Always an Empiricist 2026 2 2
When as a child in my 2nd class school, i.e. the local Junior Technical School, after the 1st class High and Grammar Schools, each of which required passes in the 11 plus examinations, the 3rd class being schools wherein none of the pupils got to pass these entry examinations, not even aged 13 getting into the local "Tech"
Getting into the latter meant getting on the first rung of the ladder marked "Get yourself a trade in your hands young man!"
One stream coaching one intake how to lay bricks for example, the more academically gifted (?) stream the one I was put into, in which we instead got the subjects Woodwork, Practical Drawing and Metalwork for example, 3 half days a week, with Mathematics, Science (embracing Chemistry and Physics), Geography, English and History taking care of the rest: no more Music nor French of the 3rd class school, coz getting a trade didn't require the humanity subjects so much.
Since I went from sharing the bottom two places of my class, aged 10 or 11, with my playmate Brian to the top of my class in the second term at the trade school, and subsequently getting the prize Book, awarded to the best pupil in Metalwork one year, including the making of a wrought iron stool, comprising 4 strips of metal, the ends of which had been made into figure "6's" but on each strip the 6's were back to back and fixed to their patner strips upside down in two of the cases, when each pair provided 2 lots of legs separated by two further strips of metal in the same dimensions of thickness and width of bar: the whole arrangement resembling a collection of 4 springs, the upper 4 sixes then supporting the wooden seat, with counter sunk holes to locate the retaining nuts below the bolts, so that the horizal disposed surface seat possessed no protrusions.
That is nice to be able to do something of a practical nature in Metal Work: the Towel Rail I made in Woodwork, a non-entity compared to the Oak Coffee Table, my brother made, which is still sitting in his Sitting Room, whilst my Deal Towel Rail fell off the wall many moons ago.
Now the punch line: when the school offered a third year as an experiment so they could compete with the High School and Grammar School kids, aged 16, for the coveted GCE (General Certificate of Education) O-level examinations, I first opted to be selected before giving back word to count me out. Thereafter studying for GCE A-level as the required entrance to University eg 9 x O-level subjects and 3 A-level (the University selection process looking into which school offered the particlar pupil, together with how successful the student's answers were of course. So I left school aged 15, got a job in a Paper Mill Laboratory, starting of course on the bottom rung of that particular ladder: when the Employer was obliged to send me to Part-time Day-release courses in my chosen profession... When I got to ditch all those subjects like Practical Drawing, Metalwork and Woodwork, I would not be pursiung a career in, as disinterested in.
Giving my Mam my wage packet of £3 16s 2d a week and getting 10s pocket money in return, to finance whatever I chose to buy (Racing tyres for my road bike cycle for example) when the boys that stayed on to get their GCE O-level exams took years to catch me, in higher years of the Part-time Day release courses of O.N.C and H.N.C Chemistry courses, the first a 3 year course, the second 2 years. And when I collected all the other subjects, like Advanced Mathematics and Physics, together with other odd subjects, in my case O-levl Geography and English Language, to gain eventual University Entrance, as a mature student in my late 20's.
No longer wasting any time on Secondary School studies but always gainfully employed from the financial standpoit, and the standpoint of an Empiricist's Perspective of never learning anything more, just for its own sake, but on the contrary to advance my career.
To further explain my point take my first job in industry 1) taking samples every morning of Boiler Water; 2) Titrating these with eg acid or alkali reagents, etc., to determine alkalinity or acidity or water hardnes, temporary and permnent; 3 ) then returning to the Boiler House to treat these sources of water with the requisite chemicals to change their characteristics until they were suitable for producing super-heated steam to drive the steam turbine and generate electicity to run the Paper Machines, with Drying Cylinders pre-heated also with Steam; Calgon sodium hexametaphosphate water softener, Sodium sulphite as oxygen scavenger, etc., etc., etc.,
One hit for this blog will tell me the reader appreciates my efforts: two hits if he or she sees the "Empiricism" to which I refer???
Getting into the latter meant getting on the first rung of the ladder marked "Get yourself a trade in your hands young man!"
One stream coaching one intake how to lay bricks for example, the more academically gifted (?) stream the one I was put into, in which we instead got the subjects Woodwork, Practical Drawing and Metalwork for example, 3 half days a week, with Mathematics, Science (embracing Chemistry and Physics), Geography, English and History taking care of the rest: no more Music nor French of the 3rd class school, coz getting a trade didn't require the humanity subjects so much.
Since I went from sharing the bottom two places of my class, aged 10 or 11, with my playmate Brian to the top of my class in the second term at the trade school, and subsequently getting the prize Book, awarded to the best pupil in Metalwork one year, including the making of a wrought iron stool, comprising 4 strips of metal, the ends of which had been made into figure "6's" but on each strip the 6's were back to back and fixed to their patner strips upside down in two of the cases, when each pair provided 2 lots of legs separated by two further strips of metal in the same dimensions of thickness and width of bar: the whole arrangement resembling a collection of 4 springs, the upper 4 sixes then supporting the wooden seat, with counter sunk holes to locate the retaining nuts below the bolts, so that the horizal disposed surface seat possessed no protrusions.
That is nice to be able to do something of a practical nature in Metal Work: the Towel Rail I made in Woodwork, a non-entity compared to the Oak Coffee Table, my brother made, which is still sitting in his Sitting Room, whilst my Deal Towel Rail fell off the wall many moons ago.
Now the punch line: when the school offered a third year as an experiment so they could compete with the High School and Grammar School kids, aged 16, for the coveted GCE (General Certificate of Education) O-level examinations, I first opted to be selected before giving back word to count me out. Thereafter studying for GCE A-level as the required entrance to University eg 9 x O-level subjects and 3 A-level (the University selection process looking into which school offered the particlar pupil, together with how successful the student's answers were of course. So I left school aged 15, got a job in a Paper Mill Laboratory, starting of course on the bottom rung of that particular ladder: when the Employer was obliged to send me to Part-time Day-release courses in my chosen profession... When I got to ditch all those subjects like Practical Drawing, Metalwork and Woodwork, I would not be pursiung a career in, as disinterested in.
Giving my Mam my wage packet of £3 16s 2d a week and getting 10s pocket money in return, to finance whatever I chose to buy (Racing tyres for my road bike cycle for example) when the boys that stayed on to get their GCE O-level exams took years to catch me, in higher years of the Part-time Day release courses of O.N.C and H.N.C Chemistry courses, the first a 3 year course, the second 2 years. And when I collected all the other subjects, like Advanced Mathematics and Physics, together with other odd subjects, in my case O-levl Geography and English Language, to gain eventual University Entrance, as a mature student in my late 20's.
No longer wasting any time on Secondary School studies but always gainfully employed from the financial standpoit, and the standpoint of an Empiricist's Perspective of never learning anything more, just for its own sake, but on the contrary to advance my career.
To further explain my point take my first job in industry 1) taking samples every morning of Boiler Water; 2) Titrating these with eg acid or alkali reagents, etc., to determine alkalinity or acidity or water hardnes, temporary and permnent; 3 ) then returning to the Boiler House to treat these sources of water with the requisite chemicals to change their characteristics until they were suitable for producing super-heated steam to drive the steam turbine and generate electicity to run the Paper Machines, with Drying Cylinders pre-heated also with Steam; Calgon sodium hexametaphosphate water softener, Sodium sulphite as oxygen scavenger, etc., etc., etc.,
One hit for this blog will tell me the reader appreciates my efforts: two hits if he or she sees the "Empiricism" to which I refer???
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