Having been cooped up in their bedrooms for much of the past 18 months, teenagers who are about to begin university need help addressing “socialisation issues”, according to an English university official. Universities will also have to give catch-up sessions to help make up for the amount of learning lost during school closures. The i has the story.
Last month, the London School of Economics and the University of Exeter estimated that pupils lost nearly a third of their learning time between March 2020 and April 2021 because of school closures and coronavirus disruption.
With many schools unable to complete the full A-level curriculum, students were only assessed this summer on the topics they had covered.
To make sure students will be able to complete their undergraduate courses, universities are therefore having to step in to bridge the learning gaps.
The elite Russell Group of universities has teamed up with the Open University to launch ‘Jumpstart University’ – a free resource designed to help students settle into university.
The platform – which is open to students in all universities – has subject-specific courses, and modules on study skills, student life, wellbeing and mental health. …
An official working for a university in the South of England told i that they were expecting to deliver “remedial work with a lot of students”.
“They cannot help but have had some of their intellectual and other development hindered by being at home for two years at such a critical part of their education.
“We certainly noticed at the start of last year, some students had problems typical entrants didn’t have.”
With the 2021 cohort experiencing disruption over two school years, catch-up would have to be provided “across the whole year” to make up for the amount of learning lost, they said.
The source said universities would have to address “socialisation issues” as well as academic study. “If you’re locked away from age 16 to 18… if we’re back to normal by October, you’ve gone from a period of being locked down for almost two years, to something like as much freedom as you’re ever likely to get.” …
With student unions planning traditional freshers’ week activities for the first time since 2019, there are also concerns some students may over-indulge after two school years in which socialising was strictly limited.
Worth reading in full.
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I believe I am conscious of most of my biases which I believe to be rational. I try to treat people as I find them but anyone who claims not to have preconceived notions about someone before they know them at least a little, anyone who claims they don’t mentally size people up at first sight, I would treat with scepticism
Exactly. To be cautious of anything which is different, or which breaks patterns, is a very important survival instinct. We set ourselves above the animals because we believe we are capable of moderating this instinct accordingly.
‘Black vs white’ in western cultures probably comes from the influence of Zoroastriansism on early Judaism (the period of exile in Babylon) and thus Christianity.
It has nothing to do with race.
It could be argued that the witchhunt against ‘black’ references in western languages is an attack on western historical culture.
One should also mention here that the colour black is traditionally associated with mourning someone’s death in Europe. In contrasto to this, a bride’s dress is traditionally white. I’m wondering how this fits into the racisam narrative. At least in German, there are also more curious colour references: Schwarzgeld (black money) refers to income which hasn’t been taxed, either because it was the direct result of some criminal enterprise or because of tax evasion, a typical crime of rich people.
Excellent article, it expresses very well the nature of the beast. Printing this one onto good old-fashioned paper. Thanks.
The very idea behind Leninist Marxism is that there’s a structurally repressed group which professional revolutionaries need to liberate for the greater good of mankind. Originally, this referred to the working class but since the immense poverty and general oppression of (large numbers of) industry workers is nowadays a thing of the past, some other oppressed group must obviously be found so that the fight for the good cause can continue.
“The Problem With Unconscious Bias Training” is that it is complete and utter Bollox.
Sorted. We can put that to bed now.
An understanding of Evolutionary Psychology might help some of these numpties who are pushing their wacko ideas. Most of our behaviour is hard wired into us from the days our ancestors roamed across the African savannah. This behaviour developed in order to help our forebears to survive. One such behaviour was preferring groups of ‘Us’ rather than groups of ‘Them’. Our physiology hasn’t really evolved over the past 100,000 years; e.g. the propensity for people to be very nervous before making presentations – the 21st Century equivalent of facing down a wild animal. However our intelligence has developed. So to hold a negative view about anyone who is different to us in any way is nothing more than ignorance.