Labels Stick to People Too.

“As she grew older, Maddy discovered that she had disappointed almost everyone. An awkward girl with a sullen mouth, a curtain of hair, and a tendency to slouch, she had neither Mae's sweet nature nor sweet face. Her eyes were rather beautiful, but few people ever noticed this, and it was widely believed Maddy was ugly, a troublemaker, too clever for her own good, too stubborn - or too slack - to change.

(Joanne Harris, “Runemarks”)

We seem to love labels don’t we? It’s as though the whole world falls into categories – countries can be described as first, second or third world. All manner of objects like clothing, shoes, cars, sunglasses and endless numbers of other items that all fall into categories of some sort or another that we label and lust after, or irreverently dismiss out of hand. We have our ‘favourites’ and our ‘not so favourites’.

We often mentally assign some ‘meritorious’ range to each category – elite, prestigious, ordinary, inferior or substandard. No one is suggesting that labelling and categorising is not useful, in fact in many cases it can be very helpful. However, labelling things in this way can often influence what we believe we see.

What happens when we label people though? Does this affect how we perceive people, or make judgments about people, do we treat them differently – favouring one and not another? According to researchers and psychologists who have conducted many tests on how we label people, there is considerable weight of evidence to suggest that, yes, we do treat them differently and have different expectations.

University professor, Adam Alter cites a number of cases where this happens. According to researchers, the words we use to describe what we see aren’t idle placeholders - they actually determine what we see. Labels can change how we perceive more complex matters.

Psychologist Boroditsk, asked English and Russian speakers to distinguish between two very similar but different shades of blue. In English we have one single word for the colour blue, but Russians divide the spectrum of blue into lighter blues (“goluboy”) and darker blues (“siniy”) When questioned, the Russian students, who have two words to choose from, were much quicker to distinguish between differing shades of blue than the English speakers.

John Darley and Paget Gross, (“A hypothesis-confirming bias in labelling effects”) showed similar effects when they varied whether a young girl, Hannah, seemed poor or wealthy. The respondents in this exercise rated Hannah’s answers to certain questions; some difficult questions she answered correctly, while answering some simple questions incorrectly. Those respondents who were told that Hannah was from a wealthy background, assessed her to be of Year 5 standard, while those respondents who were told she was from a poor background, assessed her to be at a Year 4 standard.

Professor Alter believes that the long term consequences of labelling a child like Hannah “smart” or “slow” are profound. He shares the experiment, (“Pygmalion in the classroom”, 1992) conducted by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson, where the teachers at an elementary school are told that some of the students have performed in the top 20% of a test designed to identify ‘academic bloomers’. The teachers were told that these students would enter into an intensive intellectual development phase over the coming year, when in reality, these students had not performed significantly better than other students in the class and were not ‘bloomers’.

One year later, when the researchers returned, they found to their astonishment that in fact the ‘bloomers’ now outperformed their peers by 10-15 IQ points. The teachers over the year had in fact cultivated the intellectual ability of the ‘bloomers’ and in so doing had brought about a ‘self-fulfilling’ prophecy for that group of students.

It’s in our DNA to use labels that allow us to simplify the world and help us process countless pieces of information that go through our lives every day. The danger might be though, that in using labels such as “white”, “rich”, “poor”, “smart”, “slow” or “pretty,” they may in fact seem whiter, richer, poorer, smarter, slower or prettier simply because we’ve labelled them so. Eckhart Tolle, suggests another potential problem where we objectify a person by placing a label on them:

“The moment you put a mental label on another human being, you can never truly relate to that person.”

Labelling people such as ‘mentally disabled’, ‘struggling’, ‘dyslexic’, ‘ADHD’, ‘autistic’, or ‘OCD’ is very commonplace these days. John Hattie, author of “Visible Learning” and “Visible Learning for Teachers”, argues that we should “know the kids and forget the labels”. His point is that, while these conditions are real, some people label students, as if they are saying, “We can’t teach them” or, “They can’t learn”. In fact the lesson for parents and teachers is to have high expectations for all children regardless of the labels and to constantly seek evidence to check and enhance these expectations. The aim of this School is to help all students to exceed their potential.

