Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C grade
and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study Media
studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni if it
was not for that C grade"?

--
Adam

On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C grade
and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study Media
studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni if it
was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

--
F

"ARWadsworth" wrote in message
...
Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C grade
and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study Media
studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni if
it was not for that C grade"?

--
Adam


http://jobseeker.direct.gov.uk./home...2c666e47&pid=2

HTH

F wrote:
On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one
C grade and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni
to study Media studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to
Uni if it was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

The Uni can charge them 9 grand a year to watch TV and tell them that they
will soon be in charge of the BBC.


--
Adam

ARWadsworth wrote:
Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C grade
and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study Media
studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni if it
was not for that C grade"?


http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/s...-2012081638285


--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

F wrote:

On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C
grade and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study
Media studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni if
it was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?


Because it's a cash cow with relatively little resources required, unlike
say, practical physics with its clever lecturers and labs, or computer
science with its clever people and labs.

Mathematics probably comes close in terms of lack of resources required to
offer a proper course, but you still need clever lecturers ducks
--
Tim Watts

On 16/08/2012 20:57, Tim Watts wrote:
F wrote:

On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C
grade and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study
Media studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni if
it was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?


Because it's a cash cow with relatively little resources required, unlike
say, practical physics with its clever lecturers and labs, or computer
science with its clever people and labs.

Mathematics probably comes close in terms of lack of resources required to
offer a proper course, but you still need clever lecturers ducks

You should have been in the boozer just now with me and a Cambridge
trained GP and a physics prof......

newshound wrote:
On 16/08/2012 20:57, Tim Watts wrote:
F wrote:

On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got
one C grade and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go
to Uni to study Media studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going
to Uni if it was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?


Because it's a cash cow with relatively little resources required,
unlike say, practical physics with its clever lecturers and labs,
or computer science with its clever people and labs.

Mathematics probably comes close in terms of lack of resources
required to offer a proper course, but you still need clever
lecturers ducks
You should have been in the boozer just now with me and a Cambridge
trained GP and a physics prof......

Who's round is it:-)?

--
Adam

ARWadsworth wrote:

newshound wrote:
On 16/08/2012 20:57, Tim Watts wrote:
F wrote:

On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got
one C grade and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go
to Uni to study Media studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going
to Uni if it was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?


Because it's a cash cow with relatively little resources required,
unlike say, practical physics with its clever lecturers and labs,
or computer science with its clever people and labs.

Mathematics probably comes close in terms of lack of resources
required to offer a proper course, but you still need clever
lecturers ducks
You should have been in the boozer just now with me and a Cambridge
trained GP and a physics prof......

Who's round is it:-)?


If you had a Philosophy Professor there, the discussion would be: "Is a
circle round?" then the bar would be closed...

--
Tim Watts

On 16/08/2012 18:53, F wrote:
On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C
grade
and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study Media
studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni
if it
was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

Not only that, when there was political coercion to have large swathes
of the population benefit from a "university education", you had to have
courses for all the people not sufficiently academic to qualify for
traditional subjects.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 16/08/2012 22:33, Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
Tim Watts wrote:

F wrote:

On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:
Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C
grade and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to
study
Media studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to
Uni if
it was not for that C grade"?
Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

Because it's a cash cow with relatively little resources required,
unlike say, practical physics with its clever lecturers and labs, or
computer science with its clever people and labs.

AKA, people who can do sums.

You can manage computer science without doing sums (well not many
anyway) ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
On 16/08/2012 18:53, F wrote:
On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C
grade
and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study Media
studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni
if it
was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

Not only that, when there was political coercion to have large swathes
of the population benefit from a "university education", you had to have
courses for all the people not sufficiently academic to qualify for
traditional subjects.


Pharmacology and needlework?

--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 23:42:01 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

On 16/08/2012 22:33, Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
Tim Watts wrote:

F wrote:

On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:
Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got
one C
grade and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to
study
Media studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to
Uni if
it was not for that C grade"?
Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

Because it's a cash cow with relatively little resources required,
unlike say, practical physics with its clever lecturers and labs, or
computer science with its clever people and labs.

AKA, people who can do sums.

You can manage computer science without doing sums (well not many
anyway) ;-)

If you pick the right bits (as I did!).

Unfortunately, we spend 25% of our first year teaching now doing
maths...which supports all the non-optional modules, anyway.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:09:59 +0100, ARWadsworth wrote:

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

The Uni can charge them 9 grand a year to watch TV and tell them that
they will soon be in charge of the BBC.

