Student and Christmas

MrsEggy

Some posters seem to think that "students" are some sort of alien race. Two of them are my grandchildren and I am as concerned for their welfare as some of you are for toddlers.
I'm sure their parents will want them home for Christmas and after the first year most students are in independent rentals, not "halls" and couldn't be detained in numerous houses across a city?

I agree with you. Students seem to have become the latest hate figures. I guess it makes a change from foreigners and single mothers.

My husband was a university lecturer and he had plenty of students ‘ interrupt’ for various reasons, in non Covid times. It would be easy enough to do that now. As someone else said, students shouldn’t be forgetting what they’ve already learnt, not like younger children. I appreciate it’s hard, but it’s hard for everyone. I agree with Toad

So would you suggest that the students disperse accross the country Sue donim AND SPREAD THE VIRUS WHERE THEY GO? Its sense to keep them in one place ,otherwise they'll be putting their families at risk .

I can see no reason whatsoever why students can't stay for Christmas, it is one year out of their life. If they go home they will be putting the older generation at risk. So it makes sense for them to stay. And don't say they need to be with their family at Christmas, I have known many on a gap year who were away for Christmas and New Year.

Please don’t shout at me, Paddyanne.

We are all assuming that the science and statistics behind this ridiculous ill thought out policy are right. As someone pointed out, if the extrapolation of the figures given in that portentious conference last week are right we will have 5 million dead by Decemebr and will have killed off the entire population by early January.

This fear campaign and this stupid stuff about 'not killing your granny' and government by decree is the outward sign of a government and experts completely out of control. Many statistician and epidemiologists at least as well qualified and well regarded as those the government are wedded to dispute the figures being put out by Chris Whitty and his mate.

I am becoming more and more sceptical of the 'science' behind COVID. Currently more people are dying of dementia, heart attacks, strokes and even flu than are dying of COVID. I bought into it entirely when COVID first hit us, stories of 500,000 deaths and so on. But since July I have more and more come to distrust this government and their statisticians of choice, too many people who know and understand the disease and the statistics are speaking up against their policies and statistics.

Isn't this all a lot of panic over rumours? Just because Matt Hancock didn't rule it out doesn't mean that it is government policy or even being considered. Christmas is still a fair way off and there are several options that universities could take to avoid students being locked in.

Here's a controversial idea. It is my understanding that most students are unlikely to be very ill or be asymptomatic so let them mix socially within student halls of residence or houses instead of isolating them in their rooms but keep them apart from the local population as far as possible. Make sure they have food or necessary medication or even allow parties. Many of them could continue with their online studies if they are well enough and can keep in touch with family through technology as they would probably do anyway. Obviously any with underlying health problems should be allowed to go home. Within a month or so thousands of them would develop immunity, at least in the short term and could safely go home for Christmas. Clearly efficient testing would establish who had actually contracted the virus but I wouldn't hold out any hope for that to take place. Remember in the past when we had 'chicken pox' parties - same principle! I shall now don my tin hat and retire.

It's not a bad idea Grandma2213 but it would rely on universities getting really tough. By that I mean having a contract that any breaking of the rules and the student is booted out immediately. Would students comply with that? Could it be enforced?
A few of my family are in the military and when new recruits come for training it is made very clear that any misdemeanors are punished and you're made to leave. These kids are the same age as students, they get the message loud and clear and the vast majority accept and learn self discipline. It could work for students, but they would say they didn't sign up for that.

This is this isn’t students faults Young people, barely adults, already having their “A” levels messed up, the decision to open Uni’s at this time was utterly irresponsible and the first term should have been online wherever possible and students asked to stay in their own homes

It was Nicola Sturgeon but poor Boris will get the blame. Can't do right or wrong.

I thought students were only in their bubble/room, if one or more actually had Covid. It’s no different to anyone else’s household, they would have to isolate. Correct me if I am wrong?

I feel so sorry for this year's 'A' level students who have gone on to university. First the utter shambles of grades and now being stuck in their halls of residence. It would have made more sense for the undergraduates to have studied remotely, perhaps until Easter. I can't help feeling that the uni's thought more of getting rents etc into their coffers than the well-being of their students.

