Framlinghamian 2023 - Flipbook - Page 177
CELEBRATING THE SCHOOL YEAR
A great pleasure of my job is meeting
elevated them above the others who
Old Framlinghamians. Some old, some
also strived to succeed? Raw talent, and
young. All interesting, and all with
the family and culture around you, are
their own perspective on the education
important, of course. So, too, is your
they received. And in case you were
educational environment, as you will be
wondering, by and large, they remember
pleased to hear. But above all else, there
the College fondly.
is what Gladwell calls ‘the 10,000-hour
rule’. That is, it takes 10,000 hours of
I recently welcomed an OF to the school
sustained study and practice, and the
on his 昀椀rst visit since leaving in 1966. Roger
work ethic and discipline behind it, to
Clayton had been by his own admission
master a particular skill or art. So, for
a poorly behaved and disillusioned
Gates it was lonely nights of programming
pupil. With the careful nurturing of his
from the age of 13. For the Beatles, it was
Housemaster, Peter Clarke, he realised
the hundreds of shows in dingy clubs in
the error of his ways and threw himself
Hamburg at the start of their career. Each
fully into the life of the College. He
burnished their talent and mastered their
passed the exam to Cambridge, and
craft.
set out on the path to a very successful
career in the advertising industry. He has
Reality is of course messy and complex
led a wonderfully rich and uplifting life.
and the extent to which Gladwell’s
Crucially, he thanks his formative years at
theory holds water is debatable. I’m
Framlingham for the lessons they taught
not sure that really matters. What does
him about the importance of discipline,
matter is that he illuminates the truth that
hard work, and commitment. To quote
achieving excellence comes at a price. It
him: “Working hard at school is not
is no accident that our regular e-update
something you should do because some
is entitled Inspiration, Aspiration,
boring teacher tells you to, but because
Perspiration. Playful, perhaps, but it is a
it will change the rest of your life for the
very public statement in our belief that
better.”
perspiration - sometimes literal, but
usually metaphorical – is a prerequisite
This, of course, was music to my ears and
to ful昀椀lling your potential. There is no
reminded me of a book I had enjoyed
avoiding hard work and the discipline and
some years ago, The Outliers by Malcolm
sacri昀椀ces it entails. Roger Clayton came to
Gladwell. In it, Gladwell poses a simple
understand this here, and so do our pupils
question, why do some succeed when
today. Let me pass on just three examples.
others of talent do not? So, he asks,
why was it that The Beatles transformed
For England hockey age group
popular music, and not some other band?
internationals Anna Cogdell and Beth
Or, why was it that the youthful Bill Gates
Gardens, and Great Britain Under-23
and Steve Jobs revolutionised personal
international Hollie Dring-Richardson, it
computing, and not someone else? What
is countless sessions out on the astro, rain
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