Throughout this course, we’ve covered the impact of cancel culture, systemic racism, and oppression in Eastern Europe. For our final project--I decided to focus on something very important to me, but also something that we all could resonate with. As we approach 2024, we are 3 and a half years into a global pandemic, that most of us still don’t really understand, nor do we know if there will ever be a sense of normalcy. However, being that this was our last assignment, I decided to make it more personal to me by only looking at the COVID-19 impact on the high school class of 2020. This is not to say that we had it harder than anyone else, or that our feelings should be put before others, rather, it exhibits perspective. We were all impacted and are still being impacted by the global pandemic, but being a senior in high school during this time led to so much confusion within the world, but mainly within ourselves. This project was a way for me to advocate for my inner self and finally speak on something that I feel is not talked about enough, and not something that many people care to think of.
Specifically, the way teachers shifted from being compassionate to all in-person instruction, and harsh deadlines--was not something that any of us were prepared for. The class of 2020 is still getting used to actually walking to class, or figuring out how to take the bus. For us, this is asking for a lot. Whereas other upperclassmen couldn’t wait until in-person instruction returned. Similarly, we adapted a sense of laziness as it pertains to classwork, and showing up. Which, made professors’ jobs extremely hard to do because no one would turn their camera’s on. My point is--everyone was struggling, and there was no way to make that transition smooth for anyone, which is why it is so important that teachers continue to have that same compassion for students. There were days when I was so depressed and so homesick that I would turn my camera off, and mute myself on zoom so that I could cry, and not lose points for missing class. Alternatively, as a teacher’s assistant last semester, I had to respond to emails from students battling alcoholism, students with newborns, and many other issues. This opened my eyes to how different each person’s circumstances were, and why nothing about this is normal for us to be experiencing.
Due to these factors, I decided to open up my project with a quote specifically pertaining to the COVID-19 impact on students, and the fact that 1.2 billion students were forced out of school during this time. Not only did it ruin prom, championships, and college for some kids, but it was also a long period of us not learning, or being able to learn in the capacity that we need to. With parents who aren’t tech-savvy and students who couldn’t afford certain technology to do their work, there were weeks when children had to wait to receive chrome books or email a teacher every single time they misunderstood something. This may come as a surprise, but most teenagers don’t know how to write a proper email, nor are they used to having to use email and office hours for every single interaction. Moreover, many students were tasked with providing for themselves or helping provide for their families--there was so much time on everyone’s hands that students would rather work than sit on a zoom call for hours. Though it wasn’t right, it was the only way for people to feel like they had a sense of normalcy, or stay in some kind of routine.
I then went on to discuss how the U.S. viewed remote learning as a privilege and solution to the pandemic--which for a short time it was. However, no one really took the time to understand how increased screen time on phones, and laptops would result in decreased attention spans, decreased appetite, increased agitation, and little to no human contact. None of these things are normal or healthy for hormonal teenagers, who have never had the freedom and responsibility that comes with being a college student.
As I continued through my presentation--I used visual hierarchy, and personal examples to connect the class to the information, and statistics I researched. Which explained personality disorders, depression, and increased violence in children--as a result of the pandemic. Furthermore, Due to students needing to learn in order to advance to the next grade, According to, frontier.org, “universities had to shift from face-to-face to emergency remote education. Students were forced to study online, with limited access to facilities and less contact with peers and teachers, while at the same time being exposed to more autonomy.”
I then used a personality disorder model to visually display how an extroverted person can now be an introverted person with increased anxiety disorder and social anxiety. These factors are all a direct impact of the pandemic, and many students/teachers are unaware of this, as we head into adulthood. The class of 2020 has been put at a disadvantage as it pertains to real-world interactions because we were forced to have every interaction online for two years. Now, that the world is seemingly “open,” were expected to return to business as usual, the problem lies in the fact that for us--a remote world is the “usual,” it is now an expectation that remote work is an option in any field, and it is putting a lot of people out of opportunities because they don’t see any reason that they should be doing work in person. After all, the government is the reason we believe this to be true, because rather than shutting down businesses and giving people time to mentally process this--they found a way for us all to continue living.
I relied on information from The Guardian to provide information regarding the covid-zero policy in China, and frontier.org, and The Health Line--provided the quotes, and statistics that I used in my presentation.
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