by Joy Peters
Sarah Payne was regarded as a vivacious beautiful young woman at the young and perhaps tender age of twenty four years. She was slim and stood about 5 feet six inches in stocking feet. She had shoulder-length black hair cut into a bob, with piercing blue eyes - altogether she was someone that turned heads. She exuded confidence and this showed in her bubbly personality. Although bright, she had a history of under-achieving. She attended a normal comprehensive school in Buckinghamshire but left at the minimum leaving age of sixteen without a solitary academic qualification. She hadn't shown any aptitude for academic application and her school reports reflected that this was not due to any inherent problems (she had been assessed as having average intelligence), rather that she had not shown any interest. She was good at sports though and played tennis and netball for the school.
Sarah obtained a job as a trainee hair stylist upon leaving school but gave this up within a year as she was fed up with making cups of coffee, sweeping up hair and washing customers' hair prior to the administrations of the trained stylists. She transferred her energies to learning the beauty trade and made a better fist of this. She quickly picked up the basic skills of pedicure, manicure, facial treatments and waxing and soon became proficient. The salon where she worked sent her off to college one day a week to hone her newly acquired skills and she started collecting certificates of competence in a range of beauty applications.
At the age of twenty two she noticed an advertisement for beauticians to work on cruise ships from an agency based in Singapore. Interviews, skill and aptitude tests were conducted in London. Sarah was very much the 'pick of the bunch' and she was issued an initial contract of twelve months. This saw her embark on a new chapter of her life. Although nominally based in Singapore, Sarah was soon working as a beautician on cruise ships. She loved the work and was relatively well paid. Tips were generous and she was able to accumulate savings which she wisely banked in a Singapore based bank account.
However, all good things inevitably come to an end. The agency for which she worked did not have their contract with 'Celebrity' cruises renewed. As she was technically regarded as self employed there was no obligation for the new contractor to take her on, so for the first time in her life, at the age of twenty four, she found herself redundant and out of work. She had sufficient savings to remain in Singapore, having found herself a modest apartment to rent. She decided to see a little of Singapore and Malaysia having realised that whilst she had visited many countries over the previous two years, there had been limited opportunity to go ashore to see the sights. It was during this brief period in her life that she decided that the beauty business was fairly precarious. She saw an advertisement for employment as cabin crew with Hong Tan Airlines and decided to complete the lengthy application form.
To her surprise and delight she was invited for interview and aptitude testing. This lasted a whole day, at the end of which her name was listed with about twenty others 'for further consideration'. There was a second list of about fifty names advising that their applications had been unsuccessful.
Sarah was invited to a further interview with the cabin crew personnel manager, Melanie Fisher. This was arranged for the following day. Sarah arrived ahead of schedule but was seen within ten minutes.
"Come on in Sarah and have a seat," Melanie kindly invited. "You did really well at interview and in the tests. We see good potential in you and would like to offer you a training contract but we have encountered a little problem. The authorities in Singapore will not approve the licensing of any cabin crew who do not hold the minimum qualification of GCE 'O' level in Mathematics and English Language. Our application form refers to equivalent qualifications and you have not been dishonest in your declaration. However, it is clear that you will need to obtain these basic educational qualifications before we can accept you for flight crew. As I see it you have two possible options. You can go away and sit these examinations. As soon as you have the qualifications we can start you on our training programme, which as you know is over an intensive twelve week period. We run about six such programmes each year. Alternatively, we can sponsor you through our educational partners to pass these examinations on a part time basis to run alongside a modified cabin crew training programme. This would result in potentially achieving flight crew status in six months. We have taken this unusual step in a number of previous cases where exceptionally good candidates have fallen short of the basic educational requirements. In fact there are two other candidates in the current recruitment drive with similar problems."
"So how will this work for me Mrs Fisher?"
