Success 2018 Feature Story
THE CLASS OF 2030
Developing a global world view
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By Mr Daniel McClintock, Head of Junior School
ne of my favourite childhood TV shows was Beyond 2000. That date, 2000, embodied a sense of future and wonder, of technological progress. Now, eighteen years after the turn of the century, it seems quaint. Writing about the future world of this year’s Kindergarten students faces the same fate. Our Junior School’s youngest charges will graduate from Year 12 in the year 2030. Looking ahead, 2030 is unknowable, mysterious, exciting, and in many ways a little frightening. But 2030 will come. Indeed, one day, these students will be in their 40s, and they may open this article (or a digital archive), and smile at how quaint it was for Mr McClintock to think of 2030 as some distant future. We must ask ourselves, though, what is the education a 2030 graduate needs to receive? For all the uncertainty we have around the future, one thing is clear: a futurefocused education must be one that prepares students for a global outlook – even in a regional school such as ours.
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The Hunter Valley community is a diverse one – industries thriving in our region include viticulture, marketing, hospitality, the arts, agriculture, health, construction, mining, the trades and education. In each of these sectors, the impact of increased global connections is evident, and there’s no identifiable reason for this impact to abate in the future. This will be more apparent as the influence of Artificial Intelligence is increasingly felt across all industries. Each of our region’s industries brings an increasingly diverse population to the area – students from our School identify with more than thirty separate cultural backgrounds in their own immediate family. Hunter Valley Grammar School takes its responsibility to our students incredibly seriously. To provide the absolute best outcomes for students, we must adopt a global world view, connected with and aware of the issues of the world, ready to contribute solutions globally, and ready to build bridges with those of other cultures. This is the type of education that equips this year’s Kindergartens for a global future.
