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The education of Boris Johnson, the UK’s new Prime Minister
Our early education is one of the biggest influences that helps form our adult self. Here, we take a look at Johnson’s education journey to see who Britain’s new Prime Minister really is and the potential wider implications for the country:
1. European School, Brussels I
Born in New York City to British parents, Johnson’s childhood was global in nature, following his parents’ education (his father at Columbia University and later post-doctoral research at the London School of Economics; his mother at Oxford University) and career, the family shuffled between the UK and US, starting from Columbia University to Oxford University, then the World Bank in Washington DC before moving on to the US state of Connecticut and later, back to London.
At age 10, Boris relocated to Brussels where his father, Stanley Johnson, was made Head of the European Commission’s newly-established Prevention of Pollution Division.
Founded in 1953, European Schools refers to a network of private schools set up in EU member states, providing children with a multilingual and multicultural education at nursery, primary and secondary levels. It offers the European Baccalaureate diploma, a higher education qualifiying certificate awarded to those who complete coursework and exams for a minimum of 10 subjects and have full proficiency in two languages.
The book, Just Boris: The Irresistible Rise of a Political Celebrity, authored by Sonia Purcell, describes “the clever young blond” and his time here:
“Meanwhile, Boris spent two years in Brussels, learning to be a ‘good European’ and rapidly becoming fluent in accent-less French. Although as an adult he has frequently played down his gift for foreign languages – adopting when it suits the classic ‘Brit abroad’ assault on French vowels and syntax – he is virtually bi-lingual and proficient in three more languages.”
2. Ashdown House
Ashdown House, a co-educational prep school in Forest Row, East Sussex, is one of the country’s oldest. Source: Wikimedia Commons
After his mother was hospitalised for a nervous breakdown, Johnson and his siblings were sent to Ashdown House. The preparatory boarding school in East Sussex is credited as the place that “played a large part in creating the Boris we know today”. His recollection of his time there evokes an “unusually emotional” reaction in him.
Corporal punishment could explain why. Hearing “small boys being terrorised and battered” outraged and distressed him, according to media baron Conrad Black, who later employed him at the right-wing newspaper, The Spectator.
It was here that the dishevelled persona was created. As a survival tactic (he was teased for his Turkish roots and being a foreigner from across the Channel) he soon adopted a startling change in character, one possibly inspired by PG Wodehouse’s stories of a 1930s English eccentric who is bumbling but “fantastically well-read”.
He excelled in Greek and Latin, “outclassing” those who have studied the subjects longer than he did. Later, he won a scholarship to Eton College.
3. Eton College
Educating 20 former Prime Ministers, this iconic institution is described as “the nursery of England’s gentlemen” and “the chief nurse of England’s statesmen”. With its list of alumni including Princes William and Harry, Britain’s most famous public boys’ school is also its most notable symbol of elitisim and the British ruling classes. The ‘Curriculum’ page of the school’s website states:
“When a boy leaves Eton, he will have five years’ experience of academic, sporting, dramatic, artistic, musical and, perhaps most importantly, personal growth to look back on, the greater part of the latter having been centred on his house and the friendships he has made there. He will almost certainly go on to university.”
With current fees at £14,167 per half term – and three terms in a year – entry is inevitably reserved for a select few. Boris joined Eton as a King’s Scholar and went on to become an “all-rounder”, not exactly the smartest among other Scholars, but ahead of non-Scholars.
While Eton is attributed to be the grounds where Johnson’s flamboyant persona truly came to be, he attained several academic achievements, too. He became a “formidable debater”, won prizes in English and Classics and became editor of the school newspaper, The Chronicle.
But his many co-curricular activities soon got school administrators complaining about him being late, not turning in work, being disorganised and his doubtful “commitment to the real business of scholarship”.
Despite this, he won a scholarship to read Literae Humaniores, a four-year course in Classics (Latin and Ancient Greek), at Balliol College, Oxford.
4. University of Oxford
After a gap year teaching English and Latin at the exclusive Geelong Grammar School – Australia’s version of Eton – Johnson entered Oxford in autumn 1983. This was the year when former Oxford graduate Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, and Johnson, the undergraduate, joined a “gilded” cohort who would later go on to dominate media and politics.
