That time of year again, where we should all be afraid to put our bins out on a Thursday night. Afraid of what you may ask. Drunken students that seem to find it funny to kick wheelie bins over, and break wing mrrors off cars.

In all my life living in Sheffield. I have never seen the stundent problem get so bad! What is so appealing about wheelie bins, traffic cones, wing mirrors?

why do the mentiond objects cause such a reaction in the student mind? And why the hell do you think its funny to throw your empty kebab and pizzaa boxes onto the sheffield streets. This is really starting to p**s me off.

Why am I and many other tax payers funding you morons, just so you can wreck Sheffield and vandalise property. Why do you students always complain about being skint, yet can afford to go out on the p**s more or less every night of the week.

University is a doss, you're having the time of you lives there. livin' it up on my tax!!! And dont give me that crap about having to pay the loan back, 'cos chances are (sorry to break this to you) you wont get you ideal job when you leave "graduate". You will end up working at some supermarket stacking shelves for a living.
not even coming close to the 10-15k which is the minimum you have to earn before you start paying the loan back.

I also dont want to see posts like...
"Were gonna' end up paying more tax than you earn in a month" (refer to above paragraph) :) >>>>>>>> :(

I feel sorry for the student out there that are actually doing worthwhile courses, and trying to make this world a better place, but unfortuinately the majority is giving the minority a bad name!

Oh god not again.

I think you need to get out more. I take it you were never a student - you're talking about a very small minority of students who actually cause any problems - maybe you're just jealous.

I fail to see how your taxes are paying for students to be at university. I don't even know why I'm bothering to reply......

Not taking sides here but just to respond to Knoxville.

Yes taxes are used to fund student tuition.
The price stdents pay (shall we say £3k a year for arguments sake) isn't close to what the real cost is.

Yes in the past it was ALL paid for via tax but thanks to the Labour Government (like em or not) they have at least made the student bear some of the costs involved.

Please - continue your arguments....

For the record I quite like having students in the city - it gives it a more diverse population (plus the totty is great :thumbsup: )

However if I were to live in a Student area (such as Ecclesall Road - Crookes etc) then I might think differently.

Originally posted by mindthatbus
but unfortuinately the majority is giving the minority a bad name!
Can't help but think you've gotten that the wrong way round...

I was never a student, but I did kick peoples bins over when I was drunk, it was great fun.

Funny....

The only time I've had serious problem from anyone in my 22 adult years (as student and non-student city dweller) has been from small minded thugs who usually have problems stringing words together to form a sentence.

A small minority of students can cause problem with noise and minor stupidity. I'm not aware of gangs of students going around kicking the **** out of local lads because they're NOT students, or students targetting the flats of locals for burglary because they're NOT students.

I don't like the noise, the litter and the downright stupidity sometimes exhibited by students, but the same behaviours are also exhibited by non-students.

And if you want to get on with the issues of 'student ghettos', we need to look at landlords, the council and the Universities and get them to address the problem.

So, not a terribly great problem with students, but the same problems as always with people who tar everyone with the same brush.

Joe

havn't we had this type of post before in the last month??

Seriously, your being so discriminate, saying that its just students that push bins over and throw litter is a load of rubbish, I've seen grown 30/40 yr old men and women cause just as much distruction on a friday and saturday night...

you should be saying something along the lines of "why aren't we doing something about vandals?" not about students!

I'm in my 2nd year of my degree, I work VERY hard and yes I will moan about being broke, I'm living at home with my parents and I still had to borrow some money from my folks so I didnt exceed my overdraft limit...

I go out about once or twice a month, and when I do I cause nobody any harm...

at the end of the day its like everything, there are good students, and there are bad students... and I'm so SICK to the back teeth of being tarred with a brush that in no way what so ever should relate to me!

Originally posted by JoePritchard
Funny....

The only time I've had serious problem from anyone in my 22 adult years (as student and non-student city dweller) has been from small minded thugs who usually have problems stringing words together to form a sentence.

