Just reading an article over at BBC News, titled "Pushy parents can act as agents". The basic thrust of it is that there is a rise of what they call "helicopter parents" who continue to direct their children as though they are still children even though they're 17/18 and leaving home.
Now, sure, when I was 18 I didn't have a clue. I could cook and do my own laundry and that sort of thing but I had no understanding of financial management, negotiation, or how to learn if it wasn't spoon fed to me in a scheduled set of classes that would cover everything I needed to know in a coherent picture. I also had no idea what I was going to do after University and thus turn a degree into something that was worth the thousands of pounds it cost to get.
But I chose my courses independently (though guided by some course selection questionnaire we filled in at school) and only got bawled out once for not spending my summer before I went to Uni doing background reading on my course (which, when it comes to it, wasn't asked for anywhere so how would I have know that this was something one might do?). I did two separate courses and eventually dropped out because neither were what I wanted to do and, instead, I found I had an interest and competence in IT... but without all the experience of having to make things work at Uni (and screwing it up on a fair few occasions) I would still be absolutely clueless.
So isn't that the situation that these parents are creating? Clueless children incapable of living on their own because they aren't allowed to find their feet, learn from their mistakes and build their own future.
And yet, in an increasingly consumerist and capitalist world, a degree is a commercial transaction; it's essentially a three to five year training course to give you qualifications that allow you to get a better job. And it's expensive, even more so these days! So, one starts to look at it as a cost-value problem; a three year degree might create £15K of debt over that period to cover costs and living expenses, but starting salaries might be £18K rather than £12K. Does the transaction make sense? Well, you can go figure that but at least one financial analysis suggests you can earn more money by going into employment immediately from school than you can from the increased starting salary given by the average degree. I'm careful to use "average" there because, clearly, training in medicine or dentistry or whatever requires the undergraduate degree course and there's just no way around that.
But seriously, shouldn't we be letting children stand on their own two feet even if they get things wrong sometimes? When did the life experience that is leaving home, practically epitomised by going to University, become less valuable than the commercial value of degrees?
Now, sure, when I was 18 I didn't have a clue. I could cook and do my own laundry and that sort of thing but I had no understanding of financial management, negotiation, or how to learn if it wasn't spoon fed to me in a scheduled set of classes that would cover everything I needed to know in a coherent picture. I also had no idea what I was going to do after University and thus turn a degree into something that was worth the thousands of pounds it cost to get.
But I chose my courses independently (though guided by some course selection questionnaire we filled in at school) and only got bawled out once for not spending my summer before I went to Uni doing background reading on my course (which, when it comes to it, wasn't asked for anywhere so how would I have know that this was something one might do?). I did two separate courses and eventually dropped out because neither were what I wanted to do and, instead, I found I had an interest and competence in IT... but without all the experience of having to make things work at Uni (and screwing it up on a fair few occasions) I would still be absolutely clueless.
So isn't that the situation that these parents are creating? Clueless children incapable of living on their own because they aren't allowed to find their feet, learn from their mistakes and build their own future.
And yet, in an increasingly consumerist and capitalist world, a degree is a commercial transaction; it's essentially a three to five year training course to give you qualifications that allow you to get a better job. And it's expensive, even more so these days! So, one starts to look at it as a cost-value problem; a three year degree might create £15K of debt over that period to cover costs and living expenses, but starting salaries might be £18K rather than £12K. Does the transaction make sense? Well, you can go figure that but at least one financial analysis suggests you can earn more money by going into employment immediately from school than you can from the increased starting salary given by the average degree. I'm careful to use "average" there because, clearly, training in medicine or dentistry or whatever requires the undergraduate degree course and there's just no way around that.
But seriously, shouldn't we be letting children stand on their own two feet even if they get things wrong sometimes? When did the life experience that is leaving home, practically epitomised by going to University, become less valuable than the commercial value of degrees?
