The effect online schooling has had on students.

By: Jina Ahmad  – Vaughan Maple

With the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc across the globe, it seems the schooling system is one of the areas that have been the most affected, unfortunately. Kids have been doing online school for over 2 years now and have gotten quite used to it. This paper aims to highlight the problems faced by kids; the advantages and disadvantages of online school, and what  changes are happening currently in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic started affecting kids,  especially in March of 2020 when schools were turned online after the spring break. Many kids  were excited about the extended break, however now it has caused them to stay home since then.  With school being online many new things have arisen about the problems of technology and  how invested kids have become in it. They spend their entire day on technology doing school and  then they also spend time on technology since that is where they find their free time watching  shows, playing games, etc. This extends their screen time for over 12 hours per day which is  huge since it is known that extended screen time causes issues with development in young  children and problems with eyesight as well. This also leads to more of the problems that  students go through in online school. To begin with, with online school there is a disconnect between teachers and their students meaning students don’t learn the same as they do as if they were in school. Obviously, due to the barrier, there is. In addition, with sitting in front of a computer all day there is an increased lack of physical activity and with so many restrictions given by the government, there is a lack of social interaction as well. Both of these hold large importance in the life of kids and without it, their development is being impacted. Moreover, with being cooped up at home and without physical activity and social interaction, the mental health of kids is also going downhill. Younger kids may not feel it as much with how easy they can adapt to new environments but kids in their early teens and older feel it a lot more. Everyone is isolated and although there are supports out there like 24/7 talk lines with all the restrictions there isn’t much that can be done. These mental problems in mental health also lead to a decline in grades since one isn’t able to put in their full efforts into school. However, there isn’t a bad side to everything and a few good points can be brought forth from this pandemic. With kids being at home there is more of a chance for kids to spend time with their families and bond more as compared to if they were going to school daily. Since with going to school in person, many factors are considered, for example, getting up earlier, getting ready, eating breakfast and then actually going to school. Online school cuts this time down by a lot which can help spend more time with family and more time to do other things like pursuing new hobbies. In addition, since there is no need to commute to school, people are saving a lot of money on public transportation as well as paying for gas when the prices are already so high. This in turn also lowers the amount of carbon dioxide emissions in the environment since there are fewer cars on the road. Parents can keep more of an eye on what their children are consuming and can cut down on the amount of junk and unhealthy food they eat throughout the day. With less junk food and an increased amount of homemade food, inevitably, plastic use will only decrease. For university students, online school can help since they can work at their own pace and go back and watch lectures as they please. Overall, it may seem that the disadvantages overpower the advantages but it is important to keep in mind that there are still some positives and at the end of the day, COVID-19 restrictions will be lifted and students will be back in the classroom in near future.