I feel so sad for all the students who turned up for what should have been a really positive and exciting step towards independence. A time to build on the foundations of their education and prepare for their careers...
The press are adding to the anxiety that many will be feeling by suggesting, without foundation or reason that students may be locked in over Christmas! How dare they really, it is spreading fear for the sake of headlines. I am all for free press and all that goes with democracy, but sometimes I despair of the lack of morality and ethics not to mention humanity and care.
The world, right now, feels uncertain for us all. Kindness and compassion could underpin our Headlines and Bylines, wouldn't that be a nice change...
Go gently...
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Brushwork
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I find it very telling that there is all this fuss about students.
I don’t remember the media giving the same attention to all those who have been shielding for the last six months..unable to see their families or leave their homes.....thus
protecting themselves & the community.....from the virus.
Unfortunately, a certain number of students refused to accept the fact that Covid needs to be treated with respect......defied requests to not go carousing....gathered in pubs & clubs & ignored social distancing.......thus the authorities acted........the students are now learning that defying something called a Pandemic has consequences.
Before anyone asks... this is not sour grapes...I did not have to shield...like the majority of people I am just being careful...& it’s not much fun.....as the students are now fInding out .....adulthood carries responsibility.
My heart goes out to our young people, the mess with exam results, then being actively encouraged to come to campus and into halls at huge expense for rent, when the universities knew the majority of learning is online, that no freshers would happen, no sports, groups, no social activities....no nothing.
The scientific modelling indicated a spike in Covid 19, specifically with first year students in the halls. Yet they were still actively pursued to move in, and no support/plans put in place.
My daughter lectures at a University in Scotland affected by the Covid 19 outbreak and has known since June she won't be doing any f2f teaching, initially till January 2021, but now informed until this time next year. The disregard for student welfare, whilst (rightly) protecting staff is abhorrent.
I did shield, and felt safe and protected by Scotgov. the care, food parcels, pharmacy deliveries, text messages, letters , daily televised updates, support help lines were second to none.
But most of all I was in my own home and not actively pursued to move into a small room to socially isolate at great financial cost. All I had to do was stay in the comfort of my own home.
In Scotland our young folks attend University at barely 17 years old, often their first experience of being away from home. I imagine it would be quite scary locked (yes) in a student flat, finding out much of what is happening via the hyperbolic news outlets, with limited amounts of food, no access to shared resources (cloth washing for example), many police and security guards on campus standing outside the main doors preventing the students leaving (do we live in a police state ? Can the police and security guards legally prevent people leave a building ?). The University learning platform initially was not working so no online learning could take place ( my daughter was just about pulling her hair out trying her best to offer support, with no IT lecturing ability).
The Universities put taking accommodation rent over student welfare, and did not prepare for the inevitable.
I don't mean to be challenging AG, but our situation of shielding does not compare.
Hi Mmrr...I know nothing of the study/teaching arrangements....that is for NS / Uni heads etc to sort out.
My point was purely that everybody has been asked not to gather in pubs & not to ignore social distancing ....For good reason.
Had the students taken a few bottles of wine back to their digs & partied....the social lock down situation could largely have been avoided.
I was listening to one of the students on the radio this morning and apparently they can get food and any 17-year-olds I know it wouldn’t really be bothered about laundry.....
Maybe your experience of shielding doesn’t compare ....but there are many lonely old people with no family and nobody able to help them shop .....who went through very bad times at the beginning of the shielding experience. You may remember some.... ..young & old......who wrote on here they could not get supermarket deliveries when some were on their last slice of bread.
I hope the students come to realise when they look back .....how they at least partly contributed to the lockdown situation they find themselves in.....the study arrangements do appear to need sorting out....presumably each college will make their own arrangements.
Good job 18 year olds in the military don’t behave like this...they would probably be be-headed!
We have all had a difficult time, some more than others, but to blame young people is just not right.
In my family for example, my 3 children and 2 nieces and nephews have been exemplary in following guidance. Are they fed up with it, yes...but they still abide with what is asked of them as do most of their friends and colleagues. All 5 have worked, mainly from home throughout the pandemic, so have thankfully been financially spared.
My mum and 2 older relatives are not just gung ho, but have demonstrated completely unacceptable behaviour during Covid 19, whilst running down others, and make jokes about dying of Covid. Two of them are educated and worked in the NHS, one was the chief executive for a Scottish health board, he has a clinical background, my aunt a practice manager for a large GP practice.
I live in a retirement complex of 30 houses, the behaviour of many, if not most of the other residents is shocking. So much so I eventually contacted our factor 2 weeks ago, without naming names, of those breaking guidance and lodged a general complaint about the overt disregard of the health of others. We have now all received a letter outlining government guidelines and what it means for us. I'll see if it makes any difference.
In my view, no 18 year old should be in the military, they know little of life or why they are fighting older people's battles. Being cannon fodder is not something I believe we should uphold as in anyway good or useful for our young people.
It sounds like the shenanigans of the older people around me. Sharing benches in our shared gardens, sharing bottles of wine, nibbles, in and out of each others houses, several friends and family visiting at the same time. No social distancing, no masks.
6 of my neighbours put up a gazebo to sit under, all individual households, all fooling around, no distancing, no masks. The gazebo being 30 foot or so from my back door. That's when I reported the behaviour to our factor. In Scotland none of the above is permitted.
The point is people from all walks of life and ages do not abide by guidance.
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