Making a Difference

Making a Difference
Anyone who has seen the movie Avatar by James Cameron would remember the fight of the Na'vi indigenous people of Pandora to save their environment from the destructive "Sky People." Another aspect that stands out in this movie is the immensely important leadership role of Jake Sully in rallying and organising the Na'vi to the eventual successful routing of their enemies.

Leaders are extremely important in a world where human brains comprehend through categorisation. John C. Maxwell notes in his book, Developing the Leader Within You, that leadership traits can be learned, and that, ultimately, leadership is rooted in how much one influences others. 

Leadership being contingent on influence, logic dictates that anyone can be a leader: we all have multiple interactions with others every day and through these interactions, influence others. Teachers influence their students; parents influence children; students influence other students. Thus teachers, parents and students are leaders in a microcosm of society, whereas the ministers of government, the chairmen of large companies and the managers are leaders on a larger scale.

All citizens are exposed to the education system. The degree of exposure depends on the level of education to which they aspire. An excellent way to prepare future leaders for the task of protecting the planet is therefore through the education system. 

My school is a tertiary educational institution named the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). UTT can be improved to prepare future leaders to protect the environment through two simultaneous and integrated approaches. 

The first approach is to expose all students to be mini-leaders in any environment in which they find themselves. These mini-leaders are the teachers who explain the concept of greenhouse gases to their students; the parents who discipline children who waste water; and the students who tell other students that littering is unacceptable. UTT...