Getting “Back To Normal” Just Isn’t Enough

When it comes to school, Covid has really turned the world upside down. We have whole new sets of protocols and standards, and being social in public schools is almost foreign now. It doesn’t really feel like you meet many new people in school anymore, and you can only talk to the one or two people you know that actually show up on campus. The water fountains don’t work, you can’t fill lunch tables with your friends, and we now have one-way halls.

Welcome to high school during a global pandemic.

Anyone can say they don’t like virtual school, or even in-school with altered rules and regulations. It’s not that it’s unbearable, it’s just actually harder to learn and get good grades. For a lot of people, the process for doing online schooling takes a toll on your brain after one or two days. There are many articles online stating that average grades have significantly lowered since Covid started, especially in Math and English. There are definitely those out there who can easily pass, but a totally or partially virtual school system is more than enough to cause many students to lose motivation and start stressing out.

On April 12, FCHS began offering in-person school four days a week. I wasn’t for or against it, but now that it’s here it feels the same as before, but with a couple more people in each class. Now that students are getting accustomed to virtual classes, I think you’re better off studying in the comfort of your own home than in a quiet classroom with a handful of strangers. It just doesn’t quite feel like school yet, so it’s still hard to get into a classroom vibe even while on campus.

Even though it could make normal school weird in the future, some students are just staying virtual for the convenience of it. So far, the bus gets me to the school an hour early, so I’m sitting for a lengthy period of time mostly by myself before class starts, whereas in virtual school I can just log in right on time. Plus, in virtual learning you have more time between classes, easier access to the restroom and food, and the ability to finish the next class’ work before it starts instead of staying in your current class twice as long as the virtual kids.

Overall, there are pros and cons to virtual learning, but I think that being a virtual student has slight benefits and advantages. Any way you look at it, with lackluster grades and poor motivation, hours spent sitting in a mostly-quiet classroom in front of a computer, the sports system all out of whack, and the odd one-way halls, there’s just no feeling like normal in school this year.