New Ideas...Peston's Speakers4Schools

Peston, looking like he's come over
all Derren Brown

When he hasn't been looking stressed on the BBC news about the current financial situation, Robert Peston has been busy setting up an impressive new initiative.

This is Speakers for Schools (www.speakers4schools.org.uk).

It is a not-for-profit organisation that has signed up over 800 eminent characters to give free speeches to schools.

David Miliband, loves bananas

Where your Eton or your St Paul's might not blink twice at the sort of fees these speakers normally request, your average city comprehensive can hardly afford to bring them in. And yet these are exactly the schools that need to hear from successful people (other than the TOWIE cast) to give them inspiration, ideas and role models for their future.

Ed Balls, currently Shadow Chancellor
has signed up

This is where S4S can step in. It is a way for schools without the big bucks to get successful people from all sorts of fields in to give speeches.
It's a new initiative and the website isn't fully comprehensive yet, so we'll have to see how many of the talks actually take place, but the idea behind it and the list of names attached are admirable.

Dido Harding, CEO of TalkTalk
is another speaker listed

Speakers include all manner of luminaries, from Baronesses, Dames, sportsment, musicians to Lords and currently active politicians. Each speaker listed has agreed to give at least one voluntary unpaid talk per year. The school or college just has to go to the Apply for a Speaker page and they should, hopefully, have one of these bigwigs to themselves for an hour or so at some point in the year.

This is such a Good Idea because the majority of the speakers listed are not 'celebrities'. They are people who have worked very hard to get to the top of their game, whatever that game might be. In the Age of Entitlement and endemic fame-seekery, it is hugely important to give less privileged students a glimpse of a different sort of success.

 

youcanarguewithstupid

Further reading:

Peston in the Guardian about S4S here

Peston in the Evening Standard about S4S and bonuses here

A good thing for yoof... National Citizen Service

Here's a government scheme that's got the goods. But first, let me give the preamble that yes, this govt is cutting everything it possibly can whether or not it causes mass riots. This includes youth and early intervention services. So this is not in favour of the govt's actions broadly. However, as a standalone policy, I like this one and this volunteerism has a serious place in building a stable society and preventing a repeat of the Aug 2011 riots.

The National Citizen Service is a non-military national service programme for 16 year olds to be run each summer.

The pilots took place in the summer 2011 with 11,000 16 year olds taking part in a 3 week scheme.

Week 1 is an outdoor activity course (presumably to promote teamwork and bonding), week 2 is volunteering in a neighbourhood and week 3 is designing and carrying out a community project. The govt hope that in 2012 30,000 teens will take part after their GCSEs with the eventual aim of rolling it out to 600,000.

However to be truly beneficial to society, it must have a mixed intake. Hugh from Dulwich and LaTonya from Edmonton need to learn to get along if we're ever going to have a safer, more equal and tolerant society.


Volunteering in and of itself is a Good Thing. It teaches people about other walks of life, promotes community, cohesion, tolerance, and obviously provides help where help is needed. It is not something that should be lauded, but something that should be done as a natural and normal part of civic life.

Possibly the biggest problem with our yoof is that they have no sense of themselves as part of a larger, diverse community. They are over-individualised, frequently angry and prefer an iPhone 5 to the social contract. They band together in 'postcode gangs' to find some sort of meaning. If the NCS can get to a few of these disenfranchised, tribalistic young people and take them abseiling and make them serve tea to Betty down the road, then maybe we'll have a few less dead teenagers on our streets in the future.

youcanarguewithstupid

Sources/further reading:
Conservative Party spiel here
Nifty govt site with teenage testimonials here
Guardian piece here