Critical Reflection: To degree or not to degree?

The initial reason for writing this column was because of the conversation that I had overheard between two university students, one who claimed that Tuna was Dolphin meat. At the time I thought it was hilarious and could not believe that the comment had come from someone studying for a degree, when it is believed, for the most part, that university students are highly intelligent.

I was unsure about what angle I wanted to use in this column. Initially I wrote a column about how society happily ridicules the unintelligent in all aspects of life, and I looked into reasons why this might be. I decided that this was similar to the column I wrote last semester entitled "the awkward moment when...", in which I discussed the reasons that people ridicule each other and themselves on facebook.

I then started to think about what kind of people would find the boy's comment most funny. I thought that other university students would find it quite funny, but may well have heard comments similar to that frequently at university. I eventually came to the conclusion that the people who would be most likely to find it funny would be people who did not go to university themselves because they are continually under the impression that university students are highly intelligent.

I then began to think about the fact that it might be a relief for someone who didn't go to university to find that even students come out with unintelligent comments. This is because we live in a society where the belief is that the higher educated a person is, the more intelligent they are.

I then thought back to how I felt when I thought that I may not be able to finish my degree, and how pressure from society made me think that I would be thought of as unintelligent or a failure if I didn't have a degree. It was then that I decided to write this column as somewhat of a reassurance that having a degree is not the be all and end all, and that ultimately when you pass people in the street you can't tell who has one or not - and I highly doubt that anyone even cares.

This column was very personal and I tried to explain exactly how I felt whilst I was absent from university, and how I dealt with accepting the fact that I might not be able to get a degree. I hoped that by including such personal details, readers may take my thoughts more seriously. I also hoped that the column might be almost a guide to anyone struggling with their degree, or thinking of dropping out, and reassurance to someone without a degree that it is not the most important thing in the world.

I named the column 'to degree or not to degree?' to mimic the famous like from Shakespeare's Hamlet - 'to be or not to be?' In Hamlet, the character of Hamlet questions 'to be or not to be?' in reference to life and whether to commit suicide or not. (Although this is only one of many interpretations.) I chose to mimic this is my title somewhat ironically, to try and make the point that having a degree or not is not a matter of life and death. I also thought that it would be an effective title because 'be' and 'degree' rhyme, so it would not be difficult for the reader to pick up on the reference to Hamlet.

I made the dceision to include five 'ephianies', or rather conclusions that I had come to when I realised that I might have to accept not having a degree, because of the positive feedback I had about the 10 life lessons I gave in my column last semester: "would you rather?". Due to the success of those lessons, I thought that giving five more would hopefully result in the same positive feedback from my readers.

With the exception of my column last semester, 'meeting with a medium', this column has been one in which I have been truly honest about revealing personal aspects of my life. I feel that this is something that the readers will be able to relate to and hopefully respond well to. I am happy with how this column turned out.