Aren't You Going to do Anything With Your Degree...?

The title of this blog is a question that, as a graduate, I have been asked many many times. It is also one I am very tired and bored of answering and I know that I am not alone in that.

While there are a great many people that go to university and get a degree and are lucky enough to pursue a career that falls in line with that, I would say that, there are a great many more people that have a degree but as people without a clue would put it, are sitting there and doing nothing with it.

I, like most people I know, am one of those people, sitting there and 'doing nothing with my degree'.

The funny thing is that I never went to uni to get a degree so that I could get a job from that. I went and did theatre, what is often referred too as a mickey mouse subject also the one that when you tell people that's what you did they look at you with sympathy because obviously, what sort of real profession could you possibly hope to get from studying theatre. Not to mention that, obviously, by doing theatre clearly the only thing I want to become is an actress on Eastenders.

How wrong and narrow minded these individuals are.

(Back to the point I was making...) I went and studied theatre because that was what I loved, I wanted to learn more about it and become well rounded in something that had been a passion of mine for four years, it was the only thing I was good at and all I wanted to do! I had no plans to become an actress, I'm not good enough for that, I just wanted to learn more about something that I loved.

My university experience wasn't a great one and not something I wish to dwell on too much. I struggled greatly with written work just as I had at a level and GCSE. I was a theatre student, I enjoyed performing and all things practical, designing sets and costumes and being creative, my mind wasn't made for critically writing about things I had done and why! Another thing I struggled with was people but that really is something that should not be talked about!

When I left university my confidence was at rock bottom, I had spent three years learning about all this modern artistic theatre, the sort were people put a bucket on their head for an hour while tap dancing to Kanye West and pretending that it has great meaning and reflects on all of the politics in the world. No it doesn't. Not at all. Just someone being a pretentious idiot to be honest.

Despite what I may of thought at the time, I took a great deal from my time at uni though I learnt very little about theatre. I became very good at reading people, their moods and how they behaved and interacted and the type of person that they are. I learnt that I'm very good at directing, taking in a lot of suggestions and coming up with innovative ways to combine them all. I learnt to cook..... And do laundry, very important life skills!! I also discovered a great love and passion for prison rehabilitation... That came from a module on my THEATRE course and I learnt, although briefly, how to work and talk with people that had done time in prison. I also learnt how to create and design a website, how to design logos and business cards and the best ways to advertise a company. I also learnt great time management, that happened in my third year though because first year doesn't count, and how to organise groups of people.

So yes I did a theatre course. No I didn't just learn to act, I learnt that at GCSE and no I do not wish to be in Eastenders and no just because I am not pursuing a career in anything related to theatre does not mean that I am wasting my degree and it does not mean that it was a waste of money.

I also must point out that despite all these very capable people who have degrees and maybe would very much like to do something with them companies and the government actually make it so we need so many years experience doing this and that and actually while you're at it could you please get in more debt because you actually need to have a masters and another degree before we can take you on.

We are part of a generation in which it is not as simple as just using our degrees. Maybe that guy or girl you know down the road is using theirs so that should mean we all can, well that person down the road is very lucky and one in a million!

Then let's move on to the people that decide they want to travel and are questioned about that decision. Wouldn't you rather get a job? ARE YOU NOT GOING TO USE YOUR DEGREE?!

It's funny how many adults (more adultish adults than myself) tell me that I should experience as much of life as I can while I am young and without the commitments of children. It's also funny that those same adults can't fathom why people take gap years to travel or after finishing uni go travelling, because heaven forbid after 21 years in education people might want a break.

Travelling means seeing the world, something so many people wish they had done more of, experiencing new things and cultures. Being in the sunshine, or not depending on where you go.... Not once have I heard from someone that has been travelling 'I regret doing that instead of getting a job' and I don't think that I ever will. Now that I am single I'm beginning to focus on all the places I want to go and see, not for years but for a weeks holiday.... I don't ever want to say to my kids I wish I'd been here or there, I'd rather show them the pictures of when I went and if that means I've got great memories instead of boring ones then fine.

Then people question the young people that say university isn't for them because by society's standards they need it..... But think about everything I just said. Actually those people are probably the smartest. They will get their experience in other ways and they won't get into debt doing it. They also won't be made to feel guilty or panic when they get asked 'Why aren't you using your degree..?'

So while I'm still 23 and I don't have to worry about anybody else but myself I will enjoy life to the full. My degree is just a bit of paper. Whether I use it or not that's up to me, nobody else. Whether I use it or not impacts my life not yours. Don't feel sorry for me because I did theatre, feel sorry for yourself for thinking that means nothing but Shakespeare. Don't question why people want to go and see the world, question why you never did. And never think less of someone because they didn't/aren't going to uni because what are you doing that's so great in your life that makes you think you can judge someone in that way?

And finally, if you ask people what they plan to do with their degree then stop because they're only young, they don't need a life plan yet.

Rant over.