Wrong course to be in charge of the BBC you need Accountancy or
Philosophy and Politics.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 16/08/2012 23:40 John Rumm wrote:

On 16/08/2012 18:53, F wrote:
On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C
grade
and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study Media
studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni
if it
was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

Not only that, when there was political coercion to have large swathes
of the population benefit from a "university education", you had to have
courses for all the people not sufficiently academic to qualify for
traditional subjects.

You mean Blair's 50% target? Crazy!

--
F

On Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:50:51 +0100, F wrote:

On 16/08/2012 23:40 John Rumm wrote:

On 16/08/2012 18:53, F wrote:
On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C
grade and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to
study Media studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni
if it was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

Not only that, when there was political coercion to have large swathes
of the population benefit from a "university education", you had to
have courses for all the people not sufficiently academic to qualify
for traditional subjects.

You mean Blair's 50% target? Crazy!

Exactly.



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 17/08/2012 00:00, Bob Eager wrote:
On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 23:42:01 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

On 16/08/2012 22:33, Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
Tim Watts wrote:

F wrote:

On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:
Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got
one C
grade and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to
study
Media studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to
Uni if
it was not for that C grade"?
Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

Because it's a cash cow with relatively little resources required,
unlike say, practical physics with its clever lecturers and labs, or
computer science with its clever people and labs.

AKA, people who can do sums.

You can manage computer science without doing sums (well not many
anyway) ;-)

If you pick the right bits (as I did!).

Unfortunately, we spend 25% of our first year teaching now doing
maths...which supports all the non-optional modules, anyway.

Not sure that is particularly new though is it? When I did engineering
in the late 80's we did a term or so of "balancing" maths on top of the
compulsory units, just to ensure everyone at least got to the minimum
level for the rest of the courses.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Fri, 17 Aug 2012 01:50:41 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

On 17/08/2012 00:00, Bob Eager wrote:
On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 23:42:01 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

On 16/08/2012 22:33, Tim Streater wrote:
In article ,
Tim Watts wrote:

F wrote:

On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:
Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got
one C
grade and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to
study
Media studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to
Uni if
it was not for that C grade"?
Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

Because it's a cash cow with relatively little resources required,
unlike say, practical physics with its clever lecturers and labs, or
computer science with its clever people and labs.

AKA, people who can do sums.

You can manage computer science without doing sums (well not many
anyway) ;-)

If you pick the right bits (as I did!).

Unfortunately, we spend 25% of our first year teaching now doing
maths...which supports all the non-optional modules, anyway.

Not sure that is particularly new though is it? When I did engineering
in the late 80's we did a term or so of "balancing" maths on top of the
compulsory units, just to ensure everyone at least got to the minimum
level for the rest of the courses.

Not new, but it means it's hard to avoid the maths!



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

John Rumm wrote:

Not sure that is particularly new though is it? When I did engineering
in the late 80's we did a term or so of "balancing" maths on top of the
compulsory units, just to ensure everyone at least got to the minimum
level for the rest of the courses.

If I had realised that a substantial proportion of engineering,
as taught at degree level, was maths, I would have considered
something else.

I can also remember lots of phrases which always made me
suspicious, and seldom brought understanding of the underlying
process:

By inspection, this becomes...
By substitution we get...
Clearly, this reduces to...

The final killer was, "and of course you can finish it yourselves
from there". I never could.

When I finally ended up designing electrical propulsion equipment
for railway rolling stock, one of the "old school" engineers
explained that all that was needed was Ohm's Law, plus 25 years'
experience. They were, up to a point, quite right.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

On 16/08/2012 23:40, John Rumm wrote:
On 16/08/2012 18:53, F wrote:
On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C
grade
and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study Media
studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni
if it
was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

Not only that, when there was political coercion to have large swathes
of the population benefit from a "university education", you had to have
courses for all the people not sufficiently academic to qualify for
traditional subjects.



Given how the media rules these days, the study of it is bound to become
an important discipline. The clever people are not the engineers but the
ones deciding whether the product is cool or not. It may seem like a lot
of nebulous garbage but in that sense media studies is no different to
economics.

Are Universities really irrelevant though? I never got the chance, and many
others did not either. In many ways its the short sightedness of employers
who seem to want bits of paper instead of actually wanting to see what an
applicant can do and maybe train them.
Universities should be there to teach complex stuff, but stuff which is
relevant. It needs to be funded by the people who can use the trained
people, not the poor student. If you just make it ability to pay, you get
the idiot rich kids in there, not the down to earth practical people you
need. This is why graduates have become a laugh. IE if you want a well
educated person with no common sense, employ a graduate.

