|
Money matters: What makes Miton mighty? Part 1
Graham Macdonald
MBMG International Ltd.
Mark Dampier, a well-known investment research analyst and
financial columnist recently wrote an article in which he commented, “I consider
the vast majority of managed funds, particularly those run by insurance
companies, as being especially poor.”
This despite the fact that he recognised that, “Inherently, a managed fund
should make a lot of sense for most investors.”
His disenchantment was based on his perception that the vast majority of managed
funds simply act as an All share tracker, being managed to a benchmark which is
far more to do with business risk that absolute risk.
Dampier embarked on a journey of discovery - driven by the recognition that
portfolio management for the majority of clients presents an opportunity which,
in the main part, isn’t being seized upon due to mediocrity of the majority of
fund management.
As regular readers of this column will know, we have been reciting this for a
fair while now. Years ago, we were driven by the feeling that there must,
surely, be organizations out there that were committed to doing better than
simply saying that a managed fund should be a proxy tracker of an average of the
world’s stock-markets. We spent ages interviewing fund managers so as to try and
identify those who were prepared to break this mould.
Perhaps first, we should look at the reasons why we’d become disenchanted with
the tracker approach - which might suit some clients better than others but
cannot get the optimal rewards of active management. Like much that is good and
bad in today’s world, the tracker mentality was born in the US in the second
half of the last century. There had been a major sea-change in personal
investment in the US in the 1960s with the emergence of star fund equity
managers who capitalised on the boom markets during the age of peace and love by
creating more focused stock market funds for the masses.
These mainly focused on the Kidder-Peabody ‘nifty fifty’ largest, best-known,
most traded US stocks. These, in general, performed very well from the mid 1960s
to the early 1970s. However, the stock market crashes that were partly brought
about by the 1970s version of oil crises hit these stocks hardest and most funds
were made to suffer as well.
The erstwhile star managers were suddenly pilloried, investors felt cheated and
John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, seized on the opportunity that was created
by the widespread drawing of the wrong conclusions in the aftermath of this
debacle to popularize the idea of index tracker funds.
Thirty years later we have the luxury of a more considered reflection than was
possible at the time as well as the benefits of hindsight. The problem with most
portfolios in the early 1970s is that they had become too focused on a
particular group of stocks that had already performed extremely well for a
significant period and were unlikely to continue performing that way
indefinitely.
Indeed, the US and most Western stock markets had enjoyed a purple patch. As
part of the normal cycle we can, at this removed distance, see that a major
correction was pretty well inevitable and that the oil crisis was more of a
catalyst than an underlying cause. The smart money, in places like Connecticut
(far enough away from the hurly-burly of a crashing Wall Street to allow quiet
reflection) realized that the problems had been caused by portfolios becoming
too concentrated in terms of geography, asset class and style.
Geographic diversification became easy to understand - spread your risk by
diversifying across all the world’s stock-markets. Unfortunately, this may be
the easiest lesson to understand but in some ways it’s not the most valuable
lesson - the effect of what we call unitary correlation (in simple terms when
one market goes bad the rest get jitters and the ripples go around the world’s
stock-markets like a giant game of financial dominoes) tends to mean that
geographical diversification might only serve to take the edge off some nasty
losses in really bad times.
Asset class diversification was also easy enough to understand - stocks were
plummeting but commodities, driven by oil and gold were sky rocketing in the
1970s - however, the system, presided over in the US by the SEC to protect
investors, made it far easier for you to buy the stocks that were plunging in
value than the commodities that were soaring.
As a result this lesson became distorted. The managed fund was born but instead
of being a thoroughbred of the 5 asset classes - Equities, Bonds, Property,
Cash, Alternatives - it became more of an illegitimate son of a compromise
between the SEC’s two favoured markets: stocks and bonds.
In recognition of the fact that a holding of bonds would have vastly reduced the
stock losses of 1974 and in anticipation of the new bond market activity spawned
by Paul Volcker’s modernising of the Fed’s management of the US economy, bonds
became more interesting.
The marketing departments of the big fund management houses went back to their
wound-licking clients with a diluted version of what they’d offered previously -
either invest entirely in stocks again but instead of the ‘nifty-fifty’, focus
on those stocks that most suit YOUR outlook (growth = potential for higher
returns/losses, whereas value waters down both sides of the equation) and with
some global diversification, i.e. maybe 5% of your stocks might be non-US stocks
or have the choice of a balanced fund (balanced somehow apparently means that
70% of your money is invested into stocks and 30% into T-bills.)
