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Current affairs

Science

Psychology

Global perspectives

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INTERNATIONAL DIARIES: After the floods in Germany & rebuilding hope after the parade-day shooting in New Orleans.SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: Does being smart make you happy? By Dr. Grace Lourdan.

Issue Two Aug-Oct ‘13 FREE

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HAVE YOU HEARD OF? Denise Yates, Chief Executive of Potential Plus UK highlights how only 3% of gifted children go onto become gifted adults and what she intends to do about it.

iqiqEQ

Is emotional intelligence what you need to succeed in the digital age?

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The New Idealist Welcome

Designer Mike Kilkelly

The New Idealist Magazine Contents

Did you watch that Child Genius programme? For those of you who didn’t, it involves pitching innately sensitive, delicate children programmed to be perfectionists against each other to find the UK’s ‘ultimate’ child genius. As you can imagine, tears and upset follow as one-by-one the children crash out of the competition.

So what does the future hold for these children? Denise Yates, the engaging Chief Executive of the Potential Plus UK gifted children’s charity, explains that only 3% of gifted children go onto become gifted adults and outlines the bold attempts she is making to reverse this dire situation (Page 4).

This rather disheartening statistic is derived from research by Professor Joan Freeman, a Chartered Psychologist who carried out the only long-term study of gifted (and some non-gifted) children in the UK and established that out of 210 children only a minority were what could be deemed ‘conventionally successful’ as adults.

When I enquired with Professor Freeman about this statistic she commented “I can certainly say that most gifted children do not become gifted adults. Life usually gets in the way”. Professor Freeman is also a consultant on the Channel 4 Child Genius programme.

If you haven’t guessed already, our theme for this issue is “Intelligence”, particularly the differences between IQ and EQ (emotional intelligence). We had so many interesting contributions this issue that we couldn’t quite fit them all in the magazine. You can read extra contributions from Dr Maria Leitner, British MENSA Supervisory Psychologist and others at www.thenewidealist.com

Our International Diaries section (Page 11) has another hard-hitting report from Clifton in New Orleans, who returns to make us aware of the difficulties facing the city following the parade day mass shooting. We also have a wonderful letter from Germany from Elisabeth, a medical student who writes about life in her town and the effect of the terrible flooding this summer.

On behalf of The New Idealist team, I would just like to thank all those who sent positive messages following the publication of our first issue; it’s always nice to know that we are on the right track. Please send any other feedback to: mail@thenewidealist.com

L Andal Lydia Andal, Managing Editor

WRITE FOR USWe are always interested in topical contributions in the areas of current affairs, science, psychology and social justice. If you have a relevant topic you think might be of interest for a future issue please email across a brief synopsis and a short bio to: mail@thenewidealist.com

We would like to extend a large thank you to all of ourcontributors for this issue: Denise Richardson, Dr. KarenNiven, Beatrice Rescazzi, Tabz O’Brien-Butcher, CliftonHarris, Elisabeth Heym, Karen Meager, Dr. Grace Lourdan,Dr Maria Leitner, Steve Fuller and Nan Sherrard.

READER CONTACTSPrint & Digital Subscriptions are available online @ www.thenewidealist.com

We distribute this magazine internationally via digital download from our website. For Overseas Print Subscriptions or any other subscription enquiries please email: subs@thenewidealist.com Feedback: mail@thenewidealist.com Snail mail: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX Telephone: 0161 4088409

ABOUT THE NEW IDEALIST MAGAZINEIf you are wondering how we have packed such a lot into amagazine with such a small page count, it’s because we don’tcarry any adverts. We publish the magazine for free both in printand digitally so that cost is no barrier for anyone who wants toread the magazine. We are ad-free because we want to establishthe magazine and publish a wide range of topics free ofadvertiser influence.

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Visit signupforsocialjustice.org to find out more about our campaigns.

WelcomeSix Steps to Personal Fulfilment We continue with step two of our six step journey here with Karen Meager providing practical advice on how to manage your career related hopes and fears.

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Have you heard of…Potential Plus UK? We talk to Denise Yates about why only a tiny minority of gifted children go on to become gifted adults and what can be done to improve this situation.

The BIG Debate With computers able to do complex calculations and mobiles able to memorise phone numbers so we don’t have to, is emotional intelligence more important than IQ in the digital age? We ask two experts to debate the benefits of each.

The Student Room Do sites like ‘hottie in the library’ encourage harassment of fellow students? We asked a few for their thoughts; prepare to be surprised by the results.

International Diaries From the mass-shooting in New Orleans to the flooding in Germany, we hear about the challenges facing those across the globe.

Something nice for the weekend… Visit Brighton Interested in exploring the city by the sea? Check out our Brighton weekend guide here.

Something to think about: “Does being smart make you happy?” By Dr. Grace Lourdan

Editorial Team

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Design ConsultantJulie Thomas

Student Editor Mariana Cerqueira

Managing EditorLydia Andal

The New Idealist Magazine Welcome

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The New Idealist Magazine Have you heard of... Potential Plus UK?

Every issue we will bring to your attention an interesting charity that you may not otherwise have heard of. This issue Lydia Andal, Managing Editor met with Denise Yates, Chief Executive of Potential Plus UK a charity for gifted and high potential children.

Have you heard of...

P O T E N T I A L P L U S U K ?

