A few weeks ago, in one of their Economics classes, our Y13 students were presented with an unusual - but extremely interesting - question: should company CEOs be so highly paid? 

Patrick, our Business and Economics teacher, had come across a book called “If you are so ethical, why are you so highly paid?” by Alexander (Sandy) Pepper, that posed the same questions to its readers.

The author of the book definitely planted a seed in our students’ minds, and gave them the opportunity to reflect on salaries, wages, and inequality in modern society. 

For this reason, following a class debate, our Y13 students were given the opportunity to attend a conference at the London School of Economics (LSE) on Monday 21st of November, held by Sandy Pepper himself!

The conference was attended by people of all ages and backgrounds, including LSE students, lawyers, sociologists, bankers. 

After an introduction about how CEO’s pay has grown in the past decades, based on a study that included 256 CEOs across 20 different industries, Sandy Pepper opened a Q&A session. The author was then asked about his point of view and his ideas on how society should change moving forward. 

One of our students, Solomon (Sisi), also asked a question, as he wondered why today there is such a focus on being ethical, in opposition to how society worked in the past. After discussing this, Sisi agreed that there should be a pre-agreed maximum amount that the CEO salaries should reach. 

The EIC students were all extremely fascinated by the conference, and explained that, not only was it a great opportunity for reflection, but also taught them new terminology, and new points of view on how our economy works in modern society. 

Sisi explained that most of what was discussed at the conference is not covered in an Economics syllabus, and added:

“This conference has furthered my knowledge of Economics as a whole. One example is the concept of Entitlement in the context of work pay, as well as deepened my understanding of the concept of Free market. Also, joining this event at the LSC campus was definitely eye-opening, and allowed me to think about how the income distribution is heavily skewed towards people at the top”. 

Many of our Y13 are eager to mention their participation to the conference on their personal statement for their UCAs applications, and will read Pepper’s book, if they haven’t done so already.