Courage is one of the most important values that we can develop in our young people. For some it is the cardinal virtue, the thing that underlies all others, the spirit that make us human. But too much courage can be a negative as it can lead to foolhardy dangerous behaviour. There is a difficult balance to be struck, and we need to provide opportunities for young people to test their courage in a supportive environment.
We look to promote a courage that allows pupils to decide for themselves, to give them the confidence to stand apart and to value their own ideas and thoughts rather than simply take the word of the next influencer. The future will require courage to act independently as graduate jobs are becoming more scarce and individuals are going to have to be courageous when thinking about careers.
How can this be achieved? We create classroom environments in which we encourage pupils to discuss, debate and share their thoughts in a calm and respectful manner. We want civilised and courteous disagreements to lead to shared understandings of what people in the community believe rather than a single view dominating all our thoughts. Originality and rigorous thought must be encouraged. We want our young people to have the courage to share their talents, those who were luck enough to see the Junior School show will have seen courage on the stage and in the choir. Our all-conquering netball and rugby teams have demonstrated that through courage and excellent teamwork they can win against schools with a far greater pupil pool from which to pull their players.
Courage on stage and on the sports field can be transferred to the exam hall or social situations. This year we have pledged to raise money for Stand a charity for the limbless in the Gambia. This will require some effort on our pupil’s behalf and who knows some courage too. It is a challenge that is well worth taking on and through it much will be learnt. Certainly the stories that are told by those who benefit from the support that pupils provide are sure to inspire.
Our young people face unprecedented pressure to conform to particular stereotypes. They are bombarded with images that they perceive to show perfection. We, through the activities we provide at school, hope to instil a confidence borne from courage in our pupils that they can express themselves and more importantly pursue their hopes and dreams.
Nicholas Hammond
Headmaster
