of this mindset, the urge to think differently, to chip
away at the ice of consensus, is being weakened.
Though many of today’s students like to paint their
censorship as being radical and new, it continues
a long history of silencing debate. In 1382, when
Winchester was founded, the philosopher John
Wycliffe was forced out of Oxford and declared
a heretic by the University hierarchy because he
argued for an English translation of the Bible. In
1811, Shelley was expelled from Oxford for writing
a pamphlet called The Necessity of Atheism. David
Hume was rejected from university positions at
both Glasgow and Edinburgh due to his divergent
thinking causing offence to the religious order.
Both the old censorship and the new are inconsistent
with what Winchester instils in its students.
Wykehamists have expanded the acceptable realms
for discussion and, in doing so, have nurtured divergent
thinking. It is their tradition – the custom of free
thought and inquiry – that has been truly radical.
My philosophy studies at Edinburgh have introduced
me to a variety of fascinating texts. Few have
interested me more than Milton’s Areopagitica
– named after the Areopagus, a hill in Athens where
tribunals, deliberations, and debates took place.
The pamphlet convinced me of the philosophical
case for free expression and a free press. John
Pottinger was Headmaster of Winchester when
Milton’s work was published, but Wykehamists
today can still embrace its ideals. Indeed, they are
blessed to have their own Areopagus in the form of
St Catherine’s Hill close by. Divergent Wykehamists
created Win Co Fo on the hill; perhaps more
original ideas would be inspired if Wykehamists
took to occasional philosophical Morning Hills.
Winchester can help revitalise the dormant spirit of
divergent thinking. Many of the challenges that face
our world today are being made more difficult by both
a resistance to discussion and a failure to learn lessons
from the past. No other school is more fit to produce
thinkers who reject these intellectual blockades
than Winchester. Through the tradition of Div,
Wykehamists are taught to widen their interests and
sharpen their thinking. From the Kenneth Clark prize
and Recita-, Wykehamists gain the invaluable skill of
clear expression – or, as Eric Billington described it
in my penultimate year of Div, ‘the power of talking
in paragraphs’. In weekly Div Tasks and unmatched
training in language and literature, Wykehamists
learn to ‘use English felicitously’ (the title of my first
handout in VIth Book Div). Cherished and effective
lessons that work are conserved and passed down to
new generations of Wykehamists (the grammar guide
passed on to me by Michael Nevin (I, 1963-68) was
given to him by his English teacher at Winchester).
The world does not need more vapid ‘shock jocks’
or deliberately offensive attention seekers whose brand
of divergent thinking is intellectually barren. Thinkers
who go down this route soon discover that, preferring
outrage over the satisfaction of revelation, they have
declared themselves cultural deserts. Rational inquiry
with a hunger for the truth and a respect for people’s
sensibilities is the spirit of divergent thinking that
Wykehamists have long championed and must
continue to do so in spite of much opposition.
In this edition of the Wykeham Journal, we will meet
Wykehamists and members of the school’s community
who are helping to keep the flame of Winchester’s
radical tradition burning strong. From community
service and music psychology to teaching styles and
catering demands, this journal will introduce you to
the people who help champion divergent thinking in
their academic or professional lives.
The world does not need more
vapid shock jocks or deliberately
offensive attention seekers whose
brand of divergent thinking is
intellectually barren.
The Wykeham Journal 2017 17