Results Day

As I have called this blog, ‘My Factless Autobiography’, as of now I feel a certain allegiance to abide by the rules I have set myself in terms of laying out my own autobiography. However, as I am yet to write anything about my whole Summer, I feel that the biggest event in recent days would be a good place to start. But not only was this an important day for me, but also for the entire United Kingdom.

Before this day, not only had there been a lot of talk amongst those examined, but also throughout the press. This year saw the introduction of the English Baccalaureate, a new form of examination set out by the British Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove. For years there had been a lot of controversy surrounding GCSEs (the exams taken at 16), as there had been evidence of them being ‘dumbed down’, as grades had become increasingly higher over the years, something known as ‘grade inflation’. The thing with this whole situation is that it seems, to me at least, that not only is there an obvious cause of ‘grade inflation’, but there is also an extremely simple way of solving this issue. And they better start quickly, lest 16 year olds would have to succumb to writing the word ‘baccalaureate’ over and over again.

One important characteristic of major exams taken in the UK is that although many people will take a Biology GCSE, for example, not everyone will take the same exam. This is due to examining boards, such as OCR, Edexcel and AQA, independent companies who set their own exams, including their own textbooks. As there is now competition, due to multiple companies, these boards are now competing for schools to buy their textbooks and do their exams. But how do they convince schools that they should take their exams instead of somebody elses? Simple. As schools are fixated with good grades, resulting in good publicity, they will always choose options that will be best for the student in terms of getting top grades. Therefore, they will pick the board offering the easiest exams.

This is what is causing ‘grade inflation’. Boards will continue to make their exams easier and easier, resulting in everyone getting top grades.

But there is a simple solution which can be expressed using just one word: nationalisation.

Let us say that the government was to take all of these independent examining boards and merge them into one ‘super-examining board’, now schools only have one option as to what exams they can choose for their pupils to take. This leaves this new board free to make their exams as simple or tough as they please. And using this technique, the best pupils and schools can be broadly defined, thus eliminating grade inflation.

But whilst the country has wallowed within its own debates and discussions, it has been a particularly nerve racking period for all 16 year olds. Fortunately for some of us, the fact that once the exam was taken there was absolutely nothing you could do about it seemed to calm us. Oddly enough, having it written down on the screen in front of me makes me wonder how the anxiety had been quelled.

Yet when the grades were finally revealed at 9:30 two days ago, for my school and friends especially, everyone was extremely happy. At my school, Manchester Grammar, one in five people, including me, got straight A*s and over 90% of all grades were A* or A. Looking back on it, some skeptical readers might refer to the grade inflation that has been mentioned previously. However, my convenient rebuttal would be that at my school we do iGCSEs, and so none of this inflation has actually happened. Lucky us!

(This is a photograph from the Jewish Telegraph with five guys from Manchester Grammar who all got straight A*s. I am second from the right)

And it hasn’t just happened within my own school, while my friends elsewhere have also done extremely well. A particular shout out to Oliver Hayes, a very close friend of mine, who achieved 10 A*s and 2 As, two A*s higher than anyone else in a year with many other high flying results. The North Manchester Jewish newspaper ‘The Jewish Telegraph’ even named him as ‘the star student’, so I’d just like to say another Congratulations to you Oli. (You may or may not read this, but I’ll just do it anyway).

So in conclusion, I’d like to congratulate everyone not only for competing these exams but also for doing spectacularly well. Well done everyone!

The Anti-War Novel

Considering my, frankly, disastrous form in terms of posting here, due to the fact that I have spent a month in Israel,  I’d like to apologize and say that I shall be writing here much more frequently as of today and, luckily, I have plenty to write about. But what I write about today will be about something a little different to my holidays. Enjoy!

Over the past week or so, I have been engaged in a book that was recommended to me by my friend Ed (who recommends most of the stuff I read to be honest, making me look a bit odd). It was called Slaughterhouse-Five, by an American writer called Kurt Vonnegut. The blurb described it as ‘the most original anti-war novel since Catch-22’ and Joseph Heller, the author of Catch-22 himself, described this novel as ‘a work of keen literary artistry’. So undoubtedly, I was expecting a  book that would live up to its expectations.

However, when I finally put the book down yesterday afternoon, I was left with mixed feelings about it. Whilst being a highly interesting novel with lots of literary technique and entertaining scenes, it was clear to me that this was a very ‘arty’ book, in terms of saying that it goes out of its way, thus making it look particularly confusing, for the purpose of developing meaning. And this is exactly what is done here. The blurb (I know I keep referring to it. I did read the book) begins by saying, ‘Prisoner-of-war, optometrist, time-traveller – these are the life roles of Billy Pilgrim…’ And this doesn’t even mention the fact that he is abducted by aliens by a planet millions of miles away, with the name Tralfamadore. This is truly not your typical novel.

Yet when I put the book down and ran through all the random plots and sub-plots (it is random due to Pilgrim’s spontaneous and involuntary time-travelling throughout his life) in my head, it all made sense. And although this does not characterise an anti-war novel, it is a common characteristic.

