ABSTRACT
This is a slightly edited version of a speech given at Ruskin College Oxford on 13 June 1996. The speech was seen as a fitting conclusion to the series of lectures on Affirming the Comprehensive Ideal. John Prescott failed his 11 + examinations and attended a secondary modern school in Ellesmere Port. Leaving school at 15, he began working in hotel catering, then became a merchant seaman and later an official with the National Union of Seamen. For two years he was a mature student at Ruskin College where he studied for a diploma in economics and politics. Some time later, in 1976. Ruskin College provided the setting for James Callaghan's Ruskin College speech that launched the Great Debate on Education.
