Students are one of the biggest contributors to rising economic inactivity, with deteriorating mental health a key factor
  • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    42·
    2 months ago

    There are now a record 2.8 million people off work due to long-term sickness, up 700,000 since Covid-19, with the cost of sickness benefits due to reach £64 billion by the end of the parliament, up £30 billion on before the pandemic.

    “Who could of forseen this” types listless socialist who is struggling to hold on to a shred of hope

  • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    26·
    2 months ago

    Going back to university has been insane. Private education is constantly trying to make student turnover as fast as possible to maximise profit (new students=more money) so the result is classes are bloated and crammed and a lot of the teaching is expected to come from students teaching themselves. My zoology professor literally started the course by saying “This class is going to be packed with a lot of info you have to learn in a short amount of time. When I was in University, this used to be a two trimester course, it’s now one.”

    Every class is like this. You are constantly studying at home to fill in the gaps and cement the content in your memory because the professors can only give you a brief overview of a topic before they have to move on to the next one. It’s not an ideal way for the brain to learn. You get mentally exhausted fast which makes learning even harder. Not exactly efficient.

    I can’t imagine how people are doing this while also holding down a job. I’m terrified of getting sick, because if you miss one lab, or class, or due date, you’re fucked. Extensions just cut into the time needed to work on the next due thing. There just isn’t enough time.

    And then at then end of this degree, which you have gone 100k into debt for as well as being in poor health from not having the time to work for enough money to buy anything better than ramen, you are expected to spend a year working for free, sorry I mean slavery an unpaid internship. It’s no wonder people burn out.

    • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      21·
      2 months ago

      I can’t imagine how people are doing this while also holding down a job.

      That’s the neat part, they don’t! Just come from a wealthy family or take out a six figure loan at 18 years old. Really cool system we got going.

      My favorite was the director for the campus recycling program was a salaried position and had a secretary making over $100k. Or football coaches making over $500k each, despite our school never winning any games for an entire season and not even close to being in anything other than the lowest division. Meanwhile, I worked in a department with 40ish employees that had a $1 million budget and full-time professors were making under $60k.

      This was over a decade ago and I’m sure they’ve eliminated these problems since covid. And by “eliminated” I mean the dean of students hiring a third secretary with a $250k salary.