University Just A Foot In The Door Or Fundamental Life Training? (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

University Just A Foot In The Door Or Fundamental Life Training?

6:00pm Saturday 14th March 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

Maybe I spent too much of my life imagining how wonderful it was going to be when I finally had the chance to be in an environment where we were encouraged to think for ourselves, to find out who we are, to make an informed choice about what we believe in, what we stand for, what our convictions are, etc, but it just seems to me as a student in today’s current climate that at least half of the people I come into contact with are just using this amazing opportunity as a means to an end. And what is so bad about that you say? The troubling part of that is that they miss out on the best chance they may ever have to make changes, whether to themselves, to their future, or to the world. What worries me even more is not only are students treating university as merely a means to an end, but university itself these days seems to have forgotten all the other things it is suppose to be about outside of the world of graduate careers.

I’m not in any way saying that university shouldn’t be used as a way of getting ahead in life, or course it should – you don’t want to spend three years or over of your life working so hard at something only to have it amount to nothing in the end, trust me if that is what came out of my degree I’d be pretty annoyed. But surely there is more to university than just getting the grades? When else are most of these people going to be in such a good position to find out everything they can about the world, who they are and what they stand for – when are they ever going to be handed such a good opportunity to really find out how it is they are going to leave their mark on the world. What with the amount of people from different walks of life, different cultures, different beliefs, different political views, different sexualities, and so on, that they have the chance to come into contact with. Not to mention the amount of clubs and societies they have the chance to join – from Amnesty International to Badminton, Philosophy to Pagan, the society list seems to have a little of everything for everyone.

Perhaps I put too much of my faith on the film 'Starter For Ten' when thinking about what university was going to be like. Obviously I’d be like Rebecca Hall’s character, campaigning about everything and trying to make a difference. Thinking people would be eager to listen and get involved in whatever it was that needed changing, and of course believing in the notion that I’d find someone who looked exactly like James McAvoy, who cared about said problems and was also intelligent enough to make it on to 'University Challenge'.

What I got instead was a bit of a letdown. Yes, there those people who want to use university for more than just a building block on some giant lifelong plan they have mapped out. Some of them may have chosen a particular course because they have a specific career aim in mind, some may not have a clue what they want to do with their lives, but they all know university is about more than just the grades and the piece of paper you get at the end of it all. Yes, as already stated, they are important – essential even, but they are surely not the whole purpose of university, but just part of the overall big picture?

University is for learning, not just your subject area but about life. It is about making friends, often with some of the most amazingly different people than yourself, it is about getting involved. In sports groups, political groups, academic groups, or just whatever it is that appeals to you. Maybe even in something you never thought you’d want to do, or something you’d just never considered doing before.

It’s about learning who you are, what you’re good at, what you care about and what you’re really passionate about. After all you can sit in as many graduate future talks as you want, you can even have the big career aim in mind, but until you really go through the life course as well as the subject course will you ever really be fully capable of reaching your full potential? So for all those of you at university who have no idea what they are going to do, or where they plan to go in the future, do not be disheartened. Just remember it is not all about the big career at the end of the day, but about something much more important – but that you’ll have to figure out yourself… Isn't that what univeristy should really be for?