Preview

Review of the Decline and Fall of the British University

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
553 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Review of the Decline and Fall of the British University
Zhang Jiaqi 1001011325 Advanced English Writing Li Xiaoou Critical Review Oct.11st, 2012

Review of "The Decline and Fall of the British University" by Zhang Jiaqi

Introduction As we all know, Britain has world’s top universities. Each year, there are thousands of students all over the world want to go to British universities to have further study. However, are these universities becoming better? What kind of problems exists in the British universities? The article, "The Decline and Fall of the British University", was written by Dr. Mark Tarver, who used to be a tenured lecturer in the UK. As the title of the article indicates, the author thinks that the British universities are undergoing a process of declining. Dr. Tarver explains to us how the British universities decline and fall. The author does demonstrate some reasonable points, but some of his views are one-sided.
Summary
In this article, the author states that his story is also the decline and fall of the British universities. He argues that the educational revolution required universities to lower their entrance qualification in order to increase the percentage of entrants. Then he mentions “modularization”, a new system that represented the students’ choice of classes was driven by the government. Next, he illustrates the lecturers in the university pay too much attention to the papers and other meaningless stuff. Therefore, Dr. Tarver gets the conclusion that the British universities were declining.
Argument and Evaluation First of all, the author only used his own experience as examples, which are all about one major at one university. Therefore, I think his conclusion is not all-inclusive. He can do more research on other majors and universities, and then he may get a more convincing conclusion. Secondly, when he mentions the problem of increasing enrollment of universities, the author thinks that the quality of students

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Effect of the Black Death on English Higher Education by: William J. Courtenay is a piece that was easily broken down and ciphered into a well written piece that discredits previous historians’ thoughts. Courtenay is a well known scholar on medieval history, and is C.S. Haskins Professor of Medieval history. His article is a predeceasing article to the book he wrote Schools and Scholars in Fourteenth-Century England. Courtenay’s thesis in the article is that he is trying to prove that the Black Death did not have an effect on higher education, the Black Death actually opened the door to newer students, that would have never had chance to go to a university the opportunity to do so. The author takes his article and breaks it down into three written verses on the topic; The Oxford University Population before and after 1348: The Quantative effect, the issue of Qualitive decline, and The University and society; the response to the…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His main evidence is in his statistical data that breaks down the percentages of traditional student versus nontraditional. There are as much as seventy-five percent of undergraduate students are nontraditional. The percentage of the nontraditional student is high because of family matter, by saying that because of the high pay of tuition for college or university that make those student cannot go…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    University degrees are commonly expected these days which is replacing high school diplomas. Everyone in this generation thinks that going to university is a must, which raises their standards. Nichols discusses that American universities are killing the abilities of the students as he states: “The most important of these intellectual capabilities, and the one most under attack in American universities is critical thinking” (72). Relationship between students and professors is very informal these days and that is why students hesitate to ask any question to their professors, but they communicate with them through email, no matter how simple the question is. Nichols mentions that in early times, high school diplomas was the requirement for the jobs but nowadays it is replaced by a master’s degree and because of this, students are going through a financial crisis. He states that “Students are going broke running around in this educational hamster wheel, without learning much” (75). Nichols argues that American universities should be seen as the place form where students can get higher education, but students are seeing universities as a place where they can spend their four years with their friends and enjoy their life as Nichols expresses that “They…

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nemko's article offers multiple contrasting arguments which emphasize his point of view about college education. Throughout the article, Nemko includes many anecdotes describing his opinion towards that subject. Not only that, but he uses many sources that strengthen his credibility to appeal logos which make his statements more reliable. For example, he quotes “Only 23 percent of the 1.3 million students who took the ACT college-entrance examinations in 2007 were ready for college-level work in the core subjects of mathematics, English, and science!” with that the audience can perceive how Nemko is persuading the reader to acknowledge his statement is reliable. Since Nemko is stating only his opinion, he was being biased to the subject. In…

    • 162 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Young argue in this journal the situation of university investigation and its different facets. Since 1950s, university research is facing many changes. Some changes are positive, like the expansion of population going to university, but others are negative, like the interference of governments and industry. The view of the author of what a university should be is that of teachers and students engaged, mainly, in knowledge that will profit society not only with a short economic gain. History probes that since the beginning there have been forces trying to affect the outcomes of university research. Before it was religion, but now is the industry who wants to put its influence in universities. Things started to change in university research after the World War II. Research funds were no more available through departmental resources, but through governments and industry. In this context, the report of Bush stated that the government should provide support for research, but also that scientist should freely investigate. At the end of the last century, many countries had granting councils. This model supposed more money for research, but also prioritized scientific research over art or social sciences. As the needs of universities increased, more detached were administrators from faculty, and more open were researchers to be transformed in entrepreneurs. In Canada, after an agreement, universities are increasing their commercialization in a way that makes Young wonder if this will be considered for tenure as much as teaching and researching. With this situation, some faculty members are more open to become entrepreneurs. This is putting in risk the nature of universities and the future of academic medicine. For example, in mild to moderate depression, both drugs and psychotherapy weight the same, but because of the push and the funds of pharmaceutical companies, there are more research centred in drugs. This situation could bring great misrepresentation in the areas…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Karl Marx was one of the most celebrated, yet misconstrued philosophers of our time. His ideology was adopted by many systems throughout history, for models on economic and political structure. At the heart of Marxism exists a central relation between class and power within institutions of society. Universities are institutions which embody much of Marx's ideology on co-operation, wealth, consciousness and political rights. In particular, the purpose of this essay is to examine how Australian universities essentially reflect Marx's ideas on the importance of economic development and structure. The structure of Australian universities will support my argument that we as university students reflect the Marxist ideal that we are all contributors…

