UKNM: RE: University v. Drop Outs

[John Braithwaite]

I should have realised that the talk was an 'urban myth' - Doh! I didn't

have time, unfortunately, to check. I guess I am too trusting, whoever the

original poster was - you should be ashamed of yourself - let's 'keep it

real' (whatever that means!).


It was really a knock on effect of watching poor 'ol 'Freshminds' getting

such grief from the PC-lobby of 'Elitism' snipers. Sure - university isn't

everything and success comes to those with the right skills and who want

that kind of success really badly.... but, hey, he is offering a service

and, as long as we all realise that THE INTERVIEW is as important as the

BACKGROUND in selecting a candidate then it should be something that could

work (so the ol' 'but what if they're really clever.. but... uh... not that

talkative and... er have no social skills and ... ' candidate should be

weeded out by a good interview process). I would be against ONLY using

Freshminds as, which many of you have said, it is too restrictive and some

people are lucky enough to have got a first from the 'University of Life'.


Regarding Uni drop outs. I must admit of the friends of mine that have

dropped out they seem far happier than they ever were at Uni and are all

doing well in whatever they had chosen to do. Difficulty is ever knowing

what would have been if they had stayed - I found that Uni developed my

logical, analytical and creative skills significantly - I believe that,

although I don't use the information that I learned there, the skills are

valuable.


However one man's drink is another man's poison.


JB


Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 15:46:20 +0100

From: "Silas Denyer" <

silas [dot] denyerturns [dot] net

>

Subject: Re: UKNM: RE: University v. Drop Outs


A couple of things which need mentioning here, I feal...


1. 10% of the population going to Uni makes the other 90% non-starters, not

drop-outs: part of the point of this drop-out debate is surely that some of

the brightest minds are stifled by the top universities they attend, and

therefore quickly drop out to move on faster. This is not the same as saying

that the x% (where x is large) who aren't bright enough to go to a top

university are going to inherit the world!


2. If you are a billionaire head of the company you founded you may seem

statistically quite likely to be a drop-out. However the converse is not

true: if you are a drop-out you aren't statistically likely to become the

billionaire head of the company you found!


3. If there is any point to Larry's (alleged) rant, it is that those who

aren't bright enough to realise that university is stifling them are

probably not going to be those who make money.


It has to be said, however, as a veteran of Manchester (undergrad) and

Oxford (doctoral) universities I don't entirely agree with him, but then we

Brits have always flowered just that little bit later than the

Americans...:-)


<you know the rest>



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