In the midst of an economic recession and soaring unemployment rates, young people were facing troubling times back in 1932. Putting to one side the obviously not small matter of two world wars that splits the generations, it’s fair to say that recent events (i.e. the impact of the global pandemic) are putting the young people of 2021 under some similar strains. The youth of today, of course, also face some challenges entirely unique to the age we’re living in.
Following the death of Prince Philip, I was keen to ask Honor about a speech he made during a British Exploring Society meal in 1958. In it, the architect of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award claimed that “modern life was making children too accustomed to easy living.”
When quizzed about the differences in pressures young people are facing in their day-to-day lives, compared to those living in the early ‘30s, Honor puts it down to development, or lack thereof, of resilience: “It’s something that lots of people in the [youth] development world worry about, quite rightly.”
这是英国探索社会在他们的探险中带走的基础方法。By taking young people into potentially risky environments (with the guidance and expertise of a mountain professional), they hope that these people are able to gain confidence to make their own decisions as individuals, and as part of a team – something that’s been stripped out of many modern upbringings.
When asked about the disparities in upbringings within the UK’s often harsh and divisive class society, Honor fundamentally put it down to the barriers in education those from disadvantaged backgrounds face: “I think one of the reasons for that is that… in state education, everything assumes stability. So, if you’re doing an exam based curriculum, you need a room to study in, which also assumes that you’ve got a bedroom of your own, which also assumes you’ve got space and peace and regular food. And, adults in the house that you trust, and somewhere that you can reliably go to that’s clean, and that you get to sleep every night, and that you’re aren’t looking after the adults in the house and so it goes on.”
直到1980年,英国探索社会才开始接受妇女的课程。This is something Honor, the BES’ first woman CEO, is keen to make up for with improved inclusivity for all: “I’ve worked in lots of sectors that said basically ‘everyone is welcome’ but you don’t necessarily feel welcome, and it’s still hard for people to feel welcome when they look at our website. As a team, we don’t look as inclusive as the young people who currently join us on expedition, so we know that we’ve got a lot to do.
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