Something to read while you are waiting

[BlimeyG'vnor]

Thanks Dad40. Have just called up a good friend and read your post to them. Her daughter today got 120 and is devastated. She is a very clever, slightly quirky girl who is as bright a button. Sadly they did not tutor either at home or externally and paid the price. Very hard to tell an eleven year old that all that makes her special is what will eventually make her a success in life, regardless of the school she goes to. I went to a local High School many moons ago and when social networking first came into fashion looked up all of the " brain boxes" who were straight A students and aspired to be doctors or vets or similar. To me looking them up would find great success stories. Not so. I was surprised to find that they had ended up with reasonable careers but no more. And those that I remember a taking a slightly more colourful non conformist route were the ones that made me think " Wow!". Not quite sure how to convince an eleven year old of that though...

[Dad40]

Interesting.

I come across other similar stories from time to time (and yes Friendsreunited is quite a good source).

My (wildly generalist!) conclusion is that us grammar school kids are generally prepared by our school/environment to join the salaried classes. The best of us go further and end up at the top of the corporate or professional ladder but most end up in the "broad middle". A lot of upper school children end up in exactly the same space although the "bottom end" of upper school achievers is where it gets exciting - they could end up in a lowly job or they could end up taking the world by storm. Basically anything could happen.

Not so long ago, I started another business unrelated to anything I'd done before. It looked very promising at the outset but hasn't gone anywhere. Another very successful business friend of mine (educated at a Bolton grammar school, as it happens) diagnosed the problem as "you never really left the shore behind". What he meant by this is if you are going to go into business, you have to mentally cut off all cosy comforts, background, even mindset and paddle off into the wide open sea not fully knowing what you'll find; you have to truly live by your wits.

As soon as he said it, I knew he was spot on.

Those not blessed (hindered?) with an armful of reasonable qualifications are able to "leave the shore behind" much easier than those who start gearing up for a good job/career at an early age.

[Fran17]

Thank you for sharing this Dad40. I will be showing this to my sons. One at comp, two at grammar.