By Quinn Hoop, Lincoln High School sophomore
The effects of COVID-19 have not been limited to the adult world, but have also seeped into the lives of kids and teenagers. Portland Public Schools is trying to balance the wants and needs of everybody with varying success, however many kids have concerns about what school might look like in the fall.
When school was canceled March 11th, nobody was sure what was going to happen and if school was going to return. It did return after two weeks, but in a virtual format. Teachers and students no longer went to a building to learn, all classes were held online via Google Meet, teachers gave students materials by Google Classroom, and almost all aspects of school life transitioned to an online setting. This had varying degrees of success.
I interviewed Reily Horan, a freshman at Roosevelt High School, who shared his thoughts, “Overall, it felt like they didn’t really know what they were doing. It could have had more structure.”
Classes were shorter, held Monday- Thursday, and were not as rigorous as they were in person. Most teachers used the format of a slide show, with the day’s lesson on it, and provided some homework. There was a lunch break, and a time for physical exercise. The time for exercise seems like a good idea, but I don’t know a single student who used it for its intended purpose.
The shaky start to online learning has led to many students worrying about what will happen this fall. One of the worries is that students will not receive the same quality or quantity of education as they would have in person.
” Overall, it felt like they didn’t really know what they were doing. It could have had more structure.”
“We really just went over what we had already learned,” was one of the most common complaints that students had about distance learning.
Everyone that I interviewed expressed that they did not learn many new things online. The majority of what they learned in the final months of school was just review or didn’t build much off what they had learned before.
One of the other issues that occurred to students, especially in more rural places, was limited access to wi-fi. Xavier Beller, a sophomore at Lincoln High School, has this problem.
“I don’t have very good Wi-Fi. I can’t have audio on for me, I can’t have video on for me. I really fear that in the fall, I’m going to struggle attending my classes due to wi-fi problems.”
However, he was able to contact the school and ask for help, and they delivered. “I actually got a Wi-Fi router from the school.” He received and was able to keep a Wi-Fi router, as well as a Chromebook (the standard laptop used in schools), which helped him out a lot.
The ability to self-regulate and maintain a tight schedule is a skill that was very important for students to have in online learning, but not all students were able to stay focused. This led to some students feeling overwhelmed and getting left behind.
Due to the nature of online classes, it has become much easier for students to either not put effort into school, or to just not attend classes at all. For my Physical Education class, the attendance rate was usually about half of what it normally would be. P.E. also ended 30-40 minutes early on most days because it was really not possible to hold a class on exercise online.
Abi Calamka is a freshman at Jefferson, and is worried that her dance class, a class that she was really looking forward to, will be impacted greatly. She is also disappointed that many sports will not be happening this year, an opinion shared by many other students.
Many kids, especially freshmen or people switching schools, are also concerned that they will not have the same level of connection with their peers. It is very hard to get to know people when only one person out of 25 can speak at a time, and there is little opportunity for connections to be made.
Students are concerned about this school year. There are many questions to be answered and many difficulties lie ahead. How long will online learning last? If we do go back to in-person learning, what will that be like? Will the level of education be adequate? Will it be difficult for everyone to adjust? Everyone is wondering what will happen.