Cambridge University and the Twenty Year Delay.

Cambridge University is famous the world over. It has inspired an untold number of books and films set in its idyllic surroundings – yet, is it an inspiration to actually go there, study there and be there for three years? Does Cambridge University have a positive effect on a life?

I am moved to write of this now, because of a thought that is never too far from my mind: life is brief and sudden and the one thing none of us know about it, is its length. If I did not write of this, it might forever go unwritten and never be known. That is something I cannot let happen. So, today, I have decided to write of Cambridge University’s effect on my life path – well, one of those effects. I write knowing that very few people will read of it, here, and it will still largely go unknown, even so – however, it shall serve the purpose of making a record of these thoughts, so that they are to be found, in the world, should anyone choose to look for them.

I went up to Cambridge with such high expectation – and perhaps, in fact, that was part of the problem. I expected to be surrounded by enlightened, intelligent, lively minds with humane outlooks and understanding personalities, informed by premature wisdom. I thought they would be the best of the best. Sadly, they weren’t like that at all. There was relatively little of any of these characteristics present – or at least not to the degree I sought. They were not as bright as I had hoped and many tended to be rather conformist and intolerant of difference. In fact, they exhibited an exaggeration of the negative characteristics I had observed in colleagues at school: a narrowness of mind, that liked to exclude anything or anyone that didn’t match their rather limited range of expectations. Yet, I am not here to write of the students, even though many of them were disappointing, in some ways. I am here to write of the institution itself, and its staff.

Firstly, there is the legend that Cambridge has good teachers. I don’t know how this impression ever took hold, because very few of the lecturers I had, were decent teachers. Some of them were truly appalling. One, in particular, has never been forgotten. He “taught” Physical Chemistry, using blueprint style preprinted overheads, which he would flash up before a lecture hall filled with hundreds of people and point at a dense mass of mathematical equations and say: “As you can see, this implies that”, as he pointed to the top and bottom line, without explanation or introduction of what, actually any of it was about. He never gave any indication of what any of the symbols represented or what, in fact, was being communicated by the equations. At times like this, I would look around the lecture hall and see what I expected to see: a sea of incomprehending faces. If any of these people were to work out what was being discussed they would have to do all the work themselves. The lecturer was not going to be of any help at all.

I remember another occasion, years later, in a Philosophy of Science lecture when a very earnest and intelligent young man came to me after the lecture and asked: “Did you understand any of that?”

“Yes.”, I said, because I had.

He looked most discomfited, because it was clear that he hadn’t – even though I knew from conversations with him, that he was very intelligent.

What perhaps, I should have said, is that I approached his lectures with a very open mind and let all his words fall upon my mind. There they would link up and form meaning, or be pieced together as one great puzzle, until all became clear. The only reason I understood that lecturer's work was because of my own peculiar approach to listening, not because of any communicative skill on the part of the lecturer. Then again, of course, I may have been seeing my own meanings in his work and not the ones he had intended.

The truth was, of course, that the lecturer was extremely opaque and he did not talk in a way designed to convey understanding. He spoke as if in a private language, of immense complexity. Looking back, it is possible he had some innate disorder that affected his ability to communicate – because he was inherently very bad at it.

At Cambridge, bad lecturers were much more common than good ones – at least in the sciences. They were bad in two primary ways: they did not know how to communicate well – and they were very dull to listen to.

Those failings, however, are minor compared to the ones that bothered me more deeply about Cambridge.

There were two other aspects that troubled me. Firstly, whenever I showed creativity or enthusiasm, in my written work, I invariably was greeted with great hostility, by the academic staff. It appeared that creativity deeply offended them, perhaps by sparking some envy of some kind. I found it most unnerving to be welcomed so, each and every time I showed a creative response to an assignment. So unpleasant were the reactions I received, which varied from being reported, by “Dr Robert Lee Kilpatrick” for writing an essay of “inappropriate length” (for which I had to see a disciplinary committee!), to my essay being screwed up into a ball, by Dr. Barbara Politynska, who didn’t like its thesis. These were deeply scarring experiences. They made me understand that to express my inner thoughts, on any subject, would only be to court a hostile reaction. The effect on me was stark: I didn’t really want to be there anymore. This was a place that loathed creativity. It was a suffocating feeling, actually – for I could not, thereafter fully express what I thought, without knowing that it would be unwelcome. Cambridge, I learned, was a place for intellectual conformists – at least, at the undergraduate level, in the subjects I studied. Anyone with the merest spark of creativity, was definitely unwelcome.

Then there was another side: the plagiarists. Cambridge had those, too – both among the staff and among the students. One staff member, some of whose work was derived from something I said to him, was Nick J Mackintosh, a Psychology Professor, at Cambridge. He wrote an entire book based on something I said to him – of course, he didn’t acknowledge his original source, at all. I will tell that tale, in another post, to give it, its due. Another person who plagiarized some of my thoughts, appears to be Marc Quinn, the British “artist” – for some of his most striking works are simply embodiments of things I said to the editor of a magazine at Robinson College Cambridge (the Bin Brook), about my own work, in the presence of several other students who had not been introduced. Marc Quinn was a student at Robinson College (my college). Again, I will give the full tale another day, to give it fair space.

