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The Lowe Down: Self-Reliance, Wymondham Sixth Form, and Jane Eyre

Freddy Lowe Published: 01 October 2024

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Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine in 'Jane Eyre'
Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine in 'Jane Eyre' (1943).. Photo credit: "Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine, 1944 ''Jane Eyre'' movie still" by Movie-Fan is licensed under CC BY-N

In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, one paragraph about halfway through is arguably the best of the entire novel. Context: Young Jane is brought up by her terrible, proto-Petunia-Dursley aunt, leaves home, becomes very competent, and then returns home to her aunt to tend to her as she is dying. (Brontë characters abide very strongly by their Christian duty, regardless of their feelings on the matter.)

Whilst there, Jane gets talking to her useless cousin, Georgiana. Georgiana lives a depressing life of idleness and insecurity. Jane gives her some tough love:

“Take one day; share it into sections; to each section apportion its task; leave no stray unemployed quarters of an hour, ten minutes, five minutes. …The day will close almost before you are aware it has begun; and you are indebted to no one for helping you to get rid of one vacant moment: you have had to seek no one’s company, conversation, sympathy, forbearance: you have lived, in short, as an independent being ought to do.”

All I can say is – that passage is never more relevant once you’re at university!

At the time of publication, Wymondham Sixth Formers have started their new school year. Lower Sixth students, in particular – new to it all after GCSEs – will have no shortage of Brontë-esque tasks to fill their day. I know from experience that it can get overwhelming at times. Nevertheless, in school, you have the privilege of being surrounded by people constantly. My flatmate and I discussed how odd it was to think that, just a few years ago, we were forced to sit in rooms of 30 people at a time five days a week for hours. This doesn’t always feel like a privilege, but it does have benefits. Another benefit is a more constant cycle of feedback that comes from more exposure to teachers.

By contrast, as I enter my Honours years, I’m more aware than ever of the university system’s insularity, particularly for Humanities students. Most of one’s work is behind closed doors. One spends a lot of time inside one’s head. This makes sense because the focus – especially with English Literature – is on developing your critical voice, your ideas, your theories, etc. It’s hyper-individualistic. You spend more time working on your own terms rather than on the terms of tutors – and whilst you do (obviously) still see tutors, there’s less of that constant cycle of either validation or critique one gets at school. Nobody is looking over your shoulder saying, “That’s a fantastic turn-of-phrase,” or, “Your grammar’s pants.” The feedback is intense when it does arrive, but it is less frequent. For the more regular cycle, one has to rely on oneself.

I went to an Edinburgh running club the other day, got chatting to a girl and described my English timetable.

Shot of Edinburgh's Arthur's Seat from a cross-country running field
Shot taken with the aforementioned Running Club. .

“In other words – people just skive,” she said.

“Speak for yourself, woman!” I said in my head.

Those of us who take our degrees seriously would do no such thing (even the notion). The problem with working from home is not the motivation to do the work in the first place. It’s the psychological effects. I can’t speak for other students, but when I spend too much time in my own head, I go mad.

Of course, I love my degree and I wouldn’t be doing anything else. But you have to take Jane’s advice. You have to be rigorous in assigning each part of the day its task and then getting on with it. Then you get the smug afterglow of officially being an “independent” person, as approved by one of literature’s most iconic proto-feminists.

University has plenty of pros which schools don’t have. (That’s a whole separate article.) But secondary school has one pro. You are still amongst a hubbub of people. You don’t yet have to cultivate your own cycle of social or academic contact. That is a valuable thing. As dire as it can sometimes get, the Wymondhammers rising through the system and starting their new terms will be just fine.

(And if I’ve inspired you to seek out Jane Eyre but would rather watch a film version to save time, for heaven’s sake, don’t watch that Michael Fassbender one. Go for either the 1996 film with Charlotte Gainsbourg or the 2007 TV miniseries with Ruth Wilson.)

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