University!!! *Wilhelm Scream*

So I recently, like most 18 year olds in England, received my A level results and they were good, not amazing, but good enough. I got my place at Bangor University in North Wales where I also got a scholarship. All good things. I've spoken to some of my future fresher friends and overall I feel really good about the experience and the journey I am about to embark on. However, there are some things I have been doing that are stressful, but totally worth the effort before arriving in Bangor.


Tip number one: So the first thing I have done is compile a list of things to take with me to University, this has been, probably, the longest I've spent doing a single thing for Uni, but I wanted to make sure I would have everything together for the first day and that I wouldn't have any problems with a last minute rush to the shops before I can party like the fresher I am. Luckily my mum has been great and she has let me pick things out and we have slowly built up a collection of things to take to University with me.


Tip number two: Buy things in advance, non-perishables that can be packed up into boxes.

Tip number three: Make a list of things you want to buy upon arrival at the University e.g. food essentials.

Tip number four: I wish someone had warned me that maintenance loans and grants don't arrive in your bank account as soon as you begin. I, for example, have a week where I will have to rely on my own money. Luckily my accommodation money doesn't have to be in for a week either otherwise I would be screwed.

In terms of money, I am terrified I will spend too much on pointless things like clubbing and drinking and then have none left for food. My mother has promised me she will not let this happen, but, as I previously mentioned, we are a working class family and as such, we don't have much money to spare so I will be relying on government support (I can hear the Tory cries in the wind). Because of this I have been looking into different back account options as I, personally, may need to make use of an interest free overdraft.

Tip number five: Research bank accounts. So many of them will offer you freebies, but, you need to look beyond that. Whilst a free £60 gift card for Amazon seems like a good deal, it may not be exactly what you're after. So do as much research as possible into your card. (For UK residence I recommend going with Santander or HSBC) and don't forget, you can switch accounts at any time so don't feel like you have to stay with one bank forever.

Tip number six: Work out your budget before you leave. I am in the process of working out how much money I need for food, how much I need for accommodation and how much I will need to visit family during holidays. (train and coach fares for example) I think a good thing to do is make a list and then you know exactly how much you can spend on alcohol and parties etc.

Tip number seven: Ask for help. I spent ages thinking I would come across as silly or immature or codependent if I asked my mum or dad to drive me to University or if I asked them for advice. In fact I still get a little bit defensive and just yesterday told my mum she was treating me like a child and lecturing me where I didn't need it. But I do need help sometimes, I've never had to look after my own finances before. I'm quite an independent person, but this is a scary, new experience for not just me, but many others. No question is too stupid or too ridiculous, ask for the help, it is there if you need it.

And that's all the help I can offer at the moment, I want to keep offering help and tell you stories of my time as a fresher at Uni so expect some more Uni related posts, but for now, if you are heading into University remember to stay safe, stay calm and prepare!

Until next time,

Stephanie

The Sociologist Series: Marxism and Schooling

I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but I have been studying sociology for four years and one topic that interests me more than almost anything else is looking at our education system and looking at the way others perceive it. I will warn you now that because of this I have created my own bias towards these topics which, for me at least, are justified. That being said I am always open to new ideas, but for now I will just write what I know.

Marxists are, perhaps, my favourite group of sociologists, from Althusser to Zaretsky (see what I did there?) and I find the Marxist approach to education particularly enthralling. I don't know what it is about their approaches, but they all make so much sense to me.

An outline of the Marxist perspective on education:

So Marxists believe that society is split into two classes, the working class and the ruling class. The ruling class are the richest people who run businesses etc. and the working class are... well workers, they work for minimum wage and are, according to Marxists, oppressed. This translates into the school system as well. With public and private schools running alongside one another there are bound to be a few children with a better chance in life than others. As well as this parents with more money are able to provide essential and non-essential items to help their children out with homework and they can provide tutors when their child is doing less well in certain subjects.

Whilst there are a few exceptions to this rule it's very rare that a child from a very low income family will be able to break through these barriers. It's not just a money issue, working class families have less interest in schooling because their parents and their parents before them etc. "got on fine without school". They can live without any qualifications and for them, school was a place where the richer kids were treated better... and the thing is, they're not wrong.

