The Dirtiest Word: Competition

This morning I found myself watching the BBC show called The Big Question. The usual debating crowd included a young strident lefty gentleman who was obviously less than enamoured with the idea of competition in our society. He gave me the impression that competition was a cancer inflicted on our society by the evil that is capitalism. A very idyllic, utopian and unrealistic view of the world.

Life is all about competition. From the day you're born to the day you die you'll be competing for something, even if it's just for the attention of a busy parent. Yet, at university, there seems to be a a distinct lack of competition. There are no published lists of who has earned what mark in either their degree or any particular unit. There's no publicised announcements concerning those who have done particularly well or badly. No league tables posted. Even the dissertations in the library aren't marked with any indication of the score they earned (which I find really annoying). It's as if competition is a dirty word yet the real world, the world beyond the walls of the University of Lincoln, is full of competition and I feel that the university hasn't prepared many of my peers for the cruel and cold place it really is.

I remember my first week at university. The so called Freshers week. We were treated to a number of lectures about our new university life. Amongst the exhortations about attending lectures and seminars there was the comment that we'd make friends for life at university (okay, this was directed at the normal students and not me and I knew that). But nothing was said about the simple fact that our peers were not just potential friends BUT certain competitors. Yes, everyone in that lecture hall would be competing with each other for employment once the course was over. I wonder how many others realised that or even think in those terms today?

In a matter of months our courses finish. I'd hope that most of my peers are already looking for their first post university career break. Those that have might have received a bit of a rude shock. Jobs, decent jobs, the kind of jobs that they might have hoped for, are as rare as hen's teeth. Those employers who are seeking bright eyed young graduates are able to be as picky as they like. They can ask for and accept only the very best. The cream of the crop. The dog's testicles of the graduate world. They are the buyers and they have the advantage. We're the ones who have to sell ourselves to them. Competing with each other to win the attention and the approval of those who might deign to offer employment to the likes of us. And that will be just the start...