Education today is stimulating many to re-appraise accepted values, the very same values that were accepted by our 'Old Boys' in their youth. This climate is symptomatic of a society prepared to question, seek and learn. The new generation is in search of an interpretation of practical freedom. In attacks on the establishment all are grasping at a more relevant and participatory basis for schooling. Students are unsure of their abilities in a more demanding world; they are prepared to be more vocal and no longer accept the status quo.
Secondary education may only accept the approach taken in universities as a fundamental principle. This school contains an age segment encompassing a change in maturity unknown in higher institutions. Having emerged from a basic education the younger student is to spend five years in this establishment during which time his future and his social capacity, his role for tomorrow, are moulded. Subsequently, the inter-relation of students of differing levels is strained, often, unfortunately, to non-existence.
It is the senior school which searches most for identity. Sadly, the past has seen an aggressive approach leading only to bitterness and frustration. Youth has gained little, and sympathy has by no means flooded from the hearts of those in power. The visionary element has been retained and it is recognised more readily; advice will be sought without independence lost. This necessitates a rational approach by the adherents to self-determination and an optimistic response by others. Guides for our entry into the wilderness are in short supply.
Society must accept a responsibility for the student's successful entry into the competitive world. The initiative of youth must be allowed to prosper; encouragement must be offered, expressing respect and recognition of our part in mass-society. Our entry over the blind barrier must be eased by removing the present trepidation and fear. The pathway to civilisation is too repulsive, causing the unsure to falter, destroying hope, stunting ambition and leaving a little less in all of us. By acknowledging a new effort and not allowing pride to smother reality, satisfaction in life may reach fulfilment.
Students are claiming the right to participate in decision making and yet in many ways are unable to present a plausible alternative to the present system because they lack experience, a major grievance when they leave school. Only inter-relation at a more official level can crystallize opinions and bring about a level of co-operation consistent with today's values and flexible enough for tomorrow. Education has changed, but in the world of "future shock" transformation must be rapid and communication adequate.
Students today should be able to utilize guided discovery and self-instruction, a system by which the latest concepts and information become readily available. Even more demanding, the new educational system must cater for those who have left educational establishments and find re-entry necessary to cope with new demands. The obstacles are further increased by the complexity and conflicting opinion of material and the division between the abstract of humanities and the absolute of science. A new era of consolidation in education must occur.
This change in style reflects the emergence of new forces in mass society. Believers in the more traditional viewpoint have seen only the chaos and excesses of the past, now unacceptable to society. We should judge the alternatives and positively advance our position from within, demonstrating harmony, respect and maturity. Only through adopting such an attitude will our hopes for the future become realities.
M. R. Pritchard, for the editors
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(The 1975 issue carries no separate written President's Message; instead it profiles President T. G. Bain.)
There are some unusual features in the circumstances of Thomas Gowrie Bain (30). From the point of view of domicile he is probably the nearest Old Boy to the School: he resides opposite the Girls' Grammar School, of which his wife is a Trustee — and, the issue notes, the first female Trustee ever. Tom Bain is the son of the late T. W. Bain (1890), a prominent journalist who was admitted to the Queensland Bar in 1910 but preferred to continue in journalism, having been Associate Editor of the Brisbane "Telegraph" and later Leader-Writer for the old "Courier". Our President started work in the Drafting Section of the P.M.G.'s Department in Brisbane, where he remained for 22 years, before deciding to study Law.
For the 107th year the school celebrated its Foundation Day, this year on Friday 28th February, with the assembly held that day and sporting fixtures between Old Boys and students over the following weekend. The Friday afternoon assembly also marked the retirement of Sir Thomas Hiley, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the past eight years. Mr. Howell opened the assembly with a brief account of the school's history, comparing education in 1869 with its present form, before the presentation of scholarships and bursaries to past and present students.
The 1975 Old Boys' Section carries the usual Births, Marriages and Deaths registers (compiled by K. A. Lemon). These registers are not reproduced in this transcript.
They are not reproduced in this transcript.
In this era, an Old Boy's year designation was the year he entered Grammar; the convention today is the year he finished. A boy who started in 1993 and finished in 1997 was (93) but is now '97.
Brisbane Grammar School Old Boys' Association · Old Boys History. Part of the OBA Knowledge Project.
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