“Books are a uniquely portable magic”

~ Stephen King

Building Confidence through Debating

Watching the news on television last week has been a debilitating affair. I found myself switching from the emotional exhausting events in South Africa where there has been ongoing protesting about gender-based violence (shouldn’t this sanitized version rather read ‘Rape’ and ‘Murder’?) to the UK where the squirming of the British Prime Minister to avoid constitutional requirements, makes for riveting viewing.

All these scenes made me think back to the Springfield debates I have attended this term. The cut-throat and deadly serious debating styles of both our senior and junior teams also made equally absorbing viewing as their senior political counterparts. Yet, in contrast, our girls never lost their dignity. In spite of interruptions and points of order, they always maintained their composure. Throughout all school debates I watched, shone a gravitas and a respect for the opposition. The fact that our junior team went on to win the Rotary competition– which was fully deserved in my unbiased opinion – was a credit to their preparation and their unflappable equanimity under pressure. Debating has taught them the valuable lessons that this good preparation enhances their knowledge and their arguments.

Nothing could be more different to the scenes we have seen on television of our own parliament in action where debating seems to equate with shouting at members of different parties; to the British Parliament this week, where the image is etched in my mind of the Leader of the House, Jacob Rees Mogg, reclining over three seats assuming a pose of insulting indifferent boredom while other speakers had their say; to President Trump eviscerating anyone who has the temerity to hold a different view.

‘Raise your argument, not your voice,’ said a poster at UCT a few years back - trying to make a point to demonstrating students. Our debating girls understood this. The girls in their dignified silent vigil on Waterloo Green last week understood this.

My only problem with debating is that there has to be a winner. That is not a good life lesson for our girls. We have to teach them that sorting out their concerns is about listening to others and discussing issues. Often in life there is not a ‘winner‘ and compromises have to be made if we are to move forward. Unfortunately, role-models in politics today on the world stage leave much to be desired for our children.

The lesson for us as teachers is that we have to use the classroom and our portfolio system as places where our girls can voice a point of view without fear of being shouted down. For parents, the same has to happen around the dinner table – another safe place for discussions to take place. By the way, how is it going with those discussion topics sent out in those glass jars?

In a few weeks time, another cohort of Springfield girls go into society. If they are to make a meaningful contribution, I suggest that they switch off the parliamentary debates on television and definitely ignore social media on their cell phones. They won’t gain much intellectual value from these sources.

Keith Richardson

Headmaster

Rehearsing for Grandparents Day

Dear Parents,

Here we are again - in the midst of such strife in our beloved country - I’m curious to ask how you are coping…...

We seem to go through constant bell curves of highs and lows as South Africans - but I can’t remember being in such a low before. How we long for some comfort from our Leadership that everything will be okay.

I got some comfort from the mouth of babes this week- if each person in South Africa could implement this advice, perhaps we could make some progress:

• “If you are kind to others, you spread kindness like some sort of good germ”
• “It’s okay to be cross and grumpy but you mustn’t hurt anyone when you are”
• “Respect means thinking about other people’s feelings all the time”
• “Treat other people just like they are your friend”
• “Kindness comes from your heart, some people can’t be kind because their hearts are hurting, we need to be kind to help them”.

Gabby Cloete

👩‍💻 The pearl of tech wisdom for this week:

When on the web use your spacebar...

If you are fed up with using your mouse to manually scroll down a webpage, you have a little friend to help you out. The spacebar is not just an essential key for writing, it can also be of infinite time-saving use whilst browsing the web.

Simply tap it to scroll down a page with ease. If you want to scroll back up, hold shift and employ "Mrs reliable" spacebar once again

Junior Primary Staff in costume