Sociologists Rosenthal and Jacobson, and Cicourel and Kitsuse all discovered evidence of "teacher labelling" in schools. They found that teachers labelled their students as "bright" or "stupid" based on their behaviour and willingness to participate.  The teachers would then treat the "brighter" students with more respect and lend them more help whilst the "stupid" ones were often treated as a nuisance.

But why do teachers do this?

One reason for teachers having to catagorise students is that they have to achieve an average grade score. Much like students, teachers have targets they have to reach in order to keep their jobs. For this reason they tend to leave the students who comfortably sit on the A/B border to work for themselves and leave those deemed "not salvageable" at D/E/F and focus all their attention on those on the C/D border to get more students to the average of a C. Because they have these goals it can be very difficult for a teacher to remain neutral with their students.

Another reason is just a general bias, yes "not all teachers" do this intentionally, but I'm about 90% sure that most teachers are human and humans have a bias on almost everything they come into contact with.  Even though I'm sure most teachers attempt neutrality it's not always possible. A teacher is likely to take in the overall attitude, appearance, and lifestyle (yes some schools do disclose personal information like children on benefit) and they definitely know if you are on free school meals, and they can then make judgements of the students and treat them accordingly. For example, if you turn up with messy hair, a stain on your shirt, are late for any reason, and have free school meals a teacher might class you as unkempt, lazy, and, if they hold the anti-poor bias that some middle class people do, they might even think being poor is wrong and you are just mooching off the government and "living off their tax money". This can result in poor treatment, less help and being ignored.

All of this is a vicious cycle and one that Marxists have pointed out on several occasions (much to the dismay of the government who hate to admit that there is a huge gap between the wealthy or well off and the poor)

Anyway, I truly could ramble on about this for days on end, but I won't. If you are interested in anymore information on Marxists and education I can recommend reading some of the scholarly articles on google here:

https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=sociology+of+education+marxist+perspective&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_vis=1

That's it for today, let me know in the comments what you think,

Until next time,

Stephanie

Head's up...

The next post is in a very different format, and it is another honest personal one, very much like my  "Relationship with a Working Mother" this one will be called "Dear 10 Year Old Me" and it is a letter to myself when I was ten... 8 years ago... wow! So yeah, be prepared and let me know if it's not a style you like or whatever.

See you in a bit,

Stephanie

Finishing College: A Whirlwind of Emotions (Bit of a Ramble)

College is a really weird thing to wrap your head around in the UK. It's sort of a University waiting ground, a purgatory if you will. I was discussing it with one of my online American friends and she thought I was complaining about University, but College is not 18-whenever you finish your degree, here it's 16-18 and I don't know thinking about it weirds me out a little.

I'm going to break this down into sections... The first of which is called:

Friends

Let me begin by describing the positives of this aspect of college.

I discovered a great way to make friends. I walked in on my first day and met these two weirdos I now consider two of my closest friends. One of which was wearing a necklace with her name on it (this officially made her the first person ever whose name I remembered after the first time I met her) and this other girl whose graphic t-shirts brighten my day (Captain Obvious being my favourite, Lumpy Space Princess being another as it was the first t-shirt to bond me to another human being (ugh that sounds odd)) So yeah, my advice, do a quick scan of the items of clothing someone has chosen to wear on the first day of college (they usually pick it for a reason) and talk to them about it. They'll be glad you noticed and you'll have found a less awkward way to introduce yourself. BAM! I am the master of making friends (that is not true at all and I can't be held responsible for any mistakes you make)

I also made other friends, but most of my close friends remained the same as they all came to the same college as me.

The flip-side of this is that I lost one great friend to the unknown world of the college that you don't have to catch a train to. I always was quite level headed and from a very young age I knew that most of the people you meet in your life won't be your friend forever, but I, admittedly, have discovered that I am bad at keeping in contact with people. I feel weird messaging first on Facebook for fear of becoming annoying and I don't communicate well over Facebook anyway because I have a sarcastic sense of humour and that doesn't convey very well in real life (let alone on the virtual plaines)

This is where my first doubt for going to University comes in.

This September I will be leaving rainy England for even rainier North Wales. I will be attending Bangor University and the thought of being 345 miles away from my hometown scares the shit out of me! Practically all of my family live here and most, if not all, of my friends do too. On top of this the majority of people don't/aren't moving too far away from their hometowns and I feel if I had chosen somewhere closer to home then I would have felt a lot better about it.

