Quote of the Day
"The No. 1 reason someone doesn't attend university, [sic]they haven't been asked in a meaningful way."
Can I ask in a meaningful way: are you serious?
Can I ask in a meaningful way: are you serious?
posted by The Rise and Sprawl at
4:38 PM
15 Comments:
link isn't working
OK fixed.
Makes sense to me. If university doesn't occur to you as a viable option, why would you choose to go?
I agree with anny. I was pretty much a straight-A student in high school, have several family members who attended university - but guess what, NO ONE in my family, NO ONE at school ever once spoke to me about university up until the end of grade 12.
I just simply never even gave it a thought, until one day my grandmother asked me where I had applied. I told her "nowhere". She convinced me to apply, and luckily the U of M was still accepting applications (it was too late for the U of W).
Now here I am, finishing my master's this year. And I'll make sure my own kids know their options.
Its true. If your family doesn't have examples of people who've gone to university, most kids don't think about it.
I agree. But how has the state and professional altruists like Mr. Chief been doing in substituting for family members?
I think that before anyone tells children they can go to university, they should tell them they can go to college.
After all, if you're going to waste a good part of your young adult life doing something you don't really care about, why not spend two years learning a trade instead of four years learning about fourteenth century English literature? At least then you'll know how to fix your toilet.
I know far too many people who went to university when they shouldn't have. It's a far greater crime to tell them to do the wrong thing than to tell them nothing at all.
Agree Jamie. You make a very good point. 1 year , preferable 2 years of College would be a better avenue for most High School Graduates.
In Quebec we had CeGEP, but that was a shock for many 17 year old students. Going from High School environment to quasi University environment.
In Ontario, they had, still Have ? Grade 13. A kind of Senior High.
17 - 18 year olds for the most part have zero experience and do not really have a handle on what they would like to do in life. Perhaps a 2 year buffer would assist them in making a more precise decision on their University course loads.
The point may be that there are far too many immature students wasting time and resources at the university level.
Making someone aware of what's available to them is quite different than telling them to take a specific path. In my own experience (this was some 20 years ago), there was a woeful lack of information of *any* of the possibilities - I wonder how different it is these days?
Exactly. When I entered university twenty years ago, I didn't have a clue what I was doing or why I was doing it. Even though both my parents are university educated, their advice was useless. With the amount of information available now, I would likely have made far better choices.
The best advice I could give anyone is wait a few years after high school before going to university or college. Either travel or work so you can at least have some perspective before you get serious about your education.
Anytime a kid asks me about education, I usually tell them to go travelling for a couple years after high school, work in cafes, just live life. University/education is important, but its best undertaken when you know what you want to do.
As for the 14th century writers, I happen to think they're quite important. And no, I don't know how to fix my toilet. And no, I don't care. I can figure it out if I need to.
Literature and the arts are great things to study because they push the brain in ways that science and math can't. And I'd wager that our culture is pretty out of balance in its brain use these days.
Louis Riel, your attitude is why it's bad to push university before college.
The idea that it's more important to know obscure information with no application than to know something as practical as repairing your own toilet is ridiculous. Not only that, we have a glut of arts graduates and very few science and engineering degrees - the exact opposite of what we should be encouraging.
I'm not the type of person to encourage young people to travel, either. Most of the time, they get plunged into debt, take retail and service jobs, and never continue with their education in a meaningful way.
That, or their parents pay for it and they learn that the things in life they "should" do will be paid for by someone else.
I think it's far more important to get them to learn things they can use in their day-to-day lives and in the community around them.
"Don't let schooling interfere with your education." (Mark Twain)
the number one reason I went to Uni was the point of my dads boot.
Interesting discussion, and I now have a personal connection - my daughter is attending the camp this week. I'll see what her thoughts are about it when it comes to an end.
Personally, I would never push university *over* college, but I'd definitely encourage my kids to take some post-secondary education if they/we can afford it. My younger brother went to South Wpg Tech and ended up doing something he loves, and making a lot more money than me! It's a great option, but definitely not for everyone.
I would also add that my education put me far more into debt than traveling ever did, and I spent most of my 20s on the road (though I was earning my living doing it, which is different than what most people do I suppose?) I highly recommend traveling when you're young (even with young children, which we've done several times).
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