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new rant about uni and pressure on students

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
I've just put up a rant about the pressure everyone puts on students and young people to go to university.

Go here to read it. :)

~Mei~
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i just scanned through it, but i do agree. i personally feel like that was really the only option. when i was in 6th form a while back, my tutor would get quite arsey with anyone who didn't want to go to university, and when i said that i wanted to do fine art, he was like, hmmm maybe you should do something like photography instead.. he didn't care that art was my passion. i'm studying photography and video anyway now... i sometimes wonder if i made the right choice, but may as well continue because i don't have much luck with jobs...etc. bleh
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's always nice to be proven right.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote: »
    It's always nice to be proven right.
    How has this proven you right? Thought you were still planning to go...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i remember in my final year of college, any time spent with my personal tutor was all about uni. ucas applications, interview techniques, personal statements, fucking endless. I was one of the few who was adament i didnt want to go - id simply had enough and had been in the system long enough as i saw it. I just did not want to sign myself up for 3 more years of it at all. But after a year on my arse, whilst everyone i knew moved on to uni, jobs, etc, and the realisation that doing what i was doing wasnt getting me anywhere in life, i came round to the idea of uni and now i couldnt imagine having NOT signed up.
    So i totally agree, the pressure that the system puts on people can have disastrous effects and anyone who is going to go to university will eventually come to that decision in their own time as opposed to being bullied into it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Only abouy a quatar of my year 13 at sixth form applied to uni. Most people had had enough of the system by then. I even got told by one teacher that I was wasting my brains but not going to uni!

    5 years and one professional qualification later and I'm still dont regret not going to uni.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sure life isn't all about getting a degree and there is pressure on people to go to uni but it's an unforgettable experience and I don't regret it one bit. :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    anyone who is going to go to university will eventually come to that decision in their own time as opposed to being bullied into it.

    yea, I agree with your last point there. i'm fairly certain my two friends who have decided not to go to uni will go eventually. they just aren't ready to do it yet.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yerascrote wrote: »
    Sure life isn't all about getting a degree and there is pressure on people to go to uni but it's an unforgettable experience and I don't regret it one bit. :thumb:

    even though I wrote the rant, i didn't for one second seriously consider not going to uni. I'm looking forward to going, but next year, after my gap year. i need chill out time first!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    J wrote: »
    Only circumstances put pressure on me, mainly financial issues that need to be addressed.
    To be honest, I've never been under pressure to do much at all.
    Depending on which way you think about it, truely only you can put pressure on yourself. Of course there is a feeling of being compeled to do something, but I like to think the individual is in control. I mean, it's one or the other right?

    not really. Plenty of people at my college applied to university because they didn't know there were other options. they honestly though quitting queue just meant signing on and working in a shop, and my college did nothing other than perpetuate that idea. The ones who knew better felt pressured whilst the ones who didn't simply hated the fact that there seemed to be no options.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    icey wrote: »
    How has this proven you right? Thought you were still planning to go...
    What I meant was that the pressure on people to go to university is immense. I have been saying this for several years, often being ridiculed for saying so. I still remember now when I was at college. During my first term in the second year, I was being practically harassed by the careers adviser asking "have you filled in your university application yet?". He hadn't even spoken to me beforehand, he just assumed that I was going. Many other students whom I spoke to at the time, and have spoken to since, admit that they were feeling the same way about it.

    Back at that time, I was suffering some pretty serious problems - mentally, I was shot, and the college were well-aware of this. Had I gone to university back then, I would have ended up hanging myself in halls of residence within weeks. I made a conscious decision not to go into uni at that time, and it's one of few times in my life I've been proven completely right. The fact I was a dead man walking didn't matter a bit to the college. Oh no, as long as they got another of their students into university, thus making themselves look good to a government which has rigged funding in such a way that those who don't send so many to uni get punished, they were happy. Indeed, when I met up with that same careers adviser a few years later, he admitted openly that such a system was in place. What I wouldn't have done for the same kind of transparency in the years before!

    You're right - I am indeed going onto university later this year. I was meant to start last year, but I have deferred. I'm not going to go into the reasons again - frankly, most of the responses I got last time were so useless that it would be a waste of time. The difference is that now, I'm going of my own volition. It's my own choice - there's no one behind the scenes attempting to pull my strings, there's no one haranguing me endlessly on the subject. And I couldn't be happier about that.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote: »
    The fact I was a dead man walking didn't matter a bit to the college. Oh no, as long as they got another of their students into university, thus making themselves look good to a government which has rigged funding in such a way that those who don't send so many to uni get punished, they were happy. Indeed, when I met up with that same careers adviser a few years later, he admitted openly that such a system was in place. What I wouldn't have done for the same kind of transparency in the years before!

    at my college, whenever someone said they didn't want to go to uni, they were told to apply anyway and they could always change their minds later. thing is, people don't opt out until they GET to uni, because they find themselves in the bloody cycle.

    the head used to print out the names of those who hadnt applied yet and stick them on the noticeboard. other students would then question them (not knowing everyone else was doing the same) so they would end up feeling pressured and would cave.

    I'm glad you're going on your own accord, well done you! :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Really good article
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