The Eleven Plus and Travel

Up until a few days ago a job in the travel industry would have offered a wonderful opportunity to one of our eleven plus children.

Of course bight and able young people would have the opportunity of being fast tracked through the system. Just think of your child having a career where he or she could swop the weather of Britain for a life of travel and glamour. Your much loved would not need to go to university for a `degree’ in tourism as there are many relevant but different routes into a life of freedom and travel.

Your child’s personality may be drawn by the travel agency side of travel- where you talk about ravel instead of doing it. (A bit like us teachers who are sometimes characterised by being people who teach because we can’t do any thing else.)

A tour guide is a very different sort of job that might appeal to some. You could warn your child that there is a range of tour guides – from those helping pensioners on a cruise down the Rhine to guiding adventurous folk who are trekking through the Andes. You may prefer, however, for your child to be a tour rep for Club 16 to 30 – and thus gain access to clearing up after unfortunates to lazing on the beach.

Of course most parents would like their child to go to Oxford, come up with a bright travel related idea, raise a few million seed money to start the project off – and then sell the concept for millions and millions.

We need to feel sorry for all those caught up in the present swine flu saga. Perhaps one of our young people will go on to discover a vaccine that will help to prevent pandemics. After all it is the poor and the vulnerable who are most often caught up in any disasters.