Hattie’s research demonstrated that students met teacher expectations, whether high or low. According to Hattie, teachers need to stop overemphasising ability, and start emphasising increased effort and progress. “Be prepared to be surprised” needs to be the mantra to use to avoid negative expectations. It’s so important to ensure that all students achieve to the very best of their ability and to set themselves high expectations too.

Hattie claims that the problem for some students is that they “are doing just enough’, or what he calls the “minimax’ principle – that is, the maximum grade return for minimal extra effort. Our role as parents and teachers is to find out what students can do, and make them exceed their potential and needs. Our role is to create new horizons of success and help students attain them.

Even within families, notes Jeffrey Kluger, author of “Playing Favorites” adapted from his book: “The Sibling Effect”, parents usually favour one child over another and may use harsh or flattering words that in effect give one child the impression that they are being labelled – be it ‘silly’, ‘lazy’, ‘funny’, ‘careless’ or ‘clever’. This can have an extremely detrimental effect both in the short term and long term. Favoured children can gain over confidence, even arrogance and a misguided sense of entitlement, while less favoured children can have a higher risk of suffering from anxiety, low self-esteem or depression later in life. Kluger makes the point, that while we may in fact favour one child over another we can address this. He suggests that even if your children know you have a favourite, the effort it takes to pretend it’s not so, can itself be an act of love. Food for thought and as Emily Lazar says;

“Don't get caught up in labelling people. Each of us is so much more than one word can describe.”

As parents and teachers we have to be very careful not to assign labels to our children and focus more on expectations and the hopes, dreams and aspirations of our daughters and sons for the future.

Karon Graham

Transform your Thinking

If we are ever to enjoy life, now is the time - not tomorrow,
Nor next year, nor in some future life after we have died.
The best preparation for a better life next year is a full, complete,
harmonious, joyous life this year.
Our beliefs in a rich future life are of little importance unless we
coin them into a rich present life.
Today should always be our most wonderful day!


(Thomas Dreier)

Many of us can look back over the years and identify a time and place at which our lives changed significantly. There are moments when our lives are transformed, because we realise that we are the ones in control of our destiny and that the only thing stopping us from achieving what it is that we wish to achieve, is our own thinking.

I recently read John Hunt’s, “The Art of the Idea (and how it can change your life)” and it made me stop and think about how easy it is to fall into habits that are, to put it bluntly, a little lazy. No I don’t think I am a lazy person, but Hunt’s book made me realise that ‘a new idea’ can quickly get swept under the carpet because it either goes against the grain, or is too far-fetched, or is too controversial or just plain implausible.

Hunt had some sage and quirky suggestions to change your way of thinking and how to embrace a new idea without being threatened or challenged by the concept. With such gems as: “lemmings have plans too”, “expediency is not an idea”, “we don’t know what we don’t know until we do what we don’t usually do” and my favourite: “no one orders a bouquet of beige flowers”.

Yes all very interesting, but what is the real application to our thinking? Hunt argues that it’s very difficult to get a fresh idea if we are addicted to routine. Some, dare I say, many people prefer ‘consistency and continuity’. Let’s face it, there’s a certain amount of comfort in this routine. We can wear habit a little like a badge of honour. The problem is that the acceptance of a new idea withers on the vine because of our inability to let go of the old.

Hunt’s point is that it’s far too easy to say, “If it’s still working, why change it?” It’s as if the speed of momentum all around them, he says, is happily offset by their total lack of movement. People don’t realise that changing only when you have to usually means that it’s too late already and that if you don’t anticipate the future, you will be run over by it. So like lemmings scurrying to the cliff’s edge, they follow one another, falling into the sea, mindlessly chanting, “Why fix it, if it ain’t broke?”

