Burning Your Tax Pounds With Glee

My team (a subset of my seminar group) in the Introduction to Advertising unit will be making its first presentation on Monday. In fact I’m writing this while taking a break from preparing the presentation itself. 

On Thursday (25/02/10) we had a team meeting. It was very interesting for me, especially as it was the first team meeting at which I’d managed to get all the members together. Until recently the team had consisted of only three people, including myself.

The meeting was held to discuss the plan of the presentation and the fact that I’d be sending out the presentation slides and scripts Saturday morning so the others could read it through and practice. Even ask questions if they wanted before the big day.

One issue from this meeting really left me wondering. Someone asked how long the presentation was meant to last. The answer is 20 minutes. I knew this but didn’t say so because I had become very suspicious of my team members. None of the other three could answer this question. Does this mean that none of them have even read the briefing for this task? I fear that might well be the case.

I am less than confident of this task. I have considered just making the presentation myself but I’m certain the tutors etc would not be keen on that. After all, it is meant to be a team assignment.

Another observation I would make is that there seems to be a definite lack of enthusiasm or eagerness in my seminar group as well as my assignment team for the Introduction to Advertising unit. I’ve noticed the following kinds of behaviours in the seminars.

• Girly giggling (mainly from the boys).
• Doodling instead of taking notes.
• Fiddling with mobile phones, sending texts etc.
• Fiddling with laptops.
• Holding conversations whilst the tutor is trying to speak, very ignorant behaviour.
• Total disinterest in answering questions.
• Obvious complete lack of preparation for the seminar (no evidence of prior written notes or having completed set tasks).
• Little willingness to take part in the seminar process or make a positive contribution.

The lectures are often punctuated with the lecturer inquiring what students are doing as they’re pretty obviously not paying any attention to what she’s saying.

Does this truly represent value for money for the taxpayers? Remember that students only fund part of their fees. The government, using your hard earned cash, pays the rest. If what I am seeing is common throughout the UK then the taxpayer is getting a particularly raw deal. I fear that a great deal of money and resources are being wasted on what I can only describe as EDUCARE instead of education.

How long can this continue?

Peter Day - Inspiring a Jaded Mature Student

I have to confess that the lack of commitment, passion or interest exhibited by many of my fellow students has left me feeling appalled. Sometimes I feel like grabbing them by the throat and shaking them until they rattle in a vain attempt to wake them up. Enthusiasm is just another word they cannot spell or understand. But today I had an experience that reminded me why I wanted to go to university.

I sneakily arranged to attend a lecture given by Peter Day, the Radio 4 presenter of “In Business”. It was arranged by the Public Relations course but, thanks to being tipped off by a helpful university staff member, I was able to attend. 

The lecture was ostensibly concerned with Public Relations. Peter Day approached the subject from a different viewpoint. The viewpoint of a journalist who is, if he’s not careful, deluged with Press Releases and Public Relations people who are desperate to push their clients products and services.

His lecture was amusing, entertaining and enlightening. He offered us a view of the world from his own unique perspective. I was inspired.

A Jaw Dropping Experience

Earlier today I was approached by a student who is also on the Advertising and Journalism BA course. They asked me what we'd been doing in the lectures. I soon discovered that this young person had failed to attend any of the lectures and seminars for the Introduction to Advertising unit. My attempt to discover why they'd not been at the lectures and seminars failed to elicit a coherent response.  

I advised this person that they'd better see the lecturer pronto as we begin the assessment presentations on Monday. I also recommended that they find some meaningful reasons for their unexplained absences. The lecturer in question is already doing her utmost to induce the students to attend her lectures and is unlikely to be forgiving of someone who just hasn’t bothered to turn up. It hardly demonstrates a serious commitment to the course.

Frankly, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Surely such a lack of attendance should have attracted the attention of the university authorities? I was under the impression that failing to attend three lectures/seminars in a row would result in a warning letter being sent out (both to the student and the student’s parents). Maybe the university authorities are reticent to pull the plug on slacker students as it might hurt the university financially?

This kind of behaviour doesn’t do anyone any favours. If it is prevalent amongst the student body then the damage that could be inflicted on the university’s reputation would also affect those studying with the university. But what would happen if the university authorities started a crackdown? How many of these ersatz students would just throw in the towel and leave? Would that be a bad thing in the long run? Especially if it led to a rise in the quality of the student body?

The Carpet Inspectors

As a mature student (42 years old) I remember that those who were lucky enough to go to university were seen as the crème de la crème. It was explained to us at a school lecture (Kingsmead Secondary Modern, Enfield, London or Middlesex if you’re a pedant). We were assembled for a talk about our academic and working futures. There it was explained that the top 20% of us would be good enough to take O Level exams. That the top 10% of us would be good enough to take A Level exams and that only the top 5% of us would go onto university or polytechnic. It was also stressed that marking for O and A Levels was very much based on the quality of the students taking those exams. So if our year was blessed with lots of smart people who got higher marks than normal then the bar would be raised for each of the passing grades. That meant that, for example, only the very best stood a chance of gaining an A grade. Perhaps this was a trifle unfair but it ensured quality levels were maintained.

I think it is a distinct pity that this is not the case today.

I have been attending the University of Lincoln since last September. Some of my fellow students have impressed me. “Some” should actually be translated into “very few”. Many of my fellow students don’t appear to want to be at university at all. They show little enthusiasm for their work and many think attending lectures and seminars is purely voluntary. Some of my lectures are attracting a paltry 50% attendance rate. When students do attend lectures and seminars it’s pretty obvious that it’s purely on sufferance.

In some lectures the vast majority seem more concerned with their own conversations than the efforts of the lecturer to teach. At times it sounds like a meeting of baboons rather than an undergraduate lecture. Remember that I’m not talking about 11 year olds here but supposedly intelligent undergraduates. The fact that many of these students “hide” at the back of the lecture theatres is also indicative of their desire to avoid the discomfort of learning.

Seminars, for those who don’t know, are sessions where the students can interact together and with their seminar tutor. It’s a chance to exchange ideas, put forth opinions and explore the subject together. A great learning opportunity. Except it often isn’t. What you actually get is “Carpet Inspectors”. Students who, when presented with a chance to answer a question or put forward an opinion, become experts in gazing downward at the carpet. We are also meant to prepare for our seminars. Reading set texts, doing a bit of research or even answering questions. The evidence to date is that many of my peers never do this. Probably it gets in the way of their so important social lives!

All this seems insane to me. Here they are at university. Getting into debt, investing their precious time and for what? The chance to get drunk, have sex and what else? Because, for many of my fellow students, learning isn’t on the curriculum. The fact they are being offered fantastic learning opportunities just passes them by without impinging on their little worlds.

Don’t think that the Lecturers and Tutors aren’t aware of the situation concerning attendance, attitude and commitment. Those who I have spoken to are as unimpressed with my peers as I am. I fear that this is all a result of Tony Blair’s dream of driving up the numbers of people who hold degrees. This foolish idea isn’t just driving up the numbers attending university. It’s also driving down the quality as well.

PS. I am, unfortunately, in a group project for my Advertising unit. My fellow team members don’t exactly impress me. One of my fellow team members has managed to get some research to me and it’s only a whole week late. Fantastic (sic). I couldn’t wait and have already done the work myself.

PPS. I’m glad I’m not a parent of one of these “students”. I’d be livid to think that drinking, fun, sex etc are pushing education into fourth or fifth spot. What a waste of someone’s money!

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