Vision says:
This weekend saw the coming together of two proud institutions in the name of sport, and Europe’s largest inter-university sports tournament did not disappoint. We witnessed highs and lows throughout the three days.
Credit goes to Sam Asfahani for organising the Friday Night Lights, an event that will go down in history as the first Roses match to be played live in front of over 1,000 spectators. Anyone can tell you that the atmosphere there on the night was electric, amplified by the fact that York secured a mcuh-needed victory, since we were behind Lancaster at that point.
On the low side, the Saturday night darts saw York nearly win the competition at quarter past midnight in a cleared out D Bar, after an overexcited fan threw a pint over the scoring equipment. In a strange sense, we suspect most York students were rooting for a Lancaster victory so the competitive end of the sport was delayed till Sunday. Roses was indeed won the next day after the final whistle at the Women’s basketball.
However it was the effort of all those who took part, white rose or red rose, winner or loser, that made Roses 2011 such a success.
Thumbs up to…
Andrew Forbes! The fourth-year Computer Science student, affectionately dubbed the Angry Manchester United Fan at the Courtyard, has warmed our cynical hearts over here at the Vision office.
Forbes has managed to get a substantial fanbase (over 200 ‘likes’ on Facebook!) simply by being genuinely passionate about what he loves. Come rain or shine, if Manchester United are playing, he’s there with the players, either at Old Trafford or in the Courtyard, pint of coke in hand, cheering them on.
His undying support for his team should serve as an inspiration to all of us. We wish we loved anything as much as Forbes loves Fergie and his men. Congratulations on the 19th title, your crazy antics will be sorely missed next year but your spirit will live on (through the medium of undercover YouTube videos).
Thumbs down to…
The Economics Department. Whether the allegations of cheating in the Microeconomics 2 exam are true or not, the scathing criticisms of a senior lecturer’s teaching methods cannot be ignored. However it is unlikely problems with teaching are unique to this department or to York for that matter. It can often be said that university departments and academics focus so much on research scores that undergraduate teaching suffers. A lecturer may well be a world leader in their subject matter, and there is no doubt this is of great benefit to the students they teach; however, if they cannot effectively communicate their concepts and applications, their brilliance can go to waste.
Lecturers can often fall into the trap of assuming their students can pick ideas up as quickly as they could, clearly departments need to work with their senior staff in ensuring their delivery is as good as their content.