The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

THE LAST DITCH

And when they are not immoral, they are incompetent

Published by Tom

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This is a direct quote from a note sent today to all the students on a post-graduate course at a particular English university. It is from the programme director of the course, who teaches English.

Can I also empaphise the imporatnce of arriving at lectures and seminars so that you are ready to start on time. Arriving late can cause disruption and distraction. It is customery and curtious to offer an apology and reason to your teacher.

I do not dissent from his sentiments. Punctuality is a much-neglected form of politeness. However, it seems England's academics are as relaxed about spelling as they are militant about politics. But then, their organisations are largely funded by force, so why should they care about quality?

7 responses to “And when they are not immoral, they are incompetent”

  1. Suboptimal Planet Avatar
    Suboptimal Planet

    “It is customery and curtious”
    Shocking!
    “a particular English university”
    Go on, name and shame!

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  2. Tom Avatar
    Tom

    I would love to, but I am afraid I must protect my inside source.

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  3. The Sanity Inspector Avatar
    The Sanity Inspector

    I’ve been investigating magnet schools for my bright soon-to-be high school age children. In the English classroom of one of them last night, as the students were pitching their program, I noticed on the whiteboard that a list of authors included “Charles Dickins”.

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  4. JMB Avatar
    JMB

    And they can’t even blame autocorrect run amok!

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  5. MickC Avatar
    MickC

    Careful-methinks this one a bit close to home.
    Never forget “they” are vicious. You can take care of yourself, however “they” store it up for use later…….

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  6. Cascadian Avatar
    Cascadian

    Elementary manners and respect for others were instilled in us (not taught) in primary school in my days (1955).
    Sadly much of what passes as ejoocashun at universities these days seem to have reverted to the primary school level, amongst them elementary spelling and mathematics.
    Regression of the culture proceeds apace.

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  7. Tomsmith Avatar
    Tomsmith

    The whole idea of a large proportion of young people going to university for several years to learn something from similar men standing in front of blackboards saying similar things which happen to be only vaguely related to the sort of things they actually might need to learn in order to provide for themselves thoughout the rest of their lives is an anachronism protected by force. The system is absurd and obviously reaching an advanced state of degeneracy and decline. It is a good example of the way statism protects defunct ways of doing things and discourages innovation. It is only possible to really innovate where the state has not yet moved in and frozen everything.

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Tom is a retired international lawyer. He was a partner in a City of London law firm and spent almost twenty years abroad serving clients from all over the world.

Returning to London on retirement in 2011, he was dismayed to discover how much liberty had been lost in the UK while he was away.

He’s a classical liberal (libertarian, if you must) who, like his illustrious namesake, considers that

“…government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

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