A Private School with a Public Purpose

Head Table Guests

Tony van Straubenzee, Managing Director, Russell Reynolds Associates and Past President, The Empire Club of Canada; Sebastian Borza, Steward, Upper Canada College; Reverend Canon Greg Symmes, Canon Pastor for the Diocese of Toronto; Fran Lloyd, Head of Student Services, Milton District High School; Pat Parisi, Principal, St. Clements School; Richard Sadlier, Principal Emeritus, Upper Canada College; Cheryl Blakey, Spouse of Mr. Blakey; The Hon. Tom Hockin, PC, President and CEO, The Investment Funds Institute of Canada and Director, The Empire Club of Canada; Karen Murton, Principal, Branksome Hall; Keith Dalglish, Immediate Past President, Canadian Educational Standards Institute; Professor Thomas Symons, Founding President and Vanier Professor Emeritus, Trent University, Peterborough; and Andy Pringle, Managing Director, RBC Capital Markets, Chairman of the Board, Upper Canada College and President, Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research.

Introduction by Bill Laidlaw

When one thinks of a private school or independent school as they are called today, I believe they imagine Upper Canada College (UCC). That is a very difficult thing for me to say, having been a teacher at Ridley College in St. Catharines.

Upper Canada College is an educational institution with a long and illustrious past. It has graduated from its hallowed halls a large number of famous individuals who have gone on to assume leadership roles in Canadian society. Its sports teams over the years have also produced some sensational teams and players.

Upper Canada College also provides an education that is different from what you would find in a public school. I can certainly testify as a former teacher in a boarding school, that being master of a boys' residence for 16 year olds brings character to you, and those you are attempting to supervise. As well, the entire experience of an independent school education such as you would find at UCC is an enriching experience for all those that attend. Some students, of course, find that process difficult or choose not to continue.

I felt it important for the Empire Club to hear from a leading educator in the independent school system, and our speaker Doug Blakey, Principal of Upper Canada College, was my choice.

Before joining UCC, Doug taught biology and environmental sciences at Georgian Bay Secondary School and East Northumberland Secondary School.

He joined the faculty of Upper Canada College in 1975.

Over his almost 30 years spent at Upper Canada College he has coached and supervised numerous extracurricular activities over and above his teaching. He has been the chairman of the science department, senior boarding housemaster and vice-principal academic.

A graduate of the University of Guelph and the University of Western Ontario, Doug currently serves on the boards of directors of the Canadian Educational Standards Institute and the International Coalition of Boys' Schools.

Since 1991 Doug has served as Principal at Upper Canada College, one of the world's leading independent schools.

The school provides an International Baccalaureate Diploma programme that provides students with a stimulating curriculum and has an enrolment of over 1,000 boys from grade one through to high school, including boarding students from all over Canada and the world.

1 know that all of you will enjoy hearing about the school from the perspective of its principal. Please join me in welcoming Doug Blakey.

Douglas Blakey

It is an honour to be invited to speak at the Empire Club, a distinguished institution providing a forum for the presentation of ideas and issues that are topical and important to our community. Thank you for inviting me.

I want to begin my address by asking you to imagine if you can the young British colony of Upper Canada, where in 1829 the newly arrived lieutenant-governor, Sir John Colborne, shocked the Legislative Assembly by announcing, under power of his executive authority, that the colony was to have a new school. It would be the purpose of this school to prepare young men for successful study at the colony's new university, an institution which at the time, and until more than a decade later, did not exist. This university--King's College, later to become the University of Toronto--would not open to its first students until 1843.

Colborne's new school, Upper Canada College (UCC), was going to break from the British tradition of offering a classic-centred programme of study. Its first students in 1830 were offered a range of subjects that, arguably, would still form a solid core curriculum for many schools today--including Latin and Greek. He understood that nation building required young men with unusual skills and talents. The boys learned practical skills as well as the poetry of Milton.

But Sir John Colborne's new school was to have a further purpose: It was expected to provide the colony with a body of educated and motivated citizens of leadership and vision, who would prepare the ground for the rich and vital democratic society expected to take root and flourish. This too was a break from the British tradition with which Colborne was so familiar. The great British public schools have never had explicit public purpose as part of their founding documents.

