Editorial - Role Modelling

Last term our school had the pleasure of hosting the All Blacks coach during his brief visit to the Bay of Plenty. During his time with us he was involved in a discussion on leadership with our senior students as well as running a coaching session with our 1st XV. I was most impressed by the way Ian Foster was able to genuinely engage with our students and, despite the obvious pressures, was determined to make the most of his time with them. During his address to the students, Ian described himself as a collaborator, who believes in the power of the team as a whole. He saw his role as creating an environment which values honest conversation, putting the team first, acknowledging individual and collective needs, and applying these principles to everyone involved. It was clear to me that Ian’s understanding of leadership has been honed by rubbing shoulders with, and learning from other great leaders that he has worked alongside or met over the years. Everyone needs role models to aspire to in order to grow as a person, and it started me thinking who it is that our students might turn to for role models today. Hopefully not the reality TV ‘stars’ who have an ever increasing amount of air play and seeming influence, but take no apparent responsibility for their lifestyle. Hopefully not modern day music ‘icons’ who try to push the envelope of decency in order to increase their airplay, citing artistic creativity as their mantra. Hopefully not sports stars who are more concerned with the relative merits of their ‘branding’ rather than loyalty to team or country. Hopefully not the finance company directors who use other people’s money to fund ‘sound’ investments and, even though they may fail, are still allowed to retreat to their multi-million dollar homes kept safe through family trusts while their investors become homeless. Hopefully not… but our social and news media are saturated with

dubious role models such as these. 18

Where else can our teenagers turn, then, for their role models? Wouldn’t it be great if the media focused more on the people who make a positive difference to our communities? What if the spotlight was regularly turned on people who add rather than take away from communities, so that young people would understand that it is more important to build a life of substance, and aim for the stars rather than the largest pay cheque. What if there was an overexposure to Kiwis of character like Sir Paul Callaghan, Sir Ray Avery, Lynley Dodd, Willie Apiata, Kate Sheppard, Joy Cowley, Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Apirana Ngata, Jean Batten, Sir Peter Snell, Dame Whina Cooper, Ernest Rutherford, and Charles Upham? The list could go on.

If you have ever lamented that fact that teenagers seem to be overrepresented in our country’s negative statistics, remember we need to be part of the solution and not the problem. We can do this by opening up their futures and talking to them about our best and brightest, so they can see for themselves the yawning chasm between true character and the overnight ‘success’ stories so common today. Our kids need positive role models, and for that they should be able to count on you and me!