Wake Up,

Those very academics in their ivory towers were given the opportunity by having parents who could afford to send them, adequately provision them, and allow them to study.

This day and age you can get to uni, but you are forced to work thus your study time waivers, your fatigue is greater and you are flat out trying to feed yourself, have some social time, study and attend uni.

Dont kid yourself, we have smart and savvy people there moreso than in the past, as these kids have the choice to study that many did not in the past due to financial burdens, but these days they are forced to work, just pass the grade ('p's get degrees, many say) yet this has no reflection on intellect or ability.

Academics in their 40's and 50's have been sheltered all their lives. They dont recognise the difference between importnat and trivial studies and many view them in the same light.

They are intelligent people, no doubt about it, but i feel we will see the disintegration of academia in this society as private enterprise will mean that academics are hired by default, by being the 'last students standing', and by being the studnets who are not ready to enter the real world as they are comfortable in their university bubble, most also adequately provisioned.

No need for any further research into education issues - Kevin has the answer to every problem, just ask him and he will put out another paper.

I am with Realist on this one, his arguement reeks of logic and common sense {a 20TH Century concept}.

sajo,
Of course, if you were intending to discover the facts on any subject, you would ask Billy Blogs down the road, who didn't finish Gr9, not an acedemic, who went through Uni, got a degree, wouldn't you. I mean when I get sick I ask my neighbour that she thinks is wrong, I would never ask a doctor. Your post seems to come from the planet Zircon, it may make sense to some poor misguided soul, but not to me. I still live in Realist's world, of logic and common sense. We may not always agree on everything, however I find great knowledge in this place, from people such as Realist, David Boaz, sometimes even Col Rouge has something sensible to say. For you, I am still waiting.

Shonga - a very strange response to a simple request - have you got the wrong poster? If not then we are obviously are on different planets!

>I am with Realist on this one, his arguement reeks of logic and common sense {a 20TH Century concept}.

Reeks, certainly. Reeks of sterotypes, cliches, and non-sequiturs. It's just a rant against research titles he doesn't like the sound of. Donnelly's arguments are based on the construction of an imagined idealized past which has been corrupted by what he thinks is post-modernism or political correctness. But what was this past? When the boys did maths and science and the girls did home-ec?

It is useful to have a gadfly such as Kev - even though some of us are getting weary of his constant carping of the efforts of teachers and teacher educators. But let us be positive. If not research on those esoteric-sounding topics then what? I imagine that a research project surveying what practioners think should be researched would be highly valued if done well. What do education deans, teacher educators, teachers, and parents think we need to know, what among these topics is viable in terms of rigorous research, funding available, and time lines that fit into a researcher's career?