Congratulations to Eva in Lower 5 who has achieved success in the John Locke Institute Junior Essay Competition. Here, she talks about her visit to Oxford for a day of lectures.
On the 2 October, I went to Balliol College, Oxford for a day of lectures and seminars, having received a commendation in the John Locke Institute Junior Essay Competition. I entered with an essay entitled ‘Before a certain time almost everybody would have held some belief which we now find repugnant. Does this mean we cannot admire or commemorate the people who helped to shape the modern world?’. There were several rounds of judging before the shortlist was published.
On the day itself, there were group discussions with Dr Jamie White and Martin Cox, lecturers specialising in economics and philosophy. We discussed some of the essay titles such as ‘Have things improved?’ and ‘Should the law ever prevent people from freely making self-harming decisions? If so, what should and shouldn’t be forbidden – and according to which principles?’. Emphasis was on critical thinking rather than previous knowledge, and was quite different from anything I had done before in school.Overall, it was an excellent day, one I will be certain to remember.
