S.P.L.I.C.E

In week 5 of term one, 2009, we began our new project. We put together a two page spread that was published in Te Awamutu’s local newspaper – “The Courier”, 24th march, 2009. Students from year 6 to year 13 collaborated on articles, images and photos aimed at the community, informing them about our education. Below is the first 2 page spread and some of the articles we produced.

Introduction
Jarred Griffiths (Year 11)

“The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who doesn’t know how to learn” – Alvin Toffler

Just like Martin Luther King, we have a dream. Our dream is not black and white; it is about building relationships between community and education. We’re not setting out to convince anyone that our views are correct; we simply want to inform you of the changes to education that we’re noticing, and ask you to consider and discuss your own viewpoints.

I believe education is of uttermost importance to our society. Our education system creates and shapes our future prime ministers, doctors, lawyers,scientists,teachers and each member of society. So society can only be strengthened from an improved relationship between our community and our educational sector.

Why does it matter?
Marcus Gibbs (Year 13)

As a country we take education for granted, we offer our children so many opportunities, in schooling, leadership, learning, fun, then apprenticeships and tertiary training. Later in life: advancements, extra training and careers. Education should matter to us. It should be the most important value we have. It should be second only to family and good health. After all, learning is what makes a society progress. Without learning we would still be rubbing sticks together to make a spark. If spark was the potential, education is the fire. Education matters! However, I’m concerned that the way we are going, the ink will fade long before the message sinks in.

Last year we held a mufti-day to raise money to buy desks for a small school of about 20 students in Malawi. We raised approximately $1800.00 and to thank us Malawi sent a dozen handwritten letters from the students who benefited from our desks. These letters were mostly drawn with cheap crayons on scraps of paper but they were heartfelt. It didn’t seem like much – a small gift of desks from a school that has a substantial budget and students who take their education for granted, but it mattered a lot.

Why did it matter? Desks are not essential to an education system. We know you don’t need desks to learn yet in return we received letters straight from the heart of these students. They were overcome with the knowledge that on the other side of the world there were students who cared. Students who wanted them to experience the simple benefit of using a desk to write on. It mattered a lot to them because they believe that learning is essential and that going to school is a privilege. They thought we felt that way too.

In Malawi most students find themselves having to leave school before they complete high school. Not because they no longer enjoy or benefit from it, but because they need to work to help their family survive. The majority would love the opportunities we have here in New Zealand, to be able to stay at school until they are 18 and then go on to further their studies, but the majority just can’t do that. It’s simply a matter of survival.

I know several college students who left our school before finishing Year 13 without having a job or a trade lined up. Their reason for leaving was that they just no longer felt that school was right for them. Six months later, many feel that perhaps leaving school so early was not the best idea. Some can’t find work in the current job market. Others miss the sensation of learning something new. They wish that they had stayed to complete their final years of schooling. It’s simply a matter of choice.

We do take our education system for granted. I guess we’ve had it for so long now that we’ve stopped valuing it as much as we need to. The Malawi students know why it matters so much. They recognise that a proper well rounded education doesn’t just create a path for a future full of prosperity; it gives us many skills which we cannot obtain anywhere else. Without these skills we are incomplete and for an economy and country to prosper we need large numbers of people who have the opportunity and the encouragement to achieve their full potential. We need our students to develop in a community which values and actively supports learning. We need our students to have an excellent education, but first we have to decide what an excellent education is in the 21st century.

How We Use Technology In School
Christina Drabble-Emery (Year 10)

Below is the link that will take you to a page where you can view this article. (It’s a PDF file)
Uses Of Technology