This breaks my heart.

I spent my entire young parenthood urging my children to study hard and go to university. Silver bullet, I said. It will change your life, your heart and your mind, I said.

“You’ll be going here one day”, I told my grandchildren. Credit: Sam Mooy

Hell, I did the same to myself as I ground my way through a PhD. This was the pinnacle. Hard work, surrounded by smart people urging me to push myself. Just two years ago, I was walking through the grounds of a gorgeous sandstone university with my grandchildren. You’ll be going here one day, I heard myself say earnestly. (Yep, tiger mothers turn into tiger grandmothers.)

Now, as a bunch of 18-year-olds are worrying about what to do with the rest of their lives, I urge them to take a deep breath. And wait. I urge parents to stop pushing. This is beyond the usual advice I give about gap years, which always assist maturity. Do not force the next generation onto a treadmill with no safety barriers, no assurance and no confidence in the future. Do not force them to attend institutions which do not have students’ best interest at heart.

Going to university in 2026 is a risk no-one should take. Universities are now places of chaotic cost-cutting and cruel managers whose sole interest is the bottom line. Entire disciplines are being cut, staff numbers slashed and there is an even greater than usual reliance on casual staff who are, appropriating Beyonce’s poeticism, underpaid and overwhelmed.

I spoke to

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