However, if only lip-service was paid to geographical and asset class
diversification, then style diversification fared even worse. The idea that
short selling and options could be used to protect stock portfolios was
well-known at this stage. Alfred Jones’ successful experiments with long/short
funds (buying the stocks most likely to increase in value but short selling
those most liable to correct) were extremely well-publicised by the early 1960s
and there had been academic work on the subject since the 1930s. Even so, this
still fell outside the narrow definitions of what the SEC deemed suitable for
most investors. Thus style diversification on Wall Street completely ignored
what approach to take to particular asset classes and instead focused on the
allocations within asset classes (i.e. the growth versus value issues
highlighted earlier).
Wall Street was happy - it had somehow re-invested itself and was able to offer
basically the same services and products as before but had managed to distance
itself from all that ugly business where people had lost fortunes while it had
been caught napping when it should have been on sentry duty.
John Bogle, opening First Index Investment Trust (now known as Vanguard) was
happy because, for those investors who still harboured a grudge, he was able to
make Wall Street a scapegoat. “Hadn’t we all trusted these start names who were
supposed to be so smart? Hadn’t they let us down? Hadn’t the broader markets
done a lot better than the ‘nifty-fifty’ when it all went ugly? Hadn’t the broad
market been smarter than the superstar managers? Weren’t we better trusting to
the broad market and its inherent diversification rather than paying a fortune
to these parasites who’d made millions from our misery?”
Continued next week…
|
The above data and research was compiled from sources believed to be
reliable. However, neither MBMG International Ltd nor its officers can accept
any liability for any errors or omissions in the above article nor bear any
responsibility for any losses achieved as a result of any actions taken or not
taken as a consequence of reading the above article. For more information please
contact Graham Macdonald on [email protected]
|
Snap Shots: Man beats machine - Over-ride the electronics
by Harry Flashman
With the newer and more sophisticated cameras that can apparently do
everything, making the photographer almost redundant, it was very
heartening to receive an email from one photographer who had found that
perhaps the electronic brain did not know everything.
 Auto
exposure
Regular readers will know that I often advocate turning the camera off
the ‘auto’ mode and going on to full manual. I also suggest turning off
the inbuilt flash for many night shots. Why? Because only you know
exactly what you want to get on film. The electronic brain inside your
camera does not!
Now this goes for all types of cameras that have manual settings, be
that film or digital. The concept is the same for both and the rules
remain true. A camera is merely a black box that lets light on to a
sensitized layer, be that film or magic pixels. No difference.
Now my friend had emailed me after he had tried to photograph the moon
with his new digital SLR, but had fitted his old lenses, from the same
manufacturer. The details were a new Pentax DSLR with a 40 plus year old
Pentax Super Takumar F2.5 135 mm lens. However, he also tried letting
the new digital camera do its best, and by comparison he did his best
and the difference was quite spectacular.
There are actually only two rules to be followed in taking lunar
pictures (unless you are going up there, courtesy of NASA):
 Manual
exposure
Rule Number 1 – Do not use any autoexposure modes (program, aperture, or
shutter priority) - switch to full manual.
And Rule Number 2 - follow rule number 1.
There are two reasons behind these simple rules. First, the camera’s
metering circuitry will average the exposure over the night sky (most of
the frame) and the bright Moon in the center, in its design which is to
produce 18 percent grey. This will result in a hopelessly overexposed
frame. Even if you have a spot-metering mode in your camera, you’ll not
avoid this, unless you are using a 400 mm or greater focal length.
So how do you get the right exposure to keep the night sky black and
still some detail on the moon’s surface? You can actually use the “sunny
16” rule here: with the aperture of f16, set the shutter speed to one
over the ISO speed of your film (or its digital equivalent). So that
would be (with 100 ASA) f16 at 1/125th. That will get you in the ball
park, but is not necessarily the exact correct exposure. For that you
have to ‘bracket’ since exposure times given by formulas are
approximate, varying according to the exact phase of the moon,
atmospheric conditions, etc. To be safe, bracket at one and preferably
two stops on both sides of the exposure suggested by the formula.
There are other factors to be taken into account with lunar photography,
and first is the tripod. Always use it! And a cable release if you have
one. If you are using a digital camera, also use the highest resolution
setting.
