Growing Good Men – Equipping boys with the emotional literacy to thrive in the 21st Century.

How timely that our next Unicorn series focuses on Growing Good Men. This topic was planned in 2018; however, the topic could not be more relevant given discussions and responses to recent events in Melbourne. The life and academic education of young men in our society is the responsibility of men and women, mothers and fathers, male and female teachers and that strongest of influencers: society. All need to consider and think most carefully about how we do the best by and for the young men (and young women) with whom we live and work. Having worked with young men for over 14 years of my career and being the mother of four boys and a daughter, it is a topic close to my heart and that of the School.

What concerns me in our society is the hunt to blame when events such as that at the recent APS Athletics occur. I have heard people blame the school involved, the fact it was a boys’ school, that it was a Catholic school or that it was an elite school. I have heard people blame the parents of the boys, the boys themselves, the sporting culture of Australia, the teachers, the teaching profession and the media.

Frankly it is too easy to blame – let’s move beyond the narrow thinking that seems to cloud much debate in education; recognize that  young people behaving poorly is multi-factorial and is not going to be solved by blaming someone or something. Instead, let us take a constructive approach, consider who we would like our young people to be, and work out ways to get there. Certainly all of us have work to do. To this end, the next Unicorn Series ‘Growing Good Men’ will consider questions such as What does being a ‘good man’ mean?, Is there a difference between a ‘real man’ and a ‘good man’?, How do we grow good men? What can schools do? What can parents do? What are the barriers to being able to grow good men? To what does ‘toxic masculinity’ refer?

For anyone with a young male in their lives – and let’s face it that is all of us, considering our daughters are very likely to associate with males – ‘Growing Good Men’ is essential viewing.

6.00pm – 7.00pm on Thursday 21 November in the Lecture Theatre at SMS. Register your attandance at:

We welcome you to attend this session, which is supported by the Australian College of Educators and ask you to consider sharing this with your networks. For those of you on LinkedIn you can share via the School’s LinkedIn presence https://www.linkedin.com/school/st-margarets-and-berwick-grammar-school/

Ms Annette Rome
Principal