Firstly, a big well done to all of the kids who received GCSE, A Level grades this year. The future is so far unwritten and you have the chance to shape it yourselves.
My own academic career at GCSE level was a washout; despite being a very hard working student I came out with only one grade above a D. (Combined Sciences -B) I retook a few, went to Art School, spent a few years working in retail, eventually took up a place at University and came out with a 1st Class Degree -in Art & Design!
Had you asked me in the days and weeks after my GCSE results what my view of the future was it would not have been a picturesque one. But, I persisted and got what I wanted, the key word here being want. Whether you see your future in academic success or the more practical side of life which may involve BTec or T-Levels, you must want it. So the second part of your decision must be -do you love it?
In my thirty-seven years of work and continued education since those GCSE results, life has been full of ups and downs, very highs -getting a first, very lows -every funding rejection I receive, and believe me they are far more abundant. But, no matter how hard the circumstances of life it is important to be tenacious, go after what you want even harder than life comes at you. Achievement is its own reward. It is harder as you get older to change direction in life, financial responsibility takes over and the fear of failure takes over for those without recourse to the “Bank of Mum & Dad”, so I would urge everyone, no matter what you have to do to survive: do it! Earning the money to live is the side hustle, achievement is the goal. Go out there, work with others and make a difference in the world, god knows it needs it right now.
Secondly, a message to the politicians, the teachers, the parents, the adults allegedly in charge.
“…civilisation requires a modicum of material prosperity. What civilisation needs: confidence in the society in which one lives, belief in its philosophy, belief in its laws, and confidence in one’s own mental powers.”
Civilisation. Kenneth M Clark (1968)
A week is a long time in politics, or so they say, but news is much slower; despite this we have many 24hr news channels with their constant portrayal of frightening scenarios; war, environmental chaos etcetera… But in reality this is part of the ‘doom loop’, a phrase that has become part of the lingua franca of political news programmes.
As the historian Kenneth Clarke puts it, fear is the enemy of civilisation. “…fear of war, fear of invasion, fear of plague and famine, that make it simply not worthwhile constructing things, or planting trees or even planning next year’s crops. And fear of the supernatural, which means that you daren’t question anything or change anything.” By this reckoning, how civilised are we?
It is essential that we, the adults, the leaders within our communities, create an environment of hope and aspiration, and to do that we must be ambitious and less selfish. What does the future look like. To the ex-shopkeepers of Dewsbury Road who “don’t see how art will help the area […] the children are the future of Dewsbury Road”; the children, I suppose, will be the ones spending their future pounds in the shops of Dewsbury Road. But this is all very short term thinking, what if no one in the future has any pounds to spare? it feels like we are entering into that shoddy future now, a few years ahead of most of the rest of the country; in this respect South Leeds could be considered trailblazing. There is a homeless guy who I have chatted to over the years, he has regularly listened to my talks to groups visiting ‘The Corner’ about the making of Jacob’s Ladder, who has commented on various occasions about how much “I love that, it really makes a difference”. Jacob’s Ladder exists not because it created wealth for someone but because it added value to the area, community and environment. His mate has also commented that “it’s great the things that you do, better than all the mess that the kn*****ds make”
In years to come, when the current crop of Dewsbury Road shopkeepers have moved on to greener pastures, having sold up to someone else offering slightly cheaper booze than the one next door, having and retired on the money they made from this community, what remains?
If you are a business owner and want to chat about ways to make a genuine impact on the area, get it out of survival mode and into the thrive gear. Feel free to contact me…
We must find a way to control our own destiny otherwise someone else will find a way to give us what they think we deserve. It’s time to smash the narrative.