Photos of the full moon are flat and featureless. For more interesting
pictures, photograph the moon at crescent or quarter phases when the
mountains and craters are illuminated from the side and cast shadows.
Another factor not to be overlooked is that the moon is moving, and so
is the earth you are standing on. Because of the earth’s rotation, the
moon appears to move approximately half its diameter in one minute, so
long exposures are best avoided. The longest acceptable exposure time is
somewhat arbitrary, and depends on the amount of enlargement, but most
guidelines recommend an exposure no longer than one minute.
For the good shot here, the photographer used the new Pentax DSLR on
full, manual mode (100 ASA) at 1/125th at f16. Just as the formula
suggested!
Try some moonscapes today, or rather, tonight!
Modern Medicine: Learn to ‘drive’ your own diseases
by Dr. Iain Corness, Consultant
The secret of living a long and healthy life is learning to
control your own innate disease problems. This goes in particular for such
conditions as hypertension and diabetes. Both of these are amenable to
treatment, and both of them can be monitored by yourself. Whilst it is
necessary for a doctor to oversee your treatment, your doctor can do this
much more efficiently with a little help from you.
Taking blood pressure monitoring first, there are many automatic,
self-inflating cuff instruments that will give you a digital read-out of
your systolic (the high reading) and diastolic (the low reading). For these
home readings to have even more significance, you need to have a small
notebook recording time and date. After many days you will be able to show a
strong pattern so that your doctor can really tailor the medication to keep
your BP in ‘safe’ limits, and avoid side effects from the medication.
By doing this, you can give yourself upwards of another 10 years of healthy
living. That has to be worth it, surely!
The other condition that lends itself to home monitoring is diabetes. We
know that uncontrolled diabetes is life threatening. We also know that
poorly controlled diabetes will shorten your life and lower the quality of
life. However, well controlled diabetes need not be a bar to a good and
happy long life.
However, how do you know if your diabetes is well controlled? The blood test
you have once a month, both blood sugar and glycated hemoglobin, can give
your doctor a ‘snapshot’ of what is going on, but at best, it is only a
rough indicator. Something more exact is much better, and that something is
under your control! This is home blood sugar monitoring.
If you wish to lead an independent and active life, learning to test blood
sugar levels by yourself is essential. The results from the home monitoring
provide information about how meal intake and timing, medication, exercise
and stress affect your blood sugar levels. All important factors both your
doctor and you need to know to be able to correctly balance your blood sugar
levels with diet and medication.
There are many different monitors for checking blood sugar and your doctor
or diabetes team can advise you on makes and models suitable for your
condition.
Just like blood pressure monitoring, keeping a log book is a very important
part of the monitoring. Random blood sugars are very inaccurate methods
trying to get in control.
However, unlike blood pressure monitoring there are certain precautions you
have to take to get the required accuracy. Note that you need to make sure
that:
The meter is clean;
The meter has the correct code that matches the strip you are using;
Wash your hands with warm water,
Shake your hands below your waist.
Squeeze or milk your finger a few times gently. Excessive milking is
discouraged as results obtained may be inaccurate, but do make sure you have
a good-sized drop of blood.
Now you need to know how often you should test. This is where you must
follow the recommendations from your doctor, as your doctor will want levels
at different times of the day to get an idea of how well your treatment
program is working for you.
Generally, the best times to check are before breakfast, before lunch,
before dinner and before bedtime snack. Sometimes it is also useful to check
blood sugar two hours after a meal to see the effect of the food on your
blood sugar levels. You should also test your levels more frequently during
periods of stress, illness, or surgery, when you are pregnant, or when low
blood sugar is suspected or when there are changes made in your treatment
program, such as a change in medication dose, meal plan or activity.
You should also know your own target range. This depends on your age, which
type of diabetes you have and the duration of the diabetes. Your doctor will
help you with targets, and an ‘action plan’ for when your home monitoring
shows levels above or below the targets.
Learn to drive your own diseases and live happily ever after (or until you
are 100)!
 Heart to Heart with Hillary
Dear Hillary,
I am an avid reader of your Agony Column, which is always very informative
and showing great insight. Due to unfortunate circumstances, I also am in
need of your wise counsel.
