Doing it the hard way

Title

Creator

J.H.L.

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XV (No.9) September 1963

Year

1963

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

It took 35 years for a university degree, but this disabled man says it was well worth it

Fulltext

■ It took 35 years for a university degree, but this disabled man says it was well worth it. DOING IT THE HARD WAY As a boy in London, Cana da, in the 1920s, I often look ed across the River Thames at the buildings of the Uni versity of Western Ontario, and watched the comings and goings of the young people who were fortunate enough to spend several years of their lives studying within its walls. You lucky students, I thought; I would have giv en half of any years of life remaining to me to be able to go to university and study for a degree in geography or history. Later, in my home town of Manchester, the same pat tern repeated itself. . This time it was the students at tending lectures at Manches ter University at whom I gazed enviously. I never got to university. Instead, I started work at a greengrocer’s shop and spent my time delivering orders, cleaning fish, and scrubbing floors. My wage rose to 15 shillings a week. Other young men who were not so lucky spent their time wait ing for work at the labour exchange. These were the 1930s with over 2m. men un employed. Maybe the Black shirts marching along Ox ford Road were right, and one should exclaim with them — to Hell with culture! • • • How to get a better edu cation? That question puz zled me for years. Books could be borrowed from the public library. Newspapers given by customers to wrap up fish could be read first. Free Saturday lectures were available at Manchester Uni versity. On a borrowed bi cycle one could ride along Kingsway or Stockport Road to study geology in Derby shire or archaeology in Ches hire. It got you away from the stifling wilderness of the housing estates. But it was not enough! It seemed to me that if one could not get an education 70 Panorama by going to university and studying for a degree in geo graphy, then one could learn something about the subject by starting off with a pack on one’s back and a few pounds in one’s pockets, to tramp and work one’s way across foreign countries. Let th? world be your university. So I started off. In five years I made two trips to the Arctic and two to Africa, visited most of Europe. I worked as deck hand on the Finnish fourmasted barque Hcrzogin Cecilie, witnessed the outbreak of the Spanish civil war, stowed away on a ship bound for Spitzbergen, walked to the Oasis of Tafilet in the Sahara, to study the architec ture of desert castles. I work ed as seaman, cook, gold miner, clerk, guide. Some times I feasted, sometimes I starved. I learned some geo graphy. I came back from Africa to spend a year at Fircroft College, Bournville, studying economics, philosophy, geograhy. and history. This col lege’s function is to provide men who left school at an early age with the opportu nity of improving their edu cation. My year at Fircroft opened new horizons, for as well as learning subjects I mixed with men of my own kind. Afterwards, lectures organized by the Workers Educational Association help ed to fill in gaps in my know ledge. • • # During the Second World War I worked on farms in various parts of England and Wales. I had been born crip pled and the Army did not want a lame man. Archaeo logy became my chief study. The war over, I studied for the Diploma in Archaeology, attending lectures at London Unversity by Professor Gor don Childe, Dr. Kathleen Kenyon, and others. I felt I was getting somewhere at last, but my money ran out and I had to quit. Married now, with a wife and small daughter to care for, my am bition revived to go to uni versity and study for a de gree. Interviewed by Profes sor A. V. Williamson, of the Department of Geography, Leeds University, I learnt that it was considered almost impossible for a man ap proaching 40, with a family 71 to maintain, to go to univer sity. While undergoing the twoyear courses for teachers at Sheffield Training College, I discovered several thirdyear students were studying for degrees by means of cor respondence courses. They could sit the examinations as external students of Lon don University. London was an examining university; at tendance at lectures was not compulsory, and students could study wherever they happened to be. London University students were to be found in isolated places thousands of miles from Eng land. Embarked upon my career as a teacher, my spare time was spent in preparing to pass the, university entrance examinations. I began by passing the examination for the Diploma in Geography. Correspondence courses got me through this. I had no G.C.E. passes to show (hav ing been educated in Canada years before), and the uni versity refused to recognize my Certficate in Education which teachers gained by two years’ study and passing examinations; they made me sit the G.C.E. examinatioi and pass at Advanced level. I was ill at examination time, so a year was wasted before I could sit the exam; I passed. The final examination for the degree of B.Sc. (Econo mics) was in two parts. Part One consisted of eight pa pers, all of which had to be taken on the same occasion, and the student was allowed to be weak in only one paper, otherwise he had to sit the whole eight papers again. Part Two consisted of five papers. Men who had gain ed this degree by part-time study estimated it could be accomplished in seven years. The weekly lessons provid ed by the correspondence school with which I enrolled varied in quality, but on the whole were very-good. They conisted of lesson notes — of ten very copious — a weekly test, and model answers to the previous week’s test. The answers to the weekly test were sent to one’s per sonal tutor to be corrected, and returned with his com ments. Some tutor skimped their corrections, but gen erally speaking the staff did appear to take an interest in 72 Panorama the student’s work. Some tutors proved to be the au thors of the textbooks one was studying. Some proved quite friendly, scribbling per sonal notes of encourage ment. • • • Another four years of parttime study caused me to des pair of ever gaining a degree by means of correspondence courses. The human con tact, the ability to ask ques tions and receive individual answers are lacking. To sit down at a pile of lessons and textbooks, evening after eve ning, after a tiring day’s work at school, becomes more - and more difficult as the years go by. The feeling that one is a fool to go on trying becomes more and more pro nounced. There is no time for social contact with one’s wife and family, or with friends. Eventually they be gin to lose patience with you. A second attempt to get a place as a student at Leeds University proved unsuccess ful. This time it was Prof. R. S. Dickenson who told me that a middle -aged man with a family to maintain* did not stand a chance. Was there no hope at all for men in my posiition? External students of London University could attend lectures for the B.Sc. (Economics) degree at the Institute of Technology, in Bradford. I decided to take a year off from teaching and attend lectures there three days a week. It meant a 20mile journey each way from the Yorkshire village ih which we lived, but it was worth it. The lecturers were first-class and very helpful. When I sat the examination for Part One I passed seven papers, and was referred in the eighth. This paper, Prin ciples of Economics, I had to sit three times before pass ing. Although I ** investigated every possible channel of of ficial assistance to students, for funds to maintain myself and my family during that year of study, no help was forthcoming. We had to re ly on savings and gifts from charitable organization; much of my success is due to the fact that I have the best wife in the world. Part Two was comparatively easy, by means of correspondence courses, and evening lectures at the College of Commerce, Manchester. 73 So I got my degree at the age of 50, or 35 years after the idea first came to me that I had a brain good enough for a university edu cation, if only I had the op portunity. How much did it cost? About £150, which includes fees for correspondence cour ses, books, maps, postage, tui tion at the various colleges, fees for courses in field-geo graphy. Plus the loss of a year’s salary as a teacher. Also, it would be ungenerous to omit mention of the assist ance given by such organiz-' ations as the West Riding County Library, Cheshire County Library, in loaning the expensive textbooks need ed; without their ready co operation the costs of one’s studies would be much in creased. My thanks go out to them. Was it worth it? Very de finitely Yes. As a disabled man I now possess a higher quailification to a different type of teaching post, should future circumstances require me to give up my present job. Also, there has been the sheer delight of learning, of following a group of close ly related subjects to a higher leveL And lastly, I have proved to my own satisfac tion that I could do it. — “J. H. L.”, The London Times, Educational Supple ment, May 24, 1963. GOOD GOVERNMENT A wise and frugal government (which) shall restrain men from injuring on another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. — Thomas Jefferson. 74 Panorama

pages

70+

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