Uni-fying option is a right
DID you go to university? Nope, me neither. Nor my parents or grandparents.
I might have been bright enough – let’s gloss over the CSE in maths – but it simply wasn’t ‘a thing’ back then. At least, not for kids from my background.
At home it was never discussed. In school I was only vaguely aware of it as an option and in the end I left at 17 to start my first job as a junior reporter making a lot of tea and about £4,000 a year.
Fast forward several decades and both my kids have gone through university, my youngest having just finished her third year. It’s a terrible thing to be jealous of your own offspring, but I am.
Jealous of their experiences as students, of the all-night parties and the new friends they’ve made, the new things they’ve learned and the opportunities they’ve enjoyed. They have had a blast, despite the lack of face-to-face teaching for the past year or so.
And now here we are in A-level week and a whole new group of kids are looking forward to starting their own university adventure.
But what’s this I hear? The ink is barely dry on the exam certificates and the nay-sayers have started.
It’s the same old story. A-levels aren’t what they used to be, they’re easier than ever, the grade inflation is a scandal.
What rubbish.
It was rubbish before the pandemic but here in August 2021 after 18 months of disrupted learning it’s downright offensive to suggest this year’s 18-year-olds have somehow been gifted the easy life.
They’ve battled on and persevered with their courses despite Covid. This year’s A-level students should be given a gold medal, not a stick to beat themselves with.
And now, to add insult to injury, there’s a load of blather to suggest all that effort is a waste anyway and going to uni isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
Get an apprenticeship or a job suggest some in government – almost all of whom went to university. Even the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, has been urging parents to consider steering their offspring into the workplace instead of the student bar.
Well, no. Uni isn’t for everybody and a degree isn’t the be-all and end-all. Of course there should be more – and better – options for our young people when it comes to forging careers.
And yes, cost is a factor.
But if a kid has set their sights on a university experience – and it’s right for them – then nobody should put them off. Least of all the people in power who have themselves benefited from doing a degree.
On average, graduates earn more over their life time and live longer. Crucially they pass the advantages gained by three years at university on to their own children.
Education is a great leveller. Perhaps that’s why those in charge don’t want this influx of ordinary kids into lecture theatres.
It’s also the key to unlocking almost everything else in life.
Three years at university will never close doors, only open them.
And for that reason alone anyone who wants to go, should go.