Mrs Lintott believes passing an exam is down to knowledge
and fact; you have to know all the facts in order to pass any exam, she is very
authoritive and straight-forward. Our
first impression of Mrs Lintott is that she is very confident in herself and her
teaching, as she describes her teaching and herself as “plainly stated and
properly organised facts” and how they “need no presentation” this clearly
shows her confidence towards her teaching. She is clearly praised by the
Headmaster “Their A Levels are very good. And that’s thanks to you” stating her
methods of teaching do work. Mrs Lintott is very aggressive in teaching, Rudge
states she “force-fed” the boys facts and they’re “in the process of running
around acquiring flavour” Mrs Lintott lacks originality, imagination and
expression in teaching, this then shows how the boys compare her to Hector.
Hector symbolises knowledge, he is not a conformative
teacher and believes in ‘learning because you want to learn and you can, it
gives you freedom’ he does not conform to the rules of society and belittles and
is very sarcastic about A Levels. He describes the facts of A Levels as “credentials
and qualifications” however he refers them to “your cheat’s visa” as if A
Levels are their ‘passport’ to Oxbridge, this quote shows this kind of jealousy
coming from Hector because he never had this opportunity. Hector is very
cynical towards A-Levels and believes “All knowledge is precious” the use of
the lexis “precious” implies he believes knowledge is valuable, worthy and
special, he describes it as “precious” due to his passion for knowledge.
Irwin is a young teacher who believes in learning because
you want something out of it e.g. a career. Irwin is mainly associated with
exams, he believes in order to get where you want you have to pass exams, there
a means to an end. His choice of lexis “the wrong end of the stick is the right
one” shows he turns things around with his words he uses. Irwin is cynical
towards history because he feels it’s less about the history and more on how
you present it “it’s a performance. It’s entertainment. And if it isn’t, make
it so”. He uses imagery to get the boys more interested in the subject by using
phrases such as “strip tease” and “thirst at a wine-tasting”. Irwin and Hector contrast
each other on their teaching styles however they are both non-conformists.
