Just watched the 1st episode. Its an experiment that has 'worked' (whatever the definition of that is?) in other countries. 3 families given 26k, lump sum and all benefits stopped for a year. I don't know how much support they have behind the scenes, 2 families are on a quest to start their own business while the 3rd is attempting to find work. One thing that struck me with all of them, they aren't very bright - these people need life coaches, which brings me onto the point. Why the hell, particularly in deprived area schools are 18 year olds (as they have to stay in school until then), do these kids not get taught the logic of budgeting, forward planning, interest rates and whatever else? 20yrs ago my first month at uni & a pretty worldy chap comparatively- I blew £800 on a computer & printer - why? To spend god knows how many hours playing Champ Manager on! Instead that cash should have been spread to buy food, bills, travel costs and rent for god sake. I look back now and it made me cringe, had I had better life skills taught at school half of that would have gone on driving lessons, something constructive to allow me to get home easier & cheaper & more scope to get part time work. The amount spent on train fares was eye watering in the following 4yrs and I studied Accountancy!
So - should we teach our teenagers the ways and pitfalls of the financial jungle of just 'living' compulsory? It would get my vote
This is quite a subject that I believe needs more debate than can be covered on a social media platform such as this, but as Millmoormagic says would you or I for that matter, have listened at that age, my answer would be 'no' and I didnt listen either. I was in my 30's before I woke up and took responsibility, despite my parents best efforts to make me see the opportunity I had from the education that was on offer to me at the time. I rue the time lost even now, I was so lazy. What I did have though was good parents and a wise dad who saw the way I was, and educated me in the ways of the world by stealth, by planting the seed of thought and thinking for myself which as I mentioned before began to change me from the waste of space that I was. Like you Ex I look back now and cringe.
The age we live in now is largely unproductive in terms of hands on skill at making things, and as humans we miss the sense of achievement of having done a days work well, particularly from skills learned through years of apprenticeships. We need to be doing things, and since the destruction and demise if our manufacturing industry even those in work largely press buttons or sit at a computer most of the time. Any hands on work is largely menial and unsatisfying. Its my guess that the surge in popularity in computer gaming is a response to the lack of achievement or the opportunity to develop and learn skills . It gives a sense of being good at something for a change and the satisfaction of reaching a level of skill that hitherto would have been satiated in the work place. Simple things like hand writing, and mental arithmetic are being lost.
Conversely, the skills and rewards gained from this pastime are usually of little benefit to others as it represents a solitary occupation of time with little social interaction and offers little to society and the community in general who view the phenomena as a waste of time and money and those who use it as 'wasters' even though many are not. In short it fulfills a human need to be creative, and constructive with the reward of feeling satisfied with a job well done
This is quite a subject that I believe needs more debate than can be covered on a social media platform such as this, but as Millmoormagic says would you or I for that matter, have listened at that age, my answer would be 'no' and I didnt listen either. I was in my 30's before I woke up and took responsibility, despite my parents best efforts to make me see the opportunity I had from the education that was on offer to me at the time. I rue the time lost even now, I was so lazy. What I did have though was good parents and a wise dad who saw the way I was, and educated me in the ways of the world by stealth, by planting the seed of thought and thinking for myself which as I mentioned before began to change me from the waste of space that I was. Like you Ex I look back now and cringe.
The age we live in now is largely unproductive in terms of hands on skill at making things, and as humans we miss the sense of achievement of having done a days work well, particularly from skills learned through years of apprenticeships. We need to be doing things, and since the destruction and demise if our manufacturing industry even those in work largely press buttons or sit at a computer most of the time. Any hands on work is largely menial and unsatisfying. Its my guess that the surge in popularity in computer gaming is a response to the lack of achievement or the opportunity to develop and learn skills . It gives a sense of being good at something for a change and the satisfaction of reaching a level of skill that hitherto would have been satiated in the work place. Simple things like hand writing, and mental arithmetic are being lost.
Conversely, the skills and rewards gained from this pastime are usually of little benefit to others as it represents a solitary occupation of time with little social interaction and offers little to society and the community in general who view the phenomena as a waste of time and money and those who use it as 'wasters' even though many are not. In short it fulfills a human need to be creative, and constructive with the reward of feeling satisfied with a job well done
Just my little theory.
