Geoff Norcott: “Is university really worth it?”
This week I watched the BBC documentary “Is university really worth it?” by Geoff Norcott, questioning whether he should be encouraging his son to attend university.
It really struck a nerve.
You wouldn’t expect me to be too sympathetic to his views. Geoff Norcott, you see, is that right wing comedian from The Mash Report. I saw him do live stand-up once. He had to follow James Acaster, who did the most devastating takedown of right wing comedy that I’ve ever seen. Awkward.
And yet…
Normally when we see people questioning the value of university, it is a right wing politician, and you know full well that when they say that not everyone should go to university, they are really talking about other people’s children. Their own children, of course, will go to private school and carry on to university as all good middle- to upper-class kids do.
Either that, or they come from a working class background, didn’t go to university, and present the argument that they didn’t go, and it didn’t do them any harm.
But Geoff Norcott is different. He is a successful graduate, a former teacher, and a fully paid up member of the educated middle classes, working right at the heart of the creative establishment (albeit with a subtly different political perspective).
The documentary is surprisingly well balanced, for a comedian. Yes, the arguments are simplistic and it’s not exactly Panorama. But it is all the more entertaining because of that, and there is plenty in it to suggest that he has a point in asking the questions he does.
Sure, it’s stated several times than “universities are businesses” and in one instance “they are only there to make money”. Of course, they aren’t; they operate as highly regulated private sector enterprises, but they do not, and cannot “make money”.
Geoff’s comment that “it feels like the market isn’t really working” though, is spot on and I’ve written about that before here.
The perspectives of many of the students in the show are damning; particularly those who were studying throughout covid. Universities would do well to more openly recognise their obviously flawed experience.
But I can vouch for the fact that the Sheffield Hallam Vice-Chancellor is not alone in being one of the good guys; the sector is full of people like him.
And I used to work with the current Brighton Vice-Chancellor too (while we were at Imperial). It’s a shame she didn’t take the chance to respond.
Overall, Geoff Norcott has some very compelling reasons to question whether university is the right next step for his son.
He finished the programme with this:
“The cost, the level of debt, means that you have to think it through more clearly than people of my generation did. You can’t take on £100k debt, sadly, just because you are passionate about a subject; it’s hard to justify.”
My perspective on this?
While university clearly isn’t always the right path for everyone, there is a whole lot to recommend it. It’s an amazing opportunity to build skills, knowledge and experience to help build a career.
The financials, meanwhile, suggest it is extremely challenging in the short term, but beneficial in the long term for the large majority of students.
But Geoff is absolutely right that choosing to go to university should not be done on a whim.
I really think that many students’ experiences would be a whole lot more worthwhile if their decisions to go to university were far more considered than is often the case.
Way too often I hear graduates say that they really didn’t think much at all about what to study; they just went because it was expected of them.
This cannot be the right way to make such a big decision.
So for students reading this: Take your time, reflect and really think through your university choice. If it’s not a “hell yes” it should be a “no”. There is plenty right here on betterunichoices.com to help you think it through. Take a year out if you need it.
For careers advisers and university counsellors: I hope that this gives you encouragement that your work with students really is of huge importance. Your work can help them find that “hell yes”.
And for those in higher education: No more banging the drum that says that university is the best option; it’s time to focus on really helping students to make a fully informed and considered decision about their choices.
This way, if Geoff Jr. does choose university, his dad can rest easy that it will have been the right decision for him. Even if the uni fund has already been spent on a swanky new car!
Postscript…
After publishing this piece a couple of days ago, I sought views from colleagues on LinkedIn about what they thought of the programme.
While most people thought that Geoff Norcott was absolutely the wrong person to be trusted with such an important subject, quite a few broadly agreed with my take that it was reasonably balanced, on the whole.
A few, however, just hated it.
And a few more had some pretty choice criticisms which I thought would add an extra dimension to the article:
He regularly fell back on lazy stereotypes of students. Let’s all laugh at the students feeding the ducks or “I’m surprised they were up before tipping point.” Actually, its worth pointing out there are huge benefits for students getting involved in the most weird and wonderful clubs, societies and volunteering opportunities, from gaining transferable skills and widening horizons, to improved mental health and quite simply joy. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it.
His use of plumbing as the sole example of apprenticeships was also lazy. No mention at all of the fact that you can do apprenticeships (including degree apprenticeships) in everything from accountancy to engineering and even law. And no mention that apprenticeships currently have some worryingly low completion rates (a statistic I’ll have to check for a future article).
I say watch it for yourself, but as ever, watch with a critical eye.
A documentary by a comedian is always going to present topics in a simple way, and even if it’s a serious topic, they’ll still play it for laughs!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001x8z5
