![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I have met up with the third years, who are doing their final year at Plymouth and I must admit to being a bit down in the dumps. I know that there is a lot to cover in the second year at Truro and I think that it is all do-able, but the problem arises when people have to make that transition from personal and friendly satellite college to final year at uni. The words 'impersonal,' 'isolating' and 'very, very confusing' have come up - from the most shy to the most gregarious of people.
I have know a mixture of them: S and P two years up, who are in the last stages of the third year and the two from the year above. These aren't people that struggle to get the gist; most of them have got firsts running all through their first two year and have found themselves a bit unstuck in the last year. There doesn't seem to be a proper transient phase, but I gather that most unis are like this. Plus, you get split up from your usual class and are stuffed in with a fresh class - none of which want to talk to you. It is not about cliques - more they haven't talked even to each other for the last three years, not even in class with the lecturer. Seemingly, they are shy eighteen year olds, who don't want to appear uncool. Therefore, part of me was very proud to hear that the most of the gobby class participators at Plymouth, have been from Truro College. I am not there to socialise, but I do like some interaction so if there is any confusion we can clarify. Not so, it appears. They don't tend to teach your either - they just lecture at you, plus some lecturers want you to regurgitate what they have lectured verbatim. Not a lot of room for free-thinkers, so some of the more mature ones have found it a bit stultifying.
It appears that there are possible changes afoot in the BA Media route, which means possibly any humanities-related foundation degrees can be channel in to the aforementioned BA. Also, the whole course would remain within Truro College - as does the archaeology BA at this present time. I'm despondent, but still staying true to the English path - but I must admit to wavering at the moment. One of the second years mentioned the concept of perhaps a summer bridging module, or defer a year to make her eligible - I think she would be perfect and it is an interesting alternative for the Cornish students, who are stuck in a rut of what is available down here.
I am wondering what is causing communication breakdown - universities are prone to lecture rather than teach, that much I understand. I think that we have lost one of the ALPs (some kind of university coordinator - a very necessary person) to illness, which has made it worse. It seems that there is not a lot of care for the satellite colleges - or is it just a Cornish problem? Do PETROC (another satellite college, but stationed in Plymouth) share the same problems and is there anything that could be done? I don't like to bemoan that I live in a beautiful, but essentially economic-poor region, but I cannot underline just how cut off we are down here. It is like we are lost down the funnel of Devon and only remembered when people want to come on holiday.
I have got my Jane Eyre/Feminist Theory back - score of 59% rough draft - something to be proud of, but I think I am going to have to read around the subject and keep signposting it back to the main topic. According to my lecturer, it is a well-written argument, but I have to fill in the bits as to how that reflected back on society. Goddamn it - I am back to my signposting-the-bloody-obvious problem, first experienced when writing the Wuthering Heights assignment last year! I know where I can claw some of this back, plus maybe if I read Ibsen's A Doll's House I might have something to compare and contrast. I am in the right arena but right now, it has gone back into the assignment box for future redraft.
I have know a mixture of them: S and P two years up, who are in the last stages of the third year and the two from the year above. These aren't people that struggle to get the gist; most of them have got firsts running all through their first two year and have found themselves a bit unstuck in the last year. There doesn't seem to be a proper transient phase, but I gather that most unis are like this. Plus, you get split up from your usual class and are stuffed in with a fresh class - none of which want to talk to you. It is not about cliques - more they haven't talked even to each other for the last three years, not even in class with the lecturer. Seemingly, they are shy eighteen year olds, who don't want to appear uncool. Therefore, part of me was very proud to hear that the most of the gobby class participators at Plymouth, have been from Truro College. I am not there to socialise, but I do like some interaction so if there is any confusion we can clarify. Not so, it appears. They don't tend to teach your either - they just lecture at you, plus some lecturers want you to regurgitate what they have lectured verbatim. Not a lot of room for free-thinkers, so some of the more mature ones have found it a bit stultifying.
It appears that there are possible changes afoot in the BA Media route, which means possibly any humanities-related foundation degrees can be channel in to the aforementioned BA. Also, the whole course would remain within Truro College - as does the archaeology BA at this present time. I'm despondent, but still staying true to the English path - but I must admit to wavering at the moment. One of the second years mentioned the concept of perhaps a summer bridging module, or defer a year to make her eligible - I think she would be perfect and it is an interesting alternative for the Cornish students, who are stuck in a rut of what is available down here.
I am wondering what is causing communication breakdown - universities are prone to lecture rather than teach, that much I understand. I think that we have lost one of the ALPs (some kind of university coordinator - a very necessary person) to illness, which has made it worse. It seems that there is not a lot of care for the satellite colleges - or is it just a Cornish problem? Do PETROC (another satellite college, but stationed in Plymouth) share the same problems and is there anything that could be done? I don't like to bemoan that I live in a beautiful, but essentially economic-poor region, but I cannot underline just how cut off we are down here. It is like we are lost down the funnel of Devon and only remembered when people want to come on holiday.
I have got my Jane Eyre/Feminist Theory back - score of 59% rough draft - something to be proud of, but I think I am going to have to read around the subject and keep signposting it back to the main topic. According to my lecturer, it is a well-written argument, but I have to fill in the bits as to how that reflected back on society. Goddamn it - I am back to my signposting-the-bloody-obvious problem, first experienced when writing the Wuthering Heights assignment last year! I know where I can claw some of this back, plus maybe if I read Ibsen's A Doll's House I might have something to compare and contrast. I am in the right arena but right now, it has gone back into the assignment box for future redraft.
