Students voice on this school year

Student opinions revealed about distance learning

By Anysa Chanthavong

Reporter

School and its transition to online learning has been one of the biggest topics this year. Many students have mixed emotions about online school and thoughts about going back to school in a hybrid schedule. A lot of students are afraid and would rather stay online for the safety of one's health, but there are others who would rather go back for the sake of learning.

“I personally do not like online school but given the choice, I would not go back considering how risky it would be,” said junior Camalah Saleh.

Online schooling has caused stress to many students and has made students feel unmotivated to do work at home. It’s easy for students to log on a call and check out so some students would rather go back to school knowing that it will benefit learning. Many also stress over the due dates rather than taking time to learn the material. Online school requires students to better manage their time and many do not work within the class time. It seems like it’s not about learning anymore, and more about students making sure assignments are turned in on time.

“Most of the time it’s the same thing. Get an assignment, have a due date, get more homework piled on, rush the work in before 11:59, apologize to the teacher for turning in work late, and so forth,” said junior Kigan Lo. This rush to meet deadlines may also be due to the synchronous attendance assignment requirement which students must complete on a daily basis.

There are some students who prefer online schooling not only due to safety, but also due to it being easier to multitask. Some students enjoy the schedule for online school because there is more time to sleep in.

“I think I prefer online school because I can be comfortable at home and get other things done while in class,” said junior Lacy Her.

Students often don’t have to be continuously worrying over the safety of their family as much when doing online schooling. School also ends earlier than usual due to the schedule which a lot of students enjoy.

“One being you don’t have to constantly worry about bringing covid home to your family another being in most of my classes I get more time to complete the work since it’s every other day. another benefit being classes at times end sooner than usual,” said Saleh.

It’s hard to learn new material when students are easily distracted. Students prefer to ask questions in person rather than online because it makes it clearer. Not all students are visual learners and some find it difficult to learn new material online. It’s a lot easier for students to procrastinate more often than usual due to this.

“I wouldn't be as distracted learning in person or would I slack off of my work here and there,” said sophomore Alice Lee.

Students feel as if there’s more work being assigned during online classes. Work gets piled on top of one another as students rush to complete it. It gets tiring staring at a screen all day trying to understand the work that’s being taught.

“I feel like online school is more challenging because it gets mentally draining staring at the screen all day and we get more work,” said Her.

There are some students who also prefer in-person learning because it gives students opportunities to communicate easier with teachers and staff more. It also allows the students to build a bond with teachers.

“Learning in person motivates me so much more. It gives me the opportunity to communicate with my teachers and the staff so I can get an understanding of what they are trying to teach us, and how they want to help. It’s hard to build that student-teacher relationship over a screen, so that motivation to do anything isn’t as prominent as it should be,” said Lo.