Edward
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In very large part. In my day, 20% of us went to University; it's now closer to 51% in the UK, I believe. Inevitably this makes it all the harder to distinguish themselves from the herd.
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I'm constantly very impressed with our own undergraduates in most of the UK institutions of which I've had experience. This in the context of a wider experience of postgraduates from all corners of the globe (I've taught LLM classes with 32 plus different jurisdictions represented). UK kids aren't generally so bad as it's fashionable to believe.
I may very well be wrong but I think that this is because the job market has become even more competitive. Uni students know that a BA alone in some esoteric major is not a ticket to a plum job now. Well that's what my nephew back in NZ tells me and he's intent on working like a Trojan. Not too much time for the pub crawl/arsing about shenanigans that used to go on along with the studying.
There is another, arguably more sinister side to this. The narrow focus of so much academic education means that many students and graduates are poorly read outside their immediate subject area and there is very little depth or breadth of knowledge.
British degrees have always been more specialised but until the recent past it was assumed that most students would be broadly educated and the courses themselves encouraged or provided time for other interests and activities - and encouraged a wide-ranging curiosity. The lack of curiosity and the dogmatism that has crept into academia today is quite a worrying trend.A strict baccalaureate core across the liberal arts was required in my day; though I am unfamiliar with British university degree requirements.
Very good luck to your nephew. I wish him well.
It seems a pity he's so far away from you, Smithy: the distance between Norway and NZ is considerable, to say the least, although of course there is email, Skype, facebook, etc. I seem to recall from another thread that you were until recently in Australia?Thank you so much Ticklishchap, he's a good lad, he's going to study engineering (aviation), my sister blames me for his fixation on all things that fly!
I'm definitely not saying they're 'bad' in any way as people, just that there is a noticeable inarticulacy - having to add the word 'like' to everything, for instance - compared to young people from Central and Eastern Europe, who often speak better English, can form sentences and are equipped with skills. There is a strong emphasis now on treating students as examination fodder, without teaching them to speak clearly or think clearly, and without any emphasis on social skills, which means that they often appear gauche.
There is another, arguably more sinister side to this. The narrow focus of so much academic education means that many students and graduates are poorly read outside their immediate subject area and there is very little depth or breadth of knowledge.
This is, I suspect, the underlying cause of the ideological conformity that seems to be taking hold among students - and many academics. It's not just that the ideological positions are extremely unattractive (although for the most part they are), but that they seem to be based on sentimentality and tantrums rather than evidence or reasoned argument - the response to counter-argument seems to be tears, screams and censorship. This has worrying implications for the pursuit of knowledge and free inquiry, in which nothing should above criticism or examination.
It seems a pity he's so far away from you, Smithy: the distance between Norway and NZ is considerable, to say the least, although of course there is email, Skype, facebook, etc. I seem to recall from another thread that you were until recently in Australia?
Hazards of the web! But yes, back to our regularly scheduled programming...Change of topic ?
Hazards of the web! But yes, back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Hi SmithyHi Ticklish, yes I was until late last year. 6 years in the Dry Country and now in the arctic north, from one extreme to the other!
It is a shame to be so far away but I come from a family where we sprinkle ourselves around the world. Itchy feet seems to have run in the family since my grandparents time. I imagine the little fella pursuing aviation engineering will have to follow in the family footsteps and go further afield than NZ. His sister was at drama school in the UK in 2014 and is moving back there next year, so I'll have the chance to see my niece more often.
I just realised that my wife and I have shifted country 6 times since 2003 but no more, we have nippers now
There is one point that does need answering and then I'll shift back to the topic. While the printed (and online) press especially perhaps in the UK exaggerates in a sensationalist, biased and unhelpful manner, the portrayal of political conformity at universities/ex-polytechnics is not entirely without foundation. There have been a number of occasions recently when people with perfectly valid and non-extreme opinions have been denied the right to speak at universities or have faced attempts to censor them.Hazards of the web! But yes, back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Saw a Hook last week, and recall jumping at 700-800ft, a long ass drop without a prop blast as is the C-130 static line jump. A knife to the gut. Miss that stuff.
I did a night jump at Ft. Bragg where I'm pretty sure we were dropped from under 500 ft. Maybe closer to 300. I hit the dirt no more than five seconds after my T-10 opened. Low cloud cover that night and I think our NG pilots wanted to get back home rather than wait for weather conditions to improve, so they just dropped us from under the clouds. We were expecting a 1200 ft. drop. When my chute deployed I looked down and thought I was headed for a stand of trees so I yanked on my risers to try to drift past them and that was when I hit. My "stand of trees"was a clump of grass about three feet across. There are very few sensations in life quite like that.
Basic training at Ft. Bliss Texas. Advanced Infantry Training at Ft. Polk Louisiana then 6 months of Advanced Jungle Warrior training in Hawaii. Off to Vietnam for a year in April of 1968. After my return home....
Did you ever come across Huna in Hawaii? There are a lot of mainly new age books about it, claiming that it is the traditional Hawaiian spirituality, but most indigenous Hawaiians deny this. Off-topic, but just occurred to me.After the Army cut me loose I chased wahines and waves at Kaneohe beach, wish sometimes I had stayed a surfer bum.