If you're undecided who to vote for
Comments
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Well I can only talk about the things that I know about or at least have a slight insight into. BTW i'm 18 so this will be the first time I can vote and i'm approaching it very innocently and simply voting on the impulse of liking what i see/hear as opposed to showing any regard to complexities of politics - most of which i'm not aware of because i lack the in-depth knowledge of political history of the last 20-40 years.
The things that have struck me in this thread are:
1) Pensions of public servants
2) Education
So 1). It seems that in previous comments, pensions of nurses, social care workers, midwives and the like were bunched in with the police and doctors. Nothing against the person who posted this (as this isn't neccessarily representative of your views) but that's a major major oversight. My mother is a midwife and she was pretty much bullied into taking her pension early due to health circumstances and aggressive management (thankfully she still has a job in the NHS) and i can tell you her pension is nothing, pocket money, compared to a police pension. My sisters BF has just successfully completed the police interview process and he told me what he gets as his pension, so this isn't just a personal perception or gripe. The fact is certain public servants have hugely favourable pension conditions compared to others. The police and doctors are examples of two very strong bodies of professionals who do very well out of it. I don't know the intricacies of it all but i know enough and i've heard it from the horses mouth so to speak.
2) Education. This is something very relevant to me as I finished my A level education last July. I'm starting my degree in September this year, studying Law at Bristol UWE - a lesser uni, former polytechnic e.t.c. Personally i've always underachieved academically. I've always been the A grade student who got A grade coursework but D grade exams. Hence i ended up with distinctly average A level grades. It's clear to me that my talents do not belong in the purely academic world. I'm more of a practical academic. I understand 'real life' not 'academic theory'.
The problem is, there's no place for kids like me. It's university or fail. Due to the constant pressure and frustration at my lack of results i've never really found the subject that i really loved and wanted to study at uni. I thought it was geography, and i'd make a bloody good geographer if could say so myself, but my teacher slowly eroded my enthusiasm as he realised i wouldn't be adding to his A grade production line. Therefore i've decided to study law. A subject which is new to me, and interesting although i have no real knowledge of the subject but i found comfort in the fact that my sister completed her law degree 2 years ago and suggested Bristol UWE as a law school with methods that would be more to my learning style (she did her degree at red brick Bristol and her LPC at UWE).
Now i'm sure this seems all very boring and blah to you but i can asure you, there's a huge number of kids like me. I feel like a failure because I didn't reach my target grades, i've now made a rash decision which will tie up at least 3 years of my time and to be honest i've got quite a chip on my shoulder about the whole situation. I took a gap year so that if i failed to get into uni this time around due to poor grades i could apply for a course which would accept the grades i eventually got.
So since then i've left school, started my gap year and whoopy-doo i'm still unemployed without much confidence in my abilities that i was supposed to have gained from a solid education. Something has to change. Our education system is false - pumped by misleading statistics such as league tables and pass rates. In reality i have very few skills an employer would find attractive and this is a fact as it has stood the acid test of hundreds of job applications over the last few months.
Please, excuse my naive, factless rant. Happy voting (or not voting it would seem for many)0 -
EKIMIKE wrote:
So since then i've left school, started my gap year and whoopy-doo i'm still unemployed without much confidence in my abilities that i was supposed to have gained from a solid education. Something has to change. Our education system is false - pumped by misleading statistics such as league tables and pass rates. In reality i have very few skills an employer would find attractive and this is a fact as it has stood the acid test of hundreds of job applications over the last few months.
Please, excuse my naive, factless rant. Happy voting (or not voting it would seem for many)
You've been job hunting during the worst recession in living memory. I have friends who were made redundant over a year ago and despite having experience and skills are still struggling to find work so don't beat yourself up over it. Stay positive and good luck.0 -
Jobs are hard to come by but there are positives steps you can take. Get some voluntary work in the area you're interested in, and if that's not possible go work for a charity who just need people to help - nothing puts an employer off more than when an applicants is asked 'what did you do during your time out of work' and they reply with 'nothing'.
