Over the summer holidays I took part in a history summer school aimed at introducing GCSE and A Level history students to a degree standard of studying and extending their thinking.
The company that ran it was Debate Chamber . The tutors were excellent – passionate, encouraging and very well qualified (two PhD students at the University of Oxford and a part time advisor to a member of the House of Lords who is writing books on David Owen and Kissinger’s experiences in the 1930s).
I wholeheartedly enjoyed the challenge of thinking like a historian aiming for university level, though it was tricky at times! The first day consisted of discussions about why we study history and its importance in a modern world, which then moved into different approaches to history, where we read and analysed texts by Marx, von Ranke, and various empirical historians. The second focussed on women and gender history, especially the emergence of witch trials in the 17th century and why they occurred. Postcolonial history and the damage done by empire to countries dominated the third day of the course, with an impassioned debate on the reliability (or lack thereof) of oral history and bias. Intellectual history, Hobbes, and the Leviathan challenged us, and we concluded the fourth day looking at the socialist tradition in intellectual history. Split into two groups, we created political parties, one Hobbesian and one socialist, and tried to convince the voters (the tutors) that our ideology was best. Finally, we discussed war and ideology on the final day, finishing off with a diplomacy challenge where five major powers and their interests battled it out for post-war Europe.
Debate Chamber also runs courses on law, philosophy, economics, medicine and international relations.
Taking part in a summer school may seem daunting and perhaps intimidating, but it really opened my eyes to different intellectual opportunities, and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone interested in the past or another subject at a higher level. Throwing yourself into an experience is so important to get the most out of it, and I’ve learnt so much more than history.
Isabelle O., Year 12