“All the work we do together will serve as a reminder that we are capable of more than we imagine, both as individuals and a team”.
This is a quote from a local high school musical program.
Some might think a strange place to find an inspirational quote. But it is a most apt place. The leading roles will more than likely be filled with students who have training in song, dance and/or drama. But the bulk of the cast this will be their first and maybe only time on stage.
A crash course after school and on weekends will prepare these first timers for something only months ago they thought incapable of or even imagined doing – singing, dancing and acting in front of an audience.
What drives them to do it? There’s no tangible remuneration, the thrill of the applause is temporary and aren’t there better things for teenagers to do outside school then rehearse. Pokémon’s to catch for starters.
Yet Emmaus College has nearly 130 students involved in their production of Peter Pan this weekend.
A friends dare, if you do I will, it’s our final year; there will be lots of reasons the students will use to explain their decision to be a part of it.
Possibly harder to explain is that desire to be part of something bigger than them, to experience something different, go outside their comfort zone.
In doing so they surprise their teachers, surprise their parents/carers, surprise their selves in achieving more than they imagined as individuals and a team.
It happens every year, in school sporting teams also, can it be applied in their academic learning’s?
The state and federal government rightfully advocate the benefits and need for innovation to strengthen the economy.
Innovation is a course of action, not a solution.
Solving problems (better) is the solution, utilising innovation and disruption.
This needs to happen more in our schools while minds are less concerned with risk and have room for dreams.
Ask students to come up with a real problem and find a better solution.
As teachers don’t know the answer they mentor, guide the students offering what advice and support they can. It becomes more of an environment similar to the school musical rehearsals.
An environment that results in more than imagined as an individual and a team. An environment that fosters innovation, dreams of solving problems, entrepreneurialism.
This is what the Australian economy needs, more dreamers, more entrepreneurs coming out of our school system.
Just saying innovation and throwing some money at it isn’t enough.
A real problem for students to try and solve is how to get more of our youth wanting to be entrepreneurs instead of employees.
Couldn’t that reveal some interesting, innovative ideas. Perhaps even the creation of a Youth Entrepreneurship Economic Zone (I’ve mentioned this before so I won’t elaborate on what it involves), along with disrupting our military inherited education system.
The high school musical is fertile ground for students to dare to be more creative, dare to do something different, dare to live out some of their dreams.
We need more of this, not a system that suppresses it.
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it”, Peter Pan.
Catch a performance this Friday to Sunday and recall what it was to be young, the dreams you had and consider what we can be capable of.
“Keep dreaming dreams and playing in your heart, you’ll never grow old if you stay young on the inside”, Peter Pan.