Anonymous, 17 – West Haven, CT
To add a little backstory, my mom, who is a nurse, suffered through the coronavirus for three weeks total. By the second week, she was hospitalized and I had to survive in my home alone for two weeks. That challenged me mentally. I was worried and scared for my mom, being home alone for that long also challenged me. After recovering from a fever and coughing, I struggled to get out of bed, I would sleep almost all day, I lost my appetite and would barely eat. All I was concerned about was my mom’s safety because she is all that I have. I am so glad she is home and recovering well, but my concerns never ended. Online school/distant learning has taken a toll on my academics. I can no longer keep up with the workload, sometimes it feels like teachers are giving too much work. For an assignment that would only take a few minutes takes me about an hour to do now. I miss going to school and having my friends around because that’s what got me through the school day. Balancing schoolwork and keeping my family safe has been the most challenging for me during this pandemic.
To address the challenge I faced, I think it’s best if teachers would understand the students’ struggles. We had to automatically adjust to the new online school system with no transition into it, but also some students aren’t just meant for online/distance learning. Giving us massive amounts of assignments with a short due date, puts a huge toll on the students stressfully. A student’s life, during this crisis, shouldn’t revolve around keeping grades up and assignments done. We should be more focused on keeping our mental health intact and keeping our families safe.
Anonymous, 17 – West Haven, CT
To add a little backstory, my mom, who is a nurse, suffered through the coronavirus for three weeks total. By the second week, she was hospitalized and I had to survive in my home alone for two weeks. That challenged me mentally. I was worried and scared for my mom, being home alone for that long also challenged me. After recovering from a fever and coughing, I struggled to get out of bed, I would sleep almost all day, I lost my appetite and would barely eat. All I was concerned about was my mom’s safety because she is all that I have. I am so glad she is home and recovering well, but my concerns never ended. Online school/distant learning has taken a toll on my academics. I can no longer keep up with the workload, sometimes it feels like teachers are giving too much work. For an assignment that would only take a few minutes takes me about an hour to do now. I miss going to school and having my friends around because that’s what got me through the school day. Balancing schoolwork and keeping my family safe has been the most challenging for me during this pandemic.
To address the challenge I faced, I think it’s best if teachers would understand the students’ struggles. We had to automatically adjust to the new online school system with no transition into it, but also some students aren’t just meant for online/distance learning. Giving us massive amounts of assignments with a short due date, puts a huge toll on the students stressfully. A student’s life, during this crisis, shouldn’t revolve around keeping grades up and assignments done. We should be more focused on keeping our mental health intact and keeping our families safe.