At the beginning of the year, I set foot at LCC with an uncertain step. My transition to a school with many more students as before disoriented me, and even the sheer size of the real estate was intimidating.

But the main thing was, I came from Selwyn House. Some don’t think too highly of the guys there. I’m sure many of you have made fun of the phrase “we know boys.” But the mockery goes both ways: people at Selwyn think that here, we’re really good at “grade inflation.” Of course, these things are said as a joke, but they’re still stereotypes. So why do they exist?

If you think about it, the two schools aren’t really that different from each other. Both are expensive private schools. If I were to step into one of the twenty or so public schools in Montreal, my views of Selwyn and LCC would probably be identical: schools for the “rich kids.”

So let’s take a look at the history. Both schools were founded within a year of each other, and before 1995, LCC was also an all-boys school. So we were rivals for close to a century, and maybe we can still feel that residual hostility as an undercurrent today.

Nevertheless, when I got here, I was surprised by how nice everyone is. I still can’t say which school is better, and I don’t think I ever will. They are schools with slightly different priorities and philosophies, but at the core, they both have a tight community that makes school what it is. I think I have the best of both worlds now, and more importantly, the change has given me a wider perspective. If you step outside of what you’re used to, you can get a bigger picture and see for yourself instead of hearing the maybe biased opinion of others.

And this isn’t just about what’s between LCC and Selwyn. This inter-school relationship shows that we should strive to see past our differences, because in the end, those differences are negligible. Beware of stereotypes. LCC and Selwyn are both great schools, and we should have as much mutual respect as we have mutual characteristics. After all, Mr. Shannon graduated from Selwyn House, and Mr. Hannaford, the headmaster at Selwyn House, attended LCC. As reflected by our school motto, we are selfless, respectful and open-minded. Non Nobis Solum. –Daniel Wen ’14