LEARNING TO BE A STUDENT le
author is Warden Worker and a lecturer
University Hall, a psychiatric social the Social Science Department of a
of
a
in
University.
By
\YHILE article
I
tyL
was
ie'ar^t n'ng
about this
young woman graduated what she
had just
tho
thinking
I asked
were
a
important
things
sai< at said student. She OttlV! not learn to be a stUdent until the end of your three years and added that it lcult to generalise because so muoK urai b had been now you yuu iwu bro broi) ~wfvuucu on how Up and what hac* happened to you k before coming up. I do not think We 4? better than start from these P?ints- I should perhaps add ljnj straightaway that in this studentsituation it is not only the ua^ student who is different but a]SQ in this c?Unt y ^n^versity. Universities today are very varied in their 0mi traditions, ethos and proband t'le situation presented to the stud as a person is, I would say, ^erent in spite of obvious basic com nion factors in academic life. ?f the most important points Student to bear in mind in corn"n8 t a University is not to rush or ?
to be
a
-V
(X
M.V
aiUU^llt.
0n ?rice that you did
Unrient
graduate
^ePended i
ttyQCari
1?a*-n indi*?ity
/u
verve^
f0^e
grab Patte
at
^rst
new
^eas> friends,
etc. Thisr,nS not hving, situations, and requires easy always somPlsSense of identity and some feelinR ^ The University years shoulH s5CUrityhe part of each person's life $enu is0l .nce and not a few years lived in
sudd in?s
from past and future; not
hreak Process.
T at
l0r!
but
a
intensified grow-
*f
aeTTS-"Ved
at a tremendous pace
niversity; direct-'0ns is
and
growth
in
at its most intense.
y0u are
an
n
tirrie
all But
and women who forget, or -aWare, that its greatest gift is
f0611
vital and rj^ss the education. tuna/'^f^ity at the
of
unique point
It is unfor-
picture of a student to? 0ct en put forward in the popular nres? the aPPears to be based mainly on
e*hibitionistic
behaviour
of
a
153
Eileen
Spelman, O.B.E.,
B.A.
fringe minority; and it is unfortunate when young men and women come up with a preconceived and distorted idea of what they should be like as students. Flexibility and eagerness for new experiences are the essential characteristics of a student who is going to make full use of the opportunities in a University. The young man or woman who decides on set patterns and aspirations in the first week is in actual fact making himself inflexible and closing down on some of his own potentialities. A too great involvement with one person or one group is not always easy to break later and it can limit wider contacts and the varied experiences of friendship which bring greater understanding of oneself and other people. In the same way the immediate acceptance of one tutor's views and ideas as unquestionable and exclusive may prevent a much wider and more balanced approach to all learning. Students should also beware of people and societies who try to grab them as A sudden rush soon as they come up. into what is imagined to be "the life of a student" is liable to lead to the building-up of a false and brittle shell of so-called maturity and pseudosophistication in which the cracks show only too clearly before the end of three years.
Personality-growth
Young men and women need to realise above all that, if they are going to make the fullest use of their time at the University, they are going to tremendous lot of growing do a intellectually, emotionally and as Too many rather whole people. arrogant sixth formers, with school honours and achievements and the approbation of the neighbourhood thick upon them, believe they are fully grown and that the University is only
going to give them a little more necessary information. Too much talk in the press and on television about earlier maturity without the essential word "physical" before maturity has led some intelligent eighteen year olds to think they have achieved full maturity and have no radical growth still to come. This denies their own potential growth during three vital Some who come up already years. engaged to be married find themselves torn apart by the change in themselves at the University and either deny themselves social contacts in order to try to remain the same (i.e., undeveloped) or become involved in the emotional and time-consuming process of breaking off the engagement with all the troubles at home which are inevitably involved. Intense concentration on academic matters between sixteen and eighteen inevitably delays integration and very uneven maturity is the characteristic of most students. If
we
turn to the second
point
we
of course, to the vital roots reaction of individual to the University situation. A young man or woman from a happy, affectionate home with parents who have reasonable standards and demands, and who respect their children's identity and independence, has a tremendous start over the less fortunate. Income, social class, charm of manner, special aptitudes and even high intellectual ability rank low compared with this from the point of view of the mental health and full development of the individual. A student who has been over-protected at home frequently makes a slow start and may find it difficult to attain independence. If, however, the relationships at home are good and the parents do not try to hold on, he usually makes good because he has some understanding of human relationships.
