Did School Set Us Up Properly?

Nobody talks enough about the giant leap that students take from getting their GCSEs and A-levels in school to attempting to get a degree at university. So, let’s talk about it.

While in school, students have the opportunity to learn academics, participate in sport, and find friendships for life. But what schools do not offer is how to adapt to the lifestyle and education taught at uni. While both teach academics, there is still a massive divide.

University has a lot more content, reading and overall work than school has ever taught us, and we are supposed to learn it all in the space of three years. Nobody really knows what to expect when going to their first lecture and seminar. Being at a city-based university, like Cardiff, also means that students, particularly freshers, may find it hard getting from one place to another, as school is always taught in just one place.

There is no mention of this in our school curriculum; I think that can be considered a problem for students as they have no idea what to expect. This is particularly hard for freshers and here is why: One of the main things that students struggle with is adapting to the university lifestyle. When at school, it’s simple. We wake up, get dressed, have our breakfast, go to school, then come home, and that’s it on repeat. However, uni is different.

Firstly, students don’t have lectures and seminars in the same places each day. They must figure out where to go and try not to get lost. Secondly, when students go back to their accommodation, they are alone, without their family. They must make their own food and clean their own clothes. Some freshers may find this completely normal and are already used to this lifestyle, but that is not because of school: it is because they lived independently from a younger age, due to the way they have been brought up. Others may struggle with this, and it’s because all they ever learnt in school was education, not lifestyle, and their families have always cooked and cleaned for them.

Another thing that school doesn’t prepare you for is the great separation from your family. We are used to seeing our parents every day after school and telling them how our day has been. Parents were people not for students to rely on, but our inner child.

And the worst part now is that we are now miles away from our familiar safe place and are forced to stand on our own two feet independently. Some look at this as an opportunity, while others look at this as a huge step out of their comfort zone. School never prepared us for this, and I think of everything, that separation from comfort is the worst part, particularly for those that are close with their families.

So, to answer the question ‘did school set us up properly?’. No, they did not. It may have helped educate us and get us into our dream universities, but it did not teach us what to expect with lectures and seminars, with lifestyle, or even with being apart from people we love.

This doesn’t mean that school is not beneficial. It just means that maybe there is room for improvement and that maybe, someday, schools could have weekly sessions during students’ last year before university, teaching them what to expect and leaving them prepared for their future.