Posts by Robin Anderson44

God, what a complete circus this is, another year just flushed down the toilet in

Sandra Kern37 said:Fuchs and his little suggestions for how university professors should handle their lectures:

The Department of Health just released their latest numbers regarding last year's data, and if you're looking for any sense of consistency or clear direction from the Government, you might want to look elsewhere. It’s one of those situations where the statistics feel less like a roadmap and more like a collection of moving targets, leaving everyone to wonder if we're actually making progress or just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Looking at how they've framed these updates, it feels like they're trying to smooth over the cracks in the system with polished rhetoric, much like how someone might try to fix a leaking faucet by simply painting over the water stains. You have to wonder whether these figures provide a genuine reflection of our reality or if they're just a carefully curated version of events designed to keep things quiet. It’s a bit like watching a slow-motion replay of a game where the referee keeps changing the rules halfway through; you know something isn't quite right, even if the official scoreboard says everything is fine.

Alright, great, so everything is back to live, which I definitely applaud—whether we go full throttle or settle for some sort of hybrid model—but what exactly are we doing about the actual measures? They aren't even mentioned in the memo, aside from this rather shy little nudge toward getting vaccinated. Divjakica did a solid job dissecting that in her post:

Tapatalk

The universities are sticking to the old-school playbook, according to what the Secretary is saying, though he conveniently leaves out exactly how or why they're making these calls.

Toward the end of last week, a memo from the Secretary of Education finally landed on the desks of all the major universities, covering the protocols for conducting classes at colleges, universities, and higher education institutions.
This memo is a perfect snapshot of the sheer cluelessness currently plaguing our higher education system—it’s a mix of an irrational fear of classroom technology, total confusion, and a complete lack of preparedness. Honestly, it makes sense when you realize that anyone at the Department of Health who actually understood how universities work has basically jumped ship over the last year. We’re left with a vacuum where there used to be experienced officials who actually grasped the mechanics of the system. It’s highly likely the Minister didn't even have anyone competent on hand to draft this, which really highlights the absolute void of vision coming from both the Minister and the Government. They seem completely lost, whether we're talking about managing things during this pandemic fight or trying to build any actual 21st-century skills.
I'll break this down into a few different points for you.
The post kicks off with the observation that universities have moved their entire curriculum into a virtual environment over the last year and a half—which, frankly, is one of the few accurate points made here. From there, the author starts rambling about virtual, digital, and some sort of "electronic correspondence" formats (I’ve never even heard of that last one; it sounds like a clunky bureaucratic term that perfectly captures how out of touch the author is regarding modern educational tech). They go on to claim that the quality of instruction hasn't lived up to the accredited programs. To make matters worse, our Department of Health—well, let's just say the government—apparently "thinks" the quality was poor. It’s presented so bluntly, without any distinction between the institutions that actually pulled it off on a global scale, the ones who clearly didn't bother, or the actual value that this digital transformation brings to the table in terms of progress.
Then comes the usual predictable mantra about how hard it is for students and how much virtual learning supposedly wreaks havoc on their mental health. It’s almost funny, really—as if students weren't out there living and learning in some kind of untouched paradise before the digital world showed up. From there, they pivot to this dramatic conclusion that certain generations have somehow reached their absolute maximum threshold for exposure to online classes. One of my colleagues remarked that the way they phrase it makes it sound like we subjected them to radiation at Chernobyl, rather than actually protecting their well-being and our own by pivoting to remote work. We put in an enormous amount of effort to ensure that education remained high-quality, even if it had to happen through a screen. On the flip side, these students are going to spend their entire professional lives working and interacting within virtual environments anyway, so developing those competencies now is actually a necessity. But, of course, you won't find any mention of that practical reality in the official memo.
Then comes the threat: if we don't secure accreditation for our online programs, we won't be allowed to teach remotely anymore, forcing us back into strictly in-person instruction by next academic year because apparently, online learning doesn't align with current laws. It’s completely absurd, really, considering the Department of Health and the entire Government spent the last two school years practically mandating or heavily recommending remote learning due to the pandemic; there was already a solid legal foundation established both here in the States and globally. That bloated paragraph was clearly penned by someone close to AZVO, but they obviously lack any grasp of the broader regulatory landscape.
Not a single word in this entire memo addresses how universities are actually supposed to follow these epidemiological guidelines, or if they’re even expected to comply at all. I mean, let's be realistic here: if you have a lecture hall with 180 seats and you need to cram 180 students inside, maintaining any kind of social distancing is physically impossible. It’s just basic math.
Not once did they attempt to actually reach out to the professors, the students, or any of the other staff members to encourage them to get vaccinated, nor did they bother pointing out that these kinds of decisions really ought to be grounded in peer-reviewed scientific facts rather than just following whatever pseudoscientific slogans happen to be trending at the moment.
Fortunately, a handful of universities—and even more frequently at the college level—are actually prepping for hybrid learning models, so we might just scrape through this somehow. The current directive coming down from the Secretary is incredibly superficial; it’s completely untethered from actual research or scientific data, lacks a coherent roadmap, and offers zero support for implementation. As it stands, it's basically unworkable. At least given how things look right now, unless someone decides to look at the actual scientific indicators and declare that the pandemic is officially over by October 1st, 2021.

