From one generation to another…
Tuesday 7th September 2010, 6:00AM BST.
Letter: Judging by the exam results, British youngsters are getting more intelligent every year. This is most gratifying but I’m afraid I have some nagging doubts.
Why am I rarely impressed when I listen to them talking among themselves? Their language is often crude, to put it mildly.
Why do I rarely see them reading a quality daily newspaper or one of the serious weeklies? On trains and buses, why do I rarely see them reading a book? When I do, it is invariably rubbish, like Dan Brown or a children’s book.
Why do they seem to ask of music only a loud noise and surface excitement?
Some of the music of my generation was loud but it included Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Charlie Parker, not to mention Beethoven and Stravinsky.
Why, when at university, do many of them have to be sent on remedial courses to learn the basics of grammar?
Why are academics always complaining that students don’t always recognise well known literary and historical allusions? It’s because they don’t read enough.
Why are employers complaining school leavers can’t spell and punctuate correctly and can’t concoct a letter? And so on . . .
It’s not young people’s fault of course, but today they are not educated: they are trained to pass exams.
Of course education should prepare people for work and to become well informed, responsible citizens, but we must also not forget what Aristotle claimed to be the main reason for education – to make a noble use of our leisure.
Education should also be a lifelong endeavour. It shouldn’t stop at 16, 18 or 22. Intellectual curiosity keeps you young.
Sidney Evans
Chirk
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So true. I don’t need to add anything else.
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I’m eighteen and start university in a month or so, and couldn’t agree more with the sentiments here. As a musician too it makes me a little depressed to see how the state of today’s music industry, which makes it impossible for the next Charles Mingus or Benny Goodman to reach any degree of fame- virtuostic talent has generally been altogether rejected in favour of something which is not necessarily always entirely bad, but far simpler and more marketable. Such a shame.
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As you obviously consider yourself to have ‘interllectual curiosity’ surely you should realise that ALL people have something positive to offer.
Just because some people are not grammatically accurate, have different tastes in music and literature and different views.
Wouldn’t it be exciting if we all read the same newspapers and books, had the same hobbies and education and wished it was 1945 all over again. I think not.
We are a varied and diverse country – always have been. Always will be.
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look out everybody it’s a sweeping generalisation!
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You would think that someone with so much intellectual curiosity would have learned to make less of these!
In some ways I agree with the end sentiment that pupils seem to be trained to pass exams, however I feel the rest of the letter is unnecessary!
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A view in UK 2010 you can have but will be ignored as being negative.Although can all people hand on heart that the pupils fully understand the subject? or have we trained them very well in passing exams as stated?? it would be interesting to see how many can get in and stay in the chosen career they have trained for and passed exams for and if they leave it was it due to not wishing to do it or couldn’t do it .
Proof is when it comes to doing the job they have trained for , if they can do it who cares about poor spelling??. I have yet to read a clear Dr’s note with out getting a second opinion as to what it says.
However now we have , calculators, spell check, email, very few letters are now hand written, music is down to choice as is peoples choice of media publication most though is made up any way.
EXCUSE MY BAD SPELLING PUNCTUATION I WENT TO SCHOOL IN THE 70′S WHEN MOST TEACHERS THREW A BOOK ON THE TABLE AND SAID COPY PAGE 2-8 .
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People say that exams are not easier nowadays than they were say 30 years ago. If that is the case how come there are so many thick teenagers about? I can remember the days when exams results were not headline news. Now it seems the media goes way over-the-top every year when the results are published.
It’s just political nowadays.
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Of course exams have got easier. when I took A levels 40 years ago it was expected that only 10% of the year would be able to pass them and go on to university. Now we expect 40% to do so.
But does it matter? Surely it is what the exams are for that matters? The purpose of exams has changed from testing whether the students are suitable for certain career and educational choices to testing the schools for meaningless managerial performance indicators and political ideology.
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the reason you rarely see under 30′s with a book, is because either they read at home, where they have peace and quiet, or they read the information on their phones.
I’m often browsing the internet for random information. reading the news on the bbc web site, or on here.
You no longer have to have paper to make you an intelligent looking person.
I will admitt that the invent of the mobile phone has made even the most intelligent 20 year old resort to basic grammer, and abreivations that would make any teacher ashamed. but its no longer how people write. but what they write.
all because you don’t see young people debate in the street. it doesn’t mean their minds aren’t working.
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