Covid Cases Rise, Students Continue Hybrid Learning

As the school year progresses, students are beginning to switch from their hybrid schedules to fully virtual. COVID-19 has definitely taken us by surprise, and we don’t know what it has to offer in our future. Could schools potentially close down? Is transferring to being completely online the better option? 

Many students state they feel safer at home and don’t want to put their family members at risk. After coming back from break, Covid cases have skyrocketed – even with a full week of remote learning after break to limit cases.

However, a majority of students prefer hybrid learning as they said that learning at home requires a lot of self-motivation.

Jacob Park, a student at West, prefers online learning more. He says it’s “more convenient” as he does not “have to get on the bus or actually go to school” everyday. He also says that it is much easier to “just walk into another room to attend class”. 

With the debate surrounding remote and hybrid learning, a resounding consensus revealed hybrid learning was preferred. Stella Maurino, an 11th grader, says “it’s easier to learn when you’re in the room and seeing it all.” She also says that “it is hard to stay on top of everything” and that she would much rather be in school.

Additionally, Jacob replied by choosing the hybrid schedule because although it was “inconsistent”, it is easier to get distracted at home.

Although it must be difficult for these students to go to school at home, they are doing it for the right reasons for them personally. Stella even mentioned that she would rather be “safe than sorry”.

While considering how difficult this transition must be for students, we should also keep our teachers in mind. It can be difficult for teachers to keep track of two different groups of students and get through their lessons at the same time. This a situation in which everyone must adapt to the new circumstances and try their best. 

When asking students on how teachers could improve their teaching methods to adapt to the hybrid model, one student said that although most teachers are doing good on making sure that all of their students are on the same page, “…some pay less attention to me so I wish that would change.”

Everyone has space to improve whether it is students or teachers. It is important that we adapt to these new challenges as the year progresses. As of now, the students are preferring to go to school but let’s see what the future holds.