I have been happily retired now
for nearly eighteen years. However, in a previous life I was a teacher.
For 28 years I was a school principal.
They were all very happy days.
Schools get government funding to help them operate effectively.
However, really good schools thrive on strong parent and community support. A
school needs enthusiastic volunteers to help create a place whose friendly
atmosphere and positive outcomes pleases parents; a school children are happy
and proud to attend and teachers enjoy working in.
When I started teaching in the late 1950s there were very few parents in or around
schools. Just about all children walked or rode their bikes to school or were
bused in from rural areas. The school newsletter was published once a term, if
at all. Not all schools had secretaries. Principals in the late 1950s and early
1960s may or may not have typed out a note or newsletter to inform parents of
P&C meetings, sports carnivals and the like.Sometimes children wrote their own notes to take home explaining of an upcoming event.
It is very different today. These days, one of the major tasks of a
principal is to promote the school. Newsletters now generally come out weekly
and are often delivered by e-mail or SMS. The school may also have a Webpage
and a Facebook page to promote the school’s ethos, upcoming events and
achievements.
Parents are now encouraged to volunteer their help at school sports,
swimming carnivals, graduation dinners, school musicals, debates, public
speaking, assemblies, assisting teachers with small group activities, final
assemblies, excursions, camps, environmental programmes and so on. The proviso
being that parents are given specific roles to perform, otherwise, some parents
may embark on empire building activities that are counterproductive.
I became a Level 3 principal in 1975, by
which time every school had a full or part time secretary. Over the years, from
time to time, I would drop a couple of stories into the weekly newsletter telling
parents that volunteering was good for them. Some of them believed me. In the early days of the school year I would
often insert the following message (which I found in an old poetry book, written by ANON, my favourie poet), to emphasise the need for volunteer parents
THE DEATH OF SOMEONE ELSE: We were all
saddened this week to learn of the death of one of our community’s most
valuable members …Someone Else.
Someone’s
passing leaves a great void that will be difficult to fill. Else had been with
us for many years.
For
every one of those years, Someone Else did far more than the normal person’s
share of the work. Whenever leadership was needed, Someone Else was asked for
inspiration, as well as results. Someone Else would willingly work with any
group needing assistance.
Whenever
there was a job to do, a group to coach, a meeting to attend, a hole to dig, a
hall to clean, chairs to stack, cakes to make or raffle tickets to sell, one
name was on everyone’s lips. They would
all say, “Someone Else will do it,”
It
was common knowledge that Someone Else was the hardest worker in our community.
If ever there was a financial need,
everyone just assumed that Someone Else would make up the difference.
Someone
Else was a wonderful person, sometimes appearing super-human; but a person can
only do so much. If the truth be known, we all expected just too much of
Someone Else.
Now,
Someone Else is gone. We wonder what we are going to do. Someone Else left us a
wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it?
Who is going to do the things that
Someone Else always did. Remember, from now on, we cannot rely on
Someone Else to do the job.
Sadly, Someone Else is dead!
Having put out the message that if we always have to rely on someone
else to do things then not a lot will happen, I then tried to convince parents
that by helping their children and the school, they would actually improve
their own wellbeing. In fact, by asking them to help I was doing them a favour.
Again, not everyone believed me.
Yet, there is a great deal of research evidence showing that
volunteering leads to better health and that volunteers do receive physical and mental health
benefits from their volunteer activities.
Volunteering often leads to what is referred to as a “Helper’s high”.
This high leads to increased trust in others as well as increased social
participation. Those who volunteer have lower mortality rates, greater
functional ability and lower rates of depression later in life, compared to
those who do not volunteer.
The research demonstrates that volunteering leads to better health; that
volunteers receive physical and mental health benefits from their volunteer
activities. Why should Someone Else enjoy all these benefits when you can,
too?!
As usual, Sir Winston Churchill, had a neat expression for it, “We
make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
The University of Sydney published a research paper in May 2017, stating
that volunteering brings at least 7 benefits. 1. It opens the door to
personal satisfaction. 2. It makes you feel happier. 3. It makes you feel
healthier. 4. It gives you a ‘Helpers’ High’. 5. It gives you a sense of
belonging. 6. You catch “feel-good’ emotions. 7. You can embrace your passions…to
do what you enjoy and are good at.
It does not have to be a REALLY BIG thing that you do for others.
I recall a research experiment I heard about when I was studying a
course of Educational Psychology at the University of WA, way back in the late 1960s.
Of course, after all these years, I cannot recall all of the details, but the
gist of the research story I remember well.
A group of educational psychologists from a famous a Ivy League University in the United States focused on two university Fraternity Houses situated on the same campus and whose student residents were studying similar course.
At the commencement of the academic year, the researchers
tested all of these Frat House students for anxiety, stress levels and feelings
of self- worth. Fraternity Houses are like our Australian residential colleges,
usually with two students sharing a room.
At the end of the testing period, the researchers
gave the students in one Fraternity House (A) a task to perform. The students
in the other Fraternity House (B) were asked to just carry on as per
usual.
Eight months later, the researchers returned and
again tested all students for stress, anxiety and self-esteem. The results were
interesting. The House B students generally showed increased stress level as the
university year had progressed. On the other hand, House A students, who had the
special activity to perform, showed significantly reduced stress and anxiety levels
and enhanced feeling of well-being and self-esteem.
What was the activity that these House A students
were asked to perform that had so obviously improved their happiness and
wellbeing? What was it that they did that made them all feel so good about
themselves?
They were each asked to do their roommate’s laundry!
Yes, doing something, anything, for others can improve your health,
happiness and well-being.
When next you send out a call for volunteers, let people know that, by inviting
them to help out, you are doing them a favour.
Some of them may believe you. It will certainly do them good.
