Graphic by Lucy Chen
Over the past 11 months, we’ve spent more than 73 days of 2022 on Microsoft Teams and even more days locked at home. With less than 23 days left of this year, it's starting to feel like the impacts of this pandemic may just never end. I’ve been growing accustomed and somehow indifferent to school life with masks and social gatherings 5ft apart. The repercussions of this pandemic have proved itself over and over that it plans on staying a constant. And with the new norm constantly changing, we must take time and appreciate all that we’ve gained through the struggles.
It’s no surprise that students aren't the biggest fans of distance learning. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an estimated 60% of teachers in a virtual environment had students who had more difficulty understanding lessons, compared to a 37% of teachers when it’s in-person. Common obstacles range from the lack of appropriate workspaces, inadequate support, or mere disengagement. Such impediments are what hinder learning and more importantly, wellbeing. The GAO also found that a shocking 61% of all teachers had more students who experienced emotional distress in 2020-2021. SAS is well equipped with counselors and faculties who are experienced and dedicated to understanding and helping their students, but when placed online, it’s understandable that the barrier grows.
By doing a simple search, it’s easy to find abundant information on how DL impacts the world. However, one can’t help but wonder: what are the thoughts of our students in SAS? An anonymous high school student said "the lockdowns itself was mostly okay for me because I was able to go outside of my house. But DL was horrible. I had like 50 overdues. It wasn't even harder to learn, I just didn't feel like doing it." Most of us won’t find it hard to resonate with the fact that sometimes it wasn't the internet that was crashing. Sometimes our minds were just a little sick of sitting in the same room and glaring at the same screen for 6 hours straight. This lack of motivation and constant procrastination leads to crying over the endless bright red overdues on Schoology. Not only was the learning draining, everything else had the same effect. "DL was just tiring. I didn't want to do my work; I didn't want to wake up. And I didn't even want to sleep. I was just always at home and there wasn't someone stopping me from not doing my work." Who’s there holding you accountable through a screen? When waking up after a night of procrastination, there’s a tendency to fall right back into it.
To solve this vicious cycle, Ms. Ireland, our high school counselor, suggests that students start a routine. We all know how difficult it is to maintain 9 hours of sound sleep, 1 hour of exercise, and 30 minutes of daily meditation. However, Ms. Ireland explains that "At the beginning, we didn't know how long it was going to be. When your mind thinks that it's going to be over soon, it affects you differently. You have a little bit more of a positive attitude. But then it drags on, things constantly change." The truth is that we don’t know, and with that uncertainty what's needed is the sense of stability that comes from a routine. Not every student follows the same mundane regimen every day, nevertheless; we treat every day with importance. Even out of DL, Covid constantly reminds us of its existence. Ms. Leet, the freshman class counselor, agrees that "it's not like everyone's depressed or anything, but there is this low level of excitement of what's going to happen. It's hard to get excited for things to shut down again.” After the pandemic's continuous intrusion into our lives, when we’re back to learning in person it’s hard to find the joy in many activities to see it all shut down again in a week. So as Ms. Ireland suggests a healthy schedule, Ms. Leet encourages students to be “More open with their feelings whether with their friends, family, teachers, or anyone that they trust.”
Emotions are heavy things that have to be dealt with fragilely. Whether it’s the happy or the sad, someone is there to hear them. We must celebrate our small victories and wish for the best to come.
We should try remembering that through Covid happy moments still exist. In times like this, there’s a lot of uncertainty circulating and it can be daunting. The best thing we can do is to take it all in— to toast and appreciate our little moments. Our school has worked very hard to create a system that supports its students. Hopefully, with the recent announcement of lifting protocols, we are close to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Credits:
Written by: Weiwei Koh
Edited by: Sage Yan
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