Not amuth'd

EducationGuardian.co.uk | comment | We are not amuth'd
Here's a lovely piece by the always entertaining John Sutherland. It is distressing that so much unintelligible gibberish gets passed off as learned criticism these days. I always pass on to students the words of Nobel-winning scientist Peter Medawar:
"No-one who sincerely believes he has something important to say will willingly run the risk of being misunderstood."
If only they all followed that advice...

The cheating epidemic

Telegraph | Education | I cheat us all by doing my pupils' work
Most people who work in education are aware of the situation described here. It's now reaching epidemic proportions. I'm coming across more and more undergraduates with apparently good A levels who flounder hopelessly when asked to take part in any kind of academic discourse. What's worse, the culture of target setting and league tables is creeping into HE. Already there are worrying signs of declining standards, and increasingly bizarre methods of coping with the Google generation, who just don't "get" plagiarism.
We may just have to rethink the whole process of assessment before grades become utterly meaningless.

History matters

The Observer | Review | The future's in the past
Here's a marvellous piece by the ridiculously multi-talented Stephen Fry on the importance of History. Should be compulsory reading for all with any influence on education policy.