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Speaker 1: With the school. Yeah, coming to a close. Students and

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Speaker 1: parents are attending their school prize givings. Discussion around whether

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Speaker 1: the student awards are fair or not has come back up,

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Speaker 1: with some arguing it can make children feel discouraged when

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Speaker 1: they don't win. It was an opinion piece done published

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Speaker 1: on One News today. We'll get to that in a

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Speaker 1: short and we'll get to that in a second. Au

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Speaker 1: Corong Grammar Headmaster Tim O'Connors with me tonight, Tim, good evening,

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Speaker 1: Good evening, Ron, good to have you on the show.

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Speaker 1: Let's start with your school. What awards do you guys

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Speaker 1: give out at prizegiving?

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Speaker 2: So we have full school prize giving, so Form three

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Speaker 2: rights were to Form seven and one go seven hundred

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Speaker 2: and eighty prizes we hand out on that morning, everything

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Speaker 2: from sports prizes, performing arts, culture, character diligence, academic prizes,

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Speaker 2: special academic prizes leading to the Pinnacle award which is

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Speaker 2: the Ducks.

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Speaker 1: So how many will here's a question, how many can

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Speaker 1: would miss out on an award?

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Speaker 2: Well, if there's twenty seven hundred students in the school,

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Speaker 2: then you know just under two thousand.

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Speaker 1: Right, and do you feel bad for them? I mean,

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Speaker 1: should we feel bad for them. Is it a reason

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Speaker 1: not to do awards ceremonies, No, not at all.

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Speaker 2: Prize givings are an opportunity to actually celebrate student achievement.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't mean that everyone should get an award. The

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Speaker 2: concept of coming together as a community actually described us

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Speaker 2: at prize giving to remind our boys of it is.

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Speaker 2: It's actually it's a ritual or a trait of education

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Speaker 2: where actually we should learn how to be a contributing

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Speaker 2: member of a community, and that includes being able to

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Speaker 2: respect high level achievements. It includes coming into a formal

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Speaker 2: occasion where there is a certain standard of behavior that's

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Speaker 2: expected in terms of the way you respond to those

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Speaker 2: who are crossing. There's a dress standard. It's a sense

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Speaker 2: of occasion which is actually a part of education where

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Speaker 2: we're actually initiating young people into traditions and ways of

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Speaker 2: doing and ways of being.

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Speaker 1: This opinion piece and I know you've had a look

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Speaker 1: at it from Alice Waghorn, was published from the conversation

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Speaker 1: I Think in one use Today says awards can lead

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Speaker 1: children to depend on external validation. When kids get used

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Speaker 1: to seeking approval through awards, they may struggle to find

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Speaker 1: self worth and motivation in their own efforts. I mean

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Speaker 1: that sounds like a little bit of nonsense to me,

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Speaker 1: But do you see any truth in that.

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Speaker 2: Maybe for some kids, perhaps it's dependent on age. But

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Speaker 2: in a secondary environment, we describe ourselves to the boys

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Speaker 2: and we remind them on a daily basis at assembly

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Speaker 2: that we're a meritocratic environment. At every single one of

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Speaker 2: them enters our gates on a daily basis, wearing the

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Speaker 2: same uniform, with the same opportunity, and it really is

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Speaker 2: dependent then on their attitude and their work ethic as

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Speaker 2: to the level of success or the level of learning

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Speaker 2: that they experience. So now, yeard, i'd disagree. I actually

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Speaker 2: shared in Prizegiving this year with the boys a quote

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Speaker 2: from New Zealand writer from cal Steed, who said, you

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Speaker 2: can't create equality by legislation. You can only create opportunity

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Speaker 2: and let time and individuals do their work. Equality of

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Speaker 2: opportunity is the moral principle. Inequality of talent, energy, commitment, intelligence,

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Speaker 2: strength of purse, purpose and will is a fact of

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Speaker 2: life and I'd wholly endorse that.

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Speaker 1: Quite refreshing to hear. Actually, thank you very much about

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Speaker 1: Tim O'Connor. Auckland grammar Headmaster. For more from Heather Duplessy

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Speaker 1: Allen Drive, listen live to news talks that'd be from

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Speaker 1: four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio