Spot The Student

Some of my lectures and seminars have been so empty that it’s either down to an outbreak of plague or the students just feel that attending is a low priority option. One lecturer did suggest to me that this was all down to the impending Easter Holiday. That appears to be enough of an excuse for many of my peer group. But why?

This week isn’t all that unique where attendance at seminars and lectures is concerned. Many times I’ve walked into a room or lecture theatre and wondered where everyone is. Part of the answer may be the fact that the first year of our university education will NOT count towards our final mark. I overheard one student saying: “This year I’m taking the P***. Next year I’ll do some work.” If the first year of university is not deemed important enough to count towards the final degree mark then, perhaps, it shouldn’t exist at all. Instead, we might have a two year course. It would be cheaper, shorter and still contain the marked elements that contribute to our final mark.

It does seem to me that many of my fellow students don’t take their first year seriously. They may well have the right idea. What benefit does a student derive from working hard during the first year? Those students who rarely attend lectures and seminars appear to get away with it. Students who never take notes, complete seminar pre-work or attempt to contribute don’t seem to suffer for it. So the real question is why should I put myself out when they don’t?

Answering my own question is pretty straightforward. I’m at university to learn and to put that learning to commercial use. I’m motivated to get the most from my course and to put what I learn into practise. I want to squeeze the university to get the most value for my money. I could just sit back and do little or nothing, but then I wouldn’t be able to justify to myself the costs involved. Or the time I am dedicating to my course.

It’s important that a serious student should not consider the opinions or attitudes of what appears to be a majority of ‘slackers’. Let them waste their time and money. Let them fritter away a golden opportunity. My advice would be to ignore the ‘slackers’ and keep on learning, working and improving yourself and your prospects.

Why Did I Go To University?

My reasons for attending university were a mixture of personal, financial and aspirational. One of those reasons was the hope that I’d encounter an eclectic group of people who would open my eyes to new opinions and attitudes. People who would aid me in broadening my intellectual horizons.

For the most part this has not been the case. The majority apparently being obsessed with celebrities, excessive drinking, nights out and “fun”. Not what I would call suitable subjects for intellectual discourse.

There are a few diamonds amongst the student body of the University of Lincoln. I won’t name them, as I would not want to cause them any upset at being selected for praise, but they are worth talking to.

One of these diamonds is a young man hailing from the same part of North London that I once called home. We do not agree on practically every subject imaginable. But he is capable of holding his own in a debate, of presenting his opinions clearly and concisely and demonstrates that he has acquired real knowledge. He also has the strength of character to argue his case in the face of my own vitriolic style of delivery.

Another diamond, or to put it more accurately a group of diamonds, is a small group of Dutch students. They stand out like pearls in a bucket of pig swill. Their opinions on our academic work, the British and everything else are uniquely their own. They say that travel broadens the mind but here I am able to broaden my mind just by talking to this small group. They have struck me as having a real interest in what they are doing and a desire to learn. The fact that they are Dutch puts an interesting spin on what they have to say for themselves. Most unlike many of the British students I encounter.

Perhaps I am being unfair to the majority of my peer group? Possibly the fact that I am a mature student puts them off from conversing with me? Or maybe, just maybe, it’s all down to the fact that they are the products of an educational system that seems to have failed so many. The potential of these young people is there it just hasn’t been realised.

Martin Bell Lecture

Last Tuesday I was lucky enough to attend a short lecture given by Martin Bell. That’s the Martin Bell who once graced our screens on the evening news reporting from war zones like Bosnia and the same Martin Bell who defeated Neil Hamilton and became the first independent MP since 1951.

Mr Bell’s speech was built around the death of news. The withdrawal of journalists from the real world. He was particularly scathing of what he termed “rooftop journalism”. Referring to the coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Mr Bell said: “They (the journalists) don’t know what’s going on.”

Mr Bell spoke of his own experiences as a journalist working in war zones. His advice was that to truly understand the situation you needed to cover the conflict from amongst the people. Get amongst the action and meet with the key players of the conflict. And yes, that meant the “bad” guys as well as the “good” guys. Something that I feel current Western governments would disapprove of given their desire to control the media.

Obviously there’s a risk in this for the journalist and for those around them. But the alternative is a journalistic world where the news stories are drip fed to the journalists and those stories are decided on by the military and our governments. We might as well not have any journalists in war zones if all they do is cover just one side of the conflict, repeating the government line to the masses.

Perhaps the rise of citizen journalists, through the medium of Blogging, is the only answer to the current situation we find ourselves in. Real people, on the ground in a conflict zone, are the witnesses to real events. Although not trained, or backed by global news organs, they may be the nearest we can get to the old ideal of the war correspondent.

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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