Anonymous wrote:

I'm a professor and I agree with this. Most traditional lecture courses do not involve a whole lot of student-professor and student-student interaction. There is no reason those courses can't be done using online lectures (live or recorded) mixed with some live sessions that encourage interaction. I read that article going around about knowing the risks and avoiding them. It made me feel nervous about spending multiple hours per week in windowless rooms of 30-40 students who are not likely to be doing much, if any, social distancing. Those classes are scheduled in classrooms that barely hold more than the class size. Moving them to a larger room won't work because classroom space is hard to come by as it is. There aren't enough 75- or 100-person rooms to move all the 30-40-person classes into them. I think the decision is going to be made for us by local health officials. They will want physical distancing in classrooms, and will probably advise us to move courses in which this is not possible to online. If this happens it would free up a lot of classroom space for the classes that really need to be done in person.

I am also concerned about what school will look like for my young kids next year. If they aren't in school on the days I am scheduled to teach, I can't come to campus those days.

it's hard for some of us to justify college cost with online classes. I hope we going to come out of this with options for online classes at a fraction of the cost.

So the professors, TA's and admin staff, who are all doing the same work, should get a fraction of the salary? The buildings still need to be maintained. Should the janitors get a fraction of the cost too?

Anonymous wrote:I will let my DS go. I hope he is infected while he is there and by the time he returns home, he will be immune. Then we don't have to worry about him bring the virus to us. But that's really not fair to the numerous "elderly" professors and staff on campus. But it is their decision, and I support it, as long as he quarantines if he gets sick.

I hope he can just infect others, not us.

I'm a professor and I agree with this. Most traditional lecture courses do not involve a whole lot of student-professor and student-student interaction. There is no reason those courses can't be done using online lectures (live or recorded) mixed with some live sessions that encourage interaction. I read that article going around about knowing the risks and avoiding them. It made me feel nervous about spending multiple hours per week in windowless rooms of 30-40 students who are not likely to be doing much, if any, social distancing. Those classes are scheduled in classrooms that barely hold more than the class size. Moving them to a larger room won't work because classroom space is hard to come by as it is. There aren't enough 75- or 100-person rooms to move all the 30-40-person classes into them. I think the decision is going to be made for us by local health officials. They will want physical distancing in classrooms, and will probably advise us to move courses in which this is not possible to online. If this happens it would free up a lot of classroom space for the classes that really need to be done in person.

I am also concerned about what school will look like for my young kids next year. If they aren't in school on the days I am scheduled to teach, I can't come to campus those days.

it's hard for some of us to justify college cost with online classes. I hope we going to come out of this with options for online classes at a fraction of the cost.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have to believe that by the fall, this country will come to its senses. Hopefully the federal government takes some command of the situation and enough governors get on board to create social distancing that involves primarily isolation the sick and vulnerable communities so the rest of us can get on with life and our children in particular don't continue suffer the gravest consequences. Colleges should open and run almost as normal--with at risk students, faculty, and staff, taking the precautions they need to--and when they do, yes, my student will be back.

Ok, but what about the considerable number of people saying that schools and businesses can’t reopen until there is either a vaccine or extensive testing? If neither of these scenarios are in place by August, will they allow their kids to go back?

Take a close look at who those people are. They are willing to let this country--in particular, the children--suffer in every possible way to ensure that Trump doesn't get reelected. This isn't conspiracy theory. Of course the virus is real and poses a great threat to certain communities and demographics. But the liberal have jumped on it and are forcing horrible policies onto the entire country to prolong the misery through November. We have to stand up to it and hopefully the colleges--liberal bastions that they are-- can lead that charge. If they open, students will return.

This might be hard for you to understand but for most of us, doing what we can to ensure that trump is not re-elected and doing what we can to ensure that as many people as possible stay alive and healthy really are two separate issues — even if we want both of those things.

Have you actually ever had a conversation with a “liberal”?

Anonymous wrote:In a conversation with other professors we had the discussion that the students being back doesn't necessarily mean we have to be in-person. I'm all for the students moving back to campus, having access to campus resources (as appropriate), safety measures in place for staff that have to be on campus (food service, cleaning staff), etc. But many non-lab classes could be moved online. This would keep the students from mixing in random groups inside stuffy rooms with shared desks and it would reduce contact with faculty and staff who may be at higher risk.

All of that said, all it will take is one kid, in one dorm or shared living area, getting sick and dying and it will all be back to this.

I'm a professor and I agree with this. Most traditional lecture courses do not involve a whole lot of student-professor and student-student interaction. There is no reason those courses can't be done using online lectures (live or recorded) mixed with some live sessions that encourage interaction. I read that article going around about knowing the risks and avoiding them. It made me feel nervous about spending multiple hours per week in windowless rooms of 30-40 students who are not likely to be doing much, if any, social distancing. Those classes are scheduled in classrooms that barely hold more than the class size. Moving them to a larger room won't work because classroom space is hard to come by as it is. There aren't enough 75- or 100-person rooms to move all the 30-40-person classes into them. I think the decision is going to be made for us by local health officials. They will want physical distancing in classrooms, and will probably advise us to move courses in which this is not possible to online. If this happens it would free up a lot of classroom space for the classes that really need to be done in person.

I am also concerned about what school will look like for my young kids next year. If they aren't in school on the days I am scheduled to teach, I can't come to campus those days.

Anonymous wrote:I will let my DS go. I hope he is infected while he is there and by the time he returns home, he will be immune. Then we don't have to worry about him bring the virus to us. But that's really not fair to the numerous "elderly" professors and staff on campus. But it is their decision, and I support it, as long as he quarantines if he gets sick.

It's not the decision of the faculty and staff. The administration is making the decision for them, like Trump did for the workers in the meat plants. My college has not consulted us, but has already decided to make us come back in the fall and essentially double our workload. Your kid will infect me (unless I am allowed to take a year off unpaid).

I will let my DS go. I hope he is infected while he is there and by the time he returns home, he will be immune. Then we don't have to worry about him bring the virus to us. But that's really not fair to the numerous "elderly" professors and staff on campus. But it is their decision, and I support it, as long as he quarantines if he gets sick.

Anonymous wrote:I have to believe that by the fall, this country will come to its senses. Hopefully the federal government takes some command of the situation and enough governors get on board to create social distancing that involves primarily isolation the sick and vulnerable communities so the rest of us can get on with life and our children in particular don't continue suffer the gravest consequences. Colleges should open and run almost as normal--with at risk students, faculty, and staff, taking the precautions they need to--and when they do, yes, my student will be back.

I hate to break it to you, but many students and professors are vulnerable. How do we handle that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course they should go back. The risk to young healthy people is truly negligible.

Tons of students with allergies and asthma in the dorms.

Please see statistics from all over the world about risk to this age group...

Anonymous wrote:The premise of the OP is not correct. I don't think colleges will open if things are the same. We only have one Liberty Univ. I trust colleges do the right thing.

Both of my DCs' schools have already announced that they will be opening. We will be happy to send them. One has announced that classes will be available both in-person and on-line. Shortened semester so that kids come home for Thanksgiving with no need to travel back to school.

Happy that they are using science that reflects little to no risk for college students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course they should go back. The risk to young healthy people is truly negligible.

Yup, that's the mindset here. Let the germspreaders in dorms with shared bathrooms kill off the staff and faculty.

The reality is most college accomodations are pretty luxe. The norm now is that the college student has their own bathroom and their own bedroom. They might share a kitchen area.
Virtually every kid has their own car. College students of today are not living in ghettos.

That is not the norm for both my children or friend’s children or my nephews. All seem to have 2-4 roommates freshman year- all in one room. A few had en-suite bathrooms, but most were down the hall.

+1 Group bathrooms, shared rooms. Few cars. Gross shared "kitchen" for a whole dorm. Same as it ever was.

My dd’s floor freshman year had two toilets for 22 girls.

Anonymous wrote:I'm less concerned with state schools that have 80+ % in-state students -- but more concerned with top US News schools that draw kids from all over the country and world. That seems so dangerous -- especially students living in dorms.

Your logic is flawed. It only takes one infected student to take out the whole campus. Even a state school like Virginia Tech is 11% international students, has 10k students in dorms and usually has about 1/3 of their freshman student body from out of state. And do you know which state is the number 1 exporter of college students? New Jersey!

All of my daughters friends are headed back to school even if school is on-line. They are juniors and seniors with apartments off campus. So why not open schools?

I'm less concerned with state schools that have 80+ % in-state students -- but more concerned with top US News schools that draw kids from all over the country and world. That seems so dangerous -- especially students living in dorms.