A small minority of students can cause problem with noise and minor stupidity. I'm not aware of gangs of students going around kicking the **** out of local lads because they're NOT students, or students targetting the flats of locals for burglary because they're NOT students.

I don't like the noise, the litter and the downright stupidity sometimes exhibited by students, but the same behaviours are also exhibited by non-students.

And if you want to get on with the issues of 'student ghettos', we need to look at landlords, the council and the Universities and get them to address the problem.

So, not a terribly great problem with students, but the same problems as always with people who tar everyone with the same brush.

Joe

Well said Joe, as always the voice of reason. :thumbsup:

*YAWN* this is getting dull - can't you find another scape-goat?

Students are on the whole young people who like all young people want to go out and have a good time - so they get a bit rowdy sometimes, but thats just part of the whole young people zeitgeist whether they be students or not...

Originally posted by evildrneil
*YAWN* this is getting dull - can't you find another scape-goat?

Students are on the whole young people who like all young people want to go out and have a good time - so they get a bit rowdy sometimes, but thats just part of the whole young people zeitgeist whether they be students or not...

eggzakerly
I'm sure some of the people on here were born in their 40's.

Eh look.
Whilst it is an annoyance waking up to find a traffic cone on your motor, a kebab stuck in your hedge and having to wait forty five minutes in the chippy whist cheques are being made out for a battered sausage & peas .We must remember that with 40,000 of the drunks in our city they bring a lot of jobs and money with em.

I'm sure some one said not so long back that the Uni was Yorkshires 3rd biggest bussiness ?
So surly one of the biggest employers.

Are the dirtiest streets in Britain and having to stand ten deep at the bar in the local you've drunk in really such a hardship considering the jobs and money these kiddies bring.:|

has anyone ever worked out how much money they spend each year with Sheffield bussinesses ?
I also read in the paper that the reason Hallam is the richest area outside London is because of the Universities (they didn't why this was the case).

You'd soon be moaning if the students buggered off to other cities to spend their pennies, the city centre would be a ghost town were it not for students.

People walking round an area make it seem busier and therefore safer. Sheffield is one of te safest cities in the UK, I doubt this would be the case if students didnt come here.

Most students are here in Sheffield to have a good time and get their degree/masters etc done. Sure cones get put on roads (I did that when I was back home, when I was NOT a student).

I don't tend to kick bins over though, i'm glad if they're around, it gives you something else to put your rubbish (or your puke) into!

I cant condone the kicking of wing mirrors, if someone did it to my car and I caught them, i'd do my best to beat the living s**t outta them.

Students leaving a mess actually provides a few jobs as well. I've seen cleaners on Grinders Hill many times.

You have to balance the argument. Yes, students can be rowdy and noisy, but they bring wealth and jobs to the city and, unlike the so-called footy fans and other hardnut gangs, they DON'T go round causing trouble either.

Quote here from a BBC article:

Diana Green, vice-chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, says there are huge, tangible benefits from students.

They are estimated to put £1.3bn a year into the national economy.


Complete article here (mostly about Leeds though): Bridging the town-gown divide (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3975335.stm)

I see Students in our town as being a bit like having a tooth pulled out. The idea isnt very apealing but you know theres some benifts in the end.;)

9 time out of 10 it is the students that are cuasing problems on the Sheffield streets. Fair enough people who are not students tend to create problems but then i can live with that. Why, because its not on the scale of the amount of trouble students cause.
Seriously you can tell a student a mile off, with mostly all of them having a southern accent, ripped jeans, and paint splashed jackets. So dont give me the "How do you know its students" Crap.
On a typical night first you will her a giat "WHA-HEEEY" then a crash (bin being knocked over). Its not funny at 4 in the morning. especialy when i get home around then and try to get some shut-eye.
To whomever said that students are putting money into the economy is wrong, what you should have said is that my tax money is going back into the economy, after all it is tax payers who fund the little b******s.
Maybe if students spent more time studying and less time drinking and vandalising property, then maybe Sheffield would be a better place. Apart from limiting the amount of students in our city, the only other solution i could see is to stop them drinking.
Or maybe get rid of the useless coarses like "media studies" etc..
This would greatly cut down on students going to uni just to doss around.

