How can anyone say schools/ unis should shut ???

[lu00]

I don’t know how to explain it properly but everyone posting on here on previous threads saying ‘#closetheschools’ who is an adult is posting from their home that they chose, in the life that they were able to create or themselves. You all had the freedom to do that, to be who you want to be, live how you want to live. You met your lifelong friends, met your partners, fell in love, studied, picked careers, whatever.

When you argue to close the universities and schools, what you have to see is that you are asking to take that away from us. These are our developmental years and we’re not going to get the chance to make anything of our lives !!!

Forced isolation at 18, in your parents house is different to forced isolation at 45 surrounded by your family, in your home (I’m aware not all adults have this, but the vast vast majority of Mumsnetters do) Working from home is different to studying from home, because at work, you’re goal is to do that work and if you can get that task done from home then so be it, you’ll still get your wage. But studying online when your chance at a future is being taken away is a pointless exercise, and it’s depressing.

I don’t know how anyone can expect this of us ?? You ALL got your youths. You ALL got your childhoods. You ALL got your twenties.

Don’t ask this of us, please. We can’t take it.

@NoMoreFlowers

I’m sorry, but my honest opinion is that you’re being ridiculous and selfish.

You “can’t take it”? Of course you bloody well can. I understand that you don’t want to, but nobody else does either. You are not more special than anybody else . Why don’t you start thinking about the impact on other people and stop thinking about yourself.

Why don’t I stop thinking about myself ?

Okay, so in the last lockdown I volunteered at a foodbank, with the homeless and people working in prostitution. I stick to the rules. I don’t go to parties, I don’t go out. I never see anyone, instead I stayed in and was a carer for my mum and brother until uni started, and now I stay in and study nursing.

I do my best to be a good person every day, that does NOT mean I have to agree with lockdown. You can disagree with every fibre of your being and express that disagreement, whilst still complying

you 'can't take it'??

welcome to adulthood....you can and you will

I agree with you OP. Most people who want lockdown will just be able to pick their life up afterwards as they left it. Others will lose everything.

The knock on effects for your generation will be felt for decades.

There's no easy answer to any of this (or there was but we didn't take it - Taiwan/NZ) but taking education away from kids/YA for which there is no compensation is not the solution.

A two week lockdown over half term could have worked without impacting students but once again our leaders made the wrong decision.

@PostItJoyWeek

Hyperbole OP. Nevertheless I agree that schools and unis should stay open. Let the young get infected then recover this month in one go while the vulnerable are shielding. Upon unlock the youth will be a natural firebreak.

Okay, but so what if it’s hyperbole ( I’m not convinced it is)

Overwhelmingly this is how the majority of young people are feeling so these thoughts need to be listened to. The young need to be brought into the conversation when decisions about our lives our being made

@BlackPetunia

you 'can't take it'??

welcome to adulthood....you can and you will

Ooooftt, patronising.

You know nothing about my life and what I’ve been through :)

Schools and universities will not close this time. And if we all do our best to stay home for a few weeks, hopefully we will not get to the point where we have to close schools and universities for long periods like in the first lockdown.
I think people's views will depend on the number of cases in the area. But nobody can deny the importance of these years in education, and future performance.
For university student though, one question. I did find really difficult to take notes when the professor was speaking at superspeed for one hour! In my younger days don't you find easier to attend lessons online? Do they give you the material in word or slides? Just out of curiosity.
We had to exchange notes between ourselves sometimes, copy books(like pages after pages) to build good notes to study with! It was hard work.....

@PostItJoyWeek

Hyperbole OP. Nevertheless I agree that schools and unis should stay open. Let the young get infected then recover this month in one go while the vulnerable are shielding. Upon unlock the youth will be a natural firebreak.

What about the shielding teachers?

Sick of this shit. Such selfish selfish people on here.
Schools should be open. But not as they are. Let me make this very clear-DFE guidelines say 'no masks'. All this repeating that masks are worn in corridors etc. That's not true. Headteachers are making that call for individual schools and many are basically having parents demanding that they are not worn.

If jobs are to be saved and OP, let's be honest, your future prospects will be better IF those jobs and the economy recover, we need a proper lockdown with secondary schools doing blended learning (certain kids in and actually probably more than in the first lockdown). Most unis aren't having lectures in person anyway? You're need to meet your mates over the next couple of weeks can not be an arguement for no lockdown! Bloody hell.

I agree OP. IMO they should have shielded the vulnerable and let the rest of society get on with life with social distancing, mask etc. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s the people who are not worried about their jobs that have the privilege of calling for a national lockdown including the closing of schools and unis, whilst standing on a moral high ground doing their outraged virtue signalling.

Personally believe primary and Y7-9 should close because there's more than enough waffle and repetition in the curriculum that even losing a year before the start of GCSEs will have no long term impact. GCSEs, A Levels and Universities need to remain open as this does have a long term impact on those affected.

