year 12 induction 2016 empathy and service · the cobra effect what is it? the term cobra effect...
TRANSCRIPT
Year 12 Induction 2016
Empathy and Service
Thursday 18th August
“Who are you most proud of? One of your students came from a good family with their
own business, did well at school and later went on to get not one but two doctorates, the
first in anthropology, the second in medicine, as well as becoming an officer in the army.
Another of your students in this imaginary class, a girl, was home taught on a farm for a
while before joining school where she eventually dropped out to care for her ill mother
and grandmother. She later worked as a seamstress and was once arrested for breaking
the law.”
Which one of these would be on a plaque in your school hall?
From Why Do I Need a Teacher When I’ve Got Google? Ian Gilbert
Are good grades enough?
Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist, whom the United States Congress called
"the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement".
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F.
Blake's order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white
section was filled
Josef Mengele was a German SS officer and physician in Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. Mengele was a notorious member of the team of doctors responsible for the selection of victims to be killed in the gas chambers and for performing deadly human experiments on prisoners.
After the war, he fled to South America, where he evaded capture for the rest of his life.
A strategy for developing your empathy
● Step 1- Watch & Listen: What is the other person saying and what is their body language?
● Step 2 - Remember: When did you feel the same way?● Step 3 - Imagine: Imagine how you might feel in that situation.
Validate the wide range of emotions that come up.● Step 4 - Ask: Ask how the person is feeling.● Step 5 - Show You Care: Let them know that you care through your
words and actions.
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Jessica McClure
Jessica McClure Morales (born March 26, 1986) became famous at the age of 18 months after falling into a well in her aunt's backyard in Midland, Texas, on October 14, 1987.
Between that day and October 16, rescuers worked nonstop for 58 hours to free her from the eight-inch (20 cm) well casing 22 feet (6.7 m) below the ground.
The story gained worldwide attention (leading to some criticism as a media circus), and later became the subject of a 1989 television movie Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure on ABC
Marius (6 February 2012 – 9 February 2014) was a young male giraffe living at Copenhagen Zoo. Though healthy, he was considered genetically unsuitable for future breeding so it was decided by the zoo authorities to kill him.
Despite several offers to adopt Marius, and an online petition to save him,he was put to death on 9 February 2014. His body was then dissected in public and parts were subsequently fed to other animals at the zoo.
The event received worldwide media coverage and generated responses from several organisations and individuals, including death threats to staff at the zoo.
Is empathy always good?
Bloom, controversially argues that empathy can make things worse, ...
● ... that it is usually not targeted at causes, but effects,
● ... that it is not a product of a systems approach,
● ... nor does it work longitudinally or sustainably.
This is why people care more about a baby stuck in a well or a dog that is viciously beaten
than they do about global warming or world hunger. The “identifiable victim effect” and
the resulting process of empathy can be an impediment to true social justice,
environmental solutions or effective altruism.
Is empathy always good?
“Such are the paradoxes of empathy. The power of this faculty has something to do with
its ability to bring our moral concern into a laser pointer of focussed attention. If a planet
of billions is to survive, however, we’ll need to take into consideration the welfare of
people not yet harmed—and, even more, of people not yet born. They have no names,
faces, or stories to grip our conscience or stir our fellow-feeling. Their prospects call,
rather, for deliberation and calculation. Our hearts will always go out to the baby in the
well; it’s a measure of our humanity. But empathy will have to yield to reason if humanity
is to have a future.”
Paul Bloom
Building Paths
Cobblers
The Cobra Effect
The Cobra EffectWhat is it?
The term cobra effect stems from an anecdote set at the time of British rule of colonial India. The British government was concerned about the number of venomous cobra snakes in Delhi. The government therefore offered a bounty for every dead cobra. Initially this was a successful strategy as large numbers of snakes were killed for the reward. Eventually, however, enterprising people began to breed cobras for the income. When the government became aware of this, the reward program was scrapped, causing the cobra breeders to set the now-worthless snakes free. As a result, the wild cobra population further increased. The apparent solution for the problem made the situation even worse
The Cobra EffectExamples
19th century paleontologists travelling to China used to pay peasants for each fragment of dinosaur bone (fossils) that they produced.
