Is it time to shut down Oxford & Cambridge?

Lady Comstock

And turn them into museums and/or shopping centres?

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No.

Of course not, and that's from an ex-poly student

Reply 3

Arcane1729

this is a silly thread

Reply 4

Vae

Shopping... centres?

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 5

Ndella

You're going to get killed :s-smilie:

Reply 6

überambitious_ox

Original post by Lady Comstock

And turn them into museums and/or shopping centres?

NEVER!! Why on earth would yo do that?!

I aspire to study at Oxford after I finish this degree.

Reply 7

martin jol

turn all the toffs into waxworks so the proles can come and have their pictures taken with them

Reply 8

Alfissti

Original post by Lady Comstock

And turn them into museums and/or shopping centres?

You're being an unfunny :troll:

Reply 9

Octohedral

Yes, why not get rid of our most internationally renowned world class research universities? All the academics could be re-employed as Primark counter assistants.

And whilst we're at it, why in 600 years has nobody thought of updating those nasty damp stone buildings? Plexiglass? :tongue:

Reply 10

nulli tertius

Original post by Octohedral

If you look at most colleges' history you will see that very few of the buildings are as old as their style suggests.

Oxbridge colleges have always evolved. The last major visible change was going mixed but other more subtle changes occur over time. In the last 30 years there has been the virtual extinction of the live in academic. Apart from heads of houses (masters/rectors/presidents etc) virtually no academic lives in college. In the next 30 years I suspect we will see the loss of the undergraduate living in the main quads and courts of most colleges. Increasingly quad rooms will be given over to teaching rooms and administration and it will seem quite quaint that those rooms were once occupied by students.

Reply 11

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Well, you can shut down Cambridge if you like. Filthy Tabs :nothing:

Reply 12

Octohedral

Original post by nulli tertius

I know, I was being a bit facetious. :tongue:

It's a shame in some ways. My tutor was there in the 70s, and he said they used to have to wear sub fusc and gowns to tutorials. I can see why they changed it, but most people I know want at least some of the old systems back.

I think it's reached the point where things are seen as 'tradition' though - I don't think they'll move undergraduates out that quickly, not least because they would have to provide other halls for first years, but I agree it would be a natural progression.

Nay

Why?

Original post by Octohedral

most people I know want at least some of the old systems back.

That of itself is a change. Undergrads are now a lot more small "c" conservative than they were 30-40 years ago.

Reply 16

Noble.

Shut down Oxford and Cambridge? Where are people supposed to get a proper education from? :teehee:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 17

Octohedral

Original post by nulli tertius

That of itself is a change. Undergrads are now a lot more small "c" conservative than they were 30-40 years ago.

Yep. Possibly a slightly rose-tinted view, but I think people like the idea of a closed community, particularly if they never went to boarding school (and grew up with Harry Potter).

I guess that now we have the 'Oxford dream' rather than the 'oh my god I thought I'd got out of public school but here I am again' or 'end the elitism' mentalities.

Apparently there was a survey on whether we should wear gowns for exams a few years ago, and 90% of state school students said yes, compared to 60% of private school students, but that may be a total myth.

Reply 18

nulli tertius

Original post by Octohedral

Yep. Possibly a slightly rose-tinted view, but I think people like the idea of a closed community, particularly if they never went to boarding school (and grew up with Harry Potter).

You may well be right about the Harry Potter effect.