C'mon something isnt right, and the problem does need sorting out! Before more sheffielders take matters into their own hands. The next student i catch anywhere near my car is in for a pasting.

Myself I have never been a student ( not at uni anyways) but the love of my life and father of my child has recently graduated (in the last three years) we lived on harcourt road for a while before my little darling was born. Yes there was late night noise and the odd problems with the bins but most of the time the bin kicking seemed to be teenagers and non students. and then there was the spew. (its the only thing that bothers me the barf). but all in all the students were fine, if there were house partys that were keeping my eldest up during the week. I would go and let the offending house know that they were keeping up my children and usually they would turn it down a bit for me. never really had any probs with the students. Now the real problems on harcourt road and the surrounding areas usually came from the hostels (housing druggys and ex offenders ) and they were the reason we eventually moved I was sick of checking the front and back of my home for needles and the like.
I think somtimes people can be a bit too quick to judge students. I never got chance to thank the group of students who rescued my little kitty after she got knocked down by a taxi a few years ago, they chased her caught her and brought her home to me at 2 am without them she would have crawled off and died, so they can't be all bad can they.

Originally posted by mindthatbus
9 time out of 10 it is the students that are cuasing problems on the Sheffield streets.

What, in Hillsbrough, Manor, Darnall, Intake et all? I think not.

Originally posted by mindthatbus Fair enough people who are not students tend to create problems but then i
can live with that.

So its ok for them to do it, but not students? It either is, or it isn't.

Originally posted by mindthatbus Why, because its not on the scale of the amount of trouble students cause.

Yeah ok then, so turning a few bins over is on the same level as burglary, rape, mugging and all the other crimes you tend NOT to associate with students!

Originally posted by mindthatbus Seriously you can tell a student a mile off, with mostly all of them having a southern accent, ripped jeans, and paint splashed jackets. So dont give me the "How do you know its students" Crap.

So you don't like ripped jeans and paint-splashed jackets? That's fine, I don't like filthy overalls, each to their own I suppose ;)

Originally posted by mindthatbus On a typical night first you will her a giat "WHA-HEEEY" then a crash (bin being knocked over). Its not funny at 4 in the morning. especialy when i get home around then and try to get some shut-eye.

I'd rather hear that than a car/house alarm and/or an ambulance rushing to the aid of someone. But I do agree, noise at that time of day, no matter what, is undesirable.

Originally posted by mindthatbus To whomever said that students are putting money into the economy is wrong, what you should have said is that my tax money is going back into the economy, after all it is tax payers who fund the little b******s.

Of course they put money into Sheffield's economy, just think how much less trade the city centre's shops, bars, restaurants ans takeaways would do if there were no students. The city centre would be in complete disarray and unemployment would be much higher, so there'd be more dole scroungers.

Do you have anything against those who are doing public service degrees, like teaching or medical? I don't mind my taxes funding them one bit.

Unless you've been a student yourself, who are you to dictate that I, or anyone else won't manage to pay back their loan? You just seem resentful of students full stop.

Originally posted by mindthatbus Maybe if students spent more time studying and less time drinking and vandalising property, then maybe Sheffield would be a better place. Apart from limiting the amount of students in our city, the only other solution i could see is to stop them drinking.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. We, like anyone else in this country are entitled to have a bit of fun and if that involves drinking, then so be it. Again, each to their own. You do what you like in your leisure time and i'll do what I like in mine. Just because you don't see the studying doesn't mean we don't do any.

Originally posted by mindthatbus Or maybe get rid of the useless coarses like "media studies" etc..
This would greatly cut down on students going to uni just to doss around.

C'mon something isnt right, and the problem does need sorting out! Before more sheffielders take matters into their own hands. The next student i catch anywhere near my car is in for a pasting.

