Principals Reflection

Ecclesiastes is one of the ‘Wisdom Books’ of the Old Testament and offers the reader advice on how to face the uncertainties and frustrations of life, especially in the face of existential predicament. Chapter 8, verse 7 states, “If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?” There is a degree of futility in some readings of this book, however, there is an element of reassurance that even the writings of the very wise – King Solomon is attributed as a key influence in Ecclesiastes – reveal a sense of insignificance of some aspects of our lives when the variables that influence our lives are often so complex and out of our control or choice. This realisation can lead us to either respond by ‘cherishing’ the persona of one who is a ‘victim of fate’, or it can temper our character and ‘ennoble’ us to work harder in our attitude and application to working towards realising our goals in spite of what are often inconceivable challenges out of our control. Staff at St Patrick’s are certainly in the latter category – our efforts to enhance student outcomes are evident in our planning, conversations and professional learning.

In previous Newsletters I have mentioned the findings from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, which is a longitudinal study of a complete birth cohort of 1,037 children born in one city in a single year, who have been followed from birth to the age of 40 with 96% retention. This New Zealand landmark research initially involved each child who participated undertaking a 90-minute session with an examiner who conducted a developmental test and then rated the child on 22 characteristics. Those traits were then clustered into five types of children: well-adjusted, confident, inhibited, reserved, and “under-controlled,” meaning impulsive, restless, and easily distracted. Teachers and parents of a shy, clingy pre-schooler may hope that their child’s behaviour is just a phase, however, this research found what they are more likely to find many years later is a young adult who is hesitant about new experiences and uncomfortable in social situations. Similarly, young children who appear self-confident and outgoing are likely to display a similar temperament as adults; the ‘nature vs nurture’ argument.

A significant finding of this study highlighted childhood self-control as a key predictor of physical health, substance dependence, personal finances, and criminal offending outcomes, following a gradient of self-control. Effects of children's self-control could be disentangled from their intelligence and social class in addition to mistakes that they made as adolescents. In another cohort of 500 sibling-pairs, the sibling with lower self-control had poorer outcomes, despite shared family background. Interventions addressing self-control might reduce a multitude of societal costs, save taxpayers money, and promote prosperity.

The ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said, ‘Character is destiny.’ There are significant instances of high achieving adults who have challenged extremely disadvantaged backgrounds; there is considerable evidence that ‘nurture’ and positive influence have profound positive effects on what might be perceived to be negative tendencies of our individual ‘natures.’ A reassuring aspect of the study concluded that children with problem behaviours —such as aggression or irritability or ‘under-controlled’—can learn how to overcome them. Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish philanthropist and businessman, stated that as he grew older, he paid less attention what a person said, but rather watched what they did.  As joint educators, my prayer is that parents and St Patrick’s Catholic School staff can find sufficient common ground to enable our joint passion for a positive future for our children and students to be tempered by a realisation that we need to espouse qualities of being ‘well-adjusted’, and ‘confident’, and challenge behaviours that are ‘under-controlled’ - the research cited above provides us with hope that even though character traits are acknowledged as being strong intrinsic influences on our destinies, these traits can be positively influenced. Thank you to all in our school community who, through words and actions, challenge and offer guidance to those who are ‘under-controlled’.

Regards   

Rod Linhart (Principal)