Expediency is another trap of thinking. Hunt claims that expediency is extremely corrosive to ideas and that it simply allows one ‘to marinate in the mediocre’. He rightly points out that if you’re in the middle of the road, you will eventually be run over both ways. Not a pleasant thought. New ideas need sustenance and need to take on a life of their own and yes, sometimes this involves taking some risks.

If you’re serious about creating new ideas and following them through, then sometimes you need to change the way you think and where you think. Change the physical space you’re in and your brain follows suit. As Hunt points out, if you give people a distant horizon, their ideas are less short term. And if you’re physically on top of the world, it’s more difficult to think small, mean thoughts. Sometimes the transformation of thinking and perspective results from seeing a different horizon, or being in a different environment.

The antidote is simple and no you don’t have to trek the Himalayas to achieve a new way of thinking, it could be as easy as going for a walk in the rain or the sunshine, along the beach or through a park. Focus on specifics as you walk – your shadow, or the movement of sand grains, or the leaves or the waves depending on where you walk. You may return to the same space after your walk, but you will be different and yes, you will think differently too. Transformation of our own thinking might be easier than we think. Sometimes it is the mere recognition that we need to think differently, that is the catalyst for our own personal transformation.

Life is not something to be endured, but something to be embraced every single day. Life is a gift which should be cherished. Take nothing in life for granted and believe that anything is possible. B.J. Morbitzer, poet extraordinaire, captures these sentiments beautifully in “A Time to Believe”.

A Time to Believe


To believe is to know that
Every day is a new beginning.
Is to trust that miracles happen,
And dreams really do come true.


To believe is to see angels
Dancing among the clouds,
To know the wonder of a stardust sky
And the wisdom of the man in the moon.


To believe is to know the value of a nurturing heart,
The innocence of a child's eyes
And beauty of an aging hand,
For it is through their teachings we learn to love.


To believe is to find the strength
And courage that lies within us
When it’s time to pick up
The pieces and begin again.


To believe is to know
We are not alone,
That life is a gift
And this is our time to cherish it.


To believe is to know
That wonderful surprises are just
Waiting to happen,
And all our hopes and dreams are within reach.


If we only believe.

(B.J. Morbitzer)

Karon Graham

Just One

What has been the greatest influence in your life? Who or what has shaped your life in such a way that makes you the person you are today? A tricky question for some; how does one decide on the single greatest influence in your life? Is it a person who meant a great deal to you, or is it technology that has saved your life or keeps you in contact with a loved one, a book perhaps that changed your way of thinking, or a special event that irrevocably altered your perception, or is it a personal experience like the birth of your first child that has changed your life forever?


Each year, Time magazine lists the 100 most influential people in the world. The latest issue for 2012, lists people of diverse backgrounds, unbelievable talents, inspirational leaders, politicians, health care workers, innovators, entertainers, moguls and even celebrity chefs. While many of these people cast a huge net over their sphere of influence, like Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, most of us would not actually recognise them or understand the nature of their influence in the world at all.

Another top 100 influential person is Henrik Scharfe, a little known Danish university professor, who has created a doppelgänger. “What’s that?” I hear you ask. A doppelgänger is in the literal sense, a “paranormal double of a human”. Scharfe has created a “double” of himself – a human like robot – Geminold-DK to be precise, also affectionately called Watson, which looks a lot like Scharfe and has a voice, a face and well groomed and dressed body almost identical in every respect to Scharfe. See more of this amazing person at: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975_2111976_2111965,00.html

While I take nothing away from these very influential people, probably like many of you, my choice of person or persons, who have had the greatest influence on my life is a little more prosaic. So who was the greatest influence in my young life? For me it was my father who insisted that I study to Year 12 (instead of leaving at Year 10) and go onto the University of Queensland. The other person who changed my whole direction in life was a Year 11 Economics teacher, Mr Bensley, who helped me believe in myself. Because of relentless bullying throughout my secondary schooling, I doubted my own ability and was afraid to give talks in front of the class and the very thought of giving a speech, even for assessment, turned me into a quivering mess. Many people say that the thought of public speaking is worse than the fear of death and researchers have found that many people universally rank it as one of their worst fears!

