Comments on: Dumber and Dumber http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/2011/03/24/dumber-and-dumber/ freelance writing by a freelance writer that works in the freelance writing field Sat, 19 May 2012 09:11:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mark http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/2011/03/24/dumber-and-dumber/comment-page-1/#comment-14516 Mark Sun, 01 May 2011 21:30:46 +0000 http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/?p=2058#comment-14516 Hi Susan, Always checking belated comments, which are just as welcome! Thanks for this verification that I'm not just a grumpy ol' bugger who doesn't understand the "yoof" of today. I take my hat off to you that you've stuck the course for this long. It must have been pretty demoralising watching things go so awry. Hope you enjoy being out of it all. Mark Hi Susan,

Always checking belated comments, which are just as welcome! Thanks for this verification that I’m not just a grumpy ol’ bugger who doesn’t understand the “yoof” of today. I take my hat off to you that you’ve stuck the course for this long. It must have been pretty demoralising watching things go so awry. Hope you enjoy being out of it all.

Mark

]]> By: Susan http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/2011/03/24/dumber-and-dumber/comment-page-1/#comment-14513 Susan Sun, 01 May 2011 07:00:39 +0000 http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/?p=2058#comment-14513 Interesting - but no surprise. I have been an academic since 1984 - fortunately coming to the end of this career - and I have witnessed the downhill slide of language abilities - as well as critical thinking. As well as this, with tertiary education being seen as a 'commodity' and students as 'customers', it is no leap to claim that 'the customer is always right' and students get what they want: as little work as possible to intrude on their social lives, and grades that they demand from professors. The universities tend to back up students' claims (they want good reviews) and so individual academics have little chance but to go with the flow. Very sad. Poor students can't even think straight... Interesting – but no surprise. I have been an academic since 1984 – fortunately coming to the end of this career – and I have witnessed the downhill slide of language abilities – as well as critical thinking. As well as this, with tertiary education being seen as a ‘commodity’ and students as ‘customers’, it is no leap to claim that ‘the customer is always right’ and students get what they want: as little work as possible to intrude on their social lives, and grades that they demand from professors. The universities tend to back up students’ claims (they want good reviews) and so individual academics have little chance but to go with the flow. Very sad. Poor students can’t even think straight…

]]> By: Mark http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/2011/03/24/dumber-and-dumber/comment-page-1/#comment-14429 Mark Sat, 26 Mar 2011 16:19:31 +0000 http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/?p=2058#comment-14429 Jude, Congratulations on your new appointment! And job well done on your blog. What I really liked was your honesty. This is truly what a blog is all about. It is, after all, a web log, which I take to be similar to a personal online journal. By that definition, most blogs aren't true blogs. It takes a lot of bravery to log the events of one's life, not knowing who may tune in to read them. Keep on making waves, Jude. It shows your life is under way. Mark Jude,

Congratulations on your new appointment! And job well done on your blog. What I really liked was your honesty. This is truly what a blog is all about. It is, after all, a web log, which I take to be similar to a personal online journal. By that definition, most blogs aren’t true blogs. It takes a lot of bravery to log the events of one’s life, not knowing who may tune in to read them. Keep on making waves, Jude. It shows your life is under way.

Mark

]]> By: Mark http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/2011/03/24/dumber-and-dumber/comment-page-1/#comment-14428 Mark Sat, 26 Mar 2011 14:25:12 +0000 http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/?p=2058#comment-14428 George, even the less frightening scenario isn't great: give it a couple of years and this Masterful individual could be educating the next generation of "learners". The stoop is making a comeback. Another 100 years: knuckles on the ground again. Jude, thanks, I am just about to check out your site for a backup dose of sanity. I wish it were just the teachers - you could simply sack the bad ones. Unfortunately, they are only toeing the government line. That's why, after my teacher training, I never went back into another school. Heading into teaching at 40, as I was then, is just too old. I was literally "old school" and simply couldn't adjust to the car-crash that passes for British education nowadays. George, even the less frightening scenario isn’t great: give it a couple of years and this Masterful individual could be educating the next generation of “learners”. The stoop is making a comeback. Another 100 years: knuckles on the ground again.

Jude, thanks, I am just about to check out your site for a backup dose of sanity. I wish it were just the teachers – you could simply sack the bad ones. Unfortunately, they are only toeing the government line. That’s why, after my teacher training, I never went back into another school. Heading into teaching at 40, as I was then, is just too old. I was literally “old school” and simply couldn’t adjust to the car-crash that passes for British education nowadays.

]]> By: Judy Hackett http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/2011/03/24/dumber-and-dumber/comment-page-1/#comment-14425 Judy Hackett Fri, 25 Mar 2011 23:18:40 +0000 http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/?p=2058#comment-14425 Ouch! Yes that did hurt. I feel quite sad for those students who have been deceived by their teachers. How will they cope emotionally if they haven't done the hard yards of knockbacks and been faced with our imperfect world. Yes, as I mentioned in my Blog...an awful lot of Gobbledygook happens today. Jude Ouch! Yes that did hurt. I feel quite sad for those students who have been deceived by their teachers. How will they cope emotionally if they haven’t done the hard yards of knockbacks and been faced with our imperfect world. Yes, as I mentioned in my Blog…an awful lot of Gobbledygook happens today.
Jude

]]> By: George Angus http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/2011/03/24/dumber-and-dumber/comment-page-1/#comment-14420 George Angus Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:04:18 +0000 http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/?p=2058#comment-14420 Mark, That was painful to read. And the sad thing is that they are probably going to make a gazillion dollars a year writing bureaucratic regulations or policy for some government organization (they know talent when they see it). Sad. George Mark,

That was painful to read. And the sad thing is that they are probably going to make a gazillion dollars a year writing bureaucratic regulations or policy for some government organization (they know talent when they see it).

Sad.

George

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