iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Replies

Tim Waterman @tim-waterman.co.uk · 06/03/2026

I dropped out of high school, gained a huge amount of often difficult life experience, then went to community college, and now I'm a professor in a prestigious university. There HAS TO BE A PLACE for non-traditional students. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

theguardian.com

Vice-chancellor calls for review into student loans for those without A-levels

Adam Tickell, of University of Birmingham, says money is loaned to people who ‘are not really capable of graduating’

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Susan Klaiber @susanklaiber.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Similar to my brother. Now works for @chicagodpd.bsky.social Sometimes folks need a bit of time to find their calling. Especially when that calling isn't something widely promoted in society as a whole.

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Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Same. Failed every O Level and left school at 16. Some years of very non-traditional chaos. A levels at night school. Took a first, then Oxford and Harvard. Now a professor. Not everyone's trajectory looks, or needs to look, the same.

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Tim Waterman @tim-waterman.co.uk · 06/03/2026

We really should be talking instead about abolishing A-levels. They force young people to over-specialise too early. They need good range of knowledge and keen critical thinking skills at that age, not narrowness.

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Andrew Whitehouse @anthrobirder.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Another 'dropped out of A Levels and now a university lecturer' here. Probably the best thing I ever did.

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Marvellous Ways @marvellousways.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

I think society as a whole would benefit so much if non-traditional students were, well, traditional. Both my father & brother were non-trad. I was more successful at being traditional, but not at early specialisation, and so have a collection of degrees in different subjects.

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Coruscate Counselling @coruscate.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Same. (Well, minus the Professorship). Dropped out at 13. All of my education has been as a mature student, often alongside f/t work and other commitments. I'd never have progressed beyond UG without access to student loans.

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Elmtree @elmtreem.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Yes 👏

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Cis PeeBee🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈BLM🍉 @peebeejaybee.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Not a prestigious uni prof (nice one Tim🥂💜) BUT yet another here who (up to & incl Bachelor's) showed zero promise & who did eventually make it to PhD & became a lecturer. There are MASSIVE probs with UK higher ed but exclusion'll just keep out The Poors (like me)...feature or bug?

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Malty but nice 🥃😻🐧 @artbookreview.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

I just scraped A-levels, blagged my way into a London college that had its own entrance exam and turned out to be rather good at original, rather than programmed, thought.

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