$200,000 for a degree - the BBC's cross-cultural price comparison exercise.

[sensaes]

I've already hit my one-entry-on-academics_anon-every-six-months quota for 2010, and academics_uk must be sick of the sight of my username by now, so I'm putting this here

Comments

[dativesingular]

But it is relevant to my brits_americans interests!!! :P

[sensaes]

Actually, you're right about brits_americans but, apart from my aforementioned reservations (which would also probably apply if I'd posted it there), how long do you think it would take for any resulting "debate" to degenerate into an Ivy League/Oxbridge vs. The Rest-style slanging match defined by prejudice and idiosyncratic notions of what constitutes privilege? (Discuss.) ;o)

The tenure issue is an interesting one because it's turned into a one-stop-shop for people to air their (many) grievances about what they perceive to be "wrong" with the system, whether they're speaking from outside it (hello, you self-appointed media pundits) or just bitter about their own careers stalling/guilt-tripping about their success in the face of wider cutbacks and closures (it does happen). Personally, I half-agree with your mother, in that it's unlikely to disappear but will change - becoming even more ridiculously competitive in the process. Tenure-with-strings and contractual productivity targets is not an uncommon package in Europe at the moment, but even

[dativesingular]

(Shhh, that might be part of why I want you to post it there.)

Actually, what you're saying sounds quite similar to some of the things that she was (particularly about it being a stealthy ninja of change in the ivory tower). It wasn't so much a "wrong-or-right" conversation at the time, more a "hmph, ch-ch-changes" observation.

re: journal--I'm often one to pipe up if I can't read someone's journal and would shudder to think if I was guilty of the same! I actually appreciated it quite a lot since most of my own design work has been in print, not via the web.