One hundred and seventy-three years since it was established, Upper Canada College carries on in its founder's tradition. But for a school to remain relevant and vital it must adapt. It must seek out the finest educators, and it must recognise that it exists to serve a constituency--which at UCC, we believe, over and above our students and their parents, is our local community as well as the nation and the world beyond. Graduates of our school must compete with the best minds of Malaysia and China, of the European Community, of Egypt and South Africa and the United States The list could go on. We also believe it is important for them to understand that their role is not so much to use education to acquire money, to become defenders of capital, to build a big house, to have a cottage on Georgian Bay, but rather to make the world a better place. At UCC, we speak about our students learning how to do good and how to do well. They learn how to do well through the academic and extracurricular programmes. They learn how to do good through their day-to-day life at the school, their relations with each other at the college, and the community service programme in which they are required to participate. Serving their community is an important public purpose for the students and graduates of Upper Canada College. Their education at the college has as a central tenet, public purpose, such as promoting social justice, protecting the environment, and being engaged in the issues of the day that are worthy of their attention. UCC is not unique in this regard; many schools have excellent community service programmes for their students. Schools do this because, to paraphrase Robert Sternberg and Daniel Goleman, the best predictor of future success is past performance, so we need to help our students learn by experiencing and practising and repeating. At UCC we help our students dream of a better world but we realise it is not enough just to dream, we have to put into practice what we preach.

I was educated in the public system and started my teaching career there. From my experience in both, it seems to me that private schools have more latitude than public schools to dream a bit and to be able to set their own goals and decide what methods they want to follow to attain their objectives. Because they are small and autonomous, they can be flexible and innovative. They can be courageous and take risks. Of course, this also gives private schools more room to make mistakes that can have devastating results. The important challenge for them then, is to "try to get it right." It should also be noted that private schools have a built in measure of accountability because the parents of their students pay fees and if the service isn't worth it, they'll go elsewhere. The best of the private schools abhor complacency as well as self-satisfaction and fight against these with a vengeance.

Each independent school needs to be clear about its fundamental purpose and direction. What are its defining characteristics, its strengths and what is it not? Questions like these are obviously not unique to schools.

Personally, I think there should be an always-present question never far from the figurative surface: How best can the institution, not just its students and graduates, serve the greater public good? I'm not sure that the question of what is in the interest of the greater public good is one with which most schools concern themselves, nor do many schools seem to incorporate this view into everything they do, but I don't really know. I just haven't seen much evidence that this is the case.

It is this very question at UCC that we have spent considerable time contemplating. Long before the book closed on the last century it had become abundantly clear that in a global society the "haves"--whether they were nations, institutions, or individuals--could no longer play their roles from the sidelines. In today's world, "less" is no longer "more," interdependence must replace independence, and "public purpose" must stand alongside "private purpose." There will be few persons in this room who, in the course of their professional lives, have not played a part in advancing the public cause or contributing to the greater good of society. A school can play a vital role in encouraging the growth of such civicmindedness by modelling it as an organisation. Viewing ourselves as a private school with a public purpose keeps before us at all times the principle that our school needs to find ways of contributing to the greater social good. The school, through its public conduct, exemplifies, if you will, what it asks and expects of its students. At UCC that means modelling, as an organisation, doing good and doing well. I believe it is an important part of the students' education to see how their school conducts itself as an organisation.

UCC has fine students and teachers, a host of dedicated volunteers, exceptional resources and facilities, as well as strong support from parents, alumni and friends. We are able to accomplish a great deal because of these factors. Given what we have been granted, we believe strongly that we should give something back to society, that we should contribute and share, and that we should not be interested just in our own well-being. I believe UCC is an important institution locally and, increasingly so, on a national and international level and it is at all these levels that it should contribute.

Now let me illustrate this ideal with some examples of how, at Upper Canada College, we have translated this corporate public purpose into our programmes.