The New Idealist Magazine Have you heard of... Potential Plus UK?

On your website you make reference to the difference between a gifted child and a child with high potential, what is the key difference between the two?

A child with high learning potential has the ability, but they’re not there yet necessarily. The word gifted has got lots of social connotations which are not necessarily good for our children. When I say the word gifted quite often people will think ‘oh he’s a little Einstein’; he’s a little child who’s going to achieve no matter what. You hear the word gifted you hear the words ‘white, middle class, pushy parents, hot housing their child to achieve’. You hear the word ‘privilege’.

These children have got the potential but…they need nurturing, they need opportunities to fail as well, fail positively.

And one of my own abiding memories was that I never failed anything until I went to Cambridge. I took my first exam and I failed. I almost packed up and went home again, because I wasn’t used to it. I’d come top of the class, second in the class for as long as I could remember and what we want is these children to have a plan b. They need the coping mechanisms to say ‘ok that didn’t work but that doesn’t affect me as a person’.

Gifted implies that you’re there already. High learning potential shows that you’ve got a journey.

Can you give us an example of a child that your organisation has helped?

A child of about nine was really misbehaving in school, particularly in his maths class and a very very forward-thinking teacher gave him a maths GCSE book to study over the holidays. He ended up when he was in primary school getting A* maths GCSE because it wasn’t the fact that he was misbehaving, it was because he wasn’t being challenged. He then went on to do a distance learning course in A Level and he got an A* (age 11) and he’s just

completed an Open University degree (age 13), and all that time he’s been in a mainstream school.

We have children who are musicians; a previous member of ours wanted to be a composer and he wrote a symphony when he was 11/12 and he’s just written one for the Olympics about sport (age 18).

Why do you think gifted children often have difficulty communicating effectively?

They have so much crammed in their heads that sometimes it’s difficult to get it all out. But don’t assume that every child is going to be like that because we then move into the bracket of EQ. Some of the children you are absolutely bowled over with and you are just enthralled by what they have to say; the storytellers.

That’s one of the other reasons why straight IQ doesn’t do it for me. The emotional quotient, the EQ, the ability to emphasise, the ability to understand where other people are coming from, the ability to say just the right thing at the right moment. The ability to be very passionate about something, these are the children who are going to save the world tomorrow and they want to go to solve the world’s problems because that’s what they are, that’s who they are.

What opportunities are there for someone to support your charity?

It’s not only money that we’re looking for. People with skills, people with unusual skills who can enthuse the children would be fantastic. We found somebody who was a graffiti artist and they ran a session which was very well received by the children.

What are the key areas you think the Department of Education should be looking at to support these children?

I think it would be extremely useful to have a national strategy and that’s one of the reasons we set up ‘GT Voice’. That’s a grass-roots network for anybody who is interested in working together on developing support for children with high learning potential/gifted children, and that’s free to join.

Potential Plus UK would welcome your support or involvement in its work including funding or fundraising activities to support its work with low income families and Helpline; raising the profile of its work and helping to run exciting, challenging activities for children and young people around the country. www.potentialplusuk.org

How did you get involved with Potential Plus?I became involved because I come from quite a poor area of Salford in Manchester but I happened to be reasonably smart and some of my teachers were truly inspirational and they put me forward for Cambridge when I was about 18.

The first thing that my mum said was “you can’t go there, people like us don’t go to Cambridge”, and my teacher pulled her in and said “you’ve got to give it a go because what’s she got to lose”.

I’m a Cambridge economist and the reason why I’m in this organisation is that I wanted to put something back because a lot of the children that we support aren’t your obvious candidates for being gifted and talented.

Can you give us some examples of the kind of children you work with?

We identify about six types of children; the ‘successful child’, who is probably the one that most people see when they think of a child who is gifted and talented; the child who is going to sail through school. But quite often these children are perfectionists and so if they don’t get things right they beat themselves up about it.

The second sort of child is the ‘creative child’; these are the people who are probably taking the TV to pieces at the age of two or three. They’re the entrepreneurs or engineers of the future.

The third sort are the ‘underground child’; they don’t think it’s cool to be clever. They start to under-achieve and go underground.

The fourth sort, we have a lot of children here who are ‘Dual and multiple exceptional’, they have a skewed IQ profile, some things they’re very good at, some things they’re not so good at. What they’re not so good at, what their special need is, pulls down their ability so you might see a naughty child or a young person who is very lazy in your eyes. Most schools are excellent at identifying a special need, lots of schools are not so good at challenging or stretching the child’s ability.

The (fifth type of) child who is “at risk”. We did some research last year about young offenders. We were convinced that if a child is going to be so under-challenged that they start to mess around in class and all of a sudden they’re up in front of the head teacher they get excluded from school and you could see the spiral getting worse and worse and we want to test the theory that some of these children could be found in children’s institutions.

…and then the final child who is the ‘self-directed learner’.

How do you identify how a child is gifted?

When I first joined the organisation it was an IQ of any above 130, it was the top 2% of ability. But I think it’s far more complicated than that. IQ tests if you’re not careful are very culturally biased so a child who is from a middle class environment where the parents are both professionals and have got university experience - if you’re not careful and you don’t use an IQ test which takes away that cultural bias, a child who’s been in that environment probably will do better than a child who isn’t in that environment.

