They also threatened to rescind admission.
I really can't stress enough how dangerous these punitive measures are. They make intuitive sense, many of you probably think this is a good idea, but it does enormous violence to our public health efforts.
I really can't stress enough how dangerous these punitive measures are. They make intuitive sense, many of you probably think this is a good idea, but it does enormous violence to our public health efforts.
Public health is *not* policing. The moment you allow it to become that, you dissolve any hope of winning the trust necessary to get people on board with a programme that requires sacrifice.
You only breed resentment, fear, and resistance.
You only breed resentment, fear, and resistance.
I've said it before and I'll say it again:
When you police public health orders, you incentivise enforcement-avoidance rather than virus-avoidance.
When you police public health orders, you incentivise enforcement-avoidance rather than virus-avoidance.
You need people to own up to mistakes, to risk-taking. You need them to trust you enough to talk to you. You need them to trust that you will give them help and care rather than punishment. This is necessary to address the problem, to reach their contacts and care for them too.
I work in higher ed. And I'll tell you, my students have been damn impressive people. They're not stupid hormone-addled maniacs leaping off the nearest cliff. They're human beings.
And it angers me to see students like them, all over America, set up as scapegoats for failures in university policy. But it's not just the displacement of blame that angers me; it's the fact that punitive measures are *shattering* our ability to deal with COVID-19.
I'm at the point where I'm just begging people now: if you claim to "take the pandemic seriously" you need to understand that the most intuitive policy may not be the best one. You need to understand that your impulse to punish will make the pandemic worse.
I'm literally begging at this point, as a teacher, as a citizen, as a human being. I don't know what else to say or do.
