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"you'll known this, (sneeringly derogatory as if my knowing it would confirm geek status)is the euro zone the same as the commonwealth"
somewhat baffled, i asked "in what way?"
youth "let me ask it another way - whats the difference between the euro zone and the eec?"
still a little baffled - "i believe the eec is all european countries that have signed up to freedom of movement of people between them and the abscence of trade tariffs etc while the euro zone is the countries that actually use the euro as their currency"
youth "hmmm. ok. whats the commonwealth then?"
me "have you ever watched the commonwealth games?"
youth "yeah and there aren't any european countries in it at all"
not only baffled but a little exasperated too "what countries are in it?"
youth "just a load of RANDOM ones"
after involuntary laughter (i'm a bit ashamed) i started on a brief spin through our imperialistic history which was greeted much like i imagine 8 year olds react to listening to harry potter being read out.
i don't know what to think to be honest.
somewhat baffled, i asked "in what way?"
youth "let me ask it another way - whats the difference between the euro zone and the eec?"
still a little baffled - "i believe the eec is all european countries that have signed up to freedom of movement of people between them and the abscence of trade tariffs etc while the euro zone is the countries that actually use the euro as their currency"
youth "hmmm. ok. whats the commonwealth then?"
me "have you ever watched the commonwealth games?"
youth "yeah and there aren't any european countries in it at all"
not only baffled but a little exasperated too "what countries are in it?"
youth "just a load of RANDOM ones"
after involuntary laughter (i'm a bit ashamed) i started on a brief spin through our imperialistic history which was greeted much like i imagine 8 year olds react to listening to harry potter being read out.
i don't know what to think to be honest.
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What course do you suppose he studied? Certainly not history.
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media studies
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morpteh mackem, what course did you study?
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a polytechnic student?
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i did geography
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I'm convinced it's folic acid. Pregnant women get a daily supplement which is about 5 times what you'd get in a normal diet. This is to prevent spina bifida, but too much causes brain changes in the developing foetus that have lifelong consequences.
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Lol, geography? so basically just colouring in
Before you say it, I do not study media studies |
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errr yes, colouring in , you must know a lot about the subject. may have changed a lot since 1986.
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Well yeah maybe, everybody got laughed at when they decided to take geography at GCSE/A level. It was the easy way out basically. Want a doss exam that anyone can get 100% in? take geography. Uhhhh, what's the capital of France????
Geography is just as bad as media studies |
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Actually the youth in the original post obviously didn't do geography either!
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sorry,forgot to add that we are narrowing it down a bit.
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what does the fact he went to uni have to do with anything? about as relevant as you saying 'a brown haired youth asked me today'...
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geography as a degree actually ranks very highly in terms of graduates who enter into a full time job within 6 months of finishing. human geography is a million miles away from the capitals of countries but you're obviously too much of a cretin to realise that. and before you ask, no I don't have a geography degree, I have a history degree. proper subject [;)]
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Well, I think you'd expect that someone who went to uni would have a greater knowledge of basic stuff, like the British commonwealth.
(whereas brown haired people would have the same knowledge as black or blonde haired people). |
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So you big up geography and then claim its not a proper subject? Fair enough. Please don't call me a cretin. He didn't mention Human geography and clearly that is nothing to do with capitals. I was going on what I learnt up to year 9 and what people who took it at GCSE/A level have told me. I haven't looked into what degree level geography entails and couldn't care less. By the way, I study Economics, proper subject
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Good point wur,I wonder what colour the youth's hair was?My money is on blonde!
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The best economists in the world can't even agree about the causes of the 'Great Depression'. It's the most unscientific 'science'.
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When I was at school economics was classed as an art rather than science subject,not trying to be argumentative.
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I have a friend who did a geography degree. He had a great time; always on field trips to exotic places. Has worked since surveying for the oil industry all over the world. Makes good money, but misses his family.
I don't know if it still the case but if you wanted to read, say, Philosophy, Politics and Sociology and major in philosophy as an undergrdauate at the LSE you had to sign up to do a BSc as opposed to a BA as you could elsewhere. Economists since Marx have been trying to tell us it's a science; if it was you would have thought they would worked it all out by now. |
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what sort of difficulty is sports development?
i ask because i know someone who has just got a 1st in it and i think he's a bit thick |
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Can you run? then you can get a 1st in sports science
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thought as much
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had 3 daughters go thru uni.....came out experts on wines ;lagers;and partying.
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bet they were ripped to shreds too
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im a bit shaky on this too. the commonwealth is england and all the countries they raped and pillaged a few centuries ago isnt it?
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A hell of a lot more students are going to university these days than 20 years ago....the bar would have to be lowered to achieve that. Even when I was at uni 20 years back I was amazed that fellow students could think 'our' was spelled 'are'.
I'm in two minds really, I see the point in teaching study over facts, but we seem to have reached a point where 'every argument has equal value' has become a nonsensical accepted credo. I had a lodger a couple of years ago who declared to me "I don't believe in steaming vegetables, it takes all the goodness out" and her entire basis for that view was that it was hers and she was entitled to it. |
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Incidentally, when I was at university there was a basic rule - if you studied arts you had to be intelligent to get a good degree and it didn't matter if you were lazy, and the reverse applied with sciences.
Now they all work much harder, and intelligence barely seems to be relevant. |
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floz, both my children are pretty bright (one Univ./one not).
I doubt if either of them have even heard of the Commonwealth. At least your student friend was brave enough to ask you what he didn't know. There is no shame in not knowing something that ceased to be relevant fifty years ago. |
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What do they imagine the Commonwealth Games are?
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What do they imagine the Commonwealth Games are?
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What I'm driving at, is that a reasonably curious mind, would by age of 16 or so have enquired what the commonwealth in the commonwealth games referred to even if they had no interest in politics, and their school had forgotten to teach them any history.
If they've no interest in sport then fair enough, but that doesn't excuse their school from failing to teach such a basic historical/political fact. |
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olympics sans le good teams
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but sparky he HAD tried !!!
He watched the Games and tried to find a pattern to explain which countries had qualified. If you had not studied History they are indeed a "random" selection of countries ! I told my daughter about the Empire on which the sun never set. Nationalism is a defunct concept in the modern border-less world. We were proud of it when I was at school. Now they are supposed to be ashamed of it. Easier to drop it from the syllabus and do A Level Kate Moss, or some such. |
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In a thousand years time the history and geography of the areas we know now will not exist/be common knowledge. It doesn't happen overnight, its is a gradual process. We are in the first few years of it. It's negligible to the person you spoke to.
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I'm not arguing that schools teach enough history, quite the opposite. But there's a test match recommencing tomorrow. A quick google search will tell anyone why. Learning is a partnership between teacher and student, if the student doesn't want to know it will always fail.
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If it's regarded as relevant. You can't expect young people to know stuff that you regard as important. Everything has a shelf life regards human interest/importance.
You are just being woken up to it with your surprise that what you know isn't all that important. Old cliche - time moves on. |
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When i say you, i obviously mean we.
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or 'one'
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