Graphic content of Cambridge University law exam stuns students | Hacker News Reader

Graphic content of Cambridge University law exam stuns students

telegraph.co.uk

4 pointsstfu9 comments

Is anyone else taken aback by the expression "graphic" here? How about "explicitly violent"?

Seriously? I guess it is a shocker for them when they have been living sheltered lives with a silver spoon put in their mouth. Unless they have been living in a bubble for most of their lives... This is nowhere near graphic. They are going to be lawyers and they think this is graphic? Well, these people are going to get a reality check when they get hired as lawyers.

Not everyone who goes to Cambridge has/had a sheltered life, and not everyone had "a silver spoon put in their mouth." Your characterization of Cambridge students is somewhat offensive, and definitely inaccurate.

You sound like you have also had a sheltered life as well! These people better stay far away as possible from public service as they WILL be experiencing far worse than this. When they get exposed to cases with child molesters, family violence, and even more heinous crimes, they better stick to corporate law or something similar. My assessment IS accurate of you though.

Yes, no doubt if they end up practising law they will meet things that are significantly worse than they have already encountered, and almost certainly significantly worse than they have personally experienced.

However, there's a difference between meeting these things in practise, and meeting these things in an exam. There is such a thing as context, and meeting things you regard as inappropriate to the current context can be rather shocking.

I agree with you entirely that, supposing they go on to practise in the relevant areas, they will meet things that are truly vile. But not all will, and when being examined on one's knowledge of law, one might not be expecting to meet things that are rather unpleasant.

Personally I think it's a good thing that they are exposed to these sorts of things in an examination. When practising law they will be expected to perform even when personally discomposed. Having an examination that tests that ability is a good thing, although separating the effect of that from the ability to recall information and form an argument might be difficult. Maybe that isn't necessary.

    > My assessment IS accurate of you though.

Hmm. I'm pleased for you that you know everything, must make life so much easier.

Well, I didn't mean to act like an ass, but you know as well as I do that this is a joke. Adults that are shocked at this is actually pretty stupid. If let's say a minor read this and was shocked, then well that would be completely understandable. Sorry to say, most colleges do have hazing issues and rampant rapes. You might not be exposed to it, but for students this day and age, many are aware.

Two things.

Firstly, it would be interesting to know what the actual proportion is of colleges that have "hazing issues and rampant rapes." I'm sure it varies country by country, university by university, and so on. (Remember, at Cambridge (which is where this conversation started) there are colleges within the university. For example, Trinity and Peterhouse are separate colleges of Cambridge University). I'm sure it also varies with clubs, societies, and years. I joined many clubs/societies at Cambridge, and never once was exposed to any kind of hazing, not to any behavior that I thought was socially inappropriate sex-wise. (Which is not to say I'm unaware or sheltered. Given other contexts in my life, I almost certainly would have been aware, had it been present.)

Secondly, being aware of such issues in the social context is usually, and some would argue should remain, separate from the material in an exam. As a math PhD I would have been shocked to discover the "word problem" setting of a question involving hazing and/or rape issues, even though some questions would lend themselves to such a setting.

    > Adults that are shocked at this is
    > actually pretty stupid.

Adults that are shocked that such things happen might be ignorant and/or, but they are not necessarily stupid. To claim that such things ought to be on an exam, or are a natural setting for questions on an exam simply because they are "rampant" is an interesting position to take, and one that it seems you are not far from.

I know MANY fucking brilliantly minded people that are socially fucking stupid. First off, I have never made the claim that such things ought to be on an exam, or are a natural setting for questions on an exam simply because they are "rampant". Stop putting fucking words in my mouth. You seem very sheltered in your location as RAPE happens everywhere. Name one university that is RAPE free that is co-ed. Many go unreported which compounds the issue. I am sure when you went to school hundreds of years ago with your clubs/socities that you were not exposed. You seem like a fucking dinosaur honestly as the related articles in there show your school has many issues with sexism and such.

Wow. I mean, just, wow.

Still, I'll try to answer you fully.

  > I know MANY fucking brilliantly minded people that are
  > socially fucking stupid.

Yes, absolutely, and certainly in some subjects more than others. In particular, in my subject more than most.

  > First off, I have never made the claim that such things
  > ought to be on an exam, or are a natural setting for
  > questions on an exam simply because they are "rampant".

And yet you claim that no one should be shocked when they come across such things. So you're saying that no one should be shocked, and yet it shouldn't happen. So now I don't know what it is you're saying.

This is what I'm saying: it is reasonable even for people who know full well what really goes on to be shocked to find them the subject of a question in a law exam paper.

  > Stop putting fucking words in my mouth.

I'm just trying to point out how what you're saying can be read. If you say no one should be shocked by seeing this sort of thing in an exam, that people who are shocked are stupid, ignorant, or both, then it seems that you are saying it is quite reasonable for such things to be on an exam.

Are you now saying it's not reasonable for such things to be on an exam? If it's not reasonable, then why shouldn't people be shocked when it happens?

  > You seem very sheltered in your location as RAPE happens
  > everywhere.

Well, going all technical on you, it doesn't happen everywhere, because, for example, it doesn't happen in my house. Now I know that's not what you meant, but it does you no service to go all hyperbolic.

Being more reasonable, I'm sure it happens more than I personally see, because I personally have never seen it. I've seen many, many reports, but it's never happened where I would experience it. Maybe I'm lucky, maybe I'm selective, who knows.

But I do know it happens. To claim I am sheltered just because I haven't been directly exposed to it seems a little extreme, but if that's what you think, fine. Call me sheltered, without actually knowing what I am actually aware of. I think you're jumping to conclusions based on very little evidence.

Read again what I wrote - I'm not denying it happens, and I'm not even denying that it's rampant. I am saying that I know it doesn't happen EVERYWHERE and to EVERYONE, because it didn't happen to me. I've also had some pretty frank conversations with people I know, and while it did happen to some, I know it didn't happen to them all.

It happens, I know. I never said otherwise.

  > Name one university that is RAPE free that is co-ed.

Now that is stupid. You know it's impossible for me to do that - how is such a demand advancing your cause? Leave aside your unnecessary restriction to co-ed institutions.

  > Many go unreported which compounds the issue.

Absolutely.

  > I am sure when you went to school hundreds of years ago
  > with your clubs/societies that you were not exposed. You
  > seem like a fucking dinosaur honestly as the related
  > articles in there show your school has many issues with
  > sexism and such.

It is true that I went to school hundreds of years ago, but I'm pretty sure I'm human, and therefore can't be a dinosaur.

However ...

I'm sure Cambridge, as does every other university, has massive problems with drinking, rape, sexism, and all sorts of undesirable and downright illegal, immoral, and unacceptable behavior. I'm also pretty sure it hasn't changed all that much, and that it was as bad, if not worse, back hundreds of years ago when I was there.

However, the point where this started was your claim that people are stupid to be shocked to have these sorts of things in exam papers, which you then seem to contradict later. So in short, apart from insulting me, and swearing at me, I don't really see what you're trying to say.

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