Cadets – Learning Discipline, Tradition and Teamwork
‘…They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.
Isaiah 2:4
Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.’
Dear Students, Parents and Carers
All Senior School Shore boys experience Cadets. Membership of our Shore Cadet Unit is compulsory in Year 9, and many students choose to stay right through until Year 12. Our Unit is our largest co-educational experience within the framework of single sex schooling. Two thirds of our Cadets are comprised of Shore boys and the other third are Wenona students. Boys and girls are on a footing of equality and pursue the same tasks. Leadership is on perceived merit, such that the Cadet Officer Corps includes boys and girls. Currently, the Cadet Under Officer who commands the Unit is a Wenona Year 12 student and the Second in Command is a Shore Year 12 student, as was the case last year.
Yesterday’s parade, reviewed by Brigadier Natasha Ludwig, Commander 17th Sustainment Brigade, was very impressive in terms of the splendidly rehearsed and demonstrated drill. The Cadet Unit teaches young people to obey orders, work cooperatively with others for a purpose and become competent at a range of outdoor crafts necessary for a Unit of this size (750) to function. These include logistics, operations, provisions, transport, signals, victualling a very large number of Cadets and a host of other responsibilities. For those who become Officers, it is necessary to learn to take orders prior to being permitted to give them. Cadets will learn that one of the most important forms of discipline is self-discipline, a necessary aspect of any kind of achievement in life.
My sense of the quality of the Cadet Unit is based partly on my visit to Cadet Camp last December. What impressed most was that the Staff Officers were simply there as observers. The Student Officers conducted the whole camp and its operations with an efficiency that was very commendable.
Our Cadet Unit manifests the principle of service, which is deeply embedded in the DNA of our School. Shore’s heritage is one of sacrificial service, built particularly on the atypically large proportion of Shore graduates who served in World War I (1914-1918). The death toll of Shore Old Boys who served in the Australian Army at this time was proportionally very high, partly because Shore graduates were very likely to be selected as Army Officers, who led their troops from the front where they were particularly exposed to enemy fire. This sense of Shore service was subsequently extended, not only through later wars but through the community in general. Service is a laudable element of ‘Building Good Men’.
Some critics of Cadet Units assert that they foster militaristic thinking. In fact, aspects to deal with munitions are not to the fore, with most Cadets being under 18 years of age. No doubt there will be some flow on effect (which Australia’s Armed Services would desire) into adult enlistment in the Army, Navy or Air Force. Indeed, nations will need military forces until Jesus’ return, when we are promised that ‘…They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.’ (Isaiah 2:4).
As of now, Cadet members will continue to learn a range of skills and attitudes which will serve them well through the many dimensions of life ahead. The Cadet Unit exists as one of our strong formative experiences of quality adults.
Dr John Collier
Headmaster
