Ah, the U.S public schooling system. What a hot mess. It’s definitely gotten worse after COVID forced quarantine on everyone. Either you take mind-numbing virtual school, or you wear a mask for seven hours. What amazing choices, am I right? Seriously though, the past year hasn’t been that fun for students or teachers alike. COVID-19 has restricted learning for the past 18 months for 90% of kids worldwide, causing a lot of virtual students to fall behind their grade level really quickly. From excessive screen-time, to lack of basic learning experiences, virtual students have a lot to catch up on.
Virtual school required kids to be on screens all the time, which caused a never-ending list of problems. First of all, the opthamologists are getting great business. Second of all, how in the world are students supposed to focus?! There’s literally an entire world at the click of their fingers, ready for them to explore. So many possibilities, all of which are a lot more fun than school to most kids. Cheating is also a whole lot easier in virtual school, where a teacher can’t monitor the kids behind the screens. It’s infinitely easier to hide things behind tabs, beneath cameras, and next to computers, than it is to sneak them on the palm of your hand.
At school, there are a lot of hands-on activities and group projects for kids to do. Teachers regularly implemented science experiments, group assignments, and student-teach-student learning tactics into kids’ education. But in virtual school, that’s virtually impossible! How can you do group assignments, when the groups are split up? How can you do hands-on projects, when there are no hands to do it?
COVID-19 really threw students and teachers for a loop. Virtual school has been a major educational setback for many kids, and teachers now have to worry about bringing them back up to speed. Now, with most kids back in school, everyone’s hoping students will be able to catch up to their grade level. The best we can do is try to support teachers who are in just as bad a position as students are, and bring awareness to this newfound problem.
