It?s never been more important to harness your oratory skills, whether through in-person school debates or online to invoke real-world change, writes Georgie Middlemiss, a year 13 student at Putney High School GDST in West London
In 2014, the American political activist, academic, philosopher and author Angela Davis said: ?you have to act as if it were possible to radically change the world. And you have to do it all the time.? I think there?s nowhere more important for young people, especially young women, to develop this mindset than in school.
For all young people across the world, school should be a safe and unbiased environment; enabling students to challenge their assumptions, formulate opinions, and discover the bounds of their own voice. Just a glance at Putney High School?s bursting co-curricular timetable, spilling over with more than 200 clubs a week, or a walk down the school?s main corridor, packed full of creative boards from different societies and subjects, is a testimony to the plethora of ideas and identities that form the building blocks of the school.
From feminist society, Model United Nations and debating to STEM club and school council, to the host of new clubs set up by year 12 just this September, students seize opportunities for collaboration and the sharing of ideas.
Georgie Middlemiss, year 13 student at Putney High School GDST in West London
Opportunities aren?t limited to those who are confident at public speaking: Putney has four different jou...