Should I look for a job or go to uni?

[Bulgarian 10]

Just remember not to get a tattoo, or you'll be unemployable (aparantly)

[Bulgarian 10]

Apprenticeships are a complete waste of time, all they do is provide a monkey with skills to do a specific job. What happens when that job is no longer needed or the market is overskilled e.g. plumber, electrician or whatever. Go to university and learn how to learn.

 

will there ever be too many plumbers/electricians, it is a skilled (and well paid if your self-employed) job, it's not like window cleaning.

[Mecky 10]

will there ever be too many plumbers/electricians, it is a skilled (and well paid if your self-employed) job, it's not like window cleaning.

 

Yes, when there was a shortage 20-30years ago people trained in those skills, now it's overkill, a bit like the present day IT worker.

[Bulgarian 10]

Yes, when there was a shortage 20-30years ago people trained in those skills, now it's overkill, a bit like the present day IT worker.

 

it doesn't seem that way when you're trying to hire one (plumber that is, not C programmer)

[gnvqsos 10]

Apprenticeships are a complete waste of time, all they do is provide a monkey with skills to do a specific job. What happens when that job is no longer needed or the market is overskilled e.g. plumber, electrician or whatever. Go to university and learn how to learn.

 

University do not teach people how to learn;people have a variety of ways in which they learn and higher education remains reliant on the traditional lecture.Moreover the tutors are not trained in the art of teaching,qualifications in education being quite unnecessary.the typical schoolteacher will be better placed to develop learning skills especially as they frequently confront reluctant learners.If people have not learnt how to learn by 18 then there is little a university will do to counteract this.

[Guest]

...If people have not learnt how to learn by 18 then there is little a university will do to counteract this.

Pupils are taught how to ingest and regurgitate the information they're presented with, with the ultimate aim of passing their GCSEs and A Levels. Once they hit higher education the demands of independent learning come as rather a shock to many, and they consequently spend the first few weeks flailing around and getting used to the idea that lectures are just a starting point for what's required for a course.

 

A great deal of effort - learning and research method courses and tutorials from the lecturers, the library staff and the computing staff - is put into getting students familiar with the learning demands of higher education.

[RJRB 688]

Yes Big John was with me at Ruskin College on a semen scholarship sponsored by his union the NUS.We shared our text-books with one Bernard Neustadt,now Bernard Manning.Not many realise Bernard was a Literature scholar who could not get enough of Luxemburg and Bronte.Bernard loved music and real .

 

Love the idea of "big John on a semen scholarship.it seems to have come in handy in later years.

[Rupert_Baehr 10]

Yes Big John was with me at Ruskin College on a semen scholarship sponsored by his union the NUS.We shared our text-books with one Bernard Neustadt,now Bernard Manning.Not many realise Bernard was a Literature scholar who could not get enough of Luxemburg and Bronte.Bernard loved music and real .

 

Not a lot you could add to that, I suppose.

[gnvqsos 10]

Pupils are taught how to ingest and regurgitate the information they're presented with, with the ultimate aim of passing their GCSEs and A Levels. Once they hit higher education the demands of independent learning come as rather a shock to many, and they consequently spend the first few weeks flailing around and getting used to the idea that lectures are just a starting point for what's required for a course.

 

A great deal of effort - learning and research method courses and tutorials from the lecturers, the library staff and the computing staff - is put into getting students familiar with the learning demands of higher education.

 

I have a lad at Oxford and he has nothing like the learning and research method courses which you mention.As a said before lecturers have no training in education per se so how do they acquire the necessary skills they have to impart.I am afraid you seem to be describing statements of intent,wth reality being at variance with the prescribed scenario.

[aliceBB 10]

Only you can decide, in the end, but if you have the chance to go to uni I'd say do it and hope the recession is over by the time you graduate.

 

Good luck whatever you do.

[Guest]

I have a lad at Oxford and he has nothing like the learning and research method courses which you mention.As a said before lecturers have no training in education per se so how do they acquire the necessary skills they have to impart.I am afraid you seem to be describing statements of intent,wth reality being at variance with the prescribed scenario.

I do agree that although academics are trained to communicate - it's the basis of research life - some don't make the best lecturers, particularly if you're equating a lecturer's role with that of a school teacher: spoon-feeding children with just about all they'll need to pass their exams. Higher education is more active; it isn't about passively absorbing information prescribed and presented by the teacher. The student learns to explore and assess, to critically evaluate. As an Oxford student benefiting from the tutorial system, your son should be aware of that more than most.

 

As for learning courses, five minutes on the Oxford uni student portal website directed me not just to the induction courses provided for new students by the library staff, but to workshops and training sessions provided for current undergraduate and postgraduate students by the library and IT staff. Other universities have similar schemes in place, supported by online interactive resources.

[Sid Umpley 10]

Branson had immense advantages due to wealthy parents,Sugar is an arrogant fool who does not understand how to use his wealth but Bill Gates has contributed to technology and used his wealth to uplift others.However you cannot choose three exceptional examples to demonstrate a point.Moreover the benefits of a good education is not measured simply in monetary terms but in developing other qualities and dimensions such as taste and judgement.

 

i hope you have posted your cv to Alan sugar.

 

He would love to hear your views on how he could do better