Letter: Degrees of irascibility
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: There is doubtless some ambiguity at the margins between an upper Second and lower Second degree but thanks to Professor Geoffrey Alderman, the country now knows that such a difference is, after all, simply a matter of 'whether the chairman of the board of examiners has had a bad night' ('Abolition of degree classification urged', 30 June).
Naturally such a revelation will surprise many academics who, rather foolishly, imagined that the distinguishing feature between a 2:2 and a 2:1 was the ability and motivation of the student, not the irascibility of the examiner.
By the same token, however, it should not surprise the good professor if, taking his message seriously, ministers and employers should decide that a degree is no longer worth the paper, or transcript, it is written on.
Yours faithfully,
JAMES MURPHY
Department of
Educational Research
Lancaster University
Lancaster
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
0Comments