It is not increasing productivity for many. It is demoralizing. Social isolation is demoralizing. And some of the motivation that carries students forward is the connection already made with classmates and teachers. They are building on those previous connections, not starting from scratch. Sure, a lot of college is teaching yourself. If that was wholly effective, universities never would have formed to begin with. Yes, distance learning has thousands of advantages. It does not replace live community interaction though.

The upside of this virus thing is that it demonstrates how online or distance learning can be effective. And how it can increase productivity.

This should help to put downward pressure on out-of-control college costs.

Anonymous wrote:Rather than “stay in place” we released millions of kids (hello Florida!) on the rest of the population. We should have kept them on campus.

I hear you, but this isn't how it works.

Many colleges are highly residential, but even so, only for freshmen and sophomores typically. Other colleges have higher percentages of commuting students or students who live off campus. Any of these kids will go to the store, out in the community, and therefore infect locals who come into contact with them or their germs. Those people travel, go other places, etc...

"Keeping them on campus" sounds like a good solution, but it really means nothing.

Anonymous wrote:"Can you imagine if hundreds of kids were to get as sick as she described, with limited resources at the health center and potentially far away from family? The two most severe illnesses I had in my life were contracted while I was in college. It was horrible to be hours from home with no one to take care of me other than friends who had their own stuff going on (and were trying not to catch it from me). College campuses are petri dishes. I would not have wanted to teach on campus if we hadn't closed."

There is another reason beyond dorms being petri dishes.

Medical care on college campuses and in surrounding towns/cities is set up to deal with typical diseases college students get.

Once it gets loose on a campus all the medical care in the city or county for the permanent population will be used treating the kids.

The disease can't be kept on campus because all the day to day operations of the school are done by the surrounding population.

But there will be no medical services left

Schools with affiliated hospitals will want to use dorms as quarantine/treatment centers. Stanford is already planning to do this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, come on. This isn’t hard. We need the kids spread out. Not all living in the same small area. There is no way the hospital in most college towns could handle that many cases.

Except those kids are at low risk to themselves and each other. It is their role as carrier to adults that is a problem. I agree with PP that this was a liability CYA. This did nothing to help the United States fight a pandemic.

Except faculty and staff would be killed by the thousands...

And faculty and staff would carry the virus home to their families, and their spouses would then carry it to their coworkers, and so on....

My DC is now finishing the semester online here at home and is crushed about the huge change, the sudden end of a major group project that could only be done on campus, missing friends, etc. But even my DC understands and embraces the reasons for college closing the campus. People like OP who do not understand this are people who will continue to spread the virus. OP, are you a social distancing denier too? Do you think the virus is a hoax and all businesses should remain fully open?

"Can you imagine if hundreds of kids were to get as sick as she described, with limited resources at the health center and potentially far away from family? The two most severe illnesses I had in my life were contracted while I was in college. It was horrible to be hours from home with no one to take care of me other than friends who had their own stuff going on (and were trying not to catch it from me). College campuses are petri dishes. I would not have wanted to teach on campus if we hadn't closed."

There is another reason beyond dorms being petri dishes.

Medical care on college campuses and in surrounding towns/cities is set up to deal with typical diseases college students get.

Once it gets loose on a campus all the medical care in the city or county for the permanent population will be used treating the kids.

The disease can't be kept on campus because all the day to day operations of the school are done by the surrounding population.

But there will be no medical services left

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, come on. This isn’t hard. We need the kids spread out. Not all living in the same small area. There is no way the hospital in most college towns could handle that many cases.

Except those kids are at low risk to themselves and each other. It is their role as carrier to adults that is a problem. I agree with PP that this was a liability CYA. This did nothing to help the United States fight a pandemic.

You might wanna catch up on the news, PP.

Kids get it, too.

I'm a professor. I got an email on March 11 from a student who had missed a deadline because she was really sick. She described her symptoms as a high fever, horrible headaches, chest pain, and severe congestion. She was diagnosed with pneumonia at the time. She said heavily mediated and that she had been in and out of consciousness. I replied to the email giving her an extension and didn't connect her symptoms to COVID-19. But I read back over her email last night and I almost guarantee that's what she had. I am going to follow up with her to see how she's doing now.

Can you imagine if hundreds of kids were to get as sick as she described, with limited resources at the health center and potentially far away from family? The two most severe illnesses I had in my life were contracted while I was in college. It was horrible to be hours from home with no one to take care of me other than friends who had their own stuff going on (and were trying not to catch it from me). College campuses are petri dishes. I would not have wanted to teach on campus if we hadn't closed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, come on. This isn’t hard. We need the kids spread out. Not all living in the same small area. There is no way the hospital in most college towns could handle that many cases.

Except those kids are at low risk to themselves and each other. It is their role as carrier to adults that is a problem. I agree with PP that this was a liability CYA. This did nothing to help the United States fight a pandemic.

Except faculty and staff would be killed by the thousands...

Anonymous wrote:Rather than “stay in place” we released millions of kids (hello Florida!) on the rest of the population. We should have kept them on campus.

It's about liability, not the students. Colleges will get sued if a student dies on campus from this virus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, come on. This isn’t hard. We need the kids spread out. Not all living in the same small area. There is no way the hospital in most college towns could handle that many cases.

Except those kids are at low risk to themselves and each other. It is their role as carrier to adults that is a problem. I agree with PP that this was a liability CYA. This did nothing to help the United States fight a pandemic.

You might wanna catch up on the news, PP.

Kids get it, too.

Anonymous wrote:A dorm is like a cruise ship. Not stupid. My kid came home for during break and just never went back to school. It was the right call.

Well put