Should we stay at home for the rest of the school year or go back to school?

The truth is, virtual learning may have had some positive effect on Covid-19 numbers, but it is hurting students. One way is that it affects us mentally causing us to stress and make us feel suffocated by giving us too much work and having our families always around. For me, this means telling me what to do and to work harder, but I am trying my best. It has affected us socially as well because we’re not able to meet our friends or new people and it has forced us to put aside many different activities we do at school. The emotional toll caused by this has been dramatic.

According to the article “COVID-19 Parental Resources Kit – Adolescence” from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “It is important to understand how virtual learning could make learning increasingly challenging for students with limited resources or special needs. Moreover, some children may experience anxiety about going back to school in-person or virtually. Some may also experience fatigue from online video conferencing—commonly referred to as ‘zoom fatigue.’”

This is an important point in that it shows how kids have several areas that they are affected by in virtual schooling. When we’re at home learning online we’re always in front of a screen, which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, yet we also spend a lot of our free time on our phone or laptop because that’s what teens do and there is not much we can do outside of the home due to the virus. When we leisure time and your school time mean sitting in front of the screen so much you get headaches and your eyes start hurting. We would not go through this if we were at school. 

As a new student to Paint Branch entering ninth grade, I feel unfortunate to be missing out on the true experience of my first year of high school.  I have looked forward to seeing the school and meeting new people from other middle schools, but Covid-19 took all that away. I was not able to finish middle school how I wanted to, and that felt awful because I wasn’t able to say bye to my friends including some who were leaving the country.

One area that many students – from 9th grade through 12th – miss are extracurricular activities. Of course, those who may have had it the worst were the Class of 2020 who were not able to have their prom or graduation, which must have been hard on them. For those of us who are still in high school, the loss of sports, clubs, and other important activities hurts. I was hoping to be on the track team because I love going to other schools and competing in races or games, and it helps me to get closer to other new people and make new friendships. Sports, to me, is having a lot of fun as a group. I miss having fun together when we lose a game and come back sad but then all cheer each other up.

This feeling of loss is not just in kids’ heads either. According to the same CDC article, adolescents face many challenges due to Covid-19. The CDC writers state, “Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) can affect adolescents directly and indirectly. Beyond getting sick, many adolescents’ social, emotional, and mental well-being has been impacted by the pandemic.”

During online school, it’s harder for the teacher to explain the lesson because they’re talking on the screen and just are not able to explain many of the lessons the way they want us to understand it. This is because they’re in front of the screen. On the other hand, it’s hard for us students to understand what the teacher is trying to explain because we’re not physically there and we’re not able to ask them questions personally, which is how many students learn.

Another reason why we need to get back to school as soon as possible is that we are tired of being around our family all the time. Sure we love our families, but during online school we have to put on cameras, which means that sometimes the class can see our family members like your brothers coming behind a camera trying to grab something. Overall, it’s just tiring all the time being around them. Students want to be around other people, be more sociable, and have a good time with them. Talking with your family and stuff is nice, but you want to see new people. Trust me, so do they!

Also,  students need friends or teachers so that they have someone to talk to. School offers students important connections like with a counselor, who they can talk to whenever they have a difficult time. If a student can talk to their family it is fine, but if they need to open up about something and their family is not an option, school is the place they need so they can find someone. 

Right now the schedule they are giving us is perfect and it is beneficial for both teachers and students. The schedule is beneficial for us because we have time to do our assignments and we usually have one day break to relax our brains. If we do go back to school this would be a good schedule to try and maintain since we have this epidemic going around and students and teachers need time and support. It would be perfect if we were to go back to school on this schedule, perhaps having Wednesday off and the break in between classes, and make the class a little bit longer so the teachers can explain thoroughly.

Of course, it is not a good time to go back to school during this pandemic, because the cases are going up right now and we need to be safe. However, when we do go back it will be very different. We will have to be strict about taking safety precautions and using protective measures like masks and washing hands. We also won’t be able to have a lot of people in one classroom, so that will be new for us as well. Ultimately, we’re all in this together and we all have to get through it together.