Failure is not an option

Talking to Lower VI students is a bigger challenge than I thought. They really haven’t grasped the concept of applying to university yet. A lot of what I was saying to them today went straight over their heads. In this context, it was a real mistake to try to explain the admittedly strange concept of the University of London. As I watched their little eyes glaze over with a mixture of confusion and fear I felt a pang of sorrow at the way people now are pushed into making career choices so early on – and then have to achieve so much academically to get there. When they don’t, it all comes crashing down – and they aren’t well prepared for failure. It’s not their fault – teachers, careers advisors and above all, parents have inculcated them with the belief that ‘going to university’ is their sole objective.

While I often feel regret that I didn’t have guidance or choices when I was their age, it’s this kind of thing that makes me feel happy that I chose to study later in life, and what I did was entirely unrelated to career choices. I did it for the love of the subjects. Is Blair’s aim to get 50% of the population into university about this – or propping up the tax paying public – or just a good soundbite?