Brian

--
--
From the sofa of Brian Gaff -

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"ARWadsworth" wrote in message
...
Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C grade
and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study Media
studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni if
it was not for that C grade"?

--
Adam

On 17/08/2012 08:43, Brian Gaff wrote:
Are Universities really irrelevant though? I never got the chance, and many
others did not either. In many ways its the short sightedness of employers
who seem to want bits of paper instead of actually wanting to see what an
applicant can do and maybe train them.
Universities should be there to teach complex stuff, but stuff which is
relevant. It needs to be funded by the people who can use the trained
people, not the poor student. If you just make it ability to pay, you get
the idiot rich kids in there, not the down to earth practical people you
need. This is why graduates have become a laugh. IE if you want a well
educated person with no common sense, employ a graduate.

Brian

Benefit to the individual and to the companies that they subsequently
work for means more tax receipts for the government. In that respect,
universities have always been self funding, even when they and the
students were receiving grants.

We should have stayed with a sensible (small) percentage of the
population attending university and then we'd still have an affordable
grant system and wouldn't be pushing unsuitable students into unsuitable
courses either.

Blair's 50% target was simply massaging of the unemployment figures. It
was (and is) a costly exercise is keeping school leavers out of the total.

SteveW

On Fri, 17 Aug 2012 08:43:43 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

Are Universities really irrelevant though? I never got the chance, and many
others did not either. In many ways its the short sightedness of employers
who seem to want bits of paper instead of actually wanting to see what an
applicant can do and maybe train them.
Universities should be there to teach complex stuff, but stuff which is
relevant. It needs to be funded by the people who can use the trained
people, not the poor student. If you just make it ability to pay, you get
the idiot rich kids in there, not the down to earth practical people you
need. This is why graduates have become a laugh. IE if you want a well
educated person with no common sense, employ a graduate.

I can't think of many things that makes me more angry than the way
successive governments have tried to completely **** up (and have
partly succeeded) higher education.

Not only have they devaluted it by allowing universities to offer
pointless courses such as the infamous media studies but they have
made degrees essential because everyone has one.

I totally agree with you, Brian, that we now have a system where it's
your wealth that is a more important factor for whether you can go to
university, rather than your intelligence.

AFAIK degrees in the UK (for the English) are now the least affordable
in the *whole world*, even compared to the USA[1]. A lot of the
brightest students are going to study abroad because it can be
actually cheaper. We are in danger is losing the best minds yet
again.

However good Universities and good degrees (Physics) still exist and
my son is about to start one. I hope we can afford for him to
complete it (and we're not poor).

[1] I can't recall the reference to the study but it was done *before*
the latest fee rises.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) If a man stands in a forest and no woman is around
(")_(") is he still wrong?

On 16/08/2012 23:51, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 16/08/2012 18:53, F wrote:
On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C
grade
and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to study
Media
studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni
if it
was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

Not only that, when there was political coercion to have large swathes
of the population benefit from a "university education", you had to
have courses for all the people not sufficiently academic to qualify
for traditional subjects.


Pharmacology and needlework?

One of our lads read pharmacology at Plymouth, we used to joke that he
was the only one of the youngsters we knew who went to university to
study drugs rather than to take them

In article ,
F news@nowhere wrote:
On 16/08/2012 17:08 ARWadsworth wrote:

Just heard a lad on the local radio station saying that he got one C
grade and two U grades in his A levels and now cannot go to Uni to
study Media studies.

Am I the only one that thinks "Poor bugger, you would be going to Uni
if it was not for that C grade"?

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

Oh I dunno. They allow you to get so much more out of watching Big Brother.

--
*What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:09:59 +0100, ARWadsworth wrote:

Am I the only one wondering why universities are wasting precious
resources in running Media Studies courses?

The Uni can charge them 9 grand a year to watch TV and tell them that
they will soon be in charge of the BBC.

Wrong course to be in charge of the BBC you need Accountancy or
Philosophy and Politics.

And those that are actually passed such courses?

--
*Never miss a good chance to shut up *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 17/08/12 10:24, SteveW wrote:


We should have stayed with a sensible (small) percentage of the
population attending university and then we'd still have an affordable
grant system and wouldn't be pushing unsuitable students into unsuitable
courses either.

