“To be or not to be:” Is going back to in-person school worth it?
School didn’t start off the same way this year. There was no rush to be at the 151 entrance at 8:14, leaving you just a minute to be seated in the chapel at 8:15. Nor was there the tinge of awkwardness as you were greeted by a classmate you had long forgotten over the summer. Instead most students rolled out of bed and turned on whatever electronic device was their key into their virtual classroom.
But when school reopened in mid-October, as Ava Testa‘22 termed it, students were greeted by a “new normal.” The reopening of school did not herald the sudden vanishing of the unwanted pandemic, but instead marked the beginning of what she described as “assigned rooms, limited time to talk to teachers and friends, and decreased freedom.”
Aysu Williams‘22 found herself wagering whether in-person learning was worth potential exposure to the virus. Like Testa, she considered the pros and cons of this “new normal.” Williams said, “I knew that I was risking my family’s safety by learning in-person. Ultimately, we decided that, as long as I was careful, I could attend school. I missed social interactions with my peers and it was important that I meet my teachers in person.”
While many students attended in-person school, four of Williams’ six teachers didn’t. Students were therefore forced to log onto Zoom in order to be taught. This situation prompted Williams to ask herself the following question: is in-person learning deserving of its title, or is it merely an extension of online school with the added risk of contracting a virus? For commuters like Katrina Schwartz‘22 and Henry Wilsons‘22, the risk of exposure is far greater. Schwartz and Wilsons were both away for the first semester at a semester school, and so the earliest that they could return to school was the week of February 8th. While Schwartz attended school in-person that week, Wilsons did not. For Schwartz, “Zoom sickness” was the biggest factor that led her to come to school: “Days online stretch and blur into monotonous weeks, which I feel leads to lack of motivation.” Schwartz also remarked that being a commuter made it more difficult to see her Trinity friends regularly.
Wilsons said, “I didn’t feel too safe going on the train in the morning and in the afternoon for an hour just so I could go to school and have most of my teachers be online.” When more of his teachers began to resurface, he also decided to take the plunge. So while the many queries and desires to go to school can be reduced to exposure, social interactions, a “new normal,” teachers returning, and “Zoom sickness”—situations and reservations vary. While Aysu Williams is doubtful of her decision to return, Ava Testa and Kartina Schwartz are thankful to be in a classroom, and Henry Wilsons is undecided, all students are hopeful that school will, at one point in the future, return to how it was before the pandemic.
