Students conflicted between wanting to zoom back to school or continue Zoom at home
Distance learning has sparked different reactions from students as some have grown to hate or love online school.
Students appreciate the convenience of being able to join school within the comfort of their bedrooms.
As great as it is that classes were shortened to an hour and pushed to start at 8 a.m., how is it truly affecting the students?
Is it nicer to wake up, turn on zoom and start, or is it better to get up earlier, get ready, get breakfast and head to school? How does the pandemic affect the want to go back to school? All are questions that students have been conflicted about themselves.
Students have started to adapt to the ways of online school with Zoom and other online resources such as Google Classroom, Khan Academy and YouTube to help them with school.
“My grades have been affected but in a good way,” Athena Sese, a junior at Granite Bay High School, said. “I usually like working in a classroom and actually being able to talk with my friends, but staying and working home isn’t bad either.”
Some students see distance learning as a way to focus more on school and get work done more efficiently, but other students assert that socializing at school with other students is a very important part of their academic life.
“Socializing with students through zoom is really tough for me honestly,” Sese said. “I’m so much better in an in-person setting, much more extroverted, can create a ton of friends, and I get really comfy with almost everyone in the class. But on zoom, I’ve gotten so much more introverted. I usually don’t speak in breakout rooms until like 2-3 people start talking, so it’s changed how I socialize with people a lot.”
But on zoom, I’ve gotten so much more introverted. I usually don’t speak in breakout rooms until like 2-3 people start talking, so it’s changed how I socialize with people a lot. — Athena Sese
There’s a pattern among students not being able to socialize more because of the pandemic, and it’s starting to feel like summer break but with homework and online meetings.
There is also an issue concerning the 8% of GBHS students—roughly 160 students—who are eligible for free food as not every student has a car or driver to get them to school during the pandemic to get their free lunch.
Despite the inconveniences of distance learning, some students still prefer to remain online.
“No, I don’t want to go back to school,” junior Gian Mena said. “I think in this time of the pandemic, especially with the lack of enforcement of safety precautions, going back to school will only make things worse. My social life was the only part that really took a hit, but even with this we’ve found ways around like discord calls or distance hanging out with masks.”
Junior Jack Lund also supports remaining in distance learning.
“I do want to go back to real school, as in not online,” Lund said. “It’s easier to get to school. I wake up there. (However), math is harder. I’ve had to implement more technology into my life. There is no socializing with students.
I feel so bad for anyone who doesn’t already have friends because new bonds aren’t going to be formed in online classes. Almost every break out room I’ve been in has been really awkward.”
Distance learning has clearly limited opportunities to connect with other students. Teachers also feel the same impact.
“Just being in person is so much nicer,” AP U.S. History teacher Brandon Dell’Orto said. “Right now (it’s) so much more work trying to do this distant thing. Not seeing you guys not having you in class, this is way way harder.
It’s like this weird fog; it’s like this weird dream we’ve been in since March, and it feels like I just haven’t quite woken up.”