Thankfully my teacher had greater confidence in me than I did and to my amazement, after much coaxing and coaching by him, I was able to give a speech – not a particularly good one I might add, but enough to give me some confidence to reconsider my options for the future. Maybe because of my personal experiences and wanting to help other people, I launched into a career where I thought I could make the greatest contribution and the greatest difference to other people’s lives – teaching.

To this day I care passionately about all of the children in our care at School and do all in my power to create a safe, enjoyable and engaging learning environment. I remember very clearly how horrible it was to be the subject of taunts, how terrible it was to face bullying behaviour every day and at the time to doubt my own ability. When my confidence and self esteem was at an all time low, one teacher made me see what I could achieve and what ultimately I could do with my life. He asked me to consider becoming a teacher and because he believed in me, I made one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. So believe me when I say that I want what is best for every student at our School and I want students to believe that they can achieve anything in this world with practice and perseverance.

Another important and influential person in my life, recently shared this thought provoking poem with me and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

Just One


One song can spark a moment
One flower can wake the dream
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.


One smile begins a friendship,

One handclasp lifts a soul.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal.


One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room
One candle wipes out darkness
One laugh will conquers gloom.


One step must start each journey.
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.


One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what’s true,
One life can make a difference,
You see it’s up to you!


(Maryam Kazmi)

We can all make a difference in this world if we want. We may each be the one person to influence the life of someone for the better and give them the confidence to become all that they can be in this world. What greater gift can you give another person? Thank you Dad and thank you Mr Bensley.

Karon Graham

ANZAC Destiny

It’s strange how the time and place of your birth can influence your destiny. Ponder for a moment what it would have been like to be born at a time that saw a fledging federation of Australia emerge in the early 20th century.

Imagine living in a time where communication was mainly face to face or by letters written in ink – no mobile phones, no internet, no television. Life was harder, without all the modern conveniences of now, and some would argue that life was much simpler. Nationalism and patriotism were in their infancy. At this time Australia was still tied to the umbilical cord of England and lacking a truly independent identity.

It was not surprising then, that so many young men and women signed up to join the armed forces when Britain declared war in 1914. It was a time when one did not question one’s duty; one simply did what was expected. As in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s famous poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, it was a different era:

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

In 1917, Australia had a population of a mere 5 million people, scattered over a vast landscape between rural and urban areas. The only means of international transport was a sea journey, which to Britain took two months and even transport within the country was painfully slow.

Over 60,000 men and women died in World War 1. What hopes and dreams did these 60,000 people have? What aspirations lived in their hearts for a better life for them and their families? Ross McMullin (The Weekend Australian, Review 21-22 April, 2012) wrote recently about a few of these men killed at Gallipoli.

Bob Bage, an engineer from Victoria who was an invaluable member of Douglas Mawson’s expedition to Antarctica was killed at Gallipoli, after surviving in the most terrible of circumstances in Antarctica. What might have become of this amazing man had he survived WW1?

Gordon Mathison, an internationally renowned medical scientist was fatally wounded, at 31 years of age at Gallipoli. Would he have been another great medical scientist like Professor Ian Frazer?

Alexander Turnbull, a West Australian Rhodes scholar, was another outstanding young Australian who was destined for great heights in law or politics and at 27 years of age was cut down in his prime at Gallipoli. Ted Larkin, a rugby international who was an up and rising star in politics was killed in Gallipoli aged 35. Would Turnbull and Larkin have become great politicians or Prime Ministers even? We will never know.

There are 60,000 Australian stories of lives cut short in defence of our precious country – some of these 60,000 were great people with unfulfilled destines. Many of the 60,000 though, were just ordinary people like you and me and were thrust into extraordinary circumstances by history. The time and place of their birth determined their destiny in life – to become heroes, forever immortalised by Anzac Day.

