"it was all very spontaneous. Gave me the bandana and then I grabbed him, he grabbed me. slipped me a bit of tongue too. Bandana is good quality as well"
I was chatting to my grandmother the other day, discussing the [remarkably high] A-level results. She said exams must be getting easier, I said kids are studying harder than ever before.
Young people cannot afford to take risks any more. You can't get a good job on the back of 4 GCSEs, so you need to try hard at school. But everyone is trying harder, so now you need 3 A's to get into a Russell Group uni, and extracurriculars for your personal statement, because everyone is trying to get into university and you need to stand out with your Grade 7 piano and Duke of Edinburgh gold award, and voluntary work at the animal shelter.
Once you're there, you still need a 2:1 plus some extracurriculars at university for your Grad scheme application, because you want to be on £32k living in a flatshare in Ealing.
And if you miss any step there, between 14 and 22, your life becomes significantly harder. For example, a friend of mine got a 2:2, spent a year or so working in a petrol station, and had to move 100 miles to get a job in his chosen field. If you don't get on a Grad scheme you end up getting a job for £18k as an office assistant or junior data entry clerk or something, and have to spend your time developing skills, hoping that you get lucky and find a decent job in your next role.
There's this huge lack of awareness within the media of just how tough it is as a modern young person. By definition the people who make it there are the ones who "succeeded"; who did well at school, edited the Cherwell for a term, and now write ponderous articles in the Telegraph about their narrow frame of reference, scarcely mentioning their dad also had a long career in journalism.
I’ve been reading the books (halfway through mark of Athena so I’m not ready to start this one yet) but I just got Chalice of the Gods in the mail and omg the dedication?! If this has been posted already, I apologize. But I was so stoked I had to share, this is so sweet.