Klaas Dijkhoff: ‘Sad when your days as a student are the best time of your life’

Klaas Dijkhoff was a law student, board member, PhD researcher, and lecturer at Tilburg University. At Party SAM and Vrijspraak, he laid the foundation for his political career. Dijkhoff was a critical student: ‘I think some lecturers found me irritating.’

Klaas Dijkhoff (1981) is a busy man. Our interview appointment is postponed several times, but after we finally show up at his industrial Breda office building, he takes his time. These days, the former VVD politician is a podcast maker and entrepreneur, among other things. His company, SUE & The Alchemists, deals with behavioral influencing.

The tone on his personal website says a lot about Dijkhoff: Klaas Dijkhoff, Who is that again? Or: What does he have to say now? And: If you manage to understand him at least, with that Brabant accent. Dry as dust, but also accessible.

Easy for me to say

When asked if he delved into his student days at Tilburg University before this interview, the answer is clear: ‘No. I didn’t think about it specifically. It was a good time, for sure. I sometimes meet people who say that their days as a student were the best time of their lives, but then you have a long way to go afterwards. When the best time of your life ends around age 24, I think that’s kind of sad.

For an increasing number of students, their time as a student is primarily a period when they feel a lot of performance pressure. Dijkhoff: ‘I’ve never experienced that myself. To be honest, the curriculum is quite manageable. The pressure is at the social level: that you think you have to do all kinds of things in this area too. Look, if you start stacking all those activities, you have to have a lot of self-discipline to actually be able to do all that.

‘Besides, it’s supposed to look impressive on social media to your former high school classmates,’ Dijkhoff says with feigned seriousness. ‘But I realize it’s easy for me to say because I never had to push myself to the limit to pass courses that much.’

Nothing to do with intelligence

University seems more accessible than ever, as if you have to do an academic program as a minimum these days. Behind that, too, is that increasing pressure to perform, perhaps from parents, or from the student him/herself. Dijkhoff: ‘Something is not right if an increasing percentage of people can go to university. Maybe that includes students who would be much happier somewhere else, such as practical people.’

He continues: ‘You feel this upward pressure: that the university would be better than a university of applied sciences. I’ve taught at both, and I think both can be the best place for very different people. That has nothing to do with your intelligence.’

‘As a student, you can make mistakes and take a nose-dive once in a while’

The former law student is himself a father of two young daughters. ‘As a parent, you do your best to prepare your children for real life, for independence. Parents never admit it, of course, but subconsciously they like it better when they can say their child went to university.

‘My children are in grades one and three. I look at what is best for them, what they need and how I can help in that. I hope they learn as much from me as from my wife, who is much more creative than I am, and that they choose their own paths after that,’ Dijkhoff says decidedly.

Party SAM and Vrijspraak

He may not have immersed himself very much in his student days, but Dijkhoff still benefits greatly in practice from what he learned as a board member of, for example, Party SAM and Vrijspraak. ‘As a board member, I learned a lot from the University Council, School Council, and student boards. After all, those mechanisms are the same as in a political party. It is very useful to gain experience with that during your student days. You can make mistakes there and take a nose-dive once in a while.

‘That may feel hard and painful at such a moment, but later you recognize certain patterns and think: wait, I’ve experienced something similar before. If you learn from that, it’s more likely to go well the next time.’

What also appealed to him was the fact that as a board member you can change things and are at the table when decisions are made. ‘I was already a member of the VVD during my studies, but if you just join as a member, you are obviously not immediately in a position to bring about change. As a board member of an association, you can.

‘You have to take others very seriously, yourself a little less so’

‘A little perspective never hurts anyway,’ Dijkhoff continues. ‘There are people who end up in a burnout after their studies because they take it all far too seriously. In Tilburg, I learned a lot from Wim van de Donk, among others, who was still a lecturer at the time.

‘Wim has a style where he takes things seriously but also always puts them in a broader perspective. After talking to him I often thought: okay, maybe I shouldn’t make myself so big.’ Is it important not to take yourself too seriously at all? Dijkhoff: ‘You have to take your work and others very seriously, and yourself a little less so.’

Thesis writing

A stumbling point for many students is writing a thesis. Dijkhoff took a ‘very structured’ approach: ‘For my graduation and PhD research, I first started reading about how to write a thesis or book. Then I looked at how long the writing phase takes and how many pages you actually have to write in a day. That turned out to be quite doable.

‘Then I planned my day in a structured way, including a reward for when I reached the number of pages. Then I actually stopped and went for a walk, for example. During the walk, space was created to continue writing the next day. You mustn’t continue writing until you are completely empty because then you start the next day with nothing and that is more difficult.’

As a student, he was sometimes annoyed by lecturers’ methods. ‘I really like to read. For me, that’s a good way to absorb material. So I also did that before a lecture. But then that material was repeated during such a lesson. Then I thought: why am I sitting here? I would really lose interest.

‘Or another one: that I dragged along a law book for five lectures that we then did nothing with. During the sixth lecture I left that thing at home, but then they checked whether you carried that law bundle. I then entered into a discussion with the lecturer. I think some lecturers thought I was irritating. I could be irritating, actually.’ Then: ‘When I became a lecturer myself, I understood it better. Especially if you have little experience, it can be truly exciting to assert your authority in front of such a group.’

PSV

Dijkhoff has been a member of PSV’s supervisory board since 2021. And since Tilburg’s pride Willem II is not currently playing premier league soccer, it is up to the Eindhoven players to uphold Brabant’s honor. What are Dijkhoff’s thoughts on PSV’s possible national title? ‘Of course, I hope they become champions; I want that every year! It is a pity that Xavi Simons is gone, but I also always like to watch Luuk de Jong, he is a frivolous player with work ethic. Yes, I can enjoy that.’

Translated by Language Center, Riet Bettonviel

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