Learning is a lifelong journey

Growing up in a comfortable middle class neighbourhood in Toronto Canada, meant that education was something I  tended to take for granted, or even resent, when the weather was sunny and I would have rather just been outside, or hanging out with friends. I lived near my school, sometimes went home for lunch, and didn't worry about things like safety or not being able to afford textbooks. Oh, of course I enjoyed school, and knew that it was an important thing, and took it seriously, but didn't think twice about skipping class or complaining about my work load. And it is programmes like GCC that are so important for helping those of us, like my younger self, in our little protective 'bubbles' to come out and see the world and its realities for most people in it, and actually try and do something about it. For me, one of the greatest injustices I've encountered, is seeing someone denied an education and the freedom it can bring. Especially when it is denied to someone for reasons completely out of their own control.

But whats really important to remember is that we don't stop learning once we leave school, and in fact, I sometimes feel like I didn't really start to learn about the world until I left school and began to experience life. I have also been lucky enough to go to university, including as a mature student, and that process has shown me that it is never too late to learn and grow.

Alot of my work has allowed me to work together with people who left school years ago, and felt let down by the system because they didn't fit in or get good enough grades, and so got 'left behind'. And although we're lucky to even just get the basics here when so many don't experience even one year of primary, in the West, if you don't fit into the 'system' your chances for future success are minimised. When this happens, unemployment, social exclusion, crime, addictions and isolation can swiftly follow. In Scotland, where I now live, our governments are raising the cost of university tuition, which means that only the very wealthy will be able to afford higher education, which in turn will only widen the gap between the rich and the poor. Of course a university degree is a privilege and not necessarily a right, but who has the right to decide who will get that privilege? And, who is to say that the most valuable learning only happens in school, from teachers, when we are young? Doesn't everybody deserve the right to turn their world around through education, even if they don't do it in a conventional way? Learning is an individual thing, and it can happen in the smallest of everyday occurances, at any time.

So even though we tend to focus on working with young leaders in GCC, I encourage everyone to remember that every individual, regardless of age, is a learner at heart. And 'global citizenship' means taking opportunities to continue to learn no matter how old we are. Because the more we know, the more we can share, and the more we can do to end social injustice wherever we may be, and during any stage of life.