Blair's 50% target was simply massaging of the unemployment figures. It
was (and is) a costly exercise is keeping school leavers out of the total.

Not to exonerate smarmy little ****, but that 50% target was just a
reductio ad absurdum of policies that had already been running for decades.


--
djc

On Aug 17, 8:38*am, stuart noble wrote:
Given how the media rules these days, the study of it is bound to become
an important discipline.

There's a big difference though between being Marshall McLuhan and
doing a Meeja Studies degree because you cocked up your A levels and
couldn't get in for accountancy.

On Friday, August 17, 2012 9:40:22 AM UTC+1, Mark wrote:
On Fri, 17 Aug 2012 08:43:43 +0100, "Brian Gaff"

wrote:



Are Universities really irrelevant though? I never got the chance, and many

others did not either. In many ways its the short sightedness of employers

who seem to want bits of paper instead of actually wanting to see what an

applicant can do and maybe train them.

Universities should be there to teach complex stuff, but stuff which is

relevant. It needs to be funded by the people who can use the trained

people, not the poor student. If you just make it ability to pay, you get

the idiot rich kids in there, not the down to earth practical people you

need. This is why graduates have become a laugh. IE if you want a well

educated person with no common sense, employ a graduate.



I can't think of many things that makes me more angry than the way

successive governments have tried to completely **** up (and have

partly succeeded) higher education.



Not only have they devaluted it by allowing universities to offer

pointless courses such as the infamous media studies but they have

made degrees essential because everyone has one.



I totally agree with you, Brian, that we now have a system where it's

your wealth that is a more important factor for whether you can go to

university, rather than your intelligence.



AFAIK degrees in the UK (for the English) are now the least affordable

in the *whole world*, even compared to the USA[1]. A lot of the

brightest students are going to study abroad because it can be

actually cheaper. We are in danger is losing the best minds yet

again.



However good Universities and good degrees (Physics) still exist and

my son is about to start one. I hope we can afford for him to

complete it (and we're not poor).



[1] I can't recall the reference to the study but it was done *before*

the latest fee rises.


People keep saying you need to be rich to go to uni now, but I thought it was all on loans that needed no repaying until you earned 21 grand, and that were wiped out after so many years.
Is this true, or are there hidden costs than have to be payed up front ?
If its all on loans as described, is it just the fear of debt that is putting people off ?
If you go on and get a mortgage, the size of that loan would typically dwarf the student loan, and people are not scared of mortgage debt.
I suppose if you earned just over 21 grand maybe the repayments would be a problem.
What is the truth of the matter ?
Simon.

On Aug 17, 8:43*am, "Brian Gaff" wrote:
Are Universities really irrelevant though?

Yes. They made themselves irrelevant when they allowed the merge with
the polys. This devalued the average standing of a UK university to
that lowest common denominator.

I regularly see job adverts now where they aren't just asking for a
uni degree, they're asking for a degree from a redbrick. If you went
to Fulchester or Scumbag College, that doesn't count.

On 17/08/2012 11:17, Andy Dingley wrote:
On Aug 17, 8:38 am, stuart noble wrote:
Given how the media rules these days, the study of it is bound to become
an important discipline.

There's a big difference though between being Marshall McLuhan and
doing a Meeja Studies degree because you cocked up your A levels and
couldn't get in for accountancy.


There are good and bad courses in all disciplines, and centres of
excellence evolve over time. I can remember when Oxford Poly was THE
place to go for architecture- maybe it still is. I can also remember
when creative writing at East Anglia was a joke, and now I believe it's
damned near impossible to get a place.

In article
,
Andy Dingley wrote:
On Aug 17, 8:38 am, stuart noble wrote:
Given how the media rules these days, the study of it is bound to
become an important discipline.

There's a big difference though between being Marshall McLuhan and
doing a Meeja Studies degree because you cocked up your A levels and
couldn't get in for accountancy.

Those courses have been around for quite long enough to have at least
started to have an influence on TV etc. If they have, I can't say I've
noticed. Except that general standards have fallen - strange given the
equipment etc is so much easier to use these days. Which should leave
creativity free to flourish.

--
*Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

stuart noble wrote:
On 17/08/2012 11:17, Andy Dingley wrote:
On Aug 17, 8:38 am, stuart noble wrote:
Given how the media rules these days, the study of it is bound to become
an important discipline.

There's a big difference though between being Marshall McLuhan and
doing a Meeja Studies degree because you cocked up your A levels and
couldn't get in for accountancy.


