Ever since the end of Year 9, I have been turning over something my mother said to me in my head.
‘Not everyone has a truly inspirational teacher during their schooling career; you were very lucky to have him.’
She was talking about Mr. Gibbons- former teacher of English and Classics at JFS- my Muse.
When speaking to a number of my former English classmates, one particular student articulated that ‘his casual yet eager attitude seemed to pump incentive and motivation in the class. Our mutual respect created a calm atmosphere- a learning atmosphere. His perseverance and willingness made it easy to latch on to his ideas.’
There is no way that one can disagree with this statement: as well as mastering the English and Classics curriculum, Mr. Gibbons’ teaching style was that of a small category which enables students, to use a well-loved University phrase, to ‘widen their horizons,’ and take their understanding of literature and life to the next level.
In fact, when it came to studying short stories, Mr. Gibbons guided my class through some of the greatest texts ever written, such as Nikolai Gogol’s “The Overcoat,” as well as encouraging a wider reading of Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” and “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant- I still have slideshows on this text!
But he didn’t only teach his students, and maybe more importantly, he inspired us. ‘He gave us his philosophical views; which gave me a new way of thinking about life,’ explained a separately enthusiastic former classmate of mine.
Furthermore, it was the great Mr. Gibbons himself who pushed for Classics to be taught to a group of JFS students as part of an early GCSE course, in the hope of later exposing all students to the history of Western Civilisation.
This proved to be a major success; during the course, which was taught by himself and Mr. Davies (of the History Department), myself and a small group of other students studied the Persian Wars, a famous Ancient Greek play named “Medea” by Euripides,’ along with Ancient Greek Drama and Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey.”
Yet there is more!
At the end of the Year 9 English syllabus, Mr. Gibbons also taught philosophy, explaining the basic arguments of philosophers like Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, Hegel, Herschel and Nietzsche.
As Aristotle famously observed ‘humans by nature desire knowledge.’
Mr. Gibbons didn’t just have a genuine thirst for knowledge; he brought out that thirst in students and teachers alike.
One very sad day, however, JFS learnt that Mr. Gibbons would be leaving England for Egypt.
I realised that, though mine (and many other students’) Muse would be leaving us physically; he will be forever in our minds.
As I embark on the ‘advent’rous journy’ of reading John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost”, I realise that Mr. Gibbons’ influence on our lives will never be forgotten.
