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This story on the Mail's web site caught my eye. When fear of Pedophiles means that Adult men cannot even enjoy a walk in the park without a risk of being stopped and questioned, the response to Pedophilia is gone way past sensible precautions and deep into the realms of hysteria.
Not surprisingly, every incident where a child is harmed or abused is given blanket coverage. While this level of coverage is fully justified by the public interest that surrounds such cases, it does tend to give an exagerated impression of how much risk children are actually under.
In fact children being abused by strangers is incredibly rare. Virtually all cases of child abuse concern a parent or other trusted adult, not a stanger in the park. There is no reason to believe that there are suddenly more Pedophiles around now than there were when we were kids. The law takes them much more seriously now so I am sure more are being arrested, but that doesn't mean more exists or that the danger is any greater.
The majority of pedophile stories involve people collecting and distributing indecent images of children. While of course I would not want to justify such activity, there is still a LONG gap between looking at images of child abuse and actually taking part. Where there are probably more people looking at such images today thanks to their increased availability via the internet, there is no reason to assume this translates to more actual child abusers in circulation.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Are degrees worth the paper they're printed on?
An article on the Independents Web Site, Are degrees worth the paper they're printed on?
got me thinking.
While I am all in favour of education and believe that as many people as possible should receive some kind of further education after 18, I feel that the continued expansion of the University system is a bad idea that helps nobody.
Going back 20 years or so Universities had a clear purpose. They were all about academic knowledge for its own sake. Both in teaching and research they concentrated on pure knowledge for its own sake rather than being constrained by the needs of industry or other political factors. In parallel to this there were Polytechnics. These had simularities to Universities in that they were involved in research and taught degrees and various post graduate qualifications. The difference however was that Polytechnics were much more about knowledge as a means to an end rather than for its own sake. They courses concentrated on looking at how the pure knowledge dealt with by Universities could be applied in the real world.
This dual system left both Universities and Polytechnics with a clear role. Universites were all about pure knowledge. They were independent of industrial and political concerns and gave degrees that were particularly suitable for those planning to pursue an academic career. Polytechnics were more responsive to the needs of industry, concentrated on more applied research and gave degrees that were more suited to those planning a career in industry.
Of course there were things wrong with this system. In particular Polytechnics were very much seen as second best, only attracting those people whose grades were not good enough to get them into a University. I do however feel that the system should have been reformed, rather than scrapped.
The current system is that Polyechnics are now known as 'new' universities. This has been bad for both the new and old universities and for the students attending both. New Universities are just as much seen as a second-class tier as the old Polytechnics were only now they have to compete more directly with the Old universties for funds and students. At the same time I think the old universities have come under increased pressure to make their research and degree courses more relevent to industry.
got me thinking.
While I am all in favour of education and believe that as many people as possible should receive some kind of further education after 18, I feel that the continued expansion of the University system is a bad idea that helps nobody.
Going back 20 years or so Universities had a clear purpose. They were all about academic knowledge for its own sake. Both in teaching and research they concentrated on pure knowledge for its own sake rather than being constrained by the needs of industry or other political factors. In parallel to this there were Polytechnics. These had simularities to Universities in that they were involved in research and taught degrees and various post graduate qualifications. The difference however was that Polytechnics were much more about knowledge as a means to an end rather than for its own sake. They courses concentrated on looking at how the pure knowledge dealt with by Universities could be applied in the real world.
This dual system left both Universities and Polytechnics with a clear role. Universites were all about pure knowledge. They were independent of industrial and political concerns and gave degrees that were particularly suitable for those planning to pursue an academic career. Polytechnics were more responsive to the needs of industry, concentrated on more applied research and gave degrees that were more suited to those planning a career in industry.
Of course there were things wrong with this system. In particular Polytechnics were very much seen as second best, only attracting those people whose grades were not good enough to get them into a University. I do however feel that the system should have been reformed, rather than scrapped.
The current system is that Polyechnics are now known as 'new' universities. This has been bad for both the new and old universities and for the students attending both. New Universities are just as much seen as a second-class tier as the old Polytechnics were only now they have to compete more directly with the Old universties for funds and students. At the same time I think the old universities have come under increased pressure to make their research and degree courses more relevent to industry.
And so it begins
I have finally decided to start a blog. I am not really sure how (or) if it will develop yet. My plan is just to post on things that catch my eye. Maybe it will evolve to have more of a coherent theme or maybe it will simply fade away. Only time will tell
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