Talk:Falcon College

Initial

It is most important in reviewing the history of Falcon College that the considerable emotional and psychological distress caused by the foundation headmaster, Frank Cary, to a number of its early pupils not be forgotten. Frank Cary indecently assaulted these vulnerable boys. He was arrested and his case was tried in Bulawayo during May / June 1955. The case was held 'in camera' but extensively reported in the Chronicle. Cary denied the charges, with his defence being led by the renowned Joahannesburg lawyer, I A Maizels QC. Cary's defence was financed by his well-to-do, tobacco farmer brother. Senior Counsel mercilessly browbeat several young witnesses and attempted to blacken them as "mischief makers" and liars. The methods and circumstances of interogating and cross examining young, vulnerable and emotionally distraught boys that Counsel employed would be quite unaccetable in contemporary, first world courts. Cary was found guilty on just one count, but was neverthless sentenced to a term of imprisonment and therafter committed suicide.

Falcon College should never forget this dark legacy and the price that was consequently paid by many of its many of Founder members - certainly many more than came forward as witnesses in the trial. The Cary experience is evidence of the more general susceptibility of young boys to abuse in British 'public' school-type environments, and the betrayal of trust by those in authority over young boys who are remote from their homes and parental support. Leopold2 (talk) 03:14, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

If this is fact, then make a reference elswhere instead of on the school page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vumba (talk • contribs) 16:38, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

Two points need to be made both in relation to Vumba’s justification for his edit on 12 May 2008 of my explanation of Frank Cary’s demise as well as Vumba’ remark in this Discussion of the same date.

First, there is an indication that an element of uncertainty should attach to Cary’s paedofilia and its associated odium (“True if it is …”; “If this is fact …”, etc). If Vumba requires convincing, I suggest he consult the archives of the Chronicle, read Graham Lord’s published memoir and talk to a few Old Falcon boys who were pupils in 1954. He might also consult Minutes of meetings of the School’s Board held in late 1954.

Second, there is a suggestion that ‘abuses’ should not be attacked because they may have escaped criticism in Catholic Schools – where criticism also is alleged to be ‘inappropriate’. Well, Vumba is just plain wrong. The numbers of Catholic Schools, worldwide that are being sued for the obnoxious behaviour of some of their teachers are legion. In analogous circumstances, the Anglican Church in Canada came close to insolvency in 2000 as a result of a series of class actions regarding abuse within its residential schools. Falcon itself is fortunate to have escaped litigation which, but for the current politico-legal environment in Zimbabwe, it may yet have been obliged to confront.

I shall not be tedious and seek to re-edit the text of the article on Falcon. The School has enough on its plate as it is, coping with the melt down in Zimbabwe. I had nevertheless been moved in November 2007 to state the facts on Cary in so far as the author of the original article had the gall to characterise him as some sort of ‘folksy’, nice guy (eg “he was known as ‘Tank’ and …. became the centre of the Falcon ‘family’). He was in fact an unrepentant criminal and deserves to be so remembered. Leopold2 (talk) 15:09, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

In response to Leopold2, I do not know the facts you speak but neither do I doubt what you have said as truth. Simplistically we would have to put any such abuses on nearly every (if not all) items on schools or colleges. --Vumba (talk) 17:36, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

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As a family member of one of the students affected, I am distressed by the response so far to the discussion by Leopold2. The absence of compassion and doubt about the authenticity compounds the hurt. Does the school not have a responsibility also to its past students? Are they not also and always a part of the Falcon School community?

A school that shows that it has a culture of openness, is aware of its past, (and acknowledges it) and, states its strong commitment to prevention, and zero tolerance of paedophilia, would be reassuring to both present and past students and their families.

Given as Vumba says, these ‘abuses’ can be put on nearly every school or college, as a parent I would want reassurance that the school has policies and mechanisms in place to minimise the likelihood of abuse, to ensure children’s voices can be heard and that there are confidential and anonymous ways (that are advertised) for children to ask for help. I would want to be reassured that children, as part of their life skills education, to learn what behaviours are right and wrong and to feel empowered and safe enough to report abuse without recriminations and in a way that safeguards their identity. And I would want to be reassured that they will have access to confidential ongoing support.

Is this not a real opportunity for the school to stand up for what is right, to demonstrate to its past and present students that it has zero tolerance of paedofilia and to show integrity and leadership in its values and commitment to its students? Aloe1 (Aloe1 (talk) 07:41, 1 September 2009 (UTC))

Section cleanup

I didn't know what other word to use in the section I cleaned up, besides the inappropriate word. The internal link leads to a disambiguation page. If we knew what the statement meant, we can use a more appropriate word. I apologize, because I didn't know what to do. Relevantsus (talk) 04:02, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Lists of names

Lists of names in this article should be sourced in accordance with WP:BLP. As there is no way of constantly maintaining linked articles, this applies to names which have a Wikipedia article as well as those that do not. Any name listed with no verifiable citations should be removed. Fæ (talk) 13:39, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Alumni

Qatari footballer Daniel Goumou is listed as an alumni, this seems rather unlikely. Is there any evidence for this apart from a mention on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Goumou ? There is another Falcon College in Abu Dhabi http://ww43.falconcollege.net/ and falconry is something of an obsession in the gulf MKzim (talk) 07:47, 20 August 2016 (UTC)