Halifax: The Cornerstone of Learning

Abstract

When I suggested to Halifax students that broadening their reading would strengthen their educational experience, I had not explicitly suggested George Orwell’s works, particularly his harrowing story of a dystopian universe in which there is imprisonment without trial, public executions, constant state interference and the total suppression of human freedom. I drew no parallel between the brutal totalitarianism of a faceless, centralised state and the UK’s largest provider of mortgages and savings accounts, as well as one of the UK’s largest community investors. Yet students examined Nineteen Eighty-Four as well as Alan Sillitoe’s Saturday Night, Sunday Morning and Niall Ferguson’s The House of Rothschild to explore the inevitable tensions between life and work. The Halifax students saw themselves as far more than problem-solving technicians: their learning helped them to see their lives and work in a completely fresh way. They were able to use their reading to understand their fellow human beings and to better understand the human condition. In the words of one of the students, “I would definitely recommend other companies [to invest in a programme like this] because it makes colleagues feel more rewarded and loyal towards their employer.”