Academic qualifications do not make an education
Interesting report published by Martin O Grady who has been following college grades awarded closely. His latest report shows if you attend a nursing degree in Waterford, you have a 98% change of achieving a 1st or 2:1 degree. However in Letterkenny only 20% of students do so.
So are the Waterford people so much brighter than Donegal people? I’m not answering on the grounds my Donegal friends won’t talk to me any more!
Seriously though, there is a real issue here. Martin has previously shown that every year, your chances of getting an honours degree increase no matter what college you attend.
If current trends continue, eventually all students will get a first class degree!
See the full story on this web site which has a very good discussion of the issues and why it matters.Â
A simple way to get a real debate going on the issue, is to publish all colleges total (not individual!) exam results on a central web site. But don’t hold your breath for this, just like drop out rates are guarded closely, so are exam success rates.
But a clear directive from the Minister would sort that out and help inform students.
Personally, while I’m a great believer in the value of academic education, I also feel every one should understand the limitations of academic exams. Because, essentially unless you produce an answer which meets the examiners terms of reference you won’t pass the exam/ assignment/ thesis etc.
AÂ very simple example
AÂ question in a maths exam
“If it takes one person, fours hours to dig a hole in the ground, how long would it take two people to dig a hole in the ground?
In the maths exam  the correct answer is two, but in a practical garden construction course, that  answer will be incorrect. Because it  depends on whether there’s two shovels, whether both people can work in the hole at the same time, whether both people work at the same pace etc. etc. So the student answering two on this course will fail this question.
So organised  students always look at past exam papers as soon as they start the course, not wait until  they revise. That way they know what’s important to the examiner and put a higher focus on that.
 Now at Masters and PhD levels, the colleges argue you don’t have to stick to the examiners framework, that you actually have to create new knowledge. I’m not so sure. But that’s a whole other area of discussion.
The real  issue is academic knowledge is useful, but getting a 3rd level qualification does not make a person educated in a real life sense.
For example, the highly educated nurse who insisted on shouting right into my uncles ear, assuming he was deaf, when he was actually slow in responding due to a stroke. All of which had been fully documented and explained several times.
Truly educated people  show a willingness to learn. To accept how ever much we know there is always some thing more to be learned from every thing and every one  in life, whether it’s from a book, idle chatter with friends or a casual conversation with a stranger.
So people with PhD’s can be un- educated, and people who left school at 14 can be highly educated.
People with this  learning  attitude tend to   be happier  not just in their careers but in life generally. They don’t see mistakes as failures but learn from them.
So what have you learnt to-day?
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