You ask a very good question. A small percentage of the population went to university in those days (my brothers and I were the first in our wider family). Funding from government covered the fees and accommodation and it wasn't hard to top up with summer work and some help from my parents. I left with no debt at all. My sons will spend decades paying off their university fees via what is (but never called as such) a graduate tax in England. At least they don't pay anything if their earnings drop below a certain level or they don't work.
So I feel lucky - privileged even - to have had no pressure on my at all when I left, in terms of paying off any debt.
Higher Education funding in the UK is now a mess. Students find the debt onerous and the universities are being starved of cash by caps on what they can charge. I'm not sure what the way forward is.
This description of Roy is just divine. And all the weaving of what it means to go off and study in a place that becomes your sanctuary and challenger at the same time....the gratitude one must feel even if you have done the work yourself to get there. Such a strange set of unexpected tensions and yet you succeed! Very interesting to read as my own students send off their applications (once again - for me). Very interesting to read about this part of your life, Jeffrey.
Thank you, Kate. Roy was pretty amazing and I came across his Times obituary quite by chance recently. That got me reflecting on my experience studying law with him.
I think most people worked hard to get in, but some were on a wider path, others on a narrower one.
Thank you for this warm but not airbrushed reflection Jeffrey. I often wonder what becomes of bright kids such as us in the current world. I snuck in on the end of mostly-free university education, emerging with only around $30k in HECS debt. Today I would have been saddled with so much debt and so little employment prospect as to put university out of reach... or to have kept me unhappily on the path to being a school teacher, which I quickly realised was not for me despite making financial sense (at the time). University opened up new possibilities for me for which I will always be grateful. I wish more young people had that space to explore without financially crippling themselves for the next twenty plus years.
I work in the study abroad office at my university. We send a couple of dozen students to Oxford every year. This was a delightful view into what (I hope!) they're experiencing there. <3
What an excellent piece of writing Jeffrey. I love the sound of your professor. I could almost see and hear him.
Thank you also for recording your pieces. You read very well and this will also be useful for subscribers with visual challenges.
I had never heard of the Tanner Scheme so thanks for educating me.
Every time I visit an art gallery or enjoy a music concert, I always have the thought ‘but where are the others…?’. The ‘others’ in my mind come from that great pool of talent and potential that exists in children and young people from challenging backgrounds who don’t receive the opportunities of their wealthier or more settled peers.
Thank you for those kind words! Roy was certainly a remarkable man. Yes, there is so much talent that goes undeveloped. It's so sad and feels like a waste. I guess we live in wasteful societies.
Thank you for writing about the Tanner Scheme. It was such an enlightened and sensible way to identify intelligent people who would not have made it through the usual Oxford University system. I am sad that it closed. As you point out, there is still a bias towards independently educated pupils.
I think it is especially important that disadvantaged kids are encouraged to study law. A privileged person who goes to an independent school, has a comfortable home life, then goes to Oxford to study law, will not understand the majority of the clients they represent.
This is especially an ‘issue’ with judges. According to the Sutton Trust 75% of leading judges went to private school. There is also the other 'issue' of judicial diversity in the UK.
Thank you for your comment, Kate. I agree with what you say. Institutions like Oxford and Cambridge have moved too slowly towards more open access. This means that still too many of the people in positions of influence or power in the country have come from privileged backgrounds.
A few things here resonate with me, though I didn’t do law, was a student in the late 70s, and went to Cambridge. But at least my college also had a Bridge of Sighs.
I went to a grammar school, albeit a fairly posh one, and without even realising it I swiftly gravitated to others from a similar backgrounds as a friendship group.
Thanks, Jon. I found the atmosphere at Hertford to my liking - very few hooray Henrys and most s student were from comprehensives like me or grammar schools. Even so, the switch from small town Devon to the city atmosphere of Oxford was still a bit of a shock.
Oh Roy, gotta love a scruffy fellow, so unassuming in his knowledge. I’m intrigued to know how/why you jumped from law to English! (And grateful you did so I could cross paths with you here.:)
Wonderful story and Roy is just a great character. I find it interesting how we turn to fiction for entertainment when so often it is right before our eyes! It is obvious Roy left a lasting impact on you.
So interesting, Jeffrey, to hear more about your life. A handful of girls from my state convent school went to Oxford and Cambridge in 1972. I chose nursing, not a degree course at that time, but the vast majority of us had A levels.
Roy Stuart sounds such an interesting character. I imagine that maybe he would have actually enjoyed being arrested had it not been aborted !
I’m very keen to hear the next part of your story, Jeffrey, including your switch from Law to English.
As an aside on this essay: At the beginning of the obituary that I read, Julian Barnes is quoted from a book I missed _Arthur and George_. I love his work. My most recent read is _Levels of Life_. Have you read that one? Remarkable author who reminds me of you.
I don't know for sure if the law figures in C.P. Snow's _Two Cultures_, but you do for certain, Jeffrey. I so admire your words here and in every essay. I add this: I would never have found you without Substack. My thanks to this platform and to you, dear virtual friend and literary companion who reads my words with fervor and insight I would never have known without you.
English law's loss English Republic of Letters gain, I'd say.
🙂 Thanks, Jay. But who knows, maybe I'd be writing better argued and evidenced essays if I'd continued with the law?
Thank you, Michelle!
You ask a very good question. A small percentage of the population went to university in those days (my brothers and I were the first in our wider family). Funding from government covered the fees and accommodation and it wasn't hard to top up with summer work and some help from my parents. I left with no debt at all. My sons will spend decades paying off their university fees via what is (but never called as such) a graduate tax in England. At least they don't pay anything if their earnings drop below a certain level or they don't work.
So I feel lucky - privileged even - to have had no pressure on my at all when I left, in terms of paying off any debt.
