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How Covid-19 Affects Students in School

Student Life

February 12, 2022

These past three years have been very hard for everyone around the world, dealing with this Covid-19 pandemic. Everyone around the world has had their lives disrupted in one way or another. Whether it's small business owners being shutdown, or non-essential retail workers not working, and most of all, students in schools.

Students in schools have been switched from online back to in person, so on and so forth. This has been happening for the past couple of years and it's affecting students' mental, physical and emotional health. I'm going to explore how Covid-19 has affected students in elementary, high school and post-secondary schools. The way Covid-19 has been handled in North America is unfair for parents, teachers and most of all students.

Elementary schools

Students in elementary schools are used to interacting with other students- their classmates, friends and teachers. Well, over the past few years they haven't been able to do that because of this pandemic. Elementary school ages start at 4 and go through 14, these are young ages, and these students are still developing.

They don't need restrictions in schools. Which forces them to wear masks, social distance and have cohorts at such a young age. Kindergartners have been impacted the most.

Imagine telling 4-6 year olds to wear masks and stay away from their friends for 6 hours of the day. Not allowed to play with toys, and eat their lunches away from their friends.

Yes, wearing masks and social distancing stops the transmission of Covid-19, but this has been going on too long and is affecting young children's mental health. It affects them at an academic level with learning. In elementary school, children learn the basics of math, science, languages, so on and so forth. Well, children going online hasn't allowed them to learn most of the material they usually learn.

In particular, children that have moved to North America who are trying to learn the English language have especially suffered from all these online classes because they're not learning the material they should be to learn the language. Erin Einhorn of NBC News said this about the pandemic in schools: “Children are frustrated. Teachers are frustrated. Civil rights advocates are frustrated and I think it’s reaching a boiling point.” (Einhorn)

Secondary Schools

High schools is the next step after elementary school. High school is said to be one of the most exhilarating and exciting times of people's lives. But right now, high school isn't exhilarating at all, it's full of restrictions, which include- Masks, Social distancing, Cohorts, No Cafeteria, switching from in school to online every 2 months.

Students over the past couple of years have had to cope with all the restrictions, not being able to see friends etc. Many students, including myself, were looking forward to playing sports in high school. Sports in high schools are the next step for athletes that want a harder challenge in sports and have fun, or a break from school, or to take that next step in their game and be recognized. Playing sports in high school also helps students' college or university applications- Extracuriculars look good on the applications.

Secondary school for students is already stressful enough with the amount of work they have on their plate, with friendships, relationships, having certain expectations. Students have certain academic expectations from their peers, parents etc. With school closures happening every two months, students have trouble staying focused online. Online school has been deemed stressful and hard for a lot of students to do because you don't have a teacher there with you, per say, to help you all the time.

I interviewed David Carpenter in Grade 12, who goes to Fenelon Falls Secondary School in Fenelon falls, Ontario. I asked him a couple of questions about in-person learning and how it affects students, and why it's important for students to be in-person.

"In person, learning is a very important aspect of my social life as a student. The ability to interact with others provides a level of comfort for me and allows me more positive environments. Over the course of two years, students have struggled with the inconsistencies regarding in-person and online learning.The constant flip between lockdowns and opening has left students scrambling to adapt".

Post-Secondary Schools

Post-Secondary Institutions are like high schools but harder. Colleges and universities have felt the impact of school closures, as in the past couple years they've been opening and closing. This isn't fair to students. These students when they're in college and university is their last stop before they enter the field they want to do for the rest of their life.

Post-Secondary students, after graduating secondary school, did not expect their lives to be halted, but it did from this unexpected health crisis. Students' social and educational lives have been halted and students in post-secondary have to make up for the lost time.

Conclusion

Overall, Covid-19 has affected students from every age- Whether it's elementary school, secondary school and post-secondary. Students have had the hardships of having to manage the stress from the pandemic, their health, social life, academics and sports have taken a hit. They've had to miss friends and their social life in school for some kids will never be the same.

This virus has taken a toll on children in Ontario and all around North America. This has jeopardized their mental health from all the lockdowns and not socializing in school like they usually would.

References

NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/covid-having-devastating-impact-children-vaccine-won-t-fix-everything-n1251172

David Carpenter- Grade 12 (Student)

Robert Crawford
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Writer since Feb, 2022 · 4 published articles

I’m 17 years old, i love writing articles and researching, learning about the topic i'm writing about. It's one of my passions. I hope writing for the Teen Magazine helps me perfect my writing craft

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