"MARG, WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 'BEING A GLOBAL CITIZEN?' " My recent interview by the editor of LitGleam

My interview appeared in the recent April 2020 edition of India’s LitGleam Magazine

Yes! Excitement! I was recently interviewed for the Indian magazine, LitGleam. A beautifully current magazine. LitGleam is not an online magazine, so I am sharing my responses to their questions, posed by their Editor, R. Nithya, here. Of course, if you are in India, you can subscribe to LitGleam yourself! I think you will be very happy you did!

QUESTION ONE:

Nithya: Your recent book “The Gandhi Experiment” focuses on teaching teenagers to become global citizens. What do you mean by that and why is it needed? What is your idea of being a “global citizen”?
Margaret: My journey into teaching teenagers to become global citizens grew out of a realisation
from my decades of experience in teaching. It began to dawn on me that if we say we are teaching kindness, caring, empathy, respect, tolerance and understanding, then why does it appear to have not translated into the adult world – especially the world of big business, where greed, over-competitiveness and corruption are rife? Why are the messages not sticking? Why do we still have so many problems ‘out there’?

I began both an inner and outward journey – going ‘in’ to learn more and ‘out’ to teach these learnings. I found myself at the Gandhi Sabarmati ashram, meditating in the very same place Gandhi-ji prayed morning and night. This very clear thought came to me then: ‘There are too many people experimenting with war and violence. We need more people experimenting with peace and non-violence.’ Essentially, that is where The Gandhi Experiment began.

I now teach the connection between inner change / personal change and global change. I take young people ‘out there’ to grapple with the big global issues. They love getting their minds around big picture questions –”What is the root cause of war? How can we apply ‘Einstein’s theory of Why? Why? Why?’ to drill down into this?” “Give me ten ways to stop a terrorist group, using non-violence.” “Where is the biggest garbage patch in our world? What? It is in the ocean? Well how on earth did it get there?”

Then I bring it back all to ‘me’ – What is my role,my behaviour, my relationships? How does my behaviour and my attitude connect to global issues? When we learn why we should never use fear to control our home, our school, our community, our country, we see the direct connection between ‘me’ and all issues around me. We begin to also understand that the small changes we can make close to home become the large solutions for positive change in our world.This is transformative education.

To be a Global Citizen means you can still be very proud of your country, yet you understand yourself to be a citizen with rights and responsibilities that transcend borders. Through The Gandhi Experiment, I teach tools and strategies for Ahimsa, non-violence to others, to ourselves and to the planet. Violence extends well beyond physical violence. Emotional violence can cause mental health issues; keeping people in poverty is a form of economic violence; climate change is a violence to the planet.

As a Global Citizen, what is ‘my’ role in co-creating a non-violent planet?

“We begin to also understand that the small changes we can make close to home become the large solutions for positive change in our world.This is transformative education. ”

If we are seeking wisdom, Einstein told us, ‘The thinking that got us into the problem is not the thinking that will get us out of the problem.’ We need to change the way we think, and therefore the way we act and behave. The dominant paradigm of ‘When I win, you lose,’ must change to ‘When I win, you win too.’

Question Two to follow soon!

Cheery blessings,

Marg

Margaret Hepworth is the founder of The Gandhi Experiment

www.margarethepworth.com

margaret@margarethepworth.com

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A FEW BUSY WEEKS IN ALL THINGS PEACE-BUILDING

My team of visiting professors from Shihezi University, P.R.China - ‘thinkers’ at Monash University

The last few weeks have been an extremely busy, yet productive and rewarding time for me.

I have:

• Headed up an education program running out of Melbourne University for 16 Chinese professors from Shihezi University;

• MCd the Afghan Komak Awards and danced my way into the night, Afghan style;

The Team organising the KOMAK Awards, celebrating achievements in our Afghan Community.

• Facilitated workshops on Global Citizenship and Leadership Within at the Wyndham Community and Education Centre's inspiring multi-faith camp;

“I really enjoyed the part where we got to learn about conflict resolution, which helped me a lot.”

• Run a Positive Thinking workshop for African women through African Family Services.

And in between all this, I have met other pretty extraordinary people.

Phew! 

So I needed time to stop and smell the roses! I was lucky enough to do so at my friends' house up in the Melbourne hills, at Sassafrass.

Stop and smell the roses

This one smells like peachy heaven!

My own learning has been deep.

"For me, the special moment came, when in our final workshop, 'Almost Impossible Thoughts', each Shihezi University professor, all from science backgrounds, stood up to share what they would be taking home. They spoke of how they had come to a sense of a shared global humanity, giving very specific examples of how they would develop their own research projects to help shape a more positive future for all." 

'SCENE ONE; SCENE TWO' - A ROLE PLAY TEACHING HOW TO MAKE BETTER CHOICES

‘Scene One; Scene Two’ - a role play about making better choices.

These young students, Yr 4-6 (age 10-13yrs old) are completely rocking my role play on anger management and the choices we can make when we are upset, frustrated and angry. 
The role play intentionally utilises the learning preferences for audio, visual and kinesthetic learners, so that everyone is readily engaged and learns the messages. 
I crafted this role play to follow a pattern that works:

1. To ‘take them out beyond themselves’ 
2. To bring it back 'to me', to 'my school' and 'my home' environments
3. To understand I might get angry, yet I can calm down and choose a different response
4. To see that both violence and kindness have a ripple effect- and I can be a part of either one.