Volunteering is one of the most rewarding things you can do, it got me out of a massive slump and has given me a huge boost in confidence. Do not expect to get a job high up on the ladder ( I know you probably don't expect that); doesn't matter how many qualifications you have you still have to prove yourself whilst doing the actual job. When you do get a job you'll be making tea and coffee for a year at least
You probably know all of this but...
Get your CV done, make sure it's well presented. When you get your CV done make sure it's not 20 pages of waffle; your average interviewer cannot be arsed to go through a load of stuff, 2 or 3 pages maxiumum. That is your first line of attack and a simple mistake will result in a CV going into the bin. Same goes for that covering letter, and do not type it, write it!
If you aren't confident in doing your own CV there are people at the job centre who will help you. Use and abuse the system and get what you can out of it. If they offer you a customer service course, take it. CS is extremely handy in almost every single job plus it will also give you a chance to get temp job in a shop somewhere.
I spent 15 years in and out of work due to health problems, I know the system backwards so any questions gimme a pokehttp://www.youtube.com/user/Eurobunneh - My Youtube channel.0 -
EKIMIKE wrote:
2) Education. This is something very relevant to me as I finished my A level education last July. I'm starting my degree in September this year, studying Law at Bristol UWE - a lesser uni, former polytechnic e.t.c. Personally i've always underachieved academically. I've always been the A grade student who got A grade coursework but D grade exams. Hence i ended up with distinctly average A level grades. It's clear to me that my talents do not belong in the purely academic world. I'm more of a practical academic. I understand 'real life' not 'academic theory'.
The problem is, there's no place for kids like me. It's university or fail. Due to the constant pressure and frustration at my lack of results i've never really found the subject that i really loved and wanted to study at uni. I thought it was geography, and i'd make a bloody good geographer if could say so myself, but my teacher slowly eroded my enthusiasm as he realised i wouldn't be adding to his A grade production line. Therefore i've decided to study law. A subject which is new to me, and interesting although i have no real knowledge of the subject but i found comfort in the fact that my sister completed her law degree 2 years ago and suggested Bristol UWE as a law school with methods that would be more to my learning style (she did her degree at red brick Bristol and her LPC at UWE).
Now i'm sure this seems all very boring and blah to you but i can asure you, there's a huge number of kids like me. I feel like a failure because I didn't reach my target grades, i've now made a rash decision which will tie up at least 3 years of my time and to be honest i've got quite a chip on my shoulder about the whole situation. I took a gap year so that if i failed to get into uni this time around due to poor grades i could apply for a course which would accept the grades i eventually got.
So since then i've left school, started my gap year and whoopy-doo i'm still unemployed without much confidence in my abilities that i was supposed to have gained from a solid education. Something has to change. Our education system is false - pumped by misleading statistics such as league tables and pass rates. In reality i have very few skills an employer would find attractive and this is a fact as it has stood the acid test of hundreds of job applications over the last few months.
Please, excuse my naive, factless rant. Happy voting (or not voting it would seem for many)
Couldn't agree more. I'm in my second year of A-levels, then I'm taking a gap year next year. I agree with everything you said, I also feel like something of a failure because I'm not getting straight A's across the board. I'm still not sure uni will be for me, but felt backed into a corner by school. The consensus is that if you don't go to a red brick university, then your a failure. There's no other alternative, and I know many other people my age feel the same way. The whole system has left many teenagers feeling confused, disheartened and generally frustated at their lack of options.0 -
To the 2 above posters on university.
You are not failures if university is not for you. It simply means that your talents lie in other directions, which you probably haven't explored yet because the academic route is pushed as the only valid one these days, especially to middle class kids. One of my colleagues finished grammar school last year, and she and the other 3 pupils who had decided against going to uni were constantly being called into the careers advice office to be told that they really should go to university.
I'll give you some advice - people who go to university without any really sense of purpose, or love for their subject will end up getting themselves into £1000's of debt only to come out with a low degree which probably won't help them to find the dream job they were hoping for. I've seen it happen to others, they still feel like failures now, just failures with a piece of paper, a huge debt hanging over them and no real hope for the future.
If I were you, I'd make sure I really liked the subject before going to dedicate 3 years of my life and loads of my money to it. Remember, when you go to university, it's 3 years of self-motivation. It's not like A-levels where the teachers are giving you weekly homework to make sure that your studying is up to date. You'll have a certain number of lectures to go to every week - it could be as few as 8 hours - and then the rest of the time it's up to you to make sure you get all the work done, and not let it pile up before the exams/coursework deadlines. Have a look at some academic texts online, research articles, things like that. Or go into a reference library and find a university level textbook and read through it. Can you cope with that? Are you interested enough in your subject to go and sit in the library when the sun's shining, or in the evenings when all your mates are in the bar?
Seriously, don't drift or let yourself get pushed into going to university, because if you do, you won't get anything out of it. Decide on what's best for yourself, not what your family or school expects you to do. Choose a career path which interests you and go for it. Good luck.0 -
Cheers for the words of advice people. I'm currently helping out a group of guys organising the second year of a local cycling event in National Bike Week so i'm getting on with something at least. It's a great insight into event organisation and all the things that go with it.
As for going to uni without clear purpose of motivation then i guess it's a risk but i've taken the neccessary steps to make it as risk free as possible. Like i said my sister did a law degree and she's had loads of good advice and i also talked at length about my situation with my old head of 6th form. Also most of my friends are at uni and i've been to see them and had good ol' chats with them about what it's like. It seems to suit me. I hated the pigeon holing, 'learn to pass the exams' mentality of A levels and such examinations. I was usually criticised for work that was worthy but simply did not fit in with what the examiners wanted.
I understand the jobs situation and i know it's not my fault that i'm in the doomed 18-24 year old demographic and also a male - males being harder hit in this recession than females. I've had plenty of interviews where i've been told that i could do their job very well but they've simply got someone else with more experience. There's also a serious lack of small, simple jobs around here. Things like shop work, factory work e.t.c. It's mainly small business here in Wiltshire so they're feeling the squeeze and are hugely reluctant to employ. I've even had interviews where they've got back to me saying they'd want to employ me but they've just had a setback with regards to sales volume/contract terminations e.t.c so therefore cannot employ anyone.
In fact I never even wanted to do A levels. I got annoyed after GCSE's but being 16 A levels were the easiest, most obvious step forward. I was also filled with the false promise of 'A levels might just be the system that suits you - you could flourish'. This is where the education system of today screws over young people. Because there is a clear agenda of 'high grades - high volume' at whatever cost, kids are pumped full of promises and aspirational crap that persuades them to jump through the hoops of the system. Rather than realising our potential, many of us are realising our potential lies elsewhere - but only after we've enrolled in another 2/3 years of education.
Many people say that exams are easier these days. Wrong. The teaching is better. It's more specific and more informed. Teachers know how to 'play the system'. They know what will be on the exam and they know how it will be put across. This is clearly a problem that has been recognised as you can with the intorduction of another level of testing at AS level and the reform of subject syllabuses at A level which (certainly at my old school) came in this year (i.e. the exams and courses are now different). I can tell you that teachers were outwardly 'sh1tting themselves' at the thought that they would have to teach a new syllabus next year and they wouldn't know what the exams would ask in detail. Teaching to pass exams is a failure of duty to educate children. Teaching to exams limits the learning of subjects. My knowledge of biology for example is limited to what was on the A level exams. Compared to someone 20 years ago who was taught without so much regard for exams, my knowledge is very limited. Therefore the older generation see us kids as not knowing our subjects properly yet we get the best grades ever known. This is where the perception of 'easy exams' is derived from. The exams are not easy. In fact many include degree level elements nowadays to try and distinguish those A grade students from those who will be given B grades.0 -
Join the Armed forces, see the world.0
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Anyway how awesome did Vince Cable look yesterday night compared to the other two?
For me that debate is far more important than they one between the leaders. There was only one credible candidate there. His party won't get elected though.0 -
Fight a war with £££'s of kit only to get blown up by a home-made bomb?
Living in a garrison town, we can all see this is such a waste of life. I'm not tough enough, not brave enough. All credit to those who are. For them i shall always be an honest tax paying citizen of this country. Lets make sure they get all they deserve in the way of support.0 -
EKIMIKE wrote:Cheers for the words of advice people. I'm currently helping out a group of guys organising the second year of a local cycling event in National Bike Week so i'm getting on with something at least. It's a great insight into event organisation and all the things that go with it.
As for going to uni without clear purpose of motivation then i guess it's a risk but i've taken the neccessary steps to make it as risk free as possible. Like i said my sister did a law degree and she's had loads of good advice and i also talked at length about my situation with my old head of 6th form. Also most of my friends are at uni and i've been to see them and had good ol' chats with them about what it's like. It seems to suit me. I hated the pigeon holing, 'learn to pass the exams' mentality of A levels and such examinations. I was usually criticised for work that was worthy but simply did not fit in with what the examiners wanted.
I understand the jobs situation and i know it's not my fault that i'm in the doomed 18-24 year old demographic and also a male - males being harder hit in this recession than females. I've had plenty of interviews where i've been told that i could do their job very well but they've simply got someone else with more experience. There's also a serious lack of small, simple jobs around here. Things like shop work, factory work e.t.c. It's mainly small business here in Wiltshire so they're feeling the squeeze and are hugely reluctant to employ. I've even had interviews where they've got back to me saying they'd want to employ me but they've just had a setback with regards to sales volume/contract terminations e.t.c so therefore cannot employ anyone.
In fact I never even wanted to do A levels. I got annoyed after GCSE's but being 16 A levels were the easiest, most obvious step forward. I was also filled with the false promise of 'A levels might just be the system that suits you - you could flourish'. This is where the education system of today screws over young people. Because there is a clear agenda of 'high grades - high volume' at whatever cost, kids are pumped full of promises and aspirational crap that persuades them to jump through the hoops of the system. Rather than realising our potential, many of us are realising our potential lies elsewhere - but only after we've enrolled in another 2/3 years of education.
Many people say that exams are easier these days. Wrong. The teaching is better. It's more specific and more informed. Teachers know how to 'play the system'. They know what will be on the exam and they know how it will be put across. This is clearly a problem that has been recognised as you can with the intorduction of another level of testing at AS level and the reform of subject syllabuses at A level which (certainly at my old school) came in this year (i.e. the exams and courses are now different). I can tell you that teachers were outwardly 'sh1tting themselves' at the thought that they would have to teach a new syllabus next year and they wouldn't know what the exams would ask in detail. Teaching to pass exams is a failure of duty to educate children. Teaching to exams limits the learning of subjects. My knowledge of biology for example is limited to what was on the A level exams. Compared to someone 20 years ago who was taught without so much regard for exams, my knowledge is very limited. Therefore the older generation see us kids as not knowing our subjects properly yet we get the best grades ever known. This is where the perception of 'easy exams' is derived from. The exams are not easy. In fact many include degree level elements nowadays to try and distinguish those A grade students from those who will be given B grades.
I work in HE and have a good deal of sympathy with what you are saying. However education is NOT just about achieving grades. It's more about personal development, following your interests and these can be linked to a successful career much more than A-level grades which nobody cares about. This is especially true in the long term - Uni. is the chance to develop an attitude or approach to your career as much as it is a chance to prove yourself academically.
Students who leave Uni. with a strong skill set (linguistic, communication, presentation, writing ability, practical experience due to a placement year, special technical knowledge or whatever it happens to be), who seem motivated and 'employable' generally do much better. I'd say that in many areas of employment academic ability in its pure form is quite a way down the list. Of course some students are academic & employable too - the two aren't mutually exclusive!