We were set up nearly 50 years ago and we helped to shape gifted and talented policy in this country and what I’m trying to do is to find all the people around the country who were ever involved with us to see what they are doing now.

Only 3% of gifted children become gifted adults without the right support and what we want to know is how, why, what’s happening to them.

One of the things we’re noticing is that gifted children have very high degrees of sensitivities so here I’m talking about the children who burst into tears in the playground because somebody else is being bullied. The child who has to have the label cut out of the inside of their jumper or they can’t have a certain wool next to their skin. The child who won’t go into a toilet because there’s a hand dryer blowing, because they’ve got noise sensitivities, through to children and adults who get totally moved by a piece of music. We do a screening test for that and we are noticing that a lot of these children have a lot of these sensitivities.

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The New Idealist Magazine The Big Debate The New Idealist Magazine The Big Debate

THE

BIGD E B A T E

IQ is a value which indicates ability correlated with an individual’s intelligence, while EQ is a response to their sensitivity and emotions in any given situation. I will not quibble on the precise effectiveness of these test values, but I am convinced that we are far more complex than the things these tests measure.

Intelligence is a potential which manifests itself in many ways; but in this context I will consider it as reason versus feelings.

Today we are surrounded by computers and complex devices which, however, are designed to be able to be used by as many people as possible. In order to use the internet or a mobile phone then, it is not necessary to be particularly intelligent.

It is also true that the world is complicated and that a good grasp of its mechanisms and its instruments allows people to get by more easily in daily life; yet reason, on its own, cannot subsist in the same way as emotion.

In my opinion, that the heart and mind are two separate entities and, moreover, in contrast with each other, is an idea which shows out of date, Cartesian reasoning. Indeed, both reason, and emotion, originate in the brain, and are closely related. We cannot take decisions correctly without emotionality. If we sense a sign of danger, it induces fear, which makes us decide whether to escape or to protect ourselves.

Comprehending the emotions on the face of an interlocutor permits us to adjust our consequent behaviour. So, there appears to be a clear synergy between emotionality and rationality that, if it is well balanced, permits us to transform the external input we sense into rational answers appropriate to the environment. The brain not only completes this course of action (which departs from the senses and generates rationality) but permits the opposite as well. By the means of reasoning, we can manage our emotions in an adequate way.

The success in life is equilibrium both within oneself and within the surrounding world. By the means of reason, we can understand that, regardless of origin and culture, we are all human beings, that each one of us has the right to be happy and not to suffer, and that, consequently, we all have to be understood and respected.

Knowledge and comprehension generate tolerance, so, therefore, love and respect. Because we are closely linked, one with the other, it is a logical consequence that our own wellbeing passes via everyone’s happiness. The idea of compassion which is at the core of Buddhist philosophy, for example, is verily where an emotion itself is born from a reasoned and meditated base.

Rationality and sentiment are therefore two inseparable elements. This does not take away the fact that diverse people have an imbalance in one of these two elements and that this always reveals itself as a damaging trait when it is very accentuated. For example, a person who acts almost solely via emotion without rationality can become a dangerous religious or political fanatic, with an excessive emotional attachment to their convictions or dogmas, akin to the hate born against those who don’t ‘rationalize’ like them.

A person who is extremely rational will not be able to truly ‘be’, because their intelligence will remain a potential which will not be expressed creatively or in a practical way. Reason and emotions must guide mutually.

A surgeon who lets emotion take the better of him will harm the patient because he will despair and will fear cutting him; one of little sensitivity, however, will not be motivated to carry out the operation. Yet, a surgeon with a good balance of reason and emotion will be compassionate, therefore will operate for the good of the patient, and will not permit emotions to cloud his mental faculties.

So, the key to success in the present age and in all ages as well, is not to choose reason or sentiment, but to find equilibrium in both of these precious resources.

BEATRICE RESCAZZI IS PRESIDENT OF ATLANTIQ SOCIETY WWW.ATLANTIQSOCIETY.COM

Imagine you are given the choice between having a high IQ or the ability to understand and manage your own and others’ emotions. Which do you think would be most beneficial for success?

IQ (standing for intelligence quotient) is best thought of as the general ability that underlies thinking and reasoning. Measured using a series of questions about logic, concepts and patterns, the average IQ score is 100, with two-thirds of the population scoring between 85 and 115.

IQ is clearly important to our success. Those with higher IQs are shown to have better memory, faster mental processing speed, better problem-solving, and advanced spatial awareness. In fact, research studies have suggested that IQ is the best single predictor of how well a person will perform during education and in the workplace.

But is IQ really so important now, in the digital age? Access to digital technologies is at an all-time high; around 80% of households in the UK have computers with internet access, and 92% of UK adults own a mobile phone. And these technologies are able to perform many of the mental functions that we can, only faster.

Computers and mobiles are able to process and remember most things with ease, and the internet represents an encyclopedia of knowledge at our fingertips. As a blogger put it recently, “Our phones are getting smarter, but are we getting dumber?”

There is some evidence that IQ is becoming less important. A recent study found that since the Victorian times our IQs have been dropping at a rate of over 1 IQ point per year. At the very least, changes in technologies have led to people using their brains differently. For example, rather than needing to remember things such as friends’ phone numbers, now we need to remember how or where to find that information.

