Despotic tyranny ruined my life

[davywavy]

I don't know if you caught this one; A-level Modern History students complaining that their final exam was 'too hard' because it contained the question “How far do you agree that Hitler’s role 1933-45 was one of despotic tyranny?”.
Their complaint isn't about it being a badly worded question despite 'despot' and 'tyrant' being somewhat tautologous, but because they actually didn't know what despot or tyrant actually meant. A facebook group to protest about the question ("Despotic tyranny ruined my life") has over 1,600 members which, when you consider that 6,000 people took the exam, suggests that a quarter or more of 18 year old history students - people with a self-declared interest in the subject, who might want to study history at university and then get a job presenting Time Team - have a vocabulary which didn't include what I would consider fairly basic governmental terms for pretty much the entirety of recorded human history.

I can see them now; the massed ranks of students in the exam hall, pens a-quiver and eager of neuron to display their hard-gained knowledge. Then, the words "Turn your papers over now". A rustling fills the room followed by...silence. There, spitefully inserted into an A-Level history question about Hitler, the word 'Despot'. Their formerly gleaming eyes dull into glazed incomprehension. As one, their mouths fall open like so many fish and thin trickles of drool begin to collect in their laps. Once-pristine knuckles sprout thick hair and slip to rest upon the ground.

I'm hardly the sharpest tool in the box (my academic record speaks for itself in its unremitting mediocrity) but if I hadn't known what a Despot was when I was 18, I wouldn't have joined groups to complain about it; I'd've kept it damn quiet. I'd've been embarrassed. Perhaps I'd've thought that this gap in my knowledge was at least in part my own responsibility. I didn't even study History to that level, and I think there was little chance of my being asked about the despotic tyranny of Hydrogen over the periodic table in my Chemistry final.

I know some of you lot out there are teachers - what the devil? Can you shed any light on this for me?

Updated from cavalorn: Nice to see groups appearing expressing a contrary position.

Comments

Anniversaire ruined my life

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

I remember a year seven french test where we had to describe what had happened at our last birthday party. But I couldn't remember the word for birthday (despite the fact it was on the list for the week). That's soooo unfair.

Basically the problem is these people don't game enough. Gaming leads to all sorts of bizarre knowledge (Traveller taught me political systems, what albedo meant. Star Ace taught me percentages) and a broadened vocabulary (how many vampire players knew what obfuscate meant before Masquerade).

Re: Anniversaire ruined my life

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I wasn't going to mention it, but gaming is how come I knew the word despot in the first place - the 1st Edition DMG had a list of governmental types including Oligarchy, Plutocracy, Gerontocracy and, yes, Despotism. Hurrah for the secondary education Gary Gygax gave me through his work.

Re: Anniversaire ruined my life

[(Anonymous)]

Gary Gygax did have a fantastic vocabulary.

"Another nadir of neophyte DM's is the killer dungeon..."

H

Re: Anniversaire ruined my life

[jfs.livejournal.com]

*grin*

Here from Cavalorn's LJ.

And yes - what you said.

Of course, at the age of 12, I had all these words thanks to Gary that I didn't know how to pronounce at all, but I did know what they meant.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I'm entirely sure that I knew what the word 'despot' was when I was 18. Really.

I am kinda cringing at the number of people on the group, actually. How can a third of the students who took that exam think that 'despotic' means 'chaotic'? The blurb on that page makes me weep too - 'for our marks to hinge on our understanding of one specialist term is, quite frankly, ridiculous'. How is 'despotic' a specialist term?

God, I hope they do all fail!

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't wish failure on them, but I would wish it upon the people who seem to think that the exercise in box-ticking that the students been put though counts as 'education'.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I am honestly surprised they didn't just know that word. I don't remember being taught it.

I wonder if it's an English failing. Students should be reading more perhaps? And maybe more classics and fewer gritty modern reads? Gah! I sound terribly old, don't I?

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

You're just trying to keep the competition out of your field. :P

Oh god, what if they do pass and these are the future history teachers?

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

"In 1066 King Arthur brought Chicken Tikka Masala into England by thriumphing against Napoleon at The Skirmish Of Heworth Moor, after which he was crowned Emperorator by Pope Joan of New Orleans."

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Comprehensive Education and a target driven (rather than education driven) schools system, would be my guess.

[patchworkkid.livejournal.com]

Beeengo.

Two of my friends work in education (in Australia, but we're getting similar problems here) and both make no bones about the state of the sausage factory. Western education is a Victorian-era model designed to prepare children to work in factories, hence the lining up, the bells, and the emphasis on conformity. Over the years the scope of what's being taught has narrowed quite a bit, and couple that with a culture of It's All About You and immediate satisfaction of every desire and, frankly, a lot of practical experience and education is being missed. Libraries worth for each person. People like Ken Robinson posit alternatives which are worth hearing - alternatives designed for the 21st century rather than the 19th, but I think the damage has been done. At least as far as this generation is concerned. Christ only knows what kind of world we'll be spending our dotage in.

[raggedyman.livejournal.com]

??? I'm sorry but I can't think of a single A-Level history student that I've ever meet who hasn't known the words "despot" and "tyrant" & that hasn't used them at every opportunity possible to describe anything that happens to give them minor upset (and I say this as an ex A-Level history student). This group has to be a piss take


please god let it be a piss take!

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I seriously considered that possibility, which is why I didn't mention this a week ago as I waited a bit for the trick & reveal and general laughter at the gullible who fell for it. However, the ongoing bitterness and complaints on the FB group appear to be genuine. Take a look at it.

[raggedyman.livejournal.com]

got a link?

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I think what's becoming clear here is that 1st edition D&D should be a compulsory part of the national curriculum.

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

Of course if the paper had been set in textspeak...no problem!

Nothing surprises me any more about education. NuLab seem to have completely fucked the educational system.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

It has to be said that the less well-educated people are, the more likely they are to be Labour voters. It's in their interest.

[(Anonymous)]

Only if they want to stay ill educated.

If education meant money, as opposed to being micromanaged by dorx, I suspect they would rapidly shift their stance. Right now, being ill educated is a smart choice.

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

In an effort to use my own humilation to help advocate devilry, I would have struggled with that question, largely because I stick Tyrant and Despot into the same page on my Thesaurus.

So I'd probably have been wondering what the difference between the two was, considering they'd slung them together like that.

In my defence however I dumped history at year 9 in order to pursue arts, drinking and wistfully pining after the fairer sex.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

That's fair - if they'd complained that the question contained a tautology, that's a reasonable statement. However, claiming that 'despotic tyranny' is a "Specialist term" is nonsense!

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

I do wonder sometimes if not being allowed to be seen to be interested in anything is having an impact.

The secondary school and college kids I know have no interest in any of their subject and relentlessly mock anyone who does. It's cool to be ignorant, not interested, better to be funny, boorish and incompetent than intelligent, well-read or eloquent.

Most of my "general knowledge" came from being interested enough in a subject to read around it and still does.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Somewhere along the lines there seems to have been a divorce from Education and Aspiration. I think it's probably caused by a number of factors; continuous testing making people percieve learning as a chore rather than a pleasure, no obvious link between work and reward, no identification of and nuturing of talent and the fact that unemployment hasn't fallen in the last decade are all probably contributory.

FB sampling is unreliable

[applez.livejournal.com]

After all, the FB group population may not map well to the UK student population, and it offers such a delightful opportunity for ironic expression.