Back To School

So children all over the UK go back to school this week, some into new schools , some into different classes.

My own Nephew starts school tomorrow for the very first time. At nearly 5 years old , he goes in for just mornings for a few weeks , but I suspect that when he realises that he has to go everyday the excitement will soon wear off. There he will go for the next 13 years , give or take a few holidays.

When I was at school ( I left in 1990 ) we only had to stay on until we were 16 but nowadays 18 years old is the leaving age.
Not many people in my school year went on to 6th form college and even fewer went onto university but that seems to be the standard route these days.

Almost like a rite of passage, you go onto university in the same way as you go to a festival or the girls holiday to Magaluf , it's just 'the done thing'.

I can't really blame kids these days for not wanting to enter the world of work straight away. It's hard enough for someone with further qualifications to find a decent job never mind an 18 year old fresh out of school.

My Dad went to Grammar school and was ( and still is ) considered quite intelligent, but even he didn't go to university.
As the eldest son in a farming family in the 1950s not only was the cost prohibitive but you only went to university if you wanted to be a lawyer , doctor , vet or other similar role in life.

These days kids go wanting to study less serious subjects and some of the stranger courses that can be studied in the UK are Golf Studies (Buckinghamshire New University) , Surfing (Plymouth) , Puppetry (University of London) and one bound to be popular , Wine Studies (Brighton) .

It does make me wonder if university IS just a way of passing a few years , getting to learn how to live away from home and making friends from different areas. I guess it does teach life skills and independence but it is an expensive way of doing it !!

Maybe by the time my Nephew has finished school the trend for attending university will have passed and apprenticeships or 'on the job' training will be more popular , who knows , or maybe he will spend his summers going to festivals in Magaluf before going back to his wine studies xxx