As a upcoming junior at Cape Henlopen High School I believe schools should open full time. Online learning has decreased student learning. This year is very important for all grades. Freshmen are finally going into high school, sophomores are going to learn how to drive, juniors are studying for the SATs, and seniors are getting their grades up for college or for life in the workforce.
Personally, I did not learn a thing from online learning. Other than me I know tons of students who did not learn anything from online learning or didn’t even show up to the classes. “For the typical student, taking a course online rather than in person would decrease his or her likelihood of course persistence by 7 percentage points, and if the student continued to the end of the course, would lower his or her final grade by more than 0.3 points on a 4-point scale.” (Harvard Business Review)
Other than grades, students have been feeling depressed or alone. Not being able to see our fellow students or friends that we see in school has made some people more depressed than normal. Some kids not being able to see their fellow students is harmful to their mental state. Parents will also be affected by the change. Some parents rely on their kids to go to school while they go to work; if they don’t have that guarantee then parents may have to work later in the night or not work to watch their kids. This could ruin the economy by having less workers for jobs. This would also affect more families by bringing in less money to support their families.
I have a few solutions to having corona around. We could leave wipes for kids to wipe down the tables and keep tables out of groups. We could also have a Zoom meeting running for kids who cannot come due to high risk or somebody in their family with high risk. For teachers with high risk, they can have a plastic sheet surround their desk. For the mask situation, kids over the age of 12 should wear masks; they would be more responsible and more likely to wear masks the whole day. We could eat lunch in our classrooms to keep away germs from one another. If needed the teachers could trade classrooms while students stay in one classroom. If we do this we could have increments for standing up and stretching. Gym could be moved outside during the summer instead of having indoor gym. During the winter, gym could be held indoors with activities that keep kids six feet apart. When kids have masks on they would still be able to interact with other students because they would both be protected. Instead of big assemblies they could make recorded assemblies, and teachers could play it on their smart-boards or TVs.
In conclusion, schools should open in the fall. If we follow rules of corona or some of the ideas listed above we should be able to open fully. Please think about the future of America and of the students in our schools.
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