    • 2028 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The attention of the monograph “Inventing the University” by David Bartholomae, is in the mistakes of cardinal wordsmiths and how their shortfall of comprehension of a discourse community averts them from conclusively being accepted as a fragment of that educational community and flourishing in their scholastic fascinations. Bartholomae defines what is inventing the university, and he says, “He has to speak our language, to speak as we do, to try on the peculiar ways of knowing, selecting, evaluating, reporting, concluding, and arguing that define the discourse of our community (403).” Bartholomae gives an explanation of the endeavors of unsophisticated wordsmiths, the method adept writers compose, and the dissimilarities in the space separating…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dark Ages Ahead Analysis

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In “Credentialing Versus Educating”, the third chapter of Dark Ages Ahead, Jane Jacobs discusses a change in the intent and practice of higher education at universities and colleges. “Credentialing, not educating, has become the primary business of North American universities” (Jacobs 44). The institution of education has shifted its focus from passing on knowledge and teaching students to have critical faculties for the stability and growth of society, to simply certifying individuals in order to be considered for a job. Educating involves the learning of new concepts and gaining proper knowledge while credentialing is focused on obtaining a degree through four years of higher education. Jacobs makes the distinction by outlining that an education and a degree are not the same thing. According to Jacobs, there is an emphasis on selecting job applicants who have desirable qualities such as persistence, ambition, and the ability to cooperate and conform.…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Author McMurtry raises when he hires some teachers and academic employees, these stuff just want to get their money from university, and they do not regard how is knowledges spread. At present, some university presidents get more income because they increase the tuition, and students can not afford it. McMurtry uses many reliable sources to present this situation. He uses these sources to explain it more precise as he introduces the problems about students, teacher and academic employees. “‘Bring your knowledge to market’ is the master slogan of the corporate occupation.” (2009, p.191) Author McMurtry thinks the university is more commercialization, and the university presidents think themselves as a CEO of the firm, and a lot of corporate advertising into the school. McMurtry does not absolutely confirm his arguments, and he gives a example on the other hand, like Paul Martin agrees with university becomes commercialization, and he thinks mony is more important than education. Also, McMurtry thinks university mangers control the knowledge copyright, but the can not spread knowledge free. After that, he list five properties to explain what is a corporate administrations, and he gives some examples of destroy academic freedom, such as “inciting students to formal complaint, publishing personal attacks, closing off academic resources.” (2009, p.193) McMurtry uses some article sources of the New York Times to expounds…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Growing Latinos In America

    • 3336 Words
    • 14 Pages

    The Growing Latinos in America: Making the Next Generation the Greatest Working Resource Through Higher Education • Table of Content · Introduction................................................................................................. 3 · Investing in Latino Education ...................................................................... 3 · Latino Trends, Barriers and Hope ................................................................ 6 · Taking Steps to Promote College Success .................................................. 8 · Finding an Approach – Fixing Higher Education........................................... 9 · Conclusion – A Plan for Action ..................................................................…

    • 3336 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Interdisciplinary Studies

    • 2035 Words
    • 9 Pages

    She believe that Liberal or interdisciplinary studies focus on the fringes of a field and lowers an academic's reputation in the eyes of his peers and hurts his chances for tenure”(Jones 78). In other words, the academic system is still very much structured on the concentration of specific majors because the integration of interdisciplinary or Liberal studies, does not fully prepare a student for employment in the real…

    • 2035 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Advanced Practice Nursing

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages

    There is nationwide demand for higher education due to the increasing needs for highly skilled workers as labor market grows. According to…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The thesis of this article is that it is wrong to push everyone to university education,…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    America Is Still on Top

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages

    relate the quality of universities to the salary of the teachers. At the end he talks about the problem…

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Summary Essay

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout the essay Young compares universities in the past to universities present. He notes similarities and differences that he has noticed and uses this to inform his readers about significant change. Comparisons made from past and present univeristies allow Young to justify his belief that universities are in fact changing. “However, in spite of marked differences, there are similarities between what happened then and what is happening today,...then the dogma of religion, now the dogma of business-threatening to change the activities of the community of teachers and scholars” (217). He believes that universities in the past were focused on student interests and suggests that present universities are interested with profit that can be made through commercialization.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics