Friday 21 August 2009

What is the world coming to...

... when only one person, besides me, in my tutorial knew what the word 'satire' meant? And that one person was the teacher.

... when someone needs to ask for help in the post office because they're not sure which side of the envelope to write on or whether they need to use stamps.

... when university students need to ask what 'First Person' and 'Third Person' mean.

3 comments:

Lady K said...

You are such a smarty pants, aren't you?

Seriously though, I think that it is just reflection of the changing nature of work & care patterns... As females/mothers enter the workforce in larger numbers, and the (cost of) duty of care isn't picked by the government, who wish to continue the benefits of volunteer care labour and increased workforce participation, the education sector is now largely responsible for educating beyond their traditional sphere. This, in combination with the average income of the education sector which in turn attracts average individuals, explains why the people you're at Uni with have a limited experience of concepts, and even less of an idea of what these concepts are called. I hope that I pass my gender studies test tomorrow. That was a practice test.

Pragmatically speaking, there is also too great an emphasis placed on University education for one and all - most of whom will never actually require the skills of critiquing and analysing taught at Uni, as they will do relentless, thoughtless tasks with narrowly defined outcomes for large corporations - resulting in undergraduate courses becoming an extended version of high school rather than a program for deeper learning, analysing and critiquing.

In other news, my new boss still doesn't know how to say my surname. His variations of incorrect are so entertaining I have only told him that he keeps getting it wrong... but not how to get it right.

Nerd Girl said...

That is possibly the longest comment I have ever received on this blog. Well done!

Mum says you're sounding like a bit of a smarty-pants yourself.

Lady K said...

Mums are usually right. *Sigh*