So has the increased reliance on technology negated the need for intelligence altogether? An American psychologist, Howard Gardner, proposed the idea that rather than just IQ, there are multiple types of intelligence, including musical intelligence and bodily-kinesthetic (athletic) intelligence, amongst others.

One type of intelligence that has been long-discussed (even dating back to Darwin’s work, albeit under a different name), is emotional

intelligence (EQ). There is some debate as to the nature of EQ, but most agree that it is a set of abilities relating to being aware of and able to manage how we and others around us are feeling.

So why is this type of intelligence important? Many people hold the belief that emotions are signs of irrationality that prevent us from performing at our best. But researchers have proven that emotions have adaptive value, helping us to make better decisions, to be more creative, and to achieve under pressure. Being able to harness the power of their emotions may then help people with high EQ to succeed.

Being able to understand what others are feeling and manage those feelings when appropriate is also likely to help us to connect with others. A study by Tiziana Casciaro and Miguel Sousa Lobo showed that when it comes to who we like to work with, for example, IQ comes second to EQ – we pick “loveable fools” over “competent jerks”. Not only is forming relationships a fundamental human need, but it helps us to get ahead at work. Countless studies on ‘social capital’ demonstrate that people with more connections get promoted faster at work, and that who we know is more important even than what we know.

As a result of these advantages, studies suggest that high EQ is linked to better academic and work performance, even when taking into account IQ levels. And in the digital age, EQ is set to become increasingly important. Communicating virtually, via email, text message, social networking websites etc, means that being able to manage the emotions that we communicate to others and to read and interpret others’ cues accurately, is even more crucial than ever for building relationships and avoiding conflict.

So which form of intelligence should you choose to propel you to success? In my view, EQ tips the balance.

DR. KAREN NIVEN IS A LECTURER IN ORGANISATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AT MANCHESTER BUSINESS SCHOOL, AND EDITOR OF ‘SHOULD I STRAP A BATTERY TO MY HEAD? (AND OTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT EMOTION)’

I Q VS . E Q . I N T H E D I G I TA L AG E .

IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE MORE

IMPORTANT THAN A HIGH IQ?

IQ VS. EQ. IN THE DIGITAL AGE IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE MORE IMPORTANT THAN A HIGH IQ?

BEATRICE RESCAZZI

Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262-274. Colier, N. (2013, May). Our phones are getting smarter, but are we getting dumber? Psychology Today. Woodley, M. A., te Nijenhuis, J., & Murphy, R. (2013). Were the Victorians cleverer than us? The decline in general intelligence estimated from a meta-analysis of the slowing of simple reaction time. Intelligence. Shakarami, A., Mardziah, H. A., Faiz, S. A., & Tan, B. H. (2011). Remembering differently: Use of memory strategies among net-generation ESL learners. Educational Research and Reviews, 6, 350-357. Casciaro, T., & Lobo, M. S. (2005). Competent jerks, lovable fools, and the formation of social networks. Harvard Business Review, 83, 92-99. Lam, L. T., & Kirby, S. L. (2002). Is emotional intelligence an advantage? An exploration of the impact of emotional and general intelligence on individual performance. Journal of SocialPsychology, 142, 133-143.

DR. KARENNIVEN

IQ VS. EQ. IN THE DIGITAL AGE IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE MORE IMPORTANT THAN A HIGH IQ?

THE VERDICT:

YesTHE VERDICT:

Maybe

STUDENT EDITOR COLUMNMy life as a student has come to an end, after fifteen years of hard work. Throughout all those years, I came across several methods to successfully revise and every single one mentioned the need for a suitable place as the key to academic triumph. Noisy places like the kitchen or the living room were not advised. But one place I never thought wouldn’t be suitable was the library.

I first heard about Spotted on my Facebook news feed. A considerable amount of my connections had liked it, so I decided to do so as well. It seemed harmless at first, but after a few posts I realised the potential of the page – students bored with revision having a platform to voice whatever they want about the people they are sharing that study space with, anonymously. Tabz, the Women’s Officer at Manchester Students’ Union, expresses serious concerns in her article, after receiving countless complaints from students.

Eight out of the ten interviewed students considered pages like ‘Spotted’ to be encouraging harassment of other students – confirming Tabz’s concerns. Ben Fearn, a current student at The University of Manchester, also speaks his mind on Spotted – you can find his article on our website.

The ultimate question is, if students don’t feel safe to study at their own library, where will they? I’m just glad I’ve never been ‘spotted’.

Mariana Cerqueira Student Editor

Mariana is a graduate of The University of Manchester

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OVERALL VERDICT:

YES

The New Idealist Magazine The Student Room

The Student Room

The New Idealist Magazine The Student Room

A. 'It doesn’t influence

it but it does

encourage it’

Aaron Merton - Computer Video Gaming

A. 'Some people might take it for granted to insult people’Romy Szekely - TV & Radio

A. ’People will

use any excuse

to be nasty’

Nicole Kelly - TV & Radio

A Penny Pound for your thoughtsWe asked 10 students from the University of Salford for their thoughts on the following and gave each one of them a pound in return. The results are as follows...

