Leave entrance requirements as they are
There’s a difference between high school and university
Matt Abra, Staff
University can be looked at in a variety of ways, but most people see it as a doorway to better career opportunities. In this day and age, you’re not likely to get very far in the business world without a degree under your belt.
However, some people — myself included — are actually more interested in the intellectual stimulation provided by university than by the supposed employment opportunities that come from hanging a framed piece of paper on your wall. That was my outlook when I finally chose to attend university after a two-year absence from any sort of education following high school.
The truth is, my last leg of high school proved to be a rather grueling experience that was plagued by burn-out. I, like many others, had spent 12 years of my life getting up each morning to attend something I didn’t really enjoy and eventually I reached a distinct boiling point of apathy. By the time I was walking across the stage to receive my diploma, I did not find myself all that proud of the achievement. I needed a break, and my final high school transcript showed it.
It is a school of equal opportunity, based on the ideal that the university is an institution meant to give everyone a chance.
Herein lies the greatest problem with raising the standard high school average for getting into university. High school is not for everyone, but that fact does not necessarily have to carry over into university for those people. I myself am proof that there is little correlation between the two. After a two-year break I found myself reinvigorated; I wanted to learn and was ready to be challenged once again. And sure enough, my performance in university has far outdone my performance in high school. Why should anyone else be denied the same chance?
Low grades in high school should serve as indication that it might be a mistake to tackle university immediately following Grade 12, but that is not to say grades should also serve as brick walls to those who need a bit more time to let their minds adjust to a level adequate for university’s challenges. If anything, the U of M should be embracing that type of personal growth. It is that type of school.
Sure, this may not work for everyone. In many instances, a lack of passion in high school could very well mean a lifelong lack of passion for any type of schooling, but the U of M should pride itself on being the type of place where experiments of that nature are welcome. It is a school of equal opportunity, based on the ideal that the university is an institution meant to give everyone a chance. If those chances they create turn up dry, and the students in question do not perform up to a certain standard, then that’s why we have academic probation. But if they turn into success stories, then the student in question has been the product of academic rehabilitation, and U of M gets to take credit for it.
This is not to say that there shouldn’t be specialty schools for the academic elite. Those who work hard and come out on top should be given the opportunity to graduate with the symbol of greatness entwined with attending such schools as Harvard, Yale, and all the old clichés. The U of M isn’t one of those schools. It shouldn’t be one of those schools. For people on the career path, it is certainly a serviceable choice, but for people with the simple desire for higher education, there needs to be schools like the U of M waiting in the wings with their doors open, regardless of how people faired in previous education. The U of M doesn’t need to be the type of place we attend every day with an appetite for feeling special. It works fine as a place where we can show up for a few hours and go home having put some more pieces of the world together, and if we happen to snag a degree and a career out of the deal, then that’s a nice bonus.
Matt Abra is a Manitoban news reporter.
