Oxford and Cambridge current students

[sandybayley]

Nearly filled up the old one...

I also can't bear to watch BJ's statement, but I am appalled at how this generation are being treated. The Government can give dates for when pubs will open and people can go on holiday, but no dates for students going back and a threat that it won't be till September! My daughter is starting to disengage from this country, and I can't blame her.

Goodbye I hope you are right.
I am not generally a write to my MP person, but am thinking of writing to Boris and various others next week to try and point out how awful this is especially with non essential retail opening, holidays starting etc. I don't think my email will make a difference, but I feel I need to do something

I have fired off a letter to my dinosaur MP. I disagree with his politics, but he is usually very good at responding to issues. I have my suspicions that Boris sneaked this out on Twitter knowing that most people would be focusing elsewhere on a Saturday afternoon. It certainly hasn't been picked up by the media.

Or this: email.number10.gov.uk/

It certainly looks like we may be being softened up for keeping the students away from university next term ... the very use of the word 'September' seems to be for that sole purpose.

What concerns me is that there is so little coverage of the impact on students. Every other sector of society has had its time in the spotlight but what has been asked of students has gone really under the radar, with the possible exception of the financial aspect of paying for unused accommodation .

What has gone undebated is the impact on young adults of isolation for so long from their workplaces, their peers and their tutors. Yes, they can have tutorials and socials on zoom. However, this in no way replaces the chance to work, debate and study collaboratively.

If they cancel attendance next term, the degree that my second-year DS obtains will be as a result of only 2 years' physical presence in College, and that's assuming there is no disruption next academic year. How can he achieve his potential with so much of the intellectual benefits of physical attendance taken away from him?

Much has been said about education being a priority in terms of schoolchildren, but absolutely nothing about the educational loss suffered by students banned from returning to college.

If they can't go back for the summer term, when on earth will it be deemed safe for them to return? They are already warning us of the autumn C19 wave.

I am worried, too, that those taking the decision will do so without all the information. Do they actually know how many students are back already? Are they assuming that the whole cohort of students has spent the Spring term at home, because that definitely isn't the case. Those with private accommodation have returned in large numbers. So permitting the remaining students, who are in university-owned accommodation to do so is not quite the major step it may appear. Do the government/scientists calculating the risk know this? Can anyone working in university tell us whether this information is available to them?

Our DC are obviously fortunate to have continued to have their tutorials and if a resurgence of Covid threatened to undo all our efforts I would support another term at home, but I do worry that students have no one to put their case and they are an easy target for the government to say 'look we are opening stuff up but we are still cracking down on potential hotspots'

It does seem to be some Oxford colleges, Cambridge & Durham which have taken the harshest stance on student returns. I know of so many at other universities who have rocked up to their uni owned halls and got on with studying online on site.

DD1 reports that life in college continues to be miserable for a lot of students, who are very isolated with no other students assigned, formally or informally to check in on them.

She found another one last week. Saw a light on and went to check on the occupant. The girl (international) has been there since October and not been anywhere but her room. Has now been introduced to other Nat Scis. DD1 has them all on whatsapp and has been inviting them for walks/meal in hall etc.

She feels a bit awkward, but knows it is the right thing to do, especially as the college want them to spend as much time alone in their rooms as possible, shepherding them back if they gather to chat. This is good for limiting covid in the general population, but isolation has proved to be extremely unhealthy for some students.

Everyone in college is sad today.

I have asked her to keep up her work and maybe get others involved in checking up on others.

Your DD's College does sound peculiar. Is it self catered? If anything, overseas students tend to bond more with each other, as they tend to be onsite from one end of the year to the other. It's bizarre that they are all living like monks in solitary cells and not going out & about on the college grounds or in Cambridge like the rest of the student population. I think I would have been encouraging my DD to think again in that kind of atmosphere.

Greetings to all. I’m appalled by the BoJo statement. September??!! Unbelievable.

Here at Pant Towers, DD1 has done her Mods online: 10 papers were reduced to 5 and she feels she’s done ok. DS1 is still in a slough of despond but has some support on offer during the vac so I hope that will help.

DH has had both jabs, and DD1 and I have each had one (there were spares at the local clinic which would otherwise have been chucked) so that feels very positive.

I’m just desperate for them to be allowed back next term. I’m not sure DS will stick it out if he has another miserable term working all hours in his bedroom.

(Usual family teasing about DS and his secret girlfriend— usually he plays along but yesterday he mused, “I’ve only met two girls and they’ve both got boyfriends.”)

DD2 is busy doing an Oxnet course and planning to apply for a choral scholarship and a Music degree. Very exciting and daunting for her. I hope she’ll have some chance to look around. She is much more diligent than her older siblings but I’m painfully aware of what a lottery it is. And less of an Oxbridge fan than I was pre-pandemic...

I’m just desperate for them to be allowed back next term.

Me too. Young people have been by far the worst hit as well as the most ignored. I just can't understand what valid public health reason there is for saying that the summer term can't happen. I can think of political ones only.

@goodbyestranger thanks for the link.

I just spent ages posting a message there, clicked send and it vanished without any acknowledgement.
Unlucky blip, or deliberate way of deterring contact?

I just sent a message - thanks for the link goodbye - and received an acknowledgement by email. Not sure what good it will do. There was one positive test in Oxford University last week - one!. Surely someone is going to stand up for students?

Wreck check your emails. They send a verification to your email address before submission.

Thanks for the link goodbye - just done that, am waiting for a verification email.

It’s absolutely beyond belief the situation that students are in. Totally agree, the young have been impacted disproportionately and someone in government needs to properly address the situation. Feel so frustrated and angry that students appear to be invisible and ignored. How on earth can the government re-open schools and talk about the re-opening of pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops whilst not including universities under that umbrella? It’s totally absurd, I just simply don’t understand it.

I'm delighted to read that people have made use of the link. Thus far I haven't been able to write, simply on the grounds that anything I composed at the moment would be far, far too rude and unmeasured. I'm waiting to see if time helps on that front but at the moment my head is wall to wall expletives.

I'm working on the assumption that nobody is going to bother reading the messages too carefully, but maybe they will be added to the tally of complaints about a particular subject.

Why aren't students protesting I wonder? At this rate it will be their mothers doing the protesting!

I've just used that link too. Not sure it will do any good, but at least I feel I've done something. I am so angry and depressed about this now! Without a firm date for return, I'm increasingly of the view that it is cruel to tell my DD she can't go and visit with her boyfriend - it's not like they can be confident of being together again at uni any time soon. Afterall, apparently 10,000 people will be able to get together in stadia in May.....

I've now sent Boris my fairly direct contribution but I did manage to contain the expletives.

Another one who has used goodbyestranger’s link. Thank you for it.

I've also emailed, thanks for the link Goodbye

I think that students have lost their voice as they don't have anyone to express their outrage to except their parents. Cinnamon's posts about isolation highlight this. How do you build a protest if you can't see anyone standing alongside you? Also, I doubt if many follow BoJo's Twitter feed. DD wasn't aware.

Agree with @Hoghgyni. It doesn’t feel worth protesting when no one cares or will listen. It’s desperately sad for this generation.

...and exactly right about students not rolling BoJo’s Twitter! It is astounding that mainstream media haven’t picked up this latest assault on students. If I had t read about it on this thread I would have had no idea about it.

*following his Twitter, not rolling it! What would that look like?

The vast majority of the public don't care either, which is why the media show little interest. It's only on the radar of families with DC currently there or about to go.