Civic Issues Blog

Throughout my recent blog posts, I have explored the different ways that COVID-19 has impacted education, mostly from a student standpoint. Today, I want to take a look at how educators have struggled as well, since they play such a crucial role in all of our lives.

According to this article from NPR, many teachers went into the 2021-22 school year expecting it to be a bit better than 2020. In the end, quite the opposite occurred. This article states that “some teachers are ready to quit while others are breaking down in school bathrooms amid overwhelming pressure.” Between managing multiple classes of students, handling expectations from higher up, and navigating the new online remote learning systems put in place, it has definitely been a huge challenge for teachers to do their job over these past two years.

Although I do not have personal experience trying to teach students since I am still one myself, I have seen close up the struggle. Both my aunt and my uncle are educators in the same school district with different positions. My uncle has worked with IT in the past, so navigating the technological aspects of the pandemic were not as much of a problem for him. For my aunt, she struggled more with feeling disconnected from students every day. Adjusting to teaching through a screen threw a wrench in both of their lives in different ways.

On top of these struggles, teachers face many of the same issues their students do. Mental health breaking points and managing life at home with kids or other family members provided the same problems it did for many kids during this time. Without being able to send their kids to school during the day, teachers became responsible for making sure their own families were stable with things alongside their students online.

I know that teaching little kids takes a lot of patience and effort normally, so doing so from online rather than in-person must have posed even more unique challenges than ever before. I can only imagine how difficult this type of job became as the pandemic progressed.

Overall, although it can be easy to focus on how we personally have been impacted by COVID-19 academically, it is important to keep in mind that our teachers, principals, guidance counselors, etc. all faced similar (if not the same) struggles at different points in time. They are only human, and deserve the respect and admiration we can provide them with for pushing through such a tough time.

As I have discussed previously on this blog, online and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has presented both new challenges as well as opportunities for improvement in some areas. Today, I want to talk about how online learning during the pandemic played a crucial role in the lives of kindergarten and early elementary school age children.

It can be easy to only think about how kids our age were affected by remote learning, but at least we were old enough to be self-sufficient at home or just away from school in general. What about the kids that were still learning how to read, count, or even identify colors? These students likely faced bigger challenges than anyone else.

Having four younger cousins on one side of my family, I saw first-hand how online learning impacted kids ages 7-11 at the time. My younger cousins were not only struggling to learn basic information, but they had to rely on their parents more than ever too in order to get access to their learning. Some kids needed their parents to turn on a computer, let alone help them learn their work. My one cousin was about 8 when COVID first hit. My aunt works as a RN at the local hospital, and is a single mother with two kids and a dog at home. She explained how a lot of the time, the responsibilities to help her youngest fell to her older son, who was only 11 at the time, while she also relied on family to watch the kids at times when her or her ex-husband could not. The older brother had to help his little brother with making sure the computer worked, got his homework done, and answered his questions throughout the day along with managing his OWN school work. When my aunt was home, she often had to help both of her kids with internet connection issues and other things.

All of this extra responsibility on parents was a huge aspect of the pandemic that I think often goes unseen. My next-door neighbors are a young couple with three kids, ages six, three, and just under a year. While both managing their own jobs from home online, they often asked my sister and I for help babysitting during the afternoons and weekends once vaccines came out and other safety measures were able to be taken. I saw just how much help kids this young require with technology as well as academic material.

Although all of this information is nothing new, my question is this: will there be long-term effects for kids who missed out on crucial lessons in the classroom during COVID? I think yes. Students who were learning the basics of education, things like reading and spelling, will use these skills for the rest of their lives. Putting so much responsibility on the parents or whoever is at home to help teach them when educators could not do more because they were remote is a huge thing not many people recognize right now. I personally have seen one of my young cousins, who struggles with severe ADHD and other learning issues, have serious challenges in later elementary school now even back in person due to the inadequate lessons he had during an important phase of childhood.