Q. Do sites like ‘spotted’ and ‘hottie in the library’ encourage harassment or bullying of fellow students?

Renso Samuels - TV & Radio

A. 'Just another platform for bullying’

A. 'I think it is encouraging bullying’Ivan Valdivia - MA Wildlife

A. 'gives people an outlet to voice negative opinions’

Steven McGee Callender - Student

A. 'Taking the mick a bit far’Lucy Cassidy - Student

Lucy Lowe - Computer and Video Games

A. 'because of the anonymous nature, it may inspire abuse’

A. 'Unfortunately people find it easier

to be rude than nice’

Sam Bond - MA Wildlife

A. 'It is an invasion of privacy and leads to unwanted attention’Katie Dickinson - MA Journalism

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The New Idealist Magazine The Student Room

International diariesNew Orleans Journal By Clifton Harris

Clifton Harris is a lifelong resident of New Orleans. He currently resides in New Orleans East with his family. He is an Information

Systems Coordinator that assists case managers and nonprofit organizations with providing services to the homeless in the city.

When he isn’t working he enjoys writing, and being a full time father.

He has been writing his blog cliffscrib.blogspot.com where he focuses most of his writing towards social and community issues.

Rebuilding the city. Parade photos online at www.thenewidealist.com.

The New Idealist Magazine International Diaries

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The biggest story since my last column was the shooting of nineteen people at a second line parade on Mother’s Day. A second line parade consist of a brass band, a marching group that we call social and pleasure clubs in New Orleans along with people who follow them. They are the second line. It’s good free fun but since the roots of it are based in neighborhoods that tend to be kind of rough the atmosphere can be dangerous sometimes.

Now, these parades happen all the time and usually no one gets harmed but the chance is always there because it’s an open free party which means anyone can be out there. It’s these kinds of stories that highlight our criminal element and the challenges we have at stemming the epidemic of violence in our community.

Spring is the time where New Orleans residents spend a lot of time outside. It’s full of festivals and social events that take place outdoors. There’s a festival for just about every aspect of South Louisiana Culture. It’s a great time to get out and embrace who we are and the things that make living here special. You may have to put up with the occasional thunderstorm but it’s a small price to pay for a great time. The majority of springtime is also right before hurricane season so anxiety is low and bad memories are still being maintained.

Hurricane season runs from June to November. During this time of year you keep focused on what you are trying to accomplish and one eye on the tropics because you never know when life may change. This period symbolizes the feeling I have living here currently as a lifelong resident. I’m caught between hope for the future, the pain of the past and the frustration of the present. I have to move forward and do everything I can to make this city a great place to live for myself and my children to thrive in. At the same time I can’t ignore the issues from the past and the problems that continue to give us problems. I feel I have an obligation to acknowledge those things.

Our mayor Mitch Landrieu is a very progressive and ambitious mayor. He’s made a lot of changes in the city just like his father did in the 70’s. I don’t have any issue with his progressive agenda. I would much rather a forward thinking mayor than the one who just sits around and lets things continue to fall apart. My only concern is that he never talks about anything in the past. Sometimes I think that he feels if

he acknowledges too much of our city’s history of problems then it will slow down progress.

Our city is going full steam ahead looking forward. We have new professional residents who are moving here that embrace the culture of our city without any of the emotional baggage of growing up here. Their new energy is everywhere. There is construction and new developments popping up everywhere. There are two new hospitals being built in the heart of the city. Without a doubt New Orleans is moving forward.

At the same time we have deep rooted issues of poverty, crime, and homelessness. Most of the public school system was taken over after Katrina but it still has its challenges. Our murder rate is still among the highest in the nation. We have serious issues with substance abuse and mental health. Our police department and jail both have consent decrees from the federal government that the mayor says we can’t afford to implement. Despite all the new developments and opportunity, there was a recent study highlighting the challenges of black men in the workforce.

While I am excited about the future I am also concerned about our problems. While we are building new things and having a great time we still haven’t come that far where a teenager won’t feel compelled to shoot a gun into a crowd full of people. New Orleans has come a long way but we have a lot more work to do.

You would have had to have had your eyes (or rather your laptop) shut this year to have missed the growth of Spotted Facebook pages at Universities and Colleges around the country. For those of you who shun Facebook, Spotted pages all follow a similar theme. An anonymous student or students run the pages, while other students anonymously submit content for the pages to publish. These often include fairly benign complaints about people eating and talking while other students try to study, and helpful support, such as students sharing info on free computers, plug sockets and even operating a lost and found. All valid parts of student life and nothing anyone would really complain about, if managed responsibly. Yet, as Women’s Officer at Manchester Students’ Union, I have received more complaints about these kinds of other sites than all other complaints about the University put together, because alongside the lost headphones and broken printers lurks some particularly unpleasant harassment and bullying. When students feel too uncomfortable to go into their own learning spaces because of the actions of those who secretly run a Facebook page, we have a problem.

The veil of anonymity allows those running and posting Spotted pages to share some truly obnoxious sexist material, from detailing graphic sexual acts that posters would like to do to women sharing the library with them to spiteful messages encouraging “average looking” women to cover up lest they are deemed “sluts”. The boredom and procrastination of week long library sessions has led to students in their thousands signing up for Spotted updates, no doubt encouraging those running the pages to be ever more controversial in their postings. Alongside their more blatant cousins, Hottie in the Library and University of Manchester Fitty Feed, these pages contribute to a hostile culture reminiscent of American teen flicks, where bullying and objectification are seen as commonplace side effects of receiving an education.

