The Bigger Picture of Online Schooling By Alecxis Villapando

    Personally, going to school online everyday is more stressful than learning in person. From a student’s point of view, waking up early only to know that you will stay home the entire school day, is just so boring because it gets very repetitive. And I’m not saying that what we learn during our google meets isn’t interesting, but there’s only so much you can do on a computer. Most of our assignments are either to work on a google document, a google slide, or to write down notes in a real notebook then take a picture and submit it. There is no real activity or interaction in that.

    And for me, when we were in school, the way I stayed sane was through its social aspect. I mean yes, we do have breakout rooms, but most of the time it’s very awkward. Furthermore, it does not help that the internet isn’t always cooperative. Whether that be on the teacher or the student’s end. Trying to mute, unmute, or presenting a tab can make me anxious because most of the time I’m ready to answer a question, but the internet can’t keep up with my clicking. It’s also frustrating too when your screen becomes frozen, so then the class is there just awkwardly waiting for you, and you can’t do anything about it. 

Aside from my rant, it’s still better that we are continuing online school because this pandemic is still very much prevalent and serious. With that being said, it is always better to be safe than sorry. I also want to give my heart out to all the healthcare professionals risking their lives everyday for us, so that we can slowly but surely survive this pandemic. And of course, shout out to the teachers as well; For they have been patient in teaching us students in a whole different media and set up. I think after almost half a year of being restricted from our “normal” lives, everyone has slowly adapted to this huge change. We are still moving forward which is a great sign. At the end of the day, lives are being lost due to COVID-19, making school not the biggest priority right now. So, the bigger picture is that we have to continue social distancing, washing our hands, and wearing masks to not only keep ourselves healthy but others around us, too.