Virtual Chapel | Master on Monday

An address to pupils from the Master on 14.06.21:

An address to pupils from the Master on  27.04.21:

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An address to pupils from the Master on 01.03.21:

From the Master:

This week’s Master on Monday grapples with the question of Exams and Fairness.

John Rawls in his 1971 Theory of Justice wrote of the Original Position.  What we need to position ourselves behind when we think about fairness, Rawls says, is a veil of ignorance.  So you need to think of the society which you would view as most fair regardless of your place in it now  – that is the veil of ignorance.  You can only think about what is fair if you take yourself out of the equation. 

 The difficulty of course is that we never get the clean slate—and the decision to cancel exams while in the midst of preparing for them illustrates the gulf between fairness in an ideal world and messy reality.  

 The point about exams is that they give a universal standard for everyone to work towards.  …. Without a common goal, I’m not sure how we can even think about levelling the playing field, let alone help coach those players who might otherwise sit on the bench while you go ahead and score.    

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An address to pupils from the Master on 22.02.21:

This week’s Master on Monday reflects on our fuller return to the site – and chasing zebras.

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An address to pupils from the Master on 05.02.21:

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An address to pupils from the Master on 01.02.21:

This week’s Master on Monday looks at three definitions of the Rule of Law, and three ways in which it has hit the headlines.

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An address to pupils from the Master on 25.01.21:

From the Master:

“Today’s Master on Monday draws out three aspects of the US Presidential Inauguration: a Saint, a Poet, and a Song.

I recommend that you hear the work of the 22-year-old inaugural poet and first US Youth Laureate, Amanda Gorman, here”:

• Amanda Gorman recites stunning poem at Biden inauguration – Bing video
• Amanda Gorman Performs ‘An American Lyric’ at the Library of Congress – Bing video

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An address to pupils from the Master on 18.01.21:

In this week’s Master on Monday, the Master reflects on challenges to Capitols ancient and new, and argues for a renewed appreciation for liberal democracy—and the foresight of geese.

An address to pupils from the Master on 11.01.21:

From the Master:

It is fair to say that Twixtmas, the week between Christmas and New Year, feels even longer ago than it usually does by now.  The advent of Tier 4 did not help matters.  As medieval historians, my other half and I found ourselves having our usual – I recognise quite niche – conversations during those days about how Kings had dealt with the boredom of Twixtmas past…..  this podcast explores three examples.

Much of the pre-modern world was a species of lockdown, particularly in winter.  For most people, life was the household, the village, the land.   A ban on foreign travel?  For the small minority who had the means or the appetite to undertake something so perilous, it was an adventure only to be undertaken on clement seas.

An address to pupils from the Master on 05.01.21:

From the Master:

“Today is the only Tuesday 5^th January 2021 that any of us will ever have.  So let’s crack on and make the most of it. The poet Mary Oliver writes ‘Tell me? What is it you plan to do/With your one wild and precious life?’

Today might not feel particularly wild to you – nor tomorrow, either.  But it is precious, and so are you.  So keep your distance, keep washing your hands, and keep safe and learning and flourishing until we meet again.”

There will be weekly Master on Monday podcasts from now until half term.

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An address to pupils from the Master on 15.09.20:

‘Titian’s Cheetahs: the Art of Finding Wonder in the Familiar.’

From the Master:

“We have been overstimulated virtually and underdeployed in real life.  We might not realise it, but we have been missing experiences that take us beyond ourselves.  Visiting galleries and museums is both reassuring and challenging.

I hope that you will find Titian’s cheetahs of your own this year.  Covid or no covid, there is wonder everywhere, even- perhaps especially—in the familiar.”

