I of course agree. But there are posters here who cling to America’s sense of “freedom” and cite it as a reason we can’t be expected to live with masks, school restrictions, gyms being closed or big parties being called off. I guess what American exceptionalism really means is that we feel we should be able to live without an ounce of discipline.
Maybe colleges should shift their target audience to an older group.
The mix of wide spread redundancy and the shift to online learning, which better suits with their life style, makes college more appealing to non traditional age students. If 18-22s are disinterested in their product then colleges have the option of looking for different customers
I expect data-based decisions, @katliamom not some supposed moral “sense of discipline” to guide decisions. The Toronto Hospital for Sick Kids, a world renowned institution, has advised its provincial government not to require masks in Ontario k12 schools, saying they are of marginal effectiveness and may spread infection when used by children under 12. I have no problem wearing a mask, but stop pretending that those who disagree with you are uneducated rednecks. I assure you, the doctors at Toronto Sick Kids are not, and are not impressed by your disciplined but misguided procedures.
Chinese New Year. Kind of. Venice as an example? Both at times when things were at its most fearful. I don’t care what Germany does. Really.
It’s odd how many citizens and long term residents refer to Americans as though that is some other set of people than themselves.
UConn has already had a lawsuit filed against it because a parent was unhappy their spring tuition was not reduced when the school went online due to the pandemic. Seems pretty frivolous? And UConn did do pro-rated refunds of dorm housing, dorm meal plans, and parking passes.
Where did I say anything about uneducated rednecks? And what does the Ontario k12 schools have to do with cancelling big parties at American colleges? This response has nothing to do with what I posted. Maybe you meant this for another poster’s comments?
On the face of it, I don’t know if it’s frivolous or not. I am not a parent or student connected to UConn. People who are used to assessing contracts and payments will examine the lawsuit and determine its validity. Heaven knows we don’t need Congress protecting the big guy from the little guy any more than they already do.
So at dinner last night my son who was hell bent on going back for his senior year said that if Michigan is online then he would just do the classes at home since paying room /board would be stupid.
My wife and I looked at each other and were like no!! He is a frugal practical dude. He is waiting on living arrangements since he can grab an apartment anytime and is looking at a Coop house that has plenty of space with singles. It includes everything and they have a Chef for dinners all together at 6:30 pm nightly. Kinda fun. But he also likes to cook and has been doing it since sophomore year.
He stayed on campus in his apartment till finals were over. His internship was canceled and just found the dishwasher and detergent at home and how to push the start button… ?.
He’s doing greenbelt Six sigma certificate online
Yes… Lol… Online!!
He has some positions on campus and being there for him just makes more sense. Just completed a Podcast for a department of Michigan in a series that he is part of etc.
He can finish in the fall but wants to complete his 2 minors. They have practicums associated with them and he has his senior engineering project to do. The minors should be alot of fun for him and sorta a fun but busy year.
He is more concerned about rent etc. The Coop starts and ends with the school year and we really don’t care if he has a year lease. Maybe we will go in the summer and hang out if he can’t sublease it ?.
Anyway…I feel better now and Happy Father’s day to all.
I was speaking about Lamont - did not hear that the wedding was postponed. Do you know the new date? My niece is getting married in September (instate), so we are watching closely.
Niall Ferguson, the well-known conservative economic historian at the Hoover Institute, a former professor at Oxford and Harvard, wrote in Bloomberg today in a piece titled “America Is on the Road to Relapse Not Recovery” about what his Hoover colleague John Cochrane called “The Dumb Reopening”:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-06-21/covid-19-america-is-on-the-road-to-relapse-not-recovery
Reading through the planning documents for ds19’s school I am convinced that they are planning on leveraging the investment they are making in digital architecture to support the online offerings in the fall to an expansion into the micro-credential marketplace for continuing education.
Sorry, forgot to add that crucial factor. It‘s 50 new cases per 100.000 inhabitants over a week.
UConn is not alone. Indiana U, U of Missouri, UPenn, Duke, and many other schools are facing these lawsuits as well.
… for those college students who have the luxury of attending college in that manner (yes, that describes many of those on these forums). For many college students, college (that they commute to from where they lived before college) is strictly about the academic and pre-professional learning, not about the non-academic social social aspects.
