Education

Formal

I know education is important for all sorts of reasons, and I've been thinking about that again just lately. I've been very lucky in every way with my education, and I do realise not everyone has as much luck. I also enjoy learning, it is what keeps your mind active and open and what helps you to grow and develop. I know all that is pretty obvious, but it doesn't hurt to stop and think about it once in a while.

I was actually first sent to school about six months before I was supposed to. I was playing with my best friend at her house and apparently we were arguing and making a nuisance of ourselves. Her mum got tired of us, picked us up, took us to the nearest nursery school, and the following Monday we started school. I think I always enjoyed it, especially primary school. I went to a good school, and had a succession of good, dedicated teachers. I started out with a lady who must have been very young still at the time, just starting out as a teacher, and she was always very nice. I kept in touch with her for many years after she left the school. And I remember the headteacher at the school, who was very down to earth, a good teacher, and also dedicated. I learnt all the basics at that school, plain old reading, writing and arithmetic and I got a very good basic knowledge of history and geography. The basis was solid enough for everything that followed. I only really have good memories of the school, the friends I had there, the teachers, and I felt at home there.

My secondary school was very good too, strict, but a high standard education. Looking back at what I learned there, what I still use and remember, it is the languages, French and English, (German was never really my idea of an interesting thing to learn), all the literature, and I liked history and economics. I learned basic things there, like doing your own taxes, that I still use. My Latin and Maths have more or less disappeared, but I guess if I really wanted I could retrieve them at some point. Again, I remember a lot of good teachers, and it was the stricter ones that got the best out of me. Especially for French, which I started out doing very badly at, but once Evelien became my teacher I learnt so much. The scale of this school was so much bigger than at my primary school, and I did feel a little lost here sometimes. So many teachers, so many different subjects, and after the first three years a different set of students for the various classes too. I became part of a small group of good friends that I got to know very well, and that I felt comfortable with.

Then at university the whole setting changed. You had lectures and tutorials for some 10 to 15 hours a week, the rest of the work you did at home or at the library. I felt a little overawed by it all, especially early on, and it took me some time to feel at home in this big place. I did learn so much though. I went through the old style university education, so I had three years to get my bachelors degree and managed to take courses in all subjects related to the English language. So I took courses in grammar, phonetics, stylistics and semantics, as well as the history of the English Language; I learned Old English and Middle English, and I learned all about English literature. I learned to analyse and think for myself. I was never one for extensive research in secondary sources, though I did do that, I always wanted to work out what I could make of the texts first. I did a lot of close readings of poetry, and enjoyed that, and I just read as much as I possibly could. But I always enjoyed reading and studying novels more than anything.

My one year at Southampton University was special, because there I could take any course I wanted, and I didn't take any exams. I wrote papers, attended tutorials and lectures, but it gave me a chance to concentrate on the subjects that I was most interested in. So I attended three different Shakespeare courses, for first, second and third-year students, which gave me a chance to read all of Shakespeare in one year, and attend classes on the plays. I went to lectures on 19th century novelists and modernist writers and got to read a lot for those classes too. I remember reading four Dickens novels in four weeks and attending tutorials on them with a Dickensian lecturer, a peculiar man, with peculiar habits. It seemed just right though.

Back in Leiden I started my specialisation, taking courses on Modern Poetry, on the myth of Odysseus/Ulysses in literature, on the history of comedy. They gave me some lasting literary interests. I still love modern poetry, and during that course I was asked to present a paper on R.S. Thomas, still a great favourite. And I ended up writing my thesis on Restoration Comedy, another favourite still.

There also are teachers I remember because they gave me something special. My first teacher at primary school with her great gentleness and love for children, a real lady to me always. My French, Latin and Dutch teachers at secondary school who all impressed me for various reasons. My French teacher always was so disciplined and in control of herself and in that way was a great example, whereas my Latin teacher, a very nice man, always seemed a little out of this world and he could always quite easily be distracted from teaching.

The literature professor during my first year at university who always encouraged me to think and analyse for myself, probably the most important thing he could have taught me. And my modern poetry lecturer, who gave me the biggest compliment by telling me that my paper had given him new insights into R.S. Thomas and had brought him back to the works. He was a lovely man.

(In)Formal

Then you get your university degree and you get to go out in the world, fully educated. It just wasn't true. I am suddenly reminded of my driving instructor here. It took me quite a while to get my drivers licence, I took 44 lessons in exactly one year, I had the first lesson on October 4 and took my test on October 4 of the following year. I went to take my test, though I wasn't overly confident, but I did pass that first time. When I came back into the hall where my instructor was waiting for me and told him I had passed he looked at me rather incredulously, probably even more surprised than I was.... I think we were both right to be a little nervous at the time because I had quite a few near-accidents over the next few months, and scared a
fair few people, including my favourite uncle.

But I digress. When you finish your education your desire to learn doesn't stop, it never does. I still take courses on all kinds of subjects. The last one I did was on digital photography last year, but I learned more languages, took a course on interior design, on modern architecture, on Amsterdam history, on psychology. And then there are all the courses at work, on project management, risk analysis, programme management, time management, the history of Amsterdam and on all kinds of subjects related to personal development. Not all courses are necessarily that great in themselves, but you are forced to take a step back and maybe question things you take for granted.

If you keep an open mind you are always learning. I learn from all the people I meet, I learn from the books I read, even, or maybe especially from all the novels. I learn about birds and nature by just being outside, especially if I go out with someone like Jurren, who knows so much. And I learn from everything I do at work, I learn from travelling on Europa. It's always good to start out and try new things. Formal education can give you a lot of skills that are basic to leading a full life. I can't imagine a life without reading, a life without literature, without knowledge. I like the richness I get from knowing other languages, from knowing about my culture and other cultures, from knowing about my history, about where I come from. It's the
informal education that really teaches you though. You need the formal skills, but only by using them do you really learn. I learn most from other people, from watching people, talking to them, listening to them now, because I spent so many years already learning from books.

Also, I have reached the age where you start to pass on your knowledge and experience, so I sometimes teach courses at work, and I am a coach, and that is something I really enjoy, and something I learn a lot from again. It is good to test what you know, and to find out if it still holds true, or if maybe others have different views that can change your ideas again. I like finding out these things, and not getting stuck or standing still.