The Fruits of Absence and The Legacy of Hahn

October is one of those months when I am away from campus for a fair length of time. It is something that I regret. One of the most compelling reasons my colleagues and I are in education to be around students and feel the energy of school life – there is always lots going on, a sense of optimism, creativity and the belief in the possible, intertwined with the odd bout of high teenage drama, numerous great victories (like chapel speeches, acts of kindness, and personal bests in many endeavours,) as well as a healthy dollop of the unexpected. I miss it when I am away.

In October, I’ve been on three trips: up to Appleby’s McLaughlin Campus on Rabbitnose Island in the northern reach of Lake Temagami with some of our Grade 9 students; to the Round Square International Conference with about 650 other students, heads and faculty members (including four from Appleby) from about 100 schools from around the globe; and at the annual meeting of Canadian independent school heads and chairs, this year in Vancouver and Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island.

While I hate being away, each of these visits has challenged me to think a bit differently, and they provided me great food for thought. Over the next week, I will be sharing some of these concepts and some thoughts about what it means for Appleby.

Let me start Round Square. Round Square is a fascinating organization that has been around since 1966. The first meeting was actually billed as “The Hahn Schools Conference” and held as part of the celebration of Kurt Hahn on his 80^th birthday. The organization was subsequently re-named Round Square after the round courtyardin which the attendees assembled at Gordonstoun School in Scotland. (Gordonstoun was founded by Hahn and has been a school of choice for many British royals including Princes Philip, Charles, Andrew and Edward – although not all of them look back warmly on their times there.)

Who was Kurt Hahn and why was there so much fuss about his birthday? Kahn was unquestionably one of the great figures of the 20^th Century, especially in education. In some ways, he was well ahead of his time, but his thinking and beliefs are reflected in the philosophies of thousands of schools, camps and other organizations and have impacted millions of people both during his life, and even moreso after he died in 1974. He founded or inspired the founding of many institutions including: the Atlantic College, (the first United World College) and the UWC system, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Gordonstoun, Outward Bound, Schule Schloss Salem (Salem School), the Atlantic Challenge, the Kurt Hahn Trust, and Round Square.

While I knew of Hahn, my knowledge was very superficial. Over the last few weeks I’ve been reading a lot about him and speaking to some people who knew him personally. Let me share a few of his seminal conclusions, with the proviso that you should consider them in the context of the times in which they were penned:

The Seven Laws of Salem created circa 1930

1.  Give children the opportunity for self-discovery.
   [Give them a chance to discover themselves.]
2. Make the children meet with triumph and defeat.
   [See to it that they experience both success and defeat.]
3. Give the children the opportunity of self-effacement in the common cause.
   [See to it that they have the chance to forget themselves in the pursuit of a common cause.]
4. Provide periods of silence.
   [See to it that there are periods of silence.]
5. Train the imagination.
   [Train the imagination, the ability to participate and plan.]
6. Make games important but not predominant.
   [Take sports and games seriously, but only as part of the whole.]
7. Free the sons of the wealthy and powerful from the enervating sense of privilege.
   [Free them of the rich and influential parents and from the paralysing influence of wealth and privilege.]

The Six Declined of Modern Youth (although I’m not certain, these also appear to have been written pre- the Second World War):

1. The Decline of Fitness due to modern methods of locomotion [moving about];
2. Decline of Initiative and Enterprise due to the widespread disease of spectatoritis (excessive indulgence in forms of amusement in which one is a passive spectator rather than an active participant0;
3. Decline of Memory and Imagination due to the confused restlessness of modern life;
4. Decline of Skill and Care due to the weakened tradition of craftsmanship;
5. Decline of Self-discipline due to the ever-present availability of stimulants and tranquilizers;

And worst of all:

6. Decline of Compassion due to the unseemly haste with which modern life is conducted or as William Temple called “spiritual death”.

And the Four Antidotes  to These Declines

1.     Physical Fitness - exercising the body and keeping free from cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs;

2.     Expedition - exploring the world by sea and land under difficult conditions, alone or in groups;

3.     Project Work - planning and executing an enterprise in research, art, or construction; and, most important,

4.     Social Service - helping the injured, sick, old, and handicapped in hospitals, homes, and rescue stations.

You can easily see how Hahn has influenced Appleby in so many ways … from our Northward Bound Program at the McLaughlin Campus in Temagami, to our passionate focus on sports, arts and service, to our significant involvement in Round Square and other global programs … and the list goes on.

On the cusp of the next strategic planning process, it is important to ask ourselves what are the declines that should concern us today? And what are the modern version of the antidotes and the Laws of Salem that make the most sense for Appleby over the next 10 years? How have they changed, if at all?

And in this week when the chapel theme at Appleby is gratitude, it is important to remember the impact and gifts that Kurt Hahn gave us.