Courage

Posted on January 17, 2013 by admin

“What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the “ape” in apricot? What have they got that I ain’t got?—Courage”

These are the words of the Cowardly Lion from the famous film & play, The Wizard of Oz.

Another memorable quote from the Cowardly Lion goes like this:

“All right, I’ll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I’ll tear them apart. I may not come out alive, but I’m going in there. There’s only one thing I want you fellows to do.”

“What’s that?” ask both the Tin Man and the Scarecrow.

“Talk me out of it!,” begged the Cowardly Lion.

The Wizard of Oz was produced in 1939, but the film’s core messages remain timeless. In the end, all the major characters got what they wanted: Dorothy returned safely home. The Scarecrow got a brain, the Tinman received a heart – and the Lion was given the gift of courage.

Like the TInman with his heart and the Scarecrow with his brain, the Lion discovered that he already possessed courage. He simply needed to focus on it more and develop it, just like each of our students.

Courage is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the ability to do something that frightens – a form of bravery.” It’s a fantastic quality, something we all need and something we all possess in varying degrees. In fact, each of us needs to draw on courage sometime every day. But too often we can confuse courage with being tough or being able to fight, as if it’s solely a military attribute. But it’s actually much more important in the context of maturity of character and our capacity to overcome personal fears and obstacles that hold us back in life.

For students, courage includes so much: speaking up in class, reaching out and making friends, trying a new activity or developing a new skill. My personal favourite is developing the capacity to stand up for what you believe in, even when it might mean standing out from the crowd. This is tough for anyone, but particularly difficult for teenagers; they need the time and opportunity to practice.

Are you courageous? Do you surprise yourself or others with your ability to reach out? Is your sense of courage aligned with a well-developed sense of moral fibre and other solid character traits? Think about it. How might you learn and mature by taking a few more personal risks and employing a little more courage? Realistically, it begins with baby steps. Every step is just a decision. Slowly but surely, you can help yourself move forward, develop yourself and feel a sense of genuine pride.

In our student assembly this week, I saw courage in action. Grade 11 student Claire Greenbaum ’13 spoke to all Middle and Senior School students. She addressed the tragic loss of her mom to cancer and the positive energy she and her whole family have been able to create through establishing a new foundation that raises money for cancer research. I commend her on openly and courageously addressing this important but difficult personal topic in a way that was very motivating to all. Great job, Claire! —Chris Shannon, Headmaster

Une question d’éthique et de valeurs

Posted on October 31, 2012 by admin

Je suis directrice du programme primaire (de la maternelle à la 6^e année) du Lower Canada College et mère de trois enfants âgés de 10, 8 et 3 ans. À titre de professionnelle et de mère, je suis toujours intéressée de savoir où en sont les enseignants dans leur réflexion professionnelle. Lors d’une récente réunion du personnel du programme primaire, j’ai posé la question suivante à mon équipe d’enseignants : « S’il ne vous restait plus qu’une journée à enseigner, quel sujet souhaiteriez-vous aborder avec vos élèves? » Incroyablement, chacun d’entre eux a répondu à la question par des mots comme « respect », « compassion », « tolérance » et « intégrité ». C’était un réel plaisir à entendre!

Même si on s’attend de nos enseignants qu’ils développent continuellement les divers cours prescrits par le ministère de l’Éducation et qu’ils remplissent des bulletins de notes principalement axés sur la maîtrise des connaissances à l’égard de sujets précis, les écoles jouent également un rôle important dans l’enseignement des aptitudes sociales. En fait, ce rôle constitue même une obligation morale.

Les règles et attentes sociales à l’égard du comportement doivent faire partie du « programme indirect » de toutes les écoles et être enseignées au même titre que d’autres compétences. À moins que nous n’inculquions ces valeurs aux élèves – nos enfants – tout comme nous leur enseignons les mathématiques et la grammaire, nous ne pouvons pas nous attendre à ce que nos jeunes sachent se comporter dans les situations de la vie quotidienne, ni même qu’ils y soient préparés. En fait, comment pourrions-nous être déçus de les voir mal se comporter si au départ on ne leur a pas montré à agir autrement?

Un programme bien défini d’éducation lié au caractère contribue à créer un climat scolaire positif. Nos élèves sont nos leaders de demain et nous ne pouvons qu’espérer qu’au moment de leur remise de diplômes, ils fassent preuve non seulement de capacité intellectuelle, mais aussi de responsabilité sociale.

En mettant l’accent sur l’éducation à la fois de l’esprit et du cœur, nous veillons à ce que nos enfants soient prêts à faire face aux défis que l’avenir leur réserve avec confiance aussi bien qu’avec compassion.

Évidemment, en matière d’éducation du caractère, le soutien de la famille est essentiel, mais je me réserve le sujet du partenariat parent-école pour un futur blogue!

