Further education has so many variables from the child itself through to the location of the University and everything in between. Brilliant courses, brilliant lecturers and brilliant kids abound but at the same time so do half witted kids worthless courses and by the numbers staff are also aplenty.
Admittedly the worst kids don't often get past the first year but you do wonder how they got in, in the first place. You would be shocked at the quality of the work they hand in and expect a pass grade for. Hand on heart some of the freshers are borderline illiterate.
As for them learning the ropes of how to live a life most of them will still use Mum and Dad to sort out problems of the most basic kind including such gems as "my daughter has a gas leak in her flat and if you don't sort it out now I am going to call the fire brigade" Staff are sent immediately only to find the bins in the kitchen have not been emptied for a fortnight and are full of stinking rotten food. To "My son has had his new iPad stolen from his flats kitchen so It needs to be replaced immediately as it was an expensive present" On investigation security find that it is open house and no one locks the doors when this is explained to the child and parent that they are responsible for their own kit especially when it is not secured they threaten to call the press. The list goes on and on and on.
As for the notion of the poverty stricken student, don't believe a word of it. Most of them have takeaway food everyday, go out clubbing twice a week and would not know an own brand supermarket label if it bit them on the bum. This is of course not all of them and the majority are great but the minority is not as small as you might like to think.
