Headlines

While browsing the BBC news pages I came across this article . It was this caption that took my notice: "So many parents have been chasing university places for their children that the admissions system is now letting parents act as their agents." My instant reaction was, "Please tell me you are joking..." but it appears to be true.
So, from this article I gather that when young people enter in to the university admission systems they can 'opt to' choose a parent or guardian to be their 'agent' - someone who will deal with the majority of the admission process including sitting in on the actual interview. For children whose lives are already governed by pushing parents who have already decided what they would like their children to do, can you imagine anything worse? It may be optional but how much option do they really get? I know several people whose parents pressurised them in to doing medicine or law when it quite clearly was not what they themselves would have preferred to do. Latterly, such people have left their degree with much anguish and disappointment caused to their parents. The choice of degree or further education or even an alternative option, is very much the choice of the young person and not their parent. Why, therefor, should parents be allowed a greater degree of input than is already in place?

I understand from a parent's point of view, as discussed at the end of the article, that they do not want to simply hand over cheques and start renting flats when they have no idea or little understanding as to what it's all going towards. I understand that this choice for a parental agent is 'optional' (though somehow that thought makes me laugh...). However, the responsibility lies with the young person to inform their parents sufficiently as to what is going on and the parents are quite entitled to say 'no' to paying out if they feel they are insufficiently informed. Is this bid for greater parental access and input going to replace the need for family communication or take away the independence which young people feel they have finally been granted? Could it be that roles are reversed and that in turn, the young people will be the ones left out?

Independence is a primary concern for me but to educationalists there is also a secondary concern as noted in the article. Is this new parental control going to blur the professional line between school and higher education? Tutors and university faculties have a professional relationship with their students much like an employer and employee. Few employers would dream of phoning to consult an employees mother over professional issues, surely? Why then are those in higher education so keen to allow it? Does it allow the lazier students to hand over the their responsibilities and have someone else to the work for for them? Does it hinder those who see university as a step towards independence and a step away from parental control? How are university faculties going to 'manage' this system and ensure that the students really have actually opted for a parent to be involved rather than being pushed? There may be benefits to this system but it seems to be the drawbacks and need for further questions that immediately stand out to me.

Your thoughts?