A rant, A workout and an Idea
Just watched this:
http://www.upworthy.com/i-can-see-why-this-has-been-called-the-best-anti-smoking-ad-ever?g=2&c=ufb2
Meant to be the best anti-smoking ad ever.
I was lucky, as a child I had a nanny who used to drive me from Crystal Palace to my grandma's house near Old Bexley, a 45 minutes to an hour journey. During that time she'd smoke between 3 and 5 cigarettes. We weren't allowed to open the windows because she got cold, and the car was an plasticky Cortina, by the time we got to my grans I would spend the next 1-2 hours being sick. At the time we all thought it was car sickness, now I know it was the smoking. Just the merest whiff makes my stomach start clenching.
This is something that massively pisses me off... Smokers get off the train and instantly light up, if you're standing behind them you get it full in the face. Please please please do it the day when Im not feeling so good because I would love to projectile vomit ALL over their back.
Today's Workout
15minute Bike
800m run
20 pushups
50 crunches
10 chins
repeated 5x
15 minute swim Front crawl straight
This is something I have been thinking about for a while now and I think it has merit.
Positive discrimination pisses me off.
To start with whichever way you look at it, it is discrimination.
Many years ago I went for a job. I think there was about 15 of us up for it and it had a policy of positive discrimination.
So we all interview. 15 people of whom 2 people men are black. We do a test. Off the top of my head the tests were in General Knowledge and Maths. I scored 80% and 98% or thereabouts. Neither of the two black guys got above 45% for either of their papers, but were offered the jobs going because they managed the passmark.
Ok how is that right?
If they had the same qualifications, the same marks, then positive discrimination might be a differentiator. But lets be honest here, my family wasn't well off and my background opportunities probably weren't dissimilar, so I am being discriminated because I'm white. It's funny, we can't express that view, because it's seen as inappropriate. I disagree.
Now here's my solution.
We positively discriminate from 5 to 18. We give children from ethnic, poor and under privileged backgrounds the opportunity to progress. These opportunities give them the same possibilities that everyone should have. But after their A Levels. The field is level and you proceed based entirely on merit.
Can you imagine pulling a black competitor out of the Olympic 100m final? Err sorry there isn't a token white guy in there... of course not! Because each and every man or woman has earned their right to be there. So the playing is level from 18 onwards.
I would like to see everybody (that wants to at least), get a fair crack of the whip. As much as I disagree with positive discrimination, I also disagree with discriminating against children who went to private school who apply for University. I believe in fairness, I believe in meritocracy, I believe that the best man for the job should get it. Not the most corrupt or political, but the best man or woman.
Hopefully in the future we can right some wrongs and create a system that gives everyone a chance.
While I'm here.... banker bashing
I came from a fairly poor background. I studied and did two design degrees. My brother and I are the first people in our family to ever get a degree or a Masters.
Now I have a son and I've tried to instill an interest in studying and pushing himself forward, hopefully giving him the opportunities I missed.
Banking is one of the routes that makes breaking through possible. Sure being a footballer is another, or a popstar. But certain professions might give my son or your child that opportunity to go to a level we never obtained. By closing off that possibility, in effect we are just being kept down.
On the surface bankers earn a fortune. Take away 60% of that number to start with (Tax and NI), then divide that figure by the number of hours they do each week, month and year.
Years ago I remember my brother working for a top consultancy, seemingly being paid a fortune (in my world at least). Then I find out he works 100-120 hours a week, every week. That figure divided by a third wasn't so impressive and truthfully far less than I earn an hour.
But if you follow the path, year after year, there's a chance at the end you might break through finically to the next level.
http://www.upworthy.com/i-can-see-why-this-has-been-called-the-best-anti-smoking-ad-ever?g=2&c=ufb2
Meant to be the best anti-smoking ad ever.
I was lucky, as a child I had a nanny who used to drive me from Crystal Palace to my grandma's house near Old Bexley, a 45 minutes to an hour journey. During that time she'd smoke between 3 and 5 cigarettes. We weren't allowed to open the windows because she got cold, and the car was an plasticky Cortina, by the time we got to my grans I would spend the next 1-2 hours being sick. At the time we all thought it was car sickness, now I know it was the smoking. Just the merest whiff makes my stomach start clenching.
This is something that massively pisses me off... Smokers get off the train and instantly light up, if you're standing behind them you get it full in the face. Please please please do it the day when Im not feeling so good because I would love to projectile vomit ALL over their back.
Today's Workout
15minute Bike
800m run
20 pushups
50 crunches
10 chins
repeated 5x
15 minute swim Front crawl straight
This is something I have been thinking about for a while now and I think it has merit.
Positive discrimination pisses me off.
To start with whichever way you look at it, it is discrimination.
Many years ago I went for a job. I think there was about 15 of us up for it and it had a policy of positive discrimination.
So we all interview. 15 people of whom 2 people men are black. We do a test. Off the top of my head the tests were in General Knowledge and Maths. I scored 80% and 98% or thereabouts. Neither of the two black guys got above 45% for either of their papers, but were offered the jobs going because they managed the passmark.
Ok how is that right?
If they had the same qualifications, the same marks, then positive discrimination might be a differentiator. But lets be honest here, my family wasn't well off and my background opportunities probably weren't dissimilar, so I am being discriminated because I'm white. It's funny, we can't express that view, because it's seen as inappropriate. I disagree.
Now here's my solution.
We positively discriminate from 5 to 18. We give children from ethnic, poor and under privileged backgrounds the opportunity to progress. These opportunities give them the same possibilities that everyone should have. But after their A Levels. The field is level and you proceed based entirely on merit.
Can you imagine pulling a black competitor out of the Olympic 100m final? Err sorry there isn't a token white guy in there... of course not! Because each and every man or woman has earned their right to be there. So the playing is level from 18 onwards.
I would like to see everybody (that wants to at least), get a fair crack of the whip. As much as I disagree with positive discrimination, I also disagree with discriminating against children who went to private school who apply for University. I believe in fairness, I believe in meritocracy, I believe that the best man for the job should get it. Not the most corrupt or political, but the best man or woman.
Hopefully in the future we can right some wrongs and create a system that gives everyone a chance.
While I'm here.... banker bashing
I came from a fairly poor background. I studied and did two design degrees. My brother and I are the first people in our family to ever get a degree or a Masters.
Now I have a son and I've tried to instill an interest in studying and pushing himself forward, hopefully giving him the opportunities I missed.
Banking is one of the routes that makes breaking through possible. Sure being a footballer is another, or a popstar. But certain professions might give my son or your child that opportunity to go to a level we never obtained. By closing off that possibility, in effect we are just being kept down.
On the surface bankers earn a fortune. Take away 60% of that number to start with (Tax and NI), then divide that figure by the number of hours they do each week, month and year.
Years ago I remember my brother working for a top consultancy, seemingly being paid a fortune (in my world at least). Then I find out he works 100-120 hours a week, every week. That figure divided by a third wasn't so impressive and truthfully far less than I earn an hour.
But if you follow the path, year after year, there's a chance at the end you might break through finically to the next level.
Comments
Post a Comment