Several of you have suggested that it might be better for people to wait until they are in their mid-twenties before going to university when they are more mature and know whther they really want to be there. I thought I'd better try to oppose this argument, diplomatically of course! I did all the things that those who say they 'wasted their time' (re going to nightclubs etc) did, but worked bloody hard as well and then had to endure quite a long period of unemployment as I graduated in 92 when there wasn't exactly a lot of work about. It was interesting reading the sleevenotes to IYFS which says quite a lot on this subject (in stark contrast to the crassness that you get on most albums) where mention is made of Sarah and Isobel's arts degrees not being worth the paper they're printed on etc. "But you could always temp for a while. or teach." This made me laugh as people were always saying this to me when I was on the dole! As if it was some sort of soft option for people who didn't know what they wanted to do! I thought, bloody hell, this is the most important job in the world.... a person is entrusted with determining the future of a generation (part of it, anyway) and this is how the vocation is regarded! What hope is there! It just so happened that teaching was the one thing I knew I DIDN'T want to do. Plus the fact I knew I wouldn't be any good at it. I thought back to the teachers in my school who couldn't control the class and thought, "Yep, that would be me". The dreadful thing was the teachers who were in that situation were dubbed 'floating teachers' and simply covered when other members of staff were away. There was one guy who was into amateur dramatics, the kids found out and used to down tools and refuse to do any work until he sang for them! As I remember the kids wound these teachers up in part because the 'floating teachers' made promises the kids knew they wouldn't keep. They would tell miscreants "If you do such and such I'll tell the headmaster" and the kids would just go "Yeah, right." The other irony in all this is that I was a good all-rounder at school (for that read 'spod') and so was spoilt for choice when it came to 'A' level choices. I chose science subjects because I thought there were better career prospects! For me, there was a great contrast between school and uni. The difference was chiefly one of respect. When I first arrived in Bristol, I thought "Why is everyone being nice to me?". I still don't fully appreciate why this was, but attributed it in part to growing up in suburban London, which I think has a dehumanising effect. I have made this point to some people and they've regarded it with scepticism, but I still think there's truth in it. It can be measured by how many people thank the driver when they get off a bus. In London, no-one does, in Oxford its about half and half and in Bristol it is pretty well everyone. I wonder what other people's experiences of this sort of thing are? Certainly a Glaswegian guy I met in Bristol contrasted the Glasgow Underground with the London one (on the former strangers speak to each other and on the latter its very rare for this to happen). Mark. -------------------------------------------------------- Mark Hester Engineering & Technology Elsevier Science Ltd The Boulevard Kidlington Oxon OX5 1GB UK Tel. +44 1865 843296 Fax +44 1865 853319 E-mail m.hester@elsevier.co.uk ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . Listen, this is pish, I think I'll leave -----------------------------------------------------------------------