Cambridge University

The tour of Cambridge University, specifically King’s College, gave insight into the British Higher Education system in today’s time as well as in the past. I thought the main benefit of the trip was our knowledgeable 85 year-old tour guide who could get us away form the crowds (and shush them if necessary). In the strikingly magnificent King’s Chapel, I was very interested in the differences in architecture according to which King was financing its construction at the time. Originally started by King Henry VI, he only had the finances to build about two feet up from the foundations. When King Henry VII took over the construction, our tour guide said that the church became less of a religious building and more of an homage to King Henry VII and his family. This made me contemplate the historical connections between religion and wealth.
One of my first reactions of the city Cambridge was to notice the startling numbers of foreign tour groups and families—from hordes of Asians to Fabio. I realized that a number of famous scientists, authors and poets have attended Cambridge over the years, from all over the world, giving it international importance. This is the alma matter of a famous Chinese poet, Watson and Crick, Issac Newton, Patrick Bronte, and Lord Byron. The different colleges within Cambridge like King’s and Trinity seemed like they are based on family status and donations more than anything, though no one mentioned it outright. On the other hand, it seemed ridiculous that the cost of attendance is only 3,000 pounds a year if you are accepted. This was quite depressing because in America people pay 5 times that a semester sometimes to go to a lesser university.
It was interesting to make the connection between the longtime rivals Oxford and Cambridge when learning Cambridge was founded after a riot in the 1200s when students were tried for murder and executed. Along these same lines, the long-held rivalry between the townspeople and the university scholars is seen in our reading of “The Reeve’s Tale” by Chaucer. Chaucer makes both the miller and the Cambridge students swindle and thieve in his tale, though the miller is financially greedier and worldlier than the two pedantic scholars. This describes the two stereotypes that are probably still held today amongst the groups. One of my first reactions of the city Cambridge was to notice the startling numbers of foreign tour groups and families—from hordes of Asians to Fabio. I realized that a number of famous scientists, authors and poets have attended Cambridge over the years, from all over the world, giving it international importance. This is the alma matter of a famous Chinese poet, Watson and Crick, Issac Newton, Patrick Bronte, and Lord Byron.