A lot of this is weather dependent. It is one thing to say eat outside on a nice 60 degree autumn day- it is another when it is sleeting or snowing in November. When the weather turns unpleasant there will not be enough common space on many college campuses for students to meet and still stay six feet apart. Hence the concern about eating boxed lunches in a dorm room.
speaking as a parent of a upcoming freshmen, I am not in favor of a gap year and my is 100% not a fan, he wants out of his jail aka our house , we are in NJ so we took it on the chin, he has mostly been in lockdown for the last 3 and half months, he gets out to shot baskets and see the same 3 friends as the do sit 6 feet away in one of theirs backyard. He is going to school in Ohio, he has had a zoom call every night I think with his freshman class it seems. Is he getting short change in his first year, yep, but that is life, If he stayed home his HS friends are going off to schools across the US and he would be left here with his family. Do I wish he was gonna be closer that 10 hours away , yes but that is where he wanted to go so we will do the best we can , with what we have, where we are to Quote Teddy Roosevelt and hopes it works out.
I’ve followed this thread from the beginning, but have lurked more than posted. The tension around these finally revealed decisions is clearly palpable, and as a teacher I feel like I’m using my teacher voice, but I think it would do everyone some good to reset and take a deep breath.
We’re all cycling through the stages of grief here, and we are not all at the same stage at the same time. We all love our kids, we all want them to be happy and for college to be what they hoped. But for most, it’s just going to be some sort of mixed bag of compromise, I really think. We can try to analyze and rationalize and debate all we want, but the virus wins. And schools will do what’s best for them, and it may or may not be what you or they hoped. We should all do what’s best for us and our kids. Let’s not turn on each other. We all want our kids to be happy, healthy, and well-educated, or we wouldn’t be here.
This sucks . Maybe if this thread were. “hopes and concerns about fall and Covid” we would be less about winning arguments and more about supporting each other through this sh***y situation? My S20 graduated tonight, and I just tried to be in the moment. And it was bittersweet and amazing and it just was what it was. This is where we are. We can’t control anything here. We need to accept the things we can’t change and have the wisdom to know the difference. And be a little nicer to each other.
@ChemAM - You have often said this is a bad idea , and I agree it is a bad idea for the family BUT not for the college, some schools do not have the medical beds to handle a big outbreak, and big is very different in and around Boston vs Platsburg NY, a college sees this as it stops the spread here and that is their main concern, if it should be or not is a different question.
Columbia says “…this schedule has been adopted in order to make as much in-person instruction and campus life possible as conditions allow by controlling density, enhancing pedagogical flexibility across different schools and programs, and working to ensure that students’ plans for their education can best proceed.”
https://covid19.columbia.edu/news/provost-announces-academic-calendar-2020-21
@zozoty my impression is that schools all saying they are “committed to on campus for fall” are playing lip service knowing full well there is no possible way anyone in the US is going on campus. The numbers in the south and west just blew away any hope of that. This way they can make it look like they gave it their best effort and hopefully prevent kids from transferring to other schools in the meantime.
@Chekov - sorry but that is a very poor comment, some kids , maybe most kids do not hav the benefit that most of our kids have with a good structure around them and the $$$ to go to a residential college , forget MIT or the top 20, for many kids this may stop them in their tracks , it may not be self pity but lack of $$$ or lack of time due to taking on additional duties at home to help out if a breadwinner lost their job… It may just be plain old life gets in their way, grit goes a long way but it has it’s limits.
Xavier of Ohio stated if school closed next year and the dorms closed they would refund any R&B fee’s just like last year.
Many dozens of pages ago, I commented that I felt that assuming liability for residential life will be one of a college’s greatest concerns. No one truly knows how this virus will spread. Countless models can predict certain pathways, but then you have to introduce the variables of human behavior and those mysterious super spreaders, among many other unknowns.
A seemingly small # of colleges feel that the only way to have some hope of controlling the spread is to limit housing to all singles. I am still waiting to hear what Yale and Cornell decide. (I still follow Cornell even though that child has graduated.) My prediction is that both will have first year students & transfers on campus, plus those with extenuating home circumstances. Maybe seniors at Yale, but not at Cornell as almost all seniors live off campus.
Ithaca College, with its start date of October 5th, may emerge from this looking like the best predictor. The colleges that opened in August may have sent students home by October 5th, saving Ithaca from ever having to open.
^^So good I had to post it again. One of the top 3 responses of this thread!
People rejoicing in other people’s disappointments is shocking. Once you start seeing posters talking about “losing” and “winning” with college opening plans and predictions, you know the thread has hit a new low.
^"[T]he thread has hit a new low"? I’m not sure I agree. This thread, IMO, isn’t about cheering or condemning colleges’ decisions on fall opening. It’s mainly about sharing information on these decisions, and offering analysis and critiques about these decisions. This thread has done pretty well on that score.
I’m sympathetic to the idea. My S would probably prefer something like that if he’s not allowed back to the campus. However, I personally don’t think it’s a good idea. What if the area your son and his friends choose turns out to be COVID-19 hot spot in the fall (or beyond)? Do you want them to be completely on their own to have to feed themselves (they’ll survive, but…)? What if the area runs out of hospital beds and other resources? What if the area is shut down again (don’t discount that possibility)? What if all flights to or from the area are cancelled or difficult to book?
I teach k-6 and I am interested in how my upper graders (with a few very interesting exceptions) have adjusted to zoom classes. They are adept at turning their camera off and on for multitasking, they are having fun with backgrounds and some have their own version of “credibility bookshelves.” They are developing social media skills at an earlier age and with a bigger audience than our kids did.
Oh, there will be some clandestine parties. But if those kids can have them without sharing the drinks and/or passing the bongs, Bowdoin will succeed in suppressing the spread.
Oh, yeah. Three teen girls in my house. I smile and nod through things I never could have imagined. Never throw gas on active flames.
In my daughter’s college town a pretty girl can get away with any fake ID. My daughter has on occasion used an ID with the name (and picture of) Hannah Montana late at night.
My kids go to large state schools, and I’m wondering if the size makes the admins throw up their hands to a certain extent. The smaller LACs can have more control, so they are more thoughtful as to how to proceed.
Also, seems like the LACs really want to have singles which isn’t the case at many other schools.
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My kids go to large state schools, and I’m wondering if the size makes the admins throw up their hands to a certain extent. The smaller LACs can have more control, so they are more thoughtful as to how
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I’m not sure the size of the school is the determining factor. My understanding is thar both UCONN and UMass Amherst are going to largely do the same thing as Bowdoin — singles only with the first preference for on campus being freshmen.
Large state schools, by design, serve mainly in state students. Many of who’s family home are within commuting distance of the campus.
A private National LAC serve people who live all over the country. If those students want in person classes they have to live in dorms to live close enough to make that possible.
I think that saying that the state schools schools are “ having everyone back” doesn’t have the same meaning as the LAC would. The state school will likely turn more into a commuter school where students who would normally go to the dorms will op to or will be asked to stay at home.
The college may be more open to holding inperson classes because they have that pool of commuter students. The LAC has that additional burden of being liable for the dorms. No dorms for them means no inperson classes either.
Initially I thought smaller LACs were going to be in a better position to handle this but when I realized research universities have the ability to process their own tests, that testing ability with quick turnaround could really make a difference. It really seems to be about containment rather than thinking the virus won’t be present.
I also wish we could scale the swab test. Imagine if that rapid test were available everywhere like a pregnancy test? It could be a game changer. But I remember Dr. Birx saying we would never have enough testing to test everyone everyday.