Reflection of How Reading Changed My Life
The word "unprecedented" has been thrown around a lot over the last year, but information technology'south difficult to pinpoint some other word that captures just how much COVID-19 has changed the world. For example, since March 2020, educators accept institute themselves in the middle of a public health crisis — and scrambling to transition their classes into online courses at the last possible moment.
At the K-12 level, well-nigh schools, specially public schools, didn't have roadmaps to deal with all-virtual learning scenarios, despite teachers' best efforts. Fifty-fifty privately funded schools and universities with seemingly huge endowments were ill-equipped to surmount technological roadblocks and or assist students who were suddenly searching for housing and support — fiscal and otherwise.
Information technology's clear that the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic extend far beyond a canceled March Madness tournament, Zoom-hosted classes, and graduation gatherings held on Beast Crossing. Equally the dorsum-to-school season begins in earnest, it's important to reflect on the myriad ways COVID-19 has impacted our education system.
How Did K-12 Schools React to the COVID-19 Pandemic?
When the COVID-19 pandemic first swelled in 2020, many students in Yard-12 learning environments were sent home and, for the remainder of the school year, learned from domicile. Given the lack of clear information surrounding COVID-19, this seemed like the most logical form of action. For example, buses and hallways to cafeterias and classrooms, schools aren't set up to accommodate social distancing practices — and sanitizing and protective equipment, like masks or plastic shields, costs quite a fleck.
Unfortunately, however, schools' resources are limited when it comes to supporting distanced learning equally well. Although Zoom and Google Classroom are wonderful resources, they simply aren't attainable or feasible for all students, teachers and parents. Sometimes at that place's just no replacement for the existent deal, and, in this case, that'due south in-person learning. Over the summer, in the lead-upwards to the 2020-21 school year, arguments broke out almost the best course of action.
In New York City, for case, the decision to close public schools in 2020 was a difficult one. On one hand, keeping schools open would've been a health risk for students, teachers and their respective households. But, on the other hand, many students rely on their schools for resource or, only, every bit places to become when their parents are at piece of work. "Our public education organisation is a massive hidden child care subsidy," Jon Shelton, a historian of the teaching workforce at the Academy of Wisconsin, told The New York Times.
That is, for some students, school libraries are the simply places they can access online resources, books and other schoolhouse materials. And for students with disabilities, where classrooms are often staffed with paraprofessionals or 1-on-one aids, distanced learning poses a number of additional challenges. Mayhap most urgently, many students rely on meals from their schools; parents who can't afford breakfast and lunch can discover a partner in school cafeterias, which often offer meals to students from low-income families during the summer as well, even when school is out.
Post-obit that line of thinking, Seattle-based charabanc commuter Treva White and nutritionist Shaunté Fields started delivering breakfast and luncheon to children and their families. Since the COVID-xix school closures, the Seattle Public Schools and Diet Services Section accept worked to distribute meals to approximately xxx,000 people per twenty-four hour period, including on weekends. Needless to say, schools are essential parts of students' lives and communities — even across learning.
When schools in New York City reopened in the autumn, there was a lot of mixed messaging — and 11th-hour decisions — from local officials. Part of that may accept been the rather malleable guidelines the Centers for Disease Command and Prevention (CDC) provided in regards to reopening, but, on the other manus, leadership across the country has waffled throughout the pandemic when it comes to reopening schools and businesses.
In the end, many schools in New York City opted for a mix of in-person and virtual learning to help mitigate the myriad concerns associated with social distancing practices. Nearby, in Stamford, Connecticut, public schools implemented alternating days of distance learning and in-person learning. With this hybrid arroyo, fewer students learn from habitation total time, which is seemingly a good mode to address concerns parents may have about the quality of their kids' education — concerns that spawned protests across the land.
Simply this push to reopen schools put one major concern onto the back-burner: the toll reopening would take on teachers and other educational professionals — and, of course, the risk. While the CDC has institute that "well-nigh children with COVID-19 have balmy symptoms or have no symptoms at all," some have yet contracted astringent cases — not to mention, schools could become huge vectors for spreading the virus to students' and teachers' households. Disturbingly, in states that were more severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers drafted wills and obituaries ahead of the school yr.
