At the age of 10 Gordon Brown became, in his own words, a guinea-pig. On the
basis of an IQ test, he was plucked from his primary school in Fife to join
a select group of intellectually gifted children at Kirkcaldy High School,
one of the best secondary schools in Scotland.
For the next six years, the young Brown and 35 fellow members of the so-called
E-stream (standing for early) were nurtured in an academic hothouse, taught
in separate classes, expected to excel despite being one or two years
younger than their peers, and rigorously prepared for university.
Some thrived on the pressure. Some floundered. A few suffered. Mr Brown was
the most precocious product of the E-stream, sailing on to Edinburgh at the
age of 16 and then becoming the youngest ever rector of that university. Yet
he loathed and resented what he described as a ludicrous experiment on young
lives.
Much has been written about the Scottish roots of this “son of the manse” with
“psychological flaws”, according to his enemies, and a granite sense of
purpose, according to his friends. Yet little attention has been paid to
this crucial aspect of his childhood, the years he spent being fast-tracked
through school as part of an artificial intellectual elite.
The experiment was abandoned in 1967 but may have marked Mr Brown in various
ways. He will be the most avowedly intellectual Prime Minister since
Churchill, an avid reader and writer who declared this week: “Education is
my passion.” Yet his past as a child prodigy, selected for greatness and
schooled to be special, may also explain the weight of expectation and the
sense of entitlement that surround him, and what some see as a controlling
personality and an intensely serious cast of mind.
The Old Etonian David Cameron is often seen as a product of a very particular
sort of education, but the old school influence may weigh just as heavily on
Mr Brown. Transferred to the E-stream, leapfrogging two years, he was
expected to take control of his academic life at a time when most
schoolchildren are still mastering joined-up writing. By 12 he was
specialising in history; by 14, he was taking his School Leaving
Certificate.
The E-Stream project was the invention of Douglas Mackintosh, the chief
education officer of Fife County Council, as a way of pushing more state
school students on to university. Pupils with an IQ above 130 were informed
that they were being moved to secondary school a year early, and not just
any secondary school. Kirkcaldy High School celebrates its 425th birthday
next month (Mr Brown, inevitably, will unveil a plaque), and there are few
schools in the country with a more impressive academic record. Its alumni
include the economist Adam Smith and the architect Robert Adam. Thomas
Carlyle was once a teacher. Even the school motto seems to echo Mr Brown’s
driven personality: Usque Conabor, always strive hard.
“You have to understand that Fife is education-crazy,” Bruce Durie, a former
E-stream pupil who is now academic director of genealogical studies at the
University of Strathclyde, said. “The place is geared to the idea that you
go and get an education and you make something of yourself.”
Judith Kerr is another product of the experiment, but one with a unique
vantage point: like Brown, she went to university at 16; as an adult she
returned to the school and joined the staff; today she is deputy head
teacher at Kirkcaldy High. The school, housed in modern buildings on the
edge of Kirkcaldy, has been refurbished since Mr Brown’s day. Ms Kerr, a
bustling, bright-eyed woman, points out the wooden plaque where Gordon
Brown’s name is carved as “Dux” of 1967, the school’s highest academic
achiever. “He was 10 when he came to the school, while everyone else was
12,” she said. “For some that was fine, but for others, who did not have the
emotional maturity, it was the worst thing. Out of the 40 in my year, at
least two tried to commit suicide.”
Perhaps the most damning verdict of all on the pioneering project comes from
Mr Brown himself. Today, given the controversy over streaming, he is
reticent about the E-stream experiment, but at the age of 16 he wrote an
essay condemning the “educationalist in his ivory tower” who had dreamt up
such an inequitable, high-pressure way to educate a minority of children.
The typewritten essay is extraordinary for its articulacy and its bitterness.
“I was a guinea-pig,” he wrote in May 1967. “The victim of a totally
unsighted and ludicrous experiment in education, the result of which was to
harm materially and mentally the guinea-pigs.”
He did not detail the damage that he felt the accelerated learning had done to
him, but noted that as a teenager he had “more problems than I had years . .
. I watched each year as one or two of my friends would fail under the
strain. I saw one girl who every now and then would disappear for a while
with a nervous breakdown.
