On May 28, 9:03 pm, "John R. Yamamoto-Wilson"
<j...@rarebooksinjapan.com> wrote:
> MonkeyBoy wrote:
> > This is where the concept of personal responsibility comes into
> > play, but apparently that lesson is one thing not taught at some
> > universities.
>
> I'm not quite sure what you're saying here. Surely, if it was down to
> personal responsibility, the schools would remain open and it would be
> up to any students who were infected or thought they might be infected
> to take appropriate action and for others to get inoculated.
>
> > the same students doing arubaito would be doing it with classes
> > canceled or not
>
> I didn't mean to suggest that they wouldn't, just that students from
> affected schools are finding that they are not all that welcome at their
> part-time jobs.
>
> > - only it's that much worse when they become infected in class
> > and then go spread it around the restaurant they work at.
>
> Yes, that might be a problem. But another scenario is that, if large
> numbers of students are incubating the illness and the schools are
> closed, they then spend more time hanging around in places where they
> may spread the illness more generally around the society.
>
> > Actually, the problem is that as long as classes continue to be
> > held during this outbreak, students are compelled to attend them
> > whether they are sick or not.
>
> Not at my institution, where we are bombarded almost hourly with PA
> system announcements warning all students with anything that might
> remotely resemble symptoms of measles to remove themselves from the
> campus immediately. Are other schools not doing the same? Surely no
> school is saying "You have to come to class whether or not you're sick"?
>
> > The same mentality of the sick salaryman who jumps on a train to
> > go to work because God forbid he eats a vacation day when he's sick.
>
> What's wrong with a sick note from the doctor? Teachers can be
> instructed to respect such notes from the point of view of excusing
> class attendance requirements and - if it drags on long enough -
> affected students can be given alternatives to sitting the term tests
> with their peers. These are all more practicable measures than outright
> closure.
>
> > There is no reason to assume adverse implications for temporarily
> > delaying classes until such an outbreak of disease is under control.
> > It's actually just the opposite case.  This is not about such a noble
> > cause as education - it's about time, money and convenience.
>
> That, too, of course. Resources *are* finite. My university has so far
> sacrificed a week through closure and students and their parents have
> been told that the term will not be extended to compensate for tuition
> they have paid for but not received (though teachers may teach a make-up
> class at their discretion if they wish to). Any further loss of
> term-time may lead to extending the school term, which would inevitably
> result in mass cancellations of aeroplane flights, holidays, study
> trips, conferences, etc., etc., and inevitably some students would
> simply cut classes held during what would normally be vacation time -
> many more, I would imagine, than are likely to miss classes through
> sickness.
>
> > I am not a health care professional either, however this appears to
> > be common sense.
>
> I don't think anyone would disagree that a comprehensive programme of
> vaccination is common sense. After that it becomes a little fuzzy, to me
> at least!
>
> John

Okay, your points are well taken.  Where you are in the university
environment you're more qualified to assess the situation than I am.
Perhaps I have overreacted a bit on this :-)  Although, still, as a
company employee, I do have a problem with people coming to work sick
all winter long.