Making a Difference

I seem to be spending a lot of time reading and commenting articles in the TES, The Times Educational Supplement. As usual, my comments are in italics.

‘Your pupils are never too young to make a difference’

​​​​​​​Sleeping out overnight to raise awareness of homelessness had a profound impact on one school’s staff and pupils

By Emma Sturm

Last September, three weeks after I had begun working at James Gillespie’s High School in Edinburgh, I attended an assembly for S1-3 pupils. We had a guest speaker, Alice Thompson, co-founder of the Social Bite social enterprise (which has created such a stir by attracting Hollywood stars such as George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio to Edinburgh to support it). She was an inspiring young woman who talked about homelessness.

She introduced the idea of "The Wee Sleep Out": thousands of pupils sign up to sleep out – a variation of Social Bite’s "Sleep in the Park", for under-16s who want to do their part to help fight homelessness in Scotland. Soon I became the school’s lead on our very own Wee Sleep Out.

I vastly underestimated the number of pupils who would want to take part – I had thought around 50 to, maybe, 100. I was wrong. We were forced to cap our sleepout at 210 pupils.

Now, with 210 pupils, 25 staff and 12 hours of time to plan for, I had a lot to consider. Which buildings can be used? Can we provide food? Will all students have sleeping bags? How do we divide the groups up? How do we keep them entertained all evening? How do we ensure these young people see the sleepout as an act of change, not just one big sleepover?

The huge impact of a Wee Sleep Out

First, we set our fundraising goal at £5,000, which I thought may be too high, but we dreamt big. We began to see money dribble in, but we were so far away from our ambitious goal, and the sleepout was approaching fast.

The whole task was a mammoth one. My room became the “Wee Sleep Out Headquarters”. Before school, during break and lunch, and after school, it was full of students doing myriad tasks. My headteacher, Donald Macdonald, was very supportive and he was able to smooth out any wrinkles with the more logistical side of things.

In the days leading up to the sleep out, I worked feverishly: organising the multiple forms brought in by each pupil, keeping track of pupil groups in a small red jotter (riddled with Tipp-Ex and changes), and making up detailed packs for each of the 25 teachers.

Two days before our sleepout on 16 November, however, we were £3,000 short of our target. I tried to put this out of my mind – and needn't have worried.

The big night finally arrived. The atmosphere was electric, and we were sitting at £7,000 when our event kicked off – incredible news that boosted all involved. Ultimately, we raised £11,000 – the highest-earning Wee Sleep Out in Scotland.

On the morning after the Wee Sleep Out, teachers in hoodies gathered for bacon rolls. We raved about how enthusiastic our pupils were, and how they are never too young to make positive changes to the world around them.

Four pupils, in particular, have reaped numerous benefits from their efforts. They spoke on stage in front of thousands at the Sleep In the Park in Edinburgh, they took part in a photoshoot to promote the next Wee Sleep Out, and they were invited to a thank-you dinner where they had the privilege of meeting Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The whole thing was a life-changing experience. It was inspirational to see just how much pupils care about a cause, and how empowered they are to make positive changes, if given the chance.

The lasting message, for all schools, is this: your pupils are never too young to make a difference.

Emma Sturm is a teacher at James Gillespie’s High School in Edinburgh

And here is my rather unenthusiastic reply.

So if your students made such a huge difference, Emma Sturm, then would we all be right to think that there is no more homelessness in Scotland? Or is it really the case that there has been no significant change at all, so that there are still lots of homeless people who are sleeping rough in many Scottish cities? If the latter is the case, then your pupils have not made a difference. But some of them got to meet Malala, posted a few selfies on Facebook and no doubt they feel good about themselves. Anyway, congratulations on your successful PR stunt.

Someone called Elizabeth Catherine was not happy about my comments and she wrote:

What a cynical life you must lead.

Well, Emma Sturm claims that her students' sleepout made a "huge impact". Actually, they did raise some money and that cash will help one (or maybe even two) homeless people to have somewhere to live, at least temporarily. So yes, for those few, there has been a significant change to their lives, but many homeless people are still sleeping rough on the streets of Scottish cities. If that is being cynical, then I must put up my hand and I confess to being a cynic.

 

The really dreadful thing is that Emmas tells us absolutely nothing about what the money that was raised was actually spent on. If the money had been used to renovate some run-down properties, so that homeless people would have somewhere permanent to live, then yes, I would agree that the Wee Sleep Out had achieved something. However, she makes no mention of anything like this, so I can only conclude that the money was not spent in this way. 

Then I had this comment from Emma Sturm herself, via Facebook.

I cannot tell if you are being genuine or sarcastic. I don’t think there is any “perhaps” about it. Doing some good is 100% better than doing nothing at all. This is a problem that does not and should not fall to school children to solve. They helped in a way that they could help. They fundraised hard, and raised the most money of any other school in Scotland. Regardless if our fundraising helped one person or 10 people- it made a positive change to the world, which is what the article said. The article was about one specific instance, yes, but the overall moral was that, given the opportunity, students will rise to the challenge to make positive changes. You are basically belittling our cause as a “PR stunt” and saying that it doesn’t even matter because only one person was helped. You are an ex teacher- how are you unable to see the value of these pupils learning the lesson that they can contribute positively to the world around them? Why are you only focusing on the negative? Why are you implying that unless they single handedly solve the homelessness crisis (a bunch of CHILDREN) that they did not make a difference? You are sitting behind your keyboard and writing harsh comments about children’s efforts to make a difference... why is this something to be criticized and belittled?

