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When Gurdon's award was announced, much was made in the media of a report he had received from his biology teacher when he was at Eton.35 The report referred to a disastrous half [a term], and to a score of 2 marks out of 50 for a piece of prepared work, with the comment that “on his present showing” his “ideas about becoming a scientist” are “quite ridiculous” — “he will not listen, but insists on doing his work in his own way”. Well, when I was briefly a biology teacher at Eton in 1972 (in a one-term exchange agreement with Dr David Harrison, who, in return, taught my students at UEA), I had to write a personal report on each of the students in my classes, every two weeks. It was not acceptable to say generalised things, such as “working well” or “must try harder”, as the boys’ tutors looked for tailored comments and signs of improvement. I therefore put a series of comments, such as “he is struggling to comprehend the most basic concepts” in the first report, followed by “there are encouraging signs that he may be getting the point”, then “his latest test results were almost impressive”, and, finally, “he can look back on this half with satisfaction, and I think he now has a sound basis for success in the future”. If a boy did as badly as Gurdon was said to have done, I would have wondered about the quality of my teaching, but also whether there was something special about him that deserved to be recognised and subtly encouraged. There clearly was in Gurdon's case! I taught, among others, a GCE class of 21 boys, and was told that only about 10 of them were expected to pass. I told the boys that I wouldn't accept failure, and 20 of them passed. The one who failed probably ignored my advice that the way to pass was not to be too clever, but to give straightforward answers of the kind the examiners would find it easy to mark. Perhaps he was another Gurdon, who was simply unwilling to think in a conventional way…
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36.
When we look back at events that took place as many as 50 years ago, there is a danger that our memories will be selective or that what happened was somewhat different from the memories we have today. After I had finished this Comment, I found that I was able to draw some comfort from a wonderful interview with John Gurdon, which is available as a video and as a transcript.37 It illustrates how unexpected happenings have profound effects on our lives, as well as showing how this particular pink diamond was discovered, cut and polished into the scientist who is so widely revered today.
37.
Anon. (2008). John Gurdon interviewed by Alan Mac-farlane 20th August 2008. University of Cambridge, Video & Audio, Collections, Film Interviews with Leading Thinkers, John Gurdon.Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge. Available at: http://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1119934 (Accessed 27.10.12).
