Learn English – Is “I wish I had one of those …” correctly used in the following sentence

expressionsidiomsphraseswish-preterite

Sex Education Club? I wish I had one of those when I was a student.

The bolded part actually means, I wish my university had had one of those so I could have joined . . .

But I picked I wish I had one of those . . . because it's shorter.

So my question is, would a native English speaker use that phrase in that manner (as an expression or idiom)? If not, what would be a better alternative?

Best Answer

Not quite correct. You need:

I wish I had had access to one of those when I was a student.

or:

I wish there had been one of those around when I was a student.

E.g.

Restoration - Page 200 George F. Will - 2010

I have to pay taxes, meet a payroll — I wish I had had a better sense of what it took to do that when I was in Washington.