{"id":15115,"date":"2022-08-16T15:09:37","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T13:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thoughtcapitaltest.co.za\/hilton\/?p=15115"},"modified":"2022-09-07T10:13:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T08:13:59","slug":"a-letter-from-the-head-1-june-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thoughtcapitaltest.co.za\/hilton\/2022\/08\/16\/a-letter-from-the-head-1-june-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"A letter from The Head &#8211; 1 June 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1611922097055{padding-top: 64px !important;padding-bottom: 64px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column]<div  class=\"heading-wrapper text-left\"  >\n\t\n\t<h3 class=\"second-title text-left\">1 June 2022<\/h3>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"subtitle\"><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\t\n\n[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Dear Parents and Guardians,<\/p>\n<p><strong>Must it always be better?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are days when better is just impossible; it doesn\u2019t matter what I try, better just cannot occur. I think this is just as true for stockbrokers and fund managers as it is for me \u2013 some years are just not as good as previous ones.<\/p>\n<p>But today\u2019s world is unforgiving.<\/p>\n<p>Our planet\u2019s resources are succumbing to overuse in ways that jeopardise our children\u2019s futures and that of their offspring \u2013 we know the stats \u2013 yet the key performance indicators we set for ourselves remain fixed and focussed on ever more and ever better.<\/p>\n<p>We feed this monster.<\/p>\n<p>A growing number of psychologists have been raising the alarm on the pandemic of mental illness among young people. The growth in numbers of teenagers battling with a myriad of mental challenges has been aggravated by Covid; the various restrictions under which we were all forced to live resulted in the collapse of many a teenagers\u2019 real social worlds.<\/p>\n<p>Yet our world, which is largely driven by us parents, continues to demand \u2013 to expect \u2013 more and better from our children. Yesterday\u2019s score was just that \u2013 yesterday\u2019s \u2013 tomorrow\u2019s must be an improvement, otherwise we cannot be judged to be moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>I find myself questioning the system to which we subscribe when an able young person develops significant anxieties which are amplified by the stresses of needing to achieve\u2026only better is good enough. Thus, I have been wondering about creating or subscribing to a \u201chappiness index\u201d for teenagers and for schools: a metric (ironically a measurement again) which might assist us in focussing on different issues in ensuring our teenagers\u2019 health as they progress in this extremely competitive world.<\/p>\n<p>Although this is a very difficult topic to address, and one which I am sure I am ill-equipped to articulate clearly enough, it would seem to me, in simplistic terms, that we need to be content with that which is not always better.<\/p>\n<p>Can a happy child be one of our highest prizes?<\/p>\n<p>A young person enthused by life\u2019s possibilities; a young person eager to venture into something new; a young person who is learning the art of self-reflection and contentment; a young person who loves his or her take on life; a young person at relative peace with himself or herself as he or she navigates this most messy stage of development.<\/p>\n<p>I am not one to harken back to the \u201cgood old days\u201d of carefree living. That too would have been a skewed reality for many in South Africa, but I am suggesting a resetting of our expectations that argues that continuous improvement is not the only measure of success and progress. A more realistic and healthy reflection may indeed be a review of teenage \u201cwellness\u201d and the acknowledgement that young people will find their way in the world if they are given space to breathe and to be.<\/p>\n<p>At Hilton, I believe a significant number of our boys are happy. Our school seems to be in a happy state too. There is some time and space for our boys to connect with each other, to shoot the breeze, to form relationships etc. The question we need to ask is whether this time allocation is sufficient, and whether this licence \u201cto be\u201d is accompanied by authentic permission to deliver another good performance which is divorced from an unhealthy and unrealistic demand for \u201calways better\u201d.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Kind regards,[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=&#8221;7198&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221;][vc_column_text]George Harris<br \/>\n<strong>Headmaster<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/4&#8243;]<div id=\"argenta-custom-6a662434299cf\" class=\"banner-box-wrapper banner-box move-top\"  >\n\t\n\t<div class=\"wrap-image\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thoughtcapitaltest.co.za\/hilton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Hilton-Head-Thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"\">\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t<div class=\"box-content without-subtitle\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"box-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"title\"><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wrap-content\">\n\t\t\t\t<p class=\"description\"><\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wrap-btn\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Letter-from-the-Headmaster-26-March-21.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"  class=\"btn box-btn uppercase\">\n\t\t\t\t\tDownload the PDF\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n[\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/4&#8243;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/4&#8243;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/4&#8243;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1611922097055{padding-top: 64px !important;padding-bottom: 64px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Dear Parents and Guardians, Must it always be better? There are days when better is just impossible; it doesn\u2019t matter what I try, better just cannot occur. I think this is just as true for stockbrokers and fund managers as it is for me \u2013 some years are just not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":14069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-letter-from-the-head"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A letter from The Head - 1 June 2022 - Hilton College<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thoughtcapitaltest.co.za\/hilton\/2022\/08\/16\/a-letter-from-the-head-1-june-2022\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A letter from The Head - 1 June 2022 - Hilton College\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1611922097055{padding-top: 64px !important;padding-bottom: 64px !important;}&#8221;][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Dear Parents and Guardians, Must it always be better? There are days when better is just impossible; it doesn\u2019t matter what I try, better just cannot occur. I think this is just as true for stockbrokers and fund managers as it is for me \u2013 some years are just not [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thoughtcapitaltest.co.za\/hilton\/2022\/08\/16\/a-letter-from-the-head-1-june-2022\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hilton College\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-16T13:09:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-07T08:13:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thoughtcapitaltest.co.za\/hilton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Address_By_The_Headmaster_04-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Maralyn Atkins\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Maralyn Atkins\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thoughtcapitaltest.co.za\/hilton\/2022\/08\/16\/a-letter-from-the-head-1-june-2022\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thoughtcapitaltest.co.za\/hilton\/2022\/08\/16\/a-letter-from-the-head-1-june-2022\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Maralyn Atkins\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thoughtcapitaltest.co.za\/hilton\/#\/schema\/person\/7f8f2c35098bd666a28b67e59b370c78\"},\"headline\":\"A letter from The Head &#8211; 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