MJQ is retiring
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the principal of James Ruse Agricultural High School, Michael J. Quinlan, will retire at the end of this year. This follows a 15 year stint at the very well-known selective high school.
Having multiple friends who are alumni of the school, all I can say is, “It’s the end of an era”.
I, for one, think that the era will continue from strength to strength, and it will only end when the majority of the teachers have moved on/retired and replaced by inferior teaching staff.
School culture (or the success of the school) does not depend on any one man, but on a community that strives to preserve its values.
In the MJQ era, the culture isn’t about “striving to be number one”. It’s about “achieving your best and celebrating your quirkiness”. Nerdy kids can be nerdy kids, goths can be goths, sports heroes can be sports heroes.
Being number one is an externality, albeit a very visible one.
If the school culture ever becomes “striving to be number one”, then with every grade of 120 kids, there’ll be 119 very disappointed ones at the end of every school year.
I was one of the 119, and while there is an academic pressure to keep up with the pack, I was also taught to be comfortable with myself and my abilities, and to stick to what I like best (even if that means playing Quake clan matches in place of “team sport”).
I hope this doesn’t ever change.