Today, the college's curriculum is avowedly liberal and global in scope. All students study the International Baccalaureate (IB), a demanding programme of study that encourages original and critical thinking, and not just rote memorisation. All of our students are enrolled in this programme, which is offered by over 1,000 schools in 90 countries around the world and is regarded by the world's leading universities as the finest secondary school diploma programme anywhere available. The examinations the students write are marked not by their own teachers, but by independent educators living throughout the world. And their results are available for all the other IB schools to see. The IB provides the ultimate yardstick by which educators--and parents--can judge the performance of students against the highest international standard. There is no place for mediocrity to hide. There is no way to avoid accountability.

And how have we done? I am pleased to say that, five years into the International Baccalaureate Diploma, UCC has become one of the top IB schools in the world and our students have met the requirements head on. In fact they have distinguished themselves. Adopting this programme for all our student was a high stakes decision--there were significant risks involved--but we felt that they were risks worth taking when measured against the benefits that we hoped would result. What we think we have shown is that in the great halls of western education, Canadian students can hold their own with the world's best.

But an important aspect of our involvement with the IB programme that is germane to my talk today has been our wish to make a "public" contribution to the worldwide IB Organisation. Right from the beginning, this has been a conscious commitment. Our teachers contribute to the IBO as examiners, curriculum advisors, professional workshop leaders, strategic planners and facilitators. Last summer we held the first IB advanced teacher workshop ever offered anywhere. Our teachers then have an opportunity for modelling, on a professional level, our commitment to public purpose. It helps them fulfil the college's goal. I think that's important. The college was also instrumental in bringing the IB schools of Ontario together to form a regional support organisation for independent and public IB schools. A team of UCC boys is organising a student conference to be held this August that we expect will attract IB students from countries around the world. This is to put into practice the ideal and the example for our students of public purpose.

Last year, as a result of a very generous donation, the college was able to set up an exciting new programme known as the Richard Wernham and Julia West Centre for Learning. Its mandate is four-fold:

To facilitate a greater understanding of the different learning styles and needs of all students at UCC, and to assist them in developing strategies appropriate to their learning profile;

To provide direct programme support to UCC students with exceptional learning styles or needs; To provide professional development and support particularly regarding students' learning styles and needs not only for UCC faculty but for teachers and schools in the broader educational community;

To permit UCC to be a site for educational research in areas of learning styles and needs, to produce publications and to provide these to the broader educational community outside UCC.

The last two goals for the Centre are the public purpose ones--professional development and research for the educational community at large. By insisting that there is a public outreach aspect to this wonderful new initiative--written right into the donor's agreement--UCC is demonstrating its commitment, with wholehearted support from the donors, to be a private school with a public purpose.

Let me tell you about another UCC initiative that captures all the elements of an exemplary public purpose initiative. Few initiatives have had as much impact on the life of the college as what we call our Horizons programme. This is a venture that we operate in partnership with the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Catholic District School Board--and involving a number of their elementary schools in the Regent Park and St. James Town neighbourhoods. Sharing in the project also is Frontier College, a national institution founded over 100 years ago with the purpose of promoting literacy. The Horizons programme has a number of facets to it. More than 170 UCC students meet once a week throughout the school year to tutor, one-on-one, a student from one of the inner city schools. The UCC tutors work in teams of about 30 linking with an entire class and its teacher at one of the designated schools. The teacher is able to direct our tutors specifying the particular needs of the class or individual students each week. About one-third of our Upper School student population is involved, making this not only the largest community service programme, among many, at the college, but the largest single programme of any kind that we offer. Numerous UCC faculty, staff and parents volunteer their help as well. All students benefit--those in the inner city schools and those from UCC--as we work mutually in our area of common concern and expertise: the education of children. The magic of it is that kids are working with kids; it's beautiful to watch.