"We have a long-standing relationship with the Wang Chong High School in Singapore. We offer a number of financial scholarships for able, underprivileged students and over the years have helped the school financially in its development as one of the premier private educational establishments in the Far East. The academic results are outstanding and top of the league for similar establishments. For our part we tap in to emerging talent for the airline. Additionally, the School's Board of Governors and Headmaster offer the airline a service when independent input is required, sometimes for example when we have to deal with guest complaints or need to seek a broader view in regard to recruitment, marketing or advertising. Occasionally we send students like you for intensive education. A proposal might be that you attend the school as a student on a part time basis in order to pass Maths and English 'O' levels. You would simultaneously engage with the cabin crew training programme with a view to attaining cabin crew flight status in six months. You will need to be assessed by the school to ascertain whether they are able to devise a programme to dovetail with cabin crew training. If you want us to proceed on that basis we will need you to attend the school tomorrow. I also need to make you aware that if we are to proceed on such a basis we would require you to sign a two year contract with the airline. This to ensure that our financial outlay is underpinned. I think you will understand the merits of this from our viewpoint?"
"I don't think that would be unreasonable."
"If you were to terminate your employment prematurely, we would seek to recover some of our outlay costs. We would provide accommodation - albeit modest - uniform during training and school and examination fees. You will also be paid as a trainee stewardess from the outset. I think that you will find this acceptable?"
"More than I expected, Mrs Fisher."
"Good. I will arrange for you to meet the staff at Wang Chong High School tomorrow. Once I have their views I should be able to confirm a training programme and start date."
"Thank you, Mrs Fisher."
The following morning Sarah presented herself at Wang Chong High School as arranged. It felt strange and the initial experience brought back memories of eight years ago when she was last a schoolgirl at Borough Comprehensive School back in England. She met the School's administrator Mr John Stone who took her into an office and started recording personal details. She was then escorted to meet the head of English, Miss Brown and then the Head of Mathematics, Mr Cornwell. She was given some written tests and discussed the outcomes of these with the respective Heads of Department. She was then taken to meet with the Senior Mistress, Mrs Larsson. She seemed a kindly lady, perhaps in her mid forties.
"I've had the opportunity to discuss your position with my Heads of Department, Sarah. It seems they have confidence that it will be possible for you to achieve passes in GCE 'O' level in Mathematics and English language within the time scales suggested by your prospective employer. This will however take hard work on your part. I will propose to Hong Tan Airlines that your school work runs in tandem with their cabin crew training programme - we are familiar with this as we have undertaken such joint programmes successfully on several previous occasions. I will propose that you undertake airline training on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning - this will be sufficient for their requirements - and you report to school for Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning. We will arrange a curriculum to facilitate this. You will concentrate solely on English Language and Mathematics and will not be required to engage in any other school activities. It is however important for you to realise that we cannot accommodate you as a separate entity. You will join other pupils in the sixth form studying the same subjects. You will be in mixed sets - so you will be in classes with different boys and girls as per the curriculum. We have to treat you as any other sixth former - no allowances can be made for your age or particular circumstances. At this school that is normal. We have extremely talented pupils in our sixth form studying for their 'A' levels - they enjoy the privileges that go with their status and not their age. As a sixth former you will need to wear school uniform at all times and adhere to the rules and customs of the school. There are sanctions for misbehaviour or a poor work ethos. These sanctions include the normal range of punishments including detention and when necessary, the application of corporal punishment. We cannot make any exceptions or treat you in any way differently. You will be required to sign an agreement to this as you are over eighteen years of age. Do you have any questions?"
"I didn't realise that I could be spanked Mrs Larsson. I am twenty four after all."
"As I said previously, no exceptions can be made. Our system works extremely well and we achieve high results because of this. If you don't want to be part of this I can understand your feelings. It must of course be your choice. You will not be coerced into accepting something against your wishes or without prior knowledge. This is why I am making clear to you the conditions under which we can accept you. If you behave like a naughty eighteen year old girl then you can expect to be treated as one and suffer the consequences. However, intelligent young woman that you clearly are should have little difficulty in navigating six months of academia at Wang Chong without falling foul of the disciplinary sanctions that form part of the senior school customs."
"Thank you for clearly defining the options available to me Mrs Larsson. I will accept the conditions and look forward to joining school and achieving the qualifications that will enable me to pursue the next challenge in my life."
"I'm pleased to hear that Sarah. We will have two other airline employees in school with you. But as I said, they like you will be treated exactly like any other pupil in their academic year. The school work will be intensive and you will need to apply yourself to the challenges presented. However, I am confident that you will come through this with flying colours. I will take you back to the Administrator for the inevitable form filling and information giving and look forward to you joining us."
With this, Sarah's interview with Mrs Larsson was terminated. Mr Stone took Sarah through the rules and regulations, provided her with a copy of her timetable and a uniform list.
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