COVID-19’s Effect on Education

COVID-19s Effect on Education

Polina Barilo, Journalist

As of March 31st 2020, the global reported cases of people infected with the coronavirus is getting close to a million. The United States has reached more than 180,000 coronavirus cases and President Trump has extended the social distancing guidelines to April 30th. Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus in the United States, most schools and colleges over the country have switched to online education to fight the spread of the disease. Some are starting to expect to be closed through the end of the school year. School staff and students are going through a tough time of transition: nobody was prepared for the sudden shift in the education system. With little to no training and few resources, educators have to adapt quickly and gather new instructional content. Additionally, since most teachers don’t have any online experience, students, especially disadvantaged ones, will struggle a lot with learning. Not only does it take time to adapt for them as well, but many families also lack broadband Internet access at home. Because of this type of inequity there could be a loss of learning when things go back to normal and some students may have to make-up the lost education in the summer or through other means. Nevertheless, nobody wants to have learning come to a halt across America due to the virus outbreak.

At Corona Del Mar high school, students and school staff, who are awaiting further instruction and training, are handling the new situation patiently. Sophie Donaldson, a CdM senior, expressed her thoughts on the current condition, saying “I think it’s pretty overwhelming for the teachers and the students because it’s all new technology and it’s really difficult to communicate effectively, but overall I think that CdM teachers are doing a good job of adapting. I also think it’s considerate that most teachers aren’t piling on excessive assignments because it’s such a weird adjustment”. This statement effectively summarizes the current circumstances of most schools due to the coronavirus. Hopefully, to not put further burden on schools and other public institutions, the coronavirus cases will stop growing exponentially by the start of May.