University how typical ?

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Deleted member 61728

Deleted member 61728

Why do some people look down on you if you haven't been to university by 25 and got a degree and/or been to a private school for education etc etc ?


It seems that 90% of all students in the Uk are planning to go to or are at uni almost like its the norm and if don't go to uni your made to feel guilty and somehow made to feel as a lower person or that your life is over.


Why is there so much in todays society that if you don't make the grade and become brain doctors,rocket scientists,etc your somehow a lesser person ?
 
This has been done to death in all the student protest threads. What's your gripe, been turned down for a job?
 
It's the misinterpretation and resulting execution of the idea that everyone should be able to go to university, the crucial part that wasn't taken in to account was that not everyone should go to university.

I am a perfect example of this. Looking back, it clearly wasn't a good idea to go, but a lot of my friends were going and I wasn't mature enough/ready to accept the other options.
 
I don't think anyone cares about who has been to a private school... People do care about university, but I don't think they should care nearly as much as they do. As said, not everyone should go to university.
 
It's only really necessary if the career path you want to take demands it. If you're just going to work for the local council but can get that job purely by having A-levels, then don't bother.

If you want to be a doctor, then of course go to uni. etc.
 
J-FRO said:
It's only really necessary if the career path you want to take demands it. If you're just going to work for the local council but can get that job purely by having A-levels, then don't bother.

If you want to be a doctor, then of course go to uni. etc.
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The trouble being that we have got well off track to the point that loads of jobs now demand degrees for no discernible reason.
 
Well I know this subject may have been done to death via many another thread or forum but it is still a topic that can incite a'lot of very powerful feelings...

I have to say that personally I have come across this academic elitism many times, most prominently while working as a doorman at the local student union several years ago, many students, particularly law and med students in my experience seem to have this unbelievably mistaken notion that they are superior in every way shape and form to us mere mortals there keeping them safe while they enjoy themselves, what was more disturbing is the fact that most of them make no effort to hide this snobbery and feel it is perfectly acceptable.

Now granted some of the individuals I have worked with as a doorman could'nt even spell "book" let alone pick one up and read it, however this does not mean that their lives are any the less valuable and to be quite frank most of these so called "knuckle Draggers" are far more pleasant individuals to spend your time with than the majority of students or qualified professionals.

I've personally not been to university, I left college after the first year of doing a Btec National Diploma in software development, not because I found it too difficult but because I prefered to live life as fully as possible and get some life experience. I'm now 28, genuinley pleased with the life I have led so far, I can hold my head up and say I've got memories you could'nt buy with a six figure salary, and am only now considering returning to college with a view to head on to university.

I guess my point is you will always get idiot's in every walk of life, even educated ones. People will try and make you feel innadequate for any number of reasons but I say **** them, Live the life you want to live and be happy!
 
vonhelmet said:
The trouble being that we have got well off track to the point that loads of jobs now demand degrees for no discernible reason.
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That's true. But then I think its a circular situation in a sense. Companies see loads of people cropping up with degrees, they take them on and all of a sudden there's a standard that if somebody has a degree they are somehow automatically more qualified than the individual without a degree.

Companies seem to use it a measure of commitment and dedication so that they can try to find people they think will be committed to their job and capable of putting the hours in. What they fail to see is that many students who go to uni have got there because they've never had a real job, never had to work for money whilst at uni and consequently know very little about the working world. I had several friends who fit that description at uni. And yet they somehow walked into jobs after finishing their degrees.

EDIT: "many students who go to uni have got there because they've never had a real job"

Should explain that a little better, quite a lot of them are average a-level students who, if it wasn't for the fact that mummy and daddy provided them with a few skiing holidays a year, private education and no reason to have to get a part time job at the weekend, then they would have got sub-par a-level results and wouldn't have got into uni at all. It's a lot tougher having to work whilst doing your a-levels, not getting a holiday at christmas and then not having the better quality education that going private provides.
 
