Induction, Initiation: 'Look Ma No Hands!'

Dylan Long Grade 8 , Wellington House, Obstacle Course,
Sunday 22 January 2012

He's not heavy, he's my Wellington Buddy ...
Photo courtesy Joshua de Reuck

Taariq Parker with his Grade 8 buddy Kaeb Koopman

‘Look Ma, no hands’ is a refrain all mothers know well.  The pride with which the young boy announces his ascendancy to the top of the jungle gym is something which will remain rooted in his psyche all his life.  The need to be recognized as boys rise up  the social ladder to adulthood is healthy and normal.  Stultifying this recognition in  boyhood and teenagerhood may later lead to the emergence of harmful and damaging power plays in the work place and the home.

I am disappointed that initiation has become such a dirty word.  ‘Initiation’ comes from the Latin word ‘initium’ meaning a beginning.  Boys need to be initiated into the next phase of their lives – it makes them feel that they belong.  This feeling of belonging leads to self-assurance and confidence – ingredients essential in the development of a teenager.

This ‘initiation’ must not be confused with ‘humiliation’ so evident in some institutions.  A healthy and positive initiation process does wonders for the self-esteem and self-belief in our latest ‘brothers in an endless chain’. 

So, to avoid confusion, we at Wynberg refer to the process by the less emotive term of ‘induction’.  What a wonderfully encouraging and affirming introduction our Grade 8’s have had to their new school.  The Blazer Ceremony last Friday in front of hundreds of Grade 8 and Matric parents was an emotional and poignant occasion.  There were many moving moments -  from the impassioned speeches of the matric leaders to start off the Ceremony, to the moving singing both in the hall and on the steps, to the warm hugs given by a matric boys on stage to their buddies.

Being boys, they needed their physical moments as well.  The de Villiers Walk (from de Villiers Road to de Villiers Dam) was a five-hour endurance test which enabled relationships to be formed in testing circumstances.  Equally testing -for at least two houses -  was the Obstacle Course – a tortuous and demanding 30 minute crawl through water, mud and prickly bushes devised by scheming and devious hostel Grade 11’s.  The challenge was laid to teachers  and boys of all grades to take on this new challenge and nothing could possibly beat the sense of pride (relief?) which was evident on the filthy, but smiling, faces of the boys when they eventually emerged from the final trench of the obstacle course.

These ‘induction’ events cannot be one-off specials. Like the  future valedictory service or a 21^st celebration, they are markers of this stage of the boys’ lives.  All these events play a role to ensure that we, as adults, work together to raise responsible and mature young men in the years ahead.  There will be many mountains and many obstacle courses to master in the years ahead, but the positivity and enthusiasm shown by the 2012 Grade 8s has guaranteed that they had found strength and direction in their lives over the last two weeks.

I commend the Matrics on their role as mentors in welcoming these new Grade 8’s to the world of young men.

You can look at them all, Ma, both Matrics and Grade 8’s, and be proud.

KCR