Education: JQ STEM at TT and School in the 1950's

This is https://jim-quinn0.blogspot.com/ Education

also https://jim-quinn.blogspot.com/ World stories

and https://jim-quinn51.blogspot.com/ the Great Depression +

and https://jim-quinn3.blogspot.com/ Black History and Spades

see also https://jim-quinn4.blogspot.com/ CV...... well, a bit

and more....

I want to show this, for young Abigail worked hard at that A , partially deafblind as she is: we all have to start somewhere, and maybe she is a little older than some, but......I love that

I would like to say that Abigail was born with a particular biology set, that is her deaf-blindness, but there is a range of biology, from her through average people to those like Paula Ratcliffe who is better at The Marathon than anybody else in the world, including Sebastian Coe, a short distance champion.

That is easy to visualise, but how about the ability to investigate? Abigail very poor at that obviously because she cannot read "faster than a crawl", while the average person is just.... average, but there are others who can see or perceive things others cannot - way beyond the average person, for example in accident investigations - and their ability ranges from good to "not so good"!

04dec2025 There are 650 MP in UK Parliament, and 4,515 Candidates :
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/who-stood-in-the-2024-general-election/

4,515 divided by 30 million adults = 0.015% of the Population. The Rest do not stand, because of the ugly backstabbing aggression shown!! And JimQ will not stand either, for he Thinks at The Solutions Level, not the database collection level of MP.

Politicians are just average generally, but being elected they seem to think they are the Tops? It seems so for they rarely consult nor understand others. Tony Wedgewood Benn once said that everybody has the chance to join in debates, as he won an argument in Parliament, but cared not for the criticism afterwards, who he said should have taken part in the debate then! Debates in Parliament are short term affairs, and the longer term often ignored, for unfortunately politicians on average do not think in depth much at all......

Politicians win elections for they are glib talkers, not because they are more astute, more understanding, or more intelligent than others. Just because you can talk easily, does NOT mean that you are clever!! On the contrary, the evidence is directly the opposite!! Tony Blair sounded good at hustings, but he was appalling at Education - he made exams too easy, resulting in huge numbers of people applying for jobs they cannot do, making the business overwhelmed with applicant numbers, and who want people who could compete at international level for exports - poor products lose business!

Stronger exams actually define the successful as the top person business may Actually want - instead of not knowing who to choose from so many who all have the same (easy) qualification, Mr Blair! And business also has jobs for many "lower exam mark" abilities - who will fit more understandably and quickly into business at the level appropriate. In other words the range of exam results will be a better fit to the range of jobs available, while all with the same exam mark...... who knows who to employ?

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I started motorcycle riding on a Tiger Cub in December 1958 when I became 16, and I did not have a car until about 1963. I bought a Stanley Schofield 33 rpm vinyl in 1960, to hear John Surtees (1934-2017) on his MV Agusta four's winning so much particularly his 1959 rainstorm win frozen comment, BUT also the BIRTH of Honda in competition

- and the future bankruptcy of the British Motor Industry, which never invested to improve reliability and lost them so many sales as the Japanese arrived big time.......those lightweight 250 Honda fours sound beautiful in Bob McIntyre's hands ! Bob (1928-62 unfortunately) was the first to lap the island at over 100 mph in 1957 (101.12 best lap) on a Gilera 500 four as can be heard, and on one of those Honda 250 four's in 1961, a 99.58 mph lap! The Jap's were really coming now......The British singles (Manx Norton, AJS 7R, Matchless G50) all sound a great deep throated roar, but lack power, and never invested.....

The vinyl and later others were re-recorded for this CD, but it was 1995 before Philip and I visited the island for the first time - not enough cash unfortunately - but witnessing such high speed going down Bray Hill, flatout, to Ago's leap! Wow - Tornado pilots!

Changed now: European Multi's dominate in the World Superbike Championship - Honda's best in Races 1 and 2 in Aragon, was 6th and 8th respectively, on 29sept2024: https://www.worldsbk.com/en/results%20statistics

Erith Technical School, Kent, England, UK

1958 O levels

Maths, Physics, Mechanics, Technical Drawing, Metalwork, English. I dropped Chemistry, History and Geography early on.

and

1959 Additional Maths

and

1960 A levels

Physics, Applied Maths, Pure Maths - I have copies of them from the Oxford University Library, and now all here published below,

and they are more difficult than today's politician Easy Graded A levels - they wanted more people to pass, and did not want to spend money on improving beyond good teaching!

My Nelson and Parker A level Physics book was dated 1958 I think, and this is a 1962 reprint, so surely the same content as I studied at school :

It seems that Physics in the 21st Century has now become all about nuclear physics, for I hear that schools now teach about Quarks - for NO REASON at all, since only 0.00001% of the population EVER get to be so involved!! And, time spent on that displaces the NEEDED knowledge that I studied, for STILL relevant practical reasons! :

A level Physics book - M Nelkon and P Parker - 1958 reprinted 1962: