There was a dash of drama in the old results day journey back into school to rip open an envelope — surrounded by squeals (“I got in!!”) and wails (“my life is over!”) — to find out your A-level grades and, for many, whether university beckoned. Today, most teens are ending their marathon 14 years of school education with a sombre results email from a teacher.
It’s fitting for the class of 2023: another solitary experience after a lonely lead up to results day. Lessons and revision sessions delivered via Zoom during the pandemic. GCSE exams cancelled entirely, so the A-level exam hall was the first time this cohort sat formal tests.
They become adults in a world that is burning, amid global economic uncertainty. In the UK the cost-of-living crisis continues, while the price of the university experience has soared. Graduates increasingly question its value for money and it would be understandable if this year’s 18-year-olds turned their back on fresher life. After all, as the re-hashed memes erupt on social media today, Bill Gates, Jon Snow, and Ellie Goulding all dropped out of uni! Jeremy Clarkson got a C and two Us at A-level, but “ended up happy, with loads of friends and a Bentley” per his annual tweet.
It is a one-off time and place in life with the chance to do what you want, without yielding to others
A chief executive will, right now, be penning a knowing, LinkedIn missive, chuckling that he has fewer qualifications than any of the candidates who “beg me for a job!”.
So why go to uni? You won’t need that unique mortarboard graduation photo — kindergartens pop these on toddlers’ heads nowadays to mark the huge occasion of their moving from one classroom to another. And, from my experience as a graduate of a university which London’s pushiest parents devote years of £100-an-hour tuition lessons to get their kids into it (the university has spires and taught an embarrassing number of prime ministers), the contents of your degree probably won’t change your life. Or even stick around that long: watching University Challenge generally just reminds me of all the things I used to know, but now don’t.
But one of Gen Z’s defining features is being more interested in experiences than purchases, making university a dream three years. There is no richer adventure than student life. Uni is where friends are permanently welded into your life (after bonding over living in an overpriced, mould-infested hovel). A place where you’ll concoct a recipe for an omelette containing nine foods for 34p that you’ll nostalgically cook on Sundays for the next two decades.
University is an opportunity to spend three years packing every activity you can imagine alongside socialising and, er, learning. It’s a one-off time and place in life with the opportunities to do what you want, without yielding to the expectations of parents or demands of a boss or requirements of children.
And — though some will claim it’s not true — it still is easier to network your way into a career when the boss of that glass-towered corporate you’d like to join (just for a few years to get some cash) is on campus hosting a free lunch. And the bill? Well, the debt will be wiped out in 40 years, but university’s memories last forever.
Need a laugh? Don’t call a consultant
McKinsey, the humourless consultancy firm known for its work plugging OxyContin during the US opioid crisis and for working for authoritarian regimes including Russia, is promoting itself on social media with a post about the importance of… humour.
Sharing a laugh “breaks down barriers, fosters trust and strengthens interpersonal relationships” apparently. Which is fair enough until the consultants who earn a good chunk of cash from UK Government work turn themselves into the punchline.
One of their tips for better collaboration in the office is: “Start with your local cultural context and experiment with various media, execution, length, and types of humour to build confidence and expertise before layering in the additional complexity of cross-cultural communication.”
I think this is a consultant trying to describe what you or I might call “a joke”.
