It's not all noise. Being able to live, work, or study anywhere in the Schengen zone has tremendous value. But it doesn't show up in GDP numbers. Brexit harmed the young people of UK, and they hate it.
Regarding the UK specifically, very few people chose to study in the EU when they could while many in the EU wanted to study in the UK. British unis are a huge asset to the country that also brings a lot of money from foreign students. Same for young people wanting to come work in UK/London.
Frankly, I think the "harm" done to young British people is vastly overblown and more symbolic than actual.
They voted 'remain' but, as said, what they feel and what the facts are are not the same thing. They might be pissed off that they cannot just go study in the EU anymore but the fact is that they didn't when they could...
Even today, they can obviously register to study abroad, just need a visa like everyone else, and considering the English unis' tuition fees they would actually save money by doing so but hardly anyone does because of the language barrier (same as when the UK was in the EU).
So IMHO it is a case of FOMO.
It's the EU students who have lost out because they must now pay hefty tuition fees (like £35k+ a year) if they wish to study in British unis so most of them have given up. British unis don't really care because they are in high demand globally, anyway.
Your response amounts to: ignore what the people affected value, only pay attention to a cherry picked number. Even the number you cherry picked is only valued by people who resent students coming to the UK and think they ought to pay steep tuition fee fees, which is just weird. Who benefits? Certainly not the students who would otherwise gain an international perspective.
I have not cherry-picked anything and I think assessing what people value has to look at how they act and behave, not just at what they say.
Not many UK students choose to study in Europe (I suspect in large part because of the language barrier). That was true when the UK was in the EU and it is true now when doing so is not super hard and would save them money. So maybe they valued the idea of being able to 'just go study in Europe' but they didn't do it much... Hence, minimal actual harm.
> Even the number you cherry picked is only valued by people who resent students coming to the UK and think they ought to pay steep tuition fee fees, which is just weird
I have no idea how you got that idea from my previous comment...
It is difficult to discuss anything related to Brexit.
Frankly, I think the "harm" done to young British people is vastly overblown and more symbolic than actual.