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A vIRUs ThAT INvADEs ThE mIND
“I’m hoping during this conference that you’re going to catch a
virus. That you will all be infected deeply –and for your entire
life- with this virus; that there will be no antidote available – it
will never be developed; that this virus will spread like wildfire
throughout the world; that people will catch this and understand
that our world is in peril...”
The above paragraph is fragments of a
speech that might scare people, if it was not
from Tim Carr, JIS head of School, who
delivered it at the opening ceremony of the
4th Annual EARCOS Global Issues Network
(GIN) Conference. Mr. Carr didn’t talk about
a biological weapon that terrorists might
use. He was talking about another virus.
You mentioned about a virus that
you wished people to catch at the
GIN conference. What virus is it
actually?
First of all an awareness of the problems
in the world. Some of the biggest global
issues like poverty and the distribution
of resources, the access to clean water,
spread of desease, etc. So an awareness
of those problems. And then it’s also an
awareness that we can make a difference
and that each student can make a
difference about those problems even
when they are in school. So the virus that
we want is the GIN conciousness. It’s a
combination of awareness, the problems,
the capacity that each individual has, to do
something about it and then taking action
and trying to address that problem.
Do you think the GIN Conference
has spread a strong enough
virus?
I hope so. I think it would help, because it
created a condition for the virus to spread.
And I think it created a lot of enthusiasm.
They were feeding the students for feeding
off one another. The
ideas that they were
distributing infected
them all the more now.
So I think the condition
for the virus to spread
was passed on.
Knowing that the
world’s condition
is getting worse,
is this the point
of the GIN
Conference - that
kids must not
wait?
I think that’s one of the
big points, that they can
take action now. They
don’t need to wait and
no matter what age they
are, students can make
a significant difference. If
they are five years old, or
even younger than that,
it’s the conciousness,
that they’re looking
outside of themselves,
they’re looking to the
needs of other people
around them, and
changing their own
behaviour so they can
address these problems
and live a more
responsible lifestyle.
During the GIN Conference, JIS
became an environmentally
responsible campus. Is this
condition still maintained?
This behaviour is going to need to evolve
with time. I don’t think we are exemplary.
I don’t think we are as strong in our green
effort as we could be. But we just had an
Earth Day celebration just last week after
the GIN conference. And the Earth Day
was influenced by the conference. So we
did really interesting things on campus in
each one of the divisiond in the elementary
school, in the middle school, high school…
Lots of hands on, (students) get their hands
dirty trying to make things better. They learn
how to compost, go to the local kampong
here and find out what they can do to
help their environment, or what they can
improve a little bit. It’s already growing. It’s
already been a catalyst for a change.
What does the GIN Conference
mean to JIS? Is it a part of the
curriculum or school program?
We are increasingly hoping that it will
be a part of both the curriculum and cocurricular
activities. So things that they
choose to do outside the school, we try to
weave it into the curriculum too. And that’s
hard to be honest… It’s not easy to figure
out how that will work at each grade level,
and how we are going to weave in these
global issues, but that’s what we are
trying to do.
What are the reasons for JIS to
conduct the GIN conference?
We are a part of the mission of our school
that says ‘to be the best for the world’.
So it’s really the core of what JIS is about
as a school… It’s so that we can help
these students to go and make significant
differences in the world to make it a better
place. That’s why we are here. That’s the
mission of JIS.
Is GINDO the extension of GIN in
Indonesia?
That (GINDO) was a creative idea. You should
ask the students about this. I believe they
(were the ones) who came out with this,
‘Let’s spread it around to local Indonesian
schools and see if we can get them engaged
about this issue’. And I think what they
found is lot of interests, from Indonesian
schools, national schools, national plus
schools to participate in GIN-like activities.
To do the same sort of thing, to identify
global issues and then develop service,
action and projects to address them.
BY: FRANSISCA RESTIAWARDANI. PHOTOS: AGUNG NATANAEL.
94 | MAY 2011 www.nowjakarta.co.id www.nowjakarta.co.id MAY 2011 | 95