There are good and bad courses in all disciplines, and centres of
excellence evolve over time. I can remember when Oxford Poly was THE
place to go for architecture- maybe it still is. I can also remember
when creative writing at East Anglia was a joke,

It still is. When used to create hockey stick graphs.

and now I believe it's
damned near impossible to get a place.


Hatfield Poly was THE best place to get qualified as a technical
practical person. That and Cranfield tech. Superb quality of output. But
they ere not graduates with an academic background. Arguably they were
more useful and more employable, yes, but they were of a different QUALITY.



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

"Tim Streater" wrote in message
...

8

And I did Physics in the 60s. We also had a year of Maths so we could do
the Physics. And that after doing the two Maths at A-level. I think it was
because the Pure Maths A-Level was *too* pure - we did too much geometry
like the 9-point circle that I've never heard of since.

It's also a worry when I recall that Uni was between 5 and 10 times harder
than A-Level.

I did physics in the '70s.
The maths was hard for me.

However despite designing electronic boards, networks, doing software and
firmware I haven't used any maths above what was O'level other than learning
hexadecimal and octal, which isn't really maths anyway.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article
,
Andy Dingley wrote:
On Aug 17, 8:38 am, stuart noble wrote:
Given how the media rules these days, the study of it is bound to
become an important discipline.

There's a big difference though between being Marshall McLuhan and
doing a Meeja Studies degree because you cocked up your A levels and
couldn't get in for accountancy.

Those courses have been around for quite long enough to have at least
started to have an influence on TV etc. If they have, I can't say I've
noticed. Except that general standards have fallen - strange given the
equipment etc is so much easier to use these days. Which should leave
creativity free to flourish.

100% of all the actual engineering I did commercially didn't need me to
go to university to obtain. At least 50% I got on an apprenticeship
course BUT the one thing that it did give me was to teach HOW to think
about problems and HOW to use tools to solve problems that had never
been solved before.

If you want to build a house, you don't do complex calculations on
material prosperities and extensive calculus: you look it all up in a
table of building practices.

And that's the difference between a technical and an academic education.
A technical education teaches you the wisdom of those who have been
befo An academic education teaches you how to add to that knowledge
yourself.

That is why you need probably only 5% of people to actually have that
sort of education.

--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

dennis@home wrote:


"Tim Streater" wrote in message
...

8

And I did Physics in the 60s. We also had a year of Maths so we could
do the Physics. And that after doing the two Maths at A-level. I think
it was because the Pure Maths A-Level was *too* pure - we did too much
geometry like the 9-point circle that I've never heard of since.

It's also a worry when I recall that Uni was between 5 and 10 times
harder than A-Level.

I did physics in the '70s.
The maths was hard for me.

However despite designing electronic boards, networks, doing software
and firmware I haven't used any maths above what was O'level other than
learning hexadecimal and octal, which isn't really maths anyway.

And boym does it show.


--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

In article
,
Andy Dingley wrote:
On Aug 17, 8:43 am, "Brian Gaff" wrote:
Are Universities really irrelevant though?

Yes. They made themselves irrelevant when they allowed the merge with
the polys.

I don't think "they" were responsible. It was a government decision.


This devalued the average standing of a UK university to that lowest
common denominator.

I regularly see job adverts now where they aren't just asking for a
uni degree, they're asking for a degree from a redbrick. If you went
to Fulchester or Scumbag College, that doesn't count.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

On 17/08/2012 11:21, Andy Dingley wrote:
On Aug 17, 8:43 am, "Brian Gaff" wrote:
Are Universities really irrelevant though?

Yes. They made themselves irrelevant when they allowed the merge with
the polys. This devalued the average standing of a UK university to
that lowest common denominator.

I regularly see job adverts now where they aren't just asking for a
uni degree, they're asking for a degree from a redbrick.

What about the pre-redbricks?

Colin Bignell

On 17/08/2012 13:31, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Hatfield Poly was THE best place to get qualified as a technical
practical person. That and Cranfield tech. Superb quality of output. But
they ere not graduates with an academic background. Arguably they were
more useful and more employable, yes, but they were of a different QUALITY.



Did Cranfield ever take undergraduates?

Andrew May wrote:
On 17/08/2012 13:31, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Hatfield Poly was THE best place to get qualified as a technical
practical person. That and Cranfield tech. Superb quality of output. But
they ere not graduates with an academic background. Arguably they were
more useful and more employable, yes, but they were of a different
QUALITY.



Did Cranfield ever take undergraduates?

Bugger. you may be right. Perhaps they never did.


--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.