1993 School Magazine

SPEECH DAY ADDRESS . 1992 Dr Grassie, Mrs Hancock, Trustees, Staff, Parents, young women and my mother - Thank you for the invitation 10 come home today. I have fit- teen minutes 10 tell you why being a girl is great, why going 10 a girls school was great and why being a girl from Girls' Gi'am mar working at Greenpeace is great. ... Really fifteen minutes about being a green girl. Actually today I'm here 10 talk 10 you about the three R'S. .. and yes, I was a school teacher! My three R'S are radical, responsible and reward. 1'11 start with the first of the three R'S. .. Radical! h is 17 years since I came to a Girls' Grammar Speech Day, so that means it is seventeen years since I was at this School and that makes me thirty-four. And in that time I have made extreme changes to my perception of what being radical real- Iy means. Perhaps 10 you it is radical that someone from Greenpeace is speaking to you here today, or perhaps to the palenis it is radical that someone from Girls' Grammar is now working at Greenpeace as the National Education Co- ordina- tor and one of a staff of 120 in Australia with an organisation- al annual budget of 6 million dollars. .. or perhaps you as par- Grits are nervous that I may at any second gel out my chains and do a mass action! Or maybe you are quietly hoping that your daughter doesn't end up working at Greenpeace! My parents still Ting up after each action to see if I am okay! Well my life isn't all Greenpeace. I live on a dairy farm on the far south coast of NSW in the Bega Valley, where my husband and I are involved with our neighbour in a daily pari- nership. It's 400 kill from the Greenpeace Head Office where I work, and about I million km from the world of many Greenpeace staff. You can imagine the discussions around the office as they talk about global warming and I talk about Iriseminating OUT cows on Ihe weekend! As we discuss ways 10 deal with the recession to increase our membership, my suggestions to invest in the dairy industry are met with raised eyebrows and peals of laughter! And it was very difficult 10 convince my co-workers that one of my wedding presents Iasi year was 12 straws of bull semen - some of the best in Australia! And 111en they discover Ihai I went to a private school and a girls school at that! Well it I'Gally isn'I that bad - actually I am not out of place where I work. I really represent what we are like! And neiiher was I out of place at Girls' Grammar! But how did my five years 1971 - 19751ead me to whei'elam now? I pailicularly like the word Radical because it has been used for so many years and relates 10 the present. in retrospect, women getting the vote wasn't so radical and neither is it that smoking is now so anti-social. But at that time these scenarios wei'e seen to be radical. 11 is a word palents fear and that teenagers adore. 11 is a word that is the most common objec- lion said to the organisation I work with, and is also used by some to describe the notion of private schooling and by others to describe a very cool and nip way of being h is a bit harder for me now to keep in touch with adolescents 10 discern what radical is used for this year as I am not teach- Ing at present, but I know from a talk I did recently with some :hief executives of companies that they 100 used it in many ways, including to describe various policies of politicians,

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Sheena Boughen Madonna's new book, ANZ's debt, the notion that a In odern society could have no waste and that I am a step-grand- mother When I was wearing the uniform of this school I expel'linent- ed a 101 with the notion of being radical. When I was 141 thought being radical was not turning up 10 German lessons every now and again. And then I challenged being ladical by writing a detention essay that was supposed 10 outline why I should behave when we had supply teachers, but instead I decided 10 do an essay on the problems of teachers who couldn'I control thirty 16 year olds. I was feeling pretty radi- cal Lintil Mrs Jan Knight pulled me out of a lesson and reduced me 10 a six inch being after reading my dialribe. Now that was radical! And then when it came to Year 12 my appointment 10 the position of Head Girl was I believed a very radical move! Ever since I have wondered how it happened! I was not the lop academic student and not one of the lop sports perform- ers! In faci, I am sure I was seen by many of the staff as being "that Sheena Boughen who always had an opinion about everything"... and they were Tight! 11 was a momentous year - the centenary year of the school during which my year voted to abolish piefects. How noble we were - challenging the hierarchy of the studentsysiem! How radical we were! And fi'om these and other tales of belno ladical, what was really happening was that I was learning about being I'espon- sible, my second R. I remember being told by my History teacher that if you believed in something then yoLi must act on it - it is not sufficient to sit and contemplate and CIOss your fingers that someone else will trial your idea or see it' ii Inakes sense! What was happening was that I was being rewarded - my third R, for being involved, speaking out, challenging authori- Iy, but particularly for coming up with alternatives! Many of these things are those which parents react most to I Another radical part of being a teenager was wishing I was different. Do you know what I mean? If only I was like that girl with the long blonde hair. .. or if only I had a pair of jeans like Sue has then all the boys would like me! in fact for years

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