Informed about the issues
Getting informed
Case Study- Oxford High School for Girls
Students in the Oxford High School for Girls P&P group have made an effort to get informed about a range of issues. They came along to Shared Planet 2005 to hear speakers on a range of subjects and took part in workshops on subjects as varied as subvertising and permaculture. To build on their campaigning they have had follow-up workshops from P&P support staff on Climate Change and Fairtrade cotton.
It goes without saying that you need to know what you’re campaigning about. There are various ways you can go about informing yourselves:
- Browse through our campaigns pages, and order campaign guides.
- Come to a P&P national event such as Shared Planet.
- Book a workshop so that someone from the office comes to give you more information.
- Speak to any teachers in your school who may have knowledge on these subjects.
- Have a meeting where you share knowledge and experience of a particular topic.
- Share any interesting newspaper articles, websites or emails you come across.
Knowledge
While getting your facts right and gaining understanding of an issue is important, it’s also useful to bear in mind that nobody, however much they think they know, knows everything about a subject. That includes People & Planet, MPs, the government and academics.
For example when discussing Fairtrade, economists may often say things like “Fairtrade distorts the market and so is wrong”. You may not know anything about market distortions so there are two things you could do. Firstly admit you don’t know about that and would like to find out more. But secondly stick to the main point which is that Fairtrade has helped lift millions of people out of poverty.
So while its useful to learn about a subject from people with more experience, don’t be disheartened if they tell you you’re wrong. Stick to your principles, and find out what their side of the story is. Then hopefully you can answer some of their criticisms.
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