By Wyatt Boyle
Online school (noun): otherwise known as “e-school,” where all the cool kids get together using entirely-trust-worthy and user friendly sites, with no past lawsuits at all, such as Google Meet and Canvas to learn and continue their education.
Newsflash! Kids used to look down at their phones on their laps. Now, they’re trying to hide tears. Even though they’re excited to participate in super cool, cyber school like this, it still feels surreal. Whether it’s because the power went out, there’s too much homework or the thirty minutes turned hour long live sessions, teachers and students alike have been panicking. But don’t worry; it’ll all be okay. At least we have a few hard and fast rules we can rely on, like elementary school kids still needing uniforms. Another hope the highschoolers have held to, is just failing. That way, when they repeat the school year, they get a real year of high school!
Canvas crashes at least once a week for Seniors and Kindergartener’s alike. It doesn’t matter how old you are, what you look like or what kind of classes you’re taking; the digital workplace disrespects, and dislikes everyone. At least YouTube and Instagram have been nice to everyone as students mute video calls and go about their usual routines. Yes, the teacher is still trying to create a classroom. No, no one with their webcams off is listening because home isn’t school to them. Sorry deans, more than one student has gone to the bathroom without asking.
Without a classroom to sit in, teachers are blasting through presentations, then assigning tons of work. Students are either too tired or not paying attention, and so there’s little communication before students are hearing that little “Good luck! See you Wednesday!” before they leave the call. It just tops everything off perfectly. This, combined with actively being in quarantine, just makes students super energetic and excited to work. It doesn’t matter that they were just stuck in a call after only sleeping for four hours, it’s time to grind.
Nevermind that everyone has other jobs to work, siblings to look after, other classes and a life in general. There’s nothing more exhilarating than staring at the blank faces of classmates while the instructor doesn’t seem to realize they’re muted. Everyone is waiting for the kid who’s going to speak out first and tell the teacher they need to press alt+f4 to unmute. The cherry on top is when Canvas makes the assigned work impossible to find. This makes for a fun little game of hide and seek that everyone has time for and adores.
Behind the cute, little profile pictures everyone has set up for themselves, it’s important to remember those are actual people in unique circumstances. In the crazy digital environment that has become school, the best thing everyone can do is remember to be patient and remain calm. This “extended spring break” has turned into something else entirely.
