The way that fucks over the most vulnerable people⊠/s
Iâm sorry.
My best friend and her husband own a contracting company. Their company mostly builds schools. They know for a fact that classrooom size has been shrinking over the years. It is not physically possible for classes to social distance in their classrooms. I have no idea how this can possibly work.
Iâm not sure where to post this:
The user exasperation thread may also qualify.
An email I need to send to my students:
Iâm Dr. Infundibulum, your professor for [ ]. As weâre starting to think about fall courses, I
wanted to get a sense of how youâre feeling. As youâre likely aware, we are slated to return
to campus. Because of the size of our class relative to the size of our room, we are going to
have to explore some alternative seating options to get everyone safely in the room.I know all of you are busy people, and that you have lives off campus. I know some of you
may have conditions that cause you to be high risk. I know some of you may live with elderly
or vulnerable relatives. I know some of you may lack childcare. And I want you to know that
it will be perfectly possible to attend my class remotely for part or the whole semester.
Iâm actually a moderately accomplished scholar of online pedagogy (see this manuscript).
Iâve purchased a recording headset. If you find that you need to be out for a class period,
you will be able to watch the lecture from home and complete any activities at that time.
My goal is for you to be able to take this course successfully, and in a way that is safe
and comfortable for you.And so, I need some information. Please complete the attached survey about how youâd
like to attend the class, and if there is anything I can do to make taking my course
more tenable.We always have a really good time in my genetics class. Itâs an exciting discipline.
And weâre going to do good work again this semester, regardless of what 2020 has to throw at us.
I donât want to send this email. Iâm putting off sending this email. I want the governor to knock us back into Phase One so I donât have to send this email, let alone do it.
((long) Thread)
Wonderful thread. It gives me hope, but leaves me sad because it probably wonât happen the US â at least not for a long time. As Andy and/or commenters said, denial of science, lack of common sense, conspiracy theories, toxic social media, the republicans, worship of the economy over people, confusion over what constitutes freedom, and a sad lack of compassion for others are all especially strong in the US.
I am really curious about what people come up with as safe alternative seating options. Almost the entire time I was in school, including college, we were packed in so tight that we were almost sitting on each othersâ laps (and sometimes actually doing that on the buses). The only feasible alternative seating option I can see is seating everyone in their own homes and doing the classes remotely.
Well ⊠weâve been told we need to teach every day face-to-face. But also to record the lectures for students who canât be on campus safely. And the classrooms arenât big enough.
So far in my polls, for one class, half the class wants to be online. Thatâs doable. The remainder of that class mostly only want to come in-person one day. So the students will be in-person one day, then theyâll do the course digitally the other. For the other class, almost the whole class wants to be in-person. If I can get a couple more online, students will be able to attend every other day. Some students have self-selected and said they want to come one day or the other to avoid commuting costs just for this class. Which is great! If theyâll self sort, all the easier.
My prediction is that within three weeks, weâre back online. I just donât want my class to be the one where some poor kid dies.
From the comments:
âI need to stay safe for my mom.â
âI work with patients, do you think I can take the course safely in-person?â
Weâre mostly a commuter campus. We donât make much money on dorms ⊠why are we insisting on this? It doesnât make sense to me.
None of it makes sense to me, just as a plain olâ citizen. The so-called civilized world is rapidly and blantanly losing its compassion. And itâs all built on fear and insecurity of those in power.
I take comfort in the fact that humanity has weathered this before. Forgive me for sounding cruel - if I could pick and choose who was going to die, it would be out of the current authoritarian ruling class that I would pick first - but people die. I donât know how else to put it.
I wish I could find the video of this.
(Comforting Hawkeye after the death of a friend) âIf I had all the answers Iâd be at the Mayo Clinic. Does this place look like the Mayo Clinic? Look, all I know is what they taught me in command school; and that is that there are certain rules in a war: Rule Number 1 is that young men die and Rule Number 2 is that doctors canât change Rule Number 1.â
I have been working in tech and manufacturing for decades. The dominant political ideology is cruelty toward anyone who isnât white and male or happy with the ideology.
God, I love preachy MASH
I can see and hear it in my mind. It was a show the entire family watched, like âAll in the Familyâ and âThe Wizard of Ozâ when it was on NETWORK TV only. Back before Disney swore they wouldnât release any of their films on VHS. And of course we watched summer reruns: The new season of shows would begin in September, and there would be 26 weeks of them if they had good enough ratings the following February; in May, summer reruns would begin, and then it would start all over again in September.
NO, REALLY!
Interesting
âWackyâ is a new approach for Trump. Usually he sticks with âselfishâ and âmean spirited.â