A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SCHOOL HEADMASTER

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SCHOOL HEADMASTER

Xenia Kisselincheva

It was the 10th of October,1999, at the National Theater “Ivan Vazov”. I was invited to attend the celebration of the 23rd anniversary of the National Classical Lyceum under the auspices of Sofia University.  It has won itself this honorary status throughout the years, in spite all adversity and skepticism, it has not only survived, but it has been evolving. While listening to the “Young Kukuzel” male choir, which recreated the enchantment of 10th century Slavonic church music, I remembered the words of Gerguina Toncheva, the headmaster of the school. “I was blessed by fate to work for the school since its founding days, way back in 1977. My mission was to restore the classical tradition in our education, which has been imprudently cut short for thirty years by totalitarian dogmas. It has been an ongoing fierce battle, not just to survive but to develop in tune with the changing spirit of time.” Her personal life makes an indelible part of the life of the lyceum. As she likes to joke, she solves its problems, even when she is asleep. Her individual drive has been fed and boosted by the support of eminent scholars and educators, by the trust in the eyes of her present and past pupils. What other secret sources of strength does she tap, which help her prevail over her opponents and multiply her adherents? She tells me she was born on the 25th of December and for her this was a special sign - she believes she draws a lot of positive energy from her faith in God, her cult to the Holy Virgin. When her resilience is put the test, she likes to repeat to herself “If God is with me, nothing can be against me!” and she keeps on going, charging her followers with energy and determination. After the anniversary celebration was over, she needed a truck to carry all the flowers home. So much love and gratitude for what Gerguina has done for the school, for having succeeded into raising it to the status of one of the top ten classical lyceums in Europe...

At the very beginning, there was the blessing of distinguished humanitarian scholars like prof. P. Dinekov, prof. A. Milev, prof. R. Gandeva. The initial impulse came from the departments of Classical Philology and History of Sofia University which was taken over by the Ministry of Culture. “At the beginning, it was the word” but then the 23-year old history of the school was created by its teachers and pupils. The ultimate vision behind it is to provide a solid grounding in humanitarian education through streamlining the curriculum towards this objective. It implies achieving a good balance of  the study of classical languages, on the one hand, humanitarian subjects like history, literature, philosophy, etc. and the study of mandatory general subjects.

“How do you prepare them for the new high tech age? How about computer literacy and the study of modern languages?”

A well-equipped computer lab has been available for the last 15 years, initially furbished by the IBM Company. Modern languages are taught within an intensive pattern in the course of five years, in groups of ten. After the 10th grade, pupils are free to choose their specialization subjects which range from the classical languages through history of culture and philosophy to the sciences. The lyceum definitely aims at preparing the students for continuing their studies at university level. It achieves a smooth and organic transition from medium to higher level of education in more than one ways. First, many of the teachers are university lecturers. More than half of them are former alumni of the lyceum. They, themselves grow and mature professionally in their dynamic and challenging interaction with the motivated pupils and in the process of writing the textbooks. The course of specialized education is crowned by the defense of a diploloma paper before a 5-member university board. If the defense is assessed as brilliant, it secures the student admission into the university, without any entrance exams. But, as Mrs Toncheva stresses this fact should not be seen as a kind of privelege, but rather as a serious trial.

“Are there any former pupils who have distinguished themselves in any particular area of academic or social life?”

“As I already mentioned, almost all lyceum graduates become university students, many of them are the high achievers of Sofia University and other universities throughout the country. For the last five or so years, some of them apply at the top world universities like the Vienna University, th Sorbonne, Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Boston etc. Again, they graduate from them with flying colors and often are distinguished members of faculty. It is enough to mention Dimitar Angelov, a Harvard alumnus who is doing his doctoral degree in medieval history at Oxford. Or, Velizar Savovsky, who will soon be awarded with the title of Associate Professor for his contribution to General and Comparative Linguistics. Also, some of our ex-pupils are leading figures in the media, international trade and diplomacy, others are at key positions at government institutions, the judiciary system and various foundations.”  The list of proofs of the merits and distinctions of the lyceum is a long one. Its pupils have often been the bearers of high awards at the International Cicero Competition in Arpino, Italy, yet another way to assert the school’s place among the top ten classical lyceums of Europe. It keeps actively in touch with similar schools all over Europe - exchange of information, guest lecturers and training exchange programs. The lyceum has launched the initiative of organizing a competition, entitled “Europe, the burgeoning of an idea”, whose nominees will take part in a seminar in Olympia, Greece. These bright kids are future European “movers and shakers” who are bound to mold its destiny. But, as Gerguina passionately asserted more than once in our conversation, it is a top priority of educators nowadays to shape up the moral identity of youngsters, since she believes that it is at the core of the human personality, at the core of any social activity. it should be a top priority even more in our high tech global world to prevent abusing and misusing the huge possibilities opened up by science and technology.

Guergina does not seem to resent the fact that she hardly has any time for leisure, that she often spends 10-12 hours at the school. A child is taken ill, a teacher is unexpectedly absent, someone inquires about grants, another one complains about the school canteen. Many of the problems arise on the spur of the moment and have to be urgently dealt with. Sometimes, they make ‘the stuff” of your dreams, you wake up and you realize you have been engaged in a vehement controversy with the housekeeper or the accountant.

For Ms Toncheva, each generation has its strong and weak points, it bears the mark of the changing times and educators have to bear this in mind when they try to influence them one way or another. Young people can be harsh uncompromising judges if you don’t live up to your role or to their expectations.

 Over the years, the lyceum has developed its rich traditions in extra-curriculum activities: science fiction club, UN society or the sports club, offering training in various ball games. The girls’ choir which has toured round Europe has revived the spirit of 19th century school songs. The “Young Kukuzel” boys’ choir, already mentioned, has won a number of prizes at international festivals. The pupils take part in Olympiads in literature, philosophy and Russian and they are usually among the prize winners. The school has its own two journals, the “Humanities” one is devoted to classical studies, bits of philosophy or poetry so far un-translated. Some of the diploma papers are published in book form and are used both as teaching material at the university or the lyceum. The summer excursions abroad are another laudable tradition, a way to make better sense of their classroom knowledge, being directly exposed to specimen of Europe’s cultural heritage - ancient Aegea, Greece, Italy, Austria and Germany.

Apart from her dedication to “the children” at school, whenever she has a gap, Gerguina loves to read poetry, to listen to music, especially to Bulgarian folk songs. She started humming a favorite “horo” of hers which seems to suggest to her: “Here I am, I am alive and kicking and I will be in the future” It reminds her of Zorba’s dance after he lost everything, it is the dance of the indomitable human spirit which rises like phoenix from the ashes and soars high above the frustration of mice and men, when their schemes and dreams fail. But Gerguina’s dream has not failed though she admits the times are “out of joint”, it is hard to find positive models for young people to follow. Still, she believes that the National Classical Lyceum will not only survive but will grow and change in full swing to the rhythm of the new age, which needs the sobering touch of some classical wisdom.  

Sofia Western News monthly, 1999