Yasmine Ghandour
Directrice du programme primaire du Lower Canada College et mère de trois enfants

Character Matters

Posted on October 31, 2012 by admin

I’m the director of Lower Canada College’s Junior School program (K-6) and also the parent of three children, ages 10, 8 and 3. As a professional and a mother, I’m always curious about where teachers are at in their professional thinking. At a recent Junior School staff meeting, I asked my team of teachers: “If you had only one day left to teach, what would you want to teach your students?” Interestingly, every single one of them answered the question using words like “respect,” “compassion,” “tolerance” and “integrity.” Music to my ears!

Even though our teachers are continually asked to work on developing the various courses prescribed by the Ministry of Education, and filling out report cards that focus predominantly on subject-specific mastery of skills, schools have an important role to play in teaching social skills. In fact, you might even consider it a moral obligation.

Social rules and expectations of behaviour need to become part of every school’s “hidden curriculum” and taught like any other set of skills. Unless we teach these to students—our children—as we teach them math and grammar, we simply can’t expect our young ones to know how to behave in, let alone be prepared for, real-life situations. More specifically, we cannot be disappointed in them for having behaved wrongly if they were not taught otherwise.

A well-defined character education program helps to create a positive school environment. Our students are our future leaders and our hope is that they graduate not only intellectually capable, but socially responsible too.

By putting an emphasis on educating the heart as well as the mind, we ensure that our children will be ready to meet the challenges of the future not only with confidence but also with compassion.

Of course, the support of the family in character education is also key, but I’ll leave the parent-school partnership as a topic for a future blog!

Yasmine Ghandour
Junior School Director at Lower Canada College and mother of three

Round Square: A Rich Mosaic of Culture

Posted on October 17, 2012 by admin

It is rare to have the opportunity to sit in a room alongside people from five different continents, and to, over the course of an hour, have eight conversations with people from eight different countries. The conference, hosted at Herlufsholm Skole in Denmark, acted as a binding force between people from every corner of the globe: people traveled from near (England and Germany) and far (Armenia, Kenya, India, Australia, South Africa, and Canada). A beautiful blend of accents and languages could be heard echoing through the school’s halls at any given moment. We were fortunate enough to have delegates from all Round Square regions at the conference, so we knew that we had a culturally enriching experience in store for us. Personally, my participation in the conference was so incredibly different from anything that I had ever experienced. Although I have been fortunate enough to travel quite a bit in my lifetime, I had never had the opportunity to interact with so many people of my age from so many diverse places at once. I was fascinated by the rich cultures and ideas that each group of delegates brought to the conference. I loved hearing stories about their day-to-day lives. It was evident that although we all came from such different backgrounds and experiences, we were all the same in so many ways.

Several days into the conference, each group had the opportunity to display their culture in a much-anticipated cultural evening, which would prove to be a highlight of everybody’s trip. The event showcased diverse cultural features from each country, including a traditional Danish dance, a British poem recitation, an Indian yoga demonstration, a lesson on Australian slang, and many more. We were taken on a journey across the globe in just two hours. We, along with the students from Toronto, presented a reenactment of Canadian history. This particular moment in the conference truly captured one of Round Square’s central “IDEALS:” internationalism. The national pride that each group displayed, as well as international pride and appreciation for the enthusiasm of our fellow delegates, was palpable. The most incredible aspect of the evening was the lasting impression that it seemed to have on all of the participants; it sparked curiosity and desire to learn more about each culture that we were exposed to. The evening seemed to accomplish the fundamental objective of the conference: to “encounter, engage, and enjoy” the rich mosaic of culture that we were fortunate enough to immerse ourselves in for a week. — Allie Mayers ’13

MS Pride: Community Service

Posted on October 16, 2012 by admin

This year, Zoë Doyle, Elijah Flomen and Rebecca Ross are very proud to be your community service heads. We have a lot of ideas we would like to share with you, such as different community service activities you can do to complete your hours. We have already organized a show that the grade eight band will be performing in December, which will contribute up to two hours to their total hours of community service required. Several other events and activities will be available for the Middle School soon. These events will be fun and entertaining, yet productive at the same time.

Au cours du Middle School vous devez faire 15 heures de service communautaire pour pouvoir recevoir votre broche à la fin, mais nous vous encourageons à en faire plus. Vous pourriez faire des activités durant les fins de semaines pour accumuler vos heures. Il y a un jeu qui s’appelle «Penny War» qui va commencer bientôt. Ce jeu durera toute l’année, il est amusant et peut faire gagner beaucoup d’argent.

This year, all money raised by school activities will go to an organization called Madagascar In My Heart. Madagascar In My Heart est une organization qui aide Tulear (un village en Madagascar). La responsable du projet est membre du Round Young Square of Americas. Voici le site web: http://madagascarinmyheart.org

Nous sommes ouvert à écouter vos questions et idées, n’hésitez pas à contacter Rebecca, Elijah ou Zoë. Here are our email adresses: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Merci! Thank you! — Zoë Doyle ’16, Elijah Flomen ’16 and Rebecca Ross ’16