A Scholarly Split: In-Person Or Virtual?

 

As COVID-19 continues its rampage across the globe, all but essential businesses were thrown off schedule: including schools. With the help of masks, vaccines, and a lockdown, schools have been able to fully reopen back in-person for the 2021 to 2022 school year, but not before finishing the remaining half of the 2019-2020 and the majority of the 2020-2021 school year virtually. With the Omicron variant making its way across America, many predict schools will be returning to virtual- which begs the question: what is better for the students? In-person or virtual?

Welcome back, dear debaters! It is I, your friendly neighborhood debate-blogger, Hibba! Long time no see, right? Well, I’d love to explain my long-time hiatus, but I’ll save that for a blog update. But I’m back (hopefully for good!), and while I’m not promising weekly posts, I can try to get a blog every month or so. Now, without further ado- let’s get started!

I think this debate is a super controversial one! I think it depends on your situation. I’m going to be basing my argument on the impact of COVID-19 in my area- and it may not be the same for you! So keep this in consideration while you continue to read!

I think that school districts should return to offering both as an option, or a hybrid combination of some sort. It sounds weird- but hear me out!

Exhibit A: Offering both mediums as options will allow special-needs students to continue receiving uninterrupted support, (if done right,) safely.

Of course, one of the biggest questions that came about as remote learning became the standard medium for learning across the country was: “What about special-needs students?”

A special-needs student greatly varies from a regular student. It’s kind of in the name, y’know.

A “special-needs student” is a broad term, let me get this out there. A special-ed student may be referring to students that are neurodivergent, disabled, or more. But the picture remains clear: their needs very much do vary.

Remote learning caused many, many students to fall behind and severely impacted their studies. Believe me, I was one of the “many, many students.” If it had affected regular learners so harshly, then you don’t even have to imagine how special-needs students were affected.

 

No dude, cause same. Credits for the photo go here.

The results? Many families were devastated by the change to online school. Many families, especially those that live in low-income areas, relied on schools to provide behavioral counseling, speech therapy, physical therapy, and more.

Special needs students learned nothing over their semesters online. Some parents reported their children regressing- meaning they were forgetting important skills that they had already learned!

Only 46% of students with disabilities in New York City did not receive or only received part of the services outlined in their plans- that’s almost half of all students with disabilities in NYC. And NYC is a pretty big city.

 Special-needs students are entitled to receive free, appropriate public education regardless of the severity of their disabilities, according to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. If almost half of the students are not receiving an appropriate education via remote learning, that is a serious issue that needs to be tackled as soon as possible.

Allowing for both in-person and virtual options will allow for a decrease in the risk of special-need students getting the coronavirus, while still allowing for them to receive an appropriate education with the proper safety protocols needed during a pandemic.

Exhibit B: Allowing for both mediums simultaneously, will lower COVID-19 cases by way more!

Many students are unhappy with wearing a mask. Many do not want to wear a mask. It is pretty obvious, just walk into your local public high school.

Many students are not wearing masks at all, improperly, and just don’t care. Believe me, they’ll wear their mask everywhere but over their mouth and nose. I’d appreciate their interesting fashion statements if my risk of catching a possibly fatal respiratory disease were not as high as they are right now.

Here’s a cute infographic depicting some things I’ve seen in my time at school. Photo credits go here.

There is a clear amount of students that obviously would rather have virtual school. And you know what? I’m not one to judge. I rather have students who are okay with wearing a mask properly be the only ones in school, in-person, rather than have students who rather not wear a mask properly go virtual. And to be honest, I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks this way.

Exhibit C: Subjects that don’t translate well online, will still have a chance of actually being learned by the students if they can be held in person.

Many subjects are hands-on subjects. Chemistry, anatomy, home economics, culinary arts, you name it!

Obviously, subjects like these are not best-suited for remote learning. Like at all. Sure, but how many virtual simulations and at-home projects can you do?

 I’ll tell you from personal experience, taking earth science last year was such a bore. I gave up on doing the GIZMO simulations altogether. Shout out to CourseHero for carrying me out through the year because there was no way on Earth I was going to make it through the school year doing all of those terrible simulations on those weirdly formatted Google Docs. Does anyone even know what I’m talking about?

Point is, online simulations were not fun, and I learned very little from them. Practically nothing. I, myself, am walking proof that online simulations are useless when it comes to hands-on subjects.

Sure, maybe I just suck at earth science. Maybe it’s all a coincidence. But then you have to think about students who are learning to become surgeons, or chemists, or chefs. They truly need hands-on experience to get their job done!

By incorporating in-person and virtual options, students who are taking such courses or fields of study will be able to continue pursuing their education, in what I hope is a safe environment, without wasting a whole year doing simulations and at-home projects due to the global pandemic.

Via www.buzzfeed.com

And that’s a wrap! It was so fun writing a debate blog after almost two years.

So, what’s your take on this studious split? Should we do it in-person, or virtual? Should we offer both? Should we do a hybrid? Do you agree with me, or not? How so? I am so excited to see what you guys think in the comments below.

Don’t forget to check me out on Instagram while you’re at it!

Happy debating!

-Hibba