The University of Wolverhampton is a leading British university with an outstanding academic reputation
(Thanks not to Ewarwoowar but to whoever mailed me with this (sorry both of you) - it's from Wikipedia). It's true - even though we're supposedly 102nd in the league tables (as though education can be treated like a pub darts league).
Onions makes it 5-38 on his debut. 5 wickets gets you on the honours board in any case - but in your first match it's stunning.
13 comments:
I thought we were 107 in the league table? Hmm.
Ewarwoowar: I didn't mean any such thing, and definitely wouldn't accuse you of plagiarising. I'm sorry it might have sounded like that - accidental.
Insert… - we've risen in the world!
Fair enough Vole. Was just a bit confused why you referenced me, but I'm sorry for overreacting in that way.
I literally meant thanks for bringing it to my attention! No aspersions cast!
Vole
Except I didn't...
Goodness I'm confused. A case of mistaken identity maybe.
Why is Wolverhampton so bad do you think?
I don't think Wolverhampton is so bad. Yes, we're understaffed and underfunded, but the teaching is largely excellent and underpinned by what research we can get done in the limited time available.
We're not helped by a management which has different priorities, shall we say, to the teaching staff.
Also, the league tables are pretty biased. As an ex-Poly, we're being judged on university standards - when the Polytechnics were brilliant at what they were meant to do. Added to this is the problem that careers teachers and many professionals, including journalists, are snobs about institutions. Wolverhampton specialises in local, working-class and second-chance students, often with limited previous educational success. None of this means that they're stupid - but that's the way a lot of people see it. So our applicants often have low or no A-levels or equivalent: that gets reflected in retention, in media coverage, in staff recruitment and it all snowballs. Actually, we do a great job of releasing the potential of many students whose skills weren't previously identified. Yes, there will always be lazy or uninterested students, but if you're determined to learn more, you won't go wrong at Wolverhampton. You just have to put up with snobbishness from the outside and less-motivated colleagues on the inside.
Sorry, bit of a rant there. Obviously I don't mean to big myself up. I'm a rubbish teacher. Don't come to my classes. I'll just drone on about why reading matters, and nobody wants to hear that kind of nonsense!
I do feel that the teaching at Wolves is set at a high standing. If I'm correct, Aiden was in my Introduction to Comm's class this semester and I thought that the lectures and the seminars were pretty good.
I think what doesn't help Wolves is that of where its located. People judge the West Midlands with lack of intelligence and the uni gets tarred with the same yard brush to be honest, which is a shame because the uni offers the students like myself such great opportunities. All we need now is our own Comedy/Drama society like footlights and we're well away :)
Final point, great day of cricket for England. Swann, Bopara and Onions have equally been the better players at Lords.
I was indeed involved with Intro to Comms, and will overlook your spelling of my name!
I came here after doing my BA and MA at Bangor University - a small institution then, but one buzzing with activity. As a PhD student at Wolves I was shocked by how little student activity there was - though being in a large town, near a big city, means that students don't have to develop a collegiate identity, especially as so many stay close to family and friends.
It's also true that the Black Country isn't very fashionable. Try reading Howard Jacobson's Coming From Behind. It's funny, but really bitter. He came from his glittering Oxford career to his first teaching job at Wolves and wrote this nasty book about working in the English department of 'Wrottesley Polytechnic' - an extremely thinly disguised Wolves Poly. The utter snob. He doesn't even mention his time here now.
Sorry about the mis-spelling of your name. Long day of essays etc. etc. etc. :)
Despite all the pubs and clubs in Wolves, I feel that as you pointed out also, that there is nothing much for the student. As a West Bromwich born and bred, and a West Bromwich Albion fan, I feel that the uni is a dreadful location due to the fact that it is near the Molineux :)
I could see his bitterness, Oxford to Wolves, it's like trading in your huge arsed 15 bedroomed country mansion with 50 acres of ground for a dingy bedsit in sunny Tipton. But surely, from a outsider looking in, he has a dream job of being a English teacher, and he should be greatful that he has a job he loves when there were millions out there who did have a job, but hated it.
It's a case of you win some, you lose some eh?
Yeah, I think it is a really good Uni. I don't understand why people think it is so bad. To be honest with you though Vole it is infuriating when you get to the end of a good, interesting lecture and people (not you but other staff) make comments suggesting WE don't want to be there. Actually he will probably find we have sat for over two hours in a bright white room looking at a screen, trying to take in everything he is saying. Most people probably needing the toilet or just to leave the room for five mins. I know people leave when they get a break but so what it doesn't mean we can't have one! They don’t want to learn then they can fail Uni. There are people there who want to learn. We are paying THOUSANDS in tuition fees how much more dedication do some staff want?! I personally enjoy tales of when they where students, claiming benefits not having to work and devoted their student life to studying. I would love that and would also be a straight A student ;) This isn't how we can be now. I work two jobs, volunteer and love studying. Just because sometime we look a bit fidgety in lectures doesn't give him the right to make sarcastic comments. Some staff do brilliant lectures and then come out with some sarcastic remark at the end. This then then alienates me from wanting to ask them advice concerning the work and also not to go to their lectures again. It is almost like some staff even judge you for going to Wolverhampton!!
Sir Mitchell - Jacobson's from Manchester, but seemed to think that being a hard-working Jewish boy means that life should be simple and privileged for ever (though he hates the countryside). I think it was just a shock to his ego that he should get a job somewhere he felt was beneath him. I'm just grateful to have a job - I'm unemployable outside these walls.
Anonymous - lots of seriously good points there, and I'm conscious that I'm guilty of some of those sins. When we're relaxed and thinking seriously, we know that there are huge pressures on students (in many ways, more than we endured), but we'd be saints if we didn't get a bit tetchy with people occasionally.
The rooms are horrible and we do need to find better ways to structure our teaching to keep people's attention. Enthusiasm from you should be met with enthusiasm from us, rather than sarcasm or superiority.
I hate the money argument though. You shouldn't have to pay fees, and doing so turns you into customers rather than colleagues, leading some people to assume that they're paying for a degree rather than gaining access to enlightenment.
If you're being wound up by me or someone else, say so. After the initial shock, I think you'll be surprised by how seriously we'll take it. I know that I'd love to be challenged a little more in class. I was one of the shy quiet ones at uni, whereas others would argue with the teacher and other students every week: it was great, and I wish I'd been brave enough to do it.
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