When the point of education becomes the production of credentials rather than the cultivation of knowledge, it forfeits the motive recognized by Aristotle: All human beings by nature desire to know.
Since I resigned my childhood fixation with being an actor after graduating from a performing arts college, I have never focused so intently on any one career path. I was not entitled to go to university in my home state of New South Wales because the combination of subjects I chose to study –although I did well in them – did not meet the entrance criteria. So for several years I was defiant in the idea that I didn’t need a degree to be successful or happy- or both. And in many ways I was: working various decently-paying-yet-stagnant jobs to save money so that I could spend it travelling, going out, buying nice things and generally building up a comfortable existence for myself.
It was only when the opportunity for further education presented itself upon moving to England several years ago that studying journalism, a subject I became increasingly interested in despite having never followed current events previously, that the idea of university became not a means to an end but a valid and enlightening experience in itself.
Combined with the new desire to achieve something that I was not even offered the option to try previously was the notion that I could pursue something that interested me and within this organic process (a term I am very fond of) I would be naturally led to projects and work that inspired me and that I could contribute to.
But I have joined university in the new age of austerity- a word my generationare recieving a blunt introduction to (having been mostly unfamiliar with the idea outside of it’s nostalgic use in wartime themed paraphernalia that ironically rose to great popularity in our previous years of prosperity). Tuition fees are on the rise and educational institutions constantly have to justify their relevance to the public and the government who fear this generation of school leavers attain qualifications that offer them limited career prospects- therefore little hope of them contributing back to society through their income tax. Sadly for a society that demands results that can be measured in financial terms, a degree is incorrectly looked upon as a guarantee to the good life with little consideration for the individual paths that students forge for themselves and to which they are accountable to.
For as many proactive, engaged and ambitious students that exist, there still persists a culture of entitlement whereby most students view the academic experience with the kind of apathy that arises from either being spoon-fed your opportunities or simply pursuing a course because it was is expected of you.
Hence this student mentality is approached by the staff with constant reminders of goals to be set and plans to be implemented. From the moment one of our Journalism lecturers introduced us to his mantra “Portfolio, portfolio, portfolio” in first year, it has been clear that university can no longer offer a postponement from the exhausting criteria the outside world uses to measure our success.
As we must prepare for the realities of life post-graduation, we receive an induction into our Professional Experience Module that can either take shape in the form of a personally created project or a professional placement in the industry.
I have read a lot of negative public perceptions debating the actual usefulness of an internship for the individual student, viewing them more for their importance as part of carefully regimented program geared towards career initiation.
Understandably, for someone like myself who already has a part time job to pay the bills, being sold the idea of working for free to “gain experience” when I have been in employment for the last eight years is a frustrating concept to appreciate. However, since it is a necessary requirement of our degree I am not inclined to think – like students in courses where it is merely an advantage might – that it is a practice that unfairly discriminates against people who cannot afford to take the time off or whose “social situation” does not provide them with the all-important contacts to wriggle into that top advertising firm or publishing house. While I am sceptical about the emphasis placed on this module in terms of future prospects, I do appreciate their encouragement of students to “think big” and be limitless in our aspirations. And if anything, university is the ideal time to spend learning in your desired profession; when you are still enthusiastic about the possibilities that lie ahead and have numerous opportunities literally handed to you through organised programs and well connected lecturers.
The alternative being that you will be forced to take unpaid work as a graduate anyway when you find that your chosen industry is oversubscribed and you are jobless and penniless, student loan having dried up months ago.
this is quite good, nadia, i like it. i am torn between my judgement on english students and their attitudes towards getting into uni, as well as the points you mention about the system moulding students into the same tax paying ‘financially useful’ graduates and, at the same time, the situation back home where the social system is disrupted and university is not perceived as a life-altering choice. as a result, a lot of people (myself included) do drop out when they see it’s not for them. so in the end, the individual’s goals are treasured, but there is nobody to keep the system going. the paradox of our time, isn’t it – be a cog in the capitalist machine in a prospering country or be individual and free in a country left behind and never being able to quite catch up to europe.