On Friday 21 August our Year 10 leaders travelled to Carriageworks in Sydney to take part in the Festival of Dangerous Ideas – a day built around one bold premise: that the best conversations happen when we are willing to have our minds changed.
The Festival exists to give complex uncomfortable questions a public forum and this day gave our students the skills to be part of that conversation. It is the kind of experience we want for our student leaders. While leadership is often seen as having a strong voice and firm opinion, it is also about having the ability to listen well, reason carefully and being able to sit and critically think about a question before answering.
Over four hours students learned a single conversational move and put it into practice all day – building on others’ arguments instead of simply opposing them. It is a small shift that unlocks real discussion – the kind where minds actually change. Students took a position, learned to argue it well and tested their thinking against philosophers from The Ethics Centre before turning those same skills into a live question about AI and the future. When our leaders practise building on an argument instead of immediately disputing, they bring that habit back into the classroom, the playground and every committee and assembly they lead.
Speakers included Aubrey Blanche whose work has explored the causes of harm to the most vulnerable including research on terrorism defense contracting and the impact of AI on queer and disabled users and Tim Dean a public philosopher and Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney whose doctorate examined the evolution of morality.
Between sessions students moved through the Festival site experiencing the VR installation The World Came Flooding In and HEAP, further immersing them in the day’s spirit of challenge and discovery.
As the organisers put it – the only win on the day is a changed mind – someone else’s or your own. Our Year 10 leaders returned with sharper arguments, a few changed opinions and a reminder that critical thinking is an incredibly valuable skill. A community grows stronger when its leaders model curiosity over certainty and treat disagreement as an opportunity to think critically, one conversation at a time.
Thanks to Acting Head of Year Stephan Pace for accompanying our students and making the day possible.