They later discovered that the peasants dug up the bones and then smashed them into many pieces, greatly reducing their scientific value, to maximise their payments
The Cobra EffectExamples
In 2003, Babara Streisand unsuccessfully sued Kenneth Adelman and Pictopia.com for posting a photograph of her home online, believing that it would lead stalkers/crazed fans to seek her out. Before the lawsuit had been filed, only six people had actually downloaded the file, and two of them were Streisand's attorneys. Her lawsuit drew attention to the image, resulting in 420,000 people visiting the site, thus coining the phrase, "The Streisand Effect."
Building Paths
What gets you angry?
Health Inequality Gender Issues
Animal Welfare Disaster Relief Education
Human Rights Discrimination The Environment
Poverty Violence & Bullying War
Hunger Politics ?
Hong Kong? Global?
● SERVICE - Students cleaning up a riverbank;● LEARNING - Science students studying water
samples under a microscope;● SERVICE-LEARNING - Science students taking
samples of water from local sources, then analysing them and presenting their findings to a pollution control agency;
● CRITICAL SERVICE-LEARNING - Science students creating public-service announcements to raise awareness of human impact on water quality to change community attitudes and behaviours
What is Service Learning?
● The Five Stages of Service Learning Cathryn Berger Kaye
The Five Stages of Service learning
Good Books
At Island School, we encourage charitable endeavour at local, national and international levels. This takes place through the Houses, the curriculum and individual enterprise. We strive to achieve a balance between depth and breadth. That is, we develop long-term relationships with charitable foundations, yet encourage students to initiate new campaigns and respond to crises or unforeseen needs.
We try to develop a good understanding of the charities we support. We make every effort to understand their aims, the needs they set out to meet and the problems they seek to address.
Charitable Work at Island School: Guiding Principles
Aims● To further develop our sense of conscience and empathy.
● To provide perspectives which helps us to value our own lives and privileges.
● To enable us to take action and to partake in civic engagement.
● To provide leadership opportunities that are authentic and result in improving the lives of others.
● To give purpose to the development of collaborative, communication and creative skills.
● To deepen our understanding of global development, social and environmental issues.
Charitable Work at Island School: Guiding Principles
Which Charities?
At Island School we aim to …
● Support charities that are involved in valid humanitarian endeavours and whose work strives to have a wholly positive impact at all levels.
● Support charities who have demonstrated efficiency in ensuring funds raised reach point of impact.
● Support charities which do not seek to proselytize a particular religious view or belief system.
● Get the balance between the number of charities we work with and the depth and length of our relationship with them.
Charitable Work at Island School: Guiding Principles
Fund Raising
When planning a fundraising campaign we aim to …
● Ensure that it goes hand in hand with comprehensive awareness raising.
● Provide sustained support which may extend beyond the financial.
● Ensure that, where possible, events are genuinely connected to the issue or the organization being supported.
● Take into account the impact on, and needs of, others in the school.
● Minimize the environmental impact of any campaign.
Charitable Work at Island School: Guiding Principles
Awareness Raising
When raising awareness about a particular issue or cause we aim to ...
● Select and use a wide range of available media and strategies to best engage students of all years.
● Include people (outside of the school) with a direct involvement in the charitable organization to encourage stronger connections and purpose amongst students.
● Ensure that progress and updates are shared with the student body on a regular basis.
● Evaluate and reflect upon the effectiveness and outcomes of all campaigns.
Charitable Work at Island School: Guiding Principles
Purpose and Authenticity
We aim for all charitable activities...
● To be driven by individuals who have genuine empathy, concern and a desire to help others in a sustained way
● To be led by individuals who have a deep and rounded understanding of the causes they are supporting. Where possible, they are connected to, or have met with the NGOs working in the field
● To be followed up with questions that help us to understand why this need for charity has arisen. We believe that charity is a short term solution and should never be seen as an alternative to a series of actions that may bring about long term and sustainable change.
Charitable Work at Island School: Guiding Principles
Involvement
We …
● Aim to ensure that all individuals have equal opportunity to take part in charitable events
● Encourage all individuals to take a lead role, for which the level of responsibility may increase as they progress to the senior years
● Encourage individuals to sustain their involvement in a cause/ charity in the long term
● Encourage individuals to show commitment and dedication to their team
Charitable Work at Island School: Guiding Principles