In 2008, Google launched project oxygen – an initiative that planned on seeing what mattered most in the hiring and management of its workers. Its results were rather unusual for a tech company at the time, and not what you would expect. Where the hiring had previously been run on an algorithm, choosing the graduates with the highest grades in computer science, the results of Project Oxygen ranked STEM skills as last in the list of important qualities for employees. This completely shifted Google’s hiring process to think less about technical expertise, and more about behaviour – namely, the 4 C’s: collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity.
Often labelled as ‘soft skills’, in a working world, skills such as resilience, problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking are now more than ever being valued by employers around the world. If this is the case, why is it so difficult to convince pupils of the merits of Drama?
Drama is one of the oldest disciplines in the world, and something that is inherently crucial to the human experience. Performing live in front of others is scary, but also connecting in a way that film cannot recreate in the same way. Young people’s brains rapidly develop when they are teenagers in the areas that are in charge of social perception and self-awareness, but are slower to develop for areas crucial for decision-making, impulse control, and understanding social cues. This makes standing on a stage, in a costume, in front of a group of peers or strangers, even more daunting and one of the most physically and mentally challenging risks that young people may take during their school years.
That is why, here at Rugby School Japan, we are so proud of our young people who not only take on this risk, but do it at a level that pushes them to their full potential. This year’s productions of The Brothers’ Grimm for the Lower School and Romeo & Juliet for senior pupils both have their unique challenges.
The Brothers’ Grimm is a collection of stories from Grimm’s tales, woven together by a talented group of pupils who have devised and written their own part of the story. There are not many young people who can say they have contributed to the writing of a play by the age of 15!
Romeo & Juliet is being performed in the original Shakespearian language – unfamiliar to even the most proficient of English speakers, let alone pupils for whom English is their secondary or even tertiary language!
Performances require an incredible amount of practice, hard work and dedication all for a just a few hours but the memory stays with you forever, as do the skills you learn and friends you make.
We hope you enjoy the performances this week and that you take some time to congratulate the amazing efforts of our fantastic pupils.
