Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2011

FROM THE PRINCIPAT

LIFE-\MIDE LEARNING: AN EDUCATIONAL CONSTRUCT FOR THIS CENTURY ln a time of tragic natural disasfers on a

bombing tragedy, she illustrates how we draw collective strength from adversity through thoughtful, quick and efrective actton. Summers believes if we can do it when under duress, why not routinely with our economy, infrastructure and creatle industries. We should stop chancing our hand and use our intellect for continual improvement - no matter what the circumstance or scale. Our Humanities F aculty at Girls Gramm ar - comprising Modern and Ancient History, Geography, Economics and Study of Religion departments - is profiled in this edition of the Gramm ar Gazette. The Faculty is well-placed to lead the investigations and debates in classrooms associated with critical world events and the impact they have had and may yethave on Australta and its people. Philosophical and ethical questions underpinning class discussions arc paramount to the processes of critical thinking and problem solving at tncreasingly sophisticated levels. While the stimulus material from the beginning of 2071. may be tragic, the lessons to be learned will extend far beyond factual understanding. This School's purpose as a place of knowledge buildin gt crtttcal thinking, problem solving, human connectedness and world cittzenship is undisputed. But a leading educational place will heed the fwenty-first century demands and possibilities for its learning commu ntty in phys tcal,virtual, spiritual, cultural, social, international and intellectual spaces. Life-wide learning - critical and position aI - is an educational construct for this century and relevant for every home, school and its community. In creating the best combination of spaces and people - i.e. places for \earning - our young women can neg ottate their roles and responsibilities towards what Erica McWilliam describes as self-agency - an enviable attribute increasingly valued and expected in all aspects of personal, societal and professional life now and, no doubt, in the future.

national scale, the focus of media3 attention moves quickly from the human tragedy to debates on the manipulation of taxes, levies and government balance sheefs. (Trent Driver, Grammar Gazette p.7) Australians, custodians of the so-called lucky country, find themselves not only Ln a time of coping with natural disasters at home, but in a pacific region impacted by unfoldi ng catastrophic events. The call for disaster relief and assistance locally and internatrc",nally tests the resilience and depth of our national and personal humanttftas well as our faith in the capactty of others to endure heartbreaking misfortune - albeit often watched from a distance, repeatedly on television or reported in newspapers. Critics suggest the 'disaster specials'screened by media outlets desensitises us from empathising with those sufrering the most. The counter argument to this surely is that awareness and information allows for communities and countries to mobilise quickly in support of each other phenomenon we all witnessed with the Brisbane flood, but which we have seen the lucky country in 1,964, it was not to promote our good fortune but rather to alert us to our collective complacency and suggest that as a nation we look more closely at our responsibility to actively engage with our neighbours and the world. Perhaps owing to our geographic independence, rich natural resources, a comparatlely small population and general pfosperity,we have come to believe the c1ich6. In 2008, Anne Summers wrote On Luck in which she challenges us to cease relying on fate and take control of our destiny. Citing our aid and recovery response to the 2002 BaIi repeated in New Zealand and now Japan. When Donald Horne wrote about AustralLa ^s

DR AMANDA BELL

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