Almost a year …
It’s been almost 11 months since our education system was turned upside down. For many of us, last March started a dangerous, downward spiral in our child’s learning. It began with extended time away from school in March, followed by unorganized remote learning April through June, which for some students didn’t include any ‘new material’, but instead simply focused on reiterating what had already been taught in the first two-thirds of the school year. As the pandemic continued into the summer, plans of in-person or hybrid learning turned into mostly all remote instruction for public schools. Private schools had, and continue to have, some success with traditional, in-person learning, but obviously that comes with a cost of enrollment. And now it looks like remote learning at public schools could continue into next fall.
I see the effects firsthand, as both a parent of a public high school student and as a tutor, and the issues arising from this shouldn’t be underestimated. Students are depressed, frustrated, unmotivated, and in general, aren’t learning. Teachers present their material to a collection of blacked-out screens. There is very little engagement between students and teachers, and teachers find it increasingly difficult to determine if students grasp the material or not. In the end, many students (I would argue a large percentage based on what I hear from students I tutor) cheat. Students get “help” on take home tests from other students or professional tutors. I’ve not only heard about it, I’ve been personally asked by parents to “tutor” their students on an online exam as they share their screen with me. I understand the parent’s and student’s frustrations since they realize other classmates are raising their grades by cheating, and if others are getting good grades by cheating, students who don’t cheat find it difficult to keep up. It doesn’t make it right, but I understand.
So, what does it mean? Well for starters, students aren’t learning. Why actually memorize or learn a concept when they can get others to help fill in the correct answers on a test and still get good grades? This has an immediate effect on subjects like math and foreign languages, where concepts build on each other from year to year. Students who don’t learn the material in Math 2 will have a very challenging time in Math 3 the next year. Unless of course they’re remote for Math 3, in which case they can continue to cheat and get good grades. But eventually they’ll be back in a classroom and asked to complete a test with only a pencil and paper in front of them. And when looking at transcripts, colleges simply see the grades, not the effort (or lack of effort) that went into achieving those grades. An ‘A’ is an ‘A’ on a transcript, both for those who cheat and those who don’t.
Parents (and students) are rightfully frustrated, and consequently there’s a large increase in enrollment in private schools and applications for home schooling. The sooner we get back to in-person learning the better, but public-school districts are already planning for some type of online learning for next fall, still seven months away. Public schools will be facing the dual challenges of both keeping students, and then actually educating those who choose to stay. Neither objective is working right now.