Vigilante Sheffielders eh? My spine shivers with fear.

The experience of going to university in itself is priceless, i've learned so much in the past 14 months and have managed to survive when initially I thought I wouldn't.

As for useless courses, well people can choose to do what interests them, not everyone does it for the money at the end you know. Stop telling people what to do.

Originally posted by owdlad
Well said Joe, as always the voice of reason. :thumbsup:

Cheers owldad,

But you should see how reasonable I am when I've not been paid, it's raining and the cats have woken me up at 3-30am by leaping on the bed with wet paws....:)

At that point I make Atilla the Hun look like a wooly liberal....

Joe

I love the way you call it "The Student Problem." :hihi:

I think we ought to give students a break,they are good for this city and they bring a fresh and vibrant feel to the city which is very welcome.
Where I live I am surounded by them and I have never had any trouble at all .
I enjoy being around them and to those who dont then tough. :thumbsup:

Wow just had a really interesting lecture today from a Pharmacutical company called Eli Lilly :) applying for a work placement there for next year...

the reason I'm mentioning this? well... it'll be people like me "those f'in students" thats building systems for companies like this... one of two in the world that produce insulin for diabetics... so y'know I hope you can understand that maybe if it wasnt for students like me anyone you know with diabetes would die without us...

students might cause a bit of trouble for like 3 years? but for the 50 years after they leave a lot of them will be saving lifes, or making sure your bank account works correctly... and generally making sure your a happy man...

oh and, if I ever knock your bin down, or come near your car your welcome to try and lamp me one :) cus I like a lot of students dont do that sort of stuff

Of course i have no problem with my tax funding students that are actually doing worthwhile courses. As you rightly point out they may save countless lives one day.
The amount of students that are taking pointless courses is a joke, you say they do them out of interest. Not on my tax money they shouldn't! Lets be honest, what use is art.
Also where in any of my previous post did i say that i never went to college or uni. You couldn't be further from the truth! I actually studied engineering as I always wanted to be a mechanic. Although after i passed my courses i kind of lost interest in the whole thing. And am very happy doing my current job, and it's always nice to know that i have a trade to fall back on if tings go t**s up.
Whilst at university I didn't do any of the things that i have mentioned in previous posts, I couldn't afford to go out and get bladdered every night of the week. Sure everyone likes to have fun now and again, but whats so exiting about knocking bins over, vandalising property or putting traffic cones on top of cars and in the middle of the road.

"Yeah ok then, so turning a few bins over is on the same level as burglary, rape, mugging and all the other crimes you tend NOT to associate with students!"

Sorry my mistake, i should have made it clearer as to what i was trying to say. Ofcourse im not of the opinion that those petty crimes are anywhere near as serious as rape, murder etc...
But petty crimes are crimes non the less.

Surely you can all see where im coming from, i'm not trying tarnish everyone with the same brush and am aware that there are students making this world a better place. But as i said before the majority is giving the minority a bad name.

Of course I can see where you're coming from, I woke up this morning to find a roadworks sign resting against my garden wall, one that wasnt there the night before. But when you're dunk, the simplest things can seem so much funnier.

The problem of students is, I believe, usually limited to the student areas of the city, most of which are pretty close to the city centre anyway. And because there are a lot of students, it may seem as though it is the majority doing it. But there's about 40,000-odd students in Sheffield, it might just be the same select few you see again and again.

If my wing mirror gets kicked off, I may assume a student did it. If my house gets burgled, i'll probably assume it was a non-student.

This is my side of the argument. Students are responsible for petty crimes - being loud, kicking over cones/bins, littering the streets, being sick everywhere and not keeping their house in order to name a few. They can be annoying pains in the butt, but are good people generally. Talking to them works, shouting at them does not.

The other, more serious crimes will be committed by non-students. Car crime (not speeding necc), Burglary, Rape, Murder, GBH/ABH etc. There's a lot of good people out there, but the bad ones can turn places into no-go areas due to fear. Talking to them is less likely to work, same with shouting.

