Jump to content

CR: COVID-19 --Political Talk


Mrs Whiggins

Recommended Posts

I know I shouldn't have done this, but... 

This summer I had a guy in my class who basically missed a week of assignments, then emailed me and said he had COVID and attached doctors notes.  OK, fine, I'll cut you some slack on that week.  Unfortunately, he didn't do much the rest of the semester, either.  Apparently, the grade I assigned pissed off his helicopter mom, who emailed me (and the dean's office) asking why her poor baby who had COVID got a failing grade.  For some reason, I googled her name and found a wide open Facebook page, full of reposted memes about COVID being a liberal hoax to take down Trump.

Hmmmm...what should I do?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just thought I would insert some leading edge info.  Pediatric cases of covid up up by 90%, in the last month. Now the definition of "pediatric" was not well defined, as it was simply numbers being reported by pediatric doctors.  If you have kids you often stay with your pediatric at long time past young childhood because of the kids comfort.

Anyhow I just heard a quick blip about it, but it's gonna be something that may be worth watching going forward.

The only thing we know for certain about this damn disease is we simply really don't know much about this damn disease.  We know a lot more know than we did a few months back and we are increasing our survival rates, which is fantastic.  But we really don't have a lot of data on the infection rate for kids.  We are going to accumulate more data in this arena in the next few months than any of the other countries.  Hopefully we don't find out it has lifelong debilitating issues for the kids in our country as we reopen schools.

I honestly don't see how any university of school with several hundred or more students and faculty will be able to operate in person.  I AGREE that IN PERSON is far, far superior to distance learning. Especially for my daughter for example, but while I WANT in person, the math and science tell me "in person" is just going to be another failed virus experiment pushed by Trump and the GOP. Not unlike mask freedom... until the obvious math and science took over.

We are about to open the largest study ever on the effects of the covid virus on young people.  It will be fascinating to see what data we accumulate, while terrifying at the unkown human cost.

 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

I know I shouldn't have done this, but... 

This summer I had a guy in my class who basically missed a week of assignments, then emailed me and said he had COVID and attached doctors notes.  OK, fine, I'll cut you some slack on that week.  Unfortunately, he didn't do much the rest of the semester, either.  Apparently, the grade I assigned pissed off his helicopter mom, who emailed me (and the dean's office) asking why her poor baby who had COVID got a failing grade.  For some reason, I googled her name and found a wide open Facebook page, full of reposted memes about COVID being a liberal hoax to take down Trump.

Hmmmm...what should I do?

So many possibilities....I mean, not your fault the kid didn’t take HCQ. 
 

You gave him time to make it up and he didn’t pull himself up by his bootstraps and get it done.
 

(I think you’re being played-but as instructor of record, your call as to the headache of heli-parent). Can’t even imagine emailing a prof for my kids, unless one of them passed away or was in the hospital unable to communicate. Just really odd. 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As far as the student and copter mom... fuck'em.  Unless you feel that 1) it could hurt you personally 2) you have any question on the correctness of the failing grade.

You could always back up and go incomplete, with a tight timeline for turning in needed work?  If you feel fuck it option 2 might be an issue.

I sort of like the idea of copter mom up the kids ass.  Clearly she personally doesn't believe her son deserves a break.  She just feels her son should get a break because... no logic... just knows that bitching and complaining often gets unreasonably good results. That's why she's bitching.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, horn4life said:

As far as the student and copter mom... fuck'em.  Unless you feel that 1) it could hurt you personally 2) you have any question on the correctness of the failing grade.

You could always back up and go incomplete, with a tight timeline for turning in needed work?  If you feel fuck it option 2 might be an issue.

I sort of like the idea of copter mom up the kids ass.  Clearly she personally doesn't believe her son deserves a break.  She just feels her son should get a break because... no logic... just knows that bitching and complaining often gets unreasonably good results. That's why she's bitching.

Turns out that I actually didn't fail him, but the D won't satisfy the prerequisites for the classes he had enrolled in for the fall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Turns out that I actually didn't fail him, but the D won't satisfy the prerequisites for the classes he had enrolled in for the fall.

When does the fall class start and when did the summer session end? Seems like someone who is concerned about prerequisites would be on top of that...unless Mommy dropped the ball.

Seriously, I love how folks talk tough about the real world (as compared to the "cushy soft ivory tower life" of academia) and then pull shit like this. I'm not a professor, but Lawd have mercy you must have the patience of a saint. I'm trying to picture having my parents call my first boss out of college and how that would have gone and then trying to go up the chain to the owner. Hahaha.

My children that are out of the house have certainly called us for advice or to run through an idea before they present it, but it would never occur to them to have us run interference once they graduate(d) high school. That was part of teaching them how to 'adult' while they were under our roof.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

When does the fall class start and when did the summer session end? Seems like someone who is concerned about prerequisites would be on top of that...unless Mommy dropped the ball.

