Speech Day 10 (Jul 1968)

The annual Speech Day was held on Monday, 15th July. The ceremony began at 7.15 p.m. in the School Hall. The Chairman of the Governors, Alderman E. A. Daniell, J.P.. M.I.P.A., presided. The speaker was Professor Sir Brian Windeyer, F.R.C.S., F.F.R., D.Sc., who was formally introduced and welcomed to the School by the School Captain, A. J. Sanderson.

After the Headmaster's Report, which dealt with the School's academic and sporting successes during 1967-68 and with a great variety of extra-curricular activities (accounts of which will be found elsewhere in this magazine), Sir Brian Windeyer presented the prizes and trophies and then addressed the audience.

Sir Brian urged the need for a balance in education between the Arts and the Sciences. Premature specialisation in one or the other, he said, was unsound. University entrance requirements were largely responsible for perpetuating the outmoded idea of the dichotomy between the Arts and Sciences. Sir Brian Instanced the difficulty an Arts student would experience under the present inflexible system if he wished to change to the study of medicine at University. And yet medicine was nowadays less exclusively scientific than formerly. The social and psychological aspects of sickness were now regarded as being of great importance. It was equally important, said Sir Brian, that everyone nowadays should have a certain knowledge of scientific matters because of the impact of the application of scientific discovery on everyday life. Sir Brian quoted several examples from his own special field, radiation.

The essential function of education, Sir Brian continued, was to fit one to take advantage of opportunity in a changing world. It was necessary to compromise between breadth of interest and the study of certain subjects in depth. The development of character and initiative was an important part of education and here, Sir Brian believed, the influence of games and sports, if taken seriously, could be beneficial. A third and equally important element in education, especially because it gave scope to character and initiative, was service to others. particularly to the aged and the sick. Such service could bring great joy and satisfaction.

Sir Brian congratulated the prizewinners on their success and reminded his audience that, though not all could win prizes at school, there were other prizes to be achieved in later life and that education would equip boys to win them. The evening concluded with a vote of thanks to Sir Brian for presenting the awards and for his address.