Misc Too high to qualify

[fastandbulbous]

Not sure, as I had a lot of other issues and variables going on at the same time as my drugs and my exams. I coasted through my O levels with a minimal amount of work. I wasn't really able to apply myself very well to my A levels for various reasons (mental health and undiagnosed mental conditions, family strife etc really did not help, as well as experimenting with fucking up my mind on magic mushrooms. Many of my friends had left school by then and my circle of friends had shrunk massively. MY head was not in a good place. The over reactions from parents and headmaster when it became known that I was a cannabis user was a nightmare experience to go through)

At the end of the day I don't think my qualifications have had much impact on my life. I guess I've always taken it for granted that I have above the minimum of 5 O levels that most office jobs seem to require. Would I have been shut out if not for that?

Despite my head being all over the place and having big problems applying myself to my A levels, I ended up with grades that were good enough to enable me get into most of the 'new universities' (former polytechnics). If I had been able to apply myself and worked my arse off for 2 years I could have got into a university that wasn't formerly a polytechnic. But what difference would that have made?

Unless you're studying a very vocational course that links directly to very specific profession or trade then grades or the uni you went to really aren't going to matter that much in the work place. Social skills, knowing 'how to make friends and influence people' are far more important I would say.

Why did no one ever say that to me when I was a youth and needed to hear that. Instead everyone was bleating on about the importance of qualifications and working hard at them. I feel kind of conned by the whole thing to be honest. Who knows though, maybe if I hadn't had my life chances limited by my Autism, my qualifications may have opened doors into professional occupations. But with Tony Blair's ridiculous idea of wanting 50% of young people to go to university, he had failed to realise that there just aren't professional / graduate level jobs available for 50% of graduates / school leavers.

It's pointless and disillusioning to build up young peoples hopes that a professional job is within their grasp, when the vast majority of them will end up falling straight back into the working class that they came from. I'm one of them and one of the many graduates that never earned above the student loans re-payment threshold and so my student loan debt was written off. This is happening for up to half of graduates. Because there are too many graduates and not enough graduate level jobs.

My sister who never went to uni is doing well in her career and has a professional job.

'New Universities', has a hint of elitism about it. I went to Sunderland polytecnic and I much prefer that name to Sunderland university (or is it university of Sunderland? Which prompts the question, "who gives a shit?"). Polytecnics were different in approach to universities, but it didn't preclude them from being research centres (newspeak: centres of excellence). Sunderland had one of the best life science departments in the country. That there was this rush to conformity, is slightly sad, in my opinion: like doing a Hyacynth Bucket (Keeping Up Appearances).

Now the confessional: I am proud of my roots. My grandad explained to me the basis of socialism, as a kid. As a student, I was Wolfie Smith, but these days, I'm just proud I fulfilled my gandparents and parents belief in me, even if I occassionally blotted my copy books, in their eyes. My grandad didn't want the next male member of his family going down the pit. Sometimes we get our wishes granted, but in a 'Twilight Zone' way (Maggie Thatcher stopped any possibility anyway).

Christ, I can ramble on (and on and on), when I'm stoned. And with that, I shut the fuck up...