come,
When parents do try to hold on, the student may either fail to profit by University experience through fear of reaching out on his own or cut the tie with home completely and be without roots or standards. Parents badly need to know that young people at the
University they can
must grow and
change
comparatively little They have either laid'
do
_
the time. essential foundations earlier or &a J failed to do so. Young people vvb? parents have thought it "modern i abdicate from their parental p?sl p; in their children's teens, have "i understood the special and problems a VI form son or daugi\, who is liable to have had too experience of set, social and Sr? 1 and sometimes patterns experience which they want < continue at the University instead ^
unU??i'
earf
se^
reaching
out to new
patterns,
and
frifw
attitudes. There are varieties of family problems 3 , pressures and infinite variations .! reaction to the University chal{en*t stemming from them. School is m course also heavily involved in :, individual student reaction as havlJ been, or failed to be, the other Sr
formative influence. Three
major aspects
There
.flfj
three life especi? aspects of worth consideration in this academic study, personal and sex. Students must want to stu j in the sense that they enjoy it actively want to learn more. At?' t sight this may seem so obvious aS!. jt' to warrant mention. In actual needs to be frequently and m stated. Young people come to
perhaps University
are
.
connect^, relations'1^, jL|
ftvjy .
University Schools
for
want
University places
so
to as
reas?
many
gain
as
possible
^gjn
for 111 Q[
Honours lists and the approbation L.E.As. and parents. Some p^e jj are ambitious and social status involved in having a child at ^ University; other parents quite want their children to have a t>e je chance than they had. Young ?e ,s hear that being at a "great fun" and "you have a (] ful time"; some young women the idea that it is the place at v to find an able husband with a fut (especially among the scientists). ^ To the young man or woman really wants to learn, a Univei"5> offers everything. To those who c?
rig^
University
woi?1
^ .
154
'
Parents an^ school have should do so or because *? ^?^ow ^e assembly line educational sausage machine passin8 their "A" levels, it may -0?er frustration. Unless the mterest is there, University life 0 often goes "stale" before the three years. These are the a in who are at risk who get too heavily 'n societies, social activities consuming ways
decirt^ it
ji
?f aftp
.they
thaS'er
onlv
vita]1 a,
end
stud
(jnients. Sanity,
and of
jj^e-and-money
kjty-transition
wh?le matter of the transition ^om^e Sck??l work to University study
hoth iftVoi
Sch??ls and Universities are ^ut without much co-ordina-
tion
VI form work has been re]a; Where to University study with freedornf st^. ,0r thought and expression and
tranlv
t0
bec0^
s.tudy at increasingly
interest and initiative, the not usually difficult.
*s
Whp
the
University
vital part of 5nt* Personality, interest will not when work is hard. Where, has been concentrated crarnVe.r> there in the VI form and where a
life fall
h0tyeVen bo^ng ''ttiity ?r
a
^as been
pushed
to the
caPacity by school and/or Parent transition is often difficult and th S0 *?re are varying degrees of stress, off at rVes there is a complete falling University because interest a^ ?
killed lnitiatiye ani* a rest
have
virtually
been
Period of exhaustion and
a
necessary. rerria'^e ?rs to he that must bef0rlns "PreP"
If study be done real]y interesting part of life h intem 6?-ns or becomes a nagging 0n'. there is bound to be strain when exams loom aheaj Specially As far as the exams are concernp; Probip Pr?hably one of the greatest the *n is Universities 0r anxious parent waiting s?waiting to tell the relatives n say ei?hbours. If only parents could mean, "do your best and
atr>bifttlS forrg101;15 .
doii>tanci
WouiH w?rry; the
^
we
shan't worry"
it
do more good than all ychiatric services put together. area of university life is la'ly a matter of human contacts.
