Higher education has gone to hell.
Approaching thirty years of age I can understand the conventional age margin of
18 – 22 year olds needing to start being able to work on their own volition and
that theory is BANG ON!
-
Does it work? Psssh, barely!
I was never an academic and after spending
enough time on the taxpayers circuit, realising it was going nowhere, I decided
to give education another shot to see if it opend up anymore doors.
At the time (unsure if its still the same
case) I wasn’t allowed to enter higher education as I’d been out of the system
for six or more years, therefore had to complete an ‘Access To Arts &
Humanities’ course which Student Finance refused to fund and three Job Centres
I went to plus a borough county official’s advice was:
“You'll Just Have To Save up!”
“You'll Just Have To Save up!”
This would of course include nine months
worth of rent, bills, transport, food etc whilst I battled through the course
but I had to be unemployed in order to get the course for free…
Naturally, I had one thought; What the fuck had
I been paying taxes for all those years, when we're refused to reap the benefits?
To hell with playing the righteous citizen,
I was put on the planet to live a life, not crave one so I told a few white
lies, and managed to sneak onto the course, where I learned History, Media, Politics, Art, all
categories of English, Philosophy (which, I recommend by the way, its very
insightful). I learned how to write several essays (sometimes four at once),
all about Harvard referencing and bust my ass, forcing myself to “become” an
academic whether I liked it or not, every week.
Now – life as an undergraduate… Forget what
it taught me, I know enough about he real world at my age, especially given my
upbringing but this is what it teaches the aforementioned age group – the
country’s undergraduates, its future:
UNI:
Full-Time: 12 – 16 hours a week scheduled
classes
Start / Finish: 10:00 / 11:00
/ 12:00 / 13:00 for maybe one to three hour sessions a time.
Punctuality: Not important, come late or
not at all and the lecturer lets you get away with it every time without a care in
the world.
Team Work: Your degree hangs in the balance
of “Everyone” pulling their weight so when you’re stuck with a couple of
bone-idle dead weights, it comes to a simple choice “Are you going to put up
with it, or are you going to do something about it?”
(more to follow on that one – stay tuned)
Fear of failing: Can always go back to live
with their parent(s) – no sweat
Full-Time: 37+ hours a week
Start / Finish: 8:00 / 9:00 or
night shifts usually 7.5 hour shifts 5 days a week
Punctuality: Very simple, turn up or its disciplinary
action, later leading to getting fired – the way it should be.
Team Work: Working in teams towards
targets, best person for the best job, led by a ‘proper’ leader with a plan,
report dead weights and they’re put under review and actually dealt with.
Fear of failing: Losing your place of residence,
your rent, signing on at the dreadful Job Centre, lots of desperate job hunting
etc.
Solution:
After kids get their results to gain entry
into their chosen university ‘Make them work full-time for a year or two’
They learn to be self-sufficient,
self-sustain, ditch their lazy inhibitions and forced to take proper
responsibilities but most of all – they understand the importance of “Having to
succeed!”
We got it right as youngsters when we were
in school – THAT’S full-time so why does it get taken away and coerce students
into a diminished comfort pillow sense of reality? Almost EVERY postgraduate I know
always says they wished they’d used their time at university more proactively.
It’s down to my attitude and time
developing my passion I could exploit my universities resources
- NOT my grades.
The universities macs,
scriptwriting and film equipment, contacts and guest lecturers, extra seminars.
MOST OF ALL – the time I have been given on this joke of a so-called ‘Full-Time’
course that I developed my website, started tracking down extra film jobs (not the
shitty meaningless sales stuff anymore), script reporting for early writers and
once in a while, getting to collaborate with people who ARE switched on and
want to achieve great things but more importantly, prepared to put the work in
on their own time, rather than merely doing what their course has dictated to
them then leaving it until last minute before handing in the work.
The deadlines, especially in my course, were a joke – there were NO excuses,
just knowing who was lazy and who wanted to make something happen!
I mentioned earlier about teamwork, you
“prayed” (that’s right, even as an atheist) for determined people and when you
got stuck with people who just wanted all the work done for them, it quickly
falls to the few people with an actual pair to stand up and take action
(because the lecturers will NOT give a shit, they’re still paid the same and
its not their degree in jeopardy, is it now?)
BEWARE though, people will tend
to think you’re “unfair”, “a bully” etc. (I got my nickname “Mr. Angry” quite
easily as I found myself in this position more than once I can tell you.)
It’s amazing watching people staying silent
and avoiding conflict like total wimps rather than speaking up. Ironically, I
may have been Mr. Angry in their eyes but at the end of every project, I always
got good leadership comments and the odd drink and night out with the better
people of the group / class.
All along, all I’d tried to let them know
was: “Lets make a good go of this but please note I will not tolerate bullshit
and / or laziness (that includes me... But it needn’t).”
All in all: do you need to be clever to get
into university anymore? Not so long as you’re paying the joke of £8 - £9k a
year, they don’t care, they just want the money. Are you going to have to work
hard in university? Hell, no but if you really give a shit for your passion then
you’d better because I guarantee you, whether these undergraduates pass with a
3rd or a 1st – in the end, without the spine of a good work
ethic, some practical experiences, they’ve got no idea what’s about to hit
them.
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