None of these people set out to be heroes. They were not particularly well trained nor particularly well resourced. They were however extraordinary men and women because they served and fought for the freedom of all Australian and New Zealanders.

60,000 Australians died in World War 1 and many more have died since protecting our freedom and way of life. Anzac Day is one special day when we honour their memory. In a way they do live on in our collective memories each year when we pause to remember them.

‘Lest We Forget’

All that remains, now that the last of the ANZACs has died, are the medals that honour their memory. This poem written by Clyde Hamilton: is a moving salute to our heroes, called:

Not a Hero


The ANZAC Day march was over - the old Digger had done his best.
His body ached from marching - it was time to sit and rest.
He made his way to a park bench and sat with lowered head.
A young boy passing saw him - approached and politely said,
"Please sir do you mind if I ask you what the medals you wear are for?
Did you get them for being a hero, when fighting in a war?"


Startled, the old Digger moved over and beckoned the boy to sit.
Eagerly the lad accepted - he had not expected this!
"First of all I was not a hero," said the old Digger in solemn tone,
"But I served with many heroes, the ones that never came home.
So when you talk of heroes, it's important to understand,
The greatest of all heroes gave their lives defending this land.


"The medals are worn in their honour, as a symbol of respect.
All diggers wear them on ANZAC Day - it shows they don't forget."
The old digger then climbed to his feet and asked the boy to stand.
Carefully he removed the medals and placed them in his hand.
He told him he could keep them - to treasure throughout his life,
A legacy of a kind - left behind - paid for in sacrifice.

Overwhelmed the young boy was speechless - he couldn’t find words to say.
It was there the old Digger left him - going quietly on his way.
In the distance the young boy glimpsed him - saw him turn and wave goodbye.
Saddened he sat alone on the bench - tears welled in his eyes.
He never again saw him ever - but still remembers with pride,
When the old Digger told him of Heroes and a young boy sat and cried.

Lest We Forget

Karon Graham

Implications of the New Gonski Model for School Funding

“I want to begin by saying that education funding in Australia

can be characterised as a dog’s breakfast.”
(Education Minister Peter Garrett)

This is perhaps not Minister Peter Garrett’s most eloquent quote about the current nature of funding for schools, but it does convey something of the complexity of the current funding arrangements.

Earlier this week, I was asked in a radio interview about how independent schools might be affected by the proposed recommendations of the Gonski Review of Funding for Schools. While there is a simple response to this question, there is also a longer and more complicated response. The simple response is, “It depends”.

The new Gonski model of recurrent funding by both the Australian government and state and territory governments is to be based on a new Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). Interestingly, Gonski has worked this new Schooling Resource Standard to be very similar to the current model, which is based on $8000 per student in the primary sector and $10,500 per student in the secondary sector.

Very few independent schools in Queensland would be worse off with the new model – only the largest and wealthiest of schools in Brisbane, for example. In Victoria and New South Wales there is a larger percentage of wealthier independent schools that would be worse off with the new funding model.

For many Queensland independent schools, like Caloundra City Private School, (based on the recommended Gonski model), there would be an increase in recurrent funding depending upon a number of different factors. Each factor is given a loading that increases the level of recurrent funding dependent upon the following factors which are sourced from the data on MySchool:

• the socio-economic background of parents – based on parents’ occupation and level of education – the higher the socio-economic background the smaller the loading, the lower the socio-economic background the higher the loading

• school location and size - for example: large metropolitan schools (no loading), provincial, remote or very remote schools that are small receive increasingly significant loading with greater remoteness and smaller size; and

• schools with student populations of greater disadvantage - for example, a high proportion of non-English speaking families, or indigenous students or students with disabilities will result in higher loadings.

