Leadership is a mismanaged skill in our modern day and age.

Coming from a South Africa, I have had the privilege to work with many children from very different backgrounds and cultures. In South Africa they tent to identify and develop leadership skills in a student relatively early. These students get the opportunity to meet and collaborate with other children with similar skills. All of this results in well developed student leaders.

I came to Taiwan in 2004 and I have been in here ever since. I know I can’t compare the educational systems, but I have been struggling with this issue for a while. The students in Taiwan tend to get forced into a “leadership” role. They are given an arm band or vest to indicate that he/she is the leader for this particular event or area. They all accept this responsibility and do it because they have to. Some of them are great at this because they are born leaders whereas others are just following directions. I just feel that the “leaders” should be identified and developed. There are so many more opportunities in Taiwan than in South Africa for the leaders to collaborate with other students not only from other schools but also from other countries. Some of the students at our school have been to these annual leadership summits and they came back motivated and prepared for the challenges of being a leader.

If we all work together to identify and develop the leaders then we are helping the generations of the future.

God Bless