There’s a key point made in the LESC budget recommendations that every student will find surprising; ten days added on to the 2021-2022 school year to make up for lost learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. There is no doubt that students across the state were taken aback when they looked at their school year turning entirely virtual, some adjusted well and some are still struggling to make this a functioning environment. Though despite the variety in student experiences, one thing remains clear; “normal” has an entirely new definition from here forward.
Looking at the possible return to in-person schooling next year seems like the ultimate win for students. There will be lunches in the cafeteria, talking with friends during class, going to football games, things will be fine in August, right? Wrong. Even if Coronavirus were to completely disappear, students cannot return to the same in-person environment they once knew. From a student’s perspective, returning to school this August will be just as difficult as, perhaps more than the quick switch every student made in March of 2020. There needs to be understanding and forgiveness across every school campus, we cannot expect our youth to adjust to these standards so quickly.
Though regarding the LESC document I referenced at the beginning, the question is, will this 10 day addition to the school year really be valuable for students, especially recognizing that there will be a slow, gradual return to normal? I would agree that remote learning has negatively impacted the amount of material that students have learned. According to both teachers and students at Eldorado High School, where I attend, the majority feels that only so much can be taught effectively and students need some self motivation to understand missed material. Though this isn’t just high school students experiencing this, elementary, middle, and high school students and teachers have noticed a significant decrease in learning from the teacher and an increase in the need for self teaching, which can be very difficult at these ages. This is nobody’s fault except for the pandemic’s, but there’s still action we can take to help ensure a quality education for students. Ten days added on to next school year is not the best solution.
Of all the students I asked about this topic, everyone wondered how much ten days would really help make up for the material lost. The substantial curriculum that students miss is valuable and worth learning, but trying to condense weeks of education into ten days is nearly impossible. Furthermore, is the financial investment into these ten extra days worth the value they’ll bring? The productivity in the last few weeks of school always dwindles, and students will have an even harder time building and maintaining this motivation next year. I’d argue that the best way to help students regain their stamina is not to add more academic material, but to focus on unity, community, and ways to support one another to eventually define a new normal.
School is more than a place where students go to learn. School is a place where students collaborate, socialize to create connections, gain knowledge from the most amazing educators, foster skills for future careers, and perhaps a little learning here and there ;) We can’t expect our teachers to teach as much material as possible in such a short amount of time. Students are already anxious to see what this return will look like, the expectation to produce more work will only create an unhealthy academic pressure for students. As a community, let’s invest in the mental and emotional support of our students to guarantee a safe return to normalcy where we’ll just have to trust time.