Admit it, all you’re really missing out on is the partying
It really is a nonsense that students think they should be compensated with a refund of tuition fees because they are not getting the ‘full student experience’ due to coronavirus (Metro, Tue).
Tuition fees are for tuition and they are getting that online. For their information, many higher education courses are delivered entirely online and at no less a cost in fees than in-person courses.
What these young people mean by the ‘full experience’ is the social life of a university, which has nothing to do with tuition fees.
Admittedly, it was pretty silly to let them all travel around the country to live in isolation in university accommodation. Universities should have made it clear that tuition for this academic year would be online and let students stay in their permanent homes. Perfectly possible with online lessons.
Those students whose home lives make it difficult to study could have been given the option of a room in university accommodation.
Students, look around you and see what real suffering is. There are too many examples to list but not one concerns losing life because you didn’t get the chance for jolly japes and frivolous hilarity in freshers’ week.
JQ, Sheffield
John T Pharro (MetroTalk, Tue) needs to realise that the ‘whingeing university students’ who have worked very hard and paid a lot of money to get there are the medics of the future, who will look after people such as him.
Heidi Mahon, Huddersfield
Is it any wonder students are confused when the government tells them to obey certain strictures one day and then tells them the exact opposite the next? This is the type of ill-informed, panic-stricken bungling that explains why the public no longer has any faith in what politicians – or their so-called experts – advise.
Stephen McCarthy, Glasgow
We could lock everyone in their homes with only key workers allowed out. Anyone else found outdoors could be shot. No offices or schools open. Food would be delivered and the dead left outside for collection. Maybe, then, in six months or so, Covid will be over. Bozo may well want to give this a go.
Russel, via text
I wish people, especially the media, would stop having a go at the prime minister. Boris, like every politician, is not perfect.
Boris Fan, Airdrie
It seems everybody and their granny has an opinion on how we should deal with Covid. The constant attacking of the government is unfair. It is damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Common sense should tell you to avoid crowds and wear a mask if you can’t. It’s time people took responsibility for themselves.
Gordon, Glasgow
Are people still surprised at Boris Johnson’s incompetence? His persona of a bumbling buffoon turns out not to be an act. He is a genuine nincompoop and floundering completely out of his depth.
Not only that but he appears to have filled his cabinet with ministers of a similar level of ability to his own. We need a change at the top, desperately, or I fear we are all doomed!
Ian Wright, Carmarthenshire
Why do we even need the government to tell us what to do?
For goodness’ sake, we’re adults and should be using the little bit of intelligence we are supposed to have to keep ourselves safe.
Assume everyone has the virus and keep your distance. Wear a mask or visor and don’t go out more than you need to. Do you really need a holiday? Would you go into a burning building? Well, this is equally dangerous, not just to you, but to your family as well. Stay safe. Dave Bradley, Surrey