funeral of the late Dame Marjorie Bean and CedarBridge Academy's School Quiz Competition victory -- were closely linked.

Much has been written and said already about Dame Marjorie, who was given what amounted to a state funeral on Saturday, and there is probably more to come.

Suffice to say, she was a pioneer for black Bermudians and women at a time when white men dominated most of Bermuda life.

Her professional career was dedicated to education and in this she demanded and achieved high standards from her students and colleagues. The same was true for the events and organisations she started, including the Debutantes Ball and the Business and Professional Women's Association.

These days, we hear a great deal about how children's self esteem should not be hurt and we hear a string of excuses -- some genuinely heartrending -- about why someone could not do better.

Outside of education, excuses for why this project or that job was half-done abound, as does passing the buck. This is not a criticism of one segment of society; we are all guilty of this.

Dame Marjorie would have brooked none of that. It is clear that she would have expected nothing less than the best from everyone with whom she was associated.

What does that have to do with CedarBridge? Dame Marjorie was dedicated to public education and CedarBridge is a public school.

The school has endured a fair amount of criticism and negative publicity since it opened and even before, but last Saturday five of the school's students took on the best of the private and public schools on the Island and won, fair and square.

The students from CedarBridge simply studied harder and performed better than their rivals.

Five good students achieving excellence does not mean that all is now well at CedarBridge, any more than five students who are failing or are badly behaved means that everything is terrible at the school.

But it does mean that CedarBridge students can go up against any other students and hold their heads high, safe in the knowledge that they can compete with -- and perform better than -- anyone if they put their minds to it.

Dame Marjorie, who always performed to the best of her ability and took pride in her own talents, would be the first to applaud that.