CEO blog: I told you it would all end in tears

Posted: 08 October 2018

Back in October we hosted the Round Square International Conference 2018 in Canada, bringing together 1,150 delegates from 170 RS schools around the world across three host schools: Lower Canada College in Montreal, Ashbury College in Ottawa and Appleby College in Ontario. And they did an amazing job.

With a shared theme that asked delegates to “Bring your Difference” the conference offered a range of inspiring keynote speakers, encouraged students to explore the conference theme in mixed Barraza discussions, presented opportunities for challenge, adventure and service to the local community, and allowed quality time immersed in local everyday life with host families.

At the start of each conference we watch the delegations arrive with nervous anticipation – every student bringing their own cultural influences, heritage, story and personality to the gathering. Icebreaker activities encourage them to start to interact and it’s a delight to watch the magic start to happen.

At this point I always make a prediction for the new schools attending for the first time, albeit not a difficult one, based as it is on a few years’ experience: Whilst they start out nervous and clinging to their school delegations, by the end of the week their students will have made a hundred new friends for life from all over the world, regardless of culture, nationality, beliefs, gender, or any other differences that seemingly set them apart at the start. By the end of the week their view of the world and their place in it will be changed forever and they will be distraught to leave.

The coming together of diverse peoples from different countries, cultures and perspectives, to share, learn, understand, and be inspired to make a positive difference in the world, has for more than five decades been at the heart of the Round Square movement. And it has never been more needed than it is right now: With nations pitted against one another; with national self-interest coming to the fore, and with our news feeds filled each day with the continuing horrors or war, global terrorism, displaced people, environmental disaster and so many examples of the breakdown of diplomacy.

We talk a lot about teaching “global competence” to develop a skill set infused with the intercultural capability necessary for successful careers in a world where international mobility is becoming the norm. The ability to be fluently globally competent is hugely important to today’s students, and will only become more so in the future, and for this reason Round Square is in the midst of a research project right now that is aiming to figure the best methods of developing the range of skills and literacies that fall into this broad category.

But every year the final days of the RSIC bring an important reminder that in order to develop global competence first you have to build international understanding – it is not enough to not simply know it, you have to feel it; you can’t simply “do” it but have to “be” it. The tears and hugs in the car park as students board the coaches to leave, exchanging email addresses and connecting on social media are a constant sign of hope that given the right opportunities and context, as Kurt Hahn said “The boy growing up in brotherhood with foreigners, cannot help but learn to care about the rights and the happiness of at least one other nation.”