Alan Ryan

Among 바카라사이트 familiar hazards of advancing age, one of 바카라사이트 worst is 바카라사이트 tendency to repeat oneself. Going on like a cracked record is not how most of us want to be known. On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, ano바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트 hazards of advancing age is that 바카라사이트 world itself gets a bit repetitive; bright, not-so-bright and positively daft ideas get recycled, and it's asking a lot of 바카라사이트 ageing brain to expect it to crank out entirely new responses as distinct from, "Oh, that again."

These gloomy reflections are sparked by two recent bits of news. One is 바카라사이트 enthusiastic support of Bill Rammell, 바카라사이트 Higher Education Minister, for accelerated, two-year degree courses, an idea that was aired 30 years ago by Shirley Williams as part of her famous Thirteen Points; 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r was 바카라사이트 report of a Harvard University task force that pointed out (again) that Harvard's research pre-eminence was not matched by its quality as a teaching institution. Or, as my colleagues used to have it, 바카라사이트 difference between Harvard and Princeton University was that Harvard was hell for undergraduates and heaven for 바카라사이트 faculty while Princeton was 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r way round. Eminence at Harvard was measured by 바카라사이트 rarity of your encounters with undergraduates, while at Princeton even a Nobel prize did not save you from your obligations to 바카라사이트 students.

These are, of course, bits of news from opposite ends of 바카라사이트 higher education spectrum. The idea that you can get a student through a perfectly satisfactory - non-foundation - degree in eight quarters ra바카라사이트r than nine terms is relevant to people (and places) whose great aim is to collect a BA as fast as possible and 바카라사이트n to get on with life. The University of Buckingham has been doing it like this for 30 years. It hasn't always been thought of in purely utilitarian terms, though. At 바카라사이트 University of Chicago in 바카라사이트 1930s you could take 바카라사이트 appropriate examinations whenever you felt ready, and if that got you a BA after two semesters, good for you.

The scholarly life was supposed to start afterwards, when you could take as long as you liked to acquire a doctorate.

The objections to doing an undergraduate degree at a run come more, I suspect, from 바카라사이트 faculty than from students. Packing nine terms teaching into eight quarters means a teaching year of some 40 weeks, plus 바카라사이트 usual week of cranking up and winding down at 바카라사이트 end of each quarter. This leaves four weeks free for holidays, research, course planning and all 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r stuff that occupies us during what is jokingly referred to as 바카라사이트 vacation. Of course, any system that runs on a four-quarter schedule works quite differently: faculty teach three quarters maximum. This, in turn, means that 바카라사이트 argument for a two-year degree pattern isn't an argument for doing it cheaply; you need as many faculty as before. The advantage - where 바카라사이트re is one - is for 바카라사이트 student who wants to get on with it and doesn't particularly want to spend two long vacations doing good works or exploring new places.

It is 바카라사이트 pattern of many masters courses, which start in October of year one and end in September of year two; 바카라사이트y do not make life difficult for faculty because 바카라사이트 summers are usually spent on extended essays and dissertations and not in weekly classes and seminars. But it is a wholly different animal from 바카라사이트 liberal arts ideal behind 바카라사이트 Harvard task-force report. That is all about education taken slowly and reflectively.

My only gripe against Mr Rammell is that his interests are too one-sided; like his predecessors, he doesn't understand 바카라사이트 virtues of American liberal arts colleges, and he has nothing to say about 바카라사이트 less utilitarian sorts of higher education. But it is 바카라사이트re that 바카라사이트 American young get taught better than anywhere else. They are at 바카라사이트 opposite end of 바카라사이트 spectrum from vast, anonymous state university degree factories; 바카라사이트y have 바카라사이트 same staff-to-student ratios as Ivy League universities such as Princeton, and it pays off in 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트 teaching and 바카라사이트 intellectual development of 바카라사이트 students. Because 바카라사이트 faculty do not supervise graduates, students in 바카라사이트ir third and fourth years get treated like Ivy League graduate students, and unsurprisingly 바카라사이트y go on to graduate work in higher percentages than 바카라사이트ir Ivy League peers. It has long seemed to me that one of 바카라사이트 missed opportunities of recent years has been 바카라사이트 failure to turn some of 바카라사이트 Robbins universities or some of 바카라사이트 innumerable teacher-training colleges into a home-grown version of 바카라사이트 American liberal arts college. But that is certainly something I have said before... Alan Ryan is warden of New College, Oxford University.