Another Brick in the Wall

I have just returned from a week in the Austrian Alps, accompanying a group of teenagers from a school in Coventry on a skiing trip. The trip was by coach 24 hours through Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the top part of Austria. Into the mountains up hair pin bends on a coach that has used all its hydraulic power on the brakes so basically scraping our way up and down the hills. It was brilliant!

I watched the teachers on the trip and their interactions with the young people and marvelled at how while education and the rigidity of the exam system has not really changed, the relationships within that system have. The discipline that is sometimes required when becoming in loco parentis on a trip such as this needs to be instilled in the spirit of mutual respect. The Coventry teachers had made this into an art form. They were fun and funny, and the pupils followed their lead.

This trip took place in half term. The heads of schools do not believe a ski trip warrants time out of school or benefits the children academic education at all. Having watched the children overcome their fears and mental blocks on the ski slopes, having observed their stoicism on the long and winding roads in an old leaky coach and seeing them build new relationships between year groups, abilities, and genders, watching them fall and get back up again and again, I disagree.

They have learned more on this ski trip in half term than how to snowplough or use the button lift. They have learned lessons that will set them up for life!

I was 15 when I went skiing with my school. As the last of 5 children, with a widowed mother who had no control over money making, saving, or spending, this was an opportunity both her and I did not want to miss, and the ski trip changed the course of my life. Austria to me, like the past, was a foreign land. One of comfort and abundance. Enough snow, food and warmth and a connection with the mountain environment through an adventurous sport. It introduced me to resilience and to courage, to risk and a different kind of energetic fun for my restlessness and discontent. It also showed me, how the 1% live!

For the children from the school in Coventry, I am hoping it will have a similar resonance.

The route to equality involves knowing how the 1% live and how they get to spend their time and their money. It provides the children with aspirations outside of their school and their home life. It certainly did for me, all those years ago.

The support of the teaching staff on this trip and their successful relationship building supports the young people's growth mindset. Essential for them to live a life on their own terms.

Society is not kind to young people. They are shafted by the systems that try keep them stuck. Not just the education system, but all systems. This was evident in the pandemic, when they were demonised as granny killers for meeting up with their mates, dogs and golfers permitted more fresh air than our sons and daughters and it was evident at border control yesterday. We were stuck at Calais for 5 hours. Coach loads of teenagers queuing to be checked through passport control. Their passports not permitted for use through the 5 electronic gates but to be checked manually by 1 person. This is the busiest time of the year. Not just for school ski trips but for all trips through Calais. No area for them to play and congregate, the young people frustrated and trapped on, a by this point, very smelly coach, in sugar comas from the poor quality and expensive food from the services. Once again through, while I raged against the unfairness of the systems, I reflected on the kindness and patience of the young people, they had resigned themselves to the knowledge that it was out of their control – again, and they had to just wait and see, again!

I studied a sociology-based degree at University. I enjoyed the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society. The study of social problems of Inequality and what to do about it.

I believe that the right type of education through coaching is empowering, and knowledge should be accessible for all. My WHY is to coach people to see the inequalities that exist, to recognise what can be done to work within the systems that have been built to keep us stuck and to find creative ways to flourish within or to find new ways to thrive. Awareness is the first step, Education and Action are the second. To know what societal conditioning is keeping you stuck and why you are letting it, then finding a way forward is my Why and I believe Financial Literacy and opportunities such as these, to cultivate an entrepreneurial growth mindset for all from a young age is essential. This starts from the parents and the teachers and access to the right type of knowledge and experiences such as this trip needs to be a fundamental part of life. I also believe exposure to how the 1% live is important and to watch and learn from the right people rather than get stuck in the teenage crowd mentality through social proof and the psychology of buying stuff!. Step away from the giant bag of Haribo's! Takes a brave teenager to do that!

I am a Financial Educator, Coach and Mentor and leading the way to empowerment and financial freedom. Contact me to help you understand that Money can grow on trees and the route to wealth starts and ends with your self-esteem. I can help by coaching you to abundance. Make 2024 the year of the road less travelled. Pension workshop for all on 8 March. Link to book below.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/810366898207?aff=oddtdtcreator

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