There seems to have been a lot of hate directed at ‘dim witted’ students in the SCAN letters page of late. I feel I should speak out in defence of them, but I don’t really want to group myself among them: a moral dilemma if ever there was one. I do still feel, however, that several points should be raised.
- The use of “like” excessively in a conversation, as referred to in the first letter, does not demonstrate a dimness of wits; it is simply a symptom of the generation, and will often be used instead of a pause or filled pause (words like “erm”).
- The student mentioned in the second letter seems not to be dim witted, but to have some sort of anger issue/general attitude problem. Or maybe he was just having an off day.
- Anyone who has filled in a UCAS application, will surely realise university places are based on academic grades and references, not how much common sense a person has. If only there were a way to judge such a thing; perhaps then Mr O’Brien would be studying with the calibre of people he would expect from a Top 10 institution such as this.
I feel I should also point out, Mr O’Brien referred to “the lady” who wrote the first letter. I feel, had he any wits about him, he would have noticed that the letter was signed “A member of the travelling public”. Unless Mr O’Brien was intending to make a sweeping statement about the users of public transport, he has potentially offended a fellow SCAN correspondent.
Harriet Murdoch
Furness College
