As a member of the younger generation in society, I'm beginning to have very serious concerns on the long term social and economic impact of the current 'lockdown' on our generation.
With schools having now shut for 3 months, that's around 3-4% of a child's education been taken away from them (and I'm sorry but online learning just isn't as effective no matter how hard you try). This is even worse in universities when taking 2-3 months off of an academic year could result in around 10% of a whole degree being nullified. The lasting impacts on many industries of these statistics I imagine will eventually become apparent. If this goes on for any longer, young people are no longer going to have the necessary skills and knowledge to apply for any FE or HE course. If this happens, the detrimental impact on society will be unimaginable.
For many university students, the impact on mental wellbeing and attainment will be significant. Many universities have implemented 'no detriment' policies to try and prevent their students being marked unfairly harshly when they've not received the same quality of education online, which has essentially made degrees easier to pass and meant that many graduates may not be as qualified or as skilled as needed to be successful in today's (now half dead) graduate job market.
For young primary children, I can only imagine the psychological damage this is doing. The lack of social contact, and with it the opportunity to develop social skills is surely depriving our children the chance to learn how to form and maintain meaningful friendships and relationships with others. Are we really going to teach our young children that this is the type of society where we need to stay 2m apart from everyone, constantly live in a state of anxiety, and deprive them of any facial expressions through excessive mask wearing without strong science behind it?
For secondary pupils who are due to sit exams, this has arguably had an impact on their whole life, as with teachers now choosing grades, secondary students may no longer be able to follow their desired career path simply due to the fact that they didn't perform well during the year (as a recent pupil and student teacher, I know many students don't perform amazingly over the year but then work hard for the exam). I think this is wholly unacceptable and that we are arguably destroying the future dreams and aspirations of many high school students and leavers.
Whilst it may not be a massive concern quite yet, mental wellbeing of the younger generation must be considered much more than it is at present. My university for instance today announced that they'll be moving online for academic year 2020/21, and for many of us who were holding onto this as something to motivate us through this situation, this was a massive blow to our mental wellbeing. If we persist in this ridiculously cautious method to easing restrictions, I imagine the motivation of many young people to complete coursework and pursue 'online' learning will diminish rapidly, and I hate to say it but I imagine a rise in suicide will be inevitable.
On a wider note, the economic damage that this is causing will have massive implications on the younger generation. The graduate job market is going to be absolutely dire for arguably many years to come due to the increasing damage we are doing everyday we insist on lockdown and social distancing.
So my question is simply, is all of this damage we are doing to the young generation REALLY necessary to not overwhelm the NHS, and if not then why are the government which I elected now choosing to sacrifice the prospects and mental wellbeing of millions of people in this generation on a 'just in case' basis or to prove a political point?
With schools having now shut for 3 months, that's around 3-4% of a child's education been taken away from them (and I'm sorry but online learning just isn't as effective no matter how hard you try). This is even worse in universities when taking 2-3 months off of an academic year could result in around 10% of a whole degree being nullified. The lasting impacts on many industries of these statistics I imagine will eventually become apparent. If this goes on for any longer, young people are no longer going to have the necessary skills and knowledge to apply for any FE or HE course. If this happens, the detrimental impact on society will be unimaginable.
For many university students, the impact on mental wellbeing and attainment will be significant. Many universities have implemented 'no detriment' policies to try and prevent their students being marked unfairly harshly when they've not received the same quality of education online, which has essentially made degrees easier to pass and meant that many graduates may not be as qualified or as skilled as needed to be successful in today's (now half dead) graduate job market.
For young primary children, I can only imagine the psychological damage this is doing. The lack of social contact, and with it the opportunity to develop social skills is surely depriving our children the chance to learn how to form and maintain meaningful friendships and relationships with others. Are we really going to teach our young children that this is the type of society where we need to stay 2m apart from everyone, constantly live in a state of anxiety, and deprive them of any facial expressions through excessive mask wearing without strong science behind it?
For secondary pupils who are due to sit exams, this has arguably had an impact on their whole life, as with teachers now choosing grades, secondary students may no longer be able to follow their desired career path simply due to the fact that they didn't perform well during the year (as a recent pupil and student teacher, I know many students don't perform amazingly over the year but then work hard for the exam). I think this is wholly unacceptable and that we are arguably destroying the future dreams and aspirations of many high school students and leavers.
Whilst it may not be a massive concern quite yet, mental wellbeing of the younger generation must be considered much more than it is at present. My university for instance today announced that they'll be moving online for academic year 2020/21, and for many of us who were holding onto this as something to motivate us through this situation, this was a massive blow to our mental wellbeing. If we persist in this ridiculously cautious method to easing restrictions, I imagine the motivation of many young people to complete coursework and pursue 'online' learning will diminish rapidly, and I hate to say it but I imagine a rise in suicide will be inevitable.
On a wider note, the economic damage that this is causing will have massive implications on the younger generation. The graduate job market is going to be absolutely dire for arguably many years to come due to the increasing damage we are doing everyday we insist on lockdown and social distancing.
So my question is simply, is all of this damage we are doing to the young generation REALLY necessary to not overwhelm the NHS, and if not then why are the government which I elected now choosing to sacrifice the prospects and mental wellbeing of millions of people in this generation on a 'just in case' basis or to prove a political point?
