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High Notes, Vol 6 No 37, December 02 2005
From the Principal
High Talent
Issuing Reports Year 10 boys had their report interviews this week. Year 11 class placement examinations were held on Thursday. Boys who have not yet completed Clearance Forms will not be allowed to leave school for the year on Friday, December 2. I expect all boys to fulfil their obligations before going on leave. Year 7 students will be held on Monday and Tuesday, December 5 and 6. Year 9 will be receiving their reports on Thursday and Friday, December, 8-9. Boys will be receiving Clearance Forms shortly. Year 8 will have their reports discussed with them on Monday and Tuesday, December 12 and 13.
Room 402
Security Video Cameras Linguistics Logistics
The Gingerbread House First the class was divided into 4 groups; the decorators, the builders, the icing sugar makers and the film crew. The decorators had to cut out a foundation from a box for the house and other ornaments. The builders assembled the house using toothpicks to hold pieces in place. The icing sugar makers made icing sugar, which was used to “glue” the pieces by the builders and decorate the house with “snow". The video crew captured every fun moment on tape. After the construction was complete, we had to wait 24 hours for it to set. The tension was killing us, but the results were worth it. The house was divided up and consumed in a couple of minutes. A quiz was held to decide who would get the sugary characters of the “Hexe” (witch), Hansel and Gretel.
das Hexenhaus (enchanted house)
The video crew collected feedback which was all positive. The expedition was a success and we all
hope to have another house next year. From The Library
CONGRATULATIONS to Edwin Montoya, Richard Hua, Jun Dai and William Chan, all year 9
students who won What Life Was Like Amid Splendour and Intrigue, Byzantine Empire, AD 330 –
1453 – Time Life for the 2005 Latin Reading Competition. Thanks to these boys this book has
now been donated to the library. Science News
Science quiz number 14
Answers -
The next quiz will be in 2006 Academic Merit Lists Semester 2
Year 11
Romesh ABEYSURIYA
Year 10
Michael CHEN Words Of Wisdom
The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to an
idealised past.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within
us.
Fix the problem, not the blame. From The Library
The Library Fund Committee is alive and well The Library Fund is placing $10,000 per annum aside for new library fittings and computers. This year the Library Fund raised $69,000 for new resources, the Reading Program, the staffing for additional library hours, the University Library Links Program, the hiring of a part-time archivist, new library technology, new “security” window screening, UV block out film for the windows and library storage cabinets for AV material. Many thanks to the parents who contributed to this. Some great news – thanks to Anthony Wong and Lyn Tran our library reading program received a grant of $1000 from Telstra to continue to purchase materials to continue the Literacy Circles and Children’s Book Awards Reading Programs. Thanks also to Telstra for supporting this worthwhile program.
Sydney Boys High Reading Challenge
Library Blog -This is new and will be created by the Library Z’ours Committee. (Big
thanks to Mr Whitfield who did a lot to kick it off) From EnglishIn English, students write in different text types. Year 8 have written essays for a unit of work entitled ‘Comparative Study of Shakespeare’. A number of these essays are on display in the English corridor. Printed below, for everyone to enjoy, is one of the essays written by Jeremy Ireland.
Persuasive Essay – Shakespeare In Shakespeare’s plays, women, race and religion often influence the main characters’ thoughts and actions. These three things appear in the two plays in question, some to a greater extent than others. In Macbeth, the suggestion that women influence men’s thoughts and actions far more than race and religion do is undoubtedly true. However it is not true in the case of The Merchant of Venice. The pivotal element in this play is race and particularly religion. Race and religion are intertwined in this play, in the character of Shylock, whose Judaism is his race as well as his religion. The central element of the play Macbeth is the killing of Duncan, the king of Scotland, and Lady Macbeth is crucial in her husband’s decision to commit the murder. The events leading up to the murder are also of great importance. This was a time when Macbeth was facing a moral dilemma. Macbeth was torn between respect for the king and his own great ambition to take the throne. Lady Macbeth was the most important influence on Macbeth’s eventual decision to murder Duncan. Lady Macbeth urges her husband to kill the king. He has a lot of doubts in the beginning. Macbeth said he would not be a man if he were to murder, and he tells his wife “we will proceed no further in this business” (act I scene VII line 31). But Lady Macbeth insists on her husband carrying out the murder. She makes a personal attack on Macbeth, saying he would not be a man if he did not carry out his promise. Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a strong willed, ambitious woman who pushes her husband into murder. This would have been seen as unwomanly when the play was written, and in fact Lady Macbeth asks to be unsexed. She wants all things related with womanhood such as tenderness and humility, to leave her. She goes on to say “fill me, from the crown to the toe, top full of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood; stop up the access and passage to remorse” (act I scene VI lines 40 42). She is so determined to get her husband onto the thrown, that she is willing to do anything to help him succeed. She seems much more ambitious than Macbeth himself. Macbeth is portrayed as unreliable, inconsistent and fearful. It takes Lady Macbeth’s urging to get him to eventually commit the murder. Unlike the typical stereotypical relationship of the time, the female seems the stronger of the two. Macbeth would not have killed Duncan if Lady Macbeth had not been so persuasive. Although he was ambitious, he was full of fear and doubt, which would have prevented him from making the fatal decision. In this way it can be seen that Macbeth’s relationship with his wife was more important than religion or race in influencing his actions. Another example of the power of women on Macbeth’s thoughts and actions is the role of the three witches. The witches’ prophecy that Macbeth would become the king fuels Macbeth’s ambition. The prophecy is the start