Te Radar: Students - Intelligent, but not very bright

I once arrived back at my university flat in Dunedin after a summer holiday to find that a river was running through my bedroom. Literally.

For several days I shared my bed, a small fetid atoll raised on ubiquitous beer crates, with water rats and the occasional duck. They made great companions and excellent soup.

Not once did I complain.

In the midst of a chill Otago winter, when the concept of a hot shower was rendered impossible by the peculiar habit of the hot-water pipe freezing, I did not bleat.

If, on occasion, our attempts to create a new form of penicillin in our rudimentary kitchen-cum-laboratory meant we never had a clean plate or cup, I did not gripe.
Times have changed.

This week several Otago University students appeared in the media whining that their flat had a rather extensive vine growing through the window, a leaking toilet, and an unclean kitchen.

In my day people who wished to live in such circumstances actually paid a premium to do so.

The thought struck me that instead of going to the media, these tetchy students could have put what intelligence they possessed to use, and simply moved out. The fact that they didn't seems to epitomise the new breed of university student: intelligent, but not very bright.

Having just completed a rather unscientific investigation of students (namely a comedy tour of University orientations) the result is that I am more perplexed than ever by the young.

The young do not have a monopoly on extracting from my visage looks of bewilderment. Parliament elicits a similar reaction.

Retiring Speaker and soon-to-be Ambassador to Britain Jonathan Hunt began his career as a schoolteacher, before serving 38 years as an MP. This fact was lauded this week.

I did have to wonder if this was in fact an achievement to be proud of.

As a member of the House of Representatives, who does someone who has spent 38 years as a politician actually represent?

The only answer I could come up with was beneficiaries, as Jonathan must rate as one of the longest recipients of a Government benefit to date.

It is the nature of many current and ex-schoolteachers to cause this kind of confusion and aggravation among people.

This is best epitomised by the Marlborough teacher who declared recently that the "gunging" of school principals by the children's TV show What Now would cause an underlying loss of respect for authority figures.

She seems oblivious to the fact that what actually causes a loss of respect for authority figures is said authority figures openly opining on their need for respect.

Still, the most disturbing moment of the week came after I had remarked to a rather comely university student that I had begun my university studies in 1990.

She murmured to me that "in 1990, I was 3".

This comment caused me to feel oddly uncomfortable, and I very nearly stopped what we were doing.