OXBRIDGE TRIP

On 9th March the Oxbridge trip took place. The long journey was well worth it with the stunning Oxford town hall. Here, the lectures were taking place. The first of which was held by Julie Arliss, a lecturer at Kings College who works closely with Oxford and Exeter Universities. Having spoken to the rest of the girls, her lecture on justice, truth and beauty was particularly well received. She addressed theories of beauty, justice and truth, and used both ancient and contemporary examples to explore the complexity of our judgements and the difficulties of living in a society where beauty has become almost an ethical ideal. With an enthusiastic round of applause she gave a very useful and relevant lecture on the Oxbridge interviews, in which the key notes were: read, read and read a bit more and, how showing how you think is key among other things.

A quick trip to the café down the road and then the next lecture held by Dr Christopher O’Neill begun. Dr O’Neill is a psychologist who leads the MYRIAD research project at Oxford University. His talk was on the psychology of outstanding achievement. He discussed the myths and truths surrounding the secrets behind success. His advice encouraged us to move past our fixed mind-sets and to push on to a path of success, determination and hard work. After this, both Julie Arliss and Dr O’Neill opened the hall to a debate with the statement: ‘This house believes that it isn’t ok to make comments about other people’s bodies.’ Having been presented with two contrasting arguments the students were given the opportunity to take the microphone and offer their thoughts and opinions.

There was a vast number who took part, with a massively ranging set of opinions. After the debate was concluded Julie Arliss proposed the question to the hall for a final vote. Ultimately the large majority voted against the statement, and thus, the consensus was that commenting on people’s bodies is ok but with the addition from the crowd that the comments must be handled with care and good intentions. After this, we returned to the café for lunch before the final part of the day: Dr Mark Lewney who described himself as a cross between Hendrix and Einstein. With an explanation of the physics of the guitar he made many demonstrations of its musical versatility and with that we left for home. It was really inspiring to have so many young people congregated with the purpose of learning more and wanting to engage in more obscure areas of thought. It was a hugely interesting seminar with a bit for everyone, and we are all looking forward to the next Oxbridge event!