To simplify what I believe your stance to be, correct me if I'm wrong.
You think that any degree studied at University will enrich and improve the ability of anybody that studied it no matter what their later vocation?
Almost spot on
- I would replaced 'studied' with 'passed it'. Complete idiots that crawl into a uni then spend 4 years getting stoned .. obviously no benefit. Trouble is we have no effective way of weeding out (excuse the pun) exactly which people are going to do this. And as discussed - I think charging people more will have the unacceptable side-effect of making legitimate good, clever but poor people choose to skip uni when they really shouldn't ..
Yes I think it helps regardless of final vocation. I'm gonna need to explain a little:
Generally throughout your life up until the age of 18 I think many people have an awful lot of structure. That is, they are forced to go to school, their personal decisions are very closely monitored as a general rule (as in, not many will have the option just to lie in bed all day rather than go to school, a lot will generally get pushed down the 'right route' by their parents etc).
Getting to university - well, firstly, it takes you out of your comfort zone. That is, you meet an awful lot of people from different walks of life and as such you become a more rounded person. You also have to learn to budget very quickly, and learn that for example if you don't wash your own socks, they are just going to remain dirty until you, personally, do. That didn't happen when I was back at my mums. For my non-graduate mates that lived with their mum until 26 then moved in with their g/f - it still doesn't happen!
Uni also forces you to be able to self-discipline. That is, if you leave school and rather than going to Uni, you join a business, or even more so one of the armed forces, you're going to be told clearly and precisely the expectations on a day by day basis. At uni that does not happen. The successful uni people have to learn the capability to show self-discipline and organisation - to work out their own schedule and be able to do work even if no-one is going to tell you off in any way whatsoever if you don't bother with work/lectures (you'll just fail at the end of the year) - this self displine learning is a real skill which shouldn't be under-estimated. A task which can be used for a number of things outside of and within the workplace. Every single day at work I use capabilities I learnt at uni to deal with (1) lack of personal motivation (2) People being unreasonable (3) Me not being told directly what to do every day - rather told a project and it's objectives than thrown at it, to approach the way I chose. Uni gave me the capability to do that. Before uni -- someone just saying 'Perform project abc here is what we want at the end' I'd have just said 'er .. where shall I start then?'
Anecdotal again - but before I went to uni I was a scared, shy (and work shy) lad. At uni I quickly realised that no-one was going to force me to do anything - so pulled my own socks up, and have kept them pulled up since. I also learnt a lot about keeping mates, and how to interact with people, when I had no safety net of 'I'm going home/to my family'. If instead I'd joined a workplace where the expectations were managed day-in, day-out by a line manager and my life was much more structured 'for me' by others - I'd have never gained the ability to get to where I have today.
It's not just me that thinks this. Lots and lots of work places offer graduates better prospects than non-graduates. Tescos offer graduates better deals even if their course was in '18th Century Japanese welding techniques'!!! THEY realise they are getting a person capable of surviving and learning all the above is worth a lot to them - as oppose to someone who has lived frankly a more sheltered life.
Turning into a wall'o'text so will stop now ..
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