Faculty Essays

The Long View

Written by James Kolakowski on November 20, 2024.

From remarks made by headmaster Dr. Robert Jackson after a benefactor dinner at the school on September 24, 1987.

In many ways, this is the thesis statement for all of Heights development work.

 

I grew up in a small, ugly coal mining town in Yorkshire. Twenty-five miles away was the city of York with its beautiful cathedral. We used to visit York Cathedral when we were children and it always impressed me that it took 300 years to build.

During the War the city was bombed quite heavily. The church was not hit, but after the War it was necessary to re-support the foundations. When they excavated, they found the remains of three previous churches going back to a stone and wood Saxon church that first stood on the site more than a thousand years before. 

When I was working at The Heights, it helped me a lot to think of the history of York Cathedral, for this school represents a similar undertaking, and to remember that the key to education–perhaps to all of life–is patience. . .

All of you have worked hard to found a great school. Many of you have been generous with your financial help. And you don’t have much to see for it. It is still a struggling institution. I admire you as I admire the English monk who went out one day many centuries ago with a Frenchman–it had to be a Frenchman; the English would never have had the imagination for such a thing–and started to dig a trench for what would one day be–so the Frenchman assured him–a great and beautiful cathedral. . . 

It is not very common in this country to think in terms of 50 or 100 years, but in education we have to take the long view. 

 

 

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