Learning During a Pandemic by Ryan McEllen

     The year 2020 will never be forgotten and will be written down in history books. This year was filled with disease, a national quarantine which varied by state, and a drastic change in social life. When mid-March began, the new ordinary life for people became one where masks were worn in public and people were mandated to keep a six foot distance from each other. All schools and most colleges and universities were closed for virtual learning. By the end of the summer, this crisis caused school districts around the country to make serious decisions about how students were going to learn. The districts decided on whether they would have students attend school, close school and have virtual learning, or have a hybrid of both in-person and virtual classrooms. Sparta Public Schools, in Sparta, NJ choose to shut down in-person school all together and go fully virtual for the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.

    This decision created a huge change for the students, teachers, and parent's day to day lives. Staying home and attending school virtually forced students to stare at a computer screen for hours each day. Of the many concerns with virtual learning, the question came up for school districts across the nation, whether each student had a computer to use for online meets and assignments. Luckily for the Sparta School District, all middle school and high school students had Chromebooks issued to them by the school. However, this doesn't mean all students that have to participate in virtual learning across the country have computers of their own. Another serious concern with kids staying home, or in a hybrid situation throughout the day, was for parents who have to go to work, but also have young children. Many families had to try and find someone responsible to not only watch their children as they went to work, but to also tutor/teach them based on their academic abilities. If they could not afford to pay someone to do that, they had to take a leave of absence from their job or try to work from home. 

    Being a sophomore in Sparta High School, I can say that the virtual learning environment isn't always the most effective. It is often hard to participate in class, write down notes, and even hear the teachers because of connection issues. Not to mention the fact that it is very difficult to build a connection with your teachers as you only see them through a screen and not in real life. Students just don't have the same experiences and learning capability as they would if in-person school was allowed.

    When asked the question, "Would you rather go into school or be virtual for the 2020-2021 school year?" on Instagram, an astounding 72% of people who answered, would have preferred to go into school. These people who answered that they wanted in-person school were then asked if their answer would still be the same if students had to wear masks all day for safety reasons. Again, the majority of the people, 82%, still wanted to go into school. This is because virtual school is too much of a change and not as functional as in person class. However, I do understand why 19% of people changed their answers from wanting to go in to wanting to stay home if students had to wear masks, because masks are uncomfortable and such a change from our typical life. I am not sure I would be able to handle learning all day with a mask on, because after awhile, the masks cause slight difficulties with breathing.

                                           

     It is a very complicated time that people of all ages are experiencing right now, and it truly will never be forgotten. This is probably one of the first times in history that a majority of students wish they could go back to school instead of staying home. I am sure no one expected this pandemic to last several months when the quarantine first happened in March. Now, people are just longing for the social aspects of their life to return to normal again. But, I understand why school is closed, and what a difficult time it has also been on the administration and teachers. I give teachers a lot of respect having to teach with technological problems, and also to a class that for the most part has their mute buttons on. Hopefully, these issues will all vanish soon, and students can finally meet their teachers in-person and have a full learning experience.