The oration was aimed at university students who were studying in the fields of Economics, Accounting, Business and other similar subject areas. Although these were the main fields at which the lecture was aimed at, Mr Sutherland put a great emphasis on Psychology and understanding the human brain. He mentioned that, as humans, “we are not rational animals, we are rationalised animals,” and went on to say “we need to have a reason to do something.” He conveyed to the listeners that “someone with reputation is inherently more trustworthy,” as reputable things or people have something to lose, we can damage them in some way if they have wronged us. For this reason, he concluded that brands are trustworthy and people prefer to purchase or use things which are branded. There are, of course, people who disagree with this point of view, for which Sutherland said “try flying with an airline you’ve never heard of.”
One of the main aims of the trip was to experience what it is like to be in university and have lectures. All pupils at Heartlands have very high aspirations and thus most of us, if not all, are expected to go into higher education, of which this was a mere taster. We found out that the teaching style at university is very different to that of school. Although most people preferred the teaching style at Heartlands, all members of the trip enjoyed the experience.
The lecture lasted for an hour and during this time, Mr Sutherland entertained us greatly. Although we could not grasp some of the more complex concepts he mentioned, we were surprised to find that we understood more than we perceived we may have done. It could be said, though, that as teachers have different teaching styles, learners have different learning styles, lecturers have different lecturing styles, so who knows what University may bring to us?
