Great Scot May 2020 Great Scot 159_MAY 2020_ONLINE_V3 | Page 34
NEWS
A POSITIVE, INDIVIDUAL
RESPONSE TO
GLOBAL ISSUES
BOYS PARTICIPATING
IN A TEAM-BUILDING
EXERCISE. SPEAKER
D’ARCY LUNN SHARES
HIS EXPERIENCES
Understanding the actual needs of the global community
Global citizens are aware of and understand the wider world and
their place in it. As educators we hope that students will build their
own understanding of the world.
A recent initiative teachers have driven in partnership with
students has been to create a ‘Scotch Global’ program, aiming to
enable boys to gain knowledge of the world and how people from
different countries interact with each other.
Students are encouraged to develop an appreciation of other
cultures, understand and accept the values of others, and identify
and recognise the causes and consequences of a variety of current
issues. They are encouraged to respond to global issues, individually
and in partnership with student-led and community groups.
To this end, a group of boys who expressed interest in being part
of this program were invited to an inaugural event in early March,
to hear guest speaker d’Arcy Lunn from Teaspoons of Change.
This organisation aims to identify and address issues, challenges
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Great Scot Issue 159 – May 2020
and opportunities, and in doing so align businesses, schools or
governments with the Global Goals – to create a better world by
2030, through ending poverty, fighting inequality and addressing
the urgency of climate change.
Max Fan (Year 11) attended the inaugural event:
‘When I was young, and people asked me “what do you want to
do when you grow up?”, I would answer with big ideas – world peace,
climate change, eliminating poverty, education. With adolescence
came the cynical realisation that these ideas are much bigger than us
– one person cannot lift billions out of poverty, solve climate change,
settle all conflicts and educate young people, all at once.
‘d’Arcy Lunn’s presentation, based on his project, Teaspoons of
Change, dispelled much of this cynicism – arguing that all change
is robustly rooted in individual behaviour. In effecting the change for
me, there were three broad takeaways from the learning experience.