Thread - UK university students, staff and local communities are being put at grave risk by face-to-face teaching not only for economic reasons and a 'business as usual' mentality but also because of our tendency to infantalise young people.

The insistence that universities stay 'open' i.e. lots of students travelling around the country, especially when they never closed - PS and academic staff have been tirelessly supporting student learning and welfare this whole time - flies in the face of overwhelming evidence...

....that unis will be covid hotspots. This is primarily due to commercialisation of HE (reliance on fees, student use of uni accomodation, dependency of local economy) but also about the infantalisation of young people. It's common to claim students are now consumers but...

...with important exceptions i.e. mature, emancipated students etc, it's parents who are the primary consumers. In the past decade I've gone from having exciting chats with young people on open days about their intellectual interests and aspirations to battling to be able to

speak to them. Instead, I'm bombarded with questions from fee-paying parents about stuff that has little to do with the pedagogy, development, wellbeing and learning of their child. Whilst I understand parents wanting the best for their kids, such things limit their agency...

...and I think it stems from seeing young people as in a state of 'becoming', rather than actual people (who may just need more support) for too long. At the same time, this thinking is what allows the government to lump schools in with universities but...

...schools being open and universities teaching F2F is conflating apples and oranges. School-age children need hands-on teaching for their development. Parents need them in school to work. Adults, which is what university students are, can, however, take more control over their

own learning. Of course we'd rather they could do that in person with us but they can learn and develop through quality online teaching and support. And the sooner we limit the virus, the sooner we get back to the lecture theatre.

Covid has taken masses from young people, including a full uni experience. It's going to add even more pressure to career prospects and other life chances. They are not inheriting what they deserve. They are also way smarter, braver and kinder than they are given credit for.

But as outbreaks on campus grow, it is the 'immature' behaviour of students being blamed. This is unfair. They're just trying to live, to pursue a future that other generations have made it very hard for them to achieve. Treating them as adults, not infantslising them would

have led to different policies. It would mean treating young people as valuable rather than as a problem. And they are not the problem - young people are the future and they deserve a better one.