5. It is a choice. My response is important not just to me but to others around me as well. 

These kids are amazing improvisers, acting completely off the cuff, acting out one scenario and then going into 'rewind' to act out a different response- and having a ball doing so! My heartfelt thanks to them. 

‘Global Citizenship - It starts with us!’ is one of The Gandhi Experiment’s signature student workshops

Feeling great after our workshop

COLLABORATIVE DEBATING THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION

Students workshop the topic prior to the Collaborative Debate

Last Friday, I was very excited to be back at Preshil, running a Collaborative Debate with all their Yr 10s. Having studied ethical questions around the Fourth Industrial Revolution - digital revolution - social credit, advanced surveillance technology, facial recognition and more, the topic of our Collaborative Debate was ‘That we need more surveillance strategies.’ Oh yes, it was challenging!

I was impressed at how quickly these Yr 10s learnt to shift to this new framework of collaborative conversation, not trying to point score or denigrate, but to open the topic up to further examination. 

In Collaborative Debating we learn that we may need to pose new questions - create a question chain that will then take us closer to the answers we are seeking. One such question raised by one of the Preshil Yr 10s in relation to new surveillance strategies was ‘What are the outcomes we would be seeking?’ It helped to clarify the purpose and intent of our debate. 

And as much as we were talking about 'screens' here we were fully engaged in face-to-face conversations, in deep learning. Love it!

HOW ARE WE GOING TO TEACH OUR TEENAGERS TO BECOME GLOBAL CITIZENS?

ONE AUSTRALIAN TEACHER'S GLOBAL RESPONSE

Every young person knows the world needs to change. Let’s help them do it!

The Gandhi Experiment - publication date July 1, 2017. 

Travelling across India in 2015, running my Global Participation – It starts with us! student workshops, I was asked several times: ‘What are you going to do next? What are your next steps moving forward? Where do you see this growing?’ My answer: ‘I’m going to write a book that includes activities from the workshops; that allows other teachers and parents to take these lessons forward. So that the messages move beyond me.’

Having made that declaration, on returning home to Melbourne, Australia, I found an email that had been sitting in my inbox for ten days. It was from Dharini Bhaskar, Editor at Rupa publications. ‘I have read about your work. Would you like to write a book?’ I nearly deleted it; surely this was spam? Then I read it again…and again. It was obvious Dharini actually did know about my work through The Gandhi Experiment; it was obvious she was writing personally, to me. Ah, the synchronicity I had come to understand that is somehow magically embedded in India was manifesting action. Dharini’s email was returned with a resounding ‘Yes.’

The book, The Gandhi Experiment – Teaching our teenagers how to become global citizens has now taken shape and a life of its own. It is due to be published on July 1, this year, only a few short weeks away. Am I excited? Absolutely. I can see the power of the messages already moving well beyond me as the author, as teachers in Mumbai and Nagaland have run The Best Forgiveness Role Play Ever, a secular and lateral approach to forgiveness and inclusivity; as other teachers, parents and youth leaders prepare to hold The Dinner Party to Save the World in their student forums or at home at their own dinner tables, hosting courageous conversations, provocations and mindful activities; as more teachers are taking on ‘Almost Impossible Thoughts’, teaching young people how to take their skills, their passions, their expertise and combine it with ‘What does the world need me to do right now?’ The Utopian Scale is designed to shift attitudes, whilst the Conundrum of Inner Listening helps us all find that ‘still, small voice’ of guidance within.

With my 30 years teaching experience, I know it is all about ensuring the lessons ‘stick,’ – that they move both inwards, then outwards, beyond the classroom walls. Underpinned by critical thinking, multiple intelligences, parallel thinking and positive education, these lessons are designed to do precisely that. 

Nelson Mandela requested us all ‘To rise beyond our own expectations of ourselves.’ Yet Mandela wasn’t just speaking to the young people of this world – he was speaking to us all. If for two seconds you are wondering about the importance of this kind of teaching, then just look at the world around you.

How are we going to teach our teenagers how to become global citizens? Be inspired yourself by reading the chapter, ‘Almost Impossible Thoughts’. You will come to understand how to use your expertise, your passions, your visions –whatever they may be -  to help our teens find expression in theirs.

Change really does begin with ‘me’. Ah, yes, that does mean you.

Let’s go for it!

Cheery blessings,

Margaret

The Gandhi Experiment – Teaching our teenagers how to become global citizens will be available through Amazon.com and Rupa publications on July 1. Go to www.thegandhiexperiment.com to be notified of publication and learn more about the student workshops.

Author / Educator Margaret Hepworth is an expert in teenage motivations & behaviours; a thought leader in peace education; the founder of The Gandhi Experiment;  an English and Humanities teacher of 30 years; author of The Gandhi Experiment – teaching our teenagers how to become global citizens; recipient of the 2016 Sir John Monash Award for Inspirational Women's Leadership; creator of Collaborative Debating ©. www.thegandhiexperiment.com

Margaret@margarethepworth.com   +61422154875

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