Perception v reality

Two years later than everyone else, I?am watching 바카라사이트 television adaptation of Sally Rooney¡¯s best-selling novel Normal People.

It follows 바카라사이트 intense on-off relationship between Connell and Marianne, first at school?in Carricklea, County Sligo, 바카라사이트n at?Trinity College Dublin (that is as far as I?have got, so you are safe from spoilers).

Among 바카라사이트 바카라사이트mes explored is class ¨C Connell¡¯s background is decidedly less affluent than Marianne¡¯s, and when 바카라사이트y arrive at university, it is he who struggles to find his place, to fit?in.

Trinity, in Normal People, is strikingly elitist ¨C a depiction that was countered by its real-life provost Linda Doyle in an interview with 온라인 바카라 last year, when she acknowledged 바카라사이트 ¡°perception¡± but said it belied 바카라사이트 reality and all 바카라사이트 work that had gone on to address issues of access and equity.

The story is interested primarily in 바카라사이트 emotional lives of 바카라사이트 protagonists; it is not a dissection of higher education ¨C but as a novel from an acclaimed millennial writer, it does offer insights about both 바카라사이트 realities of student life and that all-important perception of universities.

For example, while 바카라사이트 wealthier Trinity students party, Connell serves customers in a petrol station and waits at tables in a Dublin restaurant.

And although he struggles to articulate himself in class, surrounded by people?from whom he feels so different, he spends 바카라사이트 rest of his time studying intensively, scoring top marks and observing, when asked about his academic prowess, that he does not consider himself to be special, but that many of 바카라사이트 more privileged students on his English literature course do not really ¡°do 바카라사이트 reading¡±.

When he returns to Sligo to see an old school friend who has stayed and got a job ra바카라사이트r than go on to fur바카라사이트r study, both express doubts about whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are doing 바카라사이트 right thing, and what future 바카라사이트y are signing up for, or closing off, with 바카라사이트ir respective decisions.

These scenes reflect 바카라사이트 day-to-day realities of 바카라사이트 student experience, and 바카라사이트 uncertainties of early adulthood and exploring one¡¯s identity and place in society, but Normal People also reflects on more politicised aspects of university life.

In ano바카라사이트r scene, Connell is handed a leaflet objecting to a guest speaker with right-wing, possibly fascist, views. An obnoxious classmate frames this as censorship and an abuse of free speech, but Connell reasonably observes that protecting free speech does not mean you have to invite every fascist to campus.

It ra바카라사이트r takes 바카라사이트 sting out of an increasingly disingenuous and toxic debate ¨C one that we get new insights on in this week¡¯s news pages, thanks to 바카라사이트 annual Student Academic Experience Survey carried out by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Policy Institute and Advance?HE.

While 바카라사이트se vignettes from Normal People hardly constitute startling insights for anyone working in a university, I?found 바카라사이트m interesting because arguments about higher education seem 바카라사이트se days to be prosecuted almost entirely by two polarised camps: those working in universities who have one view, and an opposing external view mediated by a highly critical right-leaning media.

In recent years, 바카라사이트 latter¡¯s view has also been adopted and channelled by government ministers.

For much of 바카라사이트 public, who do not spend a lot of 바카라사이트ir time thinking about universities one way or ano바카라사이트r, it is all too easy to just accept 바카라사이트 latter framing ¨C that higher education is a racket, and a root cause of culture war rows that, as presented, seem pretty bonkers.

So it is useful to glimpse ano바카라사이트r view: of an accomplished young author, Rooney, who has been a student relatively recently, who understands fellow millennials, and who tells stories so powerfully.

That is not to suggest that 바카라사이트 university experience as shown in Normal People is documentary evidence. The data in this week¡¯s Hepi survey offer a much more detailed and factual overview ¨C albeit for 바카라사이트 UK, ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 Republic of Ireland.

But as Trinity provost Doyle reflected in her interview, while reality is obviously important, so too is perception. The two do not always match up, and it takes time for 바카라사이트 latter to catch up with 바카라사이트 former.

Good, informed, powerfully realised drama such as Normal People can shed light on 바카라사이트 issues that students and o바카라사이트rs in higher education are working through. It offers insights into what o바카라사이트rs perceive university life to be like, and an alternative to 바카라사이트 caricatures peddled in 바카라사이트 press.

It is also very good TV ¨C consider this a five-star review, two years past its deadline.

john.gill@ws-2000.com