With all of this, I just wanted to end on one final but important note. Although this post talks a lot about the struggles parents and students faced, it is NOT the teachers’ fault. They did their best with what they had, same as everyone else. I understand it is probably just as hard for them to teach as it was for some kids to learn.

Although the introduction of technology such as Zoom and other things has helped us to become much more flexible during such a tough time, it has also brought up some questions now that students are back to learning in person for the most part. Are sick days acceptable anymore? Will there be any more snow days? What if students need a mental health day?

In the past it was easy to take a day off when needed, for health reasons or other ones. Simply not going to school was acceptable for students who needed a day off or were too sick to come in. Now with Zoom options almost everywhere, many professors and teachers expect students to be present for lessons in one way or another. Although this can be a helpful tool for some who are too sick to be in school in person but well enough to work from home, it creates an expectation that even while sick students need to be productive and learning. The same issue is present with students who sometimes need to take a day off for mental health reasons. Much of the time, it would not be a true break since they could be expected to join Zoom meetings while at home instead of attending in person.

The biggest change I have seen myself with the introduction of Zoom is the existence of snow days. While in high school, there was no better feeling than waking up in the morning, finding out school was canceled for the day due to too much snow on the roads, and going back to sleep for a little while. Now, my younger brother has told me that this year when there was too much snow to go to school, classes were still required to be attended, just online instead. It might seem trivial and stupid, but something as small as snow days is a huge part of the school year that many kids enjoy and look forward to.

Overall, although COVID has presented us with many alternative learning and teaching styles, it has also adjusted our expectations for students and teachers alike. The need for a break sometimes or a sick day here or there will always be present, and the new technological advancements we have made only ask for more time to be dedicated to school in some ways. Allowing students to have these random snow days and necessary sick days where work is not expected of them is a huge part of school, especially for younger children. With the new society we live in, will these past experiences with days off cease to exist?

Although COVID-19 has drastically impacted education across the board, the number one change that can be seen concerns academic integrity. With online tests and quizzes, it is nearly impossible to monitor every individual student. That being said, cheating is now at an all time high. Online resources, working with peers, etc. all are more common than ever before due to the adjustments in learning the pandemic has forced.

With the newfound prevalence of academic integrity on exams, the question of quality of education is brought up. Are college students passing their major-required classes due to outside help on tests? Are high schoolers not truly learning necessary academic skills since they can just google answers? Are students really benefitting long-term with the online changes made to their education?

Not only is cheating more common, it is also extremely normalized now. Throughout my senior year, the biggest impact of COVID hit academically. I saw some of the top students in my grade resorting to whatever means necessary to maintain their good grades, regardless of whether or not they actually retained the material. Teachers began to make more assignments “open-note” which led exams that were not the same format to be even more difficult. By opening tests on computers rather than pencil and paper, unless there was a lockdown browser in place, nearly every single exam had students cheating in one way or another. Not only is this an issue of integrity and honesty, but it makes me wonder about the college students who did the exact same thing on tests.

 

Our future doctors, nurses, engineers, CEOs, etc. are potentially not learning the necessary information they need for their future careers. Although sometimes having access to your own notes on a test is beneficial, having open access to google and other online resources seems to be doing more harm than good at this point in time. Without any strong way to monitor these cheating methods, they have only grown more and more prevalent. I noticed that for me personally, just two or three weeks ago I had my first in person, no notes exam for the first time since the beginning of senior year. The anxiety and stress I felt was odd considering the test was the same format I had been exposed to for the majority of my life so far.

I’m not saying that we need to go back to fully in person tests, with no peer communication, no notes, and no online access, but I do think that for exams and work that is truly trying to get an idea for where students are with their knowledge, we need to recognize that the data may not be quite accurate. COVID has shown us a lot about who we are as students and educators, but it has shown us to get a little lazy more than anything in my eyes.

