The Oxford image
Sir: Perhaps you would allow me to com- ment briefly on Mr Stuart Proffitt's denun- ciation of my Oxford piece (Letters, 23 Oc- tober). First, Mr Proffitt accuses me of `deriding' employers. This I deny; having merely remarked that they are forced to base their assessment of candidates on non- academic criteria. Secondly, Mr Proffitt makes out a case for the University as a sort of intellectual forcing house. This is best refuted by an account of what happened recently at St John's, the most intellectually rigorous of colleges. The authorities an- nounced that in future no undergraduate could expect to get away with fewer than 20 hours work a week. Even this moderate de- mand was regarded as laughable by the ma- jority of students.
David Taylor
16 The Avenues, Norwich
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