A student’s take
For the past few months now, I have been attending virtual school. I’m in lower sixth (or the senior year of high school); A-levels (or AP examinations) are just over a year away. And it’s frustrating. Problems range from laggy internet and impersonal information to persistent fatigue and lack of motivation — and many students can’t tolerate it for much longer.
My ‘school day’ starts by being interrupted from deep sleep to the blaring noise of my alarm clock at 8 AM and lumbering up to my desk. Since being plunged into a pandemic, I’m sure many of our body clocks are scrambled — and only getting up to eight hours a night, especially for teenagers, whose recommended sleep is onwards of eight hours but on average get between six and seven — will not only make one’s day exhausting but also affect their physical and mental well-being in the long run, something that lies latent in the shadow of this Covid crisis.
The rest of my day consists of sitting in front of a screen for around six hours —and this is just for the laptop and monitor on my desk — listening to monotonous and mechanical teachers that seem to be as tired of online school as I am. Adults and teenagers should get no more than two hours of screen time a day, however, surveys, as of 2019, have shown that the average teenager in the US is on their mobile phone for roughly seven hours a day. It is alarming, and there’s no surprise if this increases further as some of us are locked indoors for weeks or months on end.
The actual learning experience itself, I find, personally, is much more tedious yet more effective: students have instant access to the internet to research and question topics they are studying, a privilege unavailable or would take longer to access in the classroom. But the current trend of talking through a screen in an empty room compared to a conventional face-to-face conversation is a depressing thought. Teachers and classmates are unable to communicate as effectively virtually as in person. Face-to-face interactions allow better transmission of information and are critical for building relationships and fostering engagement, something many students cannot do due to the array of distractions at home.
To be able to focus in class, attention is paramount. However, the attention span of a student is only between ten and 15 minutes. Lessons held online dramatically decrease this already too-short period. When out of boredom, mobile phones are what most people reach. A notification that shouldn’t be looked at for more than a few seconds turns into a dozen minutes watching Youtube or scrolling through social media. As a result, a chunk of class missed. But the limited capacity for motivation students possess is what underpins their nonchalant attitude towards virtual learning.
To mend these problems education system must, I believe, reexamine common disputes students face — both in and out of the classroom; in-person and online. For interests to be re-ignited curriculum must change and incorporate what is relevant to the real and future world, not what was current decades ago. Learning concepts and principles compatible with the 20th century do not necessarily comply with modern-day solutions used to tackle modern-day challenges. Economists are getting taught century-old Keynesian economics that no longer relates to today’s and tomorrow’s economy, for example. Nevertheless, we must adapt to the changing world around us to make sure generations to come are well-equipped with the skills needed to step into, understand and care for the world.
It is dispiriting living in a world where the future is broadly unknown and envisioned by the broadcast on television. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s hope that attitudes can be revived, renewed, and revitalized with hyperopic instead of myopic vision, leave behind the past year and look forward to many to come. Although I have to admit one thing that we will miss for sure is lie-ins.