My advice is to go to Uni. but see it as an opportunity to broaden your skills. Volunteer somewhere that links to your future direction on a weekly basis. Take additional qualifications - IT or a language maybe. Go to conferences & read widely on subjects that interest 'you'. Talk to the lecturers & especially when getting feedback - learn from them. Use your assignments as an opportunity to read & learn something, not just to get a grade. Work hard but work hard because you want to achieve something & improve yourself, not to chase grades. If you follow this approach Uni. will be an amazing experience and you will feel that you are reaching your potential. This does all rather depend on choosing a subject that interests you of course!
On the Polys thing, many Polys have better teaching than some traditional Unis - the research won't be as good though in many cases. It varies of course from Uni to Uni from department to department from course to course. Remember though for the undergrad. student experience teaching is the thing. Inspiring students to become independent and critical thinkers is what any University should be about - it's not about grades. Besides 10 years from know you won't even be able to remember your grades, but you will remember all the other stuff I mentioned.'Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible' Marcel Proust.0 -
how about mass contraception of the prols!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!0
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EKIMIKE wrote:Well I can only talk about the things that I know about or at least have a slight insight into. BTW i'm 18 so this will be the first time I can vote and i'm approaching it very innocently and simply voting on the impulse of liking what i see/hear as opposed to showing any regard to complexities of politics - most of which i'm not aware of because i lack the in-depth knowledge of political history of the last 20-40 years.
The things that have struck me in this thread are:
1) Pensions of public servants
2) Education
So 1). It seems that in previous comments, pensions of nurses, social care workers, midwives and the like were bunched in with the police and doctors. Nothing against the person who posted this (as this isn't neccessarily representative of your views) but that's a major major oversight. My mother is a midwife and she was pretty much bullied into taking her pension early due to health circumstances and aggressive management (thankfully she still has a job in the NHS) and i can tell you her pension is nothing, pocket money, compared to a police pension. My sisters BF has just successfully completed the police interview process and he told me what he gets as his pension, so this isn't just a personal perception or gripe. The fact is certain public servants have hugely favourable pension conditions compared to others. The police and doctors are examples of two very strong bodies of professionals who do very well out of it. I don't know the intricacies of it all but i know enough and i've heard it from the horses mouth so to speak.
)
You've failed to mention that Police officers have to pay 11.5 % of their income for 30 years (pre 2006) to get that pension. Your sisters BF will be paying 9.5% for 35 years to get his."There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world, t'would be a pity to damage yours."0 -
Voting's a waste of time in our ward. The Labour majority was over 60% of the vote in 2005 - just over 50% of the total electorate in the ward.
The only way I'll vote again is if I move or the ward boundaries are changed substantially.
Bob0 -
Aggieboy wrote:You've failed to mention that Police officers have to pay 11.5 % of their income for 30 years (pre 2006) to get that pension. Your sisters BF will be paying 9.5% for 35 years to get his.
Like I said - I don't the intricacies/ ins and outs of it all. What I do know is that certain public servants get it better than others. Doctors particularly. Their union is so strong. Nurses and midwives have very weak unions and therefore get dictated to very easily.
There's currently alot of reform in maternity services. Many midwives are being forced to take lower bands of pay unless they take on mangerial responsibilities - which were never part of their remit in the first place. Essentially they are being turned into cheap managers. This of course is all part of the efficiency savings required to cut the deficit. Front line services have already been cut so I wouldn't believe any guarentee's. My local hospital for one now offers a very limited service and is mostly office space now.0 -
EKIMIKE wrote:Aggieboy wrote:You've failed to mention that Police officers have to pay 11.5 % of their income for 30 years (pre 2006) to get that pension. Your sisters BF will be paying 9.5% for 35 years to get his.
Nurses and midwives have very weak unions and therefore get dictated to very easily.
Things must have changed somewhat. I rated the RCN as one of the most militant unions I've ever come across when I worked in the NHS.
Bob0 -
No, they have always been complete pussies! :shock:beverick wrote:EKIMIKE wrote:Aggieboy wrote:You've failed to mention that Police officers have to pay 11.5 % of their income for 30 years (pre 2006) to get that pension. Your sisters BF will be paying 9.5% for 35 years to get his.
