Grumpy man advice for Ushaw Moor youngsters
Ideally memories are to be used as a tool and not just for nostalgic trips down memory lane. I love nostalgic trips but they ought to be rationed a little bit; if there is a point to them so well and good! My fairly regular blogs on Paul’s commendable site are used in conjunction with my family history project so I have an excuse for regular blogging!
Older people often like to give advice but the young people often do not want to listen. Well they should always listen but at the same time make a critical assessment of what they are being told. Assess people and ignore clearly bad advice. The sort of advice that I would give a youngster includes the following:
Celebrate your decent command of written and spoken English. If you have little to celebrate regarding that then strive to improve your skills. Why is that so important? The answer is that it gives you the power to express yourself clearly and thus give you the chance to inform and influence people in a constructive manner during your trip through life - which I hope is a long one.
Another piece of advice is never automatically believe that the prevailing ‘authority’ is right in what it is telling you. The key word there is automatically. Often you are being helped constructively but sometimes you are not. I will offer an example. If you leave school with say two GCSE’s at grade C, one of which is English Language, do not allow the authorities to tell you that you cannot eventually progress to the taking of a Higher National Certificate in some subject or other [or even better]. If your English is good you can pass lots of exams with the right techniques! Ask for a college interview and sell your personal belief in a positive and assertive way. If it does not wash take another two GCSE’s or whatever they demand and then go get what you want in the world of qualifications.
There is more to life than passing exams. It is a big world out there – go and network – or find out how to network. Good networking is having influential and wholesome contacts and friends. If by the time you are an adult you do not like what Ushaw Moor has to offer consider moving to Manchester or London. If you look at the map of the world a move to London is still pretty much small fry. Of course such a move has to be planned and a starter job, together with accommodation, needs to be secured first. One of my schoolmates moved to Australia when she was 16 [obviously with her parents] and has never looked back so to speak.
I am not suggesting that very young people should disappear into what can be a dangerous city. Parents and other people are there to offer wise counsel and most do. Talk to them about your dreams and aspirations. Read the books that guide about CV writing, career options and coping with interview boards etc – available from all good bookshops!
If an Ushaw Moor parent or even a Canadian parent etc [we are global remember] objects to the general drift of this modest little blog then let us all hear it!
I believe that this article is relevant to the memories site because it is an attempt to use memories to express a point of view that has been formed, to some extent, from experience and observations.
Wilf Bell
