Subject: Fwd: Cambridge or Aberystwyth
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 12:12:34 EST
Dear Myron,
Please find below the latest page of the biography.Cambridgeor Aberystwyth           The transition from school to college was always going to be hard for Myron. He had found it hard settling into Pontardawe Grammar School after leaving Craigcefnparc Primary School. In the sixth form Myron would need to choose between going to Aberystwyth or Cambridge University, but Aberystwyth would be the likeliest choice, because Myron preferred the comforts of home to the lure of a world famous university.           The transition started in the lower sixth (sixth year of Grammar school at age 16).  In order to go on to the sixth form five ‘O’ Levels were needed and Myron had nine.  Myron entered the lower sixth in 1966, and was made a Prefect of the school.  There was more intellectual freedom in the Sixth Form College of the School, and this allowed Myron to attempt to finish the Pure and Applied Mathematics course in a year, instead of the prescribed two years, which he did and obtained a B grade.  Myron then proceeded to do the Pure Mathematics course, without the help of teachers, but did the chemistry and physics in the usual two years, together with the use of English course.  This was therefore a busy time, and even more so because Myron also worked on his father’s farm.  Myron never really considered going anywhere except Aberystwyth, and this incurred the wrath of the headmaster Silwyn Lewis.  In the sixties, the Welsh Language Society was formed in Pontardawe, and that cultural movement essentially saved the language from extinction.  The National Eisteddfod of Wales is now the largest cultural festival in Europe, and takes place entirely in the Welsh language.  So Myron was guided to Aberystwyth by his deep Welsh roots, although Mr. Lewis’s attitude that Myron should go to Cambridge were understandable in wishing the best for an outstanding pupil. Myron never really considered it, but did go as far as going to interview at Jesus College (see photo).           In the lower sixth Mary Hopkin left for London, to work with the Beatles, and a few people talked about fashionable Chelsea and all that, but that was entirely at the back of Myron’s mind because he had taken on four A levels, one on his own and he was fully focused on achieving academic success.  Myron was not particularly keen to leave his village at all, and looking back at things sometimes wonders if he would have been better off not attending any university at all, because it was a mixed experience.  However, if Myron had not gone to Aberystwyth the only alternative would have been a factory job of some kind.  Myron had sampled factory jobs during breaks from the Sixth Form College, notably Aladdin Factory in Pontardawe, on the production line and in the press shop.  The sonnet “Prague Spring” records these experiences, when in 1968, tanks rolled into Prague as the morning shift started.           ‘A’ levels were among the most difficult of times academically, especially as in chemistry, the class did not do the right course for some reason, with the result that no one got an A grade.  This might have stopped Myron getting to Cambridge in any case.  His grades were eventually an A in physics, B in chemistry, B in pure and applied mathematics, and a D in pure mathematics without teachers. The Cambridge requirement was two A’s and a B. Myron’s extra D may have allowed him to get in with A, B, B, and D, but was immaterial since Aberystwyth was the by far the university of choice.            In any case this was easily enough for UCW Aberystwyth, whose entry requirements were much lower, sometimes as low as two E’s, the minimum.  After an experience of working in the tremendous noise and heat of the press shop at Aladdin Factory, Aberystwyth was an opportunity.  The teachers at the Grammar School were always diligent; none had the attitude that Myron had to go to Cambridge or London. The great scrum half Gareth Edwards started playing for Wales at this time, when Myron was still at the Sixth Form College – but again, this was remote background for Myron.  The overwhelmingly important thing was to get into Aberystwyth and to get a degree so that he would not have to work in a coal mine or factory.  All Myron’s immediate ancestors were coal miners or laborers, with the occasional farmer.  So that probably gave Myron his stamina and the ability to work long hours, to go over notes many times, until learned by heart, and to work at a problem until solved. The Grammar School method has remained with Myron to this day, the discipline of breaking up the working day into segments to deal with various subjects systematically, and the problem solving skills learned at the School. When Myron eventually went to university, like many of his generation, he was the first of his family to free himself from the coal mines to seek a better future through higher education. Aberystwyth had been expressly formed to help working class scholars like Myron have a better future and access to greater opportunities.
Kerry
OK, many thanks! Also I would add that the syllabus of the then Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) was in every bit equivalent in merit to the Cambridge and Oxford Boards, with of course the extra element of the language. No one speaks Welsh in Cambridge. This was a matter of principle first and foremost. The personal hostility shown towards me year after year, and behind the scenes, from one or two of the Cambridge people does not really make them world famous in anything but negativity. They come across as luddites. This is well out in the open by now. The place has merit perhaps, but individual thinking does not depend on being in any particular place. As we discussed at Craig y Nos they are often surprisingly short on elementary knowledge and long on self-praise. It all depends on the quality and sincerity of one’s colleagues, and AIAS / TGA is ideal in this respect. I also think that academia sometimes constrains freedom of intellectual development – not ALL of academia by any means, and I am always pleased in the interest from genuine academia in ECE theory.
