‘University myths were shattered’
PROFESSOR Martin Jones (Sentinel, November 5) lays bare the myth that most university students are 18-year-olds supported by their parents who do not need to work part-time to finance their studies.
One adds that some of them have families of their own to support and that their success – which should make them more employable than the once-typical 21 year-old graduate – exposes another myth.
This is that the standard three-year degree, at least in the social sciences, arts and humanities, has ever involved full-time study.
Gone are the days when people like me idled about – and not just during those three long holidays
- at public expense before
leapfrogging those in the workplace whose taxes had paid for their tuition fees and living expenses.
One suspects that there are fewer grown-ups – perhaps even on both sides of the lectern – at the more fashionable piles, which may explain why they have enough time on their hands to baulk and harass speakers with whom they disagree.
(PROF) CHRIS BARTON LONGTON