Politics
Politics deserves much praise. Politics is a preoccupation of free men, and its existence is a test of freedom. The praise of free men is worth having, for it is the only praise which is free from either servility or condescension. Politics deserves praising as – in Aristotle’s words – ‘the master-science’, not excusing as a necessary evil; for it is the only ‘science’ or social activity which aims at the good of all other ‘sciences’ or activities, destroying none, cultivating all, so far as they themselves allow. Politics then is civilising.
Bernard Crick, In Defence of Politics
All people are political thinkers and therefore boys undertaking a formal study of the subject will gain a degree of self-awareness as well as a questioning, logical and informed approach. The subject seeks to examine, and sometimes challenge, assumptions upon which political questions are based, and thereby help us to think more critically, and perhaps more clearly about politics. It seeks to promote intellectual curiosity and critical awareness of the interaction between ideas, institutions and political action, and to consider the rights and responsibilities we may have as citizens within society. Equally, the discipline develops appreciation of differing viewpoints and values and looks at how these might be reconciled through politics.
In the department we aim to encourage students to think for themselves through a variety of traditional teaching, seminar work, argument and debate, research tasks and enrichment activities. Exam results are excellent and a high proportion of boys who study A level Government & Politics go on to read Politics, PPE, or International Relations at university. At AS level boys study Politics in the UK: the Westminster system, the nature of British democracy, the effectiveness of Parliament, the role of parties and pressure groups, the judiciary and executive. At A2 the course covers political ideologies: conservatism, liberalism, socialism, anarchism, feminism, environmentalism, multiculturalism and anarchism. Whilst the exam specifications are fully and thoroughly addressed they are not considered to be an end in themselves, a straightjacket on teaching, nor a limit on what the boys can achieve.