How important is a Uni education?

[gerardway]

DS is VERY bright (high IQ) but dyslexic and finds writing hard he's also bloody lazy. He messed up his GCSE's, messed up 1st year at college and is back at college doing A level this time. He has 1 year left. Other people keep going on at me that he needs to go to Uni or he will never get a decent job. Is it true that firms no longer promote from within based on how hard you work (without a degree) and if you don't have a degree they will not give you a job in the first place. DS doesn't want to go to Uni but does wavier sometimes. I have suggested going to an open day at a Uni but he doesn't want to.

Employers often automatically ask for a degree as part of the criteria for a job that 15 years ago would not have required one - I think they often don't stop to think what exactly they need - but perhaps with such high fees things will change again. Nursing degrees are funded and I think things like social work will maybe go this way too if they want to attract new people.

However, it's going to take 5 years or so for things to settle - during this time my DC will need to make choices!! I think Uni is not just about the subject and its earning potential though - I think it can be great time to learn to live independently, manage money, socialise and have love affairs , meet lots of different types of people and learn to get on with them etc. and have time and space to grow up. I always felt sad that my brothers did not have the uni experience and basically have stayed in my home town and stuck to their childhood friends - which I know can be lovely, but I think they would have had a ball. Going to uni as a mature student is a different experience.

I agree that the experience is almost as important as the actual degree.

It's also about mixing with people who have better job expectations and want more from life than appearing on Jeremy Kyle.

My mum used to have a great theory. Apparently I had to go to university so I could get a good job and be able to support my family. My sister had to go to university to meet a nice boy and get married to him! Understandably my sister didn't like my mum's theory on this one!

That said, we both went and we're both doing well, so who knows....perhaps mum is right!

@ at niceguy2 - Jeremy Kyle!! that is so rude about my DS. My DS comes from a family that's married with 2 children (just saying, please don't infur anything by that comment). We have our own (very small) business that DH started up himself. My son's lazyness is nothing to do with being a chav and he is also not a 'spoilt rich boy'. He's a typical young man that doesn't know what to do with himself and I just wanted some input.

niceguy2 Sun 26-Jun-11 20:15:34

"It's also about mixing with people who have better job expectations and want more from life than appearing on Jeremy Kyle."

Oh dear, not sure that is what dh and I got out of our respective degrees of archaeology and Latin...

We met some lovely people, and some very bright ones, but ambitious job expectations was not perhaps what they were best at.