A couple of days ago I got a mailshot in the post from the University of Nottingham. It said
At the end in small print it says that one can opt out of being phoned on this occasion (my emphasis) by telephoning a Nottingham number.
This evening the phone rang and displayed a Nottingham number. I picked it up, because I have relatives, and my bank, in Nottingham, then I remembered the begging letter. The caller asked to speak to Miss Gert (only not Gert, my proper legal name) pronounced wrongly, and with no surname. I said I had got the letter asking for money, everyone's asking for money, and I'm not interested in giving to Nottingham University.
The caller went onto explain, in extremely poor English, that he wasn't just phoning to ask for money but to find out more about what I am doing 'over here'. That 'over here' threw me; he clarified - what I had done with my life since being at Nottingham. After confirming name and address, the first question was "Are you married?"
Fabulous!
I graduated with an honours degree from one of Britain's leading University and the first question that is asked is Are you married? I worked hard and got that degree. My answer was none of your business - maybe I should have said Oh yes, several times. Simultaneously!
I was asked what career I was doing. Well, I was asked two unintelligible questions which on the third attempt turned out to be about my career. I said I'm an Accountant. So he said You studied Politics at University, what caused you to change professions?
Well, that stumped me, too. Whoever would have thought that 'studying Politics' is a profession! A full time occupation, maybe, but not a Profession. I studied longer for my Professional Qualification - which will continue to help me in the job market indefinitely - than for my poxy degree which is now utterly useless jobwise. Interesting subject to study, or it would have been if the degree course had been thoughtfully constructed and the incompetent lecturers had been shown the door.
This episode has left me with a real sour taste in my mouth. I really have no desire whatsoever to give money to Nottingham University. I am sure that many of my contemporaries can happily donate thousands of Daddy's money without blinking an eye; I'm afraid I didn't have a trust fund back then, nor do I have one now. I do feel that there are far more deserving causes than East Midlands Finishing School.
I think it's bad form to phone so soon after sending the begging letter. I think it's even worse form, in 2009, to have 'phone' as the only option for opting out. And then, out of the thousands of students they could employ to make the phone call, they get a halfwit who can't speak English to call me. If that's the quality of student they're taking now (no doubt recruited more for their massive baksheesh than their academic ability), I'm doubly certain I don't want to contribute.
It's funny, but my old Primary School (I didn't go to Nursery) has never contacted me begging for money, even though we as a nation spend far less per Primary School student than University student. There is considerable evidence that investing in Primary school education is far more beneficial to society than investing in Higher Education (although, obviously, I do regard HE as important), and is far more beneficial to the individual. I assume that the current pupils at my Primary School are taught in classes of 30 or so, while my equivalents at Nottingham are probably still being taught in classes as small as 4, with occasional one-to-ones.
