The Cambridge Chat Thread

generalebriety

Who said that? :s-smilie:

I can't say I support that attitude.

Athena (I'm not blaming her, as I said before I've heard a few people say the same kind of thing that was just what I had close to hand as it was the other day when the thing happened).

Reply 1501

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6814187.ece :smile:

leala4628

Just people have been calling it an ''easy'' subject which is pointless (as in you might as well just do the full degree in the subject you're studying with education) and they seem to think you can only be a teacher with it...

Well... ok. They're wrong. *shrugs*

For what it's worth, I'd love to study education. I'd also quite like to be a teacher, but that's only a consequence of the fact that I'd like to study education, not the other way round. :p:

Reply 1502

fumblewomble

2

abstraction98

ta

Reply 1503

alex_hk90

19

leala4628

I've just convinced myself that Education is the right degree for me despite all the criticism I get on here for it and now I'm not so sure. I love the idea of Education but no matter how much I respect it, if employers in the ''real world'' have the same attitude to it as people I've met (or heard from on here :rolleyes:

) I could be in trouble :frown:

It is a very small subset of employers who will have that attitude.
And surely you are guaranteed a job as a teacher if you want it anyway? :smile:

Reply 1504

generalebriety

Well... ok. They're wrong. *shrugs*

For what it's worth, I'd love to study education. I'd also quite like to be a teacher, but that's only a consequence of the fact that I'd like to study education, not the other way round. :p:

There are very few subjects I wouldn't like to study, in comparison to those I would.

And, as 'Last lecture's' Randy Paulsch says, enabling the childhood dreams of others is far cooler than achieving your own.

Reply 1505

Scipio90

abstraction98

. I actually thought it was very well written, eye opening and well researched. The fact he took the piss out of himself made it far more indearing too.

I only read The Times for the comment section and the quick crossword..

The main highlight of the Times on saturdays for me is the bit where pedantic people write in to complain about grammar.

I always keep telling myself that one day I'm going to actually bother to learn how to do cryptic crosswords, but until then I'll stick to sudoku.

Reply 1506

leala4628

Athena (I'm not blaming her, as I said before I've heard a few people say the same kind of thing that was just what I had close to hand as it was the other day when the thing happened).

Ugh. I hadn't seen that post.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who has any connection to the university can come here. It helps if you're already at the university or have been there (just because it makes it easier for us all to talk about the same sort of thing), but I see no reason why freshers-to-be can't be here too. Athena has about as much right as you do in here - it's very easy for a mod to give themselves 'special permission' to post somewhere, but in reality she's not at Cambridge yet either, so if she can post here, so can other students that are coming up next term. I'd never stop either of you.

Reply 1507

generalebriety

Well... ok. They're wrong. *shrugs*

For what it's worth, I'd love to study education. I'd also quite like to be a teacher, but that's only a consequence of the fact that I'd like to study education, not the other way round. :p:

It doesn't help that there's an out of date article floating around the internet about when Education was first introduced as a BA saying that many heads of departments in Cambridge were against its introduction. This was because offers were going to be lower than AAA etc.

Reply 1508

alex_hk90

It is a very small subset of employers who will have that attitude.
And surely you are guaranteed a job as a teacher if you want it anyway? :smile:

I suppose so if I take a PGCE. I'd really like to go into research though so it stands me in good stead for that (unless I decide I would rather do research in economics or something more technical :s-smilie:

)

Reply 1509

generalebriety

Ugh. I hadn't seen that post.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who has any connection to the university can come here. It helps if you're already at the university or have been there (just because it makes it easier for us all to talk about the same sort of thing), but I see no reason why freshers-to-be can't be here too. Athena has about as much right as you do in here - it's very easy for a mod to give themselves 'special permission' to post somewhere, but in reality she's not at Cambridge yet either, so if she can post here, so can other students that are coming up next term. I'd never stop either of you.

I thought it was quite a good way to get to know everyone. Most people have been friendly to us freshers even when we were only offer holders :yep:

This is the article which should be taken off the internet:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=92246&sectioncode=26

Reply 1510

abstraction98

There are very few subjects I wouldn't like to study, in comparison to those I would.

I certainly don't feel that. I'd love to know about Chinese history, or politics, or economics, or geography, or biology, but I'd hate to actually study them. Probably because I feel I'd be rubbish at them. There's very few things I'd love to study; one of them is my own course (maths), and others include closely related sciences (chemistry theoretical physics), linguistics and languages (purely being able to speak them, sod literature/culture/history), philosophy, psychology and education.

