Subject: Reminiscences : Transition from Grammar School to University
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 09:08:51 EST
Kerry asked me to give some more reminiscences on the transition from Pontardawe Grammar School to the then University College of Wales Aberystwyth. The transition started in the lower sixth (sixth year of Grammar school at age 16). In order to go on to the sixth form a certain number of O Levels had to be registered, I think it was a minimum of five. I have nine O level certificates as noted previously. I entered the lower sixth in 1966, and was made a Prefect of the school. There was a little more intellectual freedom in the sixth form College of the School, and this allowed me to attempt to finish the Pure and Applied Mathematcis course in a year, instead of the prescribed two years. I did this and obtained a B grade. I was then able to do the Pure Mathematics course on my own, without the help of teachers. I also did the chemistry and physics courses in the usual two years. There was also an use of English course. This was therefore a busy time, and I also worked on my father’s farm. I never considered going anywhere except Aberystwyth, and this incurred the wrath of the headmaster Silwyn Lewis. In the sixties, the Welsh Language Society was formed in Pontardawe, and that cultural movement essentially saved the language from extinction. The National Eisteddfod of Wales is now the largest cultural festival in Europe, and takes place entirely in the Welsh language. So I do not think that anyone was happy at Mr Lewis’s attitude that I should go to Cambridge, and I never really considered it. I was far too busy studying. In the lower sixth Mary Hopkin left for London, to work with the Beatles, and a few people talked about fashionable Chelsea and all that, but it was entirely at the back of my mind because I took on four A levels, one on my own. I was not particularly keen to leave this village at all, and looking back at things I wonder if I would have been better off not attending any university, because it was a mixed experience. However, if I had not gone to Aberystwyth the only alternative would have been a factory job of some kind. I worked in factory jobs during breaks from the sixth form College, notably Aladdin Factory in Pontardawe, on the production line and in the press shop. The sonnet “Prague Spring” records these experiences, when in 1968, tanks rolled into Prague as we started the morning shift. A levels were among the most difficult of times academically, especially as in chemistry, we did not do the right course for some reason. Organic chemistry was left out, with the result that none of us got an A grade because in the practical examination, we were untrained in organic chemistry. This was the fault of the system, I certainly did well enough in the written examinations t get an A grade. In the event I was given a B, like everyone else, so artificially stopped from getting an A in my favourite subject - chemistry. This unjust happening might have stopped me getting to Cambridge in any case. My grades were eventually A in physics, B in chemistry, B in pure and applied mathematics, and a D in pure mathematics without teachers. The Cambridge requirement was two A’s and a B. My extra D may have allowed me to get in with A, B, B, D. In any case this was easily enough for UCW Aberystwyth, whose entry requirements were much lower, sometimes as low as two E’s, the minimum. After an experience of working in the tremendous noise and heat of the press shop at Aladdin Factory, Aberystwyth was an opportunity. The teachers at the Grammar School were always diligent, none had the attitude that I had to go to Cambridge or London. The great scrum half Gareth Edwards played for Wales for the first time when I was still at the sixth form College - but again, this was remote background for me. The overwhelmingly important thing was to get into Aberystwyth and to get a degree so that I would not have to work in a coal mine or factory. As can be seen from my family history, all my immediate ancestors were coal miners, labourers, with the occasional farmer. So that probably gave me some stamina and the ability to work long hours, to go over notes many times until I learned them by heart, and to work at a problem until I solved it. The Grammar School method has remained with me to this day, the discipline of breaking up the working day into segments to deal with various subjects systematically, and the problem solving skills learned at the School.