Principals Message
GOD ' S HALF ACRE IN BRAS BASAH ROAD SINCE 1852
Mr . Goh Bian Koon has made an exhaustive study of what few records we have of our past history . But what of the present ? It behoves me to enunciate at least some of the imperatives or inspirations that may have contributed to some of the activities depicted in the following pages . There are really some aphorisms , quotations , signposts , call them what you will , which I think reflect me as a person or at least what I was trying to achieve .
What has caused me considerable psychological as well as spiritual pain is the fact that I had perforce to turn away so many needy young people , so contrary to what St . La Salie , our founder , has always advocated : ' Sinite parvulos venire ad me '. Of course , I have rationalised my way out of this dilemma . St . La Salle used to say wisely that ' Human nature is never at a loss for an excuse '.
I do not believe that Education is a self-contained discipline . It must reflect a political philosophy from which it derives much of its practical application . After all , the School may help to change Society but to make that its main task would be nothing short of indoctrination and an abuse of power , but I do believe in our State ' s way of life : ' From each his best , to each his worth .' This in itself would require a thesis to explain . But it has very positive and sound educational values that I ' ve been trying to implement . The School , though in itself an imperfect society , must not try to divorce itself from the larger society of which it is only a part .
My Staff have often heard me using the line of that famous poem " Pai Hua Chee Fang '. The pages thatfollow show you some of those flowers , but at the risk of distorting the rhythm of that beautiful verse . It is not a hundred flowers but two thousand flowers we have here under our care , each one as beautiful and as precious as the next . The flowers in the Science classes need little care , but those in our lower Arts classes are equally beautiful though they often require the green fingers of the patient gardener .
Our Lord ' s parables of the talents are excellent educational methodologies - ever ancient , ever new . There must be no overcompensating , but merely do the best with what we ' ve got . That is what the above is all about . But being human , and so was He , He consoled us with the wonderful parables of the Prodigal Son , Mary Magdalene and the Good Thief so that we need never look back and blame ourselves or others for what we are - It is what we can become that counts .
It would be an injustice to ' St . Joseph ' s ' to omit my Staff and students . I can truthfully say that I have been blest by Almighty God with a magnificent Staff , all proud of their heritage and walking straight in the honourable paths of their predecessors . I could go on but they are men and women of letters and understand the satisfaction of a job well done . Idon ' t have to tell them that . Except , perhaps , to you parents - as a Staff they are second to none . My grateful thanks for their positive contributions . My heart has always been with our students . AliI can say is by way of a confession from St . Paul : ' The Good I would I do not The Evil that I would not that Ido .'
As our school motto commands us to do , let us all pray and work together so that the next 125 years will be as glorious as the past has truly been .
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Bro . Joseph Kiely
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