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NW_SKINHEAD said:
Well I know this subject may have been done to death via many another thread or forum but it is still a topic that can incite a'lot of very powerful feelings...

I have to say that personally I have come across this academic elitism many times, most prominently while working as a doorman at the local student union several years ago, many students, particularly law and med students in my experience seem to have this unbelievably mistaken notion that they are superior in every way shape and form to us mere mortals there keeping them safe while they enjoy themselves, what was more disturbing is the fact that most of them make no effort to hide this snobbery and feel it is perfectly acceptable.

Now granted some of the individuals I have worked with as a doorman could'nt even spell "book" let alone pick one up and read it, however this does not mean that their lives are any the less valuable and to be quite frank most of these so called "knuckle Draggers" are far more pleasant individuals to spend your time with than the majority of students or qualified professionals.

I've personally not been to university, I left college after the first year of doing a Btec National Diploma in software development, not because I found it too difficult but because I prefered to live life as fully as possible and get some life experience. I'm now 28, genuinley pleased with the life I have led so far, I can hold my head up and say I've got memories you could'nt buy with a six figure salary, and am only now considering returning to college with a view to head on to university.

I guess my point is you will always get idiot's in every walk of life, even educated ones. People will try and make you feel innadequate for any number of reasons but I say **** them, Live the life you want to live and be happy!
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I echo your points exactly. My older bro went to uni and has an archaeology degree. Is he digging holes? nope.

He is shacked up in Chicago with a pregnant french bint doing a sponsored business masters degree.

Me. I am a suffering cabbie looking to go back to education as I have learnt my lesson. I will soon be back in books.

My bro's attitude stinks though. I'm sure he thinks he is above everyone in our family (especially me) cos he went to uni. Stuck up ****. I only have 2 ambitions in life now.

1. To make the best of life albeit belatedly
2. Somehow find away to wipe the smug ***** eye. (Got to be careful it doesn't consume me whole)
 
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Zefan said:
It's the misinterpretation and resulting execution of the idea that everyone should be able to go to university, the crucial part that wasn't taken in to account was that not everyone should go to university.

I am a perfect example of this. Looking back, it clearly wasn't a good idea to go, but a lot of my friends were going and I wasn't mature enough/ready to accept the other options.
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+1. I firmly believe I should never have gone to university, but looking back at the time I had and what it did for me on a personal rather than academic level I'd say it was totally worth the 15k+ debt it got me in to - even though I didn't get a degree out of it.
 
J-FRO said:
That's true. But then I think its a circular situation in a sense. Companies see loads of people cropping up with degrees, they take them on and all of a sudden there's a standard that if somebody has a degree they are somehow automatically more qualified than the individual without a degree.

Companies seem to use it a measure of commitment and dedication so that they can try to find people they think will be committed to their job and capable of putting the hours in.
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Is it really that bad?

I can't see the problem with a company using degree status as a metric by which an employee can be judged, while it may not mean all that it used to one can assume that there is some dedication and commitment to gaining a degree.

I think the burden is on the individual here, if someone has spent 3 or 4 years working in the sector of the job they're interviewing they will invariably be able to show that on their CV, it is up to them to prove their worth and market their skills to the employer.
 
I probably shouldn't have gone either. I stayed on and did A-levels because all my friends were and I didn't want to go in to work. I probably could have got where I wanted to go back then without going to Uni. I had a 'career change plan' at the end of my second year but still finished my degree regardless.

I have fallen into a job that's reasonably well paid for what it is but I didn't need a degree for it as it's not related at all and was actually found via a temping agency.

I don't look down on people that haven't been to Uni as not going doesn't mean anything or that you can't do well in life but I think it's a shame not everybody gets to experience Uni.
 
iDroid84 said:
I don't think it's too important. If you can prove your good it's just paper. It's not what you no it's who you no.
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One of the many advantageous of going to university is that you will be required to uphold a reasonable level of English, therefore improving any written work future employers may ask of you.
 
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