COVID and Education

 COVID-19 has completely changed school culture for K-12 students as well as college students. Majority of schools have moved to online learning as that seemed to be the safest option in order to continue education. I think that online learning has provided a equal opportunity for those who struggle to get to school or are unable to be present in classes. However, I think it also has provided an obstacle for students who's only escape was going to school. There are pros and cons to online learning which vary person to person. In my opinion, there should definitely be a hardship clause for students impacted by COVID to an extent that they may fail coursework. This is because COVID can not only harm students physical health, but the circumstances involving COVID can also be detrimental to mental health of students.  There has been a higher rate of depression and anxiety for college students in particular since the start of the pandemic. Those who suffer physically from COVID can easily get behind as recovery is different for each person while those troubled by mental health can have a hard time completing daily tasks including school work. Although other countries have face to face classes, there's still a lot of regulation that goes into being face to face. Class sizes have to adjust to maintain social distancing measures, temperatures and COVID screening surveys must be taken daily, and masks must be worn at all times. This also adds stress on students because it's a new routine just to go to class. I don't necessarily believe that this will make me or others less competitive in the job market on account of COVID. This is because people all over have been affected differently. I think it's more about how you finish, not all the twists and turns it took to get there.

Personally, I've struggled a lot trying to adjust to the online learning form and it's taken a toll on my own mental health. I think a program like this would be hard to implement fairly because people could take advantage of it which would take away from those who truly need to use the clause. Online learning during COVID has been extremely challenging for me, as I already struggled with mental health before the pandemic began. Being at home, challenged to teach myself material for 7 classes, while not being able to enjoy normal social outings that take away some of the burden of hard school weeks has been mentally challenging. There's been days where I don't even want to get out of bed even if it's just to grab my laptop off of my desk and complete work from bed. There's zero motivation and even if I'm determined to be productive, I find myself just unable to obtain focus. I have hopes that spring semester will be better, but with online learning, who knows how it will affect people then.