Old Lad

I read recently an article in the newspaper about women’s health issues, and the author was described as The UK’s “top gynaecologist “. It’s an interesting description isn’t it, how do you get to be top and who decides? It transpired that the individual was a Professor of Gynaecology (tick) and had held office in the Royal College ( double tick) but then so have many other people. Top does seem to be a term beloved of journalists. In the bit of my career when I was a Medical Director part of the job was being interviewed by the press about some issues with general practice and on occasions I would be quoted as “TopDoc”! Mind you there is something about the word top which patients used to love when I was growing up. Relatives would describe being referred to a consultant and would follow this up with “ He’s the top man you know “. I think it was a way of boosting confidence because with hindsight it was just usually a regular consultant at the local hospital. But it seemed to give the person some kudos that their doctor had referred them to someone very eminent.

The only time I have ever been “top” was in primary school in the 1950s. Being a bit of a hoarder I have kept all kinds of bits and pieces from the past including my junior school reports. We used to have tests twice a year and be given marks for various subjects, which were then added up and the class was ranked in the order of the marks so there was a top of the class. Reading the reports gives a flavour of how the curriculum in school had changed. We were tested in English, Reading, word work (?) spelling, poetry, Mental and Mechanical arithmetic ( what’s mechanical arithmetic), arithmetic problems, and art. I must have been a conscientious little lad because I was always in the top four. In fact there were four of us in the class who rotated around the top four places. The teacher’s comments are illuminating. One said “ He gives very little trouble”, although I don’t remember us being a troublesome class. Another said “ Running shows promise”! I think I have said before my head teacher’s comment was regularly “ Enjoy your reading and continue to make books your friends “. Which of course I do to this day. It’s all a big contrast to the report cards that my grandchildren get today and the dreaded SATS results. Top of the class does not feature any more and performance is graded as either “Working towards expectations, working at expectations or exceeding expectations “. Is this better? It’s certainly less elitist but tithe world at large still uses the concept of being Top

Competitiveness now seems to only exist in the field of sport where there are still incentives to come top – gold medals, world records, golden boots etc. I suppose if I’m honest when I was aged nine being top of the class gave a sense of achievement but of course I failed to think how the child who was fortieth felt. ( yes we had classes of 40 plus in the 1950s). And as I have got older the thought of being described as top of anything would be very embarrassing. Most of the time I get satisfaction from a job well done. But I do secretly like the old phrase “ Go to the top of the class”!