Update concerning issues raised in 2009

Discussion of the SES, particularly in the UK.
Leonie
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:00 pm

Update concerning issues raised in 2009

Postby Leonie » Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:59 pm

This is to update the forum concerning the issues that I raised in 2009 and discussed on the forum. This relates to my post from May 2012 (at this link: http://www.ses-forums.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=803). On this forum I have used the pseudonyms trubleshtr, stiltrubld and bluemoon – my real name is Leonie.

I am providing this update because, since I brought these issues into the public arena, I feel a responsibility to both the forum and the SES to be open about how things are progressing, especially if the forum is to become locked and/or close down.

When I first discovered the forum I was deeply shocked and in fact heartbroken to find out what had happened to children in the past at the SES linked schools in the UK. The Townend Report officially recognised the harm, but it was the individual stories on the forum that touched my heart. I remain deeply affected by these stories as I am sure is everyone that discovers them.

The reason I contributed to this forum in the first place was in order to attempt to persuade the organisation to implement reforms mainly related to gender issues – a discussion that I felt was not possible internally for various reasons that I explained as well as I could at the time. This was played out on the forum for two years or so, after which time I edited or deleted most of my posts related to this because, as I have explained before (at the link above), it was of its time.

The current situation is that I have been in touch again with the Leader of the organisation, Donald Lambie, and have met with him on several occasions. He has now listened to my perspective and I feel I have done all I can to present the issues and have handed my concerns over to him, as far as that is possible.

Having said all that, I never expected to get involved in ‘gender’ issues it just came up whilst I was in the SES, so I simply responded to things as they arose. But I came along to the organisation to study philosophy/spirituality and soon became involved in economics, which is my particular interest (related to social equity and environmental sustainability), and which I simply wished to pursue whilst I raised my kids. I have taken part again in a couple of SES economics events recently.

My main point now is that the teaching of Advaita Vedanta (‘unity’) is where the real spiritual ideas are expressed in the organisation which I do believe is the mainstay of the philosophy courses. I have found Donald Lambie to be sincere and reasonable in these recent meetings, and I hope that he will take the organisation forward to the ‘next level’ – as I understand it this concerns balance and hopefully more flexibility in line with the way other spiritual Teachers/organisations operate.

Anyway, I just felt that I should be open about this, because as well as being profoundly affected by the past harm to children, I found a great deal of helpful information here and received so much support from the forum at a time when I was very emotionally and psychologically disturbed by it all.

With best wishes, Leonie

[SES London, 1990–2009]

ManOnTheStreet
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2012 1:32 am

Re: Update concerning issues raised in 2009

Postby ManOnTheStreet » Tue Nov 12, 2013 11:44 am

Thanks for this Leonie, it's much appreciated.

If I may ask - was there anything in particular that Donald Lambie said that stood out for you as being meaningful/convincing? It seems the SOP in Australia has followed a similar 'mellowing'/'publicly acceptable' method of presenting itself to prospective students, and I'd be interested to see if there are similarities in the way Donald Lambie presented the School in London.

MOTS

Leonie
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:00 pm

Re: Update concerning issues raised in 2009

Postby Leonie » Tue Nov 12, 2013 2:12 pm

Re: MOTS post above:

The public face of the SES in the UK is really their website mainly I suppose, like most organisations these days. That has not changed much over the last few years I don’t think and you can see for yourself how they present the organisation (just search for School Economic Science UK).

As for my meetings with Donald Lambie, I presented my concerns as ‘suggestions’ rather than ‘criticisms’, which I felt would be more useful. I don’t know if he will take up any of these in particular, but I did attend a residential week for economics a couple of months ago and it seemed to me that there has been a subtle shift in the women who seemed more open and generally happier, and the men seemed more relaxed too. There also seems to be much more intelligence in the system now, for example related to food prep. So, I do think things are changing.

Leonie


Return to “General discussion of SES”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests