"Rob" wrote in message
...
Phildo wrote:
Your better bet is to work your way up. A degree can only teach you the
theory and experience means far more.


In that case, you're quite right. In my experience of degrees they include
a vocational element, and the fact (your fact - I haven't checked) that
the Tonmeister degrees offer no practical grounding or on-site placements
renders them of limited use.

I never said any such thing. Please take your words out of my mouth as I
find them most distasteful.


Unless his English is good he will find life very hard
there.

What do you mean? For the language or something else?


The language. You will be faced with a barrage of technical terms.

Not a reason for not doing it. I know many students whose first language
isn't English do very well with technical subjects.

And I have known several who found it a real barrier. The course is
difficult enough without having to translate passages you do not understand.
A thorough grasp of the language the course is taught in at that level is
essential.

In the UK we finish school at 16 with what used to be called O levels but
are now called GCSEs. We have the option to then go to a 6th form college
to do A-levels which are more advanced. A levels today are about the
equivalent difficulty of what O levels where when I was at school as they
have REALLY dumbed down the exams to try to show the failing education
system is actually improving.

I'm not sure which subjects you are referring to, but your experience is
very different to mine. When were you at school? My experience is based on
doing them in the late 70s.

Last year I checked the current A level papers against my old O-level papers
from 1985 in maths, physics, music, French, chemistry, geography and English
(language and lit). The O-levels were harder by far in every case. My father
was a teacher and always moaned about how the exams were being dumbed down
when he heard the government crowing about the new levels of excellence they
had achieved so we decided to see for ourselves.

Although they say AAB at Surrey you are more likely
looking at AAA or even a 4th A-level to get in.

Depends. Universities are well known for their curious entrance criteria.

I was being specific to Surrey and the Tonmeister degree course.

Forget studying sound at anything but a basic level and get your skills
on the job. Qualifications don't really mean anything in this business.

For some people it's a chicken and egg situation. In my experience a
qualification helps get a job. It *doesn't* get you a job. But if sound
engineering doesn't involve an academic grounding, and there aren't any
courses with a vocational element, then I defer.

We are discussing sound engineering here or hadn't you noticed?

Also, what sort of sound engineer do you want to be? Do you have any
particular discipline in mind?

One of the advantages of education - helps you decide.

Not really. You can do something at university then get out in the field and
discover you hate it. Much better to get some real world experience and work
out what you want to do before wasting your time.

I reckon a one-year basic sound engineering course such as the City & Guilds
182 followed by a few years of working in the industry would serve him far
better than a degree.

Phildo