Probably
esSem.a,"8e
155
inability to make human contacts freely and readily and in varying degrees; the aggressive, suspicious and defensive approaches which make these impossible; the need to have contact with people for what they appear to be rather than what they are all impoverish the individual's development. Running through university life The
be the dual strands of of friendship and being Where there has been a alone. genuinely friendly atmosphere at home and at school and some growing understanding of human problems and relationships there is a readiness to make friends and give and take at the University. Where there has been friendly contact with staff at school, the student is able to make contacts with older people at the University to Different own enrichment. his Universities offer different opportunities for contact with senior people; the important thing is for students to be able to use such opportunities when they come. The we/they attitude, once assimilated, takes a long time to discard and is poor equipment for future there
must
enjoyment
life.
equally essential that young should have opportunities for free discussion about sex linked to guidance from balanced and sensible older people. It is unfair for students reach University without some to sound basis for their ideas and attitudes about sexual behaviour. They should have some teaching about human growth and development, the relation between sex and love and sexual and between experience maturity. Some Universities do provide teaching and discussion, but the urgent need is for more really good On the pre-University guidance. simpler basis of the current belief that for young people a steady boy friend or girl friend is practically a necessity, the main problem seems to be the temptation to accept almost anyone and hold on to him or her at all costs because it is easier and more convenient. The more mature and secure student, however, does not as a rule It
is
people
0Continued
on
page 163)
(iContinued from become
too
p.
155)
deeply involved is prepared to "ring
too
the quickly, and changes" without too much emotion and
to be without a partner for a while. Some students do, of course, meet their life-partner at the University but obviously not all do so. The fatal mistake of isolating "student life" from the rest of life with the assumption that everything ends at graduation and must be achieved by then, combined with so much popular talk which appears to take it for granted that students will get engaged to and will marry students has created a false Moreover, Universities stereo-type. are inevitably closed, and in some ways, artificial societies. Marriage is for life and lived in the outside world. The temporary glamour and security of being engaged while at University and married directly afterwards may often not be very different from many services' marriages during the war; but there are, of course, many very happy marriages between people who met at even
University.
External, and above all popular, commercial pressures should not be the distort allowed to essential individual character of life during the years at University. This environment has special problems and stresses as has any other, and these can be eased or made more difficult by older people in authority. However, much if not most, of the essential learning is preUniversity. There is no pre-packaged, automatic species with a life span of three years called "student". 163
author is Warden Worker and a lecturer
University Hall, a psychiatric social the Social Science Department of a
of
a
in
University.
By
\YHILE article
I
tyL
was
ie'ar^t n'ng
about this
young woman graduated what she
had just
tho
thinking
I asked
were
a
important
things
sai< at said student. She OttlV! not learn to be a stUdent until the end of your three years and added that it lcult to generalise because so muoK urai b had been now you yuu iwu bro broi) ~wfvuucu on how Up and what hac* happened to you k before coming up. I do not think We 4? better than start from these P?ints- I should perhaps add ljnj straightaway that in this studentsituation it is not only the ua^ student who is different but a]SQ in this c?Unt y ^n^versity. Universities today are very varied in their 0mi traditions, ethos and proband t'le situation presented to the stud as a person is, I would say, ^erent in spite of obvious basic com nion factors in academic life. ?f the most important points Student to bear in mind in corn"n8 t a University is not to rush or ?
to be
a
-V
(X
M.V
aiUU^llt.
0n ?rice that you did
Unrient
graduate
^ePended i
ttyQCari
1?a*-n indi*?ity
/u
verve^
f0^e
grab Patte
at
^rst
new
^eas> friends,
etc. Thisr,nS not hving, situations, and requires easy always somPlsSense of identity and some feelinR ^ The University years shoulH s5CUrityhe part of each person's life $enu is0l .nce and not a few years lived in
sudd in?s
from past and future; not
hreak Process.
