Subject: Maybe it's the ages involved?
Author:
Posted on: 2010-06-26 00:20:00 UTC
I think the confusion may come in because of the ages involved. If I am not completely off base here, then the typical age for college in UK is 16-18 with university coming after that. Whereas in America you are still stuck in high school unable to vote, being treated as if you are child in the age range of 16-18.
Hey all, we're back! With, no surprise, Teek and Kayla again! (We just can't stop writing stuff with them. We swear we'll try to cut down. :P) This time it's another interlude, in which Teek finally works up the courage - with a good deal of support - to take a long overdue trip home.
You can find it here on Cassie's journal:
http://c5s-ppc-agents.livejournal.com/6741.html
Or here on Lycaenion's:
http://rc1764.livejournal.com/3724.html
We hope you enjoy it.
That was a good read. I'm glad Teek's reunion is going well.
I'm confused, though: I was always under the impression that college and university had the same definition both sides of the Atlantic, just different colloquialisms when referring to studies of that level. What I mean is, a university is a collection of colleges by definition, but colleges can exist independently. Whether the college you attend is part of a university or not, it's still post-regular-school studies in pursuit of a degree. In the U.S., we call it "college" whether your college is part of a university or not; in the U.K., they call it "university" or "uni" no matter what. Is that wrong? Did I make sense explaining it? O.o
~Neshomeh
I did say "general equivalents", meaning I wasn't stating they were the exact same and nothing else. Just that when they were using those words, they were referring to more or less the same thing, as far as each other's frame of reference went, with the terms they were used to.
What I meant (and, looking at it now, failed to explain) was that I didn't think there were circumstances in which someone would say "college" and mean "high school," or vice versa. They're not equivalent at all and I've never heard of anyone using one to mean the other before, which is why I was confused. College and uni involve the pursuit of a degree, high school does not.
I do understand how "college" and "university" can be used to mean the same thing.
~Neshomeh
I think the confusion may come in because of the ages involved. If I am not completely off base here, then the typical age for college in UK is 16-18 with university coming after that. Whereas in America you are still stuck in high school unable to vote, being treated as if you are child in the age range of 16-18.
I'm the American of the two of us, and even though I'll technically be going to one of the schools in the State University of New York system in the fall (which would make sense with what you said as there's more than one SUNY), I still tell people I'm going to college.
Whereas my British and Australian friends tend to say they're at uni, so you're right on both counts, in my experience at least... I dunno, Cassie put that bit in. :P
Anyhow, glad you liked it; it was great to actually meet her family and I swear the interactions could have gone for pages more if we hadn't stopped where we did. It'll be tough for her going back to HQ, so we might see more of this in the future.
I'm an American attending university in the UK, so I'll see if I can help . . .
In England, College can refer to a one- or two-year preparatory course for university instead or in addition to the last year/ two years of high school.
In some universities, such as Oxford, the universities are split up into colleges. These colleges are seperate and each have their own courses, and they can do absolutely everything -- except give degrees. Only universities can hand out degrees.
In other universities, such as St Andrews, there are one or two seperate colleges within the university. In St Andrews, St Mary's college is the School of Divinity. Again, although the college has its own administration, etc., it cannot hand out degrees -- only the university can do that. So in both Oxford and St Andrews, college is a semi-independent subsect of a university. Like in the USA, each state has its own government, but is ruled over by the federal government.
Hope that helps.
That was nice. I liked interactions between all the agents.
It reminds me that I need to nail down the family issue for Cali.
Funny how we can all inspire each other sometimes. :P
For example, I know that Ian and Lee have families, but given that they both had moved out of their homes and into an "adult" life- they've both graduated from college, for a start- it's not like they're really in a situation like some of the teenage agents. Still, given that they can't exactly tell their families what it is they do, a visit after a particularly bad mission with some major whumping (physical or otherwise)could turn out to have potential. Hmm...
Of course, I'm probably going to wait until I've got a few more missions written before even mentioning their families.
I really liked it.
Its always nice to see our work appreciated. ^^
It's nice!
I like the bit about Newtonian laws of motion and Narrative Laws of Comedy, that line made me laugh very hard.
Anyway... really nice work, and yay! Teek is finally reconciled with her family... *sniff*
*bows* I do like knowing my narrative jokes make people laugh. Makes me happy. :D
It was good actually meeting Teek's family, to the extent that the ending is where it is because that sounded like a good last line and I knew I could keep up their interactions for pages on end otherwise. :P
She's gonna have a bit of trouble going back to HQ after this, but at least she can have other visits now.
Glad you liked it. ^^
Yes, Lycaenion does like her science-related funnies... :P Glad you enjoyed it.