I am sitting at my desk in the common staffroom – a space which houses sixty-five other teachers – and looking up at a quote I have pinned to my noticeboard. The quote is from my favourite poet T.S. Eliot who asks the following questions: ‘Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?’

I heard Eliot’s words repeated by Professor Maryanne Wolf last Sunday morning on ABC radio’s The Minefield – a program which explores the social, cultural, and ethical issues which make up the complexities of our modern world today. Last week’s topic was literacy – a capacity very dear to my heart. One of the hosts – Scott Stephens – spoke passionately about the critical importance of literacy stating that his ‘whole life has been spent in the company of books’, a practice he described as ‘an act of encounter’. In warning that ‘we are on the brink of a new age of illiteracy’, he urged his listeners not to equate reading with mere consumption but rather as an act of attention.

This mention of the word ‘attention’ echoed the message of our dux of 2022, Gabriel Garcia, in the speech he delivered at last Friday’s special assembly. In speaking about the importance of ‘a commitment to hard work and diligence’, Gabriel referenced the French philosopher Simone Weil who stated that ‘Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity’. He urged students to tune out the distractions and silence the noise around them in order to be fully present in the moment. He linked attentiveness with wisdom, understanding, creative expression, critical thinking and self-reflection. And he challenged students to ‘be attentive to the things around us worthy of attention – worthy of our time, consideration, and understanding.’ 

Young people today – and the not so young as well – are being bombarded with constant information. The acts of skimming, scanning, scrolling, and word-spotting, have become the typical and at times superficial way in which we respond to our busy world. What is being lost in this constant exposure to noise, fragmentation and transience is the ability to be still, to linger, to wait and delay gratification, to think and to reflect. And, as a result, self-knowledge, empathy, and wisdom are waning too. I often use the expression counter-cultural when discussing the educational, social, and spiritual needs of our young people today. I think as parents and teachers, that is exactly what we are being called to be. I hope we have the courage and the will to be just that.

Clare Murphy

English Coordination and Literacy Instructional Coach