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The Oxford Observer

Sensible Semantics

8/21/2014

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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:
1. Done or chosen in accordance with wisdom or prudence; likely to be of benefit
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.....
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Trip to Oxford University OTC

3/11/2014

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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.
Several things were different about this week:
1. I went with my classmate David who is also studying at Oxford this semester on the same program
2. We knew no one there
3. We were wearing suits, and stuck out like sore thumbs (albeit very well-dressed sore thumbs)
4. We focused mainly on learning about the British Army instead of about OTC

We did, however, get to play with some Barrett 50-cal sniper rifles, some NVDs, and talk to some very cool Royal Marines who had nothing but good things to say about Americans!

All-in-all a cool experience, especially getting to represent The Citadel alongside our cousins from VMI, even though we all know the "El Cid" Bulldogs are better than the VMI "Keydets" any day!
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Trip to Birmingham University OTC

3/6/2014

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Yesterday, the Birmingham University Officer Training Corps (BUOTC) was nice enough to allow me to observe one of their training days! I left Oxford on Tuesday and took the train to my "brother" Dan's flat in Birmingham. Dan and I have been friends since we were born as our parents used to work together in the US at a camp for handicapable kids, Elks Camp Moore. Dan is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Sports Therapy and a career in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. This is his third and final year participating in the OTC program as he finishes in June. He also holds the rank of JUO (Junior Under Officer) in the OTC and serves as the equivalent of a senior enlisted man in one of BUOTC's platoons. Although I am not pursuing a career in the army, I found the experience very enlightening, particularly since I saw many similarities between the American and British programs.
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Dan (left) and myself (right)
When first approaching the bus stop, I did get quite a few stares and several double-takes because of my ACUs (Army Combat Uniform), since I was the only one not in the British Army's standard MTP PCS (Multi-Terrain Pattern Personal Clothing System). The bus ride was entertaining, particularly because I could feel the stares on the back of my neck from people trying to figure out who I was! Once I arrived I was greeted by a Major, answering a few questions about my school and the army before moving inside and straight to work. There were formations, accountability, and announcements, after which I was asked to introduce myself to the unit. After the formalities, the two companies (split by years in the program) broke into groups for the day's activities. I was particularly lucky because British Army Units were there to introduce these Officer Cadets to many of the options available to them, so I learned a great deal.
Dan was freed of his duties to show me around, so we started in the armory, where I got to meet the coolest man who has ever lived, Colour Sergeant Berry. This incredible guy spent time as a sniper in the Royal Marines, the Paras, 23rd SAS, and countless other special forces units. Now he instructs the instructors of snipers.... He's a several time World Sniper Champion and has several records in multiple different weapons. While he could scare the heck out of you, he's also one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and loves talking to people about his art form that is shooting. After Dan introduced me to him, we moved on to the upstairs "Mess", the equivalent of an officer's wardroom. I got learned about the Royal Logistics Corps, Royal Military Police, and the Educational and Training Services in several short briefings. This last branch of the Royal Army is tasked with educating the Army's soldiers, the average of whom read and write at the level of an 11-year-old!

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!
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Familial FaceTime

1/28/2014

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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!

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

1/16/2014

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Yesterday, the OSAP students went on a guided, two hour tour of our adopted home. Starting at the OSAP office on George street, we moved towards the old Saxon Tower, St. Michael at the North Gate. 

We continued on to Broad Street, where we saw the first charity shop in the UK, Blackwell's book shop, and the Sheldonian Theatre. Unfortunately one of the Greek philosophers had a slight wardrobe malfunction (below), so we moved on.
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Next, we moved to the area between the Sheldonian and the Divinity School. When the council had realized many of the gargoyles on the outside of the Bodleian would need replacing, Philip Pullman suggested that children submit ideas which could then be rendered in stone. The council agreed and there are now some very neat designs on the sides of the Old Bodleian.

The Sheldonian (right) showed us it's Roman Amphitheater style which was designed by Astronomy professor Christopher Wren, who went on to design St. Paul's cathedral in London.
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We also got to see Oxford and Hertford College's "Bridge of Sighs" (left), which is supposedly where students going to take exams catch a last glimpse of sunlight before they begin.
After this, we promptly lost our bearings as we somehow looped around Oxford, passing New College, Christ Church College, Magdalen College, the Turf Tavern ("An Education in Intoxication"), the flooded Oxford floodplain and hundreds of other notable places!

These include the playing fields of the Christ Church Cathedral Choir and the place where "Lewis Carroll" wrote the famous Alice in Wonderland books. Mr. Carroll was actually serious academician and Mathematics professor Charles Dodgson but chose the pen name so as to avoid being ridiculed by fellow academics. Apparently Queen Victoria sent him a condescending letter once the word got out and asked him to send him a copy of his next book because they were such a delight. What did Queen Vicky get in the mail? A copy of "Curiosa Mathematica, Part I: A New Theory of Parallels".

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Today we got inducted and introduced to our colleges, mine is New College! Despite its name it is one of Oxford's oldest colleges and is officially named "The Warden and Scholars of St Mary's College of Winchester in Oxford" but since Oriel College (which was older) was also dedicated to the Virgin Mary, people called it "New College of St. Mary" and then eventually "New College". I guess even people at Oxford get lazy...

They are well known for their wall, which is the only portion of the original Oxford city wall still standing. The Mayor and the city's bigwigs inspect the wall every three years and have done since 1379. To put it into perspective, that's well over 100 years before Columbus stumbled across our home continent. We also got to see one of the filming locations for Harry Potter!
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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
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An Introductory Instruction

1/16/2014

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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
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