For Caloundra City Private School, based on 2009 data and all of these factors, the School would be entitled to an 11percent increase in our recurrent funding under the new model, meaning that we would be better off with the new model. But (and this is a big BUT), the governments (federal and state) would need to find another $5billion to fund the new model for all schools. In truth, neither federal nor state governments have the necessary funds to finance (in the short term anyway), this additional $5 billion. As Bill Daniels, Executive Director of Independent Schools Australia commented in an interview reported in The Age, Feb 24, 2012:

“The biggest obstacle won’t emerge from within the schooling sector, it will come from Commonwealth-state relations. The Gonski funding model requires a big injection of funding from both levels of government. In a tight fiscal environment a commitment to significant extra funds across nine governments is a big ask.”

Historically, government funding to all schools, has been determined by different models which have lasted on average for between twelve to sixteen years. The current model of funding will be in its twelfth year when it is due to end in 2013. Given the change of government in Queensland and likely changes in government elsewhere, it is highly unlikely that any agreement would be reached by federal and state governments by the 2013 expiry date. Because of this factor alone, it would be more likely that the federal government would simply legislate to extend the current school funding arrangements for at least two to three years. In other words, while there might be general agreement that the new Gonski model would result in greater equity and fairness for school funding, it is not going to see the ‘light of day’ until federal and state governments agree on how it is to be funded.

The media likes to polarise debate on funding to independent schools versus public schools and the politicisation of the debate means that many misconceptions surround school funding. As I pointed out in the radio interview, parents of independent schools pay twice – once when they pay taxes, which help fund all schools and secondly when they pay school fees. Parents in independent schools also make significant contribution to independent schools through the fund raising efforts of the Parents and Friends’ Associations and through other generous donations in dollars or in kind. Parents in independent schools are making an important investment in their child’s future.

Karon Graham

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Food for Thought.

"For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don't enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are that you're not going to be very happy. If someone bases his [or her] happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn't going to be happy much of the time."
(Andy Rooney)

Some people dream of being rich and famous, believing that all their heart’s desire will come to fruition. But does great wealth bring true happiness and contentment? One only has to scan the latest headlines here in Australia to find that great wealth and fame do not bring happiness -far from it - families can be torn apart by disputes about who should ‘have what’ in controversial and hotly contested wills and family trusts.

History’s pages reveal a litany of woes that have descended upon families of great wealth – everything from depression, suicide, murder and loss of fortune by careless or misguided spending or investments. It seems that having great wealth does not necessarily bring happiness like the fairytale life we dream about. While many of you may concede this point, I’m sure that one or two of you are thinking that ‘money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with’.

Most of us are lucky enough to have enough money to live comfortably without wanting for too much in our lives. Our happiness stems from our family and friends, our work and our leisure time and while we may still dream of winning that elusive Gold Lotto, or inheriting some fortune from a very distant relative, the reality is that we are happy enough with what we have.

Unfortunately, not everyone is in this fortunate position. It may surprise you to know that there are some people who live not far from us on the Sunshine Coast who are disadvantaged in very real terms. These people may be disadvantaged by one or more of the following factors: low income, no car, no family, physical disability, limited access to transport or health services or educational opportunities.

Of the 300,000 or so people living on the Sunshine Coast, there are according to the 2010 report from Uniting Care, Centre for Social Justice, around 20 percent of householders on the Sunshine Coast receiving less than $500 per week. One parent explained in her own words what this is like:

“We can’t support ourselves. Where I live cost $250 a fortnight. I only get $420 in unemployment benefit. How am I suppose to support myself and my kids in a house with that amount of money? I struggle to eat.”

On the Sunshine Coast, approximately 15 percent of families suffer unemployment. Children are often caught in desperate situations because of their parents’ circumstances and often these children live in single parent families. One person explained how they coped growing up as a child in poverty:

“I hid my poverty by never telling anyone where I lived and by never inviting anyone home.”

The elderly living on a pension are often caught in poverty. They worry about money constantly and coping is very stressful for them. They wonder whether they will have enough to get by each week. As one elderly man put it:

“I can afford ‘basics’ but I can’t afford new clothing. I don’t have enough money to go out. I worry about how I’m going to cope in the future.”

The really sad part of growing old, one man said, was that you become invisible.

