Online Schooling Weighing Heavily on the Productivity of Students
Tired? Bored? Uninterested?
Around this time every year, students’ interest in school starts to dwindle. It’s no secret. Yet, this year, the added factor of online schooling may have a bigger impact than expected.
Despite what students constantly say and mutter, they would rather be in school right now. A large part of school isn’t even the learning, it is the social interactions. With remote learning happening all over the country, that interaction is down tremendously. There is a global pandemic happening at the moment, which we must treat with caution, and that means social lives are put on the back burner.
It isn’t uncommon for students to feel like this right about now towards school though. The second term started a couple months ago, and teachers are giving assignments left, right, and center. In the same breath, midterms are being completed by the students. All the while, outside, the days are getting longer, and some days you can even feel the warmth in the air as the sun beats down.
This means we’re getting closer to spring, and ultimately summer, a time for relaxation and fun. At this point, students’ interest in school are dwindling, with remote learning attributing to all around demotivation. COVID has kept us from the classrooms and from being together in a learning environment for over a year now, with no end in sight.
“And another thing that I don’t really like about school right now is that in
university, I feel like most students are early twenties, and around there, and a big part of mental health I guess and keeping a nice positive mind is being able to be social and be around other people your own age. With this (COVID-19) happening, all that is out the window. ” says Riley Richard, a student at UNB Saint John.
It is a tough time that everyone is dealing with, yet we all wish we could be back in the classrooms, learning properly. Productivity would be higher than what it is right now, because the school setting would be all around us. Instead, students are trying to learn in their rooms.
I asked some other students their opinion on how online schooling is going for them. Chris Hachey and Cole Healy attend UNB Saint John as well, and are in their 3rd years. I asked “Do you like the way school is right now, why or why not?” Cole said “I do and don’t. I like the fact I can use my notes and books or assessments, but I miss the in-person learning.” Chris responded “I prefer the in person classes because it’s nice to be able to go to the classes and stuff, but overall I don’t find it makes that much of a significant difference.” Some students would rather be in the classes, and some students find the differences between online and in-person hard to pin down.
As for right now, students will have to try our best at treating this situation like school and work for some good results. When next school year starts, hopefully we can be back in the classroom with our teachers and classmates right beside us, learning and creating bonds as the year goes on, yet at this point, that situation does not seem likely.
Keaghan Keddy, STU Journalism
https://globalnews.ca/news/7058508/new-brunswick-2020-2021-school-year/
