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Sunday, August 27, 2006

Duke of Edinburgh CV enhancement award

My daughter Kodakina has just come back from a week's "working in conservation" holiday with an organization called the BTCV. She worked clearing woodland of unwanted growth (eg brambles) and had a jolly good time. I was very proud of her as she had to get quite far away by train, all on her own, which involved crossing London on the underground in the rush hour with the biggest rucksack in the world, and spend the week with a group of strangers, accommodation was the village hall.

She has just got her GCSE results which, thank goodness, were good enough for her to go on to study her chosen course, the International Baccalaureat, at the local state- funded sixth form college, not private you understand. She got an A star for art (that's my girl), by the way, and the rest were all As and Bs (that's for you, Elizabeth, and thank you for asking).

Anyway, to get to the point of this post ........... Although K. had a lovely holiday, she did have to contend with a lot of negative and stroppy seventeen year olds (she is sixteen), who were only on the holiday to gain points for the gold award section of the Duke of Edinburgh's scheme. These young people plainly were not participating on the week away for the "right reasons". They were astonished that anyone would want to devote a week to the good cause of conservation of the environment - they were only doing it for the certificate.

2 Comments:

  • At 11 September, 2006 20:17, Blogger Nick said…

    I believe that in the '50s, when this appalling scheme was originally proposed by Philip von Battenburg, it was known in Whitehall as 'the Hitler Youth'. (Full disclosure: I hold the Silver Ward. Would'v'e been Gold but for a severe attack of lethargy when the expedition was due to happen . . .)

     
  • At 13 September, 2006 16:44, Blogger Irene Adler said…

    Your failure to get gold has clearly blighted your life. Even today you are still making excuses.

    On a related matter - I was a bit unhappy about my children swearing allegiance to the Queen when they were Brownies/Guides. But of course I knew that they wouldn't mean any of it.

     

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