Let's change the world!

The 4a and 4b had to write their own speeches on different topics, and present them im class. After analyzing the „I have a dream“ speech by Martin Luther King Jr., it was time for our students to spring into action.

The topics could be chosen freely, and ranged from the environment, to animal rights, and child labour. The most challenging thing was to present the speech in front of the class. With the help oft he teachers and other students they did a very good job, though. We even had some special guests like Ms. Wellezohn, or our headmaster Mr. Thöni who listened to a few oft he speeches.

Here are a few excerpts of their speeches:

„I’m aware that not everyone feels this way about racism just because they’re not the victims and they’re not affected by it. I strongly disagree with this mindset and I don’t support someone who thinks like this at all. It’s very hard to change people’s opinion about this topic, but I alway say, to imagine yourself in the same situation. People who never experienced racism can’t really understand it but just imagine yourself getting badly assaulted and excluded. It changes the way you view everything and maybe people stop being so mean after doing that.“ – Sophia Knabl

„Change the school system with me. I feel like every student should get a chance to go to a high school. Most of the time you need good grades for a high school and if you have a C in Standard you have to take an entrance exam. If you fail the exam you can not go to the school which you want. Many students are very disappointed in themselves when this happens and they think they are not good enough. It should be a possibility for everyone to follow their dream career but for some people it’s very hard to do so if they can’t get into a school because of grades. Grades don’t define a student.
Some of you probably think that it doesn’t make sense when bad students go on a higher school but firstly I think there aren’t any bad students and maybe they learn better in the new school because they want to make something of their life.“ – Celina Trattner

„16 Million children are engaged in Child Labour!-16 Million- that’s almost twice as many people as live in austria.
Child Labour is a form of slavery. But slavery was banned a long time ago. So why is Child Labour still happening in many parts of the world? -It’s happening because too many people look away. They pretend like they don’t see what’s happening around them. They say it‘s not their buisness. But we cannot look away!
Many people don’t even understand what child labour is: Child labor means when children are forced to work instead of going to school, instead of playing, instead of living their childhood. They work long exhausting hours in dangerous environments— like factories, farms, or even mines. Places no child should be!“ – Greta Knabl

“I know not everyone will agree with me. Many people say the climate change and the pollution don’t affect us. It ‘s a problem of the future but that ‘s not true. We can already see the consequences. The average temperatures are rising every year. There are more and more natural disasters, and the air pollution negatively affects our health. In addition, we should also think about the generation of our children and their children. Shouldn’t they be able to enjoy the same beautiful nature and can live in a clean, healthy environment?” – Sara Zöhrer

„Something has to change. When the Earth's temperature rises it can have terrible effects. For example when it`s too hot, polar bears and other animals living in cold areas, lose their living habitat and they go extinct. Another important point are the natural disasters. We see more forest fires because the temperature is getting hotter and the land is getting drier every year. The always hotter getting climate also melts the ice from the north and south pole. If the sea level gets to high, some islands may get flooded in the future. Something has to change.“ – Valentin Pögler