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I would argue that for Ivory Towers universities, their students would be well served by spending 3-4 years hanging out with people in the real world outside th
by traceroute66 5y ago
I would argue that for Ivory Towers universities, their students would be well served by spending 3-4 years hanging out with people in the real world outside their four walls.
Take Oxford (UK) for example. For some reason Oxford is taken to be the pinnacle of UK Ivory Towers.
As a result people who go there form a social clique and tend to spend the rest of their lives surrounding themselves by people who also went to Oxford.
They also end up being so insecure that there is now that infamous saying, "How do you know if someone went to Oxford ?" ... "Don't worry, they'll tell you".
(for those unfamiliar, it is a reference to inevitable the "When I was at Oxford" bragging that Oxford graduates seem to have an inbred tendency to inject into their discussions at any opportunity).
- pjc50 5y agoYes, but getting surrounded by people who also went to Oxford is the point - how else are you to get a Cabinet position and a peerage? If you haven't got those connections you have to pay (sorry, "donate") real money for those privileges.
- traceroute66 5y ago> how else are you to get a Cabinet position and a peerage? Indeed. PPE @ Oxford a.k.a the Westminster seat degree
- lozenge 5y agoHere I go, telling people I went to Oxford... the town people have little to no interest in socialising with people who are leaving in three years' time.
- wyclif 5y agoFor some reason Oxford is taken to be the pinnacle of UK Ivory Towers Because it's the most prestigious and the most-well connected (i.e. the most highly prized network) university in the UK.
- traceroute66 5y ago> Because it's the most prestigious and the most-well connected (i.e. the most highly prized network) university in the UK. No. You are merely stating the mythical status that seems to have developed over the years for some reason. There's no real reason why it should be more prestigious than other UK Ivory Towers establishments such as Cambridge or Imperial. But for some reason everyone is brainwashed into "oooh Oxford". And for some reason there is an expectation amongst those who go there that "when I went to Oxford" is supposed to elicit some sort of unbounded admiration.
- wyclif 5y agoIt's not mythical, it's very real. Look at the constitution and educational credentials of UK cabinet ministers and Parliament. It's often Eton > Oxford U. In order of prestige, it's undeniably Oxford, Cambridge, and Imperial in that order (and St Andrews if you allow for Scotland). The reason why name-dropping Oxford in that cringetastic manner is done is because people respond to branding, just like Americans do with Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Princeton.
- traceroute66 5y ago> Look at the constitution and educational credentials of UK cabinet ministers and Parliament. It's often Eton > Oxford U Yes, and as another poster stated above, it quite clearly should NOT be that way. Just going to Eton and/or Oxford does not automatically make you a highly intelligent and highly capable individual ... the present UK cabinet is an example of how that route manages just as easily to push out a bunch of incompetent twats.
- wyclif 4y agoNowhere was the claim made that an Oxford degree makes you intelligent or competent. And in this thread, we're not dealing with the way things should be, however you or I see things. It's simply acknowledging the way things are.