Everyday school life has changed for most students all across the nation. Due to the ongoing pandemic, students have had different experiences on what their life is like while attending classes at home.
Quarantine has taken a toll on many students’ lives at school, especially those who have started virtual learning at home such as students at James Logan High School. For about nine months into the pandemic, students have been learning how to cooperate with the environment that surrounds them. During this new school lifestyle, students are attending Zoom meetings on chromebooks or other electronic devices to keep in touch with their teachers. Students have also been doing their work on educational websites that are efficient for assignments and tests.
Hearing about students’ struggles and opinions about virtual learning will give an insight about how virtual learning affects students, especially high school students.
For example, seniors who have been spending their highschool years mostly on campus had their exciting senior activities go down the drain with this specific school year. a couple of high school students about what their life is like in this unusual new way of school life.
During the first semester, Abigail McMurry, a senior at James Logan High School, spoke about how she feels about virtual learning in general.
“It feels like the work never ends,” McMurry said. “If we went back to learning at school, I would think everyone had the virus and it would scare me so much.” Students coming back to school have already faced difficulties with the amount of work that has been given to them. Like McMurry said, coming back to school on campus would bring a lot of fear to students if someone had the deadly virus.
Natalia Vega, a senior at Logan had similar thoughts about virtual learning. Mainly, her thoughts were about how she feels about doing work and attending classes at home since she also struggles to keep up with all the work.
“I feel weird and overwhelmed because it is new and unexpected, but I’m slowly getting the hang of it. I spend my life on my computer now, because I’m scared there’s an assignment I missed,” Vega said. While students are working on their chromebooks, assignments and time management have been the largest issue for them. Logan students have had similar views about virtual learning, with most students facing the same struggles.
There are many other students who deal with the virtual learning experience. Keith Castillo, a junior who goes to South San Francisco High School has another outlook on another high school student who has the same school lifestyle as Logan students do.
“Virtual learning in general is absolutely difficult. WiFi is an issue and it sucks for students, because being in the same position for hours while staring at a screen can really hurt their eyes,” Castillo said.
Due to the pandemic, students have been going through many challenges that come with learning at home, virtually. For these past nine months, technology has helped keep students on track with their education. Unfortunately, these students have had many struggles throughout this school year, including issues with their mental health and other difficulties that they have to deal with at home. It is up to the future to determine what will happen.
