I NOTE with interest your coverage of the Milburn report ("Milburn in living wage call as child poverty rises in Scotland", The Herald, October 21, and Letters, October 22).
The son of a manual labourer who for years during and after the Second World War did 12-hour shifts shovelling coal into the furnaces of our gasworks, the greatest obstacle to my growth was the assumption, widespread among adults, teachers and pupils, that I would never be capable of anything better. Thus, though at the top of the primary school, I was at first put into the lowest stream in the secondary on the assumption that I would, like everyone else in my family, leave school at 14, saved mainly by the perception of the head of the secondary. A Labour government three years later changed my life by making a relatively small sum available for people like me to continue at school.
As a teacher, I tried to promote the idea that everyone, no matter who, was capable of great excellence and I was never so happy as when someone from the bottom of the social pile distinguished himself, as some did.
I suggest that this is the single most important obstacle to the advancement of the poor even today. Too many are brought up to believe that they are powerless to rise from the pit assigned to them by circumstances.
There is even, I suggest, a trait among Scots that resents efforts and excellence. The judgment "it's not bad" applied reluctantly to almost anything good is a sign of this. The poor are disenfranchised from their potential by the mediocrity expected by those around them. We need to change this; become more like the Americans for whom everything is possible. Anyone can become President, a millionaire, a professor, a star of some kind; at least able to make a useful contribution to society which is fulfilling for themselves.
How do you set about this? Fill our schools with enthusiastic teachers who believe it and will promote it.
William Scott,
23 Argyle Place, Rothesay.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article