Issue link: https://publications.tfs.ca/i/609675
In your speech on the first day of school, you mentioned that your opportunities to be educated abroad helped you find freedom. What do you want students at TFS to discover through education? I'd like them to discover the world, and their place in it. The world is so complex it's almost like a hieroglyph that you don't understand. That hieroglyph never disappears: even when you turn 50, 60 or 70, there are still areas that you don't know about, which is why you are a life-long learner. I would like the school to give each student as many insights about the world as possible, and as many tools and strategies to break those codes as possible. I very much believe in academic excellence, ensuring that we're all ambitious and that we're all aspirational. It's the idea of always giving the best of oneself, saying, "Let's take it a step further, let's take it to a higher level." While good grades are essential, the school should try to underpin those good grades with life-long skills: sometimes I talk about all-round excellence. At school, you should also be learning how to deal with your own emotions, how to speak in public, team spirit, languages: all the kinds of things that underpin good grades. What do you think TFS has to offer in terms of educating towards that goal? The wonderful mix of IB, Ontario and the French tradition. I don't know of any other school, anywhere, that does it so well. There are several IB and French schools in the world, but we have managed to bring both traditions together, along with the Ontario curriculum, and make them into a very special school. Because of the French element, we look at the world through both Canadian and French eyes, and that enriches us; it gives us an extra layer. At school, what was the most important thing you learned from a teacher? Teachers taught me to become a more sensitive person, in the sense of being able to appreciate the world. By acquiring more sophisticated vocabulary, I could appreciate works of literature. By being introduced to all different kinds of music, I learned to enjoy all sorts of music: modern, pop, but also classical. I'd say exactly the same about every subject. I became more and more sophisticated in my relationship with the world and, in my understanding of it, I became more sensitive to the things around me. The second thing that teachers did for me was to instil in me a sense of social responsibility. It wasn't just about me; it's also about society, about giving back, contributing, and being part of society. In Spain in 1981, there was an attempt to go back to the dictatorship. As you can imagine, that day at school – I was probably your age – we didn't do maths, we just talked about what was happening. Q+A FEATURE 14 TFS ENTRE NOUS 2015