During the Humanities Assembly two weeks ago, we heard from many students from Years 7 to 12 presenting ideas about the importance of learning in the Humanities and also showcasing their work in subjects this year. As Co-Captain, Sophie Boyce, noted in her presentation, learning in the Humanities empowers students to understand what is happening around them in the real world. Additionally, other students demonstrated how the current COVID-19 health and economic crisis can be contextualised with a strong understanding of History and Law. Then there were the many examples of students applying their knowledge of Geography to anticipate and prepare for natural disasters. Finally, there were students who are actively engaged in important issues, such as human rights in their subjects and student clubs. The students in the Commerce subjects continue to explore how economic decisions and events shape our world.

In this period of time when there is a sense of uncertainty, young people may feel unsettled. However, understanding that there is always a context to events can help to keep the world in perspective. Major events, like the one we are in at the moment, have occurred many times in the past, and in many ways, history teaches us that we are much better prepared and able to cope today, than society and people were in the past. The all-pervasive presence of social media and even more traditional news media are now built around very short-term stories and events. Much of the media today aims solely to generate emotional responses in their audiences that, in times like these, can amplify our worries. As Sophie noted, a critical understanding is the key learning that students gain from Humanities.

Critical understanding is a valuable form of emotional stability in times like these. Being able to step back from the immediate news story of the hour or a current feed on social media and critically evaluate the perspective being presented or whether there really is much evidence for what is being presented, is very much at the core of Humanities. There are fun and creative ways to critically explore Humanities subjects, and Year 7 and 8 students demonstrated this at Assembly a couple of weeks ago.

As was evident then and in every week across the diverse Humanities subjects at St Catherine’s, students and teachers are engaging with the real world and making sense of it now and in the past, in order to prepare for the future. The value to society of Humanities is equally important for the individual.

As Eleanor Roosevelt once stated, “If you can develop this ability to see what you look at, to understand its meaning, to readjust your knowledge to this new information, you can continue to learn and to grow as long as you live and you’ll have a wonderful time doing it”.