Colourful picture of Donald Trump & his first year as US president
My column is this week's Herald Express 22nd November 2017
A week or so ago I hopped on the Paignton to Exeter train and nipped up to Exeter University. I love that coastal rail journey and don’t particularly like driving these days. Trundling down the Teign estuary, skipping along the coast past Dawlish and then skirting the River Exe is almost therapeutic.
In the past my visits to Exeter were almost daily and I remember without fondness the wasted hours queuing with other luckless motorists around the Exe bridges. There are no meaningful ‘rabbit runs’ out of Exeter because the river gets in the way!
My evening trip to Exeter University had been prompted by a Twitter post with the enigmatic hashtag Trump Exeter (#trumpexeter). Those of you that follow the news will know that President Donald Trump uses social media to get his message across in a non-traditional way. Over forty-three million people on Twitter follow his Tweets.
Like so many people I am still in a state of shock after the election that catapulted Donald Trump into the White House as the forty-fifth president of the United States of America. My little trip to Exeter University was to attend a lecture by Niall Stanage. Neill is the White House Columnist and Associate Editor for The Hill.
The Hill is a Washington-based political website newspaper and Niall’s lecture was about the first year of Mr Trump’s presidency. His captivating title was ‘A Year of Trump: What happened – and what’s next?’
The huge lecture theatre was packed and I noticed that numerous people from Torbay had also made the trip. Niall’s lecture was both brilliant and unsettling. Brilliant because his insight and knowledge offered a colourful picture of both Donald Trump and his first year as perhaps the most powerful man in the world today.
I have to say that I was also unsettled by the lecture. That uneasiness was in part due to the increasing use of social media. The Exeter event had been promoted hugely via the Internet and as I am sure you know Donald Trump’s first reaction to anything appears to be via Twitter! Watching Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un exchange Tweets should unsettle all of us.
A few days ago whilst attending South Devon College’s Open Evening I had the echo of Niall Stanage’s lecture very much in mind as I watched hundreds of young (and not so young!) people thinking about the future. My interest in education and learning is still as strong today as it has always been. I love learning new things and seeing so many people seeking knowledge that evening made me tingle.
It seems to me that we all have a duty to look after our world and ensure that the platform we build for the future is both robust and for the greater good of all. Is that too much to ask? I think not. So during that South Devon College event I was very mindful of Niall Stanage’s view of world affairs and the hopes and aspirations of those registering for courses.
I still deliver a weekly lecture at South Devon College which is fun to do. These days I teach mostly adults and seem to learn more from them than I am sure they do from me! I say that because we often all too easily seem to forget so much or feel that what we know doesn’t matter. Dear old Albert Einstein had something to say about that.
My old headmaster quoted Einstein to me so many years ago and the quote has always stayed with me. Einstein said “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.” For me this has been a source of inspiration and has made me very aware of what I am learning and why.
Too often our learning experience has been damaged by what I call ritual humiliation. Let me give you an example. When I was young a teacher of mathematics used to take great delight in humiliating those who struggled with figures. I can still remember pupils being made to stand on a chair whilst he shouted at them. Do we ever recover from that sort of madness? Probably not!
I really do believe in the magic of learning. To discover new things in an exciting and supportive way is simply wonderful. At the end of each day I ask myself the question “What do I know now that I didn’t know this morning?” and am often surprised by the answer. There is always something that I didn’t know and so often that knowledge comes from the most unlikely places.
Educationally I am something of a grasshopper and seem to flit from one thing to another constantly. That is good in some ways and not so good in others. The up side is that I seem to have a very eclectic knowledge base and the down side is that loose ends tend to flap in the metaphorical wind.
That flitting also applies to my taste in music which ranges from the modern to the ancient. Part of that ancient taste had me visiting Buckfast Abbey last Saturday evening where the Collati Singers ( www.collatisingers.co.uk ) were in action conducted by Trefor Farrow. The music was atmospheric and included Palestrina’s Sabat Mater, John Taverner’s Western Wind Mass and Moreton Lauridsen’s Lux Aeternam. Wonderful music beautifully sung by some very talented people in a stunning setting.
We live in a wonderful part of the world with so much on offer. I for one appreciate that. It is all too easy to sit back and not engage. Of course we do live in complicated and troubled times but that is not a reason for not engaging in a positive way. Part of that positivity might be the developing an empathic platform that will allow you to view the world through the eyes of others.
Often seeing the world as others might see it allows the possibility of a different way of thinking. One of my greatest pleasures is quietly whispering the words “Oh I didn’t know that!”
Be happy and share that with those around and of course keep the smile……..