T at
l0r!
but
a
intensified grow-
*f
aeTTS-"Ved
at a tremendous pace
niversity; direct-'0ns is
and
growth
in
at its most intense.
y0u are
an
n
tirrie
all But
and women who forget, or -aWare, that its greatest gift is
f0611
vital and rj^ss the education. tuna/'^f^ity at the
of
unique point
It is unfor-
picture of a student to? 0ct en put forward in the popular nres? the aPPears to be based mainly on
e*hibitionistic
behaviour
of
a
153
Eileen
Spelman, O.B.E.,
B.A.
fringe minority; and it is unfortunate when young men and women come up with a preconceived and distorted idea of what they should be like as students. Flexibility and eagerness for new experiences are the essential characteristics of a student who is going to make full use of the opportunities in a University. The young man or woman who decides on set patterns and aspirations in the first week is in actual fact making himself inflexible and closing down on some of his own potentialities. A too great involvement with one person or one group is not always easy to break later and it can limit wider contacts and the varied experiences of friendship which bring greater understanding of oneself and other people. In the same way the immediate acceptance of one tutor's views and ideas as unquestionable and exclusive may prevent a much wider and more balanced approach to all learning. Students should also beware of people and societies who try to grab them as A sudden rush soon as they come up. into what is imagined to be "the life of a student" is liable to lead to the building-up of a false and brittle shell of so-called maturity and pseudosophistication in which the cracks show only too clearly before the end of three years.
Personality-growth
Young men and women need to realise above all that, if they are going to make the fullest use of their time at the University, they are going to tremendous lot of growing do a intellectually, emotionally and as Too many rather whole people. arrogant sixth formers, with school honours and achievements and the approbation of the neighbourhood thick upon them, believe they are fully grown and that the University is only
going to give them a little more necessary information. Too much talk in the press and on television about earlier maturity without the essential word "physical" before maturity has led some intelligent eighteen year olds to think they have achieved full maturity and have no radical growth still to come. This denies their own potential growth during three vital Some who come up already years. engaged to be married find themselves torn apart by the change in themselves at the University and either deny themselves social contacts in order to try to remain the same (i.e., undeveloped) or become involved in the emotional and time-consuming process of breaking off the engagement with all the troubles at home which are inevitably involved. Intense concentration on academic matters between sixteen and eighteen inevitably delays integration and very uneven maturity is the characteristic of most students. If
we
turn to the second
point
we
of course, to the vital roots reaction of individual to the University situation. A young man or woman from a happy, affectionate home with parents who have reasonable standards and demands, and who respect their children's identity and independence, has a tremendous start over the less fortunate. Income, social class, charm of manner, special aptitudes and even high intellectual ability rank low compared with this from the point of view of the mental health and full development of the individual. A student who has been over-protected at home frequently makes a slow start and may find it difficult to attain independence. If, however, the relationships at home are good and the parents do not try to hold on, he usually makes good because he has some understanding of human relationships.
come,
When parents do try to hold on, the student may either fail to profit by University experience through fear of reaching out on his own or cut the tie with home completely and be without roots or standards. Parents badly need to know that young people at the
University they can
must grow and
change
comparatively little They have either laid'
do
_
the time. essential foundations earlier or &a J failed to do so. Young people vvb? parents have thought it "modern i abdicate from their parental p?sl p; in their children's teens, have "i understood the special and problems a VI form son or daugi\, who is liable to have had too experience of set, social and Sr? 1 and sometimes patterns experience which they want < continue at the University instead ^
unU??i'
earf
se^
reaching
out to new
patterns,
and
frifw
attitudes. There are varieties of family problems 3 , pressures and infinite variations .! reaction to the University chal{en*t stemming from them. School is m course also heavily involved in :, individual student reaction as havlJ been, or failed to be, the other Sr
formative influence. Three
major aspects
There
.flfj
three life especi? aspects of worth consideration in this academic study, personal and sex. Students must want to stu j in the sense that they enjoy it actively want to learn more. At?' t sight this may seem so obvious aS!. jt' to warrant mention. In actual needs to be frequently and m stated. Young people come to
perhaps University
are
.
connect^, relations'1^, jL|
ftvjy .
University Schools
for
want
University places
so
to as
reas?
many
gain
as
possible
^gjn
for 111 Q[
Honours lists and the approbation L.E.As. and parents. Some p^e jj are ambitious and social status involved in having a child at ^ University; other parents quite want their children to have a t>e je chance than they had. Young ?e ,s hear that being at a "great fun" and "you have a (] ful time"; some young women the idea that it is the place at v to find an able husband with a fut (especially among the scientists). ^ To the young man or woman really wants to learn, a Univei"5> offers everything. To those who c?
rig^
University
woi?1
^ .
