Britain's First Boot Camp for the Young Jobless

[Left Leanings]

It just gets worse:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/10/unemployed-young-people-jump-hoops-work

A property company is running a competition, and the winner will be awarded with an apprenticeship as an handyman. It has been dubbed Britain's first 'boot camp' for the young unemployed, and applicants are required to do vigorous physical exercise.

What I find appalling is that one of the applicants is a 20-year-old former youth worker. He is enthusiastic about it, and maintains you have to go out there and do it for yourself.

My thoughts on this are, how long will it be before the UK government sees 'boot camps' as a way of dealing with youth unemployment? And how long before other lame companies start launching similar, deeming competitions?

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

What I find appalling is that one of the applicants is a 20-year-old former youth worker. He is enthusiastic about it, and maintains you have to go out there and do it for yourself.
What a dupe.

[Regicollis]

It speaks volumes about the state of the class war when it is considered a "prize" worth fighting for to be exploited in a low-paying job. But sadly toiling to make other people rich has become the meaning of life in capitalist society.

[Left Leanings]

What a dupe.

Exactly.

If I were a youth worker, I would be using my time and energies, to point the young in an altogether more constructive direction.

[rednordman]

If this takes off than its probably the beginning of the end.

Weirdly enough they have started doing something similar to this at where i work. Basically its a huge infamous British company that recently boasted about attempting to create thousands of jobs to help the unemployment problem in the UK *Huge Scoff*

The other day they had what they called a recruitment drive where 20 so (supposed to be 50) unemployed people of all ages came to the warehouse and got "assessed" on how fast they could lift certain heavy items into the cages we use for our job. No only where they judged on the speed, but also by how they followed impossible health and safety guidelines. This was then followed by interview, language test and passport check.

After all that, they have apparently only taken on a huge total of 2 people!

Whats next? the old fashioned labour exchange? :mad:

[Positivist]

I believe that such powerful demand for employment has the potential to result in workers forfeiting what rights they have won over from the bourgiose in order to meet their needs. Under such circumstances the proletariat would be more deeply psychologically and materially impoverished than it already is today. It is also concievable that competitions such as these could adopt admission fees furthering proletarian exploitation.

[ed miliband]

the "youth worker" thing is hardly surprising - lots of youth work stuff seems to resolve around making rebellious kids more malleable for the working environment / imbuing them with an "entrepreneurial spirt" (from my experience at least)

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

the "youth worker" thing is hardly surprising - lots of youth work stuff seems to resolve around making rebellious kids more malleable for the working environment / imbuing them with an "entrepreneurial spirt" (from my experience at least)

I hear in school these days here in Sweden they have "Entrepreneurial class" to imbue students with this "entrepreneurial spirit", and many of the social centres having youth workers generally tend to stress this sort of nonsensical rubbish. I imagine it's probably much the same in the UK (didn't Cameron make some silly media spectacle about introducing such courses in schools too?)

[Anarcho-Brocialist]

The rich contrived a system of conformity where people will be thrilled to be exploited and abased for an occupation. This is iniquitous.

[Hit The North]

Fucking hell. It started with people going on the X Factor to become rich and famous; now you have to enter a talent show just to get a crappy job in a warehouse.

Britain in 2012.

[Left Leanings]

I hear in school these days here in Sweden they have "Entrepreneurial class" to imbue students with this "entrepreneurial spirit", and many of the social centres having youth workers generally tend to stress this sort of nonsensical rubbish. I imagine it's probably much the same in the UK (didn't Cameron make some silly media spectacle about introducing such courses in schools too?)

For quite a few years now, school students have been encouraged to participate in projects in school, in which they have to set up a company, promote a product etc. Also, in their final year of secondary school, they are sent on 'work experience'. This is basically working for some dead beat employer or another for free for a week or two.

