Thesaurus, thanks for telling me what’s happening in Glasgow these days. I’m glad the Blackstone medal and the old chair with the sand timer above is still in use.
I don’t quite agree with you about recent trends in educational standards. Obviously, there are points to be made for both sides of the argument, but as regards Latin in particular, the school ‘O’ grade which I sat in 1985, was of a far lower standard than that sat by my own Latin teacher almost twenty years earlier. The evidence is concrete: simply look at collections of the examination papers. (Incidentally, when I sat the exam a ‘C’ pass could be achieved without actually knowing any Latin - topics etc making up so much of the paper) Likewise, there is the qualified opinion of the Glasgow Classics Department in the early '90s. My lecturer informed me prior to the examination for entry into first year A/B that even students with Higher Latin from school were not guaranteed to know a significant amount of Latin, hence the introduction of the selection test.
The last I saw of the new Standard Grade examinations (replacing previous qualifications) before leaving Scotland, gave me no cause for hope.
BTW, were you at the George Buchanan Conference last summer? I was there, but didn’t get to meet all attendees. Perhaps you were among them?
Seán
Well, I know in the sates at least, education has dwindled drastically. Whether it is lazy students, dumbded-down courses, less requirements and expectations, technological/entertainment distractions, culture, or what. Or a combination of them all. Here, education is certainly diminishing. It’s an epidemic.
Sadly, I must concur strongly with AVRAHAM. At lest here, in Canada, there is a lack of proper education and a lack in the hearts of men (and women) for an interest in education. Using your mind is not cool nor fun!
Save some kith and kin, few persons I encounter appear to be interested in learning or mental stimulus.
Case in point, a few days ago the lady behind the front desk of the place where I work was having a conversation with one of the singers and they turned to me as I walked in and she asked me what a noun was. I forget what I said but she asked for an example and I said sadness. She said you can not touch sadness. I said a noun do not have to be tangible, simply stand for something (a thing as apposed to something describing a thing, “giant mountain vs mountain giant” or a verb or adverb or preposition et cetera…). I can not remember what I said but she said “I don’t know what a noun is, why would you think I know what tangible means?” she’s like 19 or 20, just finished high school…
Educational system.. failure. The only thing worse than the educational system here is personal morals and personal accountability.
This world scare me some times.
How can I remove a post by the way? I can edit it but how can I remove, if anyone knows, I have been trying to learn how but…nothing.
