As I reflect on my journey here at SPSC, I have come to realise that I have been truly lucky to have had the resources available to me over the past couple of years. The most notable resource of all has been the teachers, who have played fundamental roles in shaping the person I am today. They gave me insights into different things and ideas which later turned into passions. We are incredibly lucky to have a team of professional educators, many of the best in South Australia, here at the School to help us with our studies.
Although all my teachers have shaped my education and worldview, some experiences stand out in particular.
In my final two years of school, I studied the International Baccalaureate, where I had the opportunity to meet an amazing bunch of people I am still in contact with. Although everyone has moved on to find their calling, we can still look back on the two years we spent together and reflect on how amazing it was to study closely with a group of boys day in and day out, to face problems together, and to challenge each other to become better thinkers and people.
One place where intellectual discussion and banter coexisted was Mr Browne’s English A Language and Literature class. Mr Browne had a unique way of teaching where we would discuss difficult problems until we reached what seemed a dead end, unable to remember what we were even talking about in the first place. Then he would jump in and tell us how we had been wrong from the start. This happened multiple times until, eventually, he guided us to the answer. Mr Browne’s voice is the most memorable aspect of his class. He once told me he was a tenor singer, and I think even when I am 40 I will still be able to recognise that voice from a mile away.
What I have come to appreciate most about his classes is how he instilled in us a passion for English. Instead of learning everything at face value just to get good grades, he always challenged us to think from the perspective of the author and to connect with the works on a personal level. “Authorial choice” and “authorial intention” were Mr Browne’s favourite words, and these two ideas have stuck with me ever since. I used to not think much about the books or poems we were taught, as they always felt so distant from us as students. But being able to place yourself in the author’s shoes and the setting of the work is actually a fun way to learn, and I think that is why I enjoyed his classes so much.
Mr Browne also has a lot of character. He is very stylish, and while he might not love the way students use language or slang, it is still fair to say he has a strong presence or “aura.” I’ve always thought of him as gentleman, and when I asked Mr Browne how he would define a gentleman he responded, “A gentleman is someone who knows how to play the bagpipes, but doesn’t.” Those English classes were good times.
Another teacher who played a huge role in the development of my passions is Dr Roberts-Thomson, affectionately referred to as Doc R-T. When I did IB Philosophy online, my teacher was based in The Hague and was often poor with communication, so Doc R-T took time out of his busy schedule to meet with me weekly and ensure I was understanding the course concepts. He has a whole bookshelf full of philosophy books and Japanese literature, which was all very new to me. Each meeting, I would ask him questions about what was on his bookshelf, successfully avoiding talking about my coursework and letting him talk about ethics and machine learning instead. Eventually, I found myself becoming interested in these philosophical issues and wanting to become a better thinker, someone critical of their actions and who has a good understanding of the world around them.
Although the question “what is philosophy?” remains unanswered, to me it is about thinking about thinking itself, if that makes sense. Through these meetings with Doc R-T, I developed a passion for trying to understand things, which led me to choose philosophy as a subject at university. It is still funny to think about how small interactions with people around you have the potential to shift your worldview and interests.
A third teacher I am grateful for is Mr Bruce, who taught me Mathematics in Years 11 and 12. He is incredibly thorough and patient, qualities I have always admired and tried to learn from. My first impression was that he was very serious, and I thought maybe he did not like to smile, but I later found out he does. We only had four boys in our class, and he always took the time to make sure we understood everything the course covered. He encouraged us to ask questions and to tell him immediately if we did not understand something. He would tell us to double-check our work, as in maths you can often lose marks on little mistakes, which I did very often at the start.
I did not do very well in Maths until Year 11, but learning from Mr Bruce to be more thorough and patient with myself benefitted me greatly in my studies. I was able to calm down when I faced a question I did not understand, think back to which topic it was from, and work backwards from there. Some questions, although they can seem quite daunting, still have places where you can earn marks just by attempting them. I used to just leave those blank, but Mr Bruce advised me never to do that, and I have never left a question blank since.
He was also very patient. When we had to do investigations, I would sometimes propose ideas that simply could not work because I did not understand what the investigation was asking for. But Mr Bruce would always sit with me after class and help me through each criterion, making sure I understood everything before we proceeded. It was not like I was the only one receiving this special treatment. He was that dedicated to all the boys in our class and made sure we all knew what was going on. I am really grateful he went out of his way to do that, and I will forever miss that class.
There are many more teachers like the ones I have mentioned, teachers who go out of their way to help students become the best version of themselves. We are genuinely lucky to have access to such exceptional educators across our community. On behalf of the boys, I would like to say thank you, and a rather belated, Happy World Teachers’ Day.
Tiger Liu
School Vice Captain
