Most Americans would agree that COVID-19 has affected many aspects of their lives. One of these aspects has been in the spotlight since the very beginning: education. After over a year of virtual learning, the return to in-person learning was not a smooth transition for many students and teachers. For some teachers, lesson plans have had to be switched back and forth between a virtual and in-person setting since March 2020. During full-remote learning , teaching was difficult. Carefully planned lessons were met with black screens, internet instability, and plenty of incomplete– or worse, unattempted– assignments.
Virtual learning started a trend that has transformed conventional lesson formats. Teachers nationwide had to find new, more flexible methods to engage with students. These unique strategies derived from online learning have also managed to significantly benefit in-person learning. Kate Lee, director of choirs at a local Park Ridge, Illinois, high school, had to cancel four choir concerts due to the Coronavirus. With conventional curriculum not being an option, she decided to assess her students another way. She asked her classes to select a personally meaningful song to perform. The community had a high number of immigrants, and Kate was moved by the unique songs. “Lee decided that going forward, she won’t just assign music and teach students how to perform it,” Reporter Marcella Bombardieri wrote for Politico. Kate Lee’s story is just one of many examples of educators discovering the difference between assignments and learning. Lessons are being rethought like never before, making up for the lost year of unproductive online-learning by emphasizing the importance of the personal aspect that so many of us missed during the quarantine period.
After learning online for so long, many students feel relieved to be back to in-person education. However, virtual learning may be here to stay. A poll conducted by Politico and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health shared that 29 percent of parents want their child to be in a remote or hybrid learning plan for the coming school year. RAND Corporation’s survey of school districts revealed that by the fall of 2020, one out of five schools were either actively planning or considering implementing a virtual learning program post-COVID. There are hundreds of reasons why students may be choosing an online educational system instead of an in-person one. To name a few, virtual learning can better accommodate students who have young children, disabilities, jobs, or do not have access to transportation. Generally, online learning eliminates the physical obstacles that the average American student may face with regard to commute and availability. It is also simply just an easier way for some students to learn.
For those students who do return to school, they may come back to better buildings. Biden’s budget for the 2022-23 year proposes $102.8 billion in funds for K-12 schools. This is nearly a 30 million dollar increase from our previous education budget. And schools are certainly in desperate need of the money. The Government Accountability Office found that nearly 4 out of 10 of America’s school districts have poor air quality and circulation (correlated to air conditioning and/or ventilation systems). Studies show that poor air quality harms academic performance. Additionally, Covid-19 is an airborne virus, so poor air circulation indoors is an obvious health hazard. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of building quality, and the influx of government funds will likely show some much needed improvements in public schools across the country.
The pandemic, in addition to its other devastations, deconstructed our educational systems. In the process, it has called attention to the faults of the system. Now, educators, politicians, and students are working together to make schooling more productive than ever.