It is a difficult time for students, they are on my mind

Gordie Jackson
2 min readOct 1, 2020

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Photo by Changbok Ko on Unsplash

Sitting here feels similar to sitting in a Quaker meeting. Maybe it is because it is the same screen and the same chair on which I sit when attending meetings via zoom.

Do I just write? No as with a Meeting for Worship (MfW) I wait and see whether there is anything to be written.

Writing or speaking are best when they have been filtered through time and patience, a waiting if you like.

I sit and wait.

I am concerned for University students probably because I have one. From what I hearing on some courses there is a lack of clarity of what is happening as simple as when do lectures start. There is a vagueness about whether everything is online or not. It is distracting from the experience. Fresher moves into their accommodation and there is no one else is in the property. It is said that there are online events but that is a very different experience of meeting others. For years the Fresher has looked forward to University and the stories they have been told by brothers sisters, even parents. Now COVID and the regulations have changed the story, their story is different.

Other years have taken the hit of paying for accommodation in the terms between March and the summer that saw most of them return home to complete the year online. Now they have returned and it seems most things are still online. They are wondering why are they paying for accommodation and indeed the same tuition fees if they could effectively complete their studies online at home.

It is a difficult time for students, they are on my mind.

Best day,

g

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Gordie Jackson

Speaks with a Northern Irish accent, lives in Hertfordshire, England.