154
'
Parents an^ school have should do so or because *? ^?^ow ^e assembly line educational sausage machine passin8 their "A" levels, it may -0?er frustration. Unless the mterest is there, University life 0 often goes "stale" before the three years. These are the a in who are at risk who get too heavily 'n societies, social activities consuming ways
decirt^ it
ji
?f aftp
.they
thaS'er
onlv
vita]1 a,
end
stud
(jnients. Sanity,
and of
jj^e-and-money
kjty-transition
wh?le matter of the transition ^om^e Sck??l work to University study
hoth iftVoi
Sch??ls and Universities are ^ut without much co-ordina-
tion
VI form work has been re]a; Where to University study with freedornf st^. ,0r thought and expression and
tranlv
t0
bec0^
s.tudy at increasingly
interest and initiative, the not usually difficult.
*s
Whp
the
University
vital part of 5nt* Personality, interest will not when work is hard. Where, has been concentrated crarnVe.r> there in the VI form and where a
life fall
h0tyeVen bo^ng ''ttiity ?r
a
^as been
pushed
to the
caPacity by school and/or Parent transition is often difficult and th S0 *?re are varying degrees of stress, off at rVes there is a complete falling University because interest a^ ?
killed lnitiatiye ani* a rest
have
virtually
been
Period of exhaustion and
a
necessary. rerria'^e ?rs to he that must bef0rlns "PreP"
If study be done real]y interesting part of life h intem 6?-ns or becomes a nagging 0n'. there is bound to be strain when exams loom aheaj Specially As far as the exams are concernp; Probip Pr?hably one of the greatest the *n is Universities 0r anxious parent waiting s?waiting to tell the relatives n say ei?hbours. If only parents could mean, "do your best and
atr>bifttlS forrg101;15 .
doii>tanci
WouiH w?rry; the
^
we
shan't worry"
it
do more good than all ychiatric services put together. area of university life is la'ly a matter of human contacts.
Probably
esSem.a,"8e
155
inability to make human contacts freely and readily and in varying degrees; the aggressive, suspicious and defensive approaches which make these impossible; the need to have contact with people for what they appear to be rather than what they are all impoverish the individual's development. Running through university life The
be the dual strands of of friendship and being Where there has been a alone. genuinely friendly atmosphere at home and at school and some growing understanding of human problems and relationships there is a readiness to make friends and give and take at the University. Where there has been friendly contact with staff at school, the student is able to make contacts with older people at the University to Different own enrichment. his Universities offer different opportunities for contact with senior people; the important thing is for students to be able to use such opportunities when they come. The we/they attitude, once assimilated, takes a long time to discard and is poor equipment for future there
must
enjoyment
life.
equally essential that young should have opportunities for free discussion about sex linked to guidance from balanced and sensible older people. It is unfair for students reach University without some to sound basis for their ideas and attitudes about sexual behaviour. They should have some teaching about human growth and development, the relation between sex and love and sexual and between experience maturity. Some Universities do provide teaching and discussion, but the urgent need is for more really good On the pre-University guidance. simpler basis of the current belief that for young people a steady boy friend or girl friend is practically a necessity, the main problem seems to be the temptation to accept almost anyone and hold on to him or her at all costs because it is easier and more convenient. The more mature and secure student, however, does not as a rule It
is
people
0Continued
on
page 163)
(iContinued from become
too
p.
155)
deeply involved is prepared to "ring
too
the quickly, and changes" without too much emotion and
to be without a partner for a while. Some students do, of course, meet their life-partner at the University but obviously not all do so. The fatal mistake of isolating "student life" from the rest of life with the assumption that everything ends at graduation and must be achieved by then, combined with so much popular talk which appears to take it for granted that students will get engaged to and will marry students has created a false Moreover, Universities stereo-type. are inevitably closed, and in some ways, artificial societies. Marriage is for life and lived in the outside world. The temporary glamour and security of being engaged while at University and married directly afterwards may often not be very different from many services' marriages during the war; but there are, of course, many very happy marriages between people who met at even
University.
External, and above all popular, commercial pressures should not be the distort allowed to essential individual character of life during the years at University. This environment has special problems and stresses as has any other, and these can be eased or made more difficult by older people in authority. However, much if not most, of the essential learning is preUniversity. There is no pre-packaged, automatic species with a life span of three years called "student". 163
