All entries for Friday 11 June 2004

Merlin the Stunt–cat

This is my cat "Merlin" jumping through his hoop. My husband taught him this and he's actually famous for it. This picture was once shown and talked about on BBC's Breakfast show with Natasha and Dermot. Whahoo! I emailed it in, in response to the presenters going on about some cat that could get the post or something. My cat tops that. Dermot particularly liked the photo and promised the audience that it's not a fake.

Joanna Jameson : 11 Jun 2004 18:39 |  Tags: My Cats |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The arts in higher education

Writing about First idea for a PhD proposal from Transversality - Robert O'Toole

These thoughts are sort of jumbled, so bear with me here…

Where do you stand on the issue of the erosion of traditional arts subjects in higher education? Increasing numbers of students have to justify the courses they study at university in light of the amount of money needed to be borrowed to allow them to attend in the first place. It's a shame that top-up fees were passed here in England because it looks as if this will lead to the sort of system we have in North America where most people of middle and lower class backgrounds have to borrow exceptional amounts of money to be educated to a level that is increasingly seen as the expected standard of education. So many students now have to ask themselves, "Should I study English or Philosophy, both of which I love, or should I study something more economically viable like engineering, business or chemistry so that I can find a job that will help me pay back student loans?"

It becomes more and more difficult for students from families where no one else has attended university to justify their desire to stay in education. When a parent asks, "but what will studying literature qualify you to do?" a son or daughter will find it hard to make the argument that the debt incurred will be "worth it."

This all opens up the age old debate of "training" versus "education." Should universities become places that offer more and more courses that resemble advanced apprenticeships that feed into the business, industrial and commercial sectors? And if they do (and they are) then are we running down the Benthamite road of utilitarianism at the cost of art, history and philosophical thought? As a campaigner for the idea of attaining knowledge for the sake it, I happen to think so.

Joanna Jameson : 11 Jun 2004 11:54 |  Comments (24) |  Close comments |  Trackbacks (1) |  Report a problem