#Uniadvice? Study the subjects you want to learn, not the ones you should.

I still remember the tentative walk to my sixth form college to collect my results. That day was supposed to mark the beginning of the rest of my life. My heart raced, as from that point it could all go wrong. What I discovered *gulps* 17 years later is it really isn't. And actually, it went wrong before that day.

For avid followers of this blog, you'll know that I believe we're who we fundamentally are from utero. And I knew the things I was interested in before I even chose my GCSEs. However, even though I went to a pretty decent, middle class state school, those options weren't available to me. So my objective was to get the grades to go to uni and study the subjects I was hungry for.

In my UCAS form, I applied to study Philosophy and Politics at Royal Holloway, English and Philosophy at Westminster and London Metropolitan. You're picking up the theme. The path I wanted to follow was one in London studying one of the humanities. 

I took this to my career adviser who immediately scoffed. He said philosophy wouldn't get me a job, he asked if I wanted a career in politics (no, I just wanted to learn about it) and said English was great, but I needed to think about subjects that would get me job.

So, after having the fear of god put in me as the first child to go to uni, I rewrote my UCAS form to include Marketing and Management at Middlesex (the alliteration was pure accident). I spent the next 3 years and got into £15,000 worth of debt to barely study a subject that shouldn't even be offered at degree level.

I came out with a Desmond. The subject couldn't even hold my attention for a whole lecture, let alone an entire textbook. All the modules bored me. I was unchallenged and unenlightened. The only lesson I learnt was don't waste your time and money studying a subject you'd be better off learning in the workplace.

The career adviser was right. My degree did land me a job in marketing, almost straight out of uni. And for the time and at that level, I was paid pretty well. Did my degree help me with my career? Did I have better insights in how marketing and business works? Did I heck!

Nothing of what I learnt in 3 years was of any use. Fellow students who were far more assiduous than me also agreed. Those 3 years in academia was, well... academic.

More importantly, it didn't quench my thirst for knowledge. And working full time while paying back £15,000 worth of debt meant that it never will be. At least not at an institutional level.

Therein lies the problem with education. Firstly, if you opt to study a traditional subject, you're so used to being taught in a rigid Victorian way, it stifles creativity. Secondly, there are too many ex-polytechnics that offer vocational subjects - you can learn how to be an accountant, marketeer, business manager, web developer, analyst, etc. in the same way an electrician, builder or plumber learns their trade. On the job.

The Tory government doesn't see the point in the arts. And while agree, you can either act or you can't so don't bother doing a drama degree (and because the rest of the student body will hate you), I do believe if you have a natural talent to paint or write, a degree can help you understand, analyse and master your skills. I'm pretty sure an English student gets more out of Jane Austen than I do because they've been taught how to understand the semiotics of a manuscript. Then there are subjects that are so complex you need someone to help you break it down and make it digestible, like; law, medicine, maths, economics, science, theology, social science, philosophy and politics.

For degrees to be worth anything, they need to offer enrichment of the cerebral cortex in a way every day life doesn't. It should be the arena of free thought and open debate. It should be a melting pot of innovation and revolution. It should be about breaking taboos, expression and youthful exuberance.

It shouldn't be about preparing you for something you're going to spend the next 50 plus years doing.

That said, I have brilliant and fulfilling career(s) at really good companies. I'm doing alright for myself. So just because you may have failed your A-Levels or you don't want to go to uni or don't feel you got anything out of studying - it's not the end of the world. It's just the beginning.

First published 13/08/2015