Student and Christmas

Lilyflower - Imprisoning children at Christmas is a monstrous idea.

At 18, university students by law adults not children!

sparklingsilver28

^Lilyflower - Imprisoning children at Christmas is a monstrous idea.^

At 18, university students by law adults not children!

I don't recall as much being made fuss about Shielders who were told to stay in and not leave home at all for three months in the first instance, and I doubt students were having on line discussions about how awful it was for us poor dears and how terrible that there weren't any delivery slots. But then, I was probably worrying too much about how to get milk, and it wasn't students who knocked on our door to ask if we needed food from the shops before the deliveries got sorted.

I doubt most of them gave us a passing thought, apart from our own DGC, NfkDumpling!

lilyflower they'd better start writing their letters to Father Christmas or he won't know where to deliver their presents.

At that age mine had gone off on gap years (working their way round Europe or Far East/Australia) before university and weren't home at Christmas anyway.
Unfortunately, gap years are not possible at the moment.

IMHO I have to say that some of the comments and opinions I have read are harsh, unfeeling and lacking in understanding the situation that many of the 2.4 million students in the UK
are currently experiencing. The BBC have reported in detail on the extremely difficult conditions that many of the ‘locked in’ students are living with. It seems this is another example of the chaos that can arise when decisions are made without due consideration of all the issues resulting. For many of the Freshers this is their first experience of being away from home and what should be a memorable experience for them is turning into a nightmare they will not forget. Let’s stop knocking them as a group of ‘young and reckless partygoers living it up 24/7. I know just how concerned I would be as a parent if my young people were at University. Thank goodness they all graduated some 8-10 years ago. And by the way, students are responsible for their rent, board and lodging whether in Halls or in rented accommodation ‘off campus’. And give a thought to those who may contract the virus, are feeling pretty ill but not enough to be hospitalised. Who is going to care for them ? We are supposed to be ‘altogether in this’. Regrettably it does not seem to be the case.

How do we suppose the mental health of the year group whose A level results were screwed up, who had to play "can I still come?" with their Unis, only to get there and find themselves locked up and learning on line, with food parcels being delivered, is doing? As far as I know no over 60s were locked in with security guards at the door.

For goodness sake, these students are young adults finding their way in the world, taking the good with the bad. They could still have a good christmas away from their families, maybe they will pull together and enjoy a Christmas dinner of sorts, drink, and play silly games. At 18 I was living away from home, in a flat in London and didn't go home for that Christmas as it wasn't worth the travel time for 2 days at home. Instead a group of us made the best of it and I must say throughly enjoyed ourselves. I feel in part its the parents fault for raising a mollycoddled generation. Its just one Christmas

Yes, I do feel sorry for any who are ill and hope they will look out for each other and any that need more care will receive it.

However, we were told on another thread that we were infantalising primary school children of 5 or 6 today yet we seem to be doing that with these young adults.

X post Barmeyoldbat and I agree with you.

It's a learning curve, trisher - a steep one but we all had them and still do.

Please could someone explain what the difference is between:

a) a young student, stuck in his uni accommodation, can't go out, can't meet their friends, doesn't know when they ever will, struggling to work out how to get provisions, no idea whether they'll see their families for Christmas and is thoroughly fed up and depressed

b) an elderly person, stuck in their granny flat, can't go out, can't meet their friends, doesn't know when they ever will, struggling to work out how to get provisions, no idea whether they'll see their families for Christmas and is thoroughly fed up and depressed.

?

If students do travel home after they have been asked to self isolate, then the family in their household will have to self isolate as well. So there is that to consider.

I do feel sorry for the students even attempting to go to uni this year - My advice would have been to defer if at all possible. The universities of course want/need their income. My daughter is a lecturer in a clinical skills environment and she can’t understand the rush to get the students back. As for Christmas not sure why folk are so worried about a particular day? Surely families can have Christmas any day unless you are very very religious?

