ThomasLayton
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- Mar 13, 2012
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A friend of mine emailed me this, it's the opening speech of a Headmaster taking over a school in Canada.
I sincerely hope the next headmaster of my school comes out with straight talking like this.
Principal at a High School in Toronto
------------------------------------------------------------
"Dennis Prager, Principal at a High School in Toronto, on the first day
of classes in 2012
To: The students and faculty of our High School.
I am your new Principal, and honoured to be so. There is no greater
calling than to teach young people. I would like to apprise you of some
important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes
because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public
education in Canada have worked against you, against your teachers,
against your parents, and against our country.
First, this school will no longer honour race or ethnicity. I could not
care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow, or white.
I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American,
Asian, or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower,
leaky SE Asian refugee ships, or on slave ships. The only identity I
care about, the only one this school will recognise, is your individual
identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the
only national identity this school will care about is Canadian. This is
a Canadian public school, and Canadian public schools were created to
make better Canadians.
If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial, religious identity through your
school, you will have to go to another one. We will end all ethnicity -
race - and non-Canadian-nationality-based celebrations. They undermine
the motto of Canada . Everyone is equal, coast to coast, and this school
will be guided by Canadian values. That includes all after-school clubs.
I will not authorise clubs that divide students based on any identities.
This includes gender, race, language, religion, sexual orientation, or
whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political
correctness. Your clubs will be based on interests and passions -- not
blood, ethnic, tribal, racial or other physically defined ties.
Those clubs just cultivate narcissism - an unhealthy preoccupation with
the self -- while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond
yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and
glories of art, music, sport, debating, astronomy, languages you do not
already speak, math, carpentry, and many many more. If the only
extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in, are
those based on ethnic or racial or sexual identity, that means that
little outside of yourself really interests you and that means you don't
belong in this school.
Second, I am not interested in whether or not English is your native
language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this
school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English
language has united Canadian citizens for more than 200 years, and it
will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons
this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. If you
leave this school without excellent English-language skills, your
teachers and I will have been remiss in our duty to ensure that you are
prepared to compete successfully in the Canadian employment market. You
will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Canadians
only speak English. But if you want classes taught in your native
language rather than in English, this is not the school for you.
Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavour, everything in
this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among
other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many
people in our society dress more formally for a meal at a nice
restaurant than they do for church or school. Those people have their
priorities backwards. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at
this school.
Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's
property -- whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If
you can't speak without using the "F-word," you can't speak. By obscene
language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications
Commission plus epithets such as the "N- word," even when used by one
black student to address another, or "bitch," even when addressed by a
girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this
school, you will be among the few of your age to distinguish
instinctively between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the
obscene, the educated and the non-educated.
Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programmes. In this school,
self-esteem will be attained in only one way -- the way people attain it
will be by earning it from their fellow students and teachers. One
immediate consequence of this is that there will be only one class
valedictorian, not eight.
Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school programme toward academics,
scholarship, and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will be
devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you
about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be
devoted to condom-wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as
only, or primarily, a health issue. There will be no more attempts to
convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not
male, or not heterosexual, or not Christian. We will have failed, if any
one of you graduates from this school does not consider himself or
herself inordinately lucky -- lucky to be alive, lucky to be well
educated, and lucky to be a Canadian.
Now, please stand and join me in singing, OH CANADA to the only flag in
Canada . As many of you may not know the words, your teachers will gladly
hand them out to you."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I sincerely hope the next headmaster of my school comes out with straight talking like this.
Principal at a High School in Toronto
------------------------------------------------------------
"Dennis Prager, Principal at a High School in Toronto, on the first day
of classes in 2012
To: The students and faculty of our High School.
I am your new Principal, and honoured to be so. There is no greater
calling than to teach young people. I would like to apprise you of some
important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes
because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public
education in Canada have worked against you, against your teachers,
against your parents, and against our country.
First, this school will no longer honour race or ethnicity. I could not
care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow, or white.
I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American,
Asian, or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower,
leaky SE Asian refugee ships, or on slave ships. The only identity I
care about, the only one this school will recognise, is your individual
identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the
only national identity this school will care about is Canadian. This is
a Canadian public school, and Canadian public schools were created to
make better Canadians.
If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial, religious identity through your
school, you will have to go to another one. We will end all ethnicity -
race - and non-Canadian-nationality-based celebrations. They undermine
the motto of Canada . Everyone is equal, coast to coast, and this school
will be guided by Canadian values. That includes all after-school clubs.
I will not authorise clubs that divide students based on any identities.
This includes gender, race, language, religion, sexual orientation, or
whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political
correctness. Your clubs will be based on interests and passions -- not
blood, ethnic, tribal, racial or other physically defined ties.
Those clubs just cultivate narcissism - an unhealthy preoccupation with
the self -- while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond
yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and
glories of art, music, sport, debating, astronomy, languages you do not
already speak, math, carpentry, and many many more. If the only
extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in, are
those based on ethnic or racial or sexual identity, that means that
little outside of yourself really interests you and that means you don't
belong in this school.
Second, I am not interested in whether or not English is your native
language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this
school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English
language has united Canadian citizens for more than 200 years, and it
will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons
this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. If you
leave this school without excellent English-language skills, your
teachers and I will have been remiss in our duty to ensure that you are
prepared to compete successfully in the Canadian employment market. You
will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Canadians
only speak English. But if you want classes taught in your native
language rather than in English, this is not the school for you.
Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavour, everything in
this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among
other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many
people in our society dress more formally for a meal at a nice
restaurant than they do for church or school. Those people have their
priorities backwards. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at
this school.
Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's
property -- whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If
you can't speak without using the "F-word," you can't speak. By obscene
language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications
Commission plus epithets such as the "N- word," even when used by one
black student to address another, or "bitch," even when addressed by a
girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this
school, you will be among the few of your age to distinguish
instinctively between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the
obscene, the educated and the non-educated.
Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programmes. In this school,
self-esteem will be attained in only one way -- the way people attain it
will be by earning it from their fellow students and teachers. One
immediate consequence of this is that there will be only one class
valedictorian, not eight.
Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school programme toward academics,
scholarship, and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will be
devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you
about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be
devoted to condom-wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as
only, or primarily, a health issue. There will be no more attempts to
convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not
male, or not heterosexual, or not Christian. We will have failed, if any
one of you graduates from this school does not consider himself or
herself inordinately lucky -- lucky to be alive, lucky to be well
educated, and lucky to be a Canadian.
Now, please stand and join me in singing, OH CANADA to the only flag in
Canada . As many of you may not know the words, your teachers will gladly
hand them out to you."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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