From the Head of School

A Time to Remember

By 1913, global trade had increased four times in two generations.  Telegraphs then telephones enabled people to communicate instantaneously with others half a world away.  Steam ships and railways enabled more people to travel further than ever before.  Western nations had never been so prosperous.  Science and culture had never been so fertile as ideas flowed effortlessly across borders.

Then it all collapsed. And to the sound of cheers in London, Paris and Berlin.  Many people felt that they were demonstrating pride in their nation by celebrating war with another.  In the four years that followed 16 million died prematurely as a result.

On Tuesday, ISA students observed Armistice Day, honoring veterans involved in conflicts across the world.  It is a tradition that began over a hundred years ago, shortly after the end of World War One.  We cannot understand the contemporary world without an awareness of the two world wars that shaped it so profoundly.  After horrors not just suffered in one generation but repeated for the next, our countries built institutions, ways of interacting that promoted peace and cultures that valued tolerance, that understood that pride in one’s own way of life didn’t prevent respect for another’s.  

Veterans share their experiences with ISA students

ISA is a place where nearly 50 nationalities come together to learn and play, to make friends and find out about other ways of living.  Our Armistice Day concert reminds us not to take this for granted..  How can we in a world in which powerful figures put their energies into building walls between people.  Working together, creating an international community takes hard work and clear intentions.  We actively celebrate our diversity.  We want our students to graduate into a world where people can be proud of their differences and, united with others, make those differences more than the sum of its parts.

A year after the peak of prosperity and culture in 1913, Europe and the world descended into war. The voices of hate and division prevailed. It wasn’t that peoples disagreed, but that they could no longer listen to disagreement.  We shouldn’t pretend that there are no differences of opinion, but learn to find ways to listen to other points of view, and continue to respect those that give them.