Reply 1511

Scipio90

The main highlight of the Times on saturdays for me is the bit where pedantic people write in to complain about grammar.

I always keep telling myself that one day I'm going to actually bother to learn how to do cryptic crosswords, but until then I'll stick to sudoku.

Yeh, the letters on the bottom right are quite funny too.

I think Newspapers have a massive edge over the BBC (or any news channel/institute) in that they actually give relatively informed opinions. On the BBC we get the facts, but never an educated view. For instance, when BBC Scotland reported the Lockerbie fiasco recently (in which I may add, I feel the right decision was made) what happens? Do we get a discussion with a top lawyer, academic, criminologist or expert in the subject? No. We trawl the streets of Glasgow and ask for the layman's opinion, which is 9 times out of 10 completely ill thought and meaningless.

At least in a newspaper, they've done their homework and thought about it for more than ten seconds.

With respect to cryptic crosswords, I tried the other day to learn them. I got one or two clues here and there, but god it's a bitch.

Reply 1512

leala4628

I thought it was quite a good way to get to know everyone. Most people have been friendly to us freshers even when we were only offer holders :yep:

This is the article which should be taken off the internet:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=92246&sectioncode=26

"The proposed tripos would lead to a BA degree and a big issue in the debate is whether it is appropriate for a student qualifying from a teacher training college, albeit an outstanding one, to be awarded a Cambridge BA."

:eek:

Reply 1513

generalebriety

I certainly don't feel that. I'd love to know about Chinese history, or politics, or economics, or geography, or biology, but I'd hate to actually study them. Probably because I feel I'd be rubbish at them. There's very few things I'd love to study; one of them is my own course (maths), and others include closely related sciences (chemistry theoretical physics), linguistics and languages (purely being able to speak them, sod literature/culture/history), philosophy, psychology and education.

That's a wise distinction - I stand corrected.

Mine are similar. I'd love to do maths but never really had the raw talent or teaching to do so. I love science, but of recent have thinking I would love to do some political things. Philosophy would be awesome too.

Reply 1514

generalebriety

Ugh. I hadn't seen that post.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who has any connection to the university can come here. It helps if you're already at the university or have been there (just because it makes it easier for us all to talk about the same sort of thing), but I see no reason why freshers-to-be can't be here too. Athena has about as much right as you do in here - it's very easy for a mod to give themselves 'special permission' to post somewhere, but in reality she's not at Cambridge yet either, so if she can post here, so can other students that are coming up next term. I'd never stop either of you.

Knew I should have applied to Selwyn :tongue:

Reply 1515

I felt a huge sense of having to 'let go' of certain subject the other day. Things like RS, Economics and Maths (to a certain extent) which I would love to study in depth. I understand that I can still learn about them if I wish...

I also wish I understood politics.

Reply 1516

generalebriety

"The proposed tripos would lead to a BA degree and a big issue in the debate is whether it is appropriate for a student qualifying from a teacher training college, albeit an outstanding one, to be awarded a Cambridge BA."

:eek:

I know!! They're treating it as though you don't have to learn anything in it :frown:

Reply 1517

fumblewomble

2

leala4628

I felt a huge sense of having to 'let go' of certain subject the other day. Things like RS, Economics and Maths (to a certain extent) which I would love to study in depth. I understand that I can still learn about them if I wish...

I also wish I understood politics.

One of the huge advantages of the Cambridge collegiate system is that you'll have friends who are studying all these subjects and will learn a lot from them informally.

Reply 1518

abstraction98

That's a wise distinction - I stand corrected.

Mine are similar. I'd love to do maths but never really had the raw talent or teaching to do so. I love science, but of recent have thinking I would love to do some political things. Philosophy would be awesome too.

Mmm. I mean, as a mathmo, and someone with an appalling reading speed and pathetic attention span, I'm very naturally slightly scared of essay subjects, despite being perfectly literate and not all that bad at essays (at least, to a school level). The problem is that I know I'd do well when I was studying things I cared about, but anything else I would simply not get round to doing.

abstraction98

Knew I should have applied to Selwyn :tongue:

You're missing out. We also have better formals than you from what I remember, which might not be accurate. :p:

Reply 1519