Millarville’s Cool News

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Principal Notes

We live in interesting times and the role of an educator has increasingly become much more than working with “reading, writing and arithmetic.”  While those elements are certainly still present and worked with in a very different way than most parents have experienced, the way in which our children think has a greater bearing on the road they will travel as adults.
In many respects, your mind can be your best friend or your worst enemy. As in most growth situations, the quality of what goes in determines the outcomes. Our children are at their most vulnerable time as they set out to develop who they are, building the foundations upon which their many rooms will rest. The British politician Benjamin Disraeli said: “Nurture your mind with great thoughts for you will never go any higher than you think.”
There are so many items that impact our thinking but the greatest of all is the ability of the individual to “weed” their own garden.  It is this attitude of self-discipline and positive thinking that leads to higher ground.  In light of this, exposure to good literature is essential to stimulate and open the mind to provocations and what could be.
The American historian Barbara Tuchman states: “Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature is dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. They are engines of change, windows on the world, lighthouses erected in the sea of time”.
Through reading, listening and watching, we develop a fuller dialogue within ourselves. We open our minds and lives to experiences that otherwise would not be. The former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan notes: Literature is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development.... Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.
I had a letter from a friend who is doing some volunteer teaching in Cairo. Here is a portion of that note:
I spent my first day at the refugee school today and what a culture shock. The students are all refugees from the southern Sudan - so polite and courteous. They have about 200 students housed in this squalid basement of an old apartment building with about six 8' x 8" classrooms. These children have seen more atrocities in their short lives than I have even read about. But despite how poor they are, they are so thankful to be in Egypt. Some of the children have a mother, some have both parents, some are orphans because both parents were killed. Because they have such limited space, Grades 1 to 4 come in the morning - Grades 5 to 8 in the afternoon. They are using a very basic Sudanese curriculum sent up from Khartoum. They write Sudanese exams which are then sent back for grading. For a week or two I will be teaching one of the afternoon classes. Most of the children are Christian, but when their mothers come to pick the little ones up from school, they disguise themselves as Muslims so as not to be hassled. Many of them live up to 20 in a cheap one-room apartment. Much of their backpacks and their clothes are supplied through the Maadi Community Church which helps sponsor the school. Nobody is allowed to refer to it as a "school" - it is called Found Africa Learning Center.
I was pleased to hear a reference to honour the work that teachers do, as I watched part of the Golden Globe Awards recently. Unless you have been in the role as a teacher with all its variables, demands and complexities, there are few outside of the profession who can relate to the stresses, satisfactions and rewards that come from such a career. The author Henry James speaks of teachers with this:
“To believe in a child is to believe in the future. Through their aspirations they will save the world. With their combined knowledge the turbulent seas of hate and injustice will be calmed. They will champion the causes of life's underdogs, forging a society without class discrimination. They will supply humanity with music and beauty as it has never known. They will endure. Towards the ends I pledge my life's work. I will supply the children with tools and knowledge to overcome the obstacles. I will pass on the wisdom of my years and temper it with patience. I shall impact in each child the desire to fulfill his or her dream. I shall teach.”
We are very fortunate to live where we do and in the times in which we find ourselves. For me, Millarville Community School and teaching have and continue to provide challenges and rewards that are unparalleled in most professions.
This past week we celebrated Family Literacy Week. At MCS, we enjoyed the company of a number of community members coming into the classrooms to share readings from their world of literature. Take time to open a book and read. This is a gift that many do not have yet we are surrounded by opportunity, adventure, wisdom, knowledge, self-discovery, comfort for the soul and intrigue. If there is a parallel universe out there.... it surely is to be found between the covers of a book.

Ted Thorne