Reading in college

BlitzKrieg

Ok so i am only nearing the end of my first year in college. but two things shocked me about my year here in APU Cambridge...


The first is the lack of love studants have for their chosen courses, the idea of studying what you are interested in and love has gone out the window it seems.




And secondly and the subject of this post, the lack of studants here who read, now i dont mean read the works of marx (i'd give more examples but my speeling is terrible and i would offend too many philosphers) or other philosphical works. But simply reading. Hell even if they read a harry potter book i would be happy. But funny enough it was harry potter who brought me to this revelation, going to the film with loads of studants i discovered i was the only one who has read the book...Ok so i'm sad...but wait even worse...they dont read books they tell me. Out of the 30 or so first years i know, only 5 including myself read books for enjoyment. THe common response is 'If i dont have to, then i wont.' meaning if its not for a course or there is a film they wont read.


Now i aint a big reader, i read mostly comedy like terry pratchett and dougles adams, not exactly groundbraking stuff, but i still read if the book perks my interest. The fact that most of my friends just dont read full stop, the excuses i am told is that they forget what they have read when they stop reading for a night or something similar and cant continue reading.

I didnt expect philosphical readings...but not reading at all was just shocking. One of the images i had of university was getting p*ssed all night at some mental studant parties...but another half was people generally expanding their knowledge beyond the tv.

kinda makes me glad i only have a pc here and not a TV aswell...(phew)

simu

As a book-freak, I don't get why people don't enjoy reading. Maybe they never figure out that it's great fun if you pick books on topics you are interested in rather than stuff you have to read for school.

In my experience though, first year at uni is a bit crazy - after all the work done to get to uni the year before and the fact that your finals are 3/4 years away, people tend to concentrate on sex and partying. They become more balanced in the later years.

deRanged

I'm doing a phd in UCC, and as part of that I give tutorials and correct assignments and so on. This year, for the first time ever I've really been shocked at how awful students spelling and grammar is. I've never seen it this bad - and this was in a simple webpage assignment - one paragraph about yourself sort of thing.
I don't mind a few mistakes - I'm not an english teacher - I'm a computer scientist. Good english is supposed to be a pre-requisite for college.

We've all been saying it here - the numbers of students who are here to learn about the subject is very small - the rest, well I don't know why they're here. For the pubs and the craic I think. And they've no interest in learning anything - or doing any work.

It's worrying - we're supposed to be a high-tech country? And we can't even read?

Tom Dunne

I work in one of the major multi-nationals, with plenty of the stereo-typical "highly qualified" employees the IDA are always promoting.

E-mails are probably the most common form of communication in a company of this size, along with the occasional ( ) meeting sprinkled with plenty of Powerpoint presentations.

To say that I am amazed at the amount of spelling mistakes I see on a daily basis would be an understatement. It is incredible, even with a spell checker, the amount of spelling mistakes.

Stephen

I love to read, mostly crime/thriller stuff. It entertains me. Most of my friends in college don't, besides the odd compsoc type who is into lord of the rings style fantasy stuff. Some peoples' standard of English is really, really bad... but then high grades in leaving cert English were not required for this course. (Carlow IT )

tribble

I used to read books until I was about 15.

I stopped because I took up other hobbies - electronics, computers, music etc.

I now read more than I ever did, but it is mostly articles, threads and newsfeeds.

I was given "The Bagdad Blods" by my Dad for my birthday last year. It sits on my dusty bookshelf looking rather lonesome.

tribble

/edited for typos :rolleyes: