Review-of-“The-Decline-and-Fall-of-the-British-University”

Review of “The Decline and Fall of the British University”The Book, Advanced English Writing, is compiled for third-year college composition class. It instructs academic writing skills and offers outstanding essays, which induce students to fully understand those skills and utterly apply them. The article, “The Decline and Fall of the British University”, written by Dr. Mark Tarver, is one of the model essays in the book. In this essay, Dr. Mark Tarver flashbacks personal experience in his universitys and working as a tenured professions time, presenting us some thought-provoking understanding over the expansion and showing us the comparisons and analyses to indicate the desolation of this “Cultural Revolution” of new century. Judged by the lacking rigor of its analyses and negative effect it causes, the essay, “The Decline and Fall of the British University”, should not included in the next edition.Dr. Tarver tells his personal stories indicating the decline and fall of the British university and the corruption of academic ideal, summing up three factors of it. First, without considering universities current circumstances, the government widens access to education and carries out egalitarianism to education, which tortured both students and lecturers. Second, comparison with the increased percentage of entrants, students ability of studying is declining, therefore, students have to crib off other sources to finish the papers, yet, they have less studying tasks than before. Third, the lecturers have to simplify courses and water down the requirements of a qualified student to reduce the number of failing students. Thus, Dr. Mark Tarver thinks adopting foreign immigrant academics to delay the gap caused by British education is not feasible and effective.The information and analyses in the essay are not reliable and rigorous. First, when Dr. Mark Tarver demonstrates his point that some students fail to finish their final papers, he writes By pre-1990 standards about 20% of the students should have been failed(99) as the evidence to support his idea, but he doesnt show where he find this statistics and whether or not it is credible. So it is useless for sustaining his standpoint. Second, Dr. Mark Tarver considers that, with the decline of requirements to students and less hard courses given by lecturers, students studying ability is crippling. He gives an example that some students even dont know how to do their final projects and crib off other sources to finish papers, but he doesnt show us the exact details, instead, he mentions vaguely that the number of this kind of students, as it is originally written in the article more than I can remember or even want to remember (99). Hes supposed to hold more exact and effective statistics, for example, what per cent of this kind of students are and the source it comes from, so that the readers could be convinced as soon as they see the data. The essay will mislead the intended readers of this book, Advanced English Writing, which is made for students. Influenced by Dr. Tarvers arguments that the British university has been declined and fallen and academic ideal has been corrupted(96), the students will doubt the value of further education and query that it is worthy to go on getting high school diploma or not. Besides, Dr. Tarver also holds the view that the immigrants, who are not excellent in language skills, fill the vacancy of lecturers(102). It seems that the author prejudices the immigrant lecturers because they water down the quality of lecturers. Thus, the immigrant students and lecturers will regard it as racial discrimination, which will lead disputes. Still, the essay adds much background about education and policy, which make it more logical and impressive. At the beginning of the essay, considering there are some students dont know clearly about the current system of education and the policy undertaken by government, Dr. Tarver introduces the background of education clearly, so that the whole essay is more logical and easier to understand. Overall, the essay, “The Decline and Fall of the British University”, is lack of serious research and accurate data to uphold the authors arguments that the British university has been declined and fallen and academic ideal has been corrupted. And it has negative effect on the intended readers, the students, for they will doubt the current education is us