Freedom to choose

Reading back my post (16 Feb) it dawned on me that it wasn't quite clear why I felt the need to study for a BD (Honours), a rare and difficult degree. Well, I didn't think in terms of a BD as such, a BA would do. It was partly recommendation (Rev. J. Lang) and partly having come across people who had studied for one at Heythrop. The drawback was that it was very male dominated with only 10% being women over the age of 18. In my year group, out of ten women who started the course less than half were still there at the end. Not too surprising when three decades later my daughter studies for a Philosophy degree at a secular college (London University) and the same happens! 

So, yes, it was a wish to progress up the career ladder be it as a lecturer; or just teaching in highly academic schools (single degree needed) since Religious Studies is the number one shortage subject; or going into middle/senior management (hence my MA in Education [management]). However, there's a hierarchy of schools that you don't fully appreciate at the beginning of your teaching career. You naïvely think a degree should be sufficient for any secondary school, surely? No. The better the school academically the more qualifications it demands. Single degrees were preferred. Teaching qualifications were not essential since many teachers in private schools were not fully qualified, even until the beginning of the 21st century! 

Fully qualified means you have done one year in a state school and had inspectors sitting in on your lessons and even chatting and observing you as you go about the school e.g. lunch duty. So being fully qualified made me a better proposition for state schools because they only employed those that fell into that category. It's not that I didn't enjoy teaching in state schools. The girls can be more loyal than in a private school but you miss the academic level of education. This is why I think it's unnecessary to possess a degree when trying to become a teacher. A certificate (a 3 year course post A Level specialising in Education, both theory and practice plus subjects you wish to teach) would be sufficient for both primary and secondary schools since you rarely teach anything that stretches you beyond that. Once you have a degree you become dissatisfied, especially if you've attended an academic school yourself. 

My parents, however, never put any pressure on me to do well at school. They didn't tell me what subjects to study whether at Ordinary Level or Advanced Level. Nevertheless, my A Level choices, or lack of, were chaotic! I had wanted to take my Czech O Level to A Level standard. So my mother, delighted I was interested, plucked the books which were on the syllabus out of her library 📚 and encouraged me to start straightaway. However, the school wouldn't allow me to take A Level Czech because they, so the argument went, couldn't supervise/mark my work. So another A Level bit the dust. I did read and study the literature anyway and discussed it with my mother who loved Czech literature. Czech was a subject I had thought of studying at the Slavonic Institute (London University) but Rev. Lang said I wouldn't want to do that because there were communists there but then he said the same thing about the Czech Embassy in London (Notting Hill Gate) which is why we never went there for any events. Besides, what communists? UK communists are not the same as those behind the Iron Curtain. Not that I knew what a communist looked like since I'd never met one and we never travelled to any countries behind the Iron Curtain. Anyway, it was all very annoying because I relied on him for a reference supporting my application to study Czech and to back up my mother's assessment of my Czech. Frustrated 😞 I couldn't do the subjects I wanted to do I asked my mother if I could leave the school and attend a further education college where options were broader but my mother wouldn't hear of it! 

My mother supported any and every subject at school level and beyond at university. I had the same approach with my daughter. Whichever subject she wanted to do at university was fine with me. Whatever career she wants to do is also fine by me. Nothing was or is crossed off! Her father's opinion was not by and large forthcoming about university, career or anything else e.g. her relationships, as far as I and my daughter are aware. And besides, I'm the educationalist not him! So I'm the one with whom she would discuss such things. There was no big family discussion with all of us sitting at a large family table holding hands. We didn't have those discussions about anything. It was just the way it was.

Therefore, I was horrified 😱 to hear Professor Susan James tell us on a podcast that her parents wouldn't allow her to study Humanities at university. What? 😲That's half the curriculum gone up in smoke. She compromised on studying Philosophy (a social science subject although not totally off the Humanities radar) but it should never come to that! 😢

I've known Susan James since early 2010. I've met her in person around campus, sat in on a lecture of hers, went to talks and conferences (all with my daughter) where she was a speaker and also enjoy attending her London Spinoza Circle which has been sadly 😢 interrupted by the pandemic. But I with my daughter have watched the latest circle meeting, which was a workshop in November 2021, on YouTube. 

I have always been hugely supportive of her, her work, as well as her relationship with my daughter whatever it may be at whatever stage or level it may be. My daughter knows this and since we have no secrets I know everything that has gone on so nobody can start giving me any misinformation and plain nonsense. Indeed, I know things before they happen. I knew she was going to 'propose marriage' 💍 (for the first time in her life!) to Susan James well before and just before she did so. I'm not divulging a secret here because Susan James herself loudly and happily 🙂 declared the proposal to a lecture theatre full of international philosophers at an annual conference mid heated discussion with my daughter. 

So why people are still interfering in their relationship is beyond me. It's both tiresome and inappropriate for them to be constantly monitoring their every move or look between them. Liba had, and still has, my blessing. Or to put it another way, I broke a plate (on purpose, to mark the occasion) as my mother did when I announced my engagement. I think Susan James and her have a special connection and I am delighted they do. Just let them be!🤗🌈

Author: Jana Kaucky

Proofread, edited and IT: Liba Kaucky