 

In my last post I explored how this global pandemic has had negative impacts on learning and education in America, so this week I decided to look into the opposite idea. Today, I want to look into some of the positive effects.

Students and educators alike have adjusted to learning remotely, which has greatly improved typing skills, computer awareness, and even small things such as email etiquette. Although students that are younger have faced more challenges navigating their education online, they have overcome these obstacles and learned new skills that will be very important as they grow older.

Elementary, middle, and high schoolers alike have become more tech-savvy than ever before. Students now know how to manage their workloads to work more independently with less direction, which prepares them for college and future jobs. Things like sick days and weather situations are less challenging now because students are able to access their work from home or another location. It is easier to get caught up on missed work since nearly everything is available online for students to access anywhere.

According to this article, not only are students and teachers becoming more aware of how to help each other and stay on top of work, they are all learning how to shift priorities a bit to make a better environment to learn in. With the pandemic, many families faced new hardships that they were unprepared for. In this newly technological world, people are beginning to emphasize the importance of students’ mental health and wellb

eing, as well as that of educators alike. Conversations are easier, resources are more readily accessible, and communication between students and teachers and parents is offered through more options than ever before.

Resources such as Zoom and

Google Classroom are being used now as part of daily life for students, and in some ways being implemented into adult jobs. Overall, people are much more understanding and respectful of others now that we are aware of how hard this pandemic has hit some families.

Although there are so many negatives about COVID-19, taking the time to look at the positives is extremely important. Building better relationships inside and outside the classroom thanks to new online resources will help prepare young students for their futures, and will allow educators to help on a more personal level when needed. I know that for me personally, just having the ability to Zoom into high school classes on days I was sick helped me feel a little less behind and more on top of my workload, which helped me feel better in other aspects of my life as well.

Obviously, the global pandemic we have experienced over the past two years has affected every aspect of daily life in different ways. One of the biggest changes that we saw came from schools and workplaces. Th

e education system in America changed drastically, and without proper preparations. Students went from hands-on in person learning every day, to navigating online and asynchronous classes. Although this adjustment may have posed challenges for older students, how did it effect the kindergarten and elementary school age children growing up today?

Not only does online school impact a student’s ability to learn, it can have long-term effects that can pose challenges later in life. For students who require extra assistance in the classroom, not having those resources at home makes learning even more complicated. There is also no access to school meals, extracurricular activities, clubs, sports, and more. This lack of daily human interaction is detrimental to students of any age, but especially to very young developing minds. Also, students who speak English as a second language, do not have access to modern technology, or cannot receive help from working parents when needed are all at a huge disadvantage with remote learning. At the most important developmental stages of childhood, children are facing unprecedented challenges and being forced to find solutions they should not be responsible for. This article gives a solid breakdown of issues: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8445757/

Not only are young children struggling with this shift, high school age students also face unique obstacles due to the pandemic. They are forced to take on more responsibilities, grow up faster, and isolation from the typical joys that come with high school. No prom, sports seasons, graduation, etc. due to protocols put in place for safety. This article shares some personal stories from students:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/10/29/teens-poll-academics/

Although these students are older, many of them still face challenges younger students saw: lack of resources for students who require extra help, technological issues, negative home life, etc. All of these issues combined with the stress of being away from your peers for so long especially impacts mental health of students. Then, when they miss out on things like graduation that they have been looking forward to for years, it makes for an underwhelming high school experience overall. More about this topic can be found here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/20210608-impacts-of-covid19.pdf 

Although this pandemic experience has brought new lessons for all of us, as students, the education system faced more challenges than ever before. Elementary, middle, and high school students as well as college and kindergarten students were forced to adapt to a way of life we were not prepared to face. As things have shifted and vaccines and other resources have became available and learning has moved back in person with new precautions, many students and educators are now facing new problems that arise due to the lack of true learning that has been missed out on in the past two years. I know I have seen these issues firsthand in both high school and even now in college.

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