Staff Changes 18
An Exchange Year in the USA
(1970)

Any attempt to describe a year's experiences in a few lines, no matter how routine that year may have been, is bound to end in failure. To try to describe my impressions of my year in America in just such a few lines is likely therefore to be disastrously inadequate I would have to be musician, poet, artist and philosopher all at once if I were to do justice to the experiences and memories of last year.

Many people have asked me about my ideas on American education, and whether or not I thought it better than the education provided in this country. Unfortunately it is impossible to give an unequivocal answer, since the systems have such differing approaches to education, both in method and content. If I may generalise, and I realist the dangers of doing so, I think the American system grinds more slowly than our own, and American pupils tend to be behind their British equivalents. The Americans claim, however, that their system eventually allows a greater number of pupils to reach standard higher than in any other country in the world. Personally I found that difficult to believe, and I was not impressed by the background knowledge which American students as a whole were supposed to have. What did impress me was the calibre of the good students in the American system, who showed a capacity to work, think and learn which many a British sixth former would do well to copy. Although I do not wish to be polemical in such an essay, I feel bound to mention one other point while on the subject of education. Arnericen classes are largely unstreamed. Everyone, students and teachers alike, agree that this is not satisfactory. Only people who compile figures in ivory towers believe that unstreamed classes are a viable proposition.

America is a beautiful country. To me the rugged splendour of the Oregon coastline followed by the mountain grandeur of Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks were the scenic highlights of 10 weeks touring in America. But Southern California, with its fine beaches and its perpetual sunshine claims my deepest affection. Some unforgettable memories seeing an elephant water ski-ing at the San Francisco Marineland, surfing on waves produced by a machine a thousand miles from the nearest ocean and driving through Death Valley in heat so intense that two plastic cups in the car fused together.

And the most lasting impression was of the kindness of the people. Policemen put away pens and notebooks to explain which laws had been broken, people whom I had never met previously offered me the hospitality of their homes and everywhere people went out of their way to be helpful. Go to America, the Americans are well worth seeing!

G. A. BUCKINGHAM