As an exercise, the journalism class broke into two groups and wrote dueling editorials: one favoring a reopening of Northwest Academy and another on why the school should remain closed for now. We will run the second piece in the series tomorrow.
Over the last nine months, students at Northwest Academy have suffered catastrophic regressions in their education. Students report feeling lack of motivation, attention and happiness while attending school through a computer screen. The necessary step the school must take is to open up Northwest Academy.
It is simply easier for students to learn at school and in-person, where they have access to resources and are in a learning environment that can support them. According to a 2018 study by the eJournal of Business Education & Scholarship of Teaching on whether it is more effective to teach online or in a classroom, they found that “the face-to-face class performed statistically, significantly better than the online class in terms of the exam average and improvement in post-test instructor questions.”
By committing to online learning, Northwest Academy is limiting student’s academic opportunities, and students at the school agree.
Nyssa Schulz-Rodriguez, a senior, has had trouble adjusting to online school.
“We don’t get the rewards of working hard and learning in Zoom,” she said. “We don’t have the privilege of making new friends and socializing. Sure, there’s some ways around that, but I think it’s become lonely for all of us and especially for those who are new this year.”
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “most of the reported cases of student suicides were attributed to not being able to attend the class online. Financial insecurities and difficulties due to lockdown has made it difficult for the parents to even afford smartphones just to attend classes. Between all these are loss of wage or loss of job, education system forcing students and parents to adopt to the technology, unaffordability of devices, lack of connectivity and so on. Majority of the reported incidents of suicides were in the age group of 13–17 years.”
On top of a higher suicide rate, stress is at an all-time high because of factors such as large collections of changes at once, lack of social interaction and uncertainty about the future. Students with previously existing mental health conditions are feeling the effects of distance learning and lockdown even more, leading some of them to struggle to function.
One of the hardest things for students about online school is that the social aspect of education has been significantly diminished. This could affect anything from mental health to social abilities. Small schools such as Northwest Academy value community. Online learning separates our community and breaks the strong bonds Northwest Academy fosters.
According to the Washington Post, schools in many areas of Europe have been able to reopen with no issue, with little to no change in the number of cases in any area. Children under the age of 16 are much less susceptible to the virus, and don’t show as many symptoms. Cases have not changed for workers at day cares and primary schools either.
Head of Northwest Academy Chris Schuck posted a statement regarding the re-opening of the school. Schuck says we can expect vaccinated faculty and staff to return to campus, and invite students back for “newly developed extra-curricular activities” when “Multnomah County’s infection rates and test positivity rates are at or below the levels advised by the Oregon Health Authority.” While this is a safe solution, Oregon Health Authority guidelines are designed for large groups of people.
As a private school, Northwest Academy has significantly more control over social distancing and methods to keep everyone safe. We must dedicate two separate days of the week to in-person education for both the middle school and the high school. Northwest Academy has the ability to set students apart from each other, open windows, spread out classrooms and minimize hallway travel.
Photo: Cross-Age Teaching by UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering is licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0 US
