Young people denied the genuine university experience

Austwick.

IT seems to me that Penelope Helbest ( The Yorkshire Post, October 6) stands in little need of a university education.

She is not the only one who finds Government – I use the word loosely – “advice” incomprehensible and about as stable as a jelly in an earthquake. Heavens, they can’t even remember it themselves!

She also expresses to a nicety my deep unease with the treatment to which the present generation of undergraduates is being subjected.

They are charged, in advance, a great deal of money for their “privilege” and then denied all of the fundamental rights of the young to mix and mingle as they choose. In my experience – it was very long ago for me – less than 50 per cent of a university education is provided directly by the institution.

A great deal more is provided by direct interaction with fellow students: discussions, rows, arguments etc on the subject of life, the universe and everything

– perhaps even the subject of study! If you substitute the nonacademic learning process for functional imprisonment, there is no ‘‘ university experience’’ to speak of and young people will have been grossly defrauded.

While such might be acceptable elsewhere in the world, it is an insult to the intelligence here.

From: Michael Green, Green, Tingley.

Baghill

I FIND myself in complete agreement with Simon Clarke

MP when, writing about local lockdowns, he refers ( The Yorkshire Post, October 2) to

“the growing risk that tighter restrictions will punish the lawabiding”.

But this problem is not peculiar to coronavirus. Public authorities have long taken the view that only thing they need to do to solve a problem is to impose legal restrictions on people.

And then, when faced with the fact that some people don’t comply, they impose even tighter restrictions. This has long been the case with speed limits. A proportion of people insist on driving at 40mph ( or more) in a residential 30mph zone. So the limit is reduced to 20mph. All that does is penalise the majority who obeyed the law. It makes no difference to the people doing 40, because they go on doing so.

That is the attitude adopted by Leeds City Council, among others. And that is one of the reasons why I find it difficult to share the general enthusiasm for giving councils powers to decide on local coronavirus restrictions.

Because, on their track record, they simply can’t be trusted.