His contemporaries included former Prime Minister David Cameron, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt (a Magdalen College alum, who studied PPE), BBC political editor Nick Robinson, Clinton press secretary George Stephanopoulos, US pollster Frank Luntz and newly-minted Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove. May, who he succeeded, was also an Oxonian.
He is the fourth Balliol College-educated Prime Minister, following Herbert Asquith, Harold Macmillan and Edward Heath. Balliol also produced literary giants such as Matthew Arnold, Graham Greene and Robert Browning. It is notable that Johnson chose to study Balliol, which, while known for its strong reputation for Classics, is also known as a “haven for bright young Lefties instead of dim hoorays”, an odd pairing given Johnson’s current right-wing tendencies.
Here, Johnson co-edited the university’s satirical magazine, Tributary. He ran and was elected secretary of the Oxford Union in 1984 and President of the Oxford Union in 1986.
His tutors remembered him as “a good egg”, destined for a first. However, he graduated with a 2:1 and a deep-held disappointment for not achieving one.
SOURCE
The Disappearance of Civic Education at Elite Colleges
Modern universities are ignoring their civic duty to teach their students how to become engaged citizens. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni released a report in 2018 that showed only 18 percent of universities required students to take a history course before graduation. This number is indicative of a growing historical ignorance among students. More and more, colleges don’t provide students with a civic education.
Without an education rooted in governmental proceedings and American history, students have wavered on foundational liberal principles such as free speech. The Knight Foundation, for example, reported that 10 percent of college students believe violence is sometimes acceptable to stop someone from speaking and 37 percent believe that shouting down speakers is sometimes acceptable.
Among the top 25 schools in the country (according to U.S. News & World Report), Columbia University is the only university to make history a graduation requirement. Slightly more concerning is that most schools in the top 25 only have two or three core graduation requirements—and most of them tend to be math, science, and writing. History, economics, and literature are left behind. Instead of giving students a full liberal arts education, universities focus more on STEM subjects, which means that fewer students learn about American history or economics.
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Australian author John Marsden criticised over bullying comments
Author John Marsden is facing criticism for comments he’s made about bullying in the schools.
Marsden, best know as the author of the ‘Tomorrow’ book series, has been a teacher for several decades and runs two schools north of Melbourne.
The author has defended comments he made saying that bullying was just “feedback” from other children. Marsden said some “pure unadulterated bullying” does occur, most is prompted by what he called the “unlikeable behaviours” of the child who is being bullied.
Marsden says those experiencing bulling should first look at their own behaviours and see if they themselves are to blame. The educators advice to children is to “look at your own likeable and unlikeable behaviours and try to reduce the list of unlikeable behaviours and unlikeable values and unlikeable attitudes and over time that will probably have a significant effect”.
The author made the comments as he was promoting a new book he has written he Art of Growing Up which argues that the education system is trying to cover too many issues.
His comments have been condemned by bullying experts. Naomi Priest, an Australian National University Associate Professor, who researches the impact of racism and bullying on young people told the Sydney Morning Herald that Marsden’s take on bullying was “flawed”. “It is a very limited and flawed understanding of bullying to characterise it as just about an individual’s character traits that are unappealing,” Priest said.
Marsden dismissed research suggesting that children from non-anglo backgrounds were more likely to experience racism saying in his experience conflict occurred because children from some subcultures were not ‘westernised’ enough. The author drew upon his time teaching at Geelong Grammar in the 1980s.
“At Geelong Grammar they had quite a high percentage of students enrolling from Asian countries and their acceptance depended very much upon how Westernised they were,” Marsden said of his time at the school. “If they were able to speak English fluently and wear the clothes that Anglo kids wore and listened to the same kind of music, then they were fully accepted.
“There was absolutely no racism involved,” Marsden added. “But if they weren’t yet at that stage then there was a gulf between them… It didn’t necessarily result in bullying, although sometimes it did, but more often it was sort of a gap between the two subcultures.” Marsden denied his views were racist.
SOURCE
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