On the centenary of his birth,it’s timely to remember the lessons that social entrepreneur and founder of the Open University, Michael Young bequeathed to this generationHe died nearly 14 years ago but Michael Young, or the supreme polymath – author,academic, consumer advocate, and educator,researcher, policy- maker, or political activator – will have some of his 50-plus social enterprises re-examined nowadays at a conference in London celebrating the centenary of this birth and exploring the brutal widening of inequality in the UK.Just as he would have wanted,it is not just looking back but also focusing on the future role that contemporary social innovations can play in tackling inequality. Many of Young’s inventions must have helped millions of people from being shut out of the system: his national (and international) extension colleges that preceded his Open University, the Open College of Art and the University of the Third Age, and the Consumers’ organization,brain trains where commuters taught each other, the School for Social Entrepreneurs, and Language Line,which provides an interpreting service for people using public services or private enterprises who can’t speak English.
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Source: theguardian.com