Great Scot April 2018 GreatScot_153_April_2018_Online | Page 4

Chairman
THE HON. DR DAVID KEMP
AC SCHOOL COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN
The Hon. Dr David Kemp AC ('59) – School Council Chairman
Scotch meets the
challenge of a changing
world
Scotch continues to identify our key challenges and opportunities
It was an inspiring, sunlit morning in early February.
The Meares Oval shone in the sun as the whole Senior
School assembled for the opening of the Spencer Centre
for Design and Technology. Memories of Chariots of
Fire, the film classic about the athletics hero, Harold
Abrahams, were evoked as we recalled one of our own
Old Scotch heroes, Lionel Richard Vivian Spencer
(1915), a brilliant runner who had competed against
Abrahams and who brought new motor technology and
design in the form of Volkswagen cars to Australia.
Lionel Spencer has provided a remarkable
opportunity for Scotch boys of the future in the new
centre appropriately named after him, honouring his
life’s work and his magnificent gift to the School.
That morning on the Meares Oval we were joined
also by other members of the Scotch Family who have
contributed to this path-breaking new facility. As we
recalled the life of Lionel Spencer, those present were
able to view not only the new building, but to the north
the breathtaking Sir Zelman Cowen Centre for Science,
already in use, and the opportunities opening up as the
LIONEL SPENCER (1915)
4
Great Scot Number 153 – April 2018
vista of the new student precinct begins to emerge from
the demolition of the old Science Building.
Identifying challenges and seizing opportunities
have been integral to the culture of Scotch College
since its foundation. Scotch’s foundation in 1851 by
Reverend James Forbes occurred at a special moment in
Australia’s history, when our founder became a leader
in debates on the great issues of religious freedom,
self-government and democracy, and public education.
His challenge had been to make the most of the
opportunity to build a better and freer country than
that he had left behind. His leadership based on faith
and reason, and his Scottish heritage of enterprise and
values of service and personal responsibility laid the
basis for institutions such as Scotch that have survived
and prospered.
Today the Council, and our wonderful Principal
Tom Batty, continue to seek to identify the key
challenges and opportunities for Scotch. And there are
many. Above all is the challenge of preparing the boys
at the School for successful lives, leadership and service
in the changing and dynamic world in which they will
live, with its vibrant conflict of ideas, growing awareness
of a common humanity, revolutionary technologies, and
intellectual and enterprise opportunities. Scotch has an
unparalleled opportunity to excel at this task.
In the world of the 21st century, successful lives
will be built around good and strong values and
flexible minds. When society is changing rapidly
and knowledge is exploding, universal human values
provide the essential foundation for a good society.
As Forbes himself said: ‘Any system of instruction
which merely conveys knowledge is grievously
defective. “Knowledge” it has been said, “is power”; but
knowledge without principles only makes man more
powerful for evil; … the education of man’s moral part
is the only education that can make him useful in his
particular situation in life: upright in his conduct; in
short, a good citizen and a good man’.
The ‘good men’ of Scotch can have a profound
impact on the world if the values of honesty, integrity,
reverence and respect for others, personal responsibility