As an English literature student, I have five contact hours a week in my third year. It’s barely anything. The classes we do attend will most likely be either tedious or surface-touching. This is a reality that strays far from our envisioned four years in the study of literature. In truth, you are all on your own. What you do with the rest of your time is up to you. Whether you choose to party away or pursue more meaningful endeavours, no one will really care.
So unless you’re ready for this kind of independence, university is not worth it. Of course, choosing the right subject will be a matter of absolute significance. A literature course, at least in Edinburgh, means you will be committing the next four years in complete independence and self-discipline. A course like medicine or architecture, on the other hand, will probably offer much more teaching support and require more person-to-person effort.
Perhaps one can term the time spent at this university as simply ‘disappointing’. It wasn’t a waste of time, if anything I learned much more than I probably would have otherwise. The disheartening sentiment comes from the sad quality of university education, the less and less charismatic or effective lecturers, the little or no amount of direction we are given, the first two years of university that were lost to teachers’ strike (however these strikes were justified). Our summer holiday is within striking distance already—15th of April. Somehow we get to enjoy five months of vacation after having virtually no classes at all! I get that this is supposed to build up our independence, but still, some more intriguing and in-depth teaching would have been more exhilarating.
Comedian Geoff Norcott makes the argument in his new documentary that university fees are staggeringly high for UK students—£9,250. This is the one point I wish to challenge. One needs to be aware of the proportion of UK fees compared to other English-speaking countries, ie the US. Or think about the international students who have come all the way here to seek, what is in their view, a better education. Some pay as much as £30,000 a year. Therefore my argument is, if a UK student has the privilege and capability to study at a good university here, go ahead and seize that chance. Nevertheless, I understand why students become frustrated when they pay £9,000 and get five hours of teaching per week in return. It is absurd, and one begins to wonder where all the money is being directed.
One great thing about these fours year of university is, rather than fixating on the down side of it, the amount of freedom you are given. This is possibly the most amount of time you will have before embarking on the ‘adult’ journey, before working a 9-to-5 at an office where you will enjoy two weeks of holiday a year. Enjoy this time as much as you can, and do as much as you want with it. Whether it be travelling, or meeting people, or developing skills, or reading as many books as you possibly can, these four years are, in my opinion, a precious fours years you get to learn as much as you can about the world before finally embarking on a journey to understanding it.
“Desk: September 2009. Chaos.” by ashley.adcox is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
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Is a uni degree worth it?
As an English literature student, I have five contact hours a week in my third year. It’s barely anything. The classes we do attend will most likely be either tedious or surface-touching. This is a reality that strays far from our envisioned four years in the study of literature. In truth, you are all on your own. What you do with the rest of your time is up to you. Whether you choose to party away or pursue more meaningful endeavours, no one will really care.
So unless you’re ready for this kind of independence, university is not worth it. Of course, choosing the right subject will be a matter of absolute significance. A literature course, at least in Edinburgh, means you will be committing the next four years in complete independence and self-discipline. A course like medicine or architecture, on the other hand, will probably offer much more teaching support and require more person-to-person effort.
Perhaps one can term the time spent at this university as simply ‘disappointing’. It wasn’t a waste of time, if anything I learned much more than I probably would have otherwise. The disheartening sentiment comes from the sad quality of university education, the less and less charismatic or effective lecturers, the little or no amount of direction we are given, the first two years of university that were lost to teachers’ strike (however these strikes were justified). Our summer holiday is within striking distance already—15th of April. Somehow we get to enjoy five months of vacation after having virtually no classes at all! I get that this is supposed to build up our independence, but still, some more intriguing and in-depth teaching would have been more exhilarating.
Comedian Geoff Norcott makes the argument in his new documentary that university fees are staggeringly high for UK students—£9,250. This is the one point I wish to challenge. One needs to be aware of the proportion of UK fees compared to other English-speaking countries, ie the US. Or think about the international students who have come all the way here to seek, what is in their view, a better education. Some pay as much as £30,000 a year. Therefore my argument is, if a UK student has the privilege and capability to study at a good university here, go ahead and seize that chance. Nevertheless, I understand why students become frustrated when they pay £9,000 and get five hours of teaching per week in return. It is absurd, and one begins to wonder where all the money is being directed.
One great thing about these fours year of university is, rather than fixating on the down side of it, the amount of freedom you are given. This is possibly the most amount of time you will have before embarking on the ‘adult’ journey, before working a 9-to-5 at an office where you will enjoy two weeks of holiday a year. Enjoy this time as much as you can, and do as much as you want with it. Whether it be travelling, or meeting people, or developing skills, or reading as many books as you possibly can, these four years are, in my opinion, a precious fours years you get to learn as much as you can about the world before finally embarking on a journey to understanding it.
“Desk: September 2009. Chaos.” by ashley.adcox is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
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