Almost 4 months after returning to the US, I am realizing and observing the long-term impacts of my time in England. Yes, I do have cravings for tea and yes, I do still say "mum" instead of "mom," but I am starting to realize and understand the nuances of our two cultures.

I heard a quote the other day that seems to sum it up fairly succinctly: "We are two nations divided by a current language." A great example is how I cannot refer to the things we wear on our lower bodies with legs as "pants" anymore. In England, "pants" are what Americans call "underwear" and because of my justified fear of accidentally talking about someone's underwear in a polite setting, I pause and say "trousers" every time. At one point in my trip, I completely forgot the American word for a place where you go to watch newly released movies. "Cinema" is the correct term there, "movie theatre" here. Click here for a comprehensive guide to American and British words.

What does this have to do with education? Besides the fact that I stood up in front of a crowd of 60 four- and six-year-olds and mentioned about how "some of our pants are white" (as I'm sure you can guess, there was a big giggle from them after that). British schoolchildren are taught a word that is not really in the everyday vocabulary of most Americans: sensible. From a very young age (three or four), students are reminded to "sit and act sensibly." For those Americans who know this word but are unsure as to the exact meaning, here you go:

As I've seen it used in British schools, "sit sensibly," I would define it as "don't be silly." Daniel Darkings, age 21, educated in the UK for his entire school life, defines sensible as "doing something that follows common sense." I asked him what it would mean if someone said "sit sensibly" and, without any prompting or guiding at all, he replied "to behave myself and not do anything silly." Clearly my observation was correct in regards to the silly/sensible continuum.

I have seen some great behaviour from English schoolkids during assemblies, whose only guidance in the matter was to "act sensibly" and "not be silly." Maybe we should try inserting the word into our American lexicon.....

So this week, VMI (Virginia Military Institute) is out on spring break and they sent some of their honors students to Europe. The only reason I know this is because I got to meet a few! The Oxford University OTC was gracious enough to host the Americans for a bit of "show-and-tell" where Royal Army units would come and give pitches about their services to the Officer Cadets. Oddly enough, this is exactly what I got to see last week in Birmingham! In fact, many of the presenters were the same and surprisingly they remembered me.

One thing I found interesting was that the Officer Cadets were responsible for helping to distribute and then clean up the evening meal. At The Citadel, this would be highly impractical as we feed 2400 people at a time for most meals, but for their 130-150 it seemed to work quite well. Other than that, they seemed to be fairly similar to ROTC units attached to normal colleges and universities in the United States.

After dinner (for which we changed into suits), all except those on guard duty moved upstairs to have drinks and chat with the visiting officers. Then we boarded the bus and headed back to Dan's flat, all-in-all a great day and a fantastic learning experience. The Officer Cadets were awesome! They were courteous hosts, answered all my questions, and acted as great representatives of their program and their country.

I want to thank all the people who made my visit possible, particularly Colonel Sutherland, Major Wilcox, and RSM Kelly. I also want to thank all the JUOs and my new friends who and made me feel welcome!

I wanted to  thank my family for taking time out of their days to call, Skype, or FaceTime me! I had a great time the first week "Skyping" my cousins near Dorking, after I had settled into my flat. Continued calls throughout my tenure here from Mum and Dad back in the states are a needed and welcomed distraction from academics! And just last night a FaceTime call with cousins in Madison, NJ was a great way to check up on everyone and see how they're doing.

I miss all my family at home and at The Citadel (who has off this afternoon due to hazardous winter conditions, AKA "flurries") and just wanted to thank you all for your continued support!

Sincerely,
James McManus
The Oxford Observer
Sierra Company, Class of 2016

My fellow cadet and classmate David Holmes and I went off to explore some interesting Oxford landmarks. We made it into the Sheldonian, which is where Oxford graduates receive their degrees (in a ceremony almost completely in Latin), and we also got to explore the Old Bodleian, the Radcliffe Camera, and the tunnels connecting the two!

Can't wait for another great day tomorrow!

Sincerely,
James McManus
The Oxford Observer
Sierra Company, Class of 2016

What a busy day today!

Started with a "Welcome and Introduction" brief by OSAP's President Dr. Robert Schuettinger was surprisingly both substantive and funny! He did a great job keeping everyone's attention throughout his briefing.

Dr. Schuettinger delved into a great amount of detail concerning the devaluation of degrees from institutions of higher learning.
- In 1960, 45.1 percent of high school grads entered college.
- In October of 1997, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported a record high of 67 percent!
- As of October 2012, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported that 66.2 percent of the graduating high school class of 2012 were in college.

The more people who go to college, the more degrees are issued to people in their early twenties as they enter the job market. The rest is simple economics: flood the market with product (or in this case graduates), prices (salaries) go down as the demand decreases. More people = more competition for lower paying jobs.

So then what's so special about going to college? What makes you stand out to your employers? Dr. Schuettingertold an interesting story about an anniversary party of all the female Rhodes scholars. Each of these wealthy and now significantly influential people were given a survey to complete in their rooms while unbiased by peer pressure. When answering the question, "Do you think your employers value the institution at which you received your degree?", they unanimously answered "No". They realized that the skills they attained at school were much more important than the actual degree they achieved. Herein lies what should be the new focus of higher education: learning applicable real-world skills which can be marketable in a scarce job market.

The good Dr. Schuettinger also made a few memorable comments, including:
"Speech was given to man to conceal his thoughts." - Talleyrand
"You have to do a little walking in Oxford. I personally hate walking, but do as I say, not as I do."
"You have to go out there and meet people. Some of them can be annoying, others may deserve to be slaughtered, but still it's important."

He also explained the difference between normally colleges and Oxford, including important things to keep in mind about Tutors and the Tutorial system.

Overall, it was a great way to start our first day!

More to come about the first day later,
James McManus
The Oxford Observer
Sierra Company, Class of 2016