You indicated some time ago that, if there is no emotional connection, a
relationship has no depth and is unstable. I fully agree with this and infer
that such a relationship is in danger, sooner or later, to come to grief,
unless emotional closeness can again be achieved.
The question is, what can a loving partner do who is trying very hard to
improve the relationship emotionally, when he is confronted with a seemingly
unending grudge and a total lack of any love, forgiveness and compassion?
What indeed?
Despairing
Dear Despairing,
I feel for you, my Petal, I really do. The saying “Between a rock and a hard
place” sort of describes what you are currently going through. Human
romantic relationships do require emotional commitment, which as you
correctly imply, must come from both sides of the relationship.
Unfortunately, no one person can make another return affection. It has to be
freely given. I take it from your letter that there has been some event
which has soured the relationship, one that requires forgiveness and
compassion. To achieve this forgiveness, you have to look at what your
partner found attractive in you from the beginning. If you were the strong
silent one, then by becoming a cringing, hand-wringing, please-forgive-me
type, you cannot expect to renew the fire in the relationship. You almost
have to pretend that the schism has not happened, and try to be the man you
once were. This may or may not work, but this is giving it your best shot.
If it doesn’t, then all you can fall back on is ‘time’, the great healer.
Best of luck, my Petal. I feel you may need it.
Dear Hillary,
I was doing some spring cleaning in my computer at work and found all this
porno stuff on it. I am supposed to be the only person in my office to use
this machine, but it isn’t passworded or anything, and sometimes other staff
members work late too. What should I do about it? I am worried that if I
make a noise about it, then others will think I’m just covering my ass.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as red-blooded as the next bloke, but I wouldn’t
like some of the girls in the office to see this stuff. It’s pretty graphic.
Any ideas Hillary?
Pete
Dear Pete,
You are worried that you will become known as “Porno Pete” I suppose, but I
have to say I find it a trifle unbelievable that you never go looking for
the odd bit of fancy photography, which in turn leaves its grubby pawprints
inside your computer. There’s only several million sites on offer, despite
the Thought Police’s Department of Naughty Bits trying to block it all the
time. One of the guys in the office told me you only have to click again if
the site is blocked and you get through the second time. Try it next time. I
don’t think there is much to be gained by having a witch hunt in the office,
just quietly delete it and check the comp daily until you find the culprit.
You never know your luck, it might be one of the office girls!
Dear Hillary,
My Thai girlfriend and I want to buy some land upcountry where she comes
from near Nong Khai. The price is quite reasonable and in a few years I
would be happy to retire in that place. The other day she went up country
and rang me to say that we could buy some land OK, but it would take two
months for the deeds to be transferred into my company’s name. If she were
to buy it in her name then the deeds could be transferred in two days. This
doesn’t seem right to me, Hillary. Do you think I am being taken for a ride
here?
James.
Dear James,
First off, James my Petal, is to decide whether it is “my Thai girlfriend
and I” who want this land, or is it your Thai girlfriend? I must say I do
not know too many farangs who have successfully retired to Nakhon Nowhere,
approximately 20 kilometers this side of the Laos border. Since you want the
title deeds in your company name, I take it that you want to retain control
over it. Buying it in someone else’s name does not fit in with that does it?
Go and talk to a lawyer.
Dear Hillary,
Every time I go to get a hair cut the man or woman barber always want to
bend me over in the chair half way through the cut and start thumping my
back as some sort of massage. The best the other day was when the man
approached me with some sort of vibrating electric motor strapped on his
hand and began to try and massage my legs! All I want is a haircut. Where,
Oh Hillary, where do I go?
Harry
Dear Hirsute Harry,
Lucky you! What was the address of that shop?
How I see things
by Boxer
Woof! From me the Boxer. Earlier last week my old man disengaged his
brain, left his parachute behind, forgot his break fall landing and fell
through a roof. Unfortunately he left a large hole, which kept the builders
busy and also cannot take me for walks at the moment.
So, as last time he mentioned he would talk about driving over here and as I
am from a well-travelled dog family I feel I have the necessary
qualifications to do this. Just to mention, one of my predecessors was
famously on television in the UK for being seen in a trailer behind the old
mans Gold Wing.
Well back to Thailand and having been in Bangkok and the south I think
Pattaya is the most dangerous place. The number of times I have had my
whiskers brushed amounts to more toes than I have. Its also seems to be the
place with more holes and I am glad that I have my safety belt on.
