On March 15 this year there is a global school strike for climate action.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
I understand a number of students around Armidale will be gathering in Central Park to share their views around the need for climate change and their frustration at the poor progress Australia is making towards climate change targets.
Thousands of students around Australia held a similar strike in November last year.
Apart from the arguments around climate change (and I do not mean to belittle the issue – it is one of major concern), I am interested in the way politicians reacted to the November strike.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned the strike arguing that the nation wants more learning and less activism in schools. That is an interesting comment as it suggests to me that a certain type of learning (that of the accepted and approved knowledge) is valued more than the learning that goes with taking a stand to defend the things you think are important.
Will you support your children in taking part in the March strike if they wish to do so?
...that learning is replaced by many other great learning opportunities, and I hope that both parents and teachers will exploit these learning opportunities to their full potential.
Your answer to this question depends on a number of factors that I encourage us all to think about. Key to this is how you understand the learning opportunities that come with taking action such as a strike.
Yes, when your children go on strike from school they are missing out on some hours of academic learning. However, that learning is replaced by many other great learning opportunities, and I hope that both parents and teachers will exploit these learning opportunities to their full potential.
In order for your children to decide if going on strike is the right thing to do they will have to do some research and answer questions such as: what is the evidence for climate change? What is our country doing about climate change? What is the evidence to show what we are doing is adequate or inadequate?
Then they will have to think about and learn about how to create social change. If they believe our country is not doing the right thing, then they have to think about (and research) how does social change happen?
Does change happen when an Act of Parliament is created? Does it happen when we sign international declarations? Does it happen when regular, ordinary people like themselves believe it is important? What makes every day, ordinary people believe something is sufficiently important to take action? How does striking, as a form of protest, contribute to social change?
Perhaps they are concerned about climate change but feel that striking is not the best way to share their concerns.
And then, when they have worked through all of this, and decided perhaps that yes, they want to support the strike, there is more learning about how to behave in a strike in ways that get the message across without causing trouble, and without antagonising people and compromising the message.
There are all the logistical details to be organised (wonderful practice in project management); there is a communication strategy to be developed and implemented (perfect for those children thinking about communications/media as a career) and the production of resources to organise (what material is needed to provide information to others, are there handouts to offer passers-by for example).
Maybe instead, your children have decided not to support the strike. Perhaps they are concerned about climate change but feel that striking is not the best way to share their concerns.
There are many learning opportunities in developing other action plans. What are the alternatives to striking? How can they develop and implement an alternative?
And at the very end comes the moral debate: if children believe climate change is a concern, should they take responsibility to do something about their concern or should they close their eyes and do nothing? What are the moral issues that need to be considered in making their decision?
The global school strike for climate action on March 15 offers an incredibly rich range of learning opportunities whether or not children participate in the strike.
I hope that our Armidale families and teachers are able to take full advantage of the learning that this event offers.
Read more Family Matters:
