Speak Up
This week I have felt overly protective of children and young people and their ability to have a voice and feel supported in their own or wider community.
The news and headlines have influenced this, but also my personal commitment to opening our first school in the City of Whittlesea supporting vulnerable young people where traditional school models are not working for them.
As we continue to work on opening our School, pending our application process (with eight schools already in Brisbane and one in both WA and Bundaberg over the next 12 months) my connection to cultures of educational environments has been escalated.
I have grappled with some messaging I am seeing come from schools to young people and their families and as such I am keen to reach out and ask the question – why is the culture of an educational environment working with young people important?
Would love your thoughts?
Principal, The McGinn Partnership: Transforming Business Development and Sales | Vistage Chair: CEO Peer Advisory Group | Accredited Family Business Advisor & FBA Forum Facilitator | RCSA TENs Group Chair.
3 年This is a hot topic Michele. While we know our schools can do a lot of good, we also know some can propagate, even if unknowingly, not so good. I have thought about this as I do more and more vocational education with adults of all ages. My conclusion is that school is calibrated to teach 'subjects' and even sports. They are mostly good at IQ, but sadley they don't teach EQ. Emotional Intelligence is what is missing in the issues around mental health, bullying, racism, gender respect, and generally the tolerance of, and empathy for, other humans who are different to you. If we can fix that in schools and also root the prediduce out of some legacy trapped families, we may well have a chance at breaking some entrenched cycles for generations to come. It is a privilege and a responsibility to be a human amoung humans. No everyone sees that and their behaviours highlight this fact. Remember all our children come into this world a 'blank canvas'. We can and should be better artists to create a better world. Schools have a bigger and more accountable role to play in this effort. IQ grades with compromised or immature EQ is not a successful outcome. High EQ with an OK IQ can achieve anything and also do a lot of good for humankind.