Does it make parents look better' if their child goes to university?

paulineb_2

Brighton_belle wrote: »

Art therapy training has been around for years and is very specialist training. It is usually a post grad 1 year diploma or M.A.

It can transform the lives of the sick and disabled and traumatised and is nothing like the 'image' you have in mind.

I agree, I know someone who was doing community education and who did her dissertation in art therapy, certainly more than sitting painting.

I got lots of comments when I did community education that comm ed was for people who were too thick to go into teaching. I could have gone into teaching if I had wanted to, my first degree would have allowed me to teach a number of subjects if I had done a post grad in teaching, I just didnt want to.

Person_one

Norma_Desmond wrote: »

I heard of someone taking an 'Art Therapy' degree recently - !!!!!!? :eek:

Art therapy is a masters, a professional qualification that leads to a role helping people with mental or physical illness to feel better and make progress through making and discussing art. There's a very good body of evidence behind it, particularly in prisons, mental health and in people with chronic and restrictive conditions.

You usually need either an art degree or a healthcare related degree, and an impressive portfolio to get onto the masters.

See, this is why I have a problem with people declaring things they are completely ignorant about to be 'Mickey Mouse' and of no value. If you don't know what you're talking about, why comment?

balletshoes

Vicky123 wrote: »

People think differently about University today, everyone expects to go and because so many do then maybe that's why this mother feels so disappointed. Back in the day only the best brains went to university and no one would have expected someone with those grades to get in.
I've become less and less impressed with relative's or friends kids going to University as it's so common, maybe this mum should look at it the other way round, her child had no interest and chose not to go, she will cause a lot of harm in making her daughter feel a failure.

I agree with this - I left school in the 1980s and although I was in top set for just about everything, got good exam results etc, I had no intention of going to uni and only those of my classmates who were going into medicine, teaching or law really were destined for uni.

My nephew left school 2 years ago, bright lad but no idea what he wanted to do, if he'd been my age he'd have been encouraged to get a job. But instead, the school advice was to go to uni, and pick a course he was interested in. So he did - and lasted one year. He's back home and working in McDonalds now - with a few degree-holders.

My daughter is in secondary school now, she changes her mind every few months about what she wants to do and if she wants to go to uni - and thats fine with me.

Lunar_Eclipse

Of course not, although lots of parents feel this way.

I think the saddest part is that potentially, unless this scenario is one of blatant laziness, university should never have been the plan for this 'child', but other avenues should have been explored. Perhaps A levels were even too much. It's hard to say without more information, but one A level at grade E isn't conducive to further academic routes.

paulineb_2

Apparently two grade E A levels is enough to get on some degree courses, but I very much doubt one is, perhaps someone should let the mum know that shes getting upset for no reason as her daughter would very likely not have got a place at university, even through clearing.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Soleil_lune wrote: »

Strange question I know.

My neighbour (several doors down - let's call her Anne,) said a few months back that her daughter was going to uni, and she had been sorting her student finance and had been looking at accommodation etc. I was surprised, as she didn't attend college half the time. Anyway, I digress.

So fastforward to mid August. She got her A level results. She got an E grade and 2 U grades! So she said she is not going to go. Her mother asked her to try and get clearing courses, but she said she wanted to go to a specific uni, or her insurance only. She has since gone to see about signing on to JSA.

Well Anne has gone ballistic, saying her daughter has let her down and made her look stupid in the eyes of her peers and her family. (Anne has 2 older siblings who both have a child at uni - one has now left.) I asked her what difference it makes to anyone or anything that her daughter is now not going, and she said she has embarrassed her, and let her and her father down, and she feels like telling her 2 older siblings that her daughter 'has' gone to uni. (They live 150 to 200 miles away, but still, I am sure they would find out!)

The upshot is, that Anne thinks that it reflects better on you, if your child goes to uni, it makes you look more of a success, and it makes you look like a better person, and gives you a more 'middle class' appearance.

I have never heard anyone say anything like this before.

Does it make the parents look better if their child goes to uni? I am curious. What are peoples views on this?

No, it doesn't.


This pompous fool's behaviour, however, has really let her family down.

jellyhead

One grade E is not always the end of the world. It's all I got, and I went through clearing. The university I wanted to go to wouldn't accept me onto a degree course I wanted (there were other degrees I could have got onto with just one E) but they would accept me onto a HND and after the first year a few students were allowed to transfer over to year 2 of the degree.