Nurses and midwives have very weak unions and therefore get dictated to very easily.
Things must have changed somewhat. I rated the RCN as one of the most militant unions I've ever come across when I worked in the NHS.
Bob
Back in '83 when I went on strike, it was the RcN members that covered the wards; the "union" has a "no strike" agreement (voluntarily tying both arms behind their backs). The RcN is useless in flexing any industrial muscle, when they should be possibly the most powerful union in existence (having 395 000 members), but the vast majority are from a demographic that prefers to "put up and shut up". Don't get me wrong, the RcN is a marvellous organisation in many ways, I gained my first degree with them, their professional activities, representation and standards on clinical issues, academic publishing etc are excellent - as a union, pants (I am a member).0 -
A party that would tell the European Court of Human Rights to take a running jump would certainly get a bit of my attention. The rights of prisoners jailed for major crimes are currently much more important than the violated rights of the victims.
Other than that I'd just like politics to be transparent. I want to know what is going on with my tax in my country. I want to know what issues are being raised with MPs and what they are doing to help. Most of all I want them to actually represent the people that elect them, not the party or themselves.And I'd like the people to have the power to remove an MP for not doing their job whenever necessary, not just at election time.0 -
Any party that would scrap the National ID Database and finally recognise the difference between "public" and "private", legislating accordingly. For example, I'm not a smoker but I can't understand why a landlord cannot regulate a lawful activity within his/her own premises, that's a private place. The market (IE peoples choice) would sort out how many non-smoking pubs are desired...
Also, Stop trying to claw back the mammoth deficit by tax hikes and borrowing alonw. Cut NI and corporation tax to allow private sector employers to grow."In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"
@gietvangent0 -
an interesting thread. Australia is due its federal national election in November this year.If you think house prices are expensive in the UK don't think about coming here. Due to huge immigration levels Sydney is now the most expensive city in the world. Median price in excess of 500K. House prices are rising by 1.2% per month effectively locking out most people. Rents are also very high.
Our present PM a loser called Kevin Rudd says he believes in a'big Australia,' ie increasing population from the present 22 million to 35 million by 2050. Our population increases from immigration by 1 million every 3 years! All this on the driest continent on the planet...It's all about sustainability water, arable land and quality of life in overcrowded run down cities.Rudd is now bactracking saying that all will be Ok if the correct planning is done.I have become very cynical....politicians of all persuasions are scum of the Earth only interested in feathering their own nests.0 -
Disagree with your last sentence blueheeler. I've met local MPs and they were knowledge and concerned about their constituency - they were doing it for the right reasons. I do think power corrupts but many MPs are still good people in my opinion. Can't speak for Oz.'Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible' Marcel Proust.0
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passout wrote:EKIMIKE wrote:Cheers for the words of advice people. I'm currently helping out a group of guys organising the second year of a local cycling event in National Bike Week so i'm getting on with something at least. It's a great insight into event organisation and all the things that go with it.
As for going to uni without clear purpose of motivation then i guess it's a risk but i've taken the neccessary steps to make it as risk free as possible. Like i said my sister did a law degree and she's had loads of good advice and i also talked at length about my situation with my old head of 6th form. Also most of my friends are at uni and i've been to see them and had good ol' chats with them about what it's like. It seems to suit me. I hated the pigeon holing, 'learn to pass the exams' mentality of A levels and such examinations. I was usually criticised for work that was worthy but simply did not fit in with what the examiners wanted.
I understand the jobs situation and i know it's not my fault that i'm in the doomed 18-24 year old demographic and also a male - males being harder hit in this recession than females. I've had plenty of interviews where i've been told that i could do their job very well but they've simply got someone else with more experience. There's also a serious lack of small, simple jobs around here. Things like shop work, factory work e.t.c. It's mainly small business here in Wiltshire so they're feeling the squeeze and are hugely reluctant to employ. I've even had interviews where they've got back to me saying they'd want to employ me but they've just had a setback with regards to sales volume/contract terminations e.t.c so therefore cannot employ anyone.
