Great Scot December 2019 Great Scot 158_December_ONLINE | Page 3

EDITORIAL
Every generation believes itself hard
done by, misunderstood or undervalued by
previous ones, and this remains true today.
Increasingly, however, parents and teachers
also sometimes feel that they are on the
back foot, as they struggle to come to terms
with young people’s flexibility in switching
between the prescribed expectations of
their ‘outer’ worlds of school and home, and
the ‘other’ world in which they increasingly
spend their time.
It is easy to criticise this shift in focus,
blaming social media and the reliance
on electronic devices for deteriorating
standards in writing, reading and cultural
understanding. Our boys, by contrast
to these facile criticisms, show ability to
see, and harness, the benefits of free
communicative platforms to connect
them with others, not just within narrow
geographic boundaries but with those
across the globe, with unprecedented ease.
These platforms also facilitate ready
communication with others who share passions, interests and values. The niche
nature of these interests can encompass
problems as diverse as finding solutions
to our reliance on plastics or measures
to sustain languages which are in danger
of loss.
Concerns have been equally voiced,
mostly by a parental generation, about the
precarious future of today’s youth, focusing
on a disruptive marketplace and the need to
upskill to prepare for the unpredictable. In
our interactions with students, however, it is
evident our boys demonstrate remarkable
adaptability in flicking the switch between
modes of language: from an academic style
required for their studies, to another that
is by turn succinct, playful and irreverent.
Language adaptability is but a small part of
the range; skills in incorporating technology
are evident in design and technology, the
sciences, media and enterprise projects.
However, happily, there is no reason
to believe boys have discarded traditional
skills that develop their intellect and reason.
Boys have enthusiastically embraced the
challenges of notably difficult subjects
such as Latin, Philosophy, Literature and
the more challenging Mathematics and
Science streams. Their results, irrespective
of the prizes they win, testify to their
endeavours and good grace in accepting
that sometimes their best is not equal to the
state or national levels of competition. Boys
have also shown good grace in other fields
of endeavour when things have not turned
out as they hoped, whether it is on the
sports field, or in the performing or
visual arts. School Captains by long tradition are
‘all rounders’, humble in downplaying their
own accomplishments in the service they
have given to the School. It was a very
special moment in Scotch history on 16
October when Bill Morgan, Scotch’s oldest
known living Old Boy, School Captain in
1935, and on the cusp of his 104th birthday,
came to School Assembly, to be interviewed
by current School Captain, Nick Marks.
Bill’s razor-sharp mind and facility
for language were well to the fore as he
answered Nick’s questions with wisdom
and perception. He complimented the boys
on the way they had sung the hymn of the
day, and hoped they were not just singing
the words, but meaning what they were
saying. What an acute mind Bill has, to be
able to relate across the generations to boys
in Assembly that day, many of whom were
more than 90 years his junior!
As Scotch Foundation President,
Associate Professor Doug Lording sets out
in his article in this edition, the Foundation
has shown its own adaptability over the
years, taking the time to reflect on its
achievements and the ways it has engaged
with more and more members of the
Scotch Family, as it has worked towards
its next goal.
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FOUNDATION DAY CONCERT
Commitment, skill and passion create
a spectacular event CHANGING FACE OF DEVELOPMENT
Maintaining Scotch’s preeminent place
in boys’ education COMMITMENT TO ATHLETICS
An Old Boy is awarded Honorary Life
Membership of Athletics Australia
DURGA KAMTE
EDITOR GREAT SCOT
www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot
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