“I was lucky and passed, but many of my friends met with dismal failure,
despair and a sense of uselessness. I cannot emphasise too much the
demoralisation I saw in some of those guinea-pigs.”
Mr Brown’s view of E-stream is echoed by others who experienced it. “Some
people thrived but others found it pretty difficult: if they didn’t keep up
they felt like failures,” said Bill Laing, a Microsoft executive in Seattle
who was in the E-stream two years behind Mr Brown. “I don’t think it did me
much harm, except that I probably went to university too early.”
There were other high-achievers: Val McDermid, a year below Mr Brown, is now a
highly successful novelist; Murray Elder, now Lord Elder, was Mr Brown’s
contemporary in the E-stream and remains one of his closest advisers; John
Millar runs a computer and IT company in England.
Others, however, say that they still bear the scars, and years later some
still feel a sense of inadequacy. Naturally, the success stories are happier
to relate their experiences than those who struggled. One former E-stream
pupil agreed to be quoted on condition of anonymity. “I think it really
damaged me,” she said. “I never felt up to the others, and I dropped out of
college because I was too immature and really homesick. It took me a long
time to feel confident. Even now, I still don’t want the people I was at
school with to know how I felt.”
Almost every E-stream product seems to agree that their school experience was
profound, enduring and very different from that of their contemporaries.
Unlike other streaming systems, the E-groups were not picked out because of
an aptitude in a particular subject, but because they were intended to excel
across the board. Separated from their own age group, but expected to
compete with their elders, they were made to feel special, and
self-conscious. Ms Kerr said: “You had to try that much harder. I am not
sure being told we were clever was good for us.”
Another point of agreement is that, even among a select group, Mr Brown stood
out for his academic prowess, without being remembered as a swot.
“He wasn’t just a bookworm,” Bruce Durie said. “He sold programmes at the
football. He was socialised, if you know what I mean.”
The young Gordon was in the first batch of E-stream boys and girls. A year
after he left school, the E-stream experiment was abandoned, for reasons
that remain obscure because a fire at Fife council destroyed official
records. The introduction of comprehensive education in Scotland was
undoubtedly a contributing factor.
Today the E-stream project is just a conflicting memory for a small group of
middle-aged Scottish men and women, but as a controversial experiment in
educational engineering it perhaps lives on in the man who will soon be
Prime Minister: competitive, driven, sober, intellectual, occasionally
awkward and marked out from boyhood as exceptional. Mr Brown proved to be
the most successful guinea-pig but also, to judge from his own assessment in
1967, the angriest.
“Mistakes made with materials are revocable,” he wrote. “Mistakes made with
people cannot be altered.”
Learning lessons of alternative schools
— At Summerhill School in Suffolk, all lessons are optional, and
pupils are free to choose what to do with their time. The coeducational
boarding school is the original alternative “free” school and was founded in
1921 by A.S. Neill. School rules are made by majority vote in meetings in
which pupils and staff have equal votes
— The first bilingual state primary school in England opened last year. Pupils
at the Wix Primary School in southwest London, are taught in English
half the time and in French for the remainder. Wandsworth Council has backed
the initiative, which has also drawn support from the British and French
Governments
— Pupils at St Thomas Aquinas' Roman Catholic High School in
Chorlton, near Manchester, are to receive the same teacher for every lesson,
every day, up to the age of 14. Specialists will be brought in only for
science, languages, design and PE. The move to replicate the primary-school
style of teaching is intended to help pupils to adapt to secondary school
and to help to improve poor results
Intelligence is of prime importance,bring back the 11 plus and Grammar schools,and,make better use of the more clever,in the community.
derek bevan, huntingdon/cambs, England/UK
His brain must have atrophied since then.
Frank Leader, Bournemouth, England
The brown stuff is not the only minister whose deep psychological flaws are presented in their adult lives and have a profound influence upon all those affected by their damaged personalities.
