Today’s lesson: don’t tell schoolchildren what they’re good at. Sir John Gurdon has just been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. In 2006, he gave a revealing interview at the University of California, Berkeley that discussed epic fails in his education – fails that the Conservative party would do well to take into account when they discuss schools at this week’s conference.
Despite a clear interest in science – as a child he grew thousands of moths from caterpillars, which greatly annoyed his biology teacher – Gurdon was told that he wasn’t suited to the subject. “I have this rather amazing report which, roughly speaking, says I was the worst student the biology master had ever taught,” he says. The report went on to say, “I believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous.”
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