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Is potential "spotted" as Les Ebdon says or created?

The Director of the Office for Fair Access, Les Ebdon, seems to think potential university students can be "spotted" at the age of seven. I find such a view in such a senior public servant unutterable sad, if not worse.

In an interview published in yesterday's Sunday Times (£wall), it seems Les Ebdon has been saying that "universities must begin working with children as young as seven, especially those from poorer families, to 'spot their potential', track them as they grow up and prepare them for the challenges of being a university student". Apparently this includes children dressing up and playing 'mini-graduation ceremonies': "quite a few universities have a cupboard full mini gowns and mortar boards tucked away somewhere, because they have graduation ceremonies for young children after working with them in schools".  Liverpool University's scheme is called the "Professor Fluffy Project".

Asked "can you really spot at the age of seven whether a child is gifted enough to apply for Oxford or Cambridge?", Les Ebdon responds "Oooh, yes, especially in maths and things like that". 

"... and things like that". Professor Fluffy, indeed. Does this fellow have any hard evidence whatsoever that this stuff has any basis in any reality?

What this forcefully reminds me of is my first days at Grammar School in 1957. Boys whose "potential" at football, or cricket and athletics in summer, was "spotted" were given extra coaching. Those who weren't "spotted" did not get the extra coaching. Guess which boys from Year 2 to Year 6 went on to represent the school?

Football clubs still do it, of course. Scouring junior soccer leagues for "potential" and then signing children up for intensive coaching schemes. Few make it to playing for a Premier League team.

Personally, I find the idea that "potential" is somehow innate, waiting to be "spotted" in children just 7 years old (or younger, or older, take your pick), presumes an utterly negative view not just of education (of learning and teaching and upbringing) but of Humanity in general.  

 

Sometimes 'An Unexpected Ass-Kicking" is just what we need

Here's a cheering story about "potential" though the word isn't once used. So different from the view of potential as something that has to be "unlocked" or "untapped", as if potential is something we have inside ourselves: a view that has so debilitated the collective educational mind thoughout my professional lifetime.

There's much else but I particularly liked:

“That’s the problem with a lot of people”, he continued, “they don’t try to do stuff that’s never been done before, so they never do anything, but if they try to do it, they find out there’s lots of things they can do that have never been done before.”

Anyway, on a morning the weather is threatening torrential rain over Chatsworth House, where we are off to meet family, this story quite set me up for the day.

So here, for you to enjoy, too, and with thanks to the author, is Joe Runyin's account of his meeting with an elderly guy in cafe in Portland "An Unexpected Ass Kicking".

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Added later:

Although the word "potential" is not used in the article, it appears (inevitably?) in the Comments, such as that by Jana Burch on August 12 at 2.53pm who writes "Gifted students who are not challenged do not reach their potential."

Who's in charge – you or your brain? | Science | The Observer

The brain… it makes you think. Doesn't it?

Are we governed by unconscious processes? Neuroscience believes so – but isn't the human condition more complicated than that? Two experts offer different views. (From today's Observer)

Make up your own mind. Unless, of course, with you, that's an unconscious process.