Anyway, the weight of all these experiences was truly disheartening. It did something I could never have expected it to do: it put me off pursuing a career in science, altogether. So, even though I had been a physicist at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, Middx, before going up to Cambridge, after Cambridge, I wanted nothing more to do with science. So, for twenty years, I did just that: I avoided science and did other things.

Slowly, my feelings on the matter of science, healed. What really accelerated the healing was Ainan. Working with my son on his passion for science, reawakened my own and reminded me what I had so enjoyed before Cambridge put me off. So, after a twenty year delay, I returned to science and started doing research into Psychology. I am now a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at HELP University, Kuala Lumpur, focusing on research.

I know this: had I never gone to Cambridge, it is likely that I would never have been put off working in science. It is likely that there would never have been a twenty year delay before returning to science. Thus, going to Cambridge, far from “advancing my career”, as I had expected, cost me twenty years work as a scientist.

My experience at Cambridge, really colours my view, now, as to what is a suitable place for Ainan to study at. There is no way I would subject him to Cambridge, for instance. I look, now, not for brand names, in Universities – but for a friendly welcoming culture and good teaching. I see no attraction in any institution whose culture resembles the Cambridge I knew. In a way, this is a blessing, for guided by what I went through, I am now seeking to ensure that Ainan never has to suffer similarly. So, some good can come of it, at least, that is my hope.

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Don't become a teacher, in Singapore.

Teachers are, supposedly, a respected profession but, in speaking to expats, here, in Singapore who have taught, respect is not always what they receive.

Two different people have had very similar experiences, here. One of them had done many senior and interesting jobs in the US before coming to Singapore: he had covered a variety of types of work and responsibility, after all he had been working for over twenty years before he got here. His CV was, therefore, full and interesting.

In Singapore, he had no contacts and thought that teaching would be a straightforward job to get given that he could offer native English. So, he began to teach English. He was good at it, and the years passed and he secured quite good teaching jobs, ones that might be termed "sought after" (by teachers, at least), however, he began to grow bored, describing every day as "the same". Thus, he decided to send out his CV to potential employers. Surprisingly, very few got back to him. For the few who did, the conversations tended to go a little like this: "But you are a TEACHER...what makes you think you can work for us?"

He tried to direct their attention to his vast prior experience of relevant work obtained in the US...but it was all to no avail. They could not see his experienced past. All they could see was his most recent work as a teacher. The way they used the word "teacher", you'd swear they were saying "handicapped". It was clear that they had no respect for, or understanding of the skills that a teacher is adept in - particularly the communication skills which were directly relevant to the recruitment manager position he was applying for. They couldn't see any of that: all they saw was some stuffy guy in a classroom.

This dismissive experience of his, with employer after employer, eventually made him give up trying to seek other types of work in Singapore. He continues to be a teacher but is presently making plans to return to the US. He is an expat leaving precisely because he cannot find a congenial position, here, in Singapore, despite having a lot of experience to offer.

Another expat I am aware of had a similar problem. He was dismissed with the words: "What do you have to offer besides teaching?" by someone with whom he was to work. Again, all they could see was the most recent work as a teacher - somehow being unable to read the fifteen years of relevant experience on his CV. It is notable that, again, the word "teaching" was used as if it were some kind of defect.

Now, that two expats of my acquaintance should have had the exact same experience in Singapore suggests either one or both of two things. Firstly, it could be that employers, in Singapore, only see the relevance of one's most recent job and are unable to realize that any job that has been done before, could be done again - or any related job, for that matter, or one that used similar skills. If this is the case, then Singaporean employers lack imagination (but then, that wouldn't be a surprise, would it, in a nation that lacks imagination?) Secondly, it could be that there is genuine prejudice against teachers and former teachers in the Singaporean marketplace. It is possible that there may be the erroneous impression that teachers can't do anything else. They forget that Socrates was a teacher, that Aristotle was a teacher, that Richard P. Feynman was a teacher. Sometimes, teachers are among the best of people...not the worst, as some local Singaporeans seem to think. Perhaps they had bad experiences in school and are taking it out on job candidates.

Whatever is the case, it would seem to point to certain difficulties in the Singaporean job market. Foreigners coming here to work would be well advised to be careful what kind of work they chose, lest that box them in. It may be that local employers will not be able to see you doing any other kind of work after a few years.

This raises one thought in my mind. It may be that local Singaporeans generally are only able to do one kind of work and that they may be projecting this characteristic onto foreigners for whom doing many kinds of work is normal. There could be a lack of cross-cultural understanding going on.

So, stride carefully in the Singaporean marketplace - and, just to be on the safe side, don't ever become a teacher here - for it may be the last job they allow you to do.

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