The principle of treating people as LabRats in cruel social experiments has been used by nulabor for more than ten years. Whole communities have had their heart ripped out of them. What were once socially thriving and dynamic close-knit neighbourhoods, such as Lowedges, Sheffield, have been devastated. The failed experiments were falsely touted as successes, and the social destruction rolled out nationally. At the heart of all this was a nulabor elite, which, as an integral player, the brown stuff took an enthusiastic lead.
martin brighton, sheffield,
Very interesting article, providing some real insight into our sometimes reticent PM. Personally i have a certain sympathy for his position - but i'm also sure he recognises the benifts of his "streamlined" education. One thing however does annoy me - this obsession with IQ tests....and i notice that many respondents have happily put there IQ scores in their comments. What a load of nonsense...all it does is tell you you can do well at an IQ test on that day and little else. The real measure of your intelligence is what you actually achieve. I know plenty of people with IQ's measured at >130 who struggle with basic maths and barely understand Paradise Lost. I personally have scored very highly and quite poorly on IQ tests, which rather proves my point. But i think the couple of degrees I have in theoretical physics are more important. Selectivity is not in itself wrong - it should be done however, with more appropriate tests...e.g. English and maths and problem solving
Vaseem, London, UK
To those who seem to believe that Gordon Brown should be thankful for his education: it seems hard to believe that anyone needs the kind of pressure that leads to children having nervous breakdowns or attempting suicide to be succesful.
And Amir, I suspect that Brown would have qualified two years later with similar results, just as intelligent, happier, and pursued a similar career. Why does everyone think in black ad white all the time? Yes, we don't want children doing nothing, but if the top of the class felt that the pace was almost unbearable it may well have been.
Stan, Liverpool,
Hang on here! As someone from across the pond who went to one of these unique private (US sense) schools, I can deeply sympathise with Gordon Brown's feelings that he was not allowed to mature at his own pace. I'm talking the late 50s- early 60s here.We also were "hothoused" and as my class wasn't filled with as many bright , articulate able spellers as they'd have liked, I was put in an advanced English class in 11th grade. This was not followed through in the 12th, so at Uni I had to repeat English 101.
People said I had a very high IQ, but I was always punished by not being a good speller, good at maths and yet I learned because I passionately wanted to. They didn't recognise different forms of intelligence back then: my step-father's children were all "academic". They were Jewish refugees: they had to be. My mother (mistakenly) would compare me with them. Of course I was found wanting.
A lot of my friends were and are very late bloomers. It's a wonder we blossomed at all!
Carlyle Braden, Croydon, UK
I hear that Jenny. Going to an inner-city with an IQ of 154 was far from pain-free. In the irony of life, it was while playing truent that I joined Mensa. But high IQs are not an uncommon circumstance. About 1% of the population has an IQ of 155 and IQs over 130 are more common. This means that, in a council district of several thousand students, We are not talking of 'special classes' but 'special schools' worth immense potential. I do nonetheless understand the psychological damage that can occur on young minds, when they are expected to be brilliant. Equally, there is also psychological damage that occurs when children's talents are left un-nurtured by failing mainstream education. But one must wonder, would Brown have been as succesful as he is, without the environment he was educated in? I wonder, will Jenny be next PM? ;)
Amir Akhrif, London,
For goodness sake. All this whining and whingeing over what was actually a privileged education. Brown would have something to feel sorry about if he had had no education at all like millions of the world's deprived children!
Lulu, Bangkok, Thailand, Thailand
From the article
"Others, however, say that they still bear the scars, and years later some still feel a sense of inadequacy."
From Edward in comments
Having endured comprehensive education with an IQ of over 140 ...
It seems we *all* have issues with our school days.
School fails us - all of us.
Why?
I have a hunch it is to do with our peers.
I remember the wonderful feeling of control over my own life on leaving school.
Jenny, London,
At age 16, Brown condemned "the educationalist in his ivory tower",
For the last ten years, as chancellor, Brown has paid the wages of many thousands of such educationalists around the country. Between them, they have effectively inflicted 'hot house' pressure on almost every pupil and teacher in the land as schools chased SATs test results, league table positions and inspection passes.
And what has been achieved from this pressure?
Absolutely nothing.
MarkS, Leeds,
Clearly it's horses for courses, I started grammar school in 1947, but as my birthday is 17 of August I was only just in the school year. My personal academic glory in my class was limited, by the standard of the times. However my father opened a small garage business in 1946, and by age 10 I was able to build a 4 stroke motorcycle engine, [ something the headmaster couldn't do]. And at 15 due to my very wide range of book reading, managed to win the school general knowledge prize at 15, the youngest it was ever won. I think I had a lot more fun than Mr Brown too.