So I did that. I pulled my socks up during my first year of uni and was determined to be one of the chosen few to transfer. I got a first class degree, unlike many of my peers who had better A level grades than mine. Obviously it wasn't Cambridge, but it wasn't a bad uni and my degree wasn't bad. I'm glad I didn't choose one of the degrees they would have accepted me straight onto.

All of this was my own decision though. My dad said he thought a HND would be valuable, but other than that my parents didn't advise me.

Anne's daughter is making her own choices. She could pull her socks up and work really hard to get a degree like I did, but she doesn't seem to want to. Her mum's attitude is a shame. She could try to get into clearing, but she's making her own decision not to - good for her!

coolcait

Tropez wrote: »

Generally, the disdain people show for media studies is based largely around the sentiment printed in the likes of The Times, Independent and Guardian, denouncing the subject as worthless. The truth is, it isn't worthless, on the contrary, it is very useful.

The United States was one of the first countries to promote media studies courses (under the guise of Communications Studies), something which has been instrumental in the rise of American cultural imperialism. The focus on studying popular culture through media studies has allowed the Americans to push American media, American goods and American services globally and with relative ease. Students of media and communications are quite rightly sought after in the United States.

The British media and communication courses, while derided at home, have actually enjoyed great success outside the UK, primarily because while the American-system was more sociological, the British was more humanities-based, something which the British respond better to. People who wonder why British businesses have been pushed out of our own marketplace by foreign corporations with apparent ease, the way that marketing and media friendly images have allowed foreign companies to enjoy such success in what was once an insular nation need only look to the way that our own media studies courses have been used and turned against us.

People who deride the subject as worthless and its students as time-wasters simply fail to understand the far-reaching implications of the subject and how it is used. Companies don't, whether their primary business is media based or not, and those who have attained good qualifications in media studies are actively sought.

Perhaps one of the reasons for the disrespect we show towards media studies in this country is due to the amount of students who do take the subject because they've been informed it's an easy degree with easy money at the end of it and that may be higher than average compared to other courses. The truth is, if you're good at the subject, you're a more worth candidate for a future job just as with any other degree. We would probably be better served to dispell the "Mickey Mouse" degree myth.

Well, I read the OP, and thought:

"Joined September 2013. The usual stylistic devices. The usual scenario, which takes an issue which many people have to deal with - here it's a child who hasn't got the hoped for results in exams - and then pushes it to extraordinary limits. The troll is back"

Then I read through the thread, and saw the catfight developing, and thought:

"That's one well-fed troll tonight".

However, the post that I have quoted - and the informed posts about art therapy - are excellent and informative. As are the posts about people's personal experiences in finding the right career, right educational path - for them.

Thank you to those posters.

happy35

I would have been very proud if my son had done A levels and gone to Uni but he decided it wasnt for him. However he has managed to get a really good Apprenticeship that pays for all his NVQ courses, and HNC and a Degree so he will still get the same qualifications without any student debt

I didnt go to Uni much to the disappointment of my parents (I assume this as they have never acutally said it to me) but I now work in a job where most of my colleagues have a degree. I did have the results that meant I could have gone to Uni but I just wasnt interested.

If Anne's daughter isnt interested she isnt interested it doesnt mean she wont do anything, she should be encouraging her to think of what she is interested in and then finding out how she can help her achieve this

paulineb_2

coolcait wrote: »

Well, I read the OP, and thought:

"Joined September 2013. The usual stylistic devices. The usual scenario, which takes an issue which many people have to deal with - here it's a child who hasn't got the hoped for results in exams - and then pushes it to extraordinary limits. The troll is back"

Then I read through the thread, and saw the catfight developing, and thought:

"That's one well-fed troll tonight".

However, the post that I have quoted - and the informed posts about art therapy - are excellent and informative. As are the posts about people's personal experiences in finding the right career, right educational path - for them.

Thank you to those posters.

You mean Anne and mini Anne might not be real and there might not be neighbours gossping about Annes daughter wanting to sign on instead of doing a degree?

I do think its a bit ridiculous that this would be the talk of the steamie anyway, its hardly the stuff that gets curtains twitching anyway, a set of not so good exam results arent the end of the world.