Higher Education funding in the UK is now a mess. Students find the debt onerous and the universities are being starved of cash by caps on what they can charge. I'm not sure what the way forward is.
This description of Roy is just divine. And all the weaving of what it means to go off and study in a place that becomes your sanctuary and challenger at the same time....the gratitude one must feel even if you have done the work yourself to get there. Such a strange set of unexpected tensions and yet you succeed! Very interesting to read as my own students send off their applications (once again - for me). Very interesting to read about this part of your life, Jeffrey.
Thank you, Kate. Roy was pretty amazing and I came across his Times obituary quite by chance recently. That got me reflecting on my experience studying law with him.
I think most people worked hard to get in, but some were on a wider path, others on a narrower one.
I hope your students thrive, wherever they go.
Thank you for this warm but not airbrushed reflection Jeffrey. I often wonder what becomes of bright kids such as us in the current world. I snuck in on the end of mostly-free university education, emerging with only around $30k in HECS debt. Today I would have been saddled with so much debt and so little employment prospect as to put university out of reach... or to have kept me unhappily on the path to being a school teacher, which I quickly realised was not for me despite making financial sense (at the time). University opened up new possibilities for me for which I will always be grateful. I wish more young people had that space to explore without financially crippling themselves for the next twenty plus years.
I work in the study abroad office at my university. We send a couple of dozen students to Oxford every year. This was a delightful view into what (I hope!) they're experiencing there. <3
What an excellent piece of writing Jeffrey. I love the sound of your professor. I could almost see and hear him.
Thank you also for recording your pieces. You read very well and this will also be useful for subscribers with visual challenges.
I had never heard of the Tanner Scheme so thanks for educating me.
Every time I visit an art gallery or enjoy a music concert, I always have the thought ‘but where are the others…?’. The ‘others’ in my mind come from that great pool of talent and potential that exists in children and young people from challenging backgrounds who don’t receive the opportunities of their wealthier or more settled peers.
Thank you for those kind words! Roy was certainly a remarkable man. Yes, there is so much talent that goes undeveloped. It's so sad and feels like a waste. I guess we live in wasteful societies.
Thank you for writing about the Tanner Scheme. It was such an enlightened and sensible way to identify intelligent people who would not have made it through the usual Oxford University system. I am sad that it closed. As you point out, there is still a bias towards independently educated pupils.
I think it is especially important that disadvantaged kids are encouraged to study law. A privileged person who goes to an independent school, has a comfortable home life, then goes to Oxford to study law, will not understand the majority of the clients they represent.
This is especially an ‘issue’ with judges. According to the Sutton Trust 75% of leading judges went to private school. There is also the other 'issue' of judicial diversity in the UK.
Thank you for your comment, Kate. I agree with what you say. Institutions like Oxford and Cambridge have moved too slowly towards more open access. This means that still too many of the people in positions of influence or power in the country have come from privileged backgrounds.
A few things here resonate with me, though I didn’t do law, was a student in the late 70s, and went to Cambridge. But at least my college also had a Bridge of Sighs.
I went to a grammar school, albeit a fairly posh one, and without even realising it I swiftly gravitated to others from a similar backgrounds as a friendship group.
Thanks, Jon. I found the atmosphere at Hertford to my liking - very few hooray Henrys and most s student were from comprehensives like me or grammar schools. Even so, the switch from small town Devon to the city atmosphere of Oxford was still a bit of a shock.
Oh, that photo of the Bridge of Sighs made me, well, sigh. ;) That and the puddle. Gorgeous.
What a character Roy is!
Yes he really was. And I owe him a lot.
I should add, in all candour, that the puddle photo isn't mine. I think it came from the University.
Oh Roy, gotta love a scruffy fellow, so unassuming in his knowledge. I’m intrigued to know how/why you jumped from law to English! (And grateful you did so I could cross paths with you here.:)
Thank you, Kimberly. He barely published anything, as far as I know. He was the opposite of a public intellectual.
I'll get to the switch to English at some stage in my ramblings! 🙂
Wonderful to read about your experiences at Oxford, Jeffrey. It’s such a special place. And your tutor sounds brilliant - what a character! ✨
Thank you, James. Indeed he was.
Wonderful story and Roy is just a great character. I find it interesting how we turn to fiction for entertainment when so often it is right before our eyes! It is obvious Roy left a lasting impact on you.
Thank you, Matthew. Yes, I believe he did.
So interesting, Jeffrey, to hear more about your life. A handful of girls from my state convent school went to Oxford and Cambridge in 1972. I chose nursing, not a degree course at that time, but the vast majority of us had A levels.
Roy Stuart sounds such an interesting character. I imagine that maybe he would have actually enjoyed being arrested had it not been aborted !
I’m very keen to hear the next part of your story, Jeffrey, including your switch from Law to English.
Thank you, Maureen! Yes, one wonders what Roy would have said to the local police force if he'd actually been arrested!
I plan to write about what happened next at some stage. But my next post is likely to be something completely different.
Variety is the spice of life !
Nice story Jeffrey. The republic of letters is a better world to live in.
Thank you, Cecil! You're a very welcome visitor to the ERL.
As an aside on this essay: At the beginning of the obituary that I read, Julian Barnes is quoted from a book I missed _Arthur and George_. I love his work. My most recent read is _Levels of Life_. Have you read that one? Remarkable author who reminds me of you.
I don't know for sure if the law figures in C.P. Snow's _Two Cultures_, but you do for certain, Jeffrey. I so admire your words here and in every essay. I add this: I would never have found you without Substack. My thanks to this platform and to you, dear virtual friend and literary companion who reads my words with fervor and insight I would never have known without you.
Thank you, Mary. Right back at you! I cherish these comments almost as much as I cherish your wonderful fiction and memoir.