David Vinter, Louth, Lincs,, UK.
Having endured comprehensive education with an IQ of over 140 and many teachers who either took the attitude of it doesn't matter you'll do ok no matter what or of open resentment all I can say is "Ah - Diddums", poor ickle wickle mr brown.
Edward Andrew Green, Upminster, England
I do feel sorry for all those pampered high achievers. I am sure they would have felt much more "adequate"if they had gone to our local comprehensive - where my next door neighbours daughter was burned with a cigarette by her fellow pupils for daring to say she wanted to take A levels. At aged six,my son was in a class for nine and ten year olds, and happy as a sandboy. It is all down to how well and sensitively the teacher manages the class, and how happy and confident the child is...and that can be down to nature and nurture as much as the school. If he had felt at all pressured or unhappy I would have asked for him to be put back a few years, and found a way, with the help of the school, to make sure he did not see it as a "demotion".
Jean, Wirral, UK
So which is worse, ordinary children being held back by others in the class who don't have English as their first language ? or being hot housed as Brown was ?
Or those of us who have a high IQ who also feel angry because we didn't get the chance of special attention ? who now know could have done so much better if only the teachers had , A, been bothered to notice , or B, didn't have such large numbers in class.
It was always clear Brown had a chip on his shoulder , it shows in his face, maybe this is it.
Maggie, Brittany , France
Anger at an obviously distressing educational process is not a justification for a wholesale dismissal of a justifiable desire for his own country to prosper. Self flagellation should be private and not a self-righteous vendetta against the legitimate aspirations of Scotland.
Is he so self-deluded that he believes he is following in the footsteps of James V1, who suffered a similar fate, and ran off to England for a better paying job? (There never was, by the way a "Union" of the crowns).
John Simon, Edmonton, Canada
Am I prepared to trust Gordon Brown? Absolutely not!
I cannot think of anything good to say about his attitude and his way of working, so I will say now't. Roll on the next General Election!
Judy Porter, Aylesbury,
Being 'put up' a year wasn't particularly unusual in Gordon Brown's (and my) generation. Schools like Winchester routinely had a bright set who took public exams a year early. In my case, at Christ's Hospital, half a dozen of us were put into the year above our age group. I think it probably caused us significant social problems - perhaps we were resented by the other girls. Despite very substantial financial and other successes in life, I still feel driven and dissatisfied. I am puzzled as to why it was considered a good idea.
kate, oxford,
I had the misfortune to go to a secondary school in Scotland that had just been made 'comprehensive'. The Labour Government of the mid 1960s were responsible. However, I was very lucky to be taught by teachers who decided to ignore the government of the day and teach in the tried, tested and successful methods of the golden pre-comprehensive age. The belt was used, we learned a lot by rote and the classes were streamed. I look back fondly on my schooldays now and thank every teacher who belted me, told me to 'pull my socks up' and made sure that I left school with a reliable moral compass as well as a thorough education.
Angus McFarlane, Bucharest, Romania
I too was moved up a year in school and couldn't cope with the consequence. I have no confidence even now 40 years later. No apologies though, just less of a life than there should have been. I also feel very bitter about my experience and if I were able I would sue those responsible. Unfortunately one or two human sacrifices don't matter. Brown of all people then, should understand the importance of allowing ALL of our children to contribute to society and to feel confident that they have something valuable to offer. Experimentation often does not work.
judy, Liverpool, england
There is an irony here. Gordon Brown understandably and rightly resented being the victim of someone else's well-intentioned but utterly misguided state-sanctioned social engineering. Yet he is so intent on his own forms of state sanctioned social engineering. Of course the difference, from his perspective, is that they were wrong and he is right. That is scant comfort to the rest of us.
Richard, Leyburn,
Can I just point out we teach joined up handwriting to seven year olds in our inner city primary school. Most 'master it' in a year. A strange, pessimistic piece of journalism, particularly from a paper that usually expouses educational choice and selection
Neil, Wirral,