Covid has changed the way schools have been operated. Students have had the option to be virtual and in some cases in school. If given the choice, students should be in school. The reasons are learning is more efficient, students and teachers are able to be more interactive with each other, students can see each other again and are able to hang out or work in groups together and there are less technical difficulties on the computer. From the perspective of a student, is it better going to school, or staying at home?

When students are at home, they can become easily distracted by things such as their phones, or not staying on task. However, when students are in school, their attention is directly focused on the teacher, and they can’t get distracted as much with doing other things. Teachers aren’t able to monitor students well at home. For example, students turn off their cameras and point it upwards towards the ceiling. Teachers aren’t able to see the students and help them with what they need help on. By being in school, teachers can directly communicate with the students, although individually communicating is better from home, so that you can privately have a conversation with teachers through email or google meets. 

Although it is more of a danger to risk catching the virus, students aren’t as affected by it as adults are, and don’t have significant symptoms compared to adults being affected. Students are able to see friends again and interact without getting too close, and by wearing masks guarantees a little more protection from the virus, and a safer environment. 

Students are given chromebooks when they start out at BF in sixth grade. However, unlike before the pandemic had started, both students and teachers are required to use chromebooks from eight o’ clock until three o’ clock. While everyone is doing school, running the chromebooks all at the same time on the same websites and zoom or google meet calls can tend to get laggy and slow. Students can get kicked out of calls, if they have other tabs open along with the call, the other tab may be very slow or not work at all and request to keep reloading. Having other family members such as parents working on their own laptops and siblings using the same school issued chromebooks can also make the chromebooks more laggy as well, all running on the same network. By being in school, the chromebooks are faster, and they don’t require joining google meets all the time. 

A parent, student, or say that virtual is better because you’re at home, and not risking getting the virus. Another person might argue that teaching virtually is better because you can monitor students online and see their progress much better, or that students don’t need to wake up early to attend school and can sleep in.

By having students in the hybrid system, it will show how slowly school is getting better, and how students are able to go back into school again, making life a little easier, even if it requires us to wear masks and to have to be spaced away from each other. Hopefully by the end of 2021, or the beginning of 2022, everyone will have been vaccinated including teenagers and children, and that the coronavirus has been defeated. For now, we will have to wait for the coronavirus to slowly get better and wait to become vaccinated, but at least we will have a story in the future to be able to tell to others that haven’t experienced the pandemic.