Well, I do not think that Emma Sturm and I are going to see eye-to-eye on this one. I cannot afford to live in the UK (and I certainly could not afford to live in Edinburgh), but I freely admit that I do not know what it is really like to be homeless. Pretty horrible, I would imagine. I suppose that we ought to be happy if even one homeless person now has somewhere to live, as a result of her student's efforts. But Emma Sturm's TES article really does not even try to say anything about what homelessness really means or how it could be ended. Did her students speak to any homeless people? Did they get any real insight into what it is like to be homeless? Can she name just one person who was homeless and who now has somewhere to live, thanks to her school's "Wee Sleep out"? Well, there is no mention of this in her piece for the TES. Instead, her article is full of self-congratulatory hyperbole ("huge impact", "positive changes to the world", "make a difference", "life-changing"). She goes on (and on) about Hollywood stars, how hard she worked, how exciting it was, how much money was raised, the thank-you dinner, the photoshoot and meeting Malala. So is homelessness a tragedy? Or is it just a photo op?

As for belittling the children's "efforts", I do not think that I am doing that because I doubt very much that they made any efforts. The students did not "raise" the money: it was given to them by their parents and grandparents.

And what exactly did the students DO during the Wee Sleep Out? Let me guess what they did. Run a marathon? Write a 10,000 word essay? Dig an old lady's garden? Clean up a beach that was covered in litter? Plant a thousand trees on the side of a mountain? No, I do not think that these teenagers did any of those things nor did they do anything else that required even a modicum of physical or mental effort. So what did her students actually do during their "Wee Sleep Out"? I bet that they did what most teenagers are so good at doing: they talked to their friends, played with their iPhones, took a few selfies and then finally (finally!) they went to sleep. Sleeping! Wow! What a difficult and tiring thing that is... 

Be careful not to practise your righteousness in front of others, to be seen by them.

Matthew 6, 1 (New International Version)

There are numerous articles on the Internet, linking homelessness with high property prices. And if you are looking for somewhere to live, then Edinburgh is, of course, one of the most expensive cities in the UK. House prices in Scotland's capital are almost as crazy as in Central London. 

Yes, but who has benefitted from the spiralling property prices in the UK? Not teachers, I am sure. The landlords, politicians, solicitors, bankers and estate agents have all made a lot of money from the inflation-busting house price rises. And where will they be sending their children, I wonder? Probably to the posher schools, like James Gillespie's High School in Edinburgh, where Emma is a teacher.  

And what careers will Emma Sturm's students be following in a few years' time? Will any of them be going into property management, politics, finance and the Law, I wonder? Yes, a lot of them probably will be following these rather well-paid career paths. So no, I do not think that Emma Sturm's students are going to make any real impact on the problem of homelessness in Scotland. In all probability, her students are going to make money out of it, perpetuate it and make it even worse. With friends like these, homeless people won't need any enemies. Now my guess is that Emma Sturm's students are no better (or worse) than teenagers anywhere else in the UK, but I do find it offensive when butchers try to persuade me to become a vegan, drunks lecture me on the benefits of abstaining from alcohol and  prostitutes tell all me about the virtues of chastity. Has dear Emma Sturm never heard of something called "hypocrisy"?  

Well, someone called D.J. MacDonald obviously disagrees with me.

Warmest congratulations to Emma for all of her hard work in organising this event to raise money for such a worthy cause. Emma’s drive, passion, enthusiasm and attention to detail were a joy to behold. Around 250 staff and pupils took part in the JGHS ‘wee’ sleepout. The fact that over £11,000 was raised is testament to lots of hard work and Emma’s infectious enthusiasm.

This one event will not in itself end homelessness in Scotland but it will make a significant contribution. Importantly, in addition to the money raised, young hearts and minds were won over.

Malala is credited with having said that “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” I’m inclined to agree.

Well, I am not inclined to agree. Young hearts were won over to WHAT, D.J. MacDonald? Are all (or most) of Emma Sturm's students going to turn their backs on well-paid careers, in order to work for charities? I doubt it. One PR stunt, one selfie and one TES article are not going to change anything. 

A quick rummage around on the Internet has convinced me that the problem of homelessness in Scotland (and in the rest of the UK) is getting worse, not better, so Emma's "contribution" is not quite so wonderful and "significant". Yes, Emma herself probably did work hard organising the Wee Sleep Out, but what exactly was all of this "hard work" that the students did?  

There is, of course, a way to end (or at least to reduce) the problem of homelessness, whether in Edinburgh, in the rest of the UK or anywhere else. And what is it? To provide homeless people with an affordable home. The late, great George Carling had quite a bit to say about this. Of course, Emma does not bother to say anything about this possible solution to homelessness (or any other). As I am someone who cannot afford a decent home in the UK, maybe I am just a little bitter and cynical. And perhaps that is why I did not enjoy reading this TES article.

POSTSCRIPT

In all fairness, I must point out that Emma Sturm's Wee Sleep Out raised some money for something called Social Bite. After some research, I found out that Social Bite DOES provide some (rather small) houses for homeless people. I do not think that these huts are really "homes", as the people who were homeless do not actually own them. They have just been allowed to live in these small housing units. Perhaps Emma Sturm could have taken the time and the trouble to mention these shacks in her TES piece, instead of telling us how hard she worked and how wonderful it was to take selfies and have a congratulatory dinner. 

Anyway, these small houses are not exactly a dosser's des. res. They are more like garden sheds. On the other hand, isn't just about any form of accommodation better than sleeping on the streets? Oh well, beggars can't be choosers, I suppose. Then again, one has to ask whether living in little prefabs with other down-and-outs really is the best way to help homeless people become re-integrated into society, but at least Emma got to meet Malala and have her article published in the TES.