REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE EDWARD DE BONO FOUNDATION CONFERENCE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE EDWARD DE BONO FOUNDATION CONFERENCE ON CONSTRUCTIVE THINKING
Tá lúcháir mhór orm bheith anseo libh inniu. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl daoibh as ucht bhur bhfáilte chaoin.
I am honoured to have been invited to open this conference and I have great pleasure in welcoming Dr. Edward de Bono to Dublin. This is not our first meeting, as I had the pleasure of speaking with him in Belfast back in 1996. He is renowned for being a master of the use of time, a skill that believe me, since becoming President of Ireland, I have learned to appreciate more and more. Whatever tips I pick up from him today, I don’t think I can hope to emulate his achievement in writing an entire book in the course of a plane journey from London to Auckland, and still have a few hours’ flying left! We are delighted that he has chosen to spend some of that valuable time with us here today.
This is an important conference, not only in bringing together so many Irish business leaders to reflect on new ways of thinking creatively, but also because it is being held in aid of the ‘Education on Wheels’ Initiative, which will be launched by the Edward de Bono Foundation in South Africa later this year, in conjunction with the South African National Youth Commission.
It is said that what is engraved in childhood, is engraved on stone. It is vital that those early childhood experiences are ones which instil self-confidence and encourage creativity; which allow the talents and giftedness of young people to grow and blossom. The reality for so many children, in South Africa and around the world, is very different. Years of poverty and deprivation, largely caused by apartheid, have robbed over 9 million South African children and young people of a basic education, of the chance of reaching their full potential and building a life of dignity for themselves and their families.
There are some who would throw their hands up in the face of the enormity of this task and do nothing. There are others, like Edward de Bono and his colleagues in the Foundation, who ask ‘what can we do to help?’ They are the ‘doers’ who offer hope, because they know that within each one of us, rich or poor, no matter what our circumstances, is an incredible well of creativity and energy, waiting to be tapped and needing only the care and encouragement of others to flourish.
I would like to pay a warm tribute to everyone associated with the ‘Education on Wheels’ Initiative – all those in the Edward de Bono Foundation, who have developed the two year Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT) programme on which the education initiatives will be based; the Chairman of the Foundation in Ireland, Mr Pat Dineen, and all of his colleagues who have done so much to support the initiative. I would also like to commend the excellent work that the South African Ambassador to Ireland, His Excellency, Mr Pierre Dietrichsen, has done to further enhance the warm ties of friendship and support that already exist between our two countries.
A key point in relation to the CoRT initiative is that it is more than a traditional education programme. Its value is as relevant to us in Ireland as it is in South Africa. We are fortunate to find ourselves in a period of unprecedented prosperity. That has not happened by chance, but through the willingness of yourselves, and people like you, to take risks, to put your necks on the line and to grasp new opportunities in the marketplace. You recognise that the solutions of the 1980’s or even of the 1990’s will not work in the next millennium. As we move into the twenty first century, an era of ever intensifying competition, we are witnessing an explosion in technological sophistication. But at the end of the day, thinking rather than technology is what will make the difference – and human creativity is what will determine business success.
The making of enlightened entrepreneurs and imaginative employees does not start at college. If young people are taught in school only to absorb knowledge, to look at textbooks for ready made solutions to problems instead of exercising their own minds, they will have great difficulty in thinking creatively as adults.
I am delighted to say that the work of Edward de Bono has been used by many participants in Gaisce – the President’s Award. I have had the privilege of witnessing how those young people grow and mature as individuals in the course of completing their Special Project for that Award, surprising even themselves by how much they can achieve when their creativity and determination is effectively channelled.
The CoRT thinking model has also been used in many transition year programmes. Indeed it fits in extremely well with the concept of a transition year – which allows pupils the space to experience new areas of thinking and learning, free from the pressures of examinations. That is vital in encouraging pupils’ self-esteem, for it is not necessarily the student with the most ‘A’ grades who will produce the most interesting ideas in later life. The most serious indictment of any education system would be that it fails to teach young people to think. The work of Edward de Bono is helping to ensure that this is not the case in Ireland.
It is a truism to say that our young people are our greatest resource. If we really mean that, we have a responsibility to make sure that that resource is carefully nurtured. It is in all our interests, for it is they who will be the future entrepreneurs, the future creative employees, the future policy-makers and peace-makers in our country.
I wish you a most stimulating and productive conference.
Mo bhuíochas libh arís. Go maire sibh.