“You are no longer worth anything when you are old. People don’t even see you anymore. When I walk down the street, no-one ever says ‘hello’. Some days I wait out the front of my flat, until the postman comes to the letterbox, so I can talk to him. He may be the only person I talk to some weeks.”

The people who are most disadvantaged are the elderly, the disabled, those on a pension, the unemployed, single parents and the very young born into families who are disadvantaged. Some of these families live in rented houses, but many others live in temporary accommodation – moving from one flat to another, or live in caravans, or cars, homeless shelters or at worse, on the streets and in parks.

On the Sunshine Coast, according to a specially commissioned Sunshine Coast Regional Council 2006 report, about 1700 people or more are homeless. About 1000 of these homeless people, live in caravan parks.

Disadvantaged people can live in desperate circumstances – some of their own making - but often in many other cases, it’s a result of loss of income, mental illness, or physical disabilities which makes it difficult to find or keep work and in some very sad cases, a combination of many of these factors. Despair, depression, worry, anxiety, hopelessness, hunger and stress are the emotional struggles of the disadvantaged.

There are certain times of the year, when poverty and disadvantage are more painful and stressful. Christmas and Easter are particularly difficult for disadvantaged families, where children are the ones who feel it more deeply. Many parents may try and protect children from their dire financial circumstances. One parent wrote:

“At Christmas, we came home with $14 in our pocket. We sat around and made a game of cutting out decorations to put on the Christmas tree. We always tried to hide our poverty from the kids.”

No matter what your faith or religion, Easter is a time when families have holidays but not everyone can celebrate Easter with family celebrations – not everyone can afford it. As a community we are very fortunate by every measure, and it’s important that our young people understand how lucky they are in comparison to many other children and families here on the Sunshine Coast as well as in other parts of the world.


Easter is a time when we can do something to help others less fortunate. As John Templeton once said:

"Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth... Happiness comes from giving, not getting. If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it."


So what can you do to make the life of someone less fortunate than you a little better at Easter?

• Donate food items to the Salvation Army for distribution






• Volunteer to help some charities and your local church distribute food or simply offer some help to someone who might need it






• Get involved in the work of Rotary, Lions, Zonta or some other organisation that commits to helping others in need

There are many ways that we can get involved and make a difference to someone else's life. A little kindness and a little time can go a long way to helping others in need. What will you do to make a difference? It doesn't need to be a big or grand gesture, it could be a simple act of random kindness. Whether it's big or small donation, all of us can make a difference if we set our minds and hearts to it.

Karon Graham

The New Science of Learning - latest research

Don’t you love a challenge? When we are engaged in the pursuit of some ‘Holy Grail’ (like swashbuckling, archaeologist, Indiana Jones), our whole body and mind is absorbed by the best way to meet that challenge. Sir Ken Robinson talks about us being in the zone –or the ‘state of creative flow’.


For many creative people, sportsmen or women this is perhaps the greatest challenge, finding that single impetus or stimulus that drives us to exhaustion in perfecting our singing, or our golf swing, or perfecting the best mix of musical notes or songs, or our dance moves, or our drawing ability or our photographic skills to take that perfect shot. Our best learning and greatest creativity is sparked by being in “the zone”. Does practice make perfect? Well not necessarily, according to the latest research.


We have all heard the adage; we learn by doing. Yes it’s true but surprisingly, new research into the science of learning now reveals that we learn by watching too. According to Dr Anne Murphy Paul, who has just written a book about the subject, whether it’s a salsa teacher running through a dance sequence, or a tennis coach demonstrating the perfect backhand, or a science teacher conducting a dissection in front of a class, observing an expert at work is an opportunity to hone our own skills.


Paul maintains that this is particularly true for motor movements, and research in neuroscience is beginning to show why. She states that when we watch someone else’s motions, the parts of the brain that direct our own physical movements are activated. Observation accelerates the learning process because our brains are able to map others’ actions onto our own mental representations, making them more detailed and more accurate. Now I’m sure many of you may be thinking that all of the money paid to the golf professional has not resulted in a Greg Norman swing just yet, but despite this, the research is showing a clear correlation between the observations and the brain’s ability to absorb and direct our actions.

