And so let us agree today that College's traditions, duties and obligations shall endure and be celebrated,
and shall continue to add a special flavour to the place, but so long as they satisfy the above criteria.
One of the biggest criticisms by the committee of College's privilege system is that is has caused many College boys of today to have a very narrow focus on petty, trivial privileges – like who can throw a cricket
ball up and who can't, who can drape his jersey over his shoulders and who not etc. – and not on the key
characteristics that make a College boy a College boy. And so another of the early tasks of the Traditions
Committee has been to identify a number of "Core Traditions", which College boys have for generations
subconsciously strived to live by, but ones that up until now have not necessarily been identified or codified. These are:
a College boy does not lie, steal or cheat;
a College boy is always immaculately turned out and displays good manners at all times;
a College boy always gives of his best and never gives up;
a College boy is respectful to and of others;
a College boy thinks of others first;
a College boy always owns up; and
a College boy is loyal to his friends, his school and his country.
Therefore all other traditions, privileges and duties at the school are subordinate to and flow from these
all-important Core Traditions. Therefore, historic and meaningful traditions such as: ‘saying please’,
‘waiting at doors’, ‘walking on grass and special paths’, ‘team testing’, ‘games room’, and ‘running past
Clark’s and Hudson’s’ will not be done away with.
Dylan Loser (2007)
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