In fact I never even wanted to do A levels. I got annoyed after GCSE's but being 16 A levels were the easiest, most obvious step forward. I was also filled with the false promise of 'A levels might just be the system that suits you - you could flourish'. This is where the education system of today screws over young people. Because there is a clear agenda of 'high grades - high volume' at whatever cost, kids are pumped full of promises and aspirational crap that persuades them to jump through the hoops of the system. Rather than realising our potential, many of us are realising our potential lies elsewhere - but only after we've enrolled in another 2/3 years of education.
Many people say that exams are easier these days. Wrong. The teaching is better. It's more specific and more informed. Teachers know how to 'play the system'. They know what will be on the exam and they know how it will be put across. This is clearly a problem that has been recognised as you can with the intorduction of another level of testing at AS level and the reform of subject syllabuses at A level which (certainly at my old school) came in this year (i.e. the exams and courses are now different). I can tell you that teachers were outwardly 'sh1tting themselves' at the thought that they would have to teach a new syllabus next year and they wouldn't know what the exams would ask in detail. Teaching to pass exams is a failure of duty to educate children. Teaching to exams limits the learning of subjects. My knowledge of biology for example is limited to what was on the A level exams. Compared to someone 20 years ago who was taught without so much regard for exams, my knowledge is very limited. Therefore the older generation see us kids as not knowing our subjects properly yet we get the best grades ever known. This is where the perception of 'easy exams' is derived from. The exams are not easy. In fact many include degree level elements nowadays to try and distinguish those A grade students from those who will be given B grades.
I work in HE and have a good deal of sympathy with what you are saying. However education is NOT just about achieving grades. It's more about personal development, following your interests and these can be linked to a successful career much more than A-level grades which nobody cares about. This is especially true in the long term - Uni. is the chance to develop an attitude or approach to your career as much as it is a chance to prove yourself academically.
Students who leave Uni. with a strong skill set (linguistic, communication, presentation, writing ability, practical experience due to a placement year, special technical knowledge or whatever it happens to be), who seem motivated and 'employable' generally do much better. I'd say that in many areas of employment academic ability in its pure form is quite a way down the list. Of course some students are academic & employable too - the two aren't mutually exclusive!
My advice is to go to Uni. but see it as an opportunity to broaden your skills. Volunteer somewhere that links to your future direction on a weekly basis. Take additional qualifications - IT or a language maybe. Go to conferences & read widely on subjects that interest 'you'. Talk to the lecturers & especially when getting feedback - learn from them. Use your assignments as an opportunity to read & learn something, not just to get a grade. Work hard but work hard because you want to achieve something & improve yourself, not to chase grades. If you follow this approach Uni. will be an amazing experience and you will feel that you are reaching your potential. This does all rather depend on choosing a subject that interests you of course!
On the Polys thing, many Polys have better teaching than some traditional Unis - the research won't be as good though in many cases. It varies of course from Uni to Uni from department to department from course to course. Remember though for the undergrad. student experience teaching is the thing. Inspiring students to become independent and critical thinkers is what any University should be about - it's not about grades. Besides 10 years from know you won't even be able to remember your grades, but you will remember all the other stuff I mentioned.
+1.
Choose a course you can get really involved in, beacuse it's all about your own work.
He mentions 8 hours, as a History Undergrad I generally have 4 or less hours a week. If I didn't love my subject, theres no way I would do the work for it.
You get the most out of Uni by really engaging yourself with the new opportunities and attitudes you come across. While academically, you will learn a lot, what you should aim to leave Uni with, is a different attitude/approach to things.
I think a big difference between those who are succesful at Uni (not necessarily in grades but in terms of grad jobs) is attitude. I know 1st grade students who are unemployable, and 2.2 students doing paid internships in investment banking.
I find with students, a lot of the reason that they aren't succesful is because they have no idea what they want in life. Over the next year, think about what you actually want to achieve at Uni. (N.B. To achieve anything worthwhile always requires large quantities of work, even if its just running a sports club. Regardless of what you want to achieve, work hard. Don't mean every hour of every day, but do the 40 hours of proper, actual work a week (don't include FB/sitting at desk time), and you'll learn a heck of a lot.
