Don’t shout at the telly: University, what is it good for?

Professor Dennis Hayes is spot on when he argues that more and more now university is a therapeutic experience. I mean public debates on hard issues are now stopped just in case students can't cope or it may upset people! You know in certain UK universities the National Union of Students offer support to students encouraging them to eat more healthily by growing and cooking their own vegetables! A representative says they want to get students to think about what they eat! how about thinking about subjects, content, politics, ideas - creating new ideas! His right - university should make your brain hurt!

I agree that university seems to have turned into the easy option for school-leavers – many people seem to just fall into going to university, because their friends are doing the same or because they don’t know what else to do. Staying in education is always a safe option, due to the familiarity of the system and also because academic achievement is so highly praised in our society. I don’t think that university should be the default option for school-leavers – university is not job training, in fact most degrees aren’t at all vocational. Many recent graduates have found themselves lacking the practical experience necessary for employment immediately after university. I have regularly questioned my own decision to do a non-vocational degree, but ultimately I don’t regret my decision – personally I feel like my degree did teach me to think in an original way, although I do agree with Dennis that it is very easy to gain a university degree without any independent or original thought whatsoever. As with any aspect of life, there are positive, enlightening elements to be drawn from the experience, even if many people do seem to overlook these.

About 5 years ago, I asked myself that same question nearly everyday before eventually applying for uni. And I even still question, what is the point of going to university, unless it’s for a degree in something like pharmaceuticals or law, a degree that could actually benefit your career and future? I can understand that “everyone can benefit from the best possible university education”, but why study for 3 maybe 4 years in, lets say graphic design for example, graduate with honours (yay for you) spend all your time looking for a job with some graphic design company, only to be repeatedly rejected because you lack experience. (Baring in mind that you need to pay off student loans) so in order to make money, you end up working as an administrator or in Sainsbury’s…Very interesting discussion (I'm a media student by the way)

this is a very good discussion, as a university student, this question “what is university good for?” is a question that lingers in the back of my mind. It’s a confusing time in my life, am i on the right path? am i getting the most out of this? what am i doing here? am i just wasting my time? In the end these questions of doubt push me further. University is what you make it. there are great professors and endless amounts of resources at your disposal. take advantage. Someone said that students today are just “lazy” and expect knowledge to be poured into their brain. wait… what was i saying? drink more!

This is a really hot topic right now with the impending government cuts in education and the resultant student demonstrations. I think Professor Hayes, refreshingly, is onto something. He’s absolutely right when he says just get over your student debts, frugality is not going to make your education better nor should an argument for better education be made on the basis of ‘value for money’. The job of lecturers should not be to make education and learning easier for you, their job is as the Professor says ‘to make your brain hurt’, to make you think and tell you when you’re just wrong.

University, what is it good for? is a very important and good question as sometimes you get the feeling that universities forget about the actual use of university. As Dennis Hayes argues it is a place that presume knowledge without fear and favour. That means person should be able to go there if you want to go and nobody should be favoured for what he is or where he comes from. Universities are places where you learn something and get animated for the interest in knowledge and the interest in new things as students who really want to study want to be challenge and learn something further.