University of Life

I get a lot of friend requests through Facebook. On a daily basis. Sometimes two a day. I don't accept them but I like to have a good nosey before I delete them.

Some are from men who say they are or have been in the US forces. Their Facebook profiles tend to lack any kind of detail. I reckon about half the US army has asked to be my friend but I've deleted them all. I'm told this is a scam. What kind of pathetic scam involves sending a fake profile to a stranger on Facebook?

The other sort are men who give a little bit of information about themselves. All of them include the information that they are graduates of the University of Life. Once or twice, I've come across guys who are graduates of the University of Me, Myself and I or the University of Hard Knocks.

I've no idea what this is about. Is it a proud boast? "I never got to university but I've done okay"? In that case, good for you - you're in the same category as most of my family and friends. Except nobody I know judges people on whether they've been to university or not.

Is it an attempt to stop snobs like me (who have been to university) lording it over other people? Except we don't. I don't think I've ever had a conversation with anyone about whether or not I went to university.

I did once (about 1977) have a chat in a school staffroom with a very regal lady who slipped me a leaflet about The Honours Graduates' Association of Scotland and tried to get me to join. I declined the invitation. I suspect this association has gone the way of all flesh now that everybody is an honours graduate.

The last thing anyone talks about socially is whether they went to university or what kind of degree they got. Unless they're a bit odd, of course. I have met one person who insisted on telling me she'd attended 'one of the ancient universities.' Turned out it was the same one I'd attended. I decided she had 'issues' and resolved not to even ask why she thought she had to tell me this.

The University of Life thing strikes me as being odd now that we are lucky enough to live in a society where learning never stops. You can sign up with the Open University - if you pay. But I've done quite a few courses with FutureLearn, as have some of my friends. My courses with them have been about Robert Burns, China, anthropology and a lot of other subjects that I would never have tackled otherwise. These beginners' courses are free, and they can lead to proper university qualifications, so anyone who wonders what higher education is about can find out the easy way.

FutureLearn isn't the only 'provider', as the modern jargon has it. Part of the fun is looking around: Edinburgh University also offers free courses.

But I can hear myself going into teacher mode, so I'll stop. So do it or don't do it. Just don't go on about the University of Life, as if those of us who went to university somehow opted out of life.