A lot of the debate around these pages focuses on the objectification of women students. The National Union of Students (NUS) has a very strong Women’s Campaign and as a result Women’s Officers and student groups from around the country have come together to challenge their institutions to do something about them. The recent NUS report, That’s What SHE Said throws further light on the impacts of “lad culture” on our campuses and in our classrooms. Yet the damaging impact of these pages is not only felt by women or based around a student’s sexual worth. If you’re “too scruffy” or “too smart”, “too fat” or “too thin”, basically if you don’t adhere to an anonymous student’s idea of what is acceptable you are torn apart and laughed at.

Some students have said that those who feel too anxious or uncomfortable to use the Library need to “grow a pair” and “get over it”. To them, I ask, is your right to procrastinate over spiteful, hurtful and abusive comments greater than those students right to their own education? Universities and Colleges are spaces where we are supposed to develop critical thinking skills and become socially responsible. Can you really condone those posting pictures of “fat students” eating snack foods or the mocking comments afterwards? Do you think its right that women students have non consensual photos posted for their peers to rate from 1-10?

Students use these pages to police the appearances of students, objectifying women students in their work space. Admins have, on a number of instances, promoted comments which have been racist, sexist and/or homophobic in content. Pictures that clearly identify students are published without their consent, and at times posts openly attack staff. It’s not about not having fun. Students shouldn’t have to avoid the library in case they are shamed on a Facebook page. Spotted pages could absolutely exist in a way that doesn’t rely on surveillance tactics that are often offensive, intimidating and discriminatory to many students, and it is perfectly possible to have joke without them being at the expense of others. The admins could run pages that are more responsible, that take into consideration zero tolerance to sexual harassment, and filter offensive discriminatory material including homophobic, racist and sexist comments which have indeed been ‘spotted’ on these pages.

Facebook often shuts these pages down, yet they spring up time and again. It is not the internet that is at fault here. Facebook is a space that reflects the cultures found on our campuses. Whether in the classroom, in your halls or on the internet, there is no place for bullying in our institutions. It is time for institutions to take this behaviour seriously and stamp it out, once and for all. Facebook pages don’t bully students; other students do.

Tabs O’Brien-Butcher.

Women’s Officer, University of Manchester Student Union.

THE TROLLS IN THE LIBRARY

The New Idealist Magazine International Diaries

Our political and economical situation is very good, we don’t have to fight for educational rights or jobs – doctors are always needed. We just have to fill our minds with thousands of pieces of information and pass the horrible exams in the end.

But in the last weeks we were in exceptional circumstances. Do you remember the park I mentioned? Imagine, there wasn’t a green area any longer. And you couldn’t see the streets and the sports fields and the stadium and the garden plots anymore... everything sunken in dirty brown water. The flood, caused by heavy rains for days, destroyed the waterside all along the river Saale.

We can be very happy there aren’t so many districts directly situated on the river. But my grandparents own a garden next to the Saale and they have to grapple with the consequences. Usually they spend their summertime in this garden, grow vegetables and fruit, relax in their bower and watch the cactuses prospering in their greenhouse. But after days of being the floor of an ocean, all the plants don’t want to sprout anymore, the bower is filled with mud and the cactuses wish themselves back to the desert.

There is no real financial damage, but it was hard work and they really loved it there. It will be some years until they will finish tidying up everything.

In other German cities, the consequences are much worse. Urban quarters try to protect themselves against the water, but sandbags and banks don’t help. The pictures on TV were really disastrous. But the weather is better now, the flood is decreasing and I hope for sunshine and a dry summertime.

Elisabeth Heym, 19 years old, her parents and her little sister live in Großlöbichau, a small village near Jena, Germany. After attending school for twelve years, she decided to stay and started studying Medicine at the University ‘Friedrich-Schiller’.

International diariesE l i s a b e t h H e y m I n J e n a , G e r m a n y

My name is Elisabeth Heym and I’m a student of Medicine in Jena, a one hundred thousand inhabitant city in the middle of Germany. That’s not that big, but the atmosphere of our science and university city’ is great! every fourth person in the street is a student!

After some years of attending school and university here, I always see some familiar faces on the campus or in the park. My parents often joke and say, ‘Look, all the students here – they just relax and sunbath, drink coffee, enjoy life and don’t have to work hard for their study. It must be easy these days.’ Of course, I counter then, `Every afternoon there are different people. It’s just the big number of students and the small area of the meeting places. And they use a single free afternoon in a month’ But I know that Jena with its inhabitants is very happy to have all these young people in town. We are a rare example of a growing city here in our region.

Deciding on a field of work wasn’t very easy for me after school. But now, I realise, that I’m very content with my choice. I was in the fortunate position of being completely free of my study plans. So my parents told

me to choose whatever I can imagine working in, the university next to my home village offered a lot of study choices, which seemed interesting to me and my requirements from school enabled nearly every job idea.

After a very long period of mediation and deciding and having completely different plans and deciding again and being unsure for days and days, I gave myself a start and applied for one of the 260 places in the Medical Faculty. No year abroad, jobbing, travelling, doing nothing, finding my inner balance, whatever – just starting a degree and learning all the doctor-like stuff.

