I listened with interest to the leaked news of Michael Gove's proposals on bringing back the O-level. It reminded me that my lack of educational effort was rewarded by the school I attended putting me in for CSEs in most subjects. Yesterday's Guardian described the CSE as "a badge of a misspent youth". Knowing that CSEs were regarded as the poor relative of O levels gave me little motivation me to get on with my school work. The Headteacher's comment on my Report for 1976 read, "Guy is content to waste a great deal of time. He is under achieving in most subjects. Greater effort is needed at all times." Ouch! Harsh, but true. I left school at sixteen and became a YTS boy in British Steel Orb Works, Newport. I'm all for making the GCSE as rigorous and highly regarded a qualification as possible. But Nick Clegg was right to point out that while some people might applaud the reintroduction of O-levels, few would welcome the return of little lamented CSEs. May as well bring back Grammar Schools.
It was only on becoming a Christian in my late teens that I became interested in reading and study. I hungrily devoured Lloyd-Jones' sermons on Romans and Ephesians and began reading theology and church history in earnest. Feeling called to the Ministry I went to the London Theological Seminary (1988-1990), which only served to deepen my love for theological study. Later I gained a BA (Hons) degree with Greenwich School of Theology for research on the meaning and significance of the resurrection of Jesus. Education-wise the Lord has graciously restored the locust-eaten years spent wasting time rather than learning.
Yesterday I took my son to Birmingham University for one of their open days. He's interested in studying Chemical Engineering. It looked like a fine place to study, with an attractive campus, great facilities and a vibrant student scene. We'll be off to Loughborough, Nottingham and Sheffield over the next few weeks for their open days. Spending the day looking round Birmingham Uni made me feel quite envious of my seventeen year-old son, with the prospects of a university education ahead of him. But there we are. I can't turn back the clock, but in terms of study I can try to redeem
the time, Ecclesiastes 9:10.
I've sometimes thought of doing a Masters in theology. The John Owen Centre's ThM looks good. But current family life and ministry commitments mean I won't be getting around to that for a while. Never mind. There's more to learning than formal courses of study. Now, where was I in Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 3?
Education, education, education.
4 comments:
Completely off topic: I've been wondering why you'd apparently stopped blogging. Seeing your name on Pyromaniacs' blogroll I clicked on it and found you've been writing reams of priceless material; yet I've stopped getting any emails notifying me (and they're not going into my junk folder). When I key in my email address to subscribe, it tells me I'm already subscribed (which is what I expected). So short of getting myself a new email address what can I do?
I read English Literature with History and Philosophy at university. We were largely left to our own devices before being awarded our honours degrees, and I struggle now to think of anything I learned during that time, anything at all.
In my second year I became a Christian and discovered, among others, Warfield, Kuyper, van Til and the Banner of Truth magazine; they made those years worthwhile.
I can't turn the clock back either but I do wish now that I'd had a proper education.
I don't know why you aren't getting blog emails any more. The feed is still updating on Google Reader and Facebook.
I subscribed to my own blog's email update and got a message through this morning with the latest post, so I don't know why you've stopped getting updates.
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