A-levels

I wouldn’t swap places with today’s A-level graduates for all the money in the world (although, that would probably help.) I remember clearly the day my A-level results came through.

It was a hot day in Newcastle, which in itself is quite remarkable. It was the pre-internet age, when results were snail-mailed to our school and then published in local papers. I had turned 19 a few weeks earlier, that morning my dad had left two late birthday cards out for me, and on top of them was a letter from Southampton. I had been accepted unconditionally to university.

I think I was the most nonchalant student the school administrator had to deal with that morning. I was smiling before she handed me the envelope, not a nail bitten on my unshaken hand. I did averagely well, (2 B’s and a C) nowhere near well enough to gain me entry in to University in today’s competitive market.

It makes me feel extremely grateful that I was so fortunate to be allowed access to higher education, and it was free (well, I worked hard and took out one student loan in my third year – approx the same amount students today would need for one term) But I find it rather disheartening to hear people of my generation dismissing their degrees as useless, especially as there are currently 185,000 candidates chasing 29’000 unfilled places through clearing. They would do anything to be where we are.

A-Levels are not easy, especially when you consider how remedial GCSE learning is in comparison – these kids have worked their arses off. In my time, there was nowhere near the pressure to have rows of A’s in your result sheets (unless you were hoping for entry into one of the top Universities or courses) as there is today. Nor was there the stress of the enormous (inevitable) debt every student faces, with absolutely no guarantee of finding any employment, let alone in the area you wish to specialize. It’s a credit to the youth that they are even applying to further education – a far cry from apathy!

If only our soldiers faced the same dilemmas as our students. It would be a wonderful day for peace if seven years basic training (with the option to opt out after five) resulted in their being slim-to-no-chance in you actually fulfilling your potential in a war (unless you were able to pay through the nose for it)

For the ones who are off to join the fresher fair in September, it will be the first time many of them have ever lived away from home. Many will be moving to new cities, away from siblings and old friends, with new people to meet and new horizons to encounter.  The degree is only part of their education (15% max?) The true education is the opening of the mind to independence; away from parental consent where new boundaries can be broken (often in the Student Union in Happy Hour) and new experience of all levels can be had. It was the most liberating thing that could have ever happened to me.

Of course, the education part is important too (or are we all brilliant minds ruined by education?) However, my degree in Film Studies is certainly not something Higher Education Minister David Willets would consider a ‘core academic subject.’ And it was far from a vocational option; I was never under the impression that I would come out of the other end as the female Ridley Scott. I chose the subject because it interested me, as it continues to interest me, far more than Maths, Science and Engineering ever did (or will.) Did you read David Willets comments in the Telegraph today?

10,000 more students apply to universities then there are places for them (UK average), the same as last year, and Willets has ruled out creating any more university places.

There’s no more room at Willets inn – especially if you have any creative leanings in you at all. He said today UCAS was sending “a very bad message to young people” because all A-Levels are ranked the same (an A in Chemistry is worth the same as an A in say, Needlework)

Willet continued saying that “newer” subjects such as dance (could someone inform the Royal Ballet that our Higher Education Minister believes dance to be a new subject) Photography and Media Studies (a subject I studied at A Level 19 years ago) “maybe valuable to students who want to specialize in these areas” but that it must be acknowledged they are not “core academic subjects.”

So? Reading through political agenda’s can hardly be compared to studying the classics. Does this stop him from thinking studying his job is a “higher” pursuit than wanting to become a photographer or dancer? (I can’t defend media studies; I still don’t know what it actually means. As much as I hate to concede, he may have a point here.)

Subjects such as Maths and Science (of which photography is a branch, but lets not go there) hit high on his desirability list but does he not realise the world has unemployed engineers too? It’s hard enough for anyone to get a degree; lets not discriminate against what students want to learn.

We would have a far greater society if every sculptor could earn what a scaffolder can, and vice versa. It would be progress overnight if all artists, writers, musicians and all those who enhance life were encouraged to do so by their government.

Congrats to all, win lose or draw, life is the universe and you never stop learning. The greatest advice I was ever give was this: when you think you know it all, it’s time to think again.