From our Deputy Principal
A Word on Choice
You are on a game show. You are shown three closed doors. A prize is hidden behind one, and the game show host knows where it is. You are asked to select a door. You do. Before you open it, the host opens one of the other doors, showing that it is empty, then asks you if you would like to change your guess (to the other remaining door). Should you, should you not, or doesn’t it matter?
The above is the famous “Monty Hall” problem and it is actually a mathematical one. Although it seems like it is a random choice that needs to be made, there is actually a mathematically “right” choice that increases your chance of winning the prize.
Most of life’s choices do not have a mathematical solution. In the 21st Century there are more choices than we ever imagined which is wonderful but sometimes this can also paralyse us into not making a choice at all. Barry Schwartz’s TED Talk on The Paradox of Choice highlights the difficulty of choice when you have too many to choose from.
For schools in the 21st Century it is important that we teach our students how to make choices. Choices that are not only right for them but that are made in a timely manner based on the information at hand. In this process we develop skills in our students to work with their choices that may involve making sure they move on with “no regrets” or reviewing their choices, to learn from them to make different choices in the future. With an abundance of choice it can be easy to not make them at all and we don’t want this for our students either in their everyday lives nor when planning for their futures.
SEQTA Parent Information
On another note, last week we held a SEQTA Parent Information Evening. Some excellent questions were asked and answered during the night. We recognise that parents are busy and many could not make the evening so I have attached an edited PDF of the Power Point presented on the evening that includes a link to a video of a SEQTA Engage demonstration (please press the play arrow on bottom left of the screen when the link opens).
We will continue to have these evenings from time to time as SEQTA rolls out new aspects of the portal.
Kathleen Kemp (Deputy Principal)