‘Couch potatoes’ beware, it’s not as easy as it sounds. While on the surface it appears that we can learn from observing experts, there is a catch. Research conducted by Professor of psychology, Scott Grafton, at the University of California also shows that we learn best when we engage a circuit in the brain whenever we observe movement, imagine performing it or actually engage in it ourselves. Scott Frey of the University of Oregon found through brain scans, that those people who had observed a person pulling apart a toy and putting it back together and told that they had to to do the task themselves, had greater brain activity in the region of the brain involved in motor learning, than the group that simply observed.


Similarly those people who don’t just play a piece of music for hours on end but instead undertake deliberate, painstaking practice, which involves a process of constant self-evaluation, of focusing on one’s weaknesses, results in better outcomes (superior playing skills), because the practice is about improving on and correcting one’s weaknesses.


There has been other groundbreaking research into the benefits of increased spatial learning and how it benefits a child’s learning and understanding of mathematics, science, technology and engineering. Nora Newcombe’s work on how children learn best in the early years highlighted that we best enhance the spatial learning in children by using hand gestures, use analogies and by using spatial language. The researchers found that when playing with blocks under interactive conditions, children hear the kind of language that helps them think about space, such as "over," "around" and "through."


"When parents use spatial language, they draw attention to spatial concepts," said Nora Newcombe, co-director of Temple's Infant Lab. "The development of a spatial vocabulary is critical for developing spatial ability and awareness."


She stresses the importance of play, particularly with puzzles, paper folding (origami for example) and block play but under specific guided play rather than ‘free’ play. "This study gives parents news they can use. It shows that, rather than leaving kids alone with a preassembled activity, interactive play that draws out conversation is best at facilitating spatial development," Newcombe said.


A recent “Time” magazine’s article: “Ten Ideas that are changing your life”, had at number three on the list, (and surprisingly not at number one), the change in the brain and the way we learn, as a result of mass consumption of knowledge from the internet and the almost total dependency on Google to answer all of life’s big and little questions. Are our heads, now, really in the clouds?


According to Betsy Sparrow, professor of psychology at Columbia University, skills like critical thinking and analysis must develop in the context of facts, because the evidence to date is showing some decline in our skills to memorise and to recall information from our long term memory. Sparrow points out that we need something to think and reason about and these facts can’t be Googled as we go; they need to be stored in the original hard-drive, our long term memory. Especially in the case of children, ‘factual knowledge must precede skill."


Adults too, according to Daniel Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, need to recruit a supply of stored knowledge in order to situate and evaluate new information we encounter. As he quips:


“You can’t Google context.”


According to Andrew Meltzoff, co director of the University of Washington’s Institute of Learning and Brain Sciences in Seattle, the ‘new science of learning’ reveals that :
· Learning is computational and that infants and toddlers posses innate capabilities to see and hear patterns. By reinforcing these capabilities in the very young we can shape and aid learning in the child.
· Learning is social and people learn better through social cues. According to Meltzoff: social factors play an important role in life-long learning.
· Learning is driven by brain circuitry and brain cells are fired up during both perception and action overlap in people, which allows students to identify with their teachers and speeds learning.


It seems that scientists are now quietly tackling education issues, offering up new tools, new approaches and even new disciplines, like the new science of learning which is a convergence of the thinking and research of psychologists, neuroscientists, roboticists and teachers. In time more research will reveal the wonders of learning and the practical applications of this research will be absorbed into the teaching and learning programs.


Melttzoff, when asked in an interview about the age old question of whether learning is primarily nature or nurture, had this to say:


“There is no real conflict between nature and nurture, no conflict between biology and culture. What is unique about human biology is that we depend on other people for learning. We are influenced deeply by our teachers, parents and peers. I like to say that we humans are born to learn.”
How true!


Karon Graham