Support for Queen’s Vision 175 plan

Queen’s College as an institution has been a major contributor to the social and cultural capital of our country, and a perusal of its “Vision 175” plan reveals a school gearing itself for the future.

What is most fascinating about the plan is the school’s attempt to define transformation on its own terms which appears to be much broader and progressive than the typical political framing of the concept – the promotion of values, such as forgiveness and active citizenry, being a highlight of the plan.

Do we as society need to support this vision? Certainly, because in essence what headmaster Janse van der Ryst and the school are attempting to do broadly, is to ensure that the past does not become a grave digger of the future (something our political actors are failing dismally in doing currently).

As an Old Boy I am interested to see how the school deals with two aspects: how it will commemorate and remember the casualties of the Border War without entangling itself with the politics of that conflict, and how as a boys’ school it aims to arrest the rise of toxic masculinity.

What the school views as a plan for itself, is actually a blueprint for the nation.