Durando discimus, suitably alliterative, does not seem at all a bad motto even for a fictional retroschool, like the one featured in the current Channel 4 series.
The translation offered, however, “Through struggle we learn”, seems imprecise and perhaps even suggests a disreputable dumbing-down.
We learn by persevering. We learn by becoming tough, or even, more periphrastically, you need to be tough to learn, or learning takes hard work, might be closer.
The association between learning and effort, however, is surely undeniable.
And, if a spot of recidivism reinforces that, it is by no means lamentable.
David Taylor Director of inspection Office for Standards in Education
