Education Flipped Upside-down- Ava Mazzarella

Positivity goes a long way. During hard times, we are taught to stay positive and "Look on the bright side!" through it all. But being positive during happy times is different than being positive during the rough spots of life. I don't think anybody realizes how hard staying happy can really be until they are in the depths of their darkest hour. Which is why last spring was such a difficult time for everybody. 

School was the one thing that was constant and never-changing. All students arrived at the same time every morning to learn the same subjects every day just to leave at the same time every afternoon. Our education was pretty much the only thing in our lives that was easy to predict. And all its conformity slipped away in just a week. Suddenly, students couldn't even predict when the school building would open up again. We had to learn a whole new learning style within the course of a couple of days. We had to make this our new normal, while the rest of our lives were falling apart due to a quarantine placed on healthy people.

On a more personal level, I found it harder to wake up early morning. I no longer had to put on makeup, get dressed, straighten my hair, or even brush my teeth (I DID brush my teeth, though, don't worry) to get ready for school. All interactions with the outside world were limited to screen-to-screen lectures with the class. Those weren't even guaranteed because most of us chose to turn our computer cameras off due to a lack of self-esteem. Some days I was done in the matter of an hour or two, while other days I would be stuck on my computer until late hours of the night. There was no consistency and no security in what my education had turned into. Students are used to a learning environment inside of a designated building. Our homes are not the ideal learning environment, and because of this, it's hard for students to attend school with a ready-to-learn mindset.

As teenagers, we're meant to have social interaction. Cutting all social aspects we have in our lives is not healthy nor ideal and will never be. Some say there's not much the school can do while in a global pandemic, but kids around the world are reaping the percussions of these decisions. Mental health qualities are decreasing, while suicide levels are increasing. It's time we ask ourselves when things will go back to normal for students everywhere.