An Uncomfortable Conversation: When Tradition, Leadership And Change Collide

To whom it may concern.   It has been painful to say the least, but I personally feel some truth needs to be told about the injustices of many individuals spanning from management, the board and external figures like Dr Phil Cummings.

As I write this letter, my sentiments and opinions are not coming from a place of malice but rather a place of concern. Thus being said I feel it is genuinely time for an uncomfortable conversation. There are individuals in management and the board who will think “what do the boys know, they are just students” when in reality I provide rebuttal to this statement being that Kearsney is just a few buildings and fields without the boys —the life force of the school.

From the perspective of a son of an old boy, it is an understatement to say that my family has a long-standing association with the college. The stories I used to hear growing up of how Kearsney was the place where men are made, your resolve and character is tested on a day-to-day basis. I have spoken to many old boys in my life, I have been exposed to these individuals from as early as the age of 5 by interacting with my father’s friends as well as other old boys. The preconception that I and many other individuals had is that Kearsney is a tough place. Here is a testament from an old boy “my primary school coach told me early at the age of 10 that I would never survive at Kearsney, I was too weak, too small and too soft”, this shows that even individuals who have no association to the school at all know that Kearsney is not a place for the weak, Kearsney is not for everyone but Kearsney is for those who are capable of seizing the day. This is further proven by the wise words of Mr Willows, “Kearsney is not going to change for you, if you don’t like it you can leave”.

Having established this, as a matric I believe that we as a grade have great understanding of the school, its culture, how it is run and what it means to be a Kearsney boy and not this PR image you tell the public.

If only you guys understood how much negativity is expressed about Mr Lees, Mr Gamede and the board from old boys, current boys and you might not expect it but also teachers. One example I’ll provide is the implementation of the current prefect system. When old boys got word of the idea, to say there was pandemonium would be me undermining the truth. Additionally, Mr Gamede lied to us by saying he consulted the current prefect body at the time and saying that they approved of it when the truth is that he did not and above all else they did not approve of the change. In my personal opinion I think Mr Gamede is trying to turn us into what he knows and that is St Stithians. To add to all of this there were staff members who opposed the idea and claimed that this system would create a divide amongst the prefects in which it has. This change along with many more were not for the betterment of the boys but rather for a way in which you can push your own agenda.

When you say that you care about the boys and the opinions of the old boys it’s obvious that you are lying because when you say this it falls on deaf ears because of all the lies that have been told before. When you say you care about old boys’ opinions this may be true to an extent but the old boys’ opinions you care about are the ones who sit on the Amasiko executive committee and not all old boys. This brings me to my next point, as management and the board, you don’t truly care about the betterment of the boys but only about your selfish interests and views on how the school should be run.

The ways in which you restrict seniors (grade 12s and grade 11s) directly correlates in the conduct and behaviour of the junior boys. Junior boys used to fear acting inappropriately because they understood the consequences that would follow but now you cannot tell me a single consequence for a junior boy acting inappropriately. Allow me to give you an example, in 2022 a group of grade 9 boys were being disrespectful towards a member of staff no longer with us, the matrics saw this, identified the grade 9s, talked some sense into them and made them stand. This corrective behaviour is no longer promoted by the school but rather having a friendly conversation with the junior who is just gonna go back to his ways and dismiss the interaction. This way of discipline is increasingly failing by the day, allow me to explain. It is no secret that the Grade 10s are a problem and have been a problem for the last 3 years. Initially staff and seniors dismissed this behaviour because in every Kearsney grade there will be mischievous behaviour in grade 8, in grade 9 they become disrespectful and a genuine problem that needs to be sorted out. By the time that grade reaches grade 10 that behaviour is typically strained out, but this year's group is an exception. It’s alarming that the number of teachers and staff members who complain about the grade 10s is at a growing rate. But when us as matrics try to use corrective measures such as standing it’s labelled as corporal punishment and unconstitutional. The reason why the mark system doesn’t work is because the punishment that marks create isn’t enough, nobody really cares about being up at 05:30 in the morning, what people care about is their free time being stripped away from them in the form of standing, it’s not unconstitutional, it’s psychological.

Kearsney is a traditional boys school but in all honesty I don’t think we can continue to use this label because we are losing tradition. One of the traditions we are losing is our hierarchy, matric privileges are being constantly being downplayed. Along with our authority, although you might not confess to this, you know deep down that all boys in the school are being treated equally. To think that as matrics we have to change the way in which we run the school is disgraceful, because Kearsney should never, will never and must never change for individuals but individuals must adapt to Kearsney. But allow me to say this, not all change is bad change, it just so happens to be that all change that you have implemented is bad change. The matrics are tired of the lies, tired of the unnecessary change and tired of the empty promises. By threatening possible legal action to a boy trying to raise concerns about real issues in the college shows the oppressive nature of management and the board. You can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolutionary. There will be a day where seniors, it may not be us, but seniors one day will revolt against the oppressive regime we call management and the board, because we are tired of it and something must change.