What else would you expect
. Only students matter

Universities are not going to "boot out" any students. Financially they are going through tough times anyway with no foreign students this year. That's one of the reasons they are anxious to have students at Uni, should they provide only on-line education the fees could be challenged. It's not just the rent for Halls they would lose.

I agree Monica. Test them and let them go home

I completely agree with you MOnica
I think it’s an appalling situation whereby other serious, terminal illnesses are being left untreated whilst covid, which for the vast majority of people is a very mild illness, is the priority.

We have moved on a lot since the Spring in our knowledge of the virus and hospitals have learned enough to prevent a large number of deaths, so surely it’s time to realise that we have to live with the virus rather than concentrating on the futile attempt to eradicate it completely.

Then of course there is the fact that the deaths announced every day are, in many respects, meaningless.

People are counted in the covid deaths if they had a positive test within the past 28 days even if the real cause of death was something else.

Caragran

It was Nicola Sturgeon but poor Boris will get the blame. Can't do right or wrong.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good made up story.

Do people not read the whole thread before posting? Is that just me?

My grandson is already wanting to quit Uni and come home as he is sitting in a small room having online lectures. Restrictions on everything, no cafe etc open on campus. They are paying a lot of money for something they could do from home. It is almost £200 a week to stay on campus. I think only the students who test positive should not be allowed to travel, at Christmas or any time. That would of course mean a government that could get its testing done.

As I understand it this is only being put forward as a possibility IF there are large numbers of infections in universities. Currently universities are taking steps to restrict any outbreaks - why not wait and see what happens before jumping onto the bandwagon?

Caragran how can you say “poor Boris” he’s totally incompetent, he couldn’t let that rat Cummings resign/be sacked because he would no longer have had anyone to work his strings, the utter buffoon! Anyone with half a brain would have realised that telling people to go back to work, telling students to go to university, telling people to eat out to help out would give out the notion that the worst of Covid was all behind us!
I feel very sorry for students at the moment because they have been misled. However, the situation being as it is, if things are still as bad or worse at Christmas then it seems entirely sensible to try to stop thousands and thousands of people travelling all over the country to spread coronavirus germs everywhere they go! It would be a pretty miserable Christmas for students if they couldn’t go home, but life is full of disappointments and unsatisfactory experiences and it would just be a lesson in life that you can’t always get what you want if they were “confined to barracks“ for the festive period. They are not little children, they will deal with it if they have to.

I thought that Matt Hancock said "that he couldn't rule it out",

Christmas.? None of us can rule anything out for the future, can we? imho.......

Poor little snowflakes....they should be getting on with their work....not whining at how unfair it is that they have to stop the spread of the virus.....cough cough....you’re dead!

As you say Franbern it's tens of thousands of university students - but no, it's actually more like hundreds of thousands of university students as most universities have around 15,000 students and there are 150 such establishments in the country, with a majority of their student population being away from their normal home. So, you are being entirely unreasonable in my opinion to want to spread this virus by allowing this type of travel. Of course families will want to be together at Christmas, but spare a thought for the thousands of people in care homes who still haven't been able to see their families, and many of those people will die without doing so. When the pandemic occurred, university students remained at their universities and went into lockdown with their uni friends, so why would we want to jeopardise the entire country at a time when the virus is likely to be at its peak by suggesting we might have a huge exodus and then return three weeks later - I don't think the local university populations would be very happy about the influx of students all over again from all over the country.

Not Christmas, but this weekend's student issue.....
I was feeling really down yesterday after hearing that students have not been able to have their party week during their first week of term. Oh poor them I thought! The over 70s love a party as much as anyone and we have had no parties since last Christmas due to the pandemic. We have been stuck at home trying to live our lives without catching a potentially fatal illness. I'm really fed up of selfish people who insist on doing whatever they want regardless of the impact this could have on anyone they come in contact with. We are the ones who have to remain in lockdown while others please themselves.