50 Years On.
ISA’s first ever lessons got underway in September 1972. But we were ASA (American School Aberdeen) then, and learning took place in an “ex-country house of great elegance” in Milltimber.
It is fascinating to look back at ASA’s yearbooks and handbooks from the 1970s. You expect the big differences like the buildings. It is, what was then, the everyday and unremarkable that really sticks out. Subjects like mechanical drawing and home economics. The typewriters, bakelite phones and flared trousers. A canteen price list in pounds and dollars. A school milkman.
But it isn’t just the physical appearance of the 1970s that seem so alien now. A student handbook reminds Grades 11 and 12 that if they want to smoke in the common room they need written permission from parents. A headmaster cautions teachers against discussing controversial subjects such as, among other things, “interracial marriage”. A Yearbook highlights the two ‘best looking seniors’.
Despite the changes in mores, fashions, technology, curriculum, staff, students, buildings and name we are still that same school that first opened its doors to students in 1972. Nor is it just because we can trace back where we currently are through a series of events to that first day in Milltimber: the new staff arriving, the moves to new buildings, the introduction of new subjects. There is something core about the school’s identity that has remained.
In 1978, the original owner, A.J McComick (first names were reserved for children in those days) was interviewed about why he had started the school. He explained that he wanted an alternative because, he felt, “British education is geared toward “The Day”, that is, examination day. If a person feels a little off-colour that day, he fails.” At ASA (as we then were), “more emphasis is placed on the day to day education than on just exam day”. A wider vision of education that ISA (as we now are) still shares.
The headmaster, Robert Bishop, explained that the purpose of an ASA education is for students “ to learn to function productively within our democratic society and to understand, respect and live in harmony with other societies.” Clearly the forerunner of our mission to educate “active and responsible global citizens”.
Mr Bishop went on to stress the importance of recognising “ the unique differences in individuals” and that we “should plan and implement programs that meet each … student’s needs.” As we might now say, “every child, every opportunity.”
He concluded, “The process should promote intellectual, social, moral and physical growth, self-understanding, self respect and the foundation for future learning experiences.” What would become “learning for life” in our current mission statement.
Next school year, we will celebrate our 50th anniversary. 50 years of a student-centred learning that is more than about exams; one that is about taking your place as an active and responsible citizen in a globalised world. Whatever else changes in the next 50, we will stick to that.
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