If you liked school...

Fred HATES school. Why? Ask him - he'll say, "Because they're always bossing me around." He rarely paints anything but a completely bleak picture of his school day. Oh, except for in the last week of term, when they get to do fun stuff instead of being ordered around. He was really looking forward to going in then (his actual words). He actually likes school, except for the being told what to do part. I find it hard not to sympathise.

Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting, has recently brought out a new book, I learned today. It's called "If You Liked School, You'll Love Work!" Wow, I thought, that's a fantastic title. Plainly a man who shares my view of school: it's basically a preparation for a life of obedience. It's like your most important lesson is doing as you're told.

I disagree. I don't trust obedience. Being something of an anarchist, that goes rather against my grain. That doesn't mean I advocate burning down all the schools and offices. It's just that when we're trusted to use our own initiative and judgement in life, we get a lot more out of it and we've got a lot more to offer. Companies are starting to want it from their employees too.

It also doesn't mean I advocate letting kids whatever the hell they like. That road leads to a need for therapy, for parents and children alike.

There's a need for ownership - kids feeling they own their education, adults feeling they own their jobs. Obedience is the opposite - it's about compulsion rather than choice.

As it says at the opening of the film of Irvine Welsh's most famous novel, "Choose life..."

Maybe that's what we're all trying to do, did we but know it.