Principal serves up some lessons for his audience

A few weeks ago, I attended an induction event at one of Abu Dhabi’s leading private secondary schools. Although there are still a few weeks before the end of term, it’s time to look at what lies ahead for those who are moving up from primary school in the autumn. It’ll be a dramatic change, for both children and parents, and the real purpose of education will now kick in.

Happily, the occasion wasn’t marked by the announcement of a heavy load of homework for the holidays. It’s reasonable, I think, to let children who have just completed their first important examinations have a bit of relaxation over the summer. The school’s principal might still have something up his sleeve, but my fingers are crossed that he’s not going to give children, and parents, a last minute surprise.

The induction evening was aimed mainly at the parents, to tell them what they could expect in the year ahead. Homework, discipline, personal tutors, extra-curricular activities – that sort of stuff. Mobile phones? Not allowed. Make-up and nail polish? Nope (Yea!). Bullying? A very definite “no tolerance” policy.

These points made and a few questions answered, the principal turned his attention to the children themselves, who had also been invited to attend the event.

He displayed on a large screen the following words: “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world,” an extract from a speech a few years ago by South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. The phrase will be one that most teachers are familiar with. After all, their choice of education as a career shows that they are well aware that they have the responsibility of enlightening the younger generation, to equip them to face the challenges of the future. By entrusting children to a particular school, parents are signifying that they have confidence in that school, and its teachers, to contribute, through the provision of formal education, to the raising of their children.

On this occasion, though, the school’s principal wasn’t making a point to the parents, to indicate that he was well aware of this key objective.

Instead, he was addressing himself to the students themselves, with the aim of encouraging them to think about what the school sought to offer them over their years of secondary education.

Preparing them for examinations – yes. This is obviously crucial. Learning about teamwork; how to work with others to achieve goals. That’s important too.

What struck me about the principal’s remarks, though, was the challenge he threw out to the chidren.

“I want you to think,” he told them, “about how you want to change the world.”

In the years ahead, he said, the school would be preparing them for their future lives – not just in terms of academic qualifications or sporting prowess, but also in terms of encouraging them to think about what they would like to achieve after they had left school.

The underlying message was that the children should start thinking, at the young age of 11 or 12, not just about what they wanted to do for themselves, but about what they wanted to do to improve the lives of others. About how they should grow up to be unselfish, rather than being selfishly focused on what might benefit them.

I was, I must confess, both impressed and rather moved to hear the principal’s little lecture. Did it all sink in? I have no idea – but if this philosophy is one that underlies the whole ethos of education in this particular school, then, in seven or so years time, when the children graduate, there’s a good chance that many of them will be determined to help others.

In a world that is often far too materialistic, far too selfish, the principal’s message to his new students is one that needs to be heard much more, far and wide.

Peter Hellyer is a consultant ­specialising in the UAE’s history and culture