Fall starts next Monday.  Summer finals were 8/6.  Other than the first week email, I have not heard a word from the student.  I had online office hours last week to discuss grades, and he didn't show.  Clearly, mommy cares a lot more than he does.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Turns out that I actually didn't fail him, but the D won't satisfy the prerequisites for the classes he had enrolled in for the fall.

I took accounting 326 and 327 at UT the summer after my junior year. The night before my 326 exam, I dislocated my elbow in an intramural softball game and spent a good portion of the night in the ER trying to get it set.

I emailed the prof as soon as I got home late that night and asked if I could take the final later as I was pretty hopped up on painkillers. He said nope that if I didn't show he was going to fail me. So not only would I not be able to take 327 in the second summer session since 326 was a prerequisite, but I would have to take 326 again. Well fuck him, I went to the business school told them my predicament and they said they would talk to the professor. While they were duking it out with the prof, I also went to the professor for my 327 class and talked to her about it and she said that she would give me an exemption to take 327 without completing 326 if that prof was an asshole about it and I had to retake 326 in the fall.

I ended up taking the 326 final about a week after I was supposed to and successfully completed 327 in the second session. 

Yeah I probably shouldn't have been playing softball the night before a final, but I would have taken my lumps if it came down to it, but it never crossed my mind to involve my dad in that conversation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Fall starts next Monday.  Summer finals were 8/6.  Other than the first week email, I have not heard a word from the student.  I had online office hours last week to discuss grades, and he didn't show.  Clearly, mommy cares a lot more than he does.

Yeah because she's the one paying

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Fall starts next Monday.  Summer finals were 8/6.  Other than the first week email, I have not heard a word from the student.  I had online office hours last week to discuss grades, and he didn't show.  Clearly, mommy cares a lot more than he does.

Yeah, sounds like those two need to talk. Have you responded to her? It was my understanding that professors aren't supposed to discuss stuff like that with the parent unless the student emails and gives permission or something. The only thing I ever had with my oldest was the permission to view the tuition suite so that I could process any payment from our savings plan that the scholarships didn't cover since they were academic and she was on a meal plan.

OTOH, I am sympathetic up to a point for students who struggle because the reasons can be varied and sometimes the circumstances just tragic. But I've also seen a crap ton of enabling entitled behavior by parents I know and it's weird. Instead of giving their children the tools to survive and be productive, they just want to give them the advantage and privilege without any sense of awareness. It's almost like they know deep down that the students that have had to really buckle down and fight for every crumb can outcompete them so why not rig the competition. I'm using a large brush to stereotype, but I'm very disappointed in the trends away from learning to expand knowledge and inquiry and the rush towards college as a place to meet people. Sure, meeting people is great but at some point you have to create something: an idea, a body of work, solve a problem, answer a question that is basic or profound, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

I know I shouldn't have done this, but... 

This summer I had a guy in my class who basically missed a week of assignments, then emailed me and said he had COVID and attached doctors notes.  OK, fine, I'll cut you some slack on that week.  Unfortunately, he didn't do much the rest of the semester, either.  Apparently, the grade I assigned pissed off his helicopter mom, who emailed me (and the dean's office) asking why her poor baby who had COVID got a failing grade.  For some reason, I googled her name and found a wide open Facebook page, full of reposted memes about COVID being a liberal hoax to take down Trump.

Hmmmm...what should I do?

Off topic but why are the parents of college students reaching out to teachers about grades? Is that a thing now?

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, horn4life said:

Just thought I would insert some leading edge info.  Pediatric cases of covid up up by 90%, in the last month. Now the definition of "pediatric" was not well defined, as it was simply numbers being reported by pediatric doctors.  If you have kids you often stay with your pediatric at long time past young childhood because of the kids comfort.

 

To return to COVID and your post about the pediatric cases: I'm going to be very interested when the study that Fauci mentioned (the HEROES study) begins to report findings. That was something like 6000 families if I recall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

Fall starts next Monday.  Summer finals were 8/6.  Other than the first week email, I have not heard a word from the student.  I had online office hours last week to discuss grades, and he didn't show.  Clearly, mommy cares a lot more than he does.

Fuck em.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another fallout that related to COVID, but also to Visa issues: recently heard through the telephone grapevine that some universities here in Texas are having TA shortages due to international students being stuck overseas. One department has 40 plus sections with no TA and classes starting this week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And the suffering continues . . . Life in the ICU during COVID-19:

“I was one of the first like on from our unit to float to a COVID floor. Both of my patients were violently ill.  They were so sick that they’re the kind of patients on this unit that we single. They were paralyzed. One of them was being prone multiple pressors each. He also needed fentanyl, propofol and ketamine because sedating him was an issue. So I mean, they were really sick. And the scariest part for me was the fact that I couldn’t see them because central six is not an ICU. They’re like regular rooms. And there’s no window in the door. And there’s no monitor outside. No camera. No nothing. When I close that door, I have no idea what’s going on with those patients. I can’t see the monitor. I can’t see the patient and I’m my anxiety was through the roof for an entire 12 hours. I mean, at one point I actually cried in the bathroom from how frightened I was,” recalled Carmen.

