Speech
Opening of Edgar Learning Centre
May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand - English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.
Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the morning and the sun has risen (Sign)
May I specifically greet you: Ron Lewis, Chair of the Board of Proprietors; Jane Wilson, Chair of the Board of Trustees; Mike Corkery, College Principal; Eion Edgar, Collegian and Benefactor; Luke Robson, Head Boy; Distinguished Guests otherwise; staff and students; Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting my wife Susan and I to attend the opening of the Edgar Learning Centre.
As Governor-General I have been asked to officially open the centre, but before I do, I would like to speak briefly about the School and the significance of this new facility.
This School has a proud tradition, named after one of the founders of the Otago Province, who arrived here 155 years ago. John McGlashan strongly believed in the value of education, writing that he favoured a "sound and liberal education". In The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, biographer Ian Breward wrote that (and I quote):
"Otago owes a good deal to McGlashan's conviction that education would promote equality Elected to the Otago Education Board in 1856, he was its first secretary and used his delegated authority to the limit in order to further his aims. [Others] strongly opposed McGlashan on the close link between church and school, but Otago's superior education system owed much to him."
As will be known in your school community, it was McGlashan's daughters who donated the house and grounds that allowed this school for boys to be created in 1919.
The completion of the Edgar Learning Centre is a visible representation of McGlashan's vision for education.
I am advised that this $6.5 million facility—the result of considerable fundraising—contains over three floors - a new library, a drama work space, teachers' work rooms, a computer laboratory and seminar and class rooms equipped with the latest multimedia equipment. Having seen the building site when it was under construction, it is great to be able to return and see it in its finished state.
Congratulations are due to everyone who has contributed to his significant and worthwhile project and I add them.
The emphasis on technology in this place as an aid in learning, is yet another reflection of how the storage and transmission of knowledge is being transformed by information technology and the internet.
It is hard to imagine now, but prior to Johannes Gutenberg's invention of a printing press using moveable type in Strasbourg, Germany, in the 1430s, books were copied by hand and literacy was confined to a small minority. For most people, knowledge was passed orally from one person to another.
Printing, and printed books, not only resulted in a massive increase in literacy, but also played a key role in the scientific revolution that followed, by allowing scientists, philosophers and others to transmit, and discuss, the new knowledge they were creating through scholarly journals.
And so it is with the Internet, which has opened up even more methods for people to communicate and has further hastened the development of new knowledge.
In the same way that printing resulted in works of both high and very low quality, so it is with the internet. There was a time when someone who wanted to raise an issue publicly was limited to writing a letter to the editor of his or her newspaper or, I might add, the Office of the Governor-General!
Now so many people seem to have a blog where they can expound their views to all. Sifting the wheat from the chaff has now become more difficult as a lot of what passes for comment it is not worth the kilobytes they occupy in cyberspace. It brings to mind the comment of the 19th Century Swedish philosopher Sren Kierkegaard, who said:
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for freedom of thought which they seldom use."
It is a point some, who email, might think about before pressing send!
But I digress. Technology is also transforming education. Universities, for example, are holding lectures simultaneously in New Zealand and elsewhere in the world connecting by multimedia equipment. Distance is no longer the limiting factor it once was. Students no longer have to go to lectures, but can study online.
This facility then offers the students and teachers of John McGlashan College so much. In the foyer in large letters are the words of St Luke: "From those to whom much has been given, much will be expected."
They are words that I urge you to take to heart. This building is an amazing statement. But bricks, mortar, glass and technology can only facilitate learning, they cannot make it happen. It is up to you to put it to good use and based on your School's proud history, I'm sure you will.
And on that note, I will close in New Zealand's first language, Maori, by offering greetings and wishing everyone good health and fortitude in your endeavours.
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.
As Governor-General, it is with great pleasure that I declare the Edgar Learning Centre at John McGlashan College officially open.