Image: a closeup from Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian

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An address to pupils from the Master on 22.06.20:

From the Master:

“History is messy. It analyses change, and it tells stories, too. The stories we tell ourselves both shape and are shaped by our identities. You will notice I say identities plural; more on this next week. For now, I shall leave you with the words of Walt Whitman, the great American poet whose life spanned the nineteenth century and who tended the wounded in hospitals as a volunteer during the Civil War:

The past and present wilt—I have fill’d them, emptied them.
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)”

An address to pupils from the Master on 15.06.20:

From the Master:

“I note that some current pupils have signed an open letter, and I hope to see you leading the way in calling out racism and injustice in all its forms both online and when we are able to reconvene…. More on that in the open letter which I am sending today. I look forward to working through these matters with you, and as ever my faith in you is strong.”

An address to pupils from the Master on 08.06.20:

An address to pupils from the Master on 01.06.20:

From the Master, on the topic of ‘COMO’ (Certainty of Missing Out):

“With the easing of lockdown and the launch of test and trace, we are going to be in new social territory for a time. For those who are in school, the Department for Education is recommending that we keep you in small social and teaching ‘bubbles,’ which is a further example of how covid-19 is forcing us to ride roughshod over our conventional wisdom. Screen time is increased; we are being told it’s our civic duty to keep off public transport as much as we can; ordering from Amazon is no longer the sign of the devil; and now—we must assign you to cliques!  You couldn’t make 2020 up so far, could you?

Nobody is going to be able to see everybody at once, even if they were willing and able to. Perhaps it’s not yet time to say goodbye to our old friend COMO after all.  Which is fine, because photoshopped FOMO with its faux pouts and shout-outs was and is, I think we all know in our heart of hearts, pretty overrated.”

An address to pupils from the Master on 18.05.20:

From the Master:

“We know that this virus, like the Black Death and Spanish flu and indeed most other diseases, disproportionately hits the less-well off and the poor…  They continue to deliver goods, drive buses, stack shelves and empty bins, all things which now as much as ever remains vital to sustaining life in the UK.  If you think about how much more food your family has consumed since March 20^th and how much packaging you have thrown away every week, you will see what I mean. This is one of the many reasons why we talk so much at MCS about community and service, to help you navigate the complex web of interconnectedness which sits around you and enables your individual flourishing.

As I have said to you before, it is my abiding hope that you will leave us equipped to do and be better next time, whatever that next time is. Yes, everything passes: soon, eventually, we will commit to the art of forgetting, and return to a joyful and I hope even better normality.  And – but – if the history of pandemics shows us anything, it is that there will be another one.  I trust we will be better prepared.  The experience of this year means we ought to be a bit more … alert. ”

A ‘vodcast’ to pupils from the Master on 11.05.20:

From the Master: “Friday was a special Bank Holiday to mark VE Day, the end of the Second World War in Europe. So today I wanted to speak to you from Big School, alongside the plaques which commemorate our fallen.  On VE day where I am standing was I am told a Dig for Victory vegetable plot, and a thousand years before that a Viking burial mound. I say this to you as a reminder of what we all know: everything passes.

I don’t think that many of are experiencing an unbearable lightness of being just now, but that makes us all the more in need of a lift to the spirits.  OWs Brian Cairns and Leo Goldschmidt have given us this today: one from beyond the grave, and one from Brussels.

These accounts illuminate for us so profoundly a lost time which has now assumed historic interest.  Just as this pandemic will for future MCS pupils, so keep up with your pandemic diaries, and keep on making history while staying safe at home.”

And address from the Master to pupils on 04.05.20: 

From the Master: “Inevitably, and soon I hope, we will begin to move on, and being sociable will entail a putting aside of the fear many of us feel now; this will become part of the individual and collective art of forgetting.  The conclusions I’m hoping you might draw from this podcast will be obvious and familiar: become the expert, gather the data, and have the courage and the imagination to perceive and to communicate just what it might mean.  That’s a lesson from this pandemic that will be worth remembering.”

An address from the Master to pupils on 27.04.20:

Find out more about ‘Snow Flakes’ here.

An address from the Master to pupils on 20.04.20:

More about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight here.

An address from the Master to pupils on 30 March 2020:

Listen to Vladimir Horowitz 12 Etudes for Piano, Op.8: No. 12 in D-Sharp Minor below:

An address from the Master to pupils on 23 March 2020: