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In England Now
820
In
England
again
A
Running Commentary by Peripatetic Correspondents As usual at the beginning of the university year, the narrowing effect of the science courses has been condemned, or regretted and many solutions offered. But before accepting these would it not be wiser to decide what actually is a " narrow outlook " and what is the object of widening it ? With the ever-increasing quantity of knowledge is it better to know a little about a lot or a lot about a little ? Is it really true that all those who possess an arts degree are more broadly educated than those with a science degree ? Does not the personality and ambition of the student play a part ? A man who is going up to the university to complete his education and is still undecided about his future is surely more likely to obtain a wider experience than a man who is studying to fulfil his ambition to be a doctor. Is it so
wrong that the medical student should read medicine to the exclusion of other subjects, which he feels he*can study later, perhaps during his period of National Service ? Is it indeed possible for any except the most gifted to cope adequately with extra subjects ? To add subjects, such as a superficial knowledge of ancient languages, for their supposed cinemascopic effect, is needless. With the correct emphasis placed appropriately within the present syllabus by teachers of wide learning, there is no need for additional subjects. A lecturer can by example encourage students to see knowledge everywhere, to read Shakespeare to learn life, to read novels to study the interplay of personalities and their effect on events. The object of widening the student’s outlook is to enable him to distinguish a real argument from -a false one, to make correct deductions from sound evidence, and to be tolerant and liberal. The logical and analytical methodology can be taught through medical statistics and physiological experiment, while tolerance can be taught through psychology. These attributes can be developed by group discussions which by introducing other peoples’ views further help the broadening process. Another step in the same direction is to include people other than medical students in some of the discussions, and to exclude authoritarian teachers. Once qualified the medical student’s pure pursuit of arts and classics will only be hindered by earning a living, keeping up with recent advances and reading the journals, washing up, tidying the garden, and even painting the house. Can it be true that a nodding acquaintance with Greek mythology can shorten the syllabus, run the practice, and abolish the household
chores ? *
*
*
So you read that article in the Education number
on
practice in Canada and you decided that you would come I can easily You said to yourself over, did you ?P qualify again after a couple of evenings’ revision, and after all I don’t have to learn a new language." But, as we say over here, " you do too " (or " you do so "). "
Mind you,
of the North American words are aT,l improvement-such as thumb-tack for drawing-pinbut I still prefer lift to elevator. It is easier to understand, I find, than to be understood, because the newcomer is expecting a new sound, whereas the natives are not. It is especially noticeable on the telephone, where I have operators hear numbers half unconsciously. to be understood when I say " two two trying given up " oh oh now I say twenty-two hundred. I found myself saying cigarette and magazine within a few hours, but it took longer to remember that ice here You get ice-cream, too, if means ice and not ice-cream. you ask for pie a la mode, or even pie a la. A letter-box is a mail-box, a kirby grip is a bobby pin (not that I buy many), and press-studs are dome-fasteners. My pants have cuffs, though I had turn-ups on my trousers at home. In the garage the boot is the trunk, and the hood is the bonnet, and goodness knows what they call the hood. The newspapers leave out the subject of the sentence in the headlines-" Says Police Bribed, Charges Corruption." It gets worse when they leave out the comma as well. I saw one last week-"Assaulted Man Gets Three Years "-which seemed downright unfair. some
a lift I keep having to walk downstairs because most of the buildings start numbering their floors from the ground (which is the first). This hospital prefers the British system, but then I forget that and so have to walk up a flight. The other day I thought I’d play safe and ask for " the top." Even that was wrong. The liftman looked at me coldly. " Do you " mean the taap ? he asked. I apologised humbly and " said Yes, I mean the taap." Then he said " Gor blimey - year can’t understand a fing they say in this bcountry, can yer ? " He came from Catford. I nearly kissed him.
When I go up in
Now
*
*
*
What will advertisers do next ? On Oct. 1 I received by post, and in the same envelope, two smaller sealed envelopes, one marked " Open immediately on Oct. I," the other " Do NOT open until Oct. 3." I opened the former and found seven little bits of paste-board, each of which bore a different letter of the alphabet. An accompanying letter told me that, correctly arranged, these spelt the name of a new product to be marketed, and that the name was revealed in the second envelope. I began to play about with the cards and soon got SELCOAT, which I imagined might be some form of saltcoated tablet. Not much taken with this idea I tried another combination and got ELASTOC-obviously a surgical elastic stocking. Next came SCOT ALE, OCSTALE (soup), and A CLOSET, which may be regarded as nonA few minutes later I spelt LACTOSE. Surely runners. that was right. Hastily I opened the second envelope (without waiting for Oct. 3) and found that even this was wrong, the correct answer being To- but I mustn’t give them a free advertisement. *
*
*
The whole family came along to outpatients-father, mother, and two girls aged 6 ano, 9. The complaint was that the girls couldn’t sleep at night. They refused to go to bed until their parents did, insisted on the door between the children’s and parents’ bedrooms being left open all night, and had reduced mother and father to near hysteria. The suffering parents had obviously read some books on child psychology warning them of the dangers of repressing their children ; I wish the author could have seen them. I tried to point out that children need parents who are not afraid to tell them when to stop : that no child can cope with the idea that it is all-powerful, or the thought that no-one can restrain its most arrogant demands, &c., &c. Everyone departed looking thoughtful. I think the idea must have caught on because mother came back next week to report that the results of treatment had been dramatic. That same evening an enraged father had gone into the children’s room and told them to go to sleep at once on pain of a sound thrashing, and had left the room slamming the communicating door. Both children had promptly fallen fast asleep while father lay awake all night with a violent headache. *
*
*
In a doctor’s house even the cats should be familiar with sanitation. We have a kitten whom we are trying to house-train. In common with other cats he had tried using the sink, the wash-basin, and the bath. Today he decided to try a new receptable and a familiar " tinkletinkle " made me look round to see him sitting on my small daughter’s pot, with his tail carefully spread out behind. *
*
*
She was a fine modern example of her kind. Sleek and beautiful she stood, with a shine on her the envy of all who beheld her. She was equipped with every accessory one could wish for. One felt that somewhere tucked away inside there must even be a television set. Nothing for the comfort of her passengers was omitted. There was even a delicate trailing chain from her nether regions. *
Last
after
*
*
year, evening spent in surveying mortgage payments, bank overdraft, hire-purchase agreements, debts to relatives, and unpaid bills, I was disturbed by the entrance of my Wolf Cub son bearing I won the King Conker competition," aloft a trophy. said he. I replied absently that I didn’t know he had any conkers that year ; I suppose I might have guessed an
"
he would say,
"
I hadn’t.
I borrowed one."
In
England
again
A
Running Commentary by Peripatetic Correspondents As usual at the beginning of the university year, the narrowing effect of the science courses has been condemned, or regretted and many solutions offered. But before accepting these would it not be wiser to decide what actually is a " narrow outlook " and what is the object of widening it ? With the ever-increasing quantity of knowledge is it better to know a little about a lot or a lot about a little ? Is it really true that all those who possess an arts degree are more broadly educated than those with a science degree ? Does not the personality and ambition of the student play a part ? A man who is going up to the university to complete his education and is still undecided about his future is surely more likely to obtain a wider experience than a man who is studying to fulfil his ambition to be a doctor. Is it so
wrong that the medical student should read medicine to the exclusion of other subjects, which he feels he*can study later, perhaps during his period of National Service ? Is it indeed possible for any except the most gifted to cope adequately with extra subjects ? To add subjects, such as a superficial knowledge of ancient languages, for their supposed cinemascopic effect, is needless. With the correct emphasis placed appropriately within the present syllabus by teachers of wide learning, there is no need for additional subjects. A lecturer can by example encourage students to see knowledge everywhere, to read Shakespeare to learn life, to read novels to study the interplay of personalities and their effect on events. The object of widening the student’s outlook is to enable him to distinguish a real argument from -a false one, to make correct deductions from sound evidence, and to be tolerant and liberal. The logical and analytical methodology can be taught through medical statistics and physiological experiment, while tolerance can be taught through psychology. These attributes can be developed by group discussions which by introducing other peoples’ views further help the broadening process. Another step in the same direction is to include people other than medical students in some of the discussions, and to exclude authoritarian teachers. Once qualified the medical student’s pure pursuit of arts and classics will only be hindered by earning a living, keeping up with recent advances and reading the journals, washing up, tidying the garden, and even painting the house. Can it be true that a nodding acquaintance with Greek mythology can shorten the syllabus, run the practice, and abolish the household
chores ? *
*
*
So you read that article in the Education number
on
practice in Canada and you decided that you would come I can easily You said to yourself over, did you ?P qualify again after a couple of evenings’ revision, and after all I don’t have to learn a new language." But, as we say over here, " you do too " (or " you do so "). "
Mind you,
of the North American words are aT,l improvement-such as thumb-tack for drawing-pinbut I still prefer lift to elevator. It is easier to understand, I find, than to be understood, because the newcomer is expecting a new sound, whereas the natives are not. It is especially noticeable on the telephone, where I have operators hear numbers half unconsciously. to be understood when I say " two two trying given up " oh oh now I say twenty-two hundred. I found myself saying cigarette and magazine within a few hours, but it took longer to remember that ice here You get ice-cream, too, if means ice and not ice-cream. you ask for pie a la mode, or even pie a la. A letter-box is a mail-box, a kirby grip is a bobby pin (not that I buy many), and press-studs are dome-fasteners. My pants have cuffs, though I had turn-ups on my trousers at home. In the garage the boot is the trunk, and the hood is the bonnet, and goodness knows what they call the hood. The newspapers leave out the subject of the sentence in the headlines-" Says Police Bribed, Charges Corruption." It gets worse when they leave out the comma as well. I saw one last week-"Assaulted Man Gets Three Years "-which seemed downright unfair. some
a lift I keep having to walk downstairs because most of the buildings start numbering their floors from the ground (which is the first). This hospital prefers the British system, but then I forget that and so have to walk up a flight. The other day I thought I’d play safe and ask for " the top." Even that was wrong. The liftman looked at me coldly. " Do you " mean the taap ? he asked. I apologised humbly and " said Yes, I mean the taap." Then he said " Gor blimey - year can’t understand a fing they say in this bcountry, can yer ? " He came from Catford. I nearly kissed him.
When I go up in
Now
*
*
*
What will advertisers do next ? On Oct. 1 I received by post, and in the same envelope, two smaller sealed envelopes, one marked " Open immediately on Oct. I," the other " Do NOT open until Oct. 3." I opened the former and found seven little bits of paste-board, each of which bore a different letter of the alphabet. An accompanying letter told me that, correctly arranged, these spelt the name of a new product to be marketed, and that the name was revealed in the second envelope. I began to play about with the cards and soon got SELCOAT, which I imagined might be some form of saltcoated tablet. Not much taken with this idea I tried another combination and got ELASTOC-obviously a surgical elastic stocking. Next came SCOT ALE, OCSTALE (soup), and A CLOSET, which may be regarded as nonA few minutes later I spelt LACTOSE. Surely runners. that was right. Hastily I opened the second envelope (without waiting for Oct. 3) and found that even this was wrong, the correct answer being To- but I mustn’t give them a free advertisement. *
*
*
The whole family came along to outpatients-father, mother, and two girls aged 6 ano, 9. The complaint was that the girls couldn’t sleep at night. They refused to go to bed until their parents did, insisted on the door between the children’s and parents’ bedrooms being left open all night, and had reduced mother and father to near hysteria. The suffering parents had obviously read some books on child psychology warning them of the dangers of repressing their children ; I wish the author could have seen them. I tried to point out that children need parents who are not afraid to tell them when to stop : that no child can cope with the idea that it is all-powerful, or the thought that no-one can restrain its most arrogant demands, &c., &c. Everyone departed looking thoughtful. I think the idea must have caught on because mother came back next week to report that the results of treatment had been dramatic. That same evening an enraged father had gone into the children’s room and told them to go to sleep at once on pain of a sound thrashing, and had left the room slamming the communicating door. Both children had promptly fallen fast asleep while father lay awake all night with a violent headache. *
*
*
In a doctor’s house even the cats should be familiar with sanitation. We have a kitten whom we are trying to house-train. In common with other cats he had tried using the sink, the wash-basin, and the bath. Today he decided to try a new receptable and a familiar " tinkletinkle " made me look round to see him sitting on my small daughter’s pot, with his tail carefully spread out behind. *
*
*
She was a fine modern example of her kind. Sleek and beautiful she stood, with a shine on her the envy of all who beheld her. She was equipped with every accessory one could wish for. One felt that somewhere tucked away inside there must even be a television set. Nothing for the comfort of her passengers was omitted. There was even a delicate trailing chain from her nether regions. *
Last
after
*
*
year, evening spent in surveying mortgage payments, bank overdraft, hire-purchase agreements, debts to relatives, and unpaid bills, I was disturbed by the entrance of my Wolf Cub son bearing I won the King Conker competition," aloft a trophy. said he. I replied absently that I didn’t know he had any conkers that year ; I suppose I might have guessed an
"
he would say,
"
I hadn’t.
I borrowed one."