My Holiday Blog

The joke on me is that I'm a granddad. My 'blistering' pace across the tennis court, creaking body and elderly habits do me no favours in this area. Of course I can take the joke, but I've felt like a granddad these past 12 days: coughing horrendously when breathing 'fresh' air; barely able to do any strenuous movement without ending up almost collapsed on the floor; sapped of energy almost throughout the day. If I was being selfish, I'd describe the last week or so as the worst Christmas I've ever had. But, obviously, that's not true at all.

Instead of moaning about the last two weeks of 2015, I think I'll recap on the other 50 weeks that weren't too bad.

The word 'academic' sticks out when I think back on the year. A lot, if not all, of the year was about getting into uni, then going to uni. At the moment I'm still very much focused on the 6 exams I've got later this month, and I feel like it's the first time in a while I've had a chance to 'zone out', almost, and give myself time to reflect. I don't know if I say this in every blog but, as desperate as I am to do the best I can at uni, it won't be the end of the world if I don't get exactly what I want from it. Something else is also a big part of uni and, no, drinking isn't what I'm thinking. Many people see uni as a chance to be more independent etc. and I feel as though I've learnt enough things about myself in three months to fill a thousand pages. I'm in a very good place and there are many new people (and a song!) I've met that I am extremely thankful for.

I learnt things over summer too. I learnt how important it is to live life on my own terms - not letting other people's interests determine what I do - so I learnt plenty about myself and what I really wanted. I think my summer hinged on one moment, which I'll put down as my personal moment of 2015: seeing my friend looking completely crestfallen after prom and deciding that we had to help him. Two things came of that: 1. a great friendship; 2. a terrible feeling of almost-hatred fighting against a desire to forgive and forget. I'm very happy with the first one. The second, I'm still not sure which way I'll fall but I hope I'll never have to go through it again.

To family and friends, thanks for what you've done for me in 2015 and best wishes for 2016!

Thanks,

Oli :)
Twitter: @Chowerz

Money-driven academia?

Hello again! It seems as if I've been reintroducing myself in each of my last few blogs...I think I'll just put up any articles I read in the off-writing days just to keep things ticking over. Anyhow, onto the good stuff...

I just stumbled across an article on BBC (link at bottom) about a head girl in an Australian school criticising the school for being "elitist" (among other things) in her end-of-year speech. When I read it, I thought it was certainly something that, had I been in a similar position, I would've definitely spent time considering saying myself! Nothing better than a bit of drama, and her speech caused controversy not just within the school and the country, but worldwide as well.

The "elitist" comments were linked to her belief that the school prioritised financial benefits and reputation above the needs of the students there. This got me thinking about where I am now and it just so happens that I had the best conversation I've had at uni yesterday with a few course mates. Unfortunately we are now in a system of education where money determines almost everything, and I can't help but think (as part of my ridiculous ideology) that a collaborative education system would solve many of the problems we have created for ourselves in recent times. Here goes my manifesto:

• Bring all universities under one name that simply has institutions distributed across the country. For example, naming it 'The University of Great Britain' and simply having colleges in all major towns/cities (maybe even less institutions than at present). This then has the following implications:
• With one university in the country, competition for places is vastly increased and instead of people getting in to university just to "fill up quotas" and "maximise income", students actually have to be good enough to go to university. There are reasons why there are too many graduates for graduate jobs and it is partly because almost everyone going to university (over half the current generation) are walking out with decent degrees. This also means that universities can actually select the people that they want and not just take as many as they can so they can fund their research.
• Speaking of research, this can now be a lot more inclusive and collaborative. Each institution could carry on with whatever research they liked, but having multiple institutions contribute to what would be an increased research output means that they can focus more on quality and not quantity. In science, I've read too many times about people just publishing papers as a need. Obviously money drives this again because if the financial input doesn't match distinguished output then the books won't balance. But publishing through one university that could comfortably be world-leading with the efforts of so many people in the country.
• The traditional universities will be extremely butt-hurt at losing their individual status but unfortunately "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". Life in general would be much better if we worked together.
• A-levels and GCSEs have a big bearing on getting to uni and having multiple exam boards does students no good. Why not have one big exam board that is suddenly run by the best people from each of the current ones? Surely 5 clever people in the same room is better than 5 clever people individually? This means they can devote more people to getting the jobs done properly (overcoming subjectivity and marking inconsistency). Never again should I have to hear about teachers marking papers on buses or people gaining 20 marks in a Maths paper remark.

This has to be by far the most I've ever written in a blog but I hope it's been thought-provoking. I think I could write for days to come. Again I'm out of time for now but I'll be happy to discuss anything I've said :)

Thanks,

Oli

Twitter: @Chowerz

(That article on BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-34971956)

Thoughts after Paris

It's been about two or three days since the attacks on Paris on Friday and I've had plenty of time to think about everything that's happened and just reflect on things as they are, so here goes...

Firstly, I'll talk about the thing that really hit me personally on Friday night. I was at a gig on Friday, and to think that I was looking forward to it the same way - ready to enjoy myself and fully embrace the occasion - as those attending the Bataclan in Paris, before finding out after the concert about events over there, devastates me the most. Those concert-goers were in the same situation as myself yet things couldn't have turned out more differently.

On Saturday night, a question that came into my head was: "What do ISIS want?" I searched this exact question on Google and stumbled upon the longest article I have ever read, which I am about one-tenth into. I feel very uncertain as to what it's ideology is, and I think this makes it difficult to comprehend it's actions worldwide. I don't want to say much more on it until I have read everything I can to understand it all.

What is interesting is that a couple of Doctor Who episodes ago (spoiler alert!), the human race and an alien race that have been living together for years suddenly become embroiled in war, with both threatening the destruction of the other. The Doctor manages to solve their dispute by reconciliation, and I feel France's air strikes on Syria are not the correct response to this situation. However, I do understand that real life is not the same as a storyline of a Doctor Who episode and that ISIS seem extremely devoted to their ideology - so much so that there seems to be no way of changing their way of thinking. I have no idea what solutions there are to this problem, but all I know is that it'll be very, very complicated.

That's all I've got time for as I'm off to another lecture now. I'm going to another concert tonight and there'll be plenty more than just music on my mind. I'm just remembering that these attacks have been going on in many other countries, and they are all as important as each other.

Oli
Twitter: @Chowerz