On Tue, 23 Feb 2016 15:26:32 -0800 (PST)
Tudor Hughes wrote:
On Monday, 22 February 2016 11:51:06 UTC, Graham P Davis wrote:
On Mon, 22 Feb 2016 09:25:59 +0000
Norman Lynagh wrote:
On Mon, 22 Feb 2016 01:13:04 -0800 (PST), Graham Easterling
wrote:
SNIP
The number that go to University now is so large that
local councils cannot afford the fees and grants, unlike in my
day. But it all seems a bit pointless and leaves a distinct
impression of being a way of keeping young people away from
unemployment, as least temporarily.
Tudor Hughes
I think this is the most important point. Back when I took my
degree (1970-73) it was still a very small number (relative to
today) that did. However, it meant you got a grant, not a loan.
It was all essentially free. It meant you had no financial
worries about going, you could go from any background. At that
time my parents had little money and we lived on a Council
Estate, in the far west of Cornwall. It didn't matter, if you
wanted to go you could, and I ended up in NW London sharing with
2 lads from Barnsley.
Now, the policy of 'everyone who wants too should go & Britain
will be great again' has made the whole thing unaffordable. So
we have a system which works against people from a poorer
background. In addition, many go to the nearest university so
they can remain at home and saved money.
Getting away from home was too me the greatest experience.
(Actually I left home before finishing my 'A' levels, but that's
a different story.
At the time I started my career in meteorology (the early 1960s)
most Weather Forecasters in this country were non-graduates.
Yes, I started work at the Met Office at 18 instead of going to
uni. My father was an OAP and had been unable to work for a couple
of years through injury so I thought it was time I paid my way. As
it was, I think the money I earned from the Met Office wouldn't
have been an awful lot more than I would have got from a grant.
Late in '62, I went for an interview for AXO but was told when I
walked in that they were only taking graduates. In '64 I applied
for a bursary to study for a degree and was turned down because I
wasn't an AXO. I got promoted later that year.
I think the percentage of people being accepted to go to uni now is
about three times as high as those who passed the 11-plus when I
took it. Overall, I think that's good but there really are some
right dipsticks getting degrees. Still, that's better than what it
was like in my day when some clever people were destined for menial
factory jobs for the rest of their life.
I'm surprised that you were told they were only taking graduates
for AXO's. I can distinctly remember being aware that the entry
qualification for AXO's was a pass degree *or* decent A levels and
that therefore the fact that I failed my (pass) degree didn't
immediately matter. The interview was in Nov or Dec 1963. As far as
I can remember none or very few of the XO's and SXO's in Bracknell
had degrees. They were quite highly regarded and had a practical
background.
My interview was in November 1962. It put a bit of a dampener on
proceedings as you can imagine. I think if I'd been a little older and
more confident, I might have got up, thanked them for wasting my
time, and walked out. The interviewer seemed genuinely surprised that
I'd bothered to turn up with my measly 3 A-levels.
Perhaps this was one of these things that often happened in the Met
Office where they got too many AXOs one year so cut down the next. I'm
pretty sure that I got sent onto the IFC as a form of short-term
management in order to free-up my Bracknell post for one of many staff
who'd lost their positions when a major Met Office closed. Shunting me
onto the IFC gave Met O 10 a chance to kick the problem down the road
for another few months.
--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks. [Retd meteorologist/programmer]
http://www.scarlet-jade.com/
I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.
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