An important part of human development is about learning, often through accepting the point of view of others and taking something from the process. I think this is a lesson that a whole generation must have missed out on. Welcome to my generation, where conformity is the new cool and where politics certainly isn’t. As Britain heads down the 'middle' road of politics, led by New Labour with their not-so-new ideas on how to govern society, the disenfranchised, 'don’t give a shit' youth of today file out of universities, proud to be just another brick in the wall.

My college was the London College of Communication, the largest of all the sites. LCC is modern, trendy and arty, and its students were likewise. What the LCC lacked was any credible student community or social network. There was no real encouragement to congregate. Maybe it’s because one really unique and powerful aspect of student philosophy had been lost – that feeling that together, students could do anything. The radical political movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s were dead and with it the rallies, debate and new or experimental ways of thinking.

During freshers’ week, before I had my first class, the student union organised a workshop titled ‘Student’s Involvement in Changing the World’. Just eight people turned up, including myself, out of the entire first year of the university. Even the lecturer failed to attend, and so we had to have a representative from the Student Union take over. We opened up with a Q&A of sorts, so I asked what our union had accomplished in the outside world since the university opened.

The answer was not a lot, to put it politely. They hadn’t run one campaign or rally. This was a union that was fighting to communicate to its own students let alone anyone outside the college walls, a sadly ironic affair considering the college’s name. Yet somehow, before leaving the room, I found myself signing up to the Student Council. I think they may have resorted to putting something in the water.

The Student Council was an eye-opening experience. There were very few people involved and even fewer of those actually turned up regularly. Elections for positions were a farce, because out of tens of thousands of students only 400 people even bothered to vote. Don’t get me wrong here – those that are involved work very well with what they have and are bright, determined and dedicated. The problem here isn’t the people running the show, it’s the apathetic students themselves. Crushing words indeed, but it’s very hard to form any other sort of opinion given the evidence.

The big event for all student unions is the NUS conference, which I was able to attend. The NUS conference is pretty much a three-day bender in Blackpool, speckled with a few hours of pantomime and voting. The same group of reactionaries vote one way on everything, and everyone else votes whichever way the beloved President does. You have to love uni politics – even though I agreed with points on both sides, I was amazed at how mundane the subjects were. Can you believe that the motion to campaign for free education was voted down five to one? At the NUS, of all places? It was also evident that every topic of debate was related to student society, such as the binge drinking culture and the price of a pint. There wasn’t a whisper about the world outside the university walls. The idea of changing the world is now considered an optimistic fantasy by many, but maybe that’s the trait we are lacking. Maybe having a child-like vision of a better future would actually give us something to aspire to. Maybe we have all just grown up a little too fast.

In today’s world we are encouraged to grow up faster and faster. We have a life plan already in existence even before birth and, as soon as we’ve got that out of the way its off to nursery, then primary school, and then some of us – providing we have jumped through enough hoops – go to sixth form or college. Then its university for the lucky ones, then a job, a house, a husband/wife, two kids, retirement and death. There are so many hoops to hurdle and not all of us make it to the final stages, but we all manage to meet at the end. We are taught from birth that this is just the way it is and the way it will always be, with an emphasis on the philosophy that taking maximum enjoyment from life is easiest when jumping through as many of these hoops as possible. We care so much about getting to the end of our course of hoops that we don’t take the time to ask important questions, like why are they there? What was their desired purpose and effect? Could we make them easier to jump through? And should we even jump through them at all?