<p>^ Great, we can agree to disagree.</p>
<p>Since I think the UK should be split up, I’ll continue to refer to English, Scottish, Welsh and N. Irish universities.</p>
<p>Why on earth would you want that, perhaps because you know nothing of history? This Kingdom is United or was United for a particular reason - namely that, in the case of Scotland and England the common blood of royalty came together, and in the case of wales through invasion. None of the constituent countries would have any impact on the world were they independent. You sir, are an idiot, with no concept of politics, history, or respect for this country.</p>
<p>Hah, way to go ad hominem. I’m fully aware of how the Union came about, thank you.</p>
<p>The UK doesn’t have that much impact on the world anymore these days, anyway. And Ireland seems to be doing ok independently (yes the economic crash is bad – but they were worse off under UK control).</p>
<p>The main reason I favour a split is that (despite the mutterings about the west lothian question) UK politics and culture is completely dominated by England. Wales and northern Ireland are drowned out, Scotland less so.</p>
<p>An example of this: in the news at the moment, people routinely debate Lansley’s NHS reforms without making clear that the reforms only apply to England, and not the UK as a whole. This isn’t really a complaint, it’s inevitable given the differing sizes of the countries.</p>
<p>Scotland and Wales were the first to join the British (rather: English) empire, and they will be the last to leave. But I hope it’s soon.</p>
<p>Right, so there is no Scottish or Welsh culture. So why the hell am I going, for example, to a Burns Night supper tonight, complete with haggis bagpipes etc. And what about the speakers of Gaelic and Welsh. Let us ignore the followers of the Welsh and Scottish Rugby and Football teams. And of course, the Welsh and Scots have their own national holidays as a mark of their culture being sunk. Of course in a Union between three cultures then one, the biggest, will be dominant. Do you think, for example, that France should be broken up due to cultural variance in Normandy and Brittany? And what about the USA - clearly the voice of the Hispanic culture is, to outside impression, sunk beneath the stereotypical white middle American. I know! Let us follow your advce: the USA must be split up. And Canada! Oh yes - the French - let them be independant to how dare there be some sort of union there. You see, your argument can be applied to all countries, so why is the UK any different? Or do you advocate that there should not ever be a mix of culture? Britain is no different to any other of the countries I mentioned.</p>
<p>My friend, that point concerning the NHS need not be clarified, those of us who are informed, and educated, as you appear to be, know that of course it only applies to England, this is due to that big change that occurred a few years back called ‘devolution’ - hence NHS reform in parliament, of course, refers to England. If you want to know what is happening in Scotland examine the Scottish Parliament, or the Welsh or Northern Irish assemblies. If one were living in Scotland or Wales, then you could, obtain Scottish and Welsh news on the Scottish and Welsh news channels. You still have not made a point which justifies your point of view, other than that England is big. Right. Great point. As if.</p>
<p>Man, you are defensive. I have political views about the best future for the constituent countries of the UK, which you happen to disagree with.</p>
<p>Why are you taking it so personally?</p>
<p>I don’t think the welsh language is a good thing for you to point to. It only survives now insofar as the English failed to wipe it out. Ever heard of the welsh knot?</p>
<p>About the NHS, when there are reports on the <em>British</em> national broadcaster that simply refer to ‘the NHS’, that still shows an Anglo-chauvanism that I think is best ended. Yes of course i could get the scottish or welsh channels, but this **** shouldn’t be happening on the <em>British</em> channels.</p>
<p>This affects northern England too, of course, but is most clear in the case of the Celtic fringe.</p>
<p>As for people in other countries, I have no particular opinion about whether they should split or stick together. I think the people in Quebec or Belgium or wherever should decide for themselves. But in the case of the UK, yes I think it should break up. Within the EU, it doesn’t make that much difference anyway.</p>
<p>Based on current political boundardies and voting patterns, if the UK were to split there would be almost no tory MPs in Wales or Scotland, and a large tory majority in England. Time to let people go their own way.</p>
<p>Not to mention that if Wales and Scotland were independent like Ireland, they’d be freed from England’s imperialist wars. If Wales and Scotland had been independent in 2003, they’d be clean of the stain of invading Iraq. That is enough for me to think it’s a good idea.</p>
<p>‘Imperialist’ wars. Right. Come on out of the 19th Century.</p>
<p>You just think that there should be a break up, no referendum. How Democratic (or are you conveniently forgetting that the most recent credible opinion polls in Scotland and Wales suggested to remain unified).</p>
<p>Actually the height of the British empire was the 1930s, so I’m at least in the 20th century.</p>
<p>And where the hell do you get the idea that I think the UK should be forcibly broken up, undemocratically? You are really grasping at straws now.</p>
<p>If the people in these places want to remain part of the UK then fine. I support self-determination. But in my opinion, all four countries would be better off splitting up.</p>
<p>I would vote for a split in a referendum. Perhaps even campaign for it.</p>
<p>But the hieght of British ‘Imperialist’ Wars was in the 19th Century, leading to the height of the British empire in the 1930s. Go learn about the ‘stream of time’.</p>
<p>Good, you’d lose, which is what outrageous views are worth - you still have not explained why the UK is different to the other places that I mentioned by the way.</p>
<p>Look, I know a lot of the people on here are idiots, but I’m not. I’m at least as well-informed as you.</p>
<p>So if you can’t be more respectful and less condescending, cram it.</p>
<p>As for those other countries: I wouldn’t presume to advise them, since I don’t know enough about it.</p>
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<p>I don’t think you should underestimate the impact the UK can, and does have in the world. As for Ireland, even before their economic crash it was pretty grim. </p>
