Saturday 2 April 2011

All work and no play

Spent the day working, on a text that I had to typeset last November, but forgot.

I can see why I might have fallen asleep and dreamed I finished the job. How can some scholarly writers take a promising subject and render it so numbingly dull that chewing my own teeth promises more interest? I can only feel sorry for their students.

When I am Lordess of all universities in the UK I shall make a communication course a compulsory purchase, along with the PhD certificate, for all aspiring lecturers. They should be obliged to learn a few techniques for clear communication. I'm not expecting much, but a sentence under 250 words would be a start.

So really, nothing to report. I distracted myself by pretending I needed the internet and found this. Idiot. Did he learn anything about Mao when he was here? I doubt it.

Otherwise kept misreading the 'course of Elizabeth Gaskell' as the 'curse of Elizabeth Gaskell'.

And if anyone can tell me what exactly is the point of literary criticism, I would be grateful.

2 comments:

MadameSmokinGun said...

SOFT subjects? Does he mean the interesting ones? Or the ones taken by people who aren't doing maths and science? What is SOFT other than his inner-cranial goo? Just wondering.....

Kelly said...

Oh my. Oh my oh my oh my. I really don't know how else to respond to that article. This is the Minister of Education? Heavens to betsy. Well, I guess if you don't have any imagination, and can only see educational success as good exam results, then Asia looks like the place to be. Until you consider the millions in China who suffer from exam fatigue, or the thousands of Japanese school refusers and student suicide attempts. Because that's what we want, hey? A society that's full of winners and losers. The losers can just off it, can't they, and not bother the rest of us winners.