Last week, here in the UK, our 18 year olds who have remained in full-time education received their ‘A-Level’ results; these are the results that ultimately decide whether or not the young person will be allowed in to the University of their choice, have to go through a system called ‘clearing’ to find a different University place, or if their dreams of attending University are lost.
For more young people than ever, not reaching their expected grades and therefore not attaining a place at University is becoming a reality. With 6 applicants fighting for every place in clearing, this is becoming big news. The pressure on young people to attend University is great, with no real alternative being offered to bright, intelligent and motivated young people.
Is a University degree essential in order to be successful? For many employers it is the easiest way to distinguish the capabilities of potential applicants, providing a playing field on which their relevant skills and abilities can be assessed. However, just because someone has a degree does not mean they will be more competent at carrying out a job as someone with years of experience doing that work, instead of attending University.
Throughout the education system there is considerable emphasis placed on attending University, with the end goal being to achieve a good job, working for someone else. There is little mention of the option of working for yourself, with the end goal being to have your own business, with or without attending University.
Of course, telling all young people that they can create a company that will rival Apple and expand allowing them to make millions would be unrealistic, and whilst it is great to inspire ambition, and that should certainly be part of it, I am more concerned with exploring the option of lifestyle businesses with our young people.
Young people should be given all the options; attending University, getting a job, gaining technical skills, or starting their own business. Young people need direction, and focus, and many consider starting their own business an unobtainable pursuit.
The truth is, however, that as University places are being snatched up in days, and the cost of University is increasing, alternatives need to be sensibly and beneficially, relayed to our young people. We don’t need to tell them that they could be the next “Richard Branson”, but instead that it is possible to build a business for yourself, that will work for you and the lifestyle you wish to have.
The fundamentals of business start up and financial planning would obviously need to play a part, but with the economy as it is these are useful skills for all young people to have. And besides, what would be wrong with instilling a bit of entrepreneurial spirit and ambition in to our young people?
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Social Impact of Working From Home
A few days ago I was once again reminded by Joshua Levy and his piece “One Blogger Asks: Is the Grass Really Greener on the Web Worker’s Lawn?” on his blog Web Worker Daily that I wanted to write a piece about what I believe to be the social impact of home working.
Joshua is asking some interesting questions about working from home:
If I ask myself these and other questions I’m invariably drawn to find answers in my personal work life and how it has changed in the last decade.
In 1999 I was still office based, traveled from one of our offices around the world to the next and was rarely home. In fact most of the time those years I came home Friday very late or Saturday and then often left Sunday night again. So I saw little of my family and especially my son who is now grown-up and ready to go to university.
Then in 1999 I sold my ISP-business and went back to run WinWeb. This time around I worked from home, right from the start I did not want to be in an office and lead the same life as before. So for the past eight years I have been there when my son came home from school, I even picked him up often enough. I was here when he came home with the latest music CD, I had to listen to – not always easy, I admit – or the latest sport-shoes form addidas had finally arrived at the shops.
Similarly I spend much more time with my wife, going for lunch, doing some “essential” gardening – I hated gardening, but love it now. I could give you many more examples, but you get the picture.
While there are many challenges for home workers, I believe we are seeing the beginning of an “reversal” trend. I would like to list here some challenges I believe our society is facing currently:
There are many more examples. This whole process began with the “Industrial Revolution” some 150 years ago. Some of us may even remember a time when three or even four generations of a family lived in one house. People worked in their villages, child-care or care for family “just” happened – was that a bad or good thing? Looking at single parent families and the impact on our children, I would argue it was a good thing, and so would the many parents working from home exactly for that reason – to provide a healthy family environment for their loved ones.
I believe that the whole trend of home working may in the future allow us to have a much more natural work/life balance and will reverse some of the damaging effects of the post industrial revolution changes in our society. People will live closer to family, local communities will be revived – I believe that is happening as we speak, and our children will benefit from “more family”, and all this will have a profound impact on all our lives and the environment.
I would encourage Joshua and everyone else working from home to relearn the social skills of building local friendships, or live near family and give you the social life you need.
After all, this technology we at WinWeb and others supply makes it possible to work from anywhere, gives you a tremendous amount of freedom to live the life you want, where you want.
Let’s hope in hundred years from now people will see this era not only as the “Information Age”, but also the age when we learned to live a better work/life balance, in tune with our emotional and social needs as individuals, families and society as a whole. What do you think?
Have a great weekend with your family and friends.
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