(That being said I was going to move to Germany so North Wales is a little closer)

Depression and Anxiety

This section is definitely a little bit harder for me to write so bear with me.

During my time at college I have come face to face with the two-headed beast named Depression and Anxiety and I feel (on my stronger days) that I have conquered it, decapitated it to the point of no return, but there is (and I fear always will be) a little ghost of a whisper at the back of my mind that it could do a Jesus and resurrect itself. University is my main trigger at the moment.

Anecdote time! About a week ago I dropped my bowl of muesli and yoghurt. I never eat breakfast, but my body was craving some, so I gave into temptation and made myself this healthy food of deliciousness. When I dropped it the bowl smashed, and muesli and yoghurt splashed all over the floor and up onto the cupboards. It was at this point I decided to tiptoe around it and sit down on the one clear patch of floor and just cry! I cried and cried and cried constantly chanting in my head how I wasn't ready to be an adult or go to Uni or move out of home. (Yes I really am that pathetic ladies and gentlemen)

Of course I soon realised what I was doing and what it must have looked like and I got up, mopped the floor and cleaned the cupboards and toasted some bread (needless to say I was not in the mood for muesli anymore) and by the time my mum returned from work she was none the wiser to my little incident.

That's just one example. Another one is that I have started buying some supplies for Uni and I have boxed up some stuff and everything, and I keep it all in a closed cupboard. Everytime I look at the boxes in that cupboard I feel sick to my stomach and almost have a mini panic attack. (It's not great when it's the same cupboard my clothes are kept in and I see these boxes every morning.

On a happier note, I did talk to some people who are in Uni or are moving to Bangor like me and they all feel similar and they all seem nice so I'm hoping it'll sort itself out. (If I keep telling myself that does it go away... probs not)

Siblings

My brothers and I have always been a little bit distant from each other so when I say siblings I really mean "sibling" and most specifically, my little sister, whose relationship with me is a little bit touch and go. Like most little sisters she takes my stuff without asking and she argues with me and she drives me up the fucking wall, but like most older sisters I always end up forgiving her and we get back on track.

She is very sad about me leaving University and if you know me at all (even just by reading my other personal blog post... LINK: http://controversy-in-modesty.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/my-relationship-with-working-mother.html?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=11 ) I am very nervous about leaving her at home as well, but I feel like she's handling it by being even more difficult to live with. It feels a bit like she's giving me the middle finger as I leave for 3-5 years, but what do I know? She's a teenager and she has her own problems.

That's all I really have to say on that matter, it's a massive:

? ? ?

Summer

I'm aware I haven't really discussed exams in this, but it's just because there's not much anxiety there for me, of course I'm nervous, but it feels pretty normal in it's levels at the moment so I'm leaving it be.

Summer is another mixed bag because on one hand I can finally catch up with that sleep I lost in term time, but this summer is very different to any other one I've encountered during my 18 year long stay on this planet. I have nothing to do... at all... My University hasn't given me any reading lists and my friends are all busy with family, or visiting Canada, or Scotland, or hanging out with friends who aren't me, *winky face*, (the winky face looks weird on a blog post) and work don't need me to do much overtime especially seeing as I am leaving in a month! (Yaaaassss!!!) so I have nothing to do, but sit at home and contemplate life as we know it... or as I know it... hence this random ramble post. (If you're still reading then congratulations)

On the other hand... I DON'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING! And this could be one of the last times I ever get to enjoy that feeling. Once Uni starts up I'll have summer work and because I'm spending less time with friends and family from my hometown they will want to hang out. For now I'm definitely trying to enjoy my own individual peaceful relaxation time (I'm an extrovert so this si my kryptonite) before moving into halls (lord help me) (at least I have an en suite!) AND I WENT TO BERLIN WITH THREE OF MY BEST FRIENDS SO... I can't complain too much.

But yeah, Summer is both great and horrible this year. I don't know man, maybe I'm just being a spoiled teenager right now.



I think I'm going to wrap this up now because I have been typing for ages and I'm tired. (I haven't proofread this because (like the title says) this is a ramble and I just wanted to write as thoughts came to me. There is no real structure and now clear train of thought for what I have written. I hope you enjoyed it (if you even read it all)

As always, feel free to comment below anything you feel like saying!

Until next time,

Stephanie