A great deal of attention has been placed on a young soccer player overseas in recent weeks as he has just scored a goal. That may be a little surprising as in truth, if we look around, a lot of people have scored goals in recent weeks! However, the attention on this one player scoring a goal has been because, we are told, it was his first goal in eighteen league matches — he had not scored for 1,162 minutes, to be precise. Again, we would be entirely reasonable if we did point out that plenty of other people have not scored for eighteen matches or over a thousand minutes; surely there is no big deal there? The fact is though that this young player had scored fifteen goals in his previous sixteen league matches and critics had begun to wonder why he had hit such a bad run of form.
The fact is that this young player had previously shown incredible talent, skill and ability so how could he suddenly lose it? He is a perfect example perhaps of someone fitting the description that “Form is temporary and class is permanent”. The fact that he has now scored a goal is suggesting he has come out of his run of bad form and shown once again the class that he has had all along.
Players hit a winning streak and they are deemed to be “in form”. When results or performances go against them, then they simply are out of form but the class player will always come back. What is the difference? A player may be in good form but not have class and a player with class may not have form. A player in form is one who hits a purple patch of performance, where everything goes well. Form is the player’s level of performance relative to the player’s potential. Having form means a player goes through the good times; having class, the player keeps going through the tough times.
Another example in recent times has been the performance of Rory McIlroy, the Irish golfer who became only the sixth person ever to win the Grand Slam of all four golfing Majors. He had won the other three major titles by 2014 and everyone was expecting him to win the fourth Major yet it has taken him eleven more years for him to achieve the elusive honour. He always had the class but never quite had the form at the right time, whereas this year coming into the Masters tournament he had won a couple of other tournaments and was feeling good about his game. He had class, always, but form had deserted him. Form is temporary, class is permanent.
So then, form is a dogged determination to keep plodding on, forging out results and doing well whereas class suggests the performance looks so easy and effortless, it just comes so naturally. There is a certain degree of elegance, dignity, calmness, sophistication, style, excellence in how they go about their tasks. It is pure class.
Of course, schools are all about form and class. We place pupils in a Form while they are also in a particular Class within that Form, so it is right that we speak of form and class about schools. We speak of the Class of whatever year — and let us not forget how schools (used to) teach the Classics (Latin and Greek), the classy subjects from way back in history, as well as Classic literature, again those novels that have stood the test of time and still have relevance and significance now. So, then, it is right that pupils at schools are to be encouraged and assisted to maintain form throughout, but also to have their class shine through. The test is not whether they are in sufficient form to pass exams but whether they have the class to continue to shine in whatever situation they encounter.
Let us consider though one further simple question and that is with regard to our schools, not simply our pupils. If form is temporary and class is permanent, are our schools simply in good form (when things are going well) or do they have class, real class? Is there a certain elegance, dignity, calmness, sophistication, style, excellence about the school year by year? Is it long-lasting? The test of that will be found not by looking at the results each year; they may go up or down, varying in form, depending on Heads or teachers and pupils. We need to see if the pupils continue in the values and ethos that the school has sought to inculcate in them. The class school will be the one that has high quality throughout the ages, not in waves and troughs. Is the school on form or does it have class? It is not a matter of being First Class or Upper Class. It is simply a matter of class. Do our schools have it? Are they in a class of their own? Time will indeed show and tell.
- On form or in class?