So who are the worst drivers/riders you ask, we all have our own idea but I
think farangs come out near the top. They try to copy the Thai riders but
without their skills, riding in the middle lane when they could be in the
inside lane and bringing their ‘road rage’ and aggressive attitude over
here. Yes, everyone pushes in but you seldom hear a horn or get a rude sign
except from the farang. So my thought is when you are really skilled, chill
out and leave road rage where it belongs, at home.
Next on my list would be the coach/buses who keep waking me up by ‘honking’
their horns when approaching a bus stop and then trying to weave their way
around you. Must be that they are on a bonus for being early!
Elephants have also caused me to have a few missed heartbeats when
travelling along a road at night; I wish they would ask for a light to be
put on their tails. The rest, well I have no major problems with them
although there are always the odd ones who do not know left from right.
Hang on I hear you ask, ‘What about baht bus drivers?’ Well whilst I think
there are too many of them, I realise that they are only trying to make a
living. With the increased fuel costs this must be difficult. What would be
interesting is to learn who really makes the money out of baht bus drivers.
My old man has found them in general to be reasonable, they often let him
out of a side street and on some occasions have thanked him for doing the
same. He won’t give me the credit for smiling at them!
So what do you think? Have you a pet (no doggie jokes please) dislike, but
think first. In many countries you would be attacked if you upset another
driver. Mr Plod would have you if you undertook, yes I know it’s illegal
over here as well, but if you take your time, allow a few extra seconds on
green before moving off, give way occasionally then it is actually rather
fun to drive in Thailand and less stressed.
Holes are another matter. Last time my old man was counting lorries and the
resultant holes in the road. Well nothing has changed except there have been
a lot of work crews filling them in. Unfortunately the holes seem to
reappear within hours and I as an ignorant dog just cannot figure it out. Is
it because they don’t have the right materials, substructure or because they
want to come back again tomorrow? I also wonder why the Sukhumvit road south
of Pattaya appears to be four lanes but only two are used. Is it because of
the holes? The old man has told me to talk about something else as I am
digging a hole for myself in political waters.
One thing he would like to hear your views on are signs. In this paper
recently was a picture of Walking Street in 1975, didn’t it look nice and
tidy, and did you also notice the beautiful lamp standard. Do you think the
2006 picture shows an improvement?
I hope the old man will be up to writing the next article as I am finding
that paws hit several keys at once. Another subject that he wants to look at
is ‘Why are we here’, (I know it is the birds) but surely there are reasons.
Woof Woof for now
A Female Perspective: Eating Pies
with Sharona Watson
Diet. It’s a subject I have more or less avoided in this column, until now.
It’s a subject I try and avoid every day, actually. I don’t like thinking
about diet, I don’t like talking about it and I certainly don’t enjoy having
to watch what I’m going to eat all the time. But the terrible truth is that
I have to. That’s the point. How ever hard I try to ignore it, I can’t.
Wherever I go, I can’t hide from it. I feel as if I’m being stalked by diet
the whole time. Sometimes, I feel like a prisoner to diet. The very idea can
make me feel inadequate, under pressure and angry.
Now that I have left my youth behind, I face a daily battle of choice
between one kind of food and another. Mentally, I face an uphill struggle,
knowing that whatever decisions I make for the better at breakfast, I’ll
face again at lunch and dinner. Three times a day minimum, I am under siege.
The worst thing of all is succumbing to the temptation of that little piece
of chocolate, that extra spoonful of sugar or just one more slice of a
baguette. I look in the mirror and I see a person who is weak. Of course,
the feeling passes quicker than it should, but it keeps gnawing away at me.
I don’t think of myself as a fat person, but sometimes in the mirror, or
when I see photographs of myself, it’s difficult to ignore the evidence of
my own eyes. Having been very slim when I was young (actually until I had my
first child), becoming bigger was a transition that I found difficult to
adjust to.
My self-esteem is under attack whenever I think about diet. It only helps
slightly that my husband says he doesn’t mind whether I’m fat or not.
Frankly, it’s not about him. He says, “Just decide whether you want to be
fat to not. If you don’t want to be fat, don’t take sugar in your coffee.
Cut down on your pork life (as if I have a ‘pork life’!) and get some
exercise.” Even though I basically agree with what he’s saying, why is it
that I just feel more frustrated than ever when I hear comments like these?
