I am inclined to completely agree with you. When I first went to University I was one of many who laboured under the belief that having a degree would open doors that were closed to the ‘less educated’ of the world. Ok, so I did a degree in performing arts, but the way things were built up beforehand, having any degree at all would guarantee me a cushy admin job while I worked at being a great actor (or, as my course altered my ambitions, a controversial performance artist). As the realities of the real world pressed in I took a masters degree, mainly to keep me in education for an extra year. I chose Creative and Critical Writing, another degree that means nothing in 90+ percent of available jobs. On top of that, the university lifestyle resulted in me indulging in the smoking of an illegal substance, not in excess, but due to a biological predisposition, that was still enough to take me to the point of illness, something which has resurfaced several times since (despite being ‘clean’ for years), effectively crippling my ability to cope with the mundane work that is often neccessary to get to where we want to be. On top of that (and partly because of it), my student overdraft is still maxed out.

So when it comes down to it, the problem with university is that is advertised as all promise and no real risk other than a limited amount of debt. The problem is that the promise is overplayed and the risk similarly downplayed. I can almost guarantee that most people take recreational drinking etc to excess at university, even if they had no inclination to beforehand. As far as certain other ‘experimental’ activities, even the most clean cut individual would struggle to get through a whole university course without at least one “Aw, what the heck, why not, just the once can’t hurt” moment.

I have to say I worked hard, but no harder than I needed to to graduate with a 2.1. A 2.2 would have been disappointing, and a 3rd would have been devastating, so I made sure to keep on track. However, what was never covered in the course was the need for networking. There was no emphasis on building any contacts in the industry to call upon after the pre-show party ended. So now, I have the skills to work as a performer, but without any knowledge of how or where to start, and the ability to be a writer but not the motivation.

I guess (and I must round this up, as it’s becoming a blog post in it’s own right) that what I’m saying is that you are completely right, and people need to be informed that university is just one option out of many, with it’s own pros and cons. We live in a society that glorifies academia and a university education and frowns upon people leaving the education system after (or even before) sixth form in order to work or to get an apprenticeship. It would seem that our country’s outlook is somewhat in need of an overhaul.

I very much agree with what you have written Harriet. Having graduated with a psychology degree, I was lucky in that I knew what job I wanted to go into, and have successfuly made it into teaching. Unfortunately, many of my friends were faced with an uncertain future. Armed with a degree which alone is not all that useful, a career in that discipline requires either further (expensive) study, or experience in the correct places. I can think of about three people I knew from my course who are actually persuing psychology. I am sure there are more, but of the ones I knew, most have decided to go in other directions. We were told “It doesn’t matter what the degree is, employers just what to know you can stick at something” However, with the large amount of students now coming out of university with a degree, this is becoming less and less true.
As a teacher I will not be telling students they HAVE to go to university as it’s the only way they can get a good job. I will of course encourage those who want to, however if I have a student who tells me it’s her dream to become a plumber, or an electrician, I shall encourage those with just as much enthusiasm.