Yes, our study is loaded with anatomy, histology, dissection courses, physiology, biochemistry and so on, but me and my fellow students, we can’t complain, it’s self-imposed stress. And the requirements for a successful study are absolutely given. I feel well taught and visits to the daily hospital life are included by now. And of course, it simplifies things if you don’t have to care for anyone other than yourself.

The New Idealist Magazine International Diaries

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Dresden, a town which is situated on the river Elbe.

We were lucky that the water didn`t reach the city centre of Jena.

The ‘Augustusbrücke’ of Dresden.

The city centre of Jena with the ‘Jentower’.

If you live outside of the UK and

would like to contribute your own

international diary please

get in touch with a link to your blog:

mail@thenewidealist.com

14 15

Coaching workshop

Welcome to part two of our Coaching Workshop series,

designed to help you find simple ways to improve your

life and feel more fulfilled. We continue with business

and psychology expert Karen Meager who will help you

identify what obstacles may be preventing you from

experiencing the career you aspire to.

Part Two — Professional Situation How to manage your career related hopes and fears

Many people get to the point in their working lives

where they are unhappy and considering a career

change. This is not surprising because what we wanted

to do or thought fitted our skill set at the start of our

career can alter as we get older. But this prospective

change can make us feel unsettled. Sometimes

staying with a job we don’t like is a more comfortable

proposition than taking shaky steps in a new direction.

This fear is totally understandable but potentially

disabling. At its worst, it can prevent us from thinking

clearly through what we want from the rest of our lives.

This process will enable you to unpack your hopes and

fears in an easily manageable fashion. It will empower

you to start to understand what career means to you

and where it fits into your lifestyle.

1) Allow yourself to dream — what do you really want from your career?

First, break down your career hopes by answering the following questions:

• What do you enjoy about what you do?

• What tasks would you avoid if you could?

• How do you really feel about managing other people?

• What do you get out of your work?

• Who do you admire professionally and why?

• What do I need from a career now? In five and 10 years?

Next, brainstorm ‘What is important to me about my career?’ onto sticky-backed notes. Once you’ve written them all out, sort the pages into order, with the most important at the top. The top three or four will represent factors that are absolutely critical for your work satisfaction.

It is important to think freely and not to let your inner critic get in the way. The part of you that says ‘that’s not possible because of XY and Z’ will have its turn later.

By the end of stage one, the purpose is not to identify a job title and industry, but to start to develop a sense of what a fulfilling career would look like and feel like to you.

2) Work the dream into a plan

In this second part of the process, you are considering ‘How could I get to this dream?’ Again, keep the critic at bay and think about how it might be possible to get from where you are now to where you want to be.

• Are there different paths to achieving this?

• Do you know anyone else who has done this or could you read about someone who has?

• What’s the very first step? This could be as simple as doing some research

• What resources would you need? Time, money, skills, support from others?

3) Analyse the plan

Now it is finally time to consider the plan critically. Stand back and contemplate:

• What is missing in this plan?

• What specifically are you afraid of? (If anything)

• What are the potential unintended consequences of this plan? Think about your family, your free time, other areas of your life. Are you OK with these consequences?

4) Revise the dream and take your first steps

Now take all you’ve learned back to your original dream:

• What could be changed or revised?

• What new ideas do you have?

• If you found some consequences you didn’t like,

brainstorm ways to overcome them or incorporate some changes into the plan.

Write down three things you are going to do to get your plan moving. This could be as simple as talking it through with your partner, doing some research into courses and talking to someone who already what you would like to do. The key is to do something active right away to get you started.

If you have reached the end of these four steps and still feel muddled in your thinking, you may need to go through the process several times. Sometimes it helps to have someone else to guide you through the questions so that you can think freely.

Karen Meager draws on her business and psychology expertise to create leading edge training programmes that deliver both business needs and individual personal development. Karen has an MBA specialising in strategy, financial strategy and human development. She is also a UKCP registered Psychotherapist (DipNLPt) and an INLPTA certified NLP Master Trainer. www.monkeypuzzletraining.co.uk

The New Idealist Magazine Coaching WorkshopThe New Idealist Magazine Coaching Workshop

THE SIX STEPS TO PERSONAL FULFILLMENT…

Part One — Current Situation: What is the main obstacle or challenge you are currently facing?

Part Two — Professional Life: How to manage your career- related hopes and fears.

Part Three — Family & Friendships: How to make the most of your social life.

Part Four — Making a difference: Are you using your skillset effectively?

Part Five — Personal Goals: Do you know what you want from your life?

Part Six — Action Planning: How to make change happen.

SIX STEPS TO PERSONAL FULFILLMENT…

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Something for the weekend

The BEAchfront and pier

At beach level, the restored Victorian seafront arches are alive with bars, cafés, restaurants and clubs and twenty of the smallest arches have been turned into artists’ studios. Traditional and modern seaside fun can be had on Brighton Pier with its full size funfair, candyfloss stalls and arcade games. If you like exploring you could visit the North Laine, Brighton’s Bohemian Quarter, with its Saturday street market and quirky and unusual shops.

Price: FREE

Web: www.visitbrighton.com

The New Idealist Magazine Something For The WeekendThe New Idealist Magazine Something For The Weekend

Brighton is one of the few places in the UK which seems to receive universally positive reviews.

