One of the joys of my career has been reconnecting with former students. The joy can be personally melancholy, as there is nothing that marks the passage of time so much as meeting a 40-year-old whom you remember vividly as a young person in a purple uniform. This year marks 30 years for me in this wonderful, mad profession.
My first Year 12 class are now turning 48. When I taught them, I couldn’t imagine myself at the age of 48, let alone all of them. One of my favourite questions at Old Wesley Collegian Association (OWCA) reunions is to ask former students how old they think I was when I taught them. Sadly, they invariably guess correctly. The grey hair and glasses now permanently on my visage, and some simple mathematics, must help. But the look of surprise when I confirm their guess is constant. For almost all of these OWs, I was younger then than they are now. It is quite a poignant moment.
One other thing strikes when I meet OWs I taught and we converse about their lives. Even the most successful have failed time and again. I was privileged last year to see Josh Piterman (OW2003) perform Jean Valjean in the West End production of Les Miserables. It was an astonishing moment for me. I wept. I recalled, in the moment, Josh being a slightly more than usually irritating but nonetheless charming Year 9 student. I recalled his first audition for the Senior School musicals I was involved in, and his subsequent performances. If someone had said to me at any stage then that this boy would reach the very pinnacle of musical theatre, I would probably have laughed. This is an area of endeavour to which many are called, but very few make it.
Josh has faced astonishing odds and prevailed. The Senior School were privileged to hear from him earlier this year. He spoke, at some length, about his failures, and the strength these failures gave him. Yet his life appears a catalogue of success.
The Middle School, once again at the St Kilda Road Campus, were joined by Fergus Watts (OW2003) earlier this term. Fergus left school as an All Australian footballer and was drafted at number 14 of that year’s national draft, by the Adelaide Crows. He struggled in Adelaide and played five games in 2 years. He recalled being told that he was an absolute disgrace by a woman as he was trying to eat a chicken focaccia. After moving to St Kilda, he badly broke his ankle, an injury that ended his career.
At this point in life, Fergus was, in his own words, a complete failure. From the promise exhibited by All Australian status and a first-round draft pick, he managed six AFL games. This is six more than almost all of us, but it wasn’t what he was predicted to be.
Three years later, Fergus founded Bastion Collective, at the age of 24. It is now the largest independent marketing and communications group in Australia, and he remains the non-executive chair. He has been CEO of the Reach Foundation and remains the Foundation’s chair. It was this that he came to speak about in Assembly. What struck me was his frank discussion of failure and how important it had been for him. His message to the students? Dare to Fail.
In this modern world, where so much of what we see of others’ lives is curated carefully, it is easy to gain a warped perception of 'success'. The modern cult of celebrity has a part to play in this. People rise without trace, and briefly flick across our consciousness without any particular talent except celebrity. Even those with talent in abundance are spoken about as if their success was an inevitability.
Behind most evidently successful lives is a litany of failure at some point. The most important jobs in my life are the ones I didn’t get. As Winston Churchill, a man out of date in this modern world but whose aphorisms are still worth reading, said, 'Success isn’t final; failure isn’t fatal. It is the courage to keep going that counts.'
Wesley College, as a school, and Australian society as a whole, needs to make sure our young people have the space and opportunity to fail. Without such space and opportunity, how will they gather the courage and daring to keep going?
Nick Evans (OW1985)