That's a great post and very true to life Towdlad,
I too really regret my lazy days at school, parents didn't really push me (not blaming them, by the way) and it was expected that i'd go into the pits or steelos, which i did. Only after leaving Silverwood when it closed in '94 did i stat thinking about what could've been. Luckily, i got my head down, and found somewhere that would support an apprenticeship, which i completed an HNC i electrical engineering not that long ago, and i'm now a shift maintenance engineer, i'm 49 and did the apprenticeship in my early 40's, so it's never too late folks!!
It just goes to show MM that we're never too old to learn. I'm 60 this year and still a firefighter and while the heart is still willing and I'm still very fit the old joints are starting to creak and after a hard job, it takes a few days for the body to recover. So the day is drawing near when I have to stop throwing ladders around and squirting water.
But here in Lincolnshire we have a scheme where we also have an ambulance on station crewed by fire fighters to respond to medical emergencies where normal ambulances may take a long time due to the rural nature of the county. We're trained to a high level and can do most things to sustain life except administer drugs. So with the end of my fire brigade looming I intend to apply to the ambulance service and carry on doing what I do now if they will have me - just transferring skills that were learned at 50. Theres life in the old dog yet
Some good posts here. Pleased to be off the football side for a breather. I have felt under the cosh a bit for being a Redfearn sympathiser! All good fun.
I earn a living using my brain but would have loved to have had a hands-on skill or trade. I just had no aptitude. I do however appreciate the skill that goes into craft and bespoke design. I know what you are saying Towdlad and think that you are right to a certain extent in that mass employment for tradesmen might be dwindling, but I do still think there is a place and a market for the skilled craftsman. In the right hands technology can be used to enhance rather than replace human endeavour.
I agree that more time should be spent with our children teaching them skills that they can use in life instead of pushing academia and insisting that everyone sit exams. Not everyone is cut out for or interested in going to further education. The demise of apprenticeships is to be mourned. I see that you got an apprenticeship in your middle years MMM which is terrific, but for our children leaving school now getting a real, meaningful apprenticeship is no easy task. There are plenty of modern apprenticeships that are unlikely to lead to any worthwhile employment but get people off the unemployment statistics. I feel for the 16 year olds of today in that respect.
My thoughts are similar to those of Ex in terms of teaching kids how to manage and value money, how to budget and basically how to be an adult. I have a nine year old and I am pleased to say that at her school - our local junior school - they do teach some of that, and I see how she takes it on board. She is more careful with her pocket money (which she earns) than I am with my wages. There is not enough of that kind of education my opinion.
I grew up like lots of others in this area I guess in a matriarchal family where the bread winner tipped up and family finances were run very tightly. I would like to think that I picked something up from that and that I have passed the basics on to my own children, but I fear that many children now grow up in households where that sort of guidance is sadly lacking and day in day out they see the 'me and now' culture that is all around them whether that be from parents or from mainstream or social media. Schools have a big part to play to arrest that. I think MMM is right that at 16 or so it is too late to catch them (I would have been a lost cause if it had been left until then) but perhaps if we start very young we might at least have a chance of changing things for the better.
I think us from an older generation are from a time when there wasn't all that much money about even when you were in full time work, there wasnt all that much to spend it on even if you had it except beer and fags. The times my old mam had me feeling down the back of the sofa for the odd bit of change (it was like Christmas if I found a half - a - crown) or trawling through the pantry to find pop bottles or domestos bottles to take back. Back then you had to be careful with money or you'd have to hide under the stairs pretending to be out when the rent man came because we were in arrears.
I swore I would never allow myself the indignity of having to live like my parents and I've always been a grafter to make sure I paid my way, and apart from the mortgage I have never taken out a loan or owed a penny. I've done ok and got a bit of jingly jangly saved up for a comfortable retirement, all earned. But all that was from a fear of being without the where-with-all to live and as such I soon learned how to budget how to make savings, I've never been wasteful and in the true Yorkshire tradition of wanting something doing for nowt, I did it misen. I taught myself domestic plumbing, electrics, car maintenance , welding and auto spraying, theres not much I cant do because I had to learn how to be practical or do without. We learned from life experience
These days we have so much more money and plenty more to spend it on and I cant blame people for wanting things, but without that understanding of budgeting its easy to get into debt, (actually they want us to be in debt thats how they make more money out of us and keep us in financial bondage but thats another topic) So yes the more young people are taught about good housekeeping, budgeting and the whole financial system the better off we all will be I think.
