Brian Patten
On Sunday just past I returned to my old childhood stomping ground. I am Chaplain to the Picton Scout Association and it was the annual parade for St. George. Inevitably, I met up with some people from my past and we spent a little time reminiscing about our time both in the Scouts and our old school.
I was one of those people who never did any good in exams (especially the 11 plus) and so ended up at a Secondary Modern School. It was the best thing to happen to me because there I came under the influence of my English teacher, Mr.Sutcliffe.
Harry (Eric) was a larger than life character who gave to me a love of books and a love of music, both which are with me to this day. Even more important, he helped me to develop an enquiring mind and the sense that life was an adventure provided you were prepared to take risks. All of this seems a million miles away from the modern trend to wrap children in cotton wool.
Everyone seemed to love ‘Sooty’, as he was called. When a retirement reunion was held ex-pupils travelled from all over the UK just to attend.
One of Sooty’s pupils was the Liverpool Poet, Brian Patten, who was a year ahead of me. I’m sure Brian would be the first to admit that his love of writing could be traced back to those days in Mr. Sutcliffe’s class.
When he was about to leave school at 15 there was a visit from the Careers Service. It seems that each boy got a good couple of minutes to discuss their future. Brian said he wanted to be a writer. “You can’t do that”, said the advisor, “You have not got any exams.” Well Brian went on to be a Journalist and later a poet, but the experience of those few minutes stayed with him and prompted him to write this poem. It is particularly apt as we enter the exam season.
When I was a child I sat an exam.
The test was so simple
There was no way I could fail.
Q1. Describe the taste of the moon.
It tastes like Creation I wrote,
it has the flavour of starlight.
Q2. What colour is Love?
Love is the colour of the water a man
lost in the desert finds, I wrote.
Q3. Why do snowflakes melt?
I wrote, they melt because they fall
onto the warm tongue of God.
There were other questions.
They were as simple.
I described the grief of Adam when he was expelled from Eden.
I wrote down the exact weight of an elephant’s dream.
Yet today, many years later,
For my living I sweep the streets
or clean out the toilets of the fat hotels.
Why? Because I constantly failed my exams.
Why? Well, let me set a test.
Q1. How large is a child’s imagination?
Q2. How shallow is the soul of the Minister for Exams?
Tags: education, lesson from life, Reading