Of course, some who do attend luxury class colleges do so more for making social connections and acquiring the college’s name prestige than for any academic or pre-professional learning there. Perhaps college is, to them, more like what was called a “finishing school” (but for any gender)?
If no one (student, faculty, staff, people in the community) dies or gets permanently injured from COVID-19 due to the college opening to the level you want, would such a lawsuit have any chance of success?
I don’t live in the US. That’s a long time ago. Nor in Canada. That’s even longer ago. (God, I’m old!). Having lived in a number of different countries, I am aware that people actually are the same all over in that the things that work for one set of people in a particular set of circumstances would work for another set of people in similar circumstances just as well, regardless of where they are resident or are citizens - what makes people different is that they don’t want to do the same things, not that they couldn’t.
You don’t have to care about anything that happens anywhere else you don’t live. Really. But in a world wide pandemic, where basically every country is a big lab for the unknown, looking at the results those other “labs“ are getting might be useful. Take what you think you might need, discard the rest. Ignore it all, if you’d rather! Personally, I want to know what is happening in the huge collection of labs called USA, and occasionally offer my European perspective for anyone who might be interested. To me, it often feels like every country, state, county, city wants to reinvent the wheel, only looking at other places to point their finger and shout: “wrong!”
These days, I’d really love to know more about what’s happening in countries who have kept schools open, like Sweden, and Asian countries, who have never really locked down, like Japan and South Korea. Some of then must have kept higher education going all this time? I wish I read an Asian language…
Despite all the wishful thinking and denial, the reality is that College students returning to campuses is going to be a super spreader event. Period.
Tigerle—
I don’t know about Sweden but I read Japanese articles daily. Even their first Covid case was confirmed in mid January from contact with Chinese tourists, death total is so far around 950. Unlike other Eastern Asian countries, Japan limits testing purposely so their 18000- confirmed case is nonsense. Death total from 1918-19 Spanish Flu was about 350000 though.
First of all, wearing masks has never ever become arguments. Especially Japan learned about an importance of face masks from 1918-19 Spanish Flu. I grew up going to school with a face mask if I had a tiny cough since 1st grade as courtesy. It is just a commonsense, almost at the same level as wearing underwear, then change (wash) it everyday. It’s getting extremely hot weather there so many manufactures started producing “cool-feature” for summer face masks. And many public warnings have been out: How to wear a face mask during hot and humid summer.
Second of all, we learn how to REMOVE shoes when we get back home right after we start walking (1 year old). After that, probably around 2 years old, we learn how to wash hands, then by preschool, they wash hands really, really well. It sounds like obsessing but it is NORMAL. I do wash my hands minimum 60 seconds now.
Public transportation is “packed”. So they encouraged some businesses to close or have employees to commute in staggered times in March-May. But Tokyo didn’t become “empty” like NYC. And everyone knows, there are lots of 80-100 year-old people in Japan.
Colleges aren’t that heavily “residential type”. Even 18-year-old freshmen, they need to find a tiny / small apartment by their own, buy furniture and appliances, commune from / to college and shop and cook meals. They have an option for healthy campus meals in very reasonable prices. (Many college students commute from parents’ / relative’s home by public transportation for 1-1/2 hours one way.) I’ve never heard of college’s “unlimited meal plan”…And their tuitions, even private colleges, are NOTHING to compare with any US private and public colleges.
Lastly, national healthcare is very effective. No one should be charged for any testing / treatments for Covid. That is one of big reasons they limit testing knowing many of positive cases are mild to none.
No country is safe with Covid. But US is still in the phase debating face mask / covering.
@ucbalumnus you have commented here and on other threads how kids at top residential colleges and universities are there to meet people and for the name of the school. I find that is not true for the kids I know at schools like this. These kids are there to learn. Do they want to be surrounded by like-minded students and a feeling of community? Sure. S19 didn’t choose a school because of the name. He chose it for the fit, socially and academically.
These kids want to go back just as much as any other kids. I don’t think they want to stay home and take remote classes and benefit from the name on their diploma. They have professors and friends they miss and extracurricular activities they miss. Places like this aren’t “finishing schools”.
I just listened to an interview that the Japanese PM Abe is under pressure and Coronavirus is making a comeback. That there has been gross under reporting, terrible testing protocols and many were directed to telephone centers to arrange for testing and many many people couldn’t receive a test.
Was the Japanese reporter fabricating information ?