I am sorry, but it was difficult to take your arguments seriously (even though I did) after you mentioned "draconian" restrictions and linked an article, in which students complain about not having parties. This is not an exaggeration! Let me quote it:
“No gatherings over 15 people. Everyone’s mental health is crumbling. Nobody is even sick and those who quarantine follow the rules,” the student told Schachtel. “My guy and girl friends are all miserable. So many have been like this is prison we can’t do anything.”
Let us put this in a context. A typical student is of the same age as someone who under different circumstances would be drafted to fight and die for their country. No one was asking these students to take a literal bullet for the nation. The important mission assigned to them was much less demanding - not to party for a while.
Unless you mention the "draconian" measures with irony, you fail to see that students' dissatisfaction with the restrictions is inseparable from the issues you discuss in the remainder of the article: instead of holding their promise of parties, sex, and other pastime experience, universities and colleges asked young adults to be adults for once and temporarily refrain from leisure activities that compromise the planet-wide effort to control the pandemic. To put this in the terms you used, universities and colleges are a *double* scam: first they misrepresent a theme park journey with elements of role-playing as a ticket to a successful career, then they don't even provide the fun part. Note that teaching and learning was not affected by COVID restrictions as much as extracurricular activities, thanks to digital technologies.
No worries… the next generation has to be named Alpha and (if this name is not rejected due to its association with toxic masculinity) have to be on top of things just to live up to their name!
I am sorry, but it was difficult to take your arguments seriously (even though I did) after you mentioned "draconian" restrictions and linked an article, in which students complain about not having parties. This is not an exaggeration! Let me quote it:
“No gatherings over 15 people. Everyone’s mental health is crumbling. Nobody is even sick and those who quarantine follow the rules,” the student told Schachtel. “My guy and girl friends are all miserable. So many have been like this is prison we can’t do anything.”
Let us put this in a context. A typical student is of the same age as someone who under different circumstances would be drafted to fight and die for their country. No one was asking these students to take a literal bullet for the nation. The important mission assigned to them was much less demanding - not to party for a while.
Unless you mention the "draconian" measures with irony, you fail to see that students' dissatisfaction with the restrictions is inseparable from the issues you discuss in the remainder of the article: instead of holding their promise of parties, sex, and other pastime experience, universities and colleges asked young adults to be adults for once and temporarily refrain from leisure activities that compromise the planet-wide effort to control the pandemic. To put this in the terms you used, universities and colleges are a *double* scam: first they misrepresent a theme park journey with elements of role-playing as a ticket to a successful career, then they don't even provide the fun part. Note that teaching and learning was not affected by COVID restrictions as much as extracurricular activities, thanks to digital technologies.
Our future is in their hands.
( shudder )
No worries… the next generation has to be named Alpha and (if this name is not rejected due to its association with toxic masculinity) have to be on top of things just to live up to their name!