Well, unfortunately, the university degree has become something of a
consumer item; the key to happiness through better jobs, higher pay,
etc. Just by paying to sit in classrooms and regurgitate what's been
slapped on the board. (This applies more to those in the arts faculty than
those in the more technical faculties, of course.)
So you pays your money and you gets your degree and everybody is happy and
proud.
I'd better get off my soapbox now. If you want an interesting viewpoint on
education and science (as separate entities), try reading Zen and the Art
of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig. In my view, a must-read by
all those who really think...
P.
At 02:42 PM 9/5/2006 -0500, you wrote:
Imagine expecting a recruit to pay to attend a military
boot camp.
Where students are expected to pay a tuition they actually
are second class citizens compared to new recruits.
I don't like economic theories and policies which portray the student
as a "consumer".
Harry
Philip Winestone wrote:
> Good question, but at the tender age of 17, it would never in a million
> years have occurred to me to ask it. All there was, was a kind of
> underlying panic...
>
> At the time, these were government-funded institutions (don't know the
> details), so it could have been government that called the shots. As each
> student was funded (tuition, books and living grants) those who granted the
> money were quite selective in the first place - university entrance
> requirements - so when I come to think of it, the culling started much
> earlier. At the time, the number of graduates in the UK was about 10% of
> the number in Canada (perhaps North America) on a per capita population
basis.
>
> It all seems so long ago...
>
> P.
>
>
> At 11:11 PM 9/4/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>> For a university's book to balance, I wonder how many students
>> need to quit or flunk after the first or second year.
>>
>>
>> Harry
>>
>>
>> Philip Winestone wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Richard.
>>>
>>> "Essence" indeed... The essence is most likely the intuitive aspect (or
>>> part of the intuitive aspect) I was babbling about.
>>>
>>> Interesting about "culling". Back in Scotland, where I graduated, the
>>> culling was done by the university. 60% in the first year and a further
>>> 60% (of the remainder) in the second year. And as you say, of the
>>> remaining (exhausted) bunch, most were trying to get out of Engineering
>>> itself as soon as possible. Into management where the pay and prestige
>>> were far greater than those of the grunts manning the slide-rules
(remember
>>> them?).
>>>
>>> P.