If, in the future (when i'm not a student) I have a choice of two houses. One in an area with a high violent crime rate and the other in a student area, i'd choose the student area. Safety is what concerns me the most.

I ask you these two questions...

When did you last feel threatened or intimidated by a student?
When did you last feel threatened or intimidated by someone who wasnt a student?

I believe that anyone who wants to go to university should have to pay for it (unless its a public sector degree), but I think this should be in the form of a graduate tax so as to ease the cash burden during the years of study. This would also mean though, that those who went to uni in the past for free would have to contribute as well :D

Yes im prepared to go along with the whole pay to go scheme. your post has put quite a few thigs into perspective. Maybe it is the select few that are causing the same problem again and again.
I do live quite near to the city centre, not due to my own preference but my wifes shopping addiction :( . (surely we can all relate to that).
The comment you made about being drunk makes things funnier, when I have a drink, I have a joke with my mates. The last thing that runs through my mind is "wouldn't it be funny to kick that bin over"

Originally posted by mindthatbus
The comment you made about being drunk makes things funnier, when I have a drink, I have a joke with my mates. The last thing that runs through my mind is "wouldn't it be funny to kick that bin over"

I can't account for every single person's preference (and I don't know your age :D), but a lot of the students kicking over the bins will be 18/19 and away from home for the first time, so its rebellion. Rebellion and a good dousing of alcohol combined! If that's the worst students can do to the city, then I think we have bigger fish to fry really....

Originally posted by dinp
but a lot of the students kicking over the bins will be 18/19 and away from home for the first time, so its rebellion.

I think you hit the nail on the head! a lot of the new students are away from home for the first time (and dont you know it if you ever go to their place and see how messy it is!) so some may adopt the "look I can do whatever I want now!!" attitude... course seen as most of us are generally nice people it relates to random sh*t's n giggles related stuff... not putting windows through or robbing people

bout the worst thing you can expect from me when I'm totally smashed is me bumping into you and then hugging you and telling you I love you even though i've never met you... lmao... either that or offering you some of my half eaten kebab...

btw what IS the obsession with kebabs when your drunk? I never eat them when I'm sober! =\

Originally posted by xafier
I think you hit the nail on the head! a lot of the new students are away from home for the first time (and dont you know it if you ever go to their place and see how messy it is!) so some may adopt the "look I can do whatever I want now!!" attitude... course seen as most of us are generally nice people it relates to random sh*t's n giggles related stuff... not putting windows through or robbing people

bout the worst thing you can expect from me when I'm totally smashed is me bumping into you and then hugging you and telling you I love you even though i've never met you... lmao... either that or offering you some of my half eaten kebab...

btw what IS the obsession with kebabs when your drunk? I never eat them when I'm sober! =\

I've tried a kebab once. It was crap. I don't tend to eat when i'm drunk really. when I do, it makes me feel, or be sick! :D

Originally posted by xafier


btw what IS the obsession with kebabs when your drunk? I never eat them when I'm sober! =\

I once had a long taxi ride from Derby to Sheffield with a taxi driver who explained how Donner Kebab meat comes to be....

I only go for chunky lamb shish-kebabs now...:)

On a more serious note, a lot of 'bad' student behaviour IS genuine juvenile thoughtlessness. We've all probably been there.

It's when it carries on after people ask them to be quieter or to pick up the crap from the turned over dustbin that people start getting shirty.

Joe

There are no students live round here (apart from the odd ones who live with their parents). Guess what though - bins still get kicked over, wing mirrors still get broken. Maybe there's a fairy doing it? Or is it assylum seekers? After all, Sheffield people would never do such a thing. :rant:

Originally posted by Andy
There are no students live round here (apart from the odd ones who live with their parents). Guess what though - bins still get kicked over, wing mirrors still get broken. Maybe there's a fairy doing it? Or is it assylum seekers? After all, Sheffield people would never do such a thing. :rant:

Oh, I like this post. Especially the bit about it's only odd students who live with their parents. :clap: