Before I came to the UK (Just before age 15) I was a hard working student, doing extra credit assignments and not ashamed of it. (You’re not a “spod” for working hard in Australia). Within one morning I was turned to the dark side of “essay crises” etc huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/why-wing…
My 1st morning at school in the UK I sat at the front. Was teased. (Mental note: back of the class, always). While waiting for the teacher I got on with my French homework from the previous lesson. “What are you doing?!” came the incredulous question. (Mental note: stop trying).
My personality changed in one morning. I made sure never to sit at the front and never to look like I was working again. Fast forward 3 years, and I sat the Oxford entrance exams (the last year they were available). For the history paper I was asked “What was progressivism?”
I’d never heard of "progressivism" (and this was before The History Boys), but based on what I knew of the kind of BS that Oxford prizes, I decided to gamble. For this my final essay in the 3 hour exam, I wrote a 7 word answer and put down my pen: “It ain’t what it used to be.”
I got in. In fact I got a 2 E offer. Australian friends can’t believe this is how Oxford entrance operated. I still had more than 6 months of schooling to go when I was given a 2 E offer. I basically never went to class again. I played poker until I couldn’t tell red from black.
Subject? The blaggiest of the blags, the much derided PPE. College? Balliol: unofficial motto—"effortlessly superior" (I know!). Went to zero lectures after my 1st week and for 3 years pulled 2 all-nighters a week for tutorials. (Don't worry, I do know how dreadful this all is!)
What I learnt, chiefly, was how to artfully conceal ignorance. What I did, mainly, was play cricket, perform stand-up & present student radio. My economics tutor gave me my grade with the words "At least you learnt something about economics: you got the grade at minimum cost."
Once again, I get what a proud and tragic waste this was. Ironically, I considered this withdrawal from the system to be two-fingers to the posh English types. Now I see I'd actually fallen completely for this public school conceit, put so devastatingly in Chariots of Fire. 
There were some positives to this approach. I really like cricket, for example, and I got to play 6 days a week in the summer terms. So there's that. There's also the fact that I am not at all phased by 'pulling it out of the bag'. The danger, of course, is that I often need to!
But it took decades from that first day of school in the UK to be able to look back and assess the trajectory I'd been on. It still shocks me to read my old Australian school reports. They continually speak of my diligence & dedication. I realise the blagging was put on—learned.
Our personalities aren't as innate as we like to think. They are shaped hugely by culture, super-charged by the 'fear of man' and our desperate need to fit in. But such personas are masks we hide behind and it takes a long time to figure out what's behind them.
A few years back I started to unpick what had formed this 'Last Minute Dot Com Personality' and how Jesus might be re-forming it. If you've made it this far, you might be interested to read it: christthetruth.net/2010/07/29/per…
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