I have some good news. This term, at school, I aim to start a club I’ve been ‘planning’ for a while now – and I thought I’d share the idea’s progress on this blog. As a little taster of what I’ve been going for, below is (an extremely low-quality rendering of) a poster I made one afternoon:
Do any of the nerds among you recognise the background picture?
Now, the original idea came about some time ago… From a mix of having regular interesting conversations with friends around school and noticing posters for lunchtime Christian and Muslim clubs, I realised that those wishing to see things from a neutral, rational perspective may need catering for. I had a few discussions with a close friend on turning this idea into a regular weekly reality, with us co-organising it and taking equal responsibility. But I soon got so excited by the very idea that I ended up voluntarily doing all of the planning myself, and even begged to be given full control. It became my pet project.
The first ‘stage’ in this was, looking back on it now, a little bit of informal market research. I asked around, wondering – more than anything else - whether people would bother to even come to such a ‘club’. I asked frankly, posing the question to religious and non-religious friends alike, and all said yes. That was the easy bit.
After I knew that people would turn up, I had to get some teachers on board. I started by going to teachers I knew I could ‘trust’ with the idea so they could provide support/weight to it. All were extremely eager to see the club establish a place in the school, and all gave me valuable advice on how to go about beginning it – they said to go straight to the Head teacher with the proposal.
So I went to the head of Religious Studies instead. I sat in his room for a couple of hours, going through exactly what the club would outline as a few friends listened in, and he was all for it. Among other things he wanted to know if there would be any ‘rules’, who I’m ‘targeting’ (in terms of the people I’d like to come) and what exactly I’d cover in the time provided/what the format of the session would be.
The only rule, I said with slight unnecessary colourful elaboration at the time, was going to be that attendees would have to be willing to accept reasonable intellectual defeat, with a humble smile, but I wish to revise this slightly. The original comment was made in conversation and I hadn’t really had much time to, well, think it over. So, what I really meant, was that people cannot attend the club with their mindset set in stone, and they cannot aim to only persuade others that they are right – but rather be happily open to persuasion themselves, when it’s logical (and evidence-based). I then described the ‘targets’ as being truly everyone, mentioning how people sitting in a room agreeing with each other unconditionally was not what I was after (and unlike the religious clubs, I’d like a bit of lively discussion). What we would talk about, in terms of the first session*, was going to be some happy medium between something from one of the ‘big’ topics and an informal look at general quackery and misuse of ‘science’ and it’s language. Perhaps I’d tackle questions of morality to begin with, and end with poking fun at homoeopathy – but either way, I’d made it clear that I never want a silly idea of taboo to get in the way of unbiased scientific approach to a subject.
How well the last point was received rested entirely on how much the head of Religious Studies trusted me not to have a student complain to parents because of what is likely to be approached in the club. Thankfully he felt that the students likely to come are going to deal with the questions posed in a sufficiently grown up way, and he knows that I’m not looking to antagonise… So it got full approval. And what’s more, the club will be held in his room, with him moderating.
… As soon as I get a ‘plan’ to the Head that is, outlining the agenda of the first discussion.
Writing this plan (or even beginning to write this plan) has been the hardest part, but I think I’m nearly there. I look forward to the club starting up, and Id like to leave the school this year with it still running.
Carnun
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*I’d be happy to take suggestions, as comments, on how I should ‘introduce’ the club in the first meeting. For example in the form of; what subjects to tackle, format ideas etc…
As ever, have a nice week.
