|
|
|
Jeremy’s education started at Clapton Jewish Day School, in 1962. The school is now Simon Marks Jewish Day School, which has its own slightly scruffy web site. He took and passed the Eleven Plus exam in 1969. He has never seen most of his classmates again. He has no idea what became of most of them. If you were at primary school with him, drop him an email at [email protected].From 1969 until 1976 he was at Ilford County High School for Boys in Barkingside, Essex. He passed O Level Maths in 1973, and O Level English Language, English Literature, Economics, History, Geography, Chemistry, and Physics in 1974. In 1979 he passed A Levels in Economics (A), History (A), and English Literature (C). English Literature was a bit of a mistake really - if he'd done Government and Politics he would have got three As. In 1976 he went to the University of Sussex to study Development Psychology with Cognitive Studies, 'minor' programme incorporating Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics and Philosophy of Mind. He graduated in 1979 with an Upper Second. It was very nearly a First; he had a viva examination for a first, but the examiner decided not to give it to him. It still rankles a bit. The examiner had a very red face and looked decidedly hung over, which seemed a bit unfair. After a year more or less wasted he went to the University of Manchester in 1981, where he took an MSc in Structure and Organisation of Science and Technology in what was then the Department of Liberal Studies in Science. Part of the reason why he took this course rather than a masters’ degree in Psychology was that there was funding available, from a joint committee of the Science Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council; but it was a good decision anyway. The teachers were mainly very good, and the course material very well designed. He wrote a thesis called Detecting the Hypersusceptible Worker; Pharmacogenetics and Politics in Industrial Medicine, about the idea that some people became ill from occupational hazards because they were genetically predisposed to, rather than because their workplaces were not ‘objectively’ safe. In retrospect this has turned out to be an even bigger and more significant issue than it seemed at the time. He stayed in the same department, now renamed the Department of Science and Technology Policy for a PhD thesis, entitled: The XYY Chromosome Controversy; the (mis)Management of an Ethical Crisis in Medical Research. The thesis was completed in late 1983, taking less than three years to research and write. It was submitted in December 1983, within hours of the University offices closing for the Xmas and the New Year. At the time it seemed important to get 1983 on the spine. He plans to put first the abstracts, and perhaps then the full texts, of both theses on this web site. That way maybe someone will read them one day. |