Dear Parents,
When tense, complex issues (e.g. North Korea) make their way into our homes, I’m reminded of a book written for ‘global leadership’.
‘ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN’, by Robert Fulghum. It was first published in 1986.
He says: “These are the things I learned:”
[I have added our COLLEGE VALUES to Fulghum’s ideals]
- Share everything. [COLLABORATIVE, FAITHFUL, LEADERS]
- Play fair. [HONEST, RESPECTFUL, DETERMINED]
- Don’t hit people. [RESPECTFUL, LOVING]
- Put things back where you found them. [TEAM MINDED, RESPECTFUL]
- Clean up your own mess. [HONEST, TEAM MINDED, RESPECTFUL]
- Don’t take things that aren’t yours. [HONEST]
- Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. [LOVING]
- Wash your hands before you eat. [WISE]
- Flush. [RESPECTFUL]
- Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. [THANKFUL]
- Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. [INNOVATIVE]
- Take a nap every afternoon. [WISE]
- When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together. [WISE, COLLABORATIVE, THANKFUL]
- Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. [THANKFUL]
- Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we. [FAITHFUL]
- And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books, and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – look. [LEADERS, WISE, RESPECTFUL]
When I reflected on the above listed suggestions, I found myself wondering which of our college values could be ‘attached’ to Robert Fulghum’s ideals.
Our values are to be:
FAITHFUL, RESPECTFUL, DETERMINED, LOVING, HONEST, WISE, LEADERS, INNOVATIVE, COLLABORATIVE, TEAM MINDED, THANKFUL.
The Bible’s (Luke 3:31) advice to anyone with power, including our Global Leaders:
‘Do to others as you would have them do to you.’
We teach this to your children.
Des Mitchell
PRINCIPAL