Best of luck with your year out, possibly one of the worst possible years to be unskilled and looking for work!"I hold it true, what'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost;
Than never to have loved at all."
Alfred Tennyson0 -
I can't believe what I'm reading. Half of you are news of the world fascists and you other half are just massively misguided.
First MONEY. All parties are completely different on this.
Cons want to pay off loans at the expense of the economy. They (and they are mostly on there own on this idea i.e. top economist and other parties (worldwide)) believe they can cut the debt and make the economy heal faster. They also, havn't explained who they can cut the debt. - just to put the boot in, cutting all benefits wouldn't make a mark on the a £trillion. Just to put that into some perspective; if one man made £1 a second it would take him/her 31688764.6 years to earn £trillion
Libs say they will cut id cards and trident (anti-missile project) = £130bn and most importantly for us guys, tax the top earniers and leave the bottom to middle earners alone. But, they only have Vince Cable the rest of the mps are pretty unknown.
Lab: will cut services and increase taxes just like the cons will have to. They are doing well at the polls because they have done a good job of keeping the uk surviving, and are starting to remember how shite the country was with no investment pre 2000.
NHS
Cons: David Cameron might love the NHS but no one else in the party has said so and they are still carrying a lot of maggies crew in the party. So is it in no way ‘safe’. If they even half privatise like medical costs and insurance will hit us guys the hardest.
Libs: Safe
Lab: safe
Business / jobs
Cons: no policy
Libs: not sure?
Lab: continue to invest
I’m bored now but these way more to this.
1 trillion = million x billion (1 000 000 x 1 000 000 000) seconds in a year 31 556 9260 -
Re - above post. Trident is the UK nuclear deterrent, not an anti-missile project. Unless you had something more specific in mind that I've never heard of. I still think we should scrap it though - now that would make a dent.'Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible' Marcel Proust.0
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So essentially Ronnold "Tories are bad and anyone who disagrees with me is stupid/evil".
Good way to influence people there."In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"
@gietvangent0 -
nolf wrote:
Choose a course you can get really involved in, beacuse it's all about your own work.
He mentions 8 hours, as a History Undergrad I generally have 4 or less hours a week. If I didn't love my subject, theres no way I would do the work for it.
I'd just point out taught time varies massively between courses and universities. Doing MEng Electronics (guess where
) My taught time for the first two years was 15-20 hours a week, plus 1-1.8x that (not counting exam periods) personal study.
And I can tell you, from my placement year, that's a jokingly small amount of work compared to full time working.
Edit : Ronnold above sums up all that is laughable about the labour party imho.0 -
Nobody is interested too many polls.
Lets have a poll on who will vote and who won't. That'll be interesting.
Join the Apathy Party - Good news- memberships dropped last year by 15%0 -
disgruntledgoat wrote:So essentially Ronnold "Tories are bad and anyone who disagrees with me is stupid/evil".
Good way to influence people there.
Seems to be a large part of the Labour campaign, though to be fair, it does go both ways.
At the end of the day, whilst public money made the early 2000s great for some, the state of our public finances going into the credit crunch possibly meant that we felt the effects of the recession worse than many other countries.
Of course, the tory's were wrong about cuts to public spending, however, extended spending can't go on for ever and both major parties agree about this, in fact, despite Ronnold's protest that the parties are so different, both major parties seem to have very similar ideas on cuts. (I.e. be as vague as possible)You live and learn. At any rate, you live0 -
ronnold the whole of you seems a condescending know all.
You say "cutting all benefits wouldn't make a mark on the a £trillion. Just to put that into some perspective; if one man made £1 a second it would take him/her 31688764.6 years to earn £trillion".
Apart from your post not reading well, you assume that cutting benefits is only about money. It is far more than that including self respect and social responsibility. I believe benefits are good for those that deserve them, those that dont shouldnt get them!
I am neither a facist or misguided.0
