Thread: Another Language Virus

Originally Posted by nipper

The best gift you can give yourself is a good education.

We now have more university educated people per capita than at any prior period in our history. I don't know if that has done us much good so far.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

We now have more university educated people per capita than at any prior period in our history. I don't know if that has done us much good so far.

Bob

Back when I was teaching undergraduates, I was shocked at how poor the standard of writing was when viewed as a whole. There were of course brilliant individuals in the mix, but the mean level of writing ability was very poor. These were all at least high school graduates, and I found the the problem extended into more senior undergrads too. I.e. 3rd and 4th-year students who really should have been able to express themselves clearly and coherently in writing were unable to do so.

Some of these were people with specific learning disabilities that made writing very difficult, all of whom were more than capable of conveying ideas very well verbally. These are not the students I am thinking of here. The majority were students who simply had never been taught to write. I always saw a large part of my job as a history prof as teaching students how to 'do' research: finding and analyzing sources, thinking critically about them, arriving at one's own conclusions, then backing up those conclusions in a well-written, clear, and concise essay. I have always enjoyed doing that. But what shocked me was how many times I had to explain to university students what a paragraph was, what made a complete sentence, etc. Knowledge of the basic building blocks of communication was sometimes entirely absent.

These were not stupid people. Well, at least most of them were not stupid - there were a few clear exceptions! They were people let down by the education they had received. Unfortunately 'educated' and 'well educated' are not synonymous.

So much has changed in the Canadian education system in the last 40 years that it is getting ridiculous. The grade school and high school part has been so "streamlined" that students arrive at university without the basic underpinnings of how to read and write.

No they are not stupid, well some are, but they just have not been taught properly at the lower educational institutions.

I think that standards overall have been lowered to allow more people to qualify for university entrance. Seems that is in keeping with turning education into more of a business proposition at the university level.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

I think that standards overall have been lowered to allow more people to qualify for university entrance. Seems that is in keeping with turning education into more of a business proposition at the university level.

I believe you've unfortunately hit the nail on the head there Bob. Unis are increasingly about bums on seats, recruiting overseas students (who bring with them overseas tuition fees - full disclosure: I was one myself when I was a postgrad in Scotland), and a sharply increased focus on programs that are seen to bring profit and recognition from the business world to the university. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that per se, but it should not be the point of a university. Unis are also increasingly top-heavy with the number of administrators and vice-presidents skyrocketing while the number of faculty - particularly tenured faculty - falling. As someone who values learning and education for the sake of learning and education, and who believes that society as a whole benefits from *good* education at all levels, it is a slightly depressing time. Many of my friends who are profs and lecturers in the UK are considering jumping ship because so much of what they are required to do has nothing to do with teaching or research, and everything to do with keeping assorted bean-counters and management 'experts' happy. The same trends seem to be picking up steam here and in the US as well.

I am feeling very curmudgeonly today.

Time to go to the workshop and make something...

We had an NDP candidate - an MA in education I believe, and the Superintendent of a School District, who got in trouble for taking a selfie at Auschwitz, of one of the electrified concrete fence columns and comparing it to a phallic symbol.

When she got called on the callous lack of respect for, a) taking the "selfie" in a concentration camp, and b) comparing it to a phallic symbol, she claimed she didn't know what Auschwitz was, she'd never heard of it or the concentration camp. She was running for Parliament! Lots of excuses were made for her, but the fact remains, she's an idiot. A buffoon who should have resigned immediately.

This is why I sometimes get the feeling we're doomed.

University is to instill a firm foundation of basic intellectual skills, through critical thought, analysis and broadening the mind to ideas outside your own comfort zone. Most don't teach that anymore, they teach ridiculous courses, and anything that may frighten or disturb these poor "kids", is littered with, "trigger" warnings now, whitewashed, or rewritten to suit various political agendas. It's ridiculous, and the "progressive left" on many campuses now, are in fact a type of politically correct thought police, squashing anything outside their little comfort zones.

And we wonder why, when they're out in the real world, they are completely incapable of dealing with conflict or adversity - or anyone challenging their "rote" taught ideas.

Originally Posted by Cangooner

There's nothing necessarily wrong with that per se, but it should not be the point of a university. Unis are also increasingly top-heavy with the number of administrators and vice-presidents skyrocketing while the number of faculty - particularly tenured faculty - falling.

I am feeling very curmudgeonly today.

Time to go to the workshop and make something...

Universities are run on a corporate model. Top heavy in management (admin/VPs) and fewer profs with tenure (union) .

Bums in seats serve another purpose too. As long as you are student you are not an unemployment statistic.

Enjoy the workshop.

Bob

Originally Posted by Phrank

We had an NDP candidate - an MA in education I believe, and the Superintendent of a School District, who got in trouble for taking a selfie at Auschwitz, of one of the electrified concrete fence columns and comparing it to a phallic symbol.

When she got called on the callous lack of respect for, a) taking the "selfie" in a concentration camp, and b) comparing it to a phallic symbol, she claimed she didn't know what Auschwitz was, she'd never heard of it or the concentration camp. She was running for Parliament! Lots of excuses were made for her, but the fact remains, she's an idiot. A buffoon who should have resigned immediately.

This is why I sometimes get the feeling we're doomed.

Why does that not surprise me in the least. Must have slept through a few high school history classes. Well at least they taught that 40 years ago in high school history.

Bob

Who was that famous philosopher who said, "I vent, therefore I am."

I've always felt the average H.S Graduate who was college bound back in the 50s was better educated as a whole than present day College Graduates.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Using the past perfect is fine

I think this is derived from the fact that the older people are the more perfect the past.
Here are a bunch of commas to sprinkle above ,,,,,,,,