Typical man, doesn’t listen to the heart of what I’m saying. Doesn’t
understand what I really need.
What I need is emotional support. I’m looking for some deeper level of
understanding of my predicament. I want him to realize what it’s like to
feel like I do. I want him to sympathise! I don’t need (and didn’t ask for)
a lecture on how not to be fat. I know how not to be fat! I don’t want to
hear about equations (“what you give is what you get”) or any more of his
tedious sayings (“you are what you eat”). I don’t need instructions on
calorie control. I know about calories! I just want him to understand. Give
me a cuddle. Be there for me.
To be honest, I’d never thought about the amount of sugar I take in my
coffee or the possible effects of it until my husband pointed it out. Where
I come from, people ‘come for a coffee’ rather than ‘go for a beer’ and the
coffee we drink is often ‘Turkish’ of ‘Arabic’. Black and thick, with plenty
of sugar. As it happens, I prefer regular white, latté, but still with
plenty of sugar. Maybe two and a half spoonfuls with every cup. So if I have
five cups of coffee a day, which isn’t unusual, that’s twelve and a half
spoonfuls of sugar a day. Perhaps you can understand why I would rather not
know about it!
Whenever I consider or try cutting down, I always think, “Why am I doing
this to myself?” I really enjoy some of the simple things in life and
drinking sweet coffee is one of them. Anyway, I’m not convinced that
granulated sugar is one of things that makes you fat. Alcohol is far worse
apparently and I don’t drink very much at all. It’s not part of my culture.
But the way I look is my responsibility and the reason my feeling of
depression passes quickly whilst I’m looking in the mirror is because I know
I am in control. My figure isn’t anybody’s fault. In fact, to hell with it!
I like the way I am!
There’s a lot of talk in Europe and the States about ‘obesity’ at the
moment. Seeing the size of the portions they provide you with at
restaurants, I’m not surprised. There’s also quite a lot of inverted blame
culture which I always find quite strange. Everyone blames ‘fast food’ but
nobody seems to blame the people who have stuffed themselves silly, least of
all themselves. I mean, if you want to be fat, that’s fine, but if you don’t
want to be fat and you are, why blame someone else? Fat people are suing
‘fast food’ chains for making them fat! Incredible! (Inedible?!)
I’m convinced that women are far more concerned about their figures than
men. For all their big egos and narcissistic tendencies, men don’t seem to
be worried about ‘the wobble’ so much. Perhaps society accepts fat men more
than fat ladies. If that’s true, it’s probably because society is dominated
by men. I have seen quite a few females who have obviously lost control and
are unhappy about it, but what do they do? They just carry on eating chips,
drinking beer and occasionally do a minimal amount of exercise or play a bit
of sport, but it’s a joke! Who are they kidding? Only themselves.
Instead of looking at the reasons for their fatness and doing something
about it or just accepting it, they’ll make cosmetic changes, like dyeing
their hair, or splashing out on new clothes. But, what’s the saying in
English? “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear?”. Women should be
proud of what they are and how they look but should take responsibility for
themselves. If it’s pies you like, then it’s pies you should eat and be
happy about it.
Next week: H.E. Yael Rubinstein
[email protected]
Learn to Live to Learn: Hello Mr. Chips
by Andrew Watson
Quite often in this column, I wax lyrical over the concept of quality
teaching, bemoaning its apparent scarcity, searching for isolated examples
of best practice. Sometimes though, the answer to a question can be found
much closer to home than you might otherwise imagine. Sometimes, literally,
some of the best teaching imaginable can be found next door.
 Nick
Frost, a latter day Mr. Chips, with his prodigies (from left to right) Karn,
Susan and Smile. (Inset: Shamayim)
For two years, I was privileged to work alongside one of the very best. An
inspirational teacher, an unsung hero and as it happens (I’m proud to say) a
loyal and trusted friend. Nick Frost and I lived as we taught with the help
of a few important maxims such as; “It is the possibility of dreams coming
true that makes life interesting” (Coelho) and “It is low aim, not failure,
that is sin” (Martin Luther King). By encouraging his students to believe in
themselves and putting in whatever is necessary in time, effort,
perseverance and forbearance, Frost has achieved remarkable things in his
two years at St Andrews International school, Rayong. He’s now into his
third.