In August 2020, the White House formally declared teachers essential workers, noting that they are "disquisitional infrastructure workers" — or, in other words, disquisitional to the infrastructure of reopening the state and bolstering the economy. Nonetheless, unlike other essential workers, teachers don't have the training and background to mitigate all of these public wellness concerns, nor practise they have the funding, in most cases, for PPE and other essential, virus-combating supplies. In some states, teachers are expected to receive vaccines early on on in the rollout procedure, but this doesn't hold truthful across every country, nor does it guarantee their condom.
It'south indisputable that teachers are essential members of our communities, but they are also people who, merely like all of u.s., are navigating the horrors of this pandemic. Often, they go across the telephone call of their job descriptions — fifty-fifty outside of the classroom. "My students have lost family unit members, and there's a lot of trauma we are non addressing," Jessyca Mathews, an English teacher at Carman-Ainsworth High Schoolhouse in Flint, Michigan, told Time. "When COVID hitting, I had kids who were texting me in the centre of the night, and I answered them every single time."
How Did Colleges & Universities React to the COVID-19 Pandemic?
When it comes to the closure of higher campuses, folks seem more attuned to the other problems that stem from such decisions. Some full-time students who alive on campus had nowhere else to go, while others faced daunting financial challenges without on-campus jobs or resource like meal plans. Some students depend on their universities for healthcare — not just insurance, only for therapy and onsite checkups. Simply just because at that place was an awareness, doesn't mean there was an infrastructure in place to aid students.
Amid all of those frustrations was the permanent closure of some schools, especially liberal arts colleges. In May 2020, MacMurray Higher in Illinois announced its closure later on 174 years spent educating students — and it'southward non the only liberal arts schoolhouse, wanting for the endowments of larger universities, that was forced to shutter. And with as many equally 44.seven million Americans owing a full of over $1.71 trillion in student loan debt, it's clear that this model isn't working for anyone.
"Higher education is non nimble. We are steeped in tradition, and we are not always able to move as rapidly equally we need to," Beverly Rodgers, president of MacMurray College, a small, private liberal arts college in Jacksonville, Illinois, told WBUR. "There needs to exist a remake of higher education as a concern model, in my opinion."
In March 2020, the CARES federal relief parcel allowed Congress to allocate nearly $fourteen billion for colleges and universities — an amount that the American Council on Education chosen "woefully inadequate." The group'south inquire? They, and dozens of higher ed organizations, believe at least $46 billion is needed.
Needless to say, colleges and universities establish other ways to cope. Pine Manor College, a small private establishment in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, that aims to support underserved and low-income students, merged with the much larger Boston College and the University of Akron eliminated three intercollegiate sports from its roster, resulting in a reported $4.iv million in savings, as well every bit six of its 11 academic colleges.
How Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Inverse Higher Education?
Unfortunately, novel coronavirus outbreaks were linked to college "fraternities, sororities and off-campus parties," leading to stricter requirements — and consequences — for students who live on campus and attend in-person classes. While all-virtual classes would mitigate this hazard (and temptation), some institutions feared that students wouldn't exist willing to crush out total tuition costs for online-only offerings.
Many colleges and universities tried hybrid approaches to cut down on large classes and business relationship for the number of students on campus and in communal spaces at 1 time. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) housed just 700 students and a few members of staff during the 2020-21 bookish year. Additionally, the school too closed its campus to the public and redeployed UCLA nutrient service workers to prepare meals for low-income families in the area (via Los Angeles Times). All of this came amongst huge financial losses to the UC schoolhouse system.
Just, undeniably, we've also learned that in that location are some upsides to virtual learning. For example, for students who live at domicile, or couldn't beget cross-country moves and housing, virtual models brand higher potentially more accessible and affordable. And then, will the scheduling shake-ups and focus on virtual classes last longer than the pandemic? At this betoken, the marker the pandemic has made — and the cracks it has fabricated more than credible — seems indelible.
Source: https://www.reference.com/world-view/life-after-covid19-education-college-schools?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740005%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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