Model behaviour

December 7th, 2007 Written by Biz

A couple of stories caught my eye today; the first, was the announcement by the Secretary of State for Local Government and Communities, Hazel Blears, that councils should reduce the provision of translation services to immigrants and asylum seekers, as blanket provision of such services was proving a serious disincentive to actually learning English, and thus integrating into British society (the shameless Hazel Blears stole my idea!). The second story was the ongoing prediction of a downturn in the economy and the associated, redundancies, repossessions and austere times that go with such happenings.
 

The two stories combined, rekindled the memory of my younger years in the early 60’s. Times then were hard…harder than most under30’s could possibly imagine; likewise at that time, there was a wave of immigration from the Commonwealth, but these were a whole different class of immigrants than those that are seen today…in fact, if you were to chance upon one of those 60’s incomers today, you would see before you one of the best role models imaginable.
 

Those early incomers arrived in the UK with very little indeed; they landed in a country that had no benefits system for them, no council housing for them, in fact nothing that a younger person would even really recognise as a Welfare State…but that was fine with them, they didn’t want anything from the State, as they were grateful just to be here; and just by being here, they had already received the only thing they wanted…a chance to better themselves.
 

Now before arriving, most had saved up some funds to see them through, until they got established and those whose English wasn’t up to scratch tried to ‘swat up’ before they came; they realised that the only way forward for them in a new country was to work like dogs and to integrate into society. So that is exactly what they did; they worked every hour they could, every day, and did every bit of overtime that was offered; at the time, it was a common joke amongst companies, that they could man shifts 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year just by asking for volunteers amongst their foreign staff.
 

Gradually, as they secured a living, their thoughts turned to buying their own houses. In the 60’s though, it was VERY difficult to get a mortgage; Banks at that time, were stringent with their lending criteria and even if you passed these criteria, the opinion of the Manager during your interview with him, as to whether you were ‘good for the debt’, counted highly. Most, still could not afford a house though, so they came up with a plan.
 

What they did was to form a ‘pact’ with relatives or other families, to get a mortgage together; two or three families would therefore buy the house together and live there together, clubbing together to share all expenses. When the house was paid for, one of the families (exactly which one, was decided previously), would then own it, and the other two would move into another newly bought one. Although only two families were now living and sharing this next house, the mortgages and living expenses were still shared by all three families and this went on until all the families had a house each…the same procedure was followed for cars and other large purchases within the group.
 

Once these families were established, their thoughts turned to their children. They recognised that the only way for their children to make something for themselves was higher education and a professional career.  Now, during their years of struggle, their children had been progressing happily through the State School system – unlike today, State Schools provided an excellent education for children. But now, they were ready to go to University and naturally their parents funded this for them. After many years of study, many of the children of the original immigrants, now qualified and successful Doctors, Solicitors and Accountants, repaid their parents by supporting them through their old age.
 

There has been talk by the Government recently, of introducing a ‘role model’ scheme, so that young men (especially those without fathers) could have a positive model to look up to, and thus reduce their tendency to get involved with crime. The Government are even now looking at likely candidates from the world of Sports, Entertainment and Business.
 

I say, what better model could they…and even we, have than those old 60’s newcomers. With their ethics of hard work, determination, self-sufficiency, abiding by the law and strong bonds with family and friends, young people could benefit greatly from their example…and so could society as a whole.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entry Filed under: Rants & Views