Nick Frost reminds me of Mr. Chips, that inspiring character from the 1939
film which starred Robert Donat in an Oscar-winning performance as the
eponymous hero. Like Mr. Chips, Nick Frost exudes infectious passion for
teaching, combined with deep compassion for his students and perhaps, a
healthy level of scepticism towards authority.
A man of science from New Zealand, one of Frost’s major achievements in his
first year included helping one student, Leo Pahl (now at the Regents
School) score the top IGCSE mark in the whole of Thailand for Combined
Science. There’s little doubt that Nick didn’t receive the recognition he
deserved for this achievement, which was all the more remarkable for the
fact that he was working with limited resources in an embryonic secondary
school. Thus, his decision to embrace an even more challenging personal
initiative over the past academic year was all the more astonishing.
Over seven months, leading to their examinations in June of this year, Frost
was in school every day at 5.30 a.m. in order to prepare for an ‘extra’
lesson of Biology, which he offered to invited students from Years 9 (three
students) and 10 (one student). The objective was simple; to cover the two
year IGCSE Biology course in seven months. That’s the thing; he created a
challenge for his students. They were hungry to learn and he gave them what
they wanted. It’s the essence of the profession. You do what’s necessary. He
asked for nothing in return.
Critics of this kind of devotion (can you believe there are any?) wonder why
you bother. Well, I hope I can answer that one myself. It is the most
enriching and rewarding sensation imaginable when students whom you brought
safely and successfully through their schooling are still emailing you,
years later. The reason? Well frankly, it’s because you never left them and
were always there for them, even in the difficult times. It’s the truth that
is often ignored, sometimes obscured.
The proof of the teacher’s pudding, like it or not, is in the results.
Consider once again that Frost’s Year 9 students were sitting a public
examination two years early and the Year 10 student, one year early. A two
year syllabus had been covered in seven months of early morning commitments,
extending to weekends. The result? Three ‘A’ grades and one ‘B’ grade. An
astonishing achievement; very nearly 100% ‘A’ grade passes. (Is that
possible?)
The students were absolutely overjoyed. I went down to see them at St
Andrews two weeks ago and whilst they were effusive, I had to coax some
words from the laconic Frost. Typically, nay predictably, he chose to
deflect praise on to the students, “I think they all did very well. I was
particularly pleased for them all.”
Why does Nick think it’s important to give kids the opportunity to take
examinations early? “I think it’s important that students are always
extended and challenged and I like to see students do well. It gives them a
good feeling when they do well. I mean, it wasn’t easy for them. They had to
give up their weekends as well as commit to the early morning starts. But
hard work and diligence did it.” (You see, he never mentioned that he was
there!)
How did the students feel, I wondered, when they received their results?
Said Karn, Year 9, “I thought it was the result of practice.” Yes, but how
did he feel? “I felt very good, because you have to aim high to achieve
high”.
Class mate ‘Smile’ said she was “Very, very shocked. I didn’t think I’d get
an ‘A’ even though I aimed high.”
Shamayim, who was awarded a ‘B’, was ‘disbelieving’ (she thought she’d get a
‘C’) and then felt a little ‘disappointed’ that she had missed out on an
‘A’.
Year 10 student Susan was “Shocked and surprised”. So why did Susan think
she got an A? “I just did my best; it’s all I could do.”
Quite right; and what do they think of Mr. Frost as a teacher? With
characteristic candour, Susan replied, “He makes lessons interesting, which
you can’t say about every teacher. He knows his subject and he can make
people feel involved and interested.” Can you think of any adjectives to
describe him? Smile and Shamayim ventured, “Funny, weird…” “Unusual?” I
offered. “No...maybe…” They were thinking about it. Then they shouted in
unison, “But inspiring, yes!”
Did this latter day Mr. Chips receive any thanks or recognition for his
extraordinary devotion? (I know he never asks for any) “The students were
very nice,” he explained. “They gave me a lovely gift of a weekend trip to
Koh Samui with my partner. It was a brilliant trip. Thank you.”
“No! Thank you!” cried the students. “You’re the best. You rock!”
Engendering a culture of achievement creates its own demands, so what’s next
for the students?
Karn replied, “IGCSE Chemistry.” The same routine, then, of early morning
starts and weekends. What grades are they going to get, I wondered? I knew
the answer before they laughed as one, “A’s, of course!”
Next week: The school with a soul
[email protected]
|