@MushMonster

Schools and universities will not close this time. And if we all do our best to stay home for a few weeks, hopefully we will not get to the point where we have to close schools and universities for long periods like in the first lockdown. I think people's views will depend on the number of cases in the area. But nobody can deny the importance of these years in education, and future performance. For university student though, one question. I did find really difficult to take notes when the professor was speaking at superspeed for one hour! In my younger days don't you find easier to attend lessons online? Do they give you the material in word or slides? Just out of curiosity. We had to exchange notes between ourselves sometimes, copy books(like pages after pages) to build good notes to study with! It was hard work.....

So we get a pre recorded PowerPoint with our lecturers voice over it. It’s fine, but what’s lacking is the ability to ask questions or consult coursemates - because we’ve never met them. You basically get the lecture, and if you don’t understand it, tough.

For me though that’s just sociology. I also do nursing so I’m in person a lot and it’s a lovely environment. I really feel for the majority who are 100% online

@BootNoot

The problem is that Covid is spreading through the schools and unis. If shutting them for a couple of weeks or even months would get rid of Covid for good, then I'd rather that then leave them open and let hundreds and thousands more vulnerable people die

But it won’t get rid of Covid for good, it didn’t last time. Covid is here to stay and we need to respond accordingly

If the economy is ruined for the sake of the childrens education, then what will those children do when they leave school? There won't be any jobs for them to do or money for them to buy houses.

You are studying nursing?

Do you actually have contact with nurses working through this shit?

In Yate this weekend there has been a huge race in a warehouse...i suppose you are going to say that's OK because the young deserve to live their lives.
Great apart from a lot of our emergency services have been put at risk.

I notice you say you were a carer for your mum and your brother. So am I right in assuming your mum has care needs? is she vulnerable to covid? You are following the rules. No need to think yourself selfish, just think about the people you care about and then keep following the rules. You'll be fine, you have your whole future ahead of you. This is a blip.....that's all.

My DS has just started Uni studying from home. He's pragmatic about it. DS aged 15 is worriedvabout his GCSE. But both of them are following the rules rigidly. In fact they are more cautious than me. Why......? precisely because they know Covid won't kill them, and because they don't like seeing death rates in the thousands, they have a social conscious and I'm very proud of them.

Grr rave not race!

Posted too soon.
The young people need something at the end of this. They can easily study at home part time, and attend school part-time to allow for social distancing in classes.

Only the very young think of university and school as their most important “developmental” years. I know I did. Now I’m older I know they weren’t.

It’s not that bad. You have to stay at home. It sucks. But you are unlikely to have to bear the responsibility of children and home ownership. you’re not down a mine. Or in the trenches. It’s sucks. But really, that’s all. It just sucks.

Don't you have a system to put questions forward? And a group chat?
That is a shortfall of your uni, because schools do have it. Children post their work back to the teacher. They can email teachers. And also, in the part where the teacher posts the new work, students can leave comments (they stick to the lesson because the teacher is watching )
Ask your uni. Minimum they have to do is give you a phone number or email to ask questions.
Thanks so much for studing nursing! That is what is most needed these days!

@Aardvarkitsabloodyaardvark

You are studying nursing?

Do you actually have contact with nurses working through this shit?

In Yate this weekend there has been a huge race in a warehouse...i suppose you are going to say that's OK because the young deserve to live their lives.
Great apart from a lot of our emergency services have been put at risk.

A lot of my lecturers are nurses and have told us that hospitals have been so much quieter for them than normal. Obviously, they see benefits to it - eg. Increased hand hygiene and no visitors has led to a massive reduction in norovirus cases this year. But none of them would keep lockdown.

I can also assure you that I put none of the nurses at risk by being in contact with them, as I have followed the rules to an absolute T.

I do think youth have been screwed with the double whammy of Covid and Brexit.

However, to keep schools/unis open, we could invest in making them safer, or move to part time in-person model, increase testing capacity and range of symptoms to be tested for. To keep them open as they are means tanking the economy further, longer and less effective lockdowns...or having more severe lockdowns later - all of which affect your future. I don't understand why we didn't do a circuit breaker and then open schools again, even if other things stayed closed. I don't understand why government are not looking at ways to make these environments safer. Trust me though, it is shit for pretty much all walks of life and age groups right now.

@Aardvarkitsabloodyaardvark

You are studying nursing?

Do you actually have contact with nurses working through this shit?

In Yate this weekend there has been a huge race in a warehouse...i suppose you are going to say that's OK because the young deserve to live their lives.
Great apart from a lot of our emergency services have been put at risk.

Oh and of course I don’t think the rave is okay. As you know, my post was about education - a NECESSITY, not parties ? Please don’t put words I didn’t say into my mouth

@monkeyBidness are you working in the field you studied in university? Because if the answer is not, how it comes that they were not the most important developmental years of your life?

This isn’t for shits and giggles. It’s the economy or death. They’re not doing it for fun. You continuing to go to uni and more death and long covid means when you hit 60 there’s still a lot of national debt and all those people who might be out of work with long covid. Uni is a choice not a right. How do you think people faired during the war? They didn’t choose to sleep in the underground. It was that or death. It’s not being decided just to piss you off.

I agree with you. Of course they should not shut. Kids deserve an education and everything that school and college brings to them. They in turn will need to work in due course to pay off the massive debt the country is now in. If they are not educated they will be unable to do so.