University Students

[Baggiemadguern]

I agree in large part mate but it’s a real wake up call for those who go to “Uni” as a lifestyle choice and with no clue as to what they want to do when they leave.

I think it’ll make a lot parents think twice before letting their ****ager go in the future.

A friend of mine finished his Masters Degree last year told me that it could all have been done in a third of the time.

He said it was a huge waste of time and money being forced to stay in university for so long.

I think the whole “Uni” thing has become too much of a life “Accessory” and gloating rights for parents since Blair starting pushing it in 97.

At one point we were producing 70 x the number of photographers we needed I believe.

Absolutely spot on. I have never been to university and yet in every job I have worked in I have done exactly the same work as those that have and for the same pay, and I left school with the most basic education, just pushed myself a little when I realised life did not owe me anything and I had an incentive when I got married to do better so I did.

Today it is even worse. The amount of times you meet people for the first time and all they want to tell you is how many kids they have at university. It has become an add on for today’s young people. When I hear some of the topics young people study at uni it makes me want to laugh and cry all at the same time.

I respect those that do go and become something, Doctors, lawyers, scientists etc, but those that just go into ordinary jobs after years of study have wasted time and money and then just moan about it.

[Yarmbaggie]

I don't understand what happened to my previous post. Must have pressed button by mistake. I intended to say that 20% of pupils from my area passed the 11+. Apparently the national figures varied from 10% to 35%, depending on the area in which you lived. In my case from that 20% only a small number went on to attend university. That puts into perspective Blair's claim that he wanted 50 % to attend. This is why we now have so many 'Mickey Mouse' subjects on offer. Youngsters of today should be looking at other avenues for their futures and not just university. By the way I wasn't one of those who went on to university!!

As I posted on another post, when I left Grammar school at the end of the 60s just over 6% of people aged 18 went to University and yes it was Blair who changed all that, despite numbers increasing slowly during the 70s.

As with much ideology the positives are there to see but the negatives were underplayed. It was true that the middle and upper class students filled most of the 45, yes 45 universities that existed at the end of the 60s (source Wiki). Yes it is true most working class kids families couldn’t afford it and yes it needed to improve.

However, most kids were not suited to academic life at 18, I certainly wasn’t, and many were more suited to apprenticeship or other skills which became under valued. People who were not academic were not, and are not second class citizens. Non academic lives matter!

I didn’t go to Uni and neither did either of my daughters despite getting the pre requisite A level qualifications. All of us have had fulfilling lives, careers and rounded skills. We didn’t miss going to Uni and the same cannot be said for many of my daughters school colleagues who have not made success of their lives despite going to Uni, several of them not finishing courses.

[Prando]

I don’t know if you heard of it from your time up in Harrogate Paul but there’s a top notch school called Ashville College.

My dad was one of the first six lads ever to gain a scholarship to go there.

Fees were around £1700 a year in the late 1940’s I believe so it was only the wealthy elite who had previously been able to go there.

My dad was less impressed when he realised they didn’t play football ( he was already a County player at that time ) and there were no girls.

Such was his natural sporting ability he took up rugby at the school and became a county player at that whilst still having Huddersfield Town wanting to sign him due to his Sunday football exploits.

All of this said, he came out with only two O levels due to being too devoted to sport and due to being distracted by girls from the local secondary school 😆

Not high on academic grades but the wisest person I’ve ever known.

University doesn’t teach common-sense and indeed it’s often the opposite.

Interesting and great to have such memories of your Dad. I lived in Harrogate in the early 1950s and went to St Roberts RC school there as did my 2 elder sisters. The oldest sibling, my brother went to St Michaels College in Leeds. (I think he got the train there) The family moved to Sutton with Dad’s job...Dunlop, in 1956

[SCOOP115]

Having worked in Engineering all my life, it never ceased to amaze me the shock to the system that "real life events" came to fresh out of Uni employees experienced.

[Prando]

For what it’s worth, towards the end of my career, a number of new entrants had 2 degrees! They were clearly academic and indeed decent people.
I had a brother in law (sadly no longer with us) who had a BA from University College Oxford, an MA obtained from Cambridge and a degree in Criminology from Columbia University New York. Very clever, but humble man. He went on to become a senior Civil Servant.
What interested me was that by the time he started his career/1st job after his extended education, he was aged mid twenties. I had been in work for 9 years at that age !!

[TipperaryBaggie]

Maybe I shouldn't be saying this but when I was interviewing for staff, I tended to take the ones with the relevant work experience over a classroom background. Politically incorrect in today's world but it very rarely failed.

[baggieal]

Maybe I shouldn't be saying this but when I was interviewing for staff, I tended to take the ones with the relevant work experience over a classroom background. Politically incorrect in today's world but it very rarely failed.

Depends on the job completely and the career progression the company have in mind for the applicant. The graduates I know for large brand supermarkets for example are fast tracked and learn all aspects of the company with future senior management in mind - many go on to be directors/on the board etc. I worked with a graduate with a tour operator who was as bright as a button - he is now the CEO of UK/European operations and will be on millions. Good luck to him.

Larger blue chip companies have dedicated graduate HR leaders and believe me - they don't usually get their recruitment wrong. I have seen it first hand.

[mickd1961]

Maybe I shouldn't be saying this but when I was interviewing for staff, I tended to take the ones with the relevant work experience over a classroom background. Politically incorrect in today's world but it very rarely failed.

My dad had the same ethos when interviewing.

He said that the graduates his finance company took on were “chinless wonders” in general and incapable of handing “real world” situations.

He always employed ex salesmen with common sense and drive.

I also avoid graduates and take on people from a working background.