Please could someone explain what the difference is between:

60 years? And a degree of fitness and health.
And, according to the statistics, the mortality rate increases quite dramatically with age.

Yes, I feel sorry that this is not the university experience they were hoping for.

But the scientists predicted a second, possibly worse, wave in October and these are supposedly intelligent people.

My advice would have been to defer if at all possible.
That would be the sensible option.

Blackcat3

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!

Shall we say the same to the grans here complaining about spending Christmas alone?

What a nasty comment

4allweknow

FM Sturgeon has now said students can go home and learning will be on line for next two weeks. I rather liked the idea of all those young people being locked in with no social contact. Just a taste of what happened when the vulnerable elderly were shipped from hospital to care homes and have basically been locked in for months. No free weeks of care offered either unlike the students who seem to be in line for a rebate on their accommodation.

Are you serious?

Please could someone indicate where anyone over 60 had a security guard on the gate.

The student generation, especially those now entering their first year at university, have been seriously let down by our politicians,

The country needs to train scientists, doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. and their training cannot be done entirely online and so universities should have prioritised getting these students back on campus safely.

All other students, who can just as well listen to lectures and take part in discussions online, read books and write essays, should be doing that from home.

There is no way that this year's students can benefit from the social experience of being a student away from home in the way that they might have done only last year. so the safest thing would have been to recognise that and offer students who do not need to attend labs the choice of working from home or deferring for a year.

There are a lot of nasty and unpleasant remarks about those now at university.

I can never understand anyone who because they have suffered or another group have suffered should want to inflict that same suffering on others.

M0nica

There are a lot of nasty and unpleasant remarks about those now at university.

I can never understand anyone who because they have suffered or another group have suffered should want to inflict that same suffering on others.

Apparently “fair is fair” or some such nonsense.

I don’t get it

Please could someone indicate where anyone over 60 had a security guard on the gate.

I don't think security guards were needed for the over 60s trisher. They simply accepted that, to protect themselves, and other's, they needed to stay in doors and not spread the virus. I suppose if there had been the slightest risk that the residents of nursing and care homes were going to sneak out and go on a jolly, get hammered and party the night away with unfettered abandon, there's a good chance there would have been guards on the gates. But they were altogether more responsible and accepted that, for the foreseeable future and "greater good", their lives as they knew it, would have to change.

There are some nasty people on this thread!
‘Caring for others!’ seems to have disappeared.

universities should have prioritised getting these students back on campus safely.

They could have tested them and banned Freshers' week, drinking and socialising outside.

But imagine the outcry if that had happened!

But Chewbacca the evidence is that an 18 year old is unlikely to suffer or to have any longterm effects from covid, so if they do party or dismiss social distancing amongst them selves thay are not putting anyone at risk. If they then visit an elderly relative that may present a threat, but between themselves they may be quite OK. Is it then fair or reasonable to keep the locked up? In fact they may by socialising be developing herd immunity which might be best for all of us.

So lock up the oldies and let the virus run its course amongst the rest of the population?

Unfortunately, an ICU doctor from a Welsh hospital said on TV this evening that the patients they have at the moment are younger.
Most younger people may be more inclined to suffer fewer effects but not all.

What about the staff?

I didn't mean to sound dismissive or uncaring about the students trisher; it's a wretched time for them and I really do feel sorry for the situation they're in. I can see why they're disappointed, angry and upset; not only has their education been decimated, the whole experience of independent living away from home has been ruined as well. I take your point that allowing them to socialise within the confines of the campus may well be a good thing, but would they then be happy to be told that they can't go home to see vulnerable relatives?
It's a rotten and difficult time for everyone, and we're all losing out. I honestly don't know whether I have more sympathy for the young who have their lives ahead of them and just want to get started on their journeys, or the elderly and vulnerable, who just want to protect what they have left. It's a tough one. I really don't know the answer.

I feel very sorry for students, for all of the reasons which have already been expressed and I lost faith with this government many weeks ago. I don't believe their rhetoric or reasoning for anything they do.