Let us use Catch-22 as an example. Firstly, what is a Catch-22? A Catch-22 is a situation where no favourable outcome is possible due to contradictory rules. Here is an example:

A university graduate goes into a job interview as he wants to gain some experience. However, the interviewer will not hire him as he does not have any experience. In this situation, the only way in which the graduate can be hired is if he had the job already, as he would need the experience.

The situation in Catch-22 is a little more complex. It is a fact in the army (Catch-22 happens amongst American soldiers in the US Air Force after they invaded Italy in 1943) that if you are crazy, you cannot fly the planes. If you know that you are crazy, all you need to do is tell the commander that you are crazy, and you will be demobilised and sent home. However, here is where the twist comes in. By telling someone you are crazy, with the full knowledge that you will be sent home, you are showing that you have concerns for your safety; evidence of a rational mind. Therefore you are not crazy and have to stay. Here, it is impossible to leave the army without proving that you have to stay in the army. This example of a logical paradox is now commonly known as a ‘Catch-22’.

One idea relayed in Catch-22 seems to be echoed in all anti-war novel, and that is the idea of insanity. In Catch-22, it seems to become clear quite early on that only someone insane would fly a plane, thus indicating that anyone who says they are not insane is actually insane. In Slaughterhouse-Five, this idea is mentioned too. In his old age, Pilgrim becomes increasingly unable to live life by himself, and he needs the assistance of his daughter, Barbara, who treats him like a childish invalid. When she makes her first appearance in the book, she says, ‘Father, father, father…what are we going to do with you?’ This seems to be a perfect example of insanity, as specified in both novels.

And  this is what really makes an anti-war novel. From the first chapter, it is made clear that one thing that caused Pilgrim’s insanity was the night when Dresden, a German city, was bombed and destroyed (as a matter of interest, according to the book, 71,739 people were killed at Hiroshima, but around 135,000 people were killed in Dresden). Pilgrim spends this night in the slaughterhouse with the other prisoners-of-war, which provides an excellent bomb shelter for him.

What these anti-war novels do is ignore the glory of war and replace it with the true effects that war has, not only concerning the people who have been killed, but also those who weren’t killed. We are endlessly told about all of the soldiers who suffered shell shock after World War One, and we learn to sympathise. This is what a good anti-war novel does and, gladly, this is what Slaughterhouse-Five does.

So it goes…

Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart

Originally, I set out to read Achebe’s masterpiece ‘Things Fall Apart’ right at the beginning of this year, but lost concentration fairly quickly. However, following his death last March, I felt a certain allegiance to him, as I had seemed to fail his critically acclaimed book which, by many, is considered to be the greatest piece of literature to come out of Africa. So I decided to give it a go and, despite my previous views, I was thoroughly impressed.

‘Things Fall Apart’ follows Okonkwo, an 18-year-old tribesman who, despite his misguided and undistinguished father, had excelled within his tribe in a matter of months and had become the greatest and most famous wrestler in the nine villages withing which he resides. However, when he accidentally (and, despite his violence, there was no intention of murder) kills a 16-year-old clansman, he is exiled for seven years, within which the region is infested with European missionaries and colonialists wishing to spread Christianity to these ‘primitive tribes’.

Coming from Britain, which was undoubtedly the ultimate colonialist power, taking almost a quarter of the globe from people without the power to uphold them, such as the Aborigines in Australia, (This explains why all of the countries in the Commonwealth Games, bar Britain, India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, are all insignificant) this extraordinary novel provides a drastically alternative viewpoint to the whole situation. Though we have learnt about anti-colonialist (eg Shakespeare, who used his final comedy ‘The Tempest’ to act as a revolution against colonialism, using Prospero and Caliban), we have generally been washed over by praise of the Great Queen Victoria and her glorious empire. (This is highly ironic as for her first years of reign, she did everything the her husband said. Then, after his death, she mourned for ten years, doing nothing else. And then she spent her final years doing, yet again, not much).

The literature used is also phenomenal. As Okonkwo has total dedication concerning the survival of his tribal culture, throughout the novel, Achebe emphatically uses his skills to increase Okonkwo’s despair in the face of the imminent extermination of his history (hence the name ‘Things Fall Apart’, to emphasize the process by which Okonkwo loses all faith), using not only the physical presence of the missionaries, such as the building of their churches and schools, but also a mental presence, such as the way in which they convert Okonkwo’s eldest son, Nwoye.

Having re-read the book, it seems to me that what confused me originally was not the concepts, or Achebe’s vocabulary, or the character developments. Simply, it was the context that confused me. Firstly, the names were all extremely similar in my opinion. And secondly, Achebe continuously stressed the importance, in Okonkwo’s culture, of speaking through proverbs which, originally, became increasingly irritating. However, once you find your way through the seemingly overpowering facade of the situation set out by Achebe, what you are left with is a true masterpiece and, therefore, I urge every one of you to read it. Your welcome.