[ed miliband]

I hear in school these days here in Sweden they have "Entrepreneurial class" to imbue students with this "entrepreneurial spirit", and many of the social centres having youth workers generally tend to stress this sort of nonsensical rubbish. I imagine it's probably much the same in the UK (didn't Cameron make some silly media spectacle about introducing such courses in schools too?)

i wouldn't be surprised. actually, a few of my friends went to schools were business studies was more or less a compulsory gcse, and pshe ('personal, social, and health education', a compulsory though unassessed subject) had elements of this - particularly re: promoting positivity so you can achieve anything

[Ocean Seal]

the "youth worker" thing is hardly surprising - lots of youth work stuff seems to resolve around making rebellious kids more malleable for the working environment / imbuing them with an "entrepreneurial spirt" (from my experience at least)
This is the opposite. You are basically fighting to be a slave to the entrepreneur. In America they still tell you, you can be the master.

[Threetune]

It just gets worse:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/10/unemployed-young-people-jump-hoops-work

A property company is running a competition, and the winner will be awarded with an apprenticeship as an handyman. It has been dubbed Britain's first 'boot camp' for the young unemployed, and applicants are required to do vigorous physical exercise.

What I find appalling is that one of the applicants is a 20-year-old former youth worker. He is enthusiastic about it, and maintains you have to go out there and do it for yourself.

My thoughts on this are, how long will it be before the UK government sees 'boot camps' as a way of dealing with youth unemployment? And how long before other lame companies start launching similar, deeming competitions?

Its not new at all, been going on and off for generations.

"The most decisive event of New Unionism was the great dock strike, which began in August 1889. The dockers were among the most downtrodden, poorly organised workers in the country. Every morning they jostled at the dock gates desperately competing for a day's work. When they decided to strike for the 'dockers' tanner', it was natural that their leader, Ben Tillett, turned to socialists, like Eleanor, Tom Mann and Will Thorne, for help. Within three days, 10,000 workers had joined the strike."

[ВАЛТЕР]

Wow, this is like making your dog do tricks to get a biscuit. I mean this is seriously degrading from my point of view.

"Oh you want to work for our company as an electrician?"

"Well first you have to complete this obstacle course for our entertainment."

"Good boy!!"

:thumbdown:

[ed miliband]

This is the opposite. You are basically fighting to be a slave to the entrepreneur. In America they still tell you, you can be the master.

i wasn't commenting on this case in particular but "youth work" in general

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

This is the opposite. You are basically fighting to be a slave to the entrepreneur. In America they still tell you, you can be the master.

I don't think these things are mutually exclusive. They will rely on telling you that if you do good at this subservient work, you can to become a successful entrepreneur, or, at the very least, local administrator/handler for the warehouse/shoppe/what-have-you - if only you work hard and do as your told. The culture of the Entrepreneur seeks to foment a sort of cut-throat environment (of which these types of competition also form a part) in order to divert class-consciousness and collective organising. In other words, the "entrepreneur" and the "slave", are not mutually exclusive, and when all slaves think they will one day be the master and decide over those others, they will be less inclined to coöperate against the bosses.

[PC LOAD LETTER]

I'm waiting for the day this becomes televised as reality TV shows ... "Lazy poor people box for minimum wage work! Premieres Wednesday night at 9PM, only on Spike TV!"

I will not be surprised at all ...

[Threetune]

I'm waiting for the day this becomes televised as reality TV shows ... "Lazy poor people box for minimum wage work! Premieres Wednesday night at 9PM, only on Spike TV!"

I will not be surprised at all ...


Working class youth have been employed to ‘box each other’ for the entertainment of the bourgeois and petty bourgeois gambling parties since forever. As I said it’s nothing new. It will get worse before it gets better. So better get organised.

[MotherCossack]

at this rate... there are gonna be so many people queuing to have a piece of the action that there wont be anyone left to watch the bloody rubbish....

i can just picture it....
the last viewer on earth watches as the world performs just for him/her.