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<p>And why should it not? England has virtually all of the UKs population, so it stands to reason that British politics is dominated by the southern half of the country. I don’t agree that England dominates British culture.</p>
<p>If you are as well informed as me, then why get the dates wrong? You want some respect - don’t expect it, earn it, I don’t expect any, nor do I give it to to people like yourself, who have opinions that they then do not back up, the mark, in my opinion, of a poor education.</p>
<p>When I say respect, I don’t mean deference. I mean not being rude, insulting or condescending to people. And that most certainly doesn’t have to be earned.</p>
<p>And which date did I get wrong?</p>
<p>Don’t confuse disagreeing with you for not backing up my opinions. You may say I’m wrong, but I’ve given you lots of reasons why I think the UK should break up. All you seem to have in response is derision and rhetorical shadowboxing.</p>
<p>By the way, for such an educated girl you really should fix those run-on sentences.</p>
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<p>No reason why England shouldn’t dominate the UK, if there is to be a UK. It’s not malice (anymore – it certainly used to be).</p>
<p>But I think Wales and Scotland are better off out of such a situation. For very similar reasons, I think the UK wouldn’t do well as the 51st state of the USA.</p>
<p>You have given not one reason other than that England is bigger than the other two, I asked for a Good, well thought out reason. Until you present me with it I see no need to argue back at you, being more Aristophanes’ ‘Attic Wasp’. As for respect,when talking online it has to be earned most certainly. I hardly consider myself to be rude, merely argued as I saw fit, if you read into an argument as serious, then never perhaps have you argued properly.</p>
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<p>Serious question: is English your second language?</p>
<p>Not at all, I just prefer a slightly out of date style. I believe, but could be mistaken, although never have I encountered another making use of it, the heavily periodic sentence fell out of fashion in the 19th Century. Nonetheless, given that it is a perfectly decent style with which to pose an argument, I see no reason why I should not utilise it, without a doubt it has, in no way, held me back in life, or indeed, in writing. Certainly I would admit that the Classical languages play their part on my style, but since on them English syntax is based, again I suspect you should find it hard to complain.</p>
<p>Wow, this thread really went places where I never intended it would go but whatever…</p>
<p>While I didn’t have time to read through the lengthy replies, thank you to those who gave me a little bit on insight into the English grading system. I guess I have to check in with my school’s study abroad office (albeit, its utterly useless) to see how grades are converted. For some reason I doubt it will be pretty /sigh/</p>
<p>Is it more like high school with the year end exams? Does anyone have any experience as a science major in the UK? I’ve had essay questions on my upper level exams but I always hate them because you are usually graded on whether or not you hit a certain number of bullet points and its impossible to know what the **** they want sometimes. I think for some subjects multiple choice is a much better measure to test someone’s knowledge of a subject.</p>
<p>Vitabellaa: My course is maths and physics, so yes to your question about being a science major. For the core physics courses in 1st-3rd year there are no essay questions. There may well be some in the optional courses in fourth/fifth year, but for the most part, the physics and maths exams are all about doing problems.</p>
<p>I am quite knowledgeable about both ssytems as a science major, and I would give you a bit of advise. if you need more PM me, but generally i would say-</p>
<p>It depends on
- The School you are coming from
- The school you are going to
- The department you will be at</p>
<p>As a science major, stick this into your head and you will be fine. DO PAST EXAMS. The UK final exam system is based on doing past exams and there is little to no continuous assessment. They have tutorials- just like problem sets in the US, but they are not graded anyways so no one does it until a week or two before the exam. Also get used to the fact that most people do no work for a whole year or term, and just cram for exams before. In some classes (or modules as they call them), they repeat exam questions, or have questions structured similarly. Most of the students hate doing any independent thinking lol and just like learning past exams.</p>
<p>In terms of difficult it depends on the school you are coming from and the department. I generally found that the science exams are way easier than the ones in my school. Like some of the questions the engineers took would make a PChem student laugh in mu undergrad. However, some departments its impossible to get over a 70 and they give this to maybe 10% of the class. While some departments give as high as 30% 70s. Soif you are going to say Leeds or Liverpool were tons of the students are average it would not be that hard to get a 70 in the sciences. Probably a joke too easy.</p>
<p>The humanities are a bit hard but Yes and No Technical fields its pretty easy. In general, from experience, as well as discussing with multiple professors who are american and have worked both in the UK and the US and can compare studnets better-</p>
<p>A student with a 3.6 science GPA at a top 25-30 university should be able to get over 70 in all their modules in nearly every UK school with relative ease.</p>
<p>Also their final exams look like just one midterm in the US, except if you screw it up, thats the end of your grades. You have to be aware of this fact, and I think thats the most difficult part about the UK.</p>
<p>Oh, and I forgot the teaching is crap in the sciences. Some of my good friends who studied math abroad at UCL complained about the crappy teaching. Shocking anyways since the math teaching at my undergrad was so crappy (we had all these professors from germany and holland who had difficult to understand accents and could not teach to save their lives) that I thought it could not get worse.</p>
<p>SO u will probably learn the stuff by yourself.</p>
<p>Goodluck!!!</p>