The Horizons programme is one of the most innovative educational initiatives in the country and it is spreading here in Toronto and to other cities. This year Branksome Hall School has partnered with us and is sending a number of its girls along as part of the programme each week and I'm sure their numbers will increase in the years to come. I'm so pleased to be able to tell you today that two of our graduates from last year's leaving class, boarding students from Montreal now at McGill, have started on their own initiative a Horizons programme at their former school. Isn't this just what you would hope for from your graduates? We expect to see a Horizons programme start in Calgary next year. Based on extensive research, the college also offered a challenging summer academy programme for bright young students from the inner city. The summer programme runs during a five-week period in July and early August. Students start the programme in the summer following their completion of Grade 6 and continue for three summers, "graduating" from the programme just prior to entering grade 9 at high school. This summer over 100 girls and boys from 17 Toronto elementary schools will be studying, joyfully, at UCC.

We have decided to make a significant investment in sport and recreation for our inner-city partners. We have done this through our Horizons programme as part of the public school athletic association in Regent Park and St. James Town. UCC students serve as the coaches; a teacher from each of the participating inner city schools acts as the supervisor. UCC now provides two coaches for each of 10 teams in the league. The Toronto Maple Leafs have assisted us with coaching and skating clinics throughout the season both at our arena and Moss Park Arena and we have just completed a drive programme in co-operation with Toronto LCBO stores to collect used equipment for these boys and girls, many of whom have little or nothing--sometimes not even a hockey stick. There are now a number of inner city students, girls as well as boys, playing hockey with a team in their area. Horizons is another example then of how we put into practice the ideal of public purpose to which we are committed.

The college has had to deal with the tragic knowledge of the possible sexual abuse in the 1970s of a number of its students. Charged with these crimes is one of its former teachers and the case is expected to go before the courts shortly. As you know, UCC is not unique in having to deal with this issue; Canadian churches, residential schools for First Nations children and hockey leagues are amongst the groups or institutions that have learned to their great sorrow that among the ranks of trusted, dedicated people who served as priests, teachers and coaches there were some who, in violation of that trust, had used their positions to exploit the vulnerability of the young people in their charge.

For all of us at UCC this case, regardless of outcome, has been deeply troubling, both in the nature of its allegations and in the implications they hold. In dealing with it there was one consuming principle that guided our actions and that was to seek out and endeavour to do what we will simply call "the right thing." We have been actively assisting the police throughout their investigation, we have been open with the entire UCC community and we have encouraged our graduates to come forward if they have something to report to the police. We have offered professional support to any of our graduates who would benefit from it.

We have initiated an independent review of the college's current policies and practices dealing with the prevention of abuse and harassment. To conduct this study, we have retained the services of The Honourable Sydney Robins and a team of professionals chosen by him. And as we believe that the review will be of value beyond the walls of UCC, we intend to share its findings not only with independent schools in Canada, but also with independent schools globally through the international organisations of which we are a part.

I have given you four examples of where UCC--the institution--has tried to contribute significantly to the public good and I could have talked about several others. But it is time to return to John Colborne.

What would Colborne see today if he could visit our campus? What would his impressions be? I think Colborne would be proud that his vision of a uniquely Canadian school lives on in the form of its studentsboys and young men prepared to take on the most pressing issues of our time. John Colborne envisioned a school that would play a central role in the life of Upper Canada. We honour the memory of our founder today by preparing our students so that they have the will, the power and the desire to change the world for the better. But we have been able to take Colborne's vision further by not only focussing on the contribution our graduates should make but by trying to model this imperative, deliberately and consciously as an organisation. In other words, a private school with a public purpose. It is an organising idea for us at UCC that permeates all that we do and how we view the world. It is not just a single community service programme for our students. It is an important part of the education of our students and an opportunity for faculty and parents, because it is authentic, it is real, which is what we believe the education of our students should be. There are a number of organisations, especially in the corporate world, that take on public purpose in exemplary fashion but it is not very common among schools--private or public. I don't really know why this is, but it does seem to me that schools are ideal places for institutional public purpose to take root. There is much work yet to be done and lots of other schools could do more. I would encourage all schools to experience what we have been able to at UCC--the joy of public purpose. I think we all need to contribute to making the world a better place individually and corporately. Thank you for listening.

The appreciation of the meeting was expressed by Tony van Straubenzee, Managing Director, Russell Reynolds Associates and Past President, The Empire Club of Canada.