Education Matters, Life Coach Nonsense, Legislate Boardroom Pay

                                                            Education

                                     Schools ask parents to pay for staff and books.

                                       (This article was on the front page of The Times, 2019.)

School Is Out, Elizabeth Adela Stanhope Forbes (1859-1912)
Photo Credit: Penlee House Gallery & Museum [CC BY-ND]

…Grammars, comprehensives and primaries are increasingly relying on families to pay for essentials and in one case have asked for £1,200 per child each year. Others do not specify amounts but are receiving £100,000 a year, some using campaigns that allow donors to choose what to buy.

A big surprise? No. This has been going on for years and years.

*“In the 70s, when I was a headteacher, I was offered paint and materials if I could get parents and teachers to paint the school.

I declined, arguing that doctors wouldn’t be expected to paint hospitals or lawyers courts. The news that teachers apparently think it is among their professional duties to scrub toilets beggar belief ."

(Roland White, Bognor Regis, The i)


Life Coaches

Alone, Thomas Stuart Smith (1813-1869) 

Photo Credit: The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum [CC BY_NC_ND]

…Hailey Yatros, a 26-year old life coach, says the internet is a key reason why young people are seeking coaching. “This generation leans on social media as their means of connection to other people and they don’t really have anything else,” she says. “A lot of them get a coach to not be alone. I had a client once who had over 7,000 followers on Instagram and she didn’t have anyone in her life she could confide in if she needed to.”

One of the most common questions Yatros receives from clients is what their purpose in life should be. “I laugh when young people come to me asking how they should live their lives, because you’re not meant to know that when you’re in your teens,” she says. “Your life purpose is meant to evolve over time and that question should be asked more than once. Lots of young people feel that, if they don’t get what they want right now, they’ll never get it. They forget they’re playing a long game.”

…Bungay Stanier is 51 and has been coaching for more than 20 years. He thinks the increase in interest among young people is not only down to the anxieties and loneliness wrought by social media, but also because the idea of actively pursuing a career has been destigmatised.

“When I started, people would get a coach because they were a bit messed up or were struggling,” he says. “But now coaching is seen as a helpful space to figure stuff out – it’s almost a badge of honour to show people you’re committed to getting the best out of your life…When I was growing up, it was all about buckling down and working the system. Millennials though, don’t want to put up with the bullshit or jump through hoops; they’re always asking themselves: ‘What do I want?’ which is a profound and really difficult question.”

…One year into college, Allison Rosengard, 21, who lives in Boston in the US found herself asking what her life’s purpose would be. “I was anxious at the time, because my whole childhood was geared up towards getting to college, then once you’re there you’re totally alone. I didn’t have much direction,” she says. “Life coaching felt like a safety blanket, connecting with someone who had been there only five or ten years before me, with similar experiences.”

Gabby Carpenter, 19, a medical student, had this to say:

“It might seem a bit woo-woo, but that investment gave me the confidence and structure to get into medical school and will pay off for the rest of my career…coaching teaches you how to communicate properly and how to prioritise different aspects of your life, which is something that we Gen Zs have struggled with… We’ve grown up with technology and distractions – we almost have to learn how to look someone in the eye.

(Ammar Kalia, The Guardian, 2019)

Getting a life coach so as not to be alone, asking what their purpose in life is, the anxieties and loneliness wrought by social media. Surely this is not becoming commonplace? Surely this is not the norm?

What’s it all about, Alfie,

Is it just for the moment we live?

Boardroom Pay

Excessive boardroom pay is the sore that never heals.                               

Its consequences can be far worse than shaky staff/boss relations and reputational damage. Does anyone think that the ministerial threat to withdraw the Help to Buy honeypot from Persimmon, the embattled house builder, has nothing to do with the row over the £75 million paid to its former chief executive Jeff Fairburn?

…There are those that say that even in these post-crisis times, banks such as HSBC are incapable of seeing a rule without trying to game it. Mr Flint [chief executive of HBSC] and his fellow directors need to demonstrate that their heads are not sunk so deep in the gravy boat that they are deaf to public and shareholder opinion.

(Patrick Hosking, The Times, 2019)

There has been talk about excessive pay for years and years. Surely, nothing will happen unless there is some form of legislation?