Page 80 - Future Leaders 2018-2019

Careers

REMI PHILLIPS-
HOOD, 21

o be nurtured into a world of
Tfreedom is the expectation of
all our childhoods – for the old saying,
“be whatever you want to be” to be a
reality, and not a pipe dream. Yet for
some of us, this isn’t the case.
As a young boy, I was extremely
fortunate to be born into a family with
creative-minded people on my mother’s
side, coupled with the more practical
“suit and tie” values of my father.
This juxtaposition gave me the
equilibrium I needed to fi nd the route I
wanted to choose, and the freedom to
feel supported either way.
For the fi rst time in our history in the
United Kingdom, we are producing a
critical mass of university graduates
who are the children of graduates
themselves. My parents both went to
university, but they didn’t have the
cultural capital and “safety net” of
trial and error, and neither of them
use their degree today. I see this as
an “educational ignition” – the fi rst
step required to give precedent to the
next generation, to allow us to learn
from any mistakes made by our fi rst-
generation graduate parents.
But these cemented blockages
may also prevent future creative black
spaces from growing.
Our fi rst-generation graduate
parents see practicality as the route to
avoiding “failure”. As Reginald M Clark
says, within African and Caribbean
households, “values and priorities
are often infl uenced by the family’s
social status. While distinguishing
ethnic infl uences from social status
infl uences is diffi cult, it seems clear
that among oppressed minorities,
families face great problems in their
efforts to shape their children’s
futures so that they will experience
a reasonable degree of success in
school and adult life.” One friend, of Nigerian descent,
This is problematic as it provides told me how his creativity was not
a “cookie cutter” solution to taken seriously by his mum and dad.
children’s futures and results in the “My parents thought the time I spent
repression of creative endeavours, drawing was taking away from the
as they are rejected as being “non- time I should have spent focusing on
benefi cial”. Studies have focused education.” Despite his artistic talent,
on the importance of the home in his focus was always on a scientifi c
developing achievement patterns, route and he is now completing a
attitudes, and talent. masters in physics at Oxford.
I have been fortunate enough Another friend, of Jamaican
to pursue a creative career in descent, told me how their
the fi eld of architecture. But creativity was cut short by their
others have not been so lucky, parents who wanted “instant
as their families haven’t gratifi cation” instead of pursuing
fostered a well-rounded idea an “uncertain creative path”.
of achievement. This friend was encouraged to

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78 FUTURE LEADERS 10 ANNIVERSARY EDITION