Let's not get too carried away here, because... yeah, online learning is clearly an option.

It’s still a total circus.

Nicole James said:And let's not forget the context—we are dealing with a pandemic involving a novel virus. We already know it can cause severe clinical issues in adults, and it can trigger multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children. Honestly, we still don't have a clear picture of how all of this might negatively impact their long-term health.

Oh sure, because the flu is just as terrifying, yet somehow people—and especially kids—barely bother showing up for those shots either.

hiddendriver34 said:Look, if the entire world just hunkered down at home for about 20 days, this whole virus thing would be history. So, why aren't we doing that? 😉

Yeah, honestly, I’m asking myself the exact same thing.

boldotter2 said:Man, this is some heavy misinformation. Like, seriously.

First off, let's talk about scarlet fever. That isn't really a disease you just "get over," it's something you have to TREAT. Before we had antibiotics, scarlet fever was a massive killer of children. Entire cities used to go into quarantine because of outbreaks! It’s only thanks to science that we even call it a "childhood illness" today. I guess anyone sane 150 years ago wouldn't have just let their kids "get over" scarlet fever.

And regarding this whole "building immunity" thing, does that apply to tuberculosis, polio, measles, or anything like that? Of course not. The only reason those aren't around anymore is because of progress in science, medicine, and better hygiene for everyone.
Does that logic work for HPV? For a long time, people thought it was harmless, until they realized it could cause some pretty scary consequences. Should we have just let it run through the population then? Just a side note, we've only known about SARS-CoV-2 for about a year.
Even the chickenpox myth—the chance of a grown adult getting a severe case if they didn't have it as a kid is actually LOWER than the chance of someone who *did* have it getting a nasty case of shingles later on! Plus, there's a vaccine for those who haven't had it.

If you really look at it, there isn't any disease worth "getting over." There just isn't.

Even from an economic standpoint—the biggest growth and most stable economies happen where sickness is at its lowest! I feel like I've said this a million times on this forum already, and I guess I don't even want to argue about it anymore. Nobody, anywhere, ever let a disease run wild while maintaining a stable economy. No one.
If you look at how the pandemic played out, the virus situation was actually worst in places where the economy was already struggling before the pandemic hit.

The bottom line is that attitudes like "this is just how it is," "there's no other way," or "whatever God wills" are just really defeatist and loser-ish. It represents a total surrender. Maybe it's not obvious right away, but in the long run, it's inevitable.

So why don't we just lock ourselves away completely for a few months and call it a day?

melloworca6 said:Go ahead and mock me, whatever. The fact remains that if you act recklessly, it might eventually cost you your life. If you have even a shred of common sense, you take precautions to minimize the risk.

It’s just like HIV. Everyone knows you're cranking up your risk if you're sleeping around with strangers without a condom. Sure, you might catch something from your own spouse if they're cheating, but the odds are much higher if you're hooking up with random people on the street without protection.

There is a massive difference here; if I contract HIV, my life is effectively ruined forever, regardless of how young I am or what my medical history looks like. But if I’m a healthy young person and I catch something like a nasty flu or a minor virus, there’s a very high probability I’ll either walk it off or just spend three days sniffing tissues and feeling miserable.

I’m not sitting here claiming there isn't a small chance it could seriously sideline me or knock me in bed for a week, but those are outliers. People consciously take risks every single day when they get behind the wheel of a car, eat total junk food, or light up a cigarette. You can’t live your entire life under a freaking glass dome 24/7; I mean, you technically could, but I don't know about you, but nobody actually wants to live like that.

I was born right in the middle of the nineties, so I’ve basically lived on two wheels, biking everywhere from elementary school through high school, all the way through college, and even now. Look, if you live ten miles away from the school or the gym, sure, bike them—but don't be doing these tiny little trips; we can't have our kids turning into total spoiled brats. Honestly, I feel like people in general have gotten way softer these days, and don't even get me started on how pampered kids are nowadays.

Hey there, I'm on the hunt for a new laptop by $1333, and just to be clear, I have zero interest in gaming—this machine won't be touching a single video game, so don't even go there. What I actually care about is raw speed and seamless multitasking, basically anything that ensures everything runs lightning-fast without a hint of lag.