Senri and Osaka International Shools of Kwansei Gakuin

September 5th, 2009

 We are approaching our 20^th anniversary, another significant milestone, in just over a year. The merger and the anniversary bring a new era to the school. It is an exciting time to be part of the OIS community.  If we are at a point in world history where we find ourselves at the crossroads of human progress, then OIS is well placed to lead international education in addressing the challenges. Among the many reasons for this is our  relationship with our sister school, SIS, which means our day-to-day existence deals with finding potential and solutions in the interconnected world between the two schools; the very issue that the world is struggling with at this time. This means developing in students skills and qualities that embrace and shape a rapidly changing world and also allow them as individuals, in this global society, to feel connected and able to develop enduring human values. This is an exciting venture for all of us.

Wednesday 20th May 2009

A magnificent achievement 

At a meeting yesterday with the senior class, I informed the students and attending parents that it is the school decision to postpone their trip to Cambodia. We have continued to receive advice from as many sources as possible and the weight of opinion is now that it would be unwise to travel at this time given the continuing uncertainty.

Because it was a new venture, the class has had to overcome many problems. Despite this they have built a school and that is a magnificent achievement.The influenza outbreak complicated the trip plans. We found out about the situation with regard to Osaka less than 48 hours ago, and our position since Sunday afternoon has been to keep an open mind about whether to go or not. This was out of respect for the amount of work that Mr Heimer, Ms Cheney, the students and the parents put into realizing the project, and also because we know that these situations change daily and therefore wanted to see how events would unfold.

The good news is that the senior trip is only postponed not cancelled, therefore if we can make it happen at a later date it will go ahead. In the meantime I know Mr Heimer, Ms Cheney and the students must be very disappointed.

I would like to thank the teachers for the hours and hours of work they put in to this, and the leadership and guidance they provided to the students. I would also like to thank the community which has supported this project. Even without the trip leaving at this time, the contribution to education and the rural poor in Cambodia is enormous and lasting, and for that we can all have nothing but a great sense of pride.

Read more about the Schools2Schools project

23rd April, 2009 

Last year was the thirtieth anniversary of the death of the anthropologist Margaret Mead. Margaret Mead’s research developed much of our current understanding of human nature. She spoke and wrote on a wide range of subjects, including the generation gap, aging, the nuclear family, education, the environment, race, poverty, and women's rights. The main body of her research spanned either side of the Second World War. It was the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and the resulting pessimism that pervaded the early 1950s, as the world appeared locked into a course of self-destruction, which influenced her work in the area of the human capacity to change and choose between possible futures. This led to her conclusion that all aspects of human life are interconnected and that we should "never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

This theme, that small groups of people can influence the outcome of a situation, has particular relevance to all of us at OIS. As an international school dealing with global community challenges Ms. Mead’s research is important in that it gives us the confidence to act and not to be overawed by the size of the problem despite our relative lack of numbers. Therefore I am very pleased to learn that the senior class has decided, as their class project, to build a school in Cambodia. Here is a concrete example of a small group of committed young people changing the lives of generations of children and possibly, in turn, the world. Read more about the Schools2Schools Cambodia project here.

In addition to this the Student Council is working out how the school can decrease the size of its carbon footprint: the amount of global warming emissions we produce through the normal functions of running a school. A possible goal for them is to help the school become carbon neutral, where our generation of global warming emissions is reduced and offset in some way. Although our school’s overall effect on the climate is miniscule, in a time when the world is slipping perilously close to irreversible climate change, if the Student Council can develop this idea through to a working project then quite possibly this will act as the catalyst for initiating change on a larger scale either through its connection to other similar grassroots projects, or as an inspiration to other students when they go on to university and work I hope as a school community we can support these and other efforts, which will in turn benefit us all in some way. – a small group of committed citizens changing the world.

9th February, 2009

Mr. Ito of Hankyu organized a parent meeting to talk about the merger three weeks ago. The attendance was quite low. I imagine that there were many reasons for this. I met with the Parent Advisory Committee last week and their strong recommendation was that the administration make a presentation about the merger to the parents at the next PAC open meeting. I would like to combine the next PAC open meeting with the coffee meetings I had in the first trimester. At this time we will be able to address some of the questions which were raised at Mr. Ito’s meeting and hopefully meet with a larger group of parents. I would like to note here that any change inevitably creates stress, worry or uncertainty. I am frequently asked if I am optimistic about the outcome of the merger. I am indeed very optimistic; however, I also believe that optimism or pessimism in this situation is not important. What is important is that we control our own future through careful planning and discussion of what we want the school to look like in 5 years time given the opportunities the merger with a leading university presents and then lead the merger to this end. Central to this will be how OIS continues to deepen its relationship with SIS. Therefore, at our next PAC open meeting I would like to talk with the parents about this aspect of the merger in particular. I will let you know the date of this meeting once it is set and the timing of this depends on our talks with the SIS administration.