Speaking of the British • Hacker News Board

Re: Speaking of the British

#41

Post by mdda » Sat, May 07, 2011, 8:57 PM UTC

corin_ wrote: post #29

wyclif wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean RP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation

I've never actually heard that term before, though I am familiar with it being called the Queen's English, and BBC and Oxford English. But commonly it would be considered "upper class" within England, and probably considered "English" outside the UK.

FWIW : Oxford English and RP are different. Not to mention 'upper class English', which is a whole other ballgame. That is, of course, if you're English, when you can tell them apart within 5 seconds (yes, actually).

Personally, I have a 'perfect' RP accent (according to the Cambridge linguistics people who recorded me). But I find the whole class-antenna thing really irritating. So much so that I live in New York, where people just know I'm foreign, or putting on a fake accent.

Re: Speaking of the British

#42

Post by lclarkmichalek » Sat, May 07, 2011, 9:03 PM UTC

ErrantX wrote: post #30

This is hilarious :) I honestly thought it was a joke... but now I am uncertain.. he seems to genuinely think that Britain is like this :S The best bit is the wonderful caricature of Oxbridge interviews, as if the modern world is left behind once you step foot in those hallowed halls :D One guy at our school that went to Oxford worked like absolute hell to get his grades, pass his entrance exam and pass the exhaustin…

As someone who will be applying for Oxford this September, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Even just the work needed to get the grades is immense. This year the entrance requirements for Mathematics are A Astar Astar, Mathematics and Computer Science A A A and Computer Science A A Astar. There is no way I shall be winging it (for the first time in my life, I am seriously revising).

Re: Speaking of the British

#43

Post by will_critchlow » Sat, May 07, 2011, 9:20 PM UTC

tomsaffell wrote: post #15

will_critchlow wrote: post #6

Yep. This rings true even of technical graduates. Makes them really hard to interview because they are so good at interviewing ! I think it's an under-rated skill outside oxbridge. I certainly think it's helped me and I only have the very edges of this skill that I picked up at Cambridge.

>Makes them really hard to interview because they are so good at interviewing! Hmm. In my experience interviewing Oxbridge grads, I didn't find that. Being good at talking around gaps in knowledge works very well in free flowing conversations, but if an interviewer ask a specific question, and the interviewee cannot answer it, then the ability to talk round it does no good. E.g. I used to ask a question relating to t…

You're right. I'm talking about the ones with the pre-requisite knowledge, not the total blaggers. It's hard to address their answers to the questions that don't have right or wrong answers because they answer so well.

Re: Speaking of the British

#44

Post by rplacd » Sat, May 07, 2011, 9:22 PM UTC

lhnz wrote: post #31

This article is complete bullshit: > Nor is workaholic study encouraged. A South African relative of mine started his first “supervision” at Cambridge by confessing that he hadn’t read every single book on the reading list. “Good God,” said his supervisor, “nor have I. I put them down hoping that you’d look at a couple, and tell me what they said.” That's just completely untrue. Just talk to some student from Oxford…

"I disagree with this article! Here's a hypothetical that proves it - I know it's true because I disagree with this article."

I'm all for nuanced positions, though.

Re: Speaking of the British

#45

Post by 16s » Sat, May 07, 2011, 9:56 PM UTC

Seems silly to suggest that articulate people are uneducated. If that's not an oxymoron, what is?

Re: Speaking of the British

#46

Post by adamt » Sat, May 07, 2011, 10:01 PM UTC

I studied CS at Cambridge having previously come from a below average state school. Although the article is a cliche of half-truths there is in my experience some truth there. I had 2 interviews to get in which lasted only 15 and 60 minutes. I only made it to about 25% of lectures and talked my way through supervisions. Through good exam technique and my own independent study, I walked away getting a first in each year. So contrary to most people here I think there is actually a degree of reality to the article.

Re: Speaking of the British

#47

Post by epo » Sat, May 07, 2011, 10:32 PM UTC

It's probably a humour piece.

The trouble is that many foreigners tend to take it at face value because it panders to racist stereotypes they hold about the British.

Re: Speaking of the British

#48

Post by epo » Sat, May 07, 2011, 10:34 PM UTC

MrScruff wrote: post #18

tomelders wrote: post #14

I'm british, but I have to say; this article is utter arse gravy of the highest order.

I'm also English. Calling something 'utter arse gravy of the highest order' isn't a particularly informative form of criticism.

Then it matches the article very well indeed.

Re: Speaking of the British

#49

Post by sabraham » Sat, May 07, 2011, 11:07 PM UTC

tomsaffell wrote: post #13

Some of this resonates, but this does not: Oxbridge’s teaching methods reward good talk In my experience, Cambridge University Engineering Department rewards those who can at age 19 show on paper a sound grasp of all branches of engineering, from vector calculus, to materials science, to the physics of a transistor, to thermo dynamics. Those who can do both that, and also speak well, are often 'poached' into consulti…

That said, I'm American, went to Oxford and am now at Cambridge, and I can assure you that most Humanities graduates are shockingly innumerate--I seriously doubt most Arts students given the Math SAT would be able to do more than shake a stick at it. The best evidence is probably in PPE; the only people who stick with E(conomics) did Math/s at A-level. The system doesn't encourage it. You do your 3-5 A-levels, and people tend to focus on the Arts or the Sciences, with little to no overlap.

Also, I was never offered sherry at a tutorial, but I did have friends studying English who were offered wine~

On a related note, this is a good summary of the differences between English vs American values/elite educations: http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/apr/23/whats-better-o...

Re: Speaking of the British

#50

Post by matclayton » Sat, May 07, 2011, 11:19 PM UTC

tomsaffell wrote: post #13

Some of this resonates, but this does not: Oxbridge’s teaching methods reward good talk In my experience, Cambridge University Engineering Department rewards those who can at age 19 show on paper a sound grasp of all branches of engineering, from vector calculus, to materials science, to the physics of a transistor, to thermo dynamics. Those who can do both that, and also speak well, are often 'poached' into consulti…

As someone who went through CUED, I confirm that there are an awful lot of my friends in investment banking/consulting, however I know of a fair few (myself included) who now do startup's.

For example I do Mixcloud, and I have friends from uni days, who are founders in YC companies such as Heyzap, songkick, rapportive and webmynd. So not all of us turn to the dark side.... infact I would say a surprising number of them are now actively involved in internet startups.