of all the events, putting the possibility of Macbeth becoming king in his mind. Although the three witches are supernatural, they are women. In Shakespeare’s time, witches were thought of as old women without a family who did evil deeds such as destroying crops, stopping cows giving milk, or causing death or torture. Religion does play a part in the actions of Macbeth, but not as much as do women. In Christianity it was believed witches had dark powers and could see into the future. Macbeth, like other Christians of the time, believed witches were agents of the devil. At first he did not want to believe their prophecy that he would be Thane of Cawdor and king. But when news arrived that the thane of Cawdor was being charged with treachery, and Macbeth was to become thane, his faith in their dark powers grew. However, the witches do not have total control over Macbeth’s thoughts and actions. They are not dictating Macbeth’s future actions; they are just telling the future. Lady Macbeth has a much more direct influence than the witches do, even though in the end Macbeth is responsible for murdering Duncan. If religion were a great influence on Macbeth’s thoughts and actions, more things would have been taken into consideration. For example, in Christianity, it is a sin to commit murder, as “thou shalt not kill” is one of the Ten Commandments. This is not even mentioned in the play. This is proof that Lady Macbeth’s words are of greater influence to Macbeth than his religions laws are. Macbeth should have at least considered this to himself before he murdered Duncan if he took his religion as seriously as his wife. Race and religion are the driving forces behind many of the men’s actions in The Merchant of Venice. The most obvious example is in the case of Shylock, the money lending Jew. The Merchant of Venice revolves around Shylock and his religion. In the sixteenth century, in Shakespeare’s time, there was much more anti-Semitism than there is now. Jews like Shylock were despised in England. People stereotyped them as having red hair (a seventeenth century reference to the devil), a big nose, and filthy clothes. Many Jews were forced into the money lending business as they were banned from many other jobs. The money lending Jew was also stereotyped as a greedy man with little compassion for others. In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock fulfils all of these characteristics. At the end of the play, Shylock is forced to become Christian. This would have been a happy ending for the audience of the time when the play was written, although in reality Shylock would have felt stripped of his identity, because his Judaism is his race and religion. Shylock’s religion affects how he sees other people and how they see him. Most people despise him and label him the “evil Jew”. In turn, this leads to Shylock loathing people who are not Jewish. An example of this is when Shylock meets Antonio, who has come to him to ask for three thousand ducats. “I hate him for he is a Christian”, Shylock says (act I scene III line 40). It is known that Antonio has a great hatred of Shylock. Antonio thinks Shylock is an immoral man who takes advantage of the public by charging interest on loans. It can also be said that Antonio hates Shylock because he is Jewish. When Shylock is talking to Antonio, he says, “You call me misbeliever, cut throat dog, and spit upon my Jewish gabardine” (act I scene II lines 110 111). Antonio is highly prejudiced against Jews, and treats Shylock terribly. Shylock does not show mercy for Antonio not only because he is a Christian, but also because he wishes for revenge. Shylock tells the audience why he is willing to take Antonio’s life just to get the revenge. “He hath disgraced me and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies, and what’s his reason? I am a Jew.” Throughout the play, Shakespeare portrays Shylock as bitter due to the way he has been treated as a Jew. When his daughter elopes and takes a large sum of Shylock’s money with her, he does not know which he misses more: his daughter or his money. However there is a reason why Shylock is so cold hearted. In his famous speech beginning with the words “Hath not a Jew eyes?”, he illustrates the way in which he is tormented just because he is Jewish. He goes on to say, “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” (act III scene I lines 52 62). It is obvious that his terrible treatment has made him so bitter. It also leads to him hating Antonio and Christians in general. Women have an influence on Shylock, although not nearly as great in affecting his thoughts and actions as his religion. Throughout the play there is no mention of Shylock’s wife, so we assume she is probably dead, so she is of no influence. This is why he is so distraught when his daughter, Jessica, elopes with a Christian, one of the enemy. Although Jessica holds no direct influence on Shylock after she runs away, she does indirectly influence him. Shylock is so angry his only daughter ran away with a Christian, taking a great amount of Shylock’s money also, he wants revenge on Lorenzo’s friend Antonio – by showing no mercy to him regarding the pound of flesh. Portia has some influence on Antonio, but Antonio’s thoughts and actions are much more swayed by his beliefs about Jews. An example of the influence of women on the character’s actions is near the start of the play. Bassanio asks Antonio for some money to make a good impression on a rich heiress and lady of Belmont, Portia. This is the reason Antonio goes to Shylock to ask for three thousand ducats. Without the influence of Portia on Bassanio, Antonio would not have gone to Shylock and the following events would not have occurred. Although the women, namely Portia and Nerissa, play a great part in the play, they have little influence on the men. Portia and Nerissa are depicted as being daring and clever. For example, they stop Antonio being killed by thinking up a defence that no other man could. But this is only done by dressing up as men. This proves that women in general had little influence in those days, as they had to pretend to be the opposite sex just to get into the court. After Antonio gets released from court, the women, still dressed up as men, test their husband’s loyalty by asking Bassanio and Gratanio for their wedding rings as a token of gratitude for saving Antonio’s life. The two men give the rings to the lawyers, without knowing that they actually are their wives. This also indicates that the women do not have much influence over their husbands, as their wedding rings were given away as gifts to two lawyers, rather than being kept.
To sum up, in the two plays, Macbeth and The Merchant of Venice, the influences on men’s
thoughts and actions are different. Lady Macbeth clearly has a greater influence on Macbeth
compared to race and religion. Her personal attack on Macbeth was the main reason Macbeth carried
out the murder. In The Merchant of Venice, the men, particularly Shylock, are influenced by their
women less than by race and religion. Shylock’s Judaism is the central theme around which
the play revolves. 3rd XI Cricket Report
Shore: 246 all out. T Uddin 4 42 G Panicker 3 39 From The High Store
Holiday Opening Times January 2006:
Special Thanks go to Andrea Frieman, Victoria Paperny, Christina Chow, Keshani
Radhakrishnam, Nilo Siva and Marian Kernahan for helping in the High Store on Orientation
Day. Basketball Committee Meeting
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday the 15th of December at 7pm in room 901 (upstairs in the
gymnasium). All welcome. Basketball - Shooting HoopsThis Week Against Newington -
From the Master's Desk Thank-you to all parents who helped in the canteen and at car parking this term. Any parent who would like to support SBHS Basketball is welcome to contact me at school and I will organise for you to meet with our current group of parents. Thank-you to all coaching staff in particular the SBHS staff members who support their teams on the weekends. Thank-you to Hugo Richards and David Fan for their support with the open grade statistics. A quick reminder to 1st and 2nd grade that training is to be held in our gymnasium from the 23rd to the 27th of January. All captains: Please remember to send your reports to my email address by 12pm Monday after a GPS game.
This has been a great term. Every team in the school has improved. Go High
Basketball!! Results TEAM RESULT SCORE TOP SCORER 1st LOSS 67-32 H.WALKER 11 2nd LOSS 44-20 S.SUGITO 6 3rd LOSS 29-35 J.SUN 12 4th LOSS 26-20 J.TAO 12 5th WIN 42-21 A.WANG 15 6th WIN 33-10 M.KELDOULIS 12 7th WIN 43-36 M.LIU 12 8th WIN 83-4 W.ZHANG 19 16A LOSS 21-39 K.IYER 10 16B LOSS 25-27 A. TSE 7 16C LOSS 15-30 Team Effort 16D DRAW 16-16 M.LEE 5 16E WIN 55-12 S.LEE 12 15A LOSS 15-43 J.TASSELL 4 15B LOSS 22-20 D.SHAN 6 15C LOSS 20-16 B.WANG 6 15D LOSS 11-25 N.WONG 4 15E LOSS 6-43 T.WILSON 2 14A RAIN 14B RAIN 14C RAIN 14D RAIN 14E RAIN
1ST GRADE VS NEWINGTON MATCH REPORT
5th GRADE VS SHORE MATCH REPORT
16Bs VS NEWINGTON MATCH REPORT
for updated information about
basketball and game-times. Music Instrument ServiceAll school instruments must be serviced during the school holidays by Central Coast Woodwind Services.
School Owned Instruments:
Please make a cheque payable to Central Coast Woodwind Services
Privately Owned Instruments: Contact details for Central Coast Woodwind Services are Dave Brooks 43226095. If you require your instrument serviced and returned before the new school year, please phone to arrange collection. Name ___________________________________ Instrument ___________________________________ Home phone ___________________________________ Mobile ___________________________________ Address ___________________________________ Parent’s signature _________________________________Return to Index The Family Regatta 2005
The Sydney High Rowing Committee cordially invites all Sydney High students, parents, teachers
and supporters to the
Naming of Boats
Come Along and meet ‘The Crew’ High Store Price ListSpring-Summer Price List - 2005/6
GENERAL - WITH SHS CREST BADGES
Clothing Pool A recycled section operates within the High Store shop. Items such as blazers, shorts, trousers, jumpers, rugby/soccer tops & boots, tracksuits can be sold on a commission basis - the shop retaining 1/3 of the sale price. Please ensure that when sending items for sale, you include your name and address. All items sent should be clean and in good condition. Shirts are gladly accepted as a donation.
Payment
Opening Times All Prices GST Inclusive |
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Sydney Boys High School
