OMG - Cambridge University are having only distance learning for students for whole of next year !!! If other universities follow suit at this early stage it will be a national disgrace. We've wiped out a fair few of the elderly now we may be throwing away a whole life experience for our youngsters. I just can't imagine how devastated 18 year olds will be. They have lost the experience and excitement of doing their A'levels and to have this snatched away from them is unimaginable. At the very worst i thought there would be a term by term review. Furthermore they intend to charge the full tuition fee.
I was an undergrad for 4 years. Every single October without fail I would get ill. Typically througout the rest of the year I would get ill perhaps 0-1 times but every October like clockwork I'd get freshers flu. Some of the time it was just a bad cold, in my first year it was so bad I thought I had meningitis (I had all the symptoms).
And while there is some evidence that younger children may lack the ability to spread COVID the evidence is much weaker for young adults and older teenagers. Putting lectures online and avoiding a freshers flu type epidemic in the universities is emminently sensible. Hell even if young adults are not good vectors for transmission of COVID it can't hurt to stamp down on freshers flu during this crisis.
Also compare primary schools which are largelly local to universities which students apply for based on prestige. Oxford/Cambridge are attended because they are good not because people live in Oxford or Cambridge.
So yes I'm fully in favour of having lectures online. Cambridge did the right thing.
Twitter: @QuantumOverlord (general), @MedicaneWatch (medicane/TC stuff)
2023/2024 Snow days (approx 850hpa temp):
29/11 (-6), 30/11 (-6), 02/12 (-5), 03/12 (-5), 04/12 (-3), 16/01 (-3), 18/01 (-8), 08/02 (-5)
Total: 8 days with snow/sleet falling.
2022/2023 Snow days (approx 850hpa temp):
18/12 (-1), 06/03 (-6), 08/03 (-8), 09/03 (-6), 10/03 (-8), 11/03 (-5), 14/03 (-6)
Total: 7 days with snow/sleet falling.
2021/2022 Snow days (approx 850hpa temp):
26/11 (-5), 27/11 (-7), 28/11 (-6), 02/12 (-6), 06/01 (-5), 07/01 (-6), 06/02 (-5), 19/02 (-5), 24/02 (-7), 30/03 (-7), 31/03 (-8), 01/04 (-8)
Total: 12 days with snow/sleet falling.