It’s near enough to London to be convenient for international and local travellers, yet far

enough away to feel like a whole different experience from the busy city. For those who don’t

mind shingle beach, if you happen to be by the sea a hot day, with beautiful blue skies it really

can feel you are on holiday. Here’s some tips for how to make the most of Brighton.

VISIT BRIGHTON. THE CITY BY THE SEA.

Population Size: Around 253,800

Number of Hotels: Around 43

Number of Pubs: Around 900

Number of Mainline Stations: 1

A ROOM WITH A VIEW AT LEGENDS HOTEL

A five minute taxi ride from Brighton station and two minutes’ walk from the beachfront, Legends Hotel is a lively, resort-style hotel with lavishly decorated luxury rooms, many of which have absolutely stunning sea views. Located right in the heart of the gay nightlife scene, the hotel has a bar and basement club, and offers a warm welcome to all guests both straight and gay.

Price: Standard Double from £75 Luxury Double from £90 per night with breakfast included in both rates.

Web: www.legendsbrighton.com

THE SEA LIFE CENTRE

Located centrally on Brighton’s seafront, SEA LIFE Brighton is the world’s oldest operating aquarium.

SEA LIFE Brighton has an underwater tunnel and is home to over 1,500 creatures and 50 marine displays. You could also ride on the UK’s first Glass Bottom Boat and join in with the free rockpool experience.

Price: Standard tickets are £14.50, £12.60 if booked online. Extra charges apply for the boat ride.

Web: www.visitsealife.com/Brighton

Brighton by Numbers

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The New Idealist Magazine Subscribe

Online NOW

Next issue… NEW: The BIG Idea. We take a common issue

facing society and ask our panel to decide what can be done to

solve it…Simple right!?Next issue out in November.

So far, there is some evidence that those with lower IQ are less happy than those with higher IQ. There is also evidence to suggest that there is no relationship between the two.

The underlining message is that having a higher IQ will either make you happier or no better off. However, there are many other life domains that those with a higher IQ are more likely to perform well in that also influence happiness.

For most people, when they think of a child doing well in school they will first think of exam scores. It is these scores that gain the same child entry into university, with their IQ level majorly determining how well they do in their degree.

In the same vein, when they think of an adult doing well in life they often think first of income and job type. Again, IQ has some influence in this regard. So the question is, whether having a degree, having a higher income, or having a certain type of occupation affect happiness? If they do, while IQ may not raise happiness directly it does so indirectly through these pathways. The answer here is not clear-cut as research shows that for all of these life outcomes, it is not a person’s own achievements that matter but relative achievements. That is, having additional income will only make you happier if your neighbors and social circle have less.

Similarly, having a prestigious job will only change your level of life satisfaction if others around you do not. Any gains that do occur are temporary and individuals adapt to their higher social standing. So while having a high IQ will open many opportunities in life up to you, it does not guarantee you happiness.

EQ or emotional intelligence concerns the ability to perceive, control and evaluate one’s own emotions, as well as be in tune with the emotions of others. It consists of four main elements; self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. EQ therefore has a big influence on how we interact with others on a daily basis.

Children with low levels of EQ generally have worse life outcomes, and are more likely to commit crimes, become unemployed and get divorced as adults. Research also indicates that those with higher EQs have higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction. This may however be an indirect relationship given that EQ overlaps significantly with other personality traits that can influence happiness.

What we do know is that a high EQ in childhood is predictive of happiness over the life-course. In addition, those with higher EQs are more likely to have stable marriages, be happier in their jobs and raise children with higher EQs.

Neither EQ or IQ are enough on their own to lead to a successful life. Research to date is undecided about whether either have direct influences on happiness, however both can influence it indirectly through the opportunities in life they bring. Arguably, for happiness EQ is more important, given that many of the gains from IQ in terms of happiness are eroded by relativity and adaptation.

By the time we are adults our IQ is determined — this is mostly genetic but can also be influenced by early environment, early nutrition, nurture and even birth order! However, some researchers believe that we can alter our EQ.

In this regard, the first step is to manage stress. After this, a person can work on their emotional awareness with studies suggesting meditation as having a high return.

Next, a person can work on their verbal and non-verbal communication skills. While some individuals are gifted in this regard, there is also substantial scope to learn such skills. Even if investing in these skills do not make you happy directly, decreasing stress will help your mental health, improving emotional awareness will help your relationships and working on communication skills will help your work life.

Together, improving these dimensions — as well as many others — will indirectly make you happier.

Dr Grace Lordan, Health Economist, LSE

Something to think about...

“Does being smart make you happy?”

The New Idealist Magazine Something to think about...

Are those with a higher EQ better off than those with a higher IQ when it comes to happiness?

18

> Read an extra insight on The BIG Debate feature from Dr Maria Leitner, British MENSA Supervisory Psychologist and Jo Maddocks from JCA (Occupational Psychologists).> Consider The Limits of Rationality: When Reason Falls Short of Itself from Steve Fuller, University of Warwick. > Nan Sherrard, careers advisor at Graduate Prospects can help recent graduates consider future possibilities and realise their career dreams.> Extra photos from our New Orleans Journal.> Download the digital edition for FREE direct from the website.> SUBSCRIBE to the digital edition now for FREE or sign up to the print edition for £12 per year (P&P charge for four quarterly issues - the magazine is free).

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