CSSAC 2014: Learning Journey

CSSAC will be an experience I’ll cherish and miss after its culmination. It has truly been my pleasure to have been part of such a great group of people, all working to leave a legacy of improvement through hard work and dedication.

This final event that we hosted as a team was slightly stressful in its initial stages, as we had faced adversity in finding students to attend these symposiums. Due to the somewhat low numbers for attendance, CSSAC members inadvertently assumed a participation role in these forums. Such a change in organization proffered us the opportunity to also be heard on topics we’re passionate about.

It was illuminating to hold a conversation with students from various schools in the CBE about what they supposed were the challenges in our education system. All of us had a lot to say.

I particularly had a focus on learning environment, as three of the four sessions I was present at directly related to that. Our learning environment has so much bearing on our experiences in education. Given an exceptional learning environment, students can thrive and prosper. Given the opposite, and students can find themselves facing their demise. Therefore, it is important that there is a continuous dialogue between students and those in charge of the structures in place in our learning institutions about what a good, modern learning environment looks like.

We are no longer living in the industrial times, where schools based on the factory model were a conventional and perhaps even effective construction. The corporate world is now seeking innovation, which the environments that we learn in are not reflecting. Between the generalist teachers, unmotivated students, tedious schedules, lack of resources, and sometimes even lack of safety at our schools, it’s becoming more and more difficult to produce the citizens we need for the future.

I think it will be incredibly problematic and truthfully unmanageable for me to sum up everything that I experienced and learned through participation in the International Youth Leadership Summit in Beijing, China over spring break. Yet I will attempt to explain a fraction of my thoughts by organizing this segment into themes.

Human compassion is global.

The prime example for me when realizing this is recalling our brilliant tour guide, Grant. He undeniably exerted a colossal amount of effort to make our China excursion superb, however beyond that, he also undeniably showed us a lot of care and affection that went above the obligations of someone that was there to get a job done. I assume that all of us recognize that he, with little reason to do so other than his human compassion, really took a personal interest in ensuring the well-being of all the students on this trip – which he demonstrated with how he acted when one of us fell ill and needed to receive medical attention.

He was also pretty good at singing, and attempted to teach us one of his favorite songs. It was called Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower).

We all want the same things.

In meeting with students through the summit at Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University, and even casually when we visited the other school outside of the city center, I began to comprehend how similar our convictions for the future are. The areas of land that we live on may be very different, but our visions have definite resemblance. We all show concern in fixing the problems we have inherited in our world; we think about the environment, corruption, education, provision of healthcare, civic responsibility, etc. and our roles in how these topics are approached. Because China has been so industrialized, the students in Beijing imparted even more concern than I on the problem of pollution and environmental damage. This suggests that because the youth in China face the realities of where other countries, like Canada, are heading, they have become very conscious of their function in caring for our world.

^ Some wonderful students at a school we visited (and me & Skye). 

Chinese history has so much depth.

It’s interesting for me to ruminate over the fact that while I have lived in Calgary for years now, I know so very little about it. This explicit unawareness of my surroundings – the city that I live in – is surely a detrimental situation. How is it possible for someone to appreciate the differences and similarities in cultures, environments, and ideologies if they have nothing to contrast any of this information to? Personally, I would suggest that if it is not impossible, then it is at the very least difficult. 

Fuel for School is a CBE initiative to provide students enrolled in their elementary schools with a nutritious breakfast if they qualify for the program due to financial limitations. CSSAC, as a unit, had the opportunity to spend a Friday night of ours volunteering to support this cause. We arrived to sell 50/50 Lotto tickets on the eve of a Hitmen game at the Scotiabank Saddledome, understanding that 50% of the money collected by our efforts would be matched and go to the Fuel for School program.

Together, we raised thousands of dollars which would continue on to feed the many young students in our communities today who benefit from the aid offered by the CBE.

However, a personal idea I gathered from this experience related to the sense of responsibility to be a productive and positive member of society that arose from the volunteering that we did that night, an idea which I usually become reacquainted with when volunteering. I feel that it is almost a civic duty for individuals in a community, if fortunate enough to be in a position where they are able to deliver relief to others who deserve the support – such as young children, to provide what they can afford to either in time and/or finances. Volunteering is definitely a form of leadership, because it reflects an individual’s desire to aid in resolving the issues that plague society even when not directly affected by them and under no pressure to be the beacon for social change. It simply displays the innate goodness that still remains in humanity. 

While a celebration could be dismissed as non-educational, I would contradict that with the proposition that it is specifically when you are simply interacting with others in a relaxed setting that you learn the most. It was wonderful to spend some time learning about each other, especially when every single person on our council is an inspirational leader in their own school and has accomplished so much. We all had one unifying goal which brought us to CSSAC, which was improving education and lending student voice to that endeavor, so exchanging ideas about what we were all doing in our own schools to achieve this goal nurtured very enlightening conversations.

Having Ms. Johnson participate in our meeting was an exceptionally impressionable experience. The woman who held the most influence over our education had taken the time, of which she likely had a scarce amount of, to sit and speak to students about what she could do for them. Ms. Johnson was acting as an exemplary leader that we could learn from by doing so.

In this rapidly industrializing world, our education system must endure persistent modification to remain relevant to the occupational society that is being created. Realizing that youth are instrumental in understanding what kind of world is being shaped and what skills they will need in the future, The Learning Partnership organized the “It’s My Future!” forum in which we as CSSAC members got the opportunity to participate in.

  One focus question we delved into was how is education preparing you for the future?

I perceive this question as regarding how the education I am currently receiving will prepare me to be independent upon the reaching of adulthood. There are two direct answers that I feel most accurately resolve this question. The first obviously involves the provision of knowledge that will allow me to pursue a career, whether in science, humanities, etc. The other involves the teaching of competence in skills that are not fact-based, such as adaptability, work ethic, responsibility, etc.

Definitely, I must possess the foundations for simply regurgitating information that will acquire me some sort of degree. The courses I take now in school – chemistry, biology, European history, and so forth – will be relevant to the type of educational path I am, in the future, able to pursue.

What is leadership?

Among the various things we did on the first day of CSSAC, such as expectedly trying to get to know each other through “speed meetings” and unintentionally lying about the existence of pre-engineering solely at Centennial, was define and discuss what leadership means to us and what we believe it is. This would be a theme that we would revisit and continuously explore throughout the progression of CSSAC – I suppose this statement can be applied both to the concept of leadership and the pre-engineering.

  We were asked to list three of the most important/key aspects of being a good leader, and to explain our choices. Mine would be, having gone through the journey in CSSAC, as follows:

Ethical: It is an unfortunate truth that we are living in a painfully corrupt society, whether we notice it on a daily basis or not. Perhaps we are more sheltered from this truth as we reside in a country that has, for many years now, been comparatively stable economically, socially, and politically. However, the unethical actions of those who have collected influence historically and even in the modern world have led to catastrophic injustices done upon millions of people that will, unfortunately, continue to be propagated as we move forth with the existence of, ironically named, civilization. It is for these reasons that ethics and honorable morals must be upheld by those who have been granted power. A leader is someone who has power, but proper leadership is when that individual uses their power in a responsible and upright way.

Humility: Leadership is understanding that if you ever come into possession of the ability to affect another individual's life, it does not in any way make you superior or above that individual. You are never a leader of someone; you act only as guiding force and are equal in human value. A good leader recognizes that they cannot be one without the support of those they guide.

In reflection, I only vaguely knew what CSSAC was to entail and what my contributions as a member would be to the Calgary education system for the upcoming year upon my first appearance at the CBE building. I had been explained that the Chief Superintendent’s Senior Advisory Council was a fragment of the initiative by the executives and educators in the CBE to acquire student input about how to improve our current system, however did not know much more about this opportunity initially.