Five months into the pandemic, a rhythm forms, even as the number of patients increase. As an institution, Jackson has shown an amazing ability to process suffering.

“It’s getting easier, but it’s still not easy. We’re still battling this, you know, people out in the streets are still not protecting themselves. They’re still not wearing masks. And they think that this is not real. And they’re focused on the numbers of how many new numbers and I want them to focus on the deaths, because they’re saying now that they’re making up all these numbers, right, it’s okay, they’re making them up. But I come here and I’m focused, one death is enough. One death is too many. You’re going to call a family member. You’re going to tell them. I don’t want to be the one to do it. I don’t,” said Zenia.[/quote]

https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/08/18/frontlines-icu-nurses-jackson-memorial-hospital-covid-unit/

Keep wearing those masks. Hook 'em.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

Fall starts next Monday.  Summer finals were 8/6.  Other than the first week email, I have not heard a word from the student.  I had online office hours last week to discuss grades, and he didn't show.  Clearly, mommy cares a lot more than he does.

In the event that mommy’s little angel waives his FERPA rights, it sounds like you have your response email already composed here.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

CNN: A person with Covid-19 may have exposed others at a bar during Sturgis motorcycle rally

 

Quote
Many of those gathered did not wear masks or keep distance from others, most notably at a concert for the rock band Smash Mouth.
The potential exposure at the Sturgis bar is one of several Covid-19 cases connected to bars and concerts over the past few weeks in South Dakota. Officials have also announced possible exposures at a Big and Rich concert at the Sioux Empire Fair in Sioux Falls, a gentleman's club in Sioux Falls, a bar in Hill City and a nightclub in Brookings.

Imagine dying for Big and Rich. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

I know I shouldn't have done this, but... 

This summer I had a guy in my class who basically missed a week of assignments, then emailed me and said he had COVID and attached doctors notes.  OK, fine, I'll cut you some slack on that week.  Unfortunately, he didn't do much the rest of the semester, either.  Apparently, the grade I assigned pissed off his helicopter mom, who emailed me (and the dean's office) asking why her poor baby who had COVID got a failing grade.  For some reason, I googled her name and found a wide open Facebook page, full of reposted memes about COVID being a liberal hoax to take down Trump.

Hmmmm...what should I do?

Dox the mom, fail the kid. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, relapse98 said:

Shit, then my small county has had a fucking ginormous outbreak with 62 cases Wednesday, 68 on Tuesday and 72 on Monday.

Guys, I'm beginning to think he's not good with numbers.

Beginning to think?  I know 100 over-privileged douchebags in commercial real estate who at least, even after several drinks, can still cerebrally calculate a Cap Rate or RevPar or IRR in seconds just because of muscle memory after only 10 years of deals.  Trump has been doing it for 50 years and I promise you he couldn't tell you if a capital stack had 20mm equity and 80mm debt...what the total deal size was.  He just couldn't do it...somebody else would chime in while he did the 👐 hands. 

I will say this, the handful of guys that I know that've done deals with him in New York have said that although he's a bumbling ass most of the time, that Eric Trump is actually really quick on the drawn with calculations on the fly.  I did not see that coming, but I trust these guys' stories.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The local news ran a story about how one staff member in a very large local district tested positive for COVID-19.

In fact there have already been over 100 staff members test positive who have had to go into mandatory quarantine/isolation before being allowed to return to work. The school year doesn't start for a few more weeks. Of course that's not public information, so I see people on social media talking about how it's not a problem because only one employee has been positive so far. The fall should be interesting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just was looking at the deaths and cases for countries over 100 million population 

image.png.a0aa2d97d8c692150a3eb72f8e2a8e01.png

Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Indonesia are probably due to the there just not being any medical infrastructure to test, count, report shit like this. 

China and Russia are flat out lying and under counting...massively. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

I just was looking at the deaths and cases for countries over 100 million population 

image.png.a0aa2d97d8c692150a3eb72f8e2a8e01.png

Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Indonesia are probably due to the there just not being any medical infrastructure to test, count, report shit like this. 

China and Russia are flat out lying and under counting...massively. 

Agree that China and Russia are lying on a massive scale.

The other takeaway is that among this list the good old USA is tackling the COVID-19 pandemic about as well as Mexico and Brazil in terms of deaths per capita.  Fantastic!

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shamelessly cross-posting this from the "other disasters of 2020" thread in DT.

The AP photographer who shot it should receive a Pulitzer for encapsulating the state of this country in one shot and should be accompany our new tourism motto: "Come join us!"

800.jpeg

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — More than two dozen major fires were scorching California on Thursday and taxing the state’s firefighting capacity, sparked by an unprecedented lightning siege that dropped nearly 11,000 strikes over several days.

https://apnews.com/b7f6ffc940c843b937d5573b58e2bda7

Link to comment
Share on other sites



×
×
  • Create New...