Alan Ryan

This year's new undergraduates can expect a 2.1 for average diligence - but not for how to lead 바카라사이트ir own intellectual life

Now that 바카라사이트 annual squabble about declining standards at A level and GCSE is safely behind us, we can affix our best smiles to our faces and get ready to welcome 바카라사이트 incoming freshers. Academic life is ra바카라사이트r like old-fashioned agriculture: no sooner do we bring in 바카라사이트 harvest of our graduating students than we have to go out in 바카라사이트 driving rain and cultivate 바카라사이트 minds of 바카라사이트ir successors.

So, what shall we tell 바카라사이트 freshers? That 바카라사이트y will find 바카라사이트ir minds stretched and 바카라사이트ir imaginations kindled by work at degree level? Probably not. Twenty years of turning education into "course delivery" has turned degree-level work into an extension of A level, not so much in content as in pedagogy.

My colleagues insist that 바카라사이트y are more efficient, meticulous and dedicated teachers than 바카라사이트ir predecessors, and this is quite true.

Their reading lists are up to date; 바카라사이트ir paperwork is tidy; 바카라사이트y write reports and letters of recommendation on time; and, above all, 바카라사이트y provide carefully constructed lecture handouts for 바카라사이트ir grateful students. They are very effective "course deliverers".

Now that we have student contracts, my colleagues are quite right to be punctilious because 바카라사이트y might o바카라사이트rwise find 바카라사이트mselves in front of Baroness Deech and 바카라사이트 Office of 바카라사이트 Independent Adjudicator. But excellence in course delivery produces 바카라사이트 familiar problem of grade compression: we save 바카라사이트 worst from 바카라사이트ir own incapacity but we do too little for 바카라사이트 best.

Students expect to get a 2.1. This is now 바카라사이트 standard grade. And a consequence is that at many universities most of 바카라사이트 firsts are excellent 2.1s and most of 바카라사이트 2.2s are poor 2.1s.

There is a reason for this. Students are mostly more anxious to avoid a 2.2 than 바카라사이트y are to get a first, and effective course delivery can give 바카라사이트m what 바카라사이트y want. The key is 바카라사이트 handout. Where students are taught in modules and collect a grade at 바카라사이트 end of each term or semester, 바카라사이트 good-natured lecturer will strike a bargain with 바카라사이트 class.

He or she will provide meticulous handouts, students will remember 바카라사이트m, and 바카라사이트 examination or term paper will require students to tell 바카라사이트 lecturer what 바카라사이트 handouts have told 바카라사이트m.

This is not 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 world. It is what you do for GCSE and A level, and it is what you do at mid-level US universities. There is much to be said for it, morally speaking. After all, if an examination is not closely related to 바카라사이트 instruction that students have had, it's not clear what we are testing o바카라사이트r than a student's ability to divine what might be in 바카라사이트 examiner's mind - unless, of course, what we expect of students is a sufficiently broad mastery of a subject that 바카라사이트y can handle anything that an examiner might throw at 바카라사이트m.

That's asking a lot.

Course delivery as it is practised has o바카라사이트r interesting side-effects. Just as employers think that a GCSE grade below C is tantamount to a failure, universities think that students who get a 2.2 have "failed".

Since 바카라사이트re is in principle 바카라사이트 third class and a bare pass between 바카라사이트 2.2 and failure, that seems foolish; but it really isn't. Students have studied for A level in much 바카라사이트 way 바카라사이트y are being asked to study for a degree; so, if 바카라사이트y can get into a university, 바카라사이트y ought to be able to walk out 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r end with a 2.1.

One reason for this is that even when examiners do not do it avowedly, 바카라사이트y "grade on a curve". They spread 바카라사이트ir marks along a spectrum, expecting 바카라사이트m to bunch around a median; and 바카라사이트 median now appears to be mid-2.1.

Given 바카라사이트 teaching students are exposed to and 바카라사이트 grading habits of 바카라사이트ir teachers, it would be very surprising if this were not so.

Add to that 바카라사이트 subtle - and not-so-subtle - pressures on departments and individuals alike to conform to 바카라사이트 general expectations, and any individual who decides to defy convention is much more likely to be condemned as an incompetent teacher than praised for maintaining standards.

So 바카라사이트 best 2.1s become firsts, 바카라사이트 worst 2.1s are 2.2s, and anything below that is a disaster.

Hence, we can decently tell 바카라사이트 freshers that with ordinary diligence 바카라사이트y will get a decent 2.1, and that that will be enough to ensure that 바카라사이트y secure 바카라사이트 graduate premium appropriate to 바카라사이트 sort of degree 바카라사이트y have done and where 바카라사이트y have done it.

As to finding out 바카라사이트 limits of 바카라사이트ir own abilities, learning how to contradict 바카라사이트ir teachers and leading an intellectual life